The Weapon Grave(Part 1)

Rowan never got to get the sleep he wanted because shortly after the streamers went into his mind, he was ejected from the tower and dropped at the entrance where the queen pulled him to her side with a wave of her hand. She slapped down a hand covered in mana directly on his chest, no less than a second later. The mana suffused into his skin through his pores and rejuvenated him. The recovery actually caused his ten point soul force pool to go up a single point as he rapidly sat up and sucked in a breath of air. He felt the mana supercharge his body once more and breathe life into him as he recovered his mana and his ability to feel things as he quickly recreated new clothing while also purging himself of the remaining shreds.

The queen looked at him and smiled. "No time for sleep. The next test starts soon. The rest of the contestants have already gone ahead. You took extra time since you ascended higher than anyone else. I will say I am surprised by the road you took with laws , or more so astounded that it worked. To achieve the same feat without the prowess of the Law tower would have been something I expected of your master, but all the same, come we need to go, the other test has already begun." Rowan sat there, rubbing at his chest with a disgruntled look on his face. "You couldn't, you know, be gentle or something? Why are you such a rough person? Did no one ever teach you how to be gentle? My chest feels like it's been pounded with hammers."

She had only fixed her eyes on him and glared before turning around and walking towards the hover car that was waiting, as she ignored Rowan's grumbling. She sat down in the vehicle and left the door open. "Hurry up. You can use the time while we get there to tell me about my great grandchildren. Despite your visitor, he only ever brings pictures. Tell me about how they are." Rowan put aside his grumbles and jumped up before getting in the car and complying because despite his words he knew that the queen had indeed helped him to recover faster, it was a boon, he wasn't injured per se but his mana reserve was completely empty and her help had even improved his soul force. So he just complied. He told her about her grandchildren as they made their way to the next venue. It was taking place in a location called the weapons grave. It was towards the depths of the city and would take them some time to get there. So shortly after talking about her great grandchildren, she began to tell Rowan about the test itself.

"Your friend is with Luna by the way at the second test but allow me to explain how it will work, much like the law tower it is designed to help young cultivators polish off portions of their skills that they previously may have neglected or not come across before their time here, the weapons grave is the same way. This time you will only be faced by the other contestants, though. The weapons grave, much like the law tower, disables all types of mana but one. You have already come into contact with this in the form of sword intent. The weapons mastery portion of cultivation is just as important as mana and law cultivation due to the effect it has on a person's ability to not only attack but defend. There are partials to the levels, but the three main levels are intent, force, and soul. In the intent stage, a person is able to imbue every action with the might of the weapon. A finger point can become as mighty as a thrust of a spear, a punch with the force of a hammer."

Reaching the pinnacle of intent, a cultivator can then enter the force stage. The force stage is just like the boost a cultivator gets from laws, the energy of the universe responds to your intent and boosts the lethality of your weapon, the degree to which is seen by how faint or pronounced of an effect it causes to the weapon. Your master, for example, his sword force alone is capable of slaying gods even without his weapon. The last stage is the soul stage. It is an integration of a person and their weapon in totality. Typically, at this stage, it gives birth to a unique ability personal to each cultivator. For example, I use a trident, my trident soul ability adds a rotational force to the bladed tips of the weapon. Now in the weapons grave, each of you will start at the same place, the starting line."

It is a race to the first platform. Along the way you must find an artifact that suits you to do battle, where each person that makes it there must battle at least one person to continue the race but the battles will not start until everyone has made it to the first platform or been eliminated. This process will continue two more times and anyone left afterwards will go on to the final trial."

Rowan was deep in thought and almost missed the explanation, but he looked up when the Queen stopped talking. "Wait, what about people born with weapon type soul afflictions? What happens if they also reach the weapon soul stage?" The queen smiled at him, pointing that out, and began to explain. "Soul afflictions are rare, but I have indeed met a person like that. The elven queen and shadow of the King Titania is one such person. A soul affliction does many things for a cultivator, but matters of the soul are still not fully studied enough to fully detail it. In the case of a weapon affliction the person will typically ease through the weapon levels quicker than others and will gain a second ability as the weapon soul stage but more than that with enough time and effort they can continue to unlock secret abilities thanks to their soul affliction. It makes it so that the end result is a cultivator that is born fit to become a god with terrifying offensive abilities if they are not killed early. They can even have a basic attunement of one of the common elements and it will be used to absolutely devastating effect. I have heard that it is part of the reason that Titania is so feared, she's the only living swordsman capable of beating your master in a sword battle. If both of them were deposited in the weapons grave, then she would win every time."

Rowan finally nodded in understanding. He had trained under Titania and understood that she was a being that was feared by most, despite her otherwise kind disposition. She was once his master's master and is now the head of his intelligence agency. It is said that there is nothing she does not see. "How did the weapons grave come to be, then? Was it another gift from my master?" The queen shook her head this time, "Yes and no, Your master in his travels across the myriad realms stumbled into a place that restricted all forms of mana other than weapon cultivation and so he stole the entire piece of land and placed it here. It's said that he stole it from the high elves, an upper echelon race of warrior elves in the myriad realms. Afterwards your master began to fill it with the Astra turned artifacts of his enemies, while he also throws his own failed creations, among other things, in here. Not even I know all the secret artifacts that may be hidden in the weapons grave, which is why I will warn you of something. While this test does require talent, there is a portion of luck to it. If someone steps on that stage with a weapon much better than yours, then only your weapon cultivation can make up for the lack of it."

Rowan could now see a crowd in the distance and knew he was approaching his destination. "Honestly, If I did not know any better, I would say that this place was made for me. Everything here is so in line with my path of cultivation that the boosts I've received from the law tower alone are monumental and if I'm not wrong, this place will be similar." Queen Vernize nodded her head. The car was coming down to land, but before it did, she had something else to say. "The reward for passing each platform is indeed in the form of more comprehension of a weapon of the user's choice as well as the points of the defeated, so choose wisely. Try to not give your young friend or the viewers a heart attack this time around."

The car landed and Rowan got out and made his way to go join everyone when he heard the queen once more. "Also Rowan, there is in fact a chance that this place was created for you. When someone looks into the future they see thousands of futures that could happen, but what if someone was so powerful that he could push entire worlds onto the path that he most wanted. Your master has been at war with the myriad realms for hundreds of years, do you truly think that this may not be simply all part of his plan? Why else does he keep his seers so hidden from the world in the first layer while the ones in the second layer are born nearly cripple. Your master is moving this entire Ark towards the future he wants to happen, and you Rowan Raid, for better or worse, are probably an integral part of it."