Chapter 68: The Elf... and A Talking Scythe?

I looked up to the guards and, with a blank look on my face and a monotone voice, I said as I showed them the pass, "Can I enter the Beast Tower?"

In turn, they looked down on me, and said both at the same time, "We have seen the pass, you may pass."

I found that weird and cringy, but still waited for the entrance to open.

The large gold doors slowly opened as the guards moved away. Mystical smoke came out of the thick gold doors, and I was baffled by this… at least until I saw one of the guards using some kind of device to blow the smoke out.

I raised an eyebrow, and said, "Why are you doing that?"

They replied with, "We don't know what you're talking about."

"Shameless bastards…" I muttered silently so that they wouldn't hear.

Ignoring them, I went inside the entrance of the Beast Tower.

When I reached the inside, I saw a lobby.

The lobby was quite big, maybe 20 times bigger than my house. There was only 1 person in this place, excluding me; a man with sharp features, slick gray hair, young face, white skin, and long-pointy ears.

'An elf? What's an elf doing here?' I said in my thoughts.

The elf man wore an elvish clothing; green trousers and white shirt, brown shoes and yellow gloves.

Though, what I found most interesting were his eyes; he had heterochromia. But that's not the end of it. Each of his iris had two colors. Black and White in his left, and Green and Red in his right.

He chuckled, and said, "Do you find my eyes that interesting? You've been staring for a few minutes now."

Embarrassed, I scratched the back of my head, and said, "I apologize. It must've been rude of me."

"Eh, don't worry, I'm used to this. It's rare to see someone with a set of eyes like mine. By the way, young boy, are you here to take my challenge?" He asked.

Now, I was confused.

"Challenge? What challenge?" I asked.

"Nobody told you about it? Well, not that weird because people seem to be quite mean and not listen to an old man's request. You see, I have something important stuck in the deepest part of this tower and I have been cursed by an ancient being to never be able to enter the tower myself. So, I ask people to go get it for me and I'll reward them handsomely but no one has completed my request so far," He said, a bit of sorrow in his voice.

Old man? So he's THAT old, huh…

I'm not confused as to why he called himself an old man because elves have pretty low birthrates, so every member of their kingdom is important. If they were to disappear, a bunch of elves would be dispatched to search for them.

That's also why most of them are quite old. Some even have the age of a millennium.

"Hmm, what's the reward? If it's good, I can fetch that thing for you while I'm in the tower," I said.

He thought about it for a little, and said, "I usually offer people weapons since that's all I have on me right now," He took out three weapons seemingly out of nowhere, "These three are the best weapons I have. They were forged for the sole purpose of killing, and they grow with their wielders. But you can only choose one, and you'll be able to choose once you've fetched me the thing I want."

Growth Weapons, huh? If I can fetch this guy's important stuff down the tower, I'll be able to get one of these three.

There was a sword, a spear, and a scythe, each having their own unique designs.

The sword looks like it came out of legends. It has a steeled blade with gold surrounding it. The hilt was entirely made of fine leather mixed with mythril silk. It also has an empty socket in the middle of the hilt, must be for something.

The spear looked like something a hero would wield. The lower part of the spearhead was covered in red cloth. The shaft was made of elder wood, with the bottom being surrounded by all kinds of talismans.

But, out of all of these weapons, my eyes were dead set on the scythe.

The scythe looked normal, more normal than the everyday scythe used by farmers except for one thing; its blade and pole were 5 times longer.

Even with all of its normalness, the scythe looked deadlier than the two other weapons. And, it felt like it was speaking to me.

It was saying something in the lines of me, "Hey, brat, choose me, choose me!"

Must be my imagination.

"BRAT, I SAID F*CKING CHOOSE ME!"

I was woken up from my trance as I heard the scythe yell at me.

"Uh, what?" I said.

"Choose me, brat, and you won't regret it!" The scythe… said? Where is its mouth?

I looked at the elf man, and said, "A weapon can talk?"

"Well, yes. Some weapons can speak, but they are mostly rare. I found this one deep in the mountains once when I was travelling, and since then, he's been asking me to find someone worthy of him. And I've never seen him react this way before, he must see you as someone worthy of him!" He said, a bit too joyful to be honest.

"Yes, brat, you are worthy to wield me; the great and mighty scythe, Thanatos! So be thankful and kneel in gratitude for I have chosen you to be my wielder!" It said.

I looked away and turned to the other weapons, and said, "Do these weapons also talk arrogantly? If so, I won't find any use for them. I'll probably die of the sheer stupidity that comes out of their mouths."

"H-Hey, wait! Don't ignore me, brat! I assure you, you can find many uses for I!" It said.

I raised an eyebrow towards it, and said, "Like how?"

"I can drain your man—h-hey, don't turn away! I beg you! Let me finish!"

(A Few Moments Later)

I looked at the scythe, still skeptical, and said, "Now, speak!"

"A-As I was saying, I can drain your mana so that I can transform into my cool and badass form. You will also grow stronger along with me! Isn't that great? And, as a bonus, I will take on the form of whatever your innate magical element is! That means if you are a double or triple elemental magic user, then I can also use those elements!" The scythe said, overly enthusiastic.

My eyes widened a bit.

If it can take on any of my innate elemental affinity and use it on its own, that means this scythe is extremely useful to me! I can use spatial magic and time magic, provided I wield this!

"But there's a limit on how much I can use them. The stronger the element is, the harder they are to control for me. But if it's just the basic 5 elements, then I can use them more proficient than any mages or wizards in the golden continent!" It said, boasting its abilities.

I turned to look at the elf man, and asked, "Can I test it for a bit?"

He smiled, and said, "Sure, just don't cause any damage to my home."

I nodded, and touched the handle of the scythe.

For a moment, it was quiet, and then…

Suddenly, the scythe yelled in shock and joy, "Holy sh*t! You have this many elements!? What kind of monster are you!?"