Whoosh!
Like an iron ball that had been fired out of a cannon, Nash traveled the distance between him and the statue in a blink, and in no time at all arrived before it with his fingers already clenched into a tight fist, ready to punch forward.
"HA!"
Putting all of his might behind the strike that his 64 points of Physical Strength and his 62 points of Agility could provide, Nash threw out a powerful punch before hitting the statue right in the middle of the chest!
And right as he did, a sight neither Nash, Revio, nor Erys expected to see happened.
BOOM!
"Wha..." Nash watched with stupified expression as the statue before he exploded into small pieces of debris before getting blasted away by the mighty shockwave that his fist carried!
Nash stood in one place with widened eyes, hardly believing that what just transpired was true and was a not just a hallucination.
'Maybe this statue was the weakest among all the rest?' such thought flashed through Nash's mind as he couldn't imagine otherwise how he was able to one-hit-kill something that was previously capable of surpassing his Souls.
'Or maybe I was completely underestimating my strength all this time?' Nash thought to himself as he glanced at his hand with a deep pondering look.
All this time, although he thought he had power and had strong physical strength, he never knew just how strong he truly was as he had yet to test it out wholly. However, after witnessing what happened just now, he could say it with genuine confidence that he was strong, strong to the point where only a few on the same level as him would have the chance to compete; naturally evolved and mutated beasts were not counted!
After staying silent and pondering for a while, Nash raised his gaze and looked around. It seemed that every statue was killed, and the whole hall was cleared out from hidden dangers and enemies.
"And here I thought I will have a hard time dealing with this statue..." Nash shook his head helplessly and without caring about the matter any longer, he began to ascend the stairs toward the platform.
Soon, he was standing at the very top, his eyes fixed on the weapon that was rooted deep into the platform with only its hilt visible.
Although only the hilt was visible, Nash couldn't help but feel that whoever crafted was an expert beyond words. The hilt's grip was about a foot long and was wrapped up carefully in black leather while its cross-guard and its pommel shone with a bright green color, seemingly crafted from well-polished emerald.
However, the most eye-catching factor was not its hilt, which alone emitted the expert blacksmith's meticulous yields, but the terrifying aura that oozed out of it from time to time. The longer Nash looked at it, the more he felt his body shake unwillingly, but at the same time also felt a kind of warm and pleasant sensation getting stronger in his chest by the second!
'What is this feeling?' Nash clenched his chest with a slight frown, feeling as his heartbeat became stronger and faster without any sign of calming down.
"This weapon..." Erys who arrived onto the platform gazed at the weapon's hilt with a slightly shocked face, immediately giving rise to Nash's curiosity.
"It's this weapon, right? The one with the aura similar to a Warmaster." Nash asked, but looking at Erys' expression there was no reason for her to respond, he knew he was right. As a fact, he long ago suspected it as besides the fifteen statues, which were only at the Infant Rank, only the weapon was present and nothing else, so it was easy to assume it.
Erys nodded and said with slight shock on her pretty face, "Yes, this weapon is one hundred percent the source of the powerful aura, but also, it's an Ancient Treasure!"
"An Ancient Treasure?" Nash was confused as this was his first time hearing such a concept, while Revio's eyes glittered scarcely before his complexion became calm once again.
Erys naturally understood this and explained, "Ancient Treasures, items which through unknown means underwent great changes and acquired a diminutive consciousness the moment the Ancient Path was opened, giving them the chance to get stronger just like any other race throughout the dimensions."
"Different from normal weapons, which are categorized into Grades and Class, such as World Grade and 5th Class, Ancient Weapons are categorized into different Ranks, five to be exact, which are Hollow, Arch, Imperial, Holy and Divine Rank with the first being the lowest and the last one being the highest."
"And what Rank is this weapon on currently?" Nash asked with curiosity as he gazed at the weapon's hilt.
Erys fell into silence, but soon sighed and said, "It's currently on the Arch Rank and also at its peak."
"Really? Then does that mean it will soon surpass the Arch rank and become an Imperial Ancient Treasure?" Nash felt excited even though not understanding fully just how strong such a weapon truly was.
"Yes." Erys nodded, but quickly added with a bittersweet smile, "However, it will take a lot of time as Ancient Treasures consume Ancient Particles to get stronger, and while Ancient Particles can be found basically everywhere as I told you before, the density is still low, especially here. If you wish to make it promoted to the next rank, you must at least go to the Ancient Dimension, or else you have to wait decades if not centuries!"
"I see, I will keep that in mind." Nash nodded with a serious expression and without a second thought grabbed the hilt, causing his heart to beat even faster than before while the warm feeling inside his body intensified by several degrees to the point where the blood in his veins began to boil like crazy almost as if he was immensely excited!
'This again...' Nash frowned as he initially believed the sensation he felt was because of the sword's powerful aura, but now he was sure; it was not because of it.
However, because he felt that such a feeling was not a bad thing at all and even made him feel comfortable, Nash ignored it completely and pulled the weapon out by its hilt.
BAM!
An almost blinding green light broke out from the weapon the moment Nash started to pull, forcing Nash, Revio, and Erys to close their eyes. However, they only kept their eyes closed for a few seconds as the moment Nash pulled the weapon out completely the light vanished with speed as fast as it appeared, leaving Nash standing on the platform with the entire weapon in hand!
And with a rather long one too!
"I'm not gonna lie, I didn't expect it to be this long," mumbled Nash under his breath as he gazed at the almost 51-inch emerald sword in his grasp with awe.
But soon, his awe quickly turned into shock then into confusion, as suddenly the entire weapon in his hand lit up with a gentle green light while crimson symbols began to form on it one by one.
"What is happening here?" Nash looked speechless as he felt the blood in his body boil at even greater heights than previously before a voice appeared in his head.
[Perfect Resonance between Ancient Treasure 'Soul Breaker' and Legacy 'Dimension Refining Physique' achieved!]
[Blood Contract has been formed!]
And just as those words sounded in Nash's head, the longsword in his grasp exploded with a mixture of green and blood crimson color, painting everything in the hall with that bloom!
BOOM!