936 Story

[I guess, a Sword Spirit can't be classified as a living creature even though they can think and speak like our equal.]

"Indeed. That's a sad truth. Just like how they are treated as a part of a weapon, the Sword Spirit isn't really much different, I guess. Either way, she will be my partner who will help me, so I will not treat her like an object.

[Those who can think are living beings, I guess.]

"Yes. Even if people find it odd, I won't care much about their opinion." Alex nodded.

[Haha. It's not that weird. Some people might think of her as a tool, but who cares about them?]

"Yeah."

[By the way, since you have gotten a Sword Spirit, the Sword can be delivered to you sooner than we have predicted. If we assume that the integration process takes several months like how she thought, you could receive in another two or three months, I guess. The time differences.]

"Alright then. I will be looking forward to seeing the sword." Alex nodded. He remembered that the consciousness needed to be nurtured first to Divine Consciousness. However, Eve originated from many God Rank Experts' blood and Divine Weapon, she didn't need any kind of nourishment and could be integrated into the weapon as soon as possible.

In fact, the whole thing could be finished in a few days. Either way, it wasn't like he wasted too much time since he might use five years in Eulja just for this training. It was quite a long run, but he needed to do it.

Alex was thinking how nice the Time Room itself was because he could train ten years while only one year passed. It was a perfect place to raise one's strength, but he realized the concept of time was more complicated than he could ever think. And the fact that the Time God paid a dear price for using such a technique, he couldn't really ask for another one.

Since there was no remnant other than the sword, Alex decided to go back to Aria because it wouldn't be good to be away from her for too long.

He didn't forget to place the tree to how it was supposed to be and followed the direction of his token that pointed directly at his other token's direction.

It took him an hour just to avoid any unnecessary fighting before finding Aria fighting a 3-Star Martial Saint beast. Wounds had covered its body, so it wouldn't take too long before it fell, but Aria's state looked not much better than the beast.

The lion roared and charged at her again, but she managed to cut it with one last slash. She then fell down while stabbing her sword to the ground, holding it to support his body.

When she spread her Spiritual Energy, she looked to the right and said, "You have returned."

"Yeah." Alex nodded and appeared beside her. "You have fought against monsters like this?"

"I challenged a 3-Star Martial Saint. Although I needed quite a big portion of my Spiritual Energy, I was able to kill it without an injury, so I thought to fight a 4-Star Martial Saint monster. It turned out to be more horrible than I expected it to be." She sighed. "Anyway, have you finished your business?"

"Yeah."

"Did you find anything?"

"Yeah. I found the cause as well."

"Really?" She was astounded for a few seconds before regaining her calm. It was not a surprise to get such a reaction. After all, Alex just said that he understood the cause with only an hour or two, even though no one could solve it in ten thousand years.

"By the way, I want to know about how the Sword God became famous on this island."

"Sure. I will tell you while I am recovering my energy." She nodded, sat on the ground, and asked Alex to protect her. "It was ten thousand years ago. Having a stalemate for far too long, the three sects decided to create a war among themselves to see who was the strongest.

"The young Sword God joined the Unsurpassed Blade Sect. His talent bloomed even further, and when he finally took part in this war, he killed five 5-Star Martial Saint when he was only a 1-Star Martial Saint. Of course, he was bedridden for two months because of the injuries, but that itself was a huge achievement.

"The elders began to favor him, but to their surprise, Elder Ravagera had become his teacher when he was unnoticed. When it was revealed, they finally recognized the power of this pair of teacher and disciple.

"Since they had nothing to hide anymore, the sect began pouring the resources to him as well. And it was at this time his talent showed its might. Despite having a late start, he managed to become a God Rank Expert within one hundred years, surpassing the fastest record.

"He then began killing the other God Rank Experts from other sects, and before long, he had become the strongest, capable of killing the other sect masters and destroying their sects. But to everyone's surprise, he suddenly decided to not participate in the war.

