I couldn't believe my eyes, the object certainly looked like the ability orb, yet it had slight differences. The ability orb at the academy that had granted me my garbage abilities was smooth, while this one had intricate swirling designs all over.
I was still contemplating what I was seeing when I noticed that there were still a few items in the duffel bag. One of them being a sword…emitting a golden light? Oh my God, this was an S tier beast weapon!
Generally speaking, beast weapons were were color coded based on the quality of of beast cores they absorbed. From weakest to strongest the levels were-
Blue- E Rank
Yellow- D Rank
Orange- C Rank
Red- B Rank
Purple- A Rank
Gold- S Rank
Emerald- SS Rank
I stared in amazement at my finding, it looked to be a double edged sword, about 30 inches in length. The outline of the blad glew golden while the inside was a dark black, the cross guard was golden while the hilt was black and wrapped in fine black leather.
As for SSS Rank beast weapons, they didn't exist. For one reason or another, if someone tried to enhance a SS Rank weapon it would shatter.
I was more than shocked, first this mysterious orb and now an S Rank beast weapon; if it weren't for the black Wendigo showing up I'd say I was lucky. Also in the bag was an assortment of beast cores of all colors, some food rations and a small vile filled with a shining silver liquid.
As I was inspecting the contents of my treasure trove, I felt that unmistakeable presence again. The wendigo had come back for me. I didn't have time to make a plan. So I did the only thing I could think of and grabbed the S Rank sword. I felt an explosive surge of power engulf my body as I rushed towards the opening of the tree.
Just then a giant black arm burst through the opening, narrowly avoiding me. Without pausing for a moment, I let my battle instincts take over an sliced at the arm, severing it at the bicep. The wendigo let out a terrible roar. I watched the arm tumble to the floor and kicked it deep into the room out of reach for the wendigo. They were known for being able to reattach severed limbs and I was not taking that chance.
I readied myself for another swing but this beast knew what it was doing, it backed off. I had no doubt that it would wait patiently until I had to come out.
BOOOOM!
On second thought, it was just going to pound on the trunk until it shattered to pieces. I did not want that to happen with all of my newfound treasures inside, so I braced myself and lunged out into the open. As soon as I stood up I was struck from behind and sent flying into a tree. Ouch.
Gathering my composure, I sized up the wendigo. It only had one arm and I was H rank with an S Rank weapon, the odds were still out of my favor but it was close enough. I decided it would be advantageous to surround myself in mist blanket and wait for my opponent to come to me.
I saw the look of annoyance spread on the wendigo's face as it did not want to play the disappearing game again. But it was too late I had already activated my ability. It charged forward with intense speed and shot its remaining arm into my mist, luckily I had already changed position or else I would have been skewered. Using this moment, I swung my sword at the leg of the beast and sliced it open, staggering it.
With another swing, I lodged my blade into the the shoulder of the wendigo, slicing all the way through and now completely severing the rest of the arm. I could tell that the beast was deeply enraged now, it glanced back at my direction and spun around back handing me right in the face. I dropped instantly.
The force that the beast could generate was nothing less than astonishing. Even with the added strength to my body, I had barely slowed this monstrosity down. I felt blood starting to drip down my face, that one strike must have cut me open. Still, I had not come this far just to lose to a big dog.
I stood back up and brought my sword high up over my head and heaved downward while the wendigo brought its leg up. It was quite shocking how this S Rank sword made someone so weak incredibly powerful. I watched the leg fly through the air while the wendigo lost it's balance and fell to the ground.
Now was my best chance, I leaped into the air and brought all of my strength down into a final stab attack. I landed on top of the beast and plunged my blade into its face. I didn't stop there as I pulled the blade out and stabbed again, and again and again. Finally I sliced its head clean off in a huff of blood and sweat.
I had won. I had actually beaten a top tier beast. This was unprecedented, an H Rank defeating a wendigo. Still I wasn't in the clear yet as time was ticking a d I still needed twelve cores for Pain. Checking the time I saw that I only had an hour left and a lot of ground to cover. However, that was going to have to wait until I retrieved my new duffel bag filled with goodies.
I crawled back into the tree and picked up the journal, I placed it into the bag and was struck by a thought. If this orb looked like an ability orb, what are the chances of it acting like an ability orb? This opportunity was too good not to pass up, I had nothing to lose so I placed my hand onto the orb.
(INITIALIZING…)
(COMPLETE.)
(SCANNING ABILITIES.)
(COMPLETE.)
(EVOLVING [MIST] ABILITY.)
(COMPLETE.)
What the Hell? Evolving my ability?