The Weapon Grave(Part 3)

The bow was an artifact so truthfully it did not require that he have any arrows which was good because he had none but it did require mana but even Rowan knew that if he used soul force things would take a turn but at this point he had no choice. He dropped to one knee and pulled back on the string of bow as he aimed at the approaching spear knowing the consequences of what this action would have. A milky white arrow began to form on the string, it had cost Rowan just a single point of soul force but it blazed to life as a magnificent white arrow and he released it. At the same time the arrow left the bow the bow crumbled to dust. Such a low tier artifact could never hope to bear the brunt of soul force and so it didn't this arrow was its last.

The arrow met the spear and split it in half like a hotdog that had been cooked too long. Orellia widened her eyes in surprise, but not even she was able to stop the arrow that encompassed her midsection and moved so fast that it was really just a beam of light. It acted faster than even the badge was able to react as it tore through her and turned her into a corpse. Rowan shook his head. He had killed before, but this time; he felt bad for a moment; she was a soldier following the orders of an idiot and she had not only been eliminated but died for it, most of her midsection now missing. The crowd had gone completely silent at this point. Arlo shook his head and began to make his way to the next stage, but Jason had a look on his face that was one of pure rage. Rowan looked at him and shook his head, "She died a pawn in your game, careful you think yourself better than just a pawn in someone else's."

Jason turned and stalked away with his entourage and most of the crowd, who were still speechless. Rowan turned to Feng, "You should go as well. Don't lag behind. I'll see you at the next stage." Feng opened his mouth to say something and then closed it, he knew that his friend had his own plans and just chose to trust him. He darted away, but Rowan did notice that where he stepped, a rune would appear and vanish in the same breath, showing that he, too, had made significant improvements and he would not need to worry so much anymore. It made him more comfortable with the fact that he would not be attending the academy with his friend. He turned towards the sky and smiled while the platform was awaiting his request. He could tell by the steady glow that had now surrounded it.

"All weapons. I want all the weapons." The light around the platform began to dim and all of a sudden, a rainbow light slammed down with Rowan at its center. He had come to this conclusion on his own, thanks to his new path he knew that there was one last thing he needed to fully complement his evolving fighting style and that was knowledge of all weapons but he had taken it a step farther and has used this moment. Knowledge began to burrow into his mind for weapon after weapon. After an hour, blood had begun to pour from his nose. After another hour, it began to pour from his eyes, and this continued for another hour. Finally, it ended and Rowan collapsed and took several deep breaths. He then heard Empry's words in his head. "You are lucky that it did not kill you. If not for how strong your soul is or its fusion with your main body, the process would have killed you… Was it worth it? Reaching the intent stage in every weapon known to man."

Rowan dragged himself to his face and began to slowly trod forward towards the next platform. Empry was right, the process had almost killed him. He was severely weakened but he had reached the intent level with every weapon known to man. It was a risk worth taking. It was also one he had to take. He could never train all of these weapons at once, he needed a shortcut and this was it. What he did not realize was that in the process his soul needed more strength and it had used his flesh for it. The armament skill coated him in a layer of fake skin and to not have to worry about it he had coated his entire body so not even he knew that most of his chest was now his new form and it had begun to stretch downwards towards his legs.

"Yes Empry, I did. I could never take the time to embark on this road one by one, not if I'm going to be joining my master in a short amount of time and battling actual gods. I need whatever leg up I can get, and that's what this is here for. This is everything that I needed to reach my master. This is the last piece of my puzzle towards my own unique godhood." Rowan smiled and began to speed up. Hopefully, by the end of this trial, I will be able to make it to at least the force stage." Empry chortled, "Yes, that would be rather fortunate."

Empry, on the other hand, knew the truth of the weapon's grave. The stumps that were the battle arena were, in fact, world trees. This forest that was once enemy territory was also populated by five world trees. The king had refined them into their current state and made it so that they were not fully visible, but the arena was in fact a still living world tree that was partly hollowed and invisible to the eye. Rowan had been able to find his way so easily because his hyper vision was able to see the towering tree. The thing was, though, he did not know what a world tree was and did not ask Empry. Empry would have told him the knowledge that a world tree held, and each stage here represented a tree that was older than the last. The thing was that normally a person would only be able to take a portion of this blessing because of their soul strength. Rowan was able to take the whole thing. His own master had used his laws of devouring as a child to contain all the knowledge of a single leaf, which made his attainments in the sword move forward by leaps and bounds. This alone spoke to how blessed Rowan was.

Empry knew that now that Rowan had survived the first time, he would do it again and again and ultimately he would open a soul seed for every weapon after the fifth. The boy would be powerful enough to contend with gods, despite still not being a demigod. He would advise him to breakthrough after this trial because at this point the only thing that was truly holding him back was his cultivation, which was coincidentally the easiest thing for him to raise.

Rowan reached the second platform with a low tier sword. He had not bothered looking for weapons, this was just the weapon he had come across. The whole crowd was waiting for him as he made his way, but this time, standing in the ring, was Vincent. He held a mace in his hands that looked like flowers braided together and the head was an open lotus. It thrummed with power as he took a test swing and waited for Rowan. His force was a sickly green that coated the weapon. He waved it again, and the air sizzled as it passed. His force had a special quality, a mark that it was advanced then Orellia. No words were shared, the crowd watched in silence as the two faced each other and then Vincent charged. Rowan's own sword force coated his blade and the blade pulsed with vermillion light. Without his attunement his aura was stripped to just his bloodline abilities. At times the aura would flare and spike and it did this several times before it coated the blade and made its entire edge seem serrated. Rowan had not only stepped into the first level of force he had surpassed it and stepped into its second stage with the sword. Rowan injected a single point of soul force once more but this time the aura kept the blade together while the soul force sprang into action and began to rotate along the blade like a chainsaw.

Vincent finally reached him and swung down but Rowan met it with the edge of the blade and sparks fellow in the air as the boy was batted to the side. Orellia was a better fighter than him. Rowan kicked him in the chest and sent him skidding backwards as he righted himself and charged once more. He slammed down, and the aura extended and punched out towards him. Rowan side stepped it and slashed upwards and decimated the aura. Rowan slid in next to him and lowered his shoulder, sending the man airborne before Rowan executed a series of slashes that sheared his body over and over before the badge saved him. Rowan had no desire to kill another pawn. So, as he finished his attack, he landed and stared directly at Jason. Rowan had set his sights on the pawn who thought himself a player and thought to himself as every person charged towards the forest to find a new weapon and make their way to the next stage while Rowan braced himself for the pain that was going to come with his victory.