"He said, 'Seeing the three sects keep fighting like this has shaken the entire world and turned the world into a planet filled with despair and blood. At the same time, killing and destroying the other two may not be a good option. One can only peak when there is enough competition. That's how I become stronger, so I am ending this war and starting a new area.'

"After that, the sects decided to make a peace treaty and had a competition itself every few years. One could kill there, but not a single person could hurt even a single hair to someone who gave up. If they didn't abide by this, the other two sects would kill that person and whoever tried to protect him/her.

"There were a few things that had begun because of that revolutionary, but that was the biggest thing. When the Sword God had become a Rank 2 God, the World then focused on its expansion to nearby planets before eventually he became a God King."

Alex listened to the story and nodded with respect.

"Still, this island had turned into this, and no one understood the principle. Even the Sword God turned around while shaking his head. No one knew whether he had an idea or not because he didn't clarify if he could solve it or not. That's why I couldn't help but doubt your claim."

"I can see that, but I want to ask for another person's identity if you don't mind."

"As long as I know their legend, I might probably know it. After all, I ask my mother to tell me all types of stories, including legends of the past." She nodded with confidence.

"Then, I would like to know about the Mad Blacksmith."

"…" She suddenly stopped what she was doing and raised her vision in disbelief. "Are you seriously asking me that? No, where did you hear that title?"

"The place that has been maintaining this killing intent." Alex shrugged.

"Seriously?" She fell into deep thought. "The Mad Blacksmith was the world's enemy in the past."

"The world's enemy?"

"Yes. He seemed to be obsessed with something and planned to revive someone. He killed many people, mostly powerful people, and turned them into living deaths by using forging. There wasn't much record to begin with since the three sects might want to hide it. Unfortunately, none of them succeeded. In total, he had killed more than one million people."

"Hoh?" Alex thought for a moment before adding. "He wanted to revive his daughter."

"Was the one who turned this place into a living hell like this actually him? Have you met him?" She rose from the ground, grabbed his shoulder, and shook him gently.

"I didn't meet him, I met his creation. I couldn't say he succeeded, but he indeed created a persona."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Though I can't really tell you the details. If you want to know what it is, she is a Sword Spirit." He smiled.

"Eh?! A Sword Spirit?" She looked down for a few minutes as if she realized something important. "In the past, the Sword God said he took inspiration from someone to create the Sword Spirit… Don't tell me, the reason he didn't say anything about this island was not that he couldn't find anything, but because he knew about it that he didn't want it to be disturbed."

'But she said I was the first human she met.' Alex then thought if there was another record out there about her, and he knew about it. He then understood the whole situation. She didn't lie to him because the Sword God really never met her. "I see. That answers most of the questions."

"Now I can understand why the Sword God hid the truth. He had used the research of the world's number one villain to strengthen himself. I can't really blame him." She nodded repeatedly.

"Yeah. Anyway, can you keep this a secret?"

"Yes. But I want to ask…" She paused for a moment, hesitating to ask a question. "Is that really the real reason for this whole situation?"

"Not really. The real reason is a Divine Sword. I can say that the Divine Sword is one of the peak Divine Weapons. That is the one controlling the situation. No, I should say circulating the madness from that war continuously until now."

"So, is this the remnant of killing intent by the experts back then?"

"Yeah. Because of the passing years, I can't really feel the malice behind it, so I guess it has died long ago, leaving only an empty shell like this." Alex gave a confirmation.

"I see. I think I shouldn't check that out, right?"

"It's better to remain clueless unless you are confident you can fend off everything by yourself, it's better to not know about it because no one will try to question you about this. And you won't have the need to act clueless." Alex nodded.

"Yeah. That's what I am thinking about. I won't ask anything then. At least, I know that there is a secret here, and there is a chance for me to know about it." She smiled.

"That's good. Although I want to tell you about it, I shouldn't say too much and have you learned about it yourself. After all, this secret may kill you."

"Uhm. At least, I understand a little bit to pacify this curiosity of mine, so it's not like I will become a person who is killed by my own curiosity."

Alex smiled and nodded.