Ego...
'Nope. Sounds like a supervillain.' Alex thought in his head.
"No, but I assume it is related to all this soul stuff we've talked about." Alex responded instead.
Alan nodded, "Yes, Egos are basically... um... fake souls, I guess you could say. Haha!"
Alan's laugh made Alex cringe but he didn't say anything about it.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Egos are more complex than just being a fake soul, but that is because they aren't completely alive or completely inanimate. Real souls are often used in the creation of Ego weapons but their souls are completely different than what they used to be.
"They lose a large majority of their strength and are basically reverted into a child. An Ego basically has the mentality of a child and they will learn and grow just the same but won't ever grow into an adult. Also, they can't make complete thoughts, unlike humans.
"Weapons especially, only think about killing and whenever they kill an enemy or are fed a source of energy to strengthen their 'soul,' they grow stronger. No matter how strong they get, they can never become highly sentient like humans but can be dangerous enough to kill a high Ring evolver.
"They are dangerous, but also very useful since they can bind to your own soul through your aura, and grow with you. Egos weapons are highly sought after and are often the reason for the deaths of high-level Ring evolvers.
"The more Egos you have at your disposal, the stronger you are. Egos can help bridge the gap between Rings and that is why we have no aliens like you."
Alex smiled wryly and admired the weapon that buzzed happily like a child. It really did move on its own and its aura flickered around with its own thoughts.
"The auras of Egos are much purer than ours mostly because we bypass the 'fleshy vessel.' It does still have a vessel which is the weapon itself but there is no need for it to be filtered. That is something that is still being researched but most could care less about the specifics.
"As long as it is strong and powerful, that is what people consider a strong Ego weapon rather than the purity of its aura or its functions."
Alan watched Alex admire the weapon and even let him interact with it a bit. The weapon felt a bit weird in his hands as it tried to move around and when he let go, the dangerous weapon spun around him like some sort of pixie, and the metal hummed in his ears.
Alan widened his eyes as he remembered something and chuckled a bit.
"By the way," He got Alex's attention, "I think there is another thing about one of your skills related to Egos."
Alex widened his eyes, which one? He wasn't aware of it himself and tried to figure out which one and had his own thoughts.
"That chain art thing you've shown me in our spars," Alan began and Alex realized what he was getting at, "I think that chain art allows you to turn a normal weapon into an Ego temporarily. I don't know how that is possible or how you got it, but that is a skill that could give you many enemies if found out.
"To be able to create Egos out of nothing essentially, it is a weapon that anyone would kill you and your loved ones to get. Basically, your entire existence is a danger to this world so if you want to survive, make sure you keep your mouth shut about your stats and just say you are an injured young noble from a far away land or some bullshit like that."
Alex agreed that he was a danger to those he cared about and this entire city. Sooner or later, the things he did in the Ether forest to help the Mantrigelds will be found out by the noble families of the capital and he had to try and become as strong as possible before they started coming after him and his loved ones.
If Egos really were a way to help bridge the gap as Alan said, then he would make sure to have a shit load of chain weapons at his disposal.
"I brought you here to explain to you just how powerful Egos could be because I have a weapon that even I couldn't tame but you might be able to." Alan sighed and went over to the back wall.
Alex furrowed his brow. An Ego Alan couldn't tame? Just how powerful would that weapon have to be then?
"We don't really give Ego's rankings, but if I had to put it on our Ring scale, I'd have to say its probably already a 7th Ring."
Alex widened his eyes. This old man had something stronger than him living in his basement? Was that even safe?
"And I want to give it to you... hopefully..."
Alex cried on the inside. Wasn't he just trying to kill him again? Did he really think he could tame such a powerful weapon?
On the back wall were E-stones with darker colors like green and blue. Purple stones were coveted by the headquarters of the main guilds across the continent and by royal and high noble families. It was impossible even for Alan to get something like that.
The back shelf Alan brought him to had a seemingly normal box, but was engraved in burn marks that reminded him of the symbols he saw on his rings. Over the box was then a chain and lock also covered in those symbols.
"What are those?" He couldn't hold in his curiosity.
Alan followed his finger and answered, "Runes. An ancient form of writing specifically for casting spells and making enchantments. It is a very difficult profession but it is always highly sought after. Professional Rune Masters almost always get a spot in the king's court and live a life of luxury.
"That's why Runes are always so expensive. Even when low-level Rune masters make them since it takes a long time, a lot of labor, and a lot of expensive materials."
Alex nodded as Alan grabbed the box and undid the chain lock. Once the lock came undone, the box suddenly started shaking and a metal scraping screech echoed in the room. Both of them had to cover their ears until it stopped screeching as much and it became more bearable.
Alex's ears were bleeding a bit and he stuck his fingers in his ears to try and clear them. Alan looked like he was trying to talk to him but Alex tried to communicate back that he still couldn't hear. Whatever was in the box was clearly mad and continued to rock the box around and screech.
When Alex got his hearing back, Alan repeated himself.
"What's in here is a weapon I got from a mid-level dungeon. I have no idea how a dungeon of the level I got it from could produce such a thing, but even I can't handle it, however, I think you can."
Alex looked at Alan weirdly. Tame whatever was in that box, hell no! Seemed more like a dance with death and he already got his fill of that!
"Don't worry," Alan reassured him horribly, "Use that strange chain art of yours and you should be fine...maybe. I'll help you if I can but I already know this thing hates me so I'd rather not try to get near it."
Alex paled as Alan poured his essence into a stone on the floor with his feet. The stone lit up red and started spreading to all the other stones along the ground and making its way up the walls. Whenever the red color crossed a shelf or wall, the wall or shelf would open up and pull the weapons inside it so that it was covered.
Then the shelves on the walls and shelves slowly moved into the walls or down into the floor until the room was now a normal metal box. The e-stones continued to glow red, only making the situation more scary, and the door to this room quickly closed as the wall moved back into place and trapping them here.
This only concerned Alex more. They were locking themselves in here with this thing?!
"What happens if we can't tame it?!" Alex yelled at the old man scared.
"We try to get it back in the box!" He yelled back and placed the box on the far wall as they stepped back, "If that doesn't work, well... good luck, I have a way to get out of here."
He laughed and Alex paled. He was basically dead if he couldn't win over this Ego weapon. Was that even possible? He didn't even have essence so how could he connect it to his aura.
"How do I even tame it?!" Alex almost forgot the most important thing.
"Normally you use your essence to calm or overpower it," Alan began making Alex cry inside, "since you don't have essence, you'll have to do with the old fashion way..."
Alan looked to his pale apprentice and grinned a devilish grin.
"Pure brute force."
Alex was ready to throw up. If a 6th Ring couldn't even tame it, how could a 2nd Ring even hope to do the same with only brute force? Alan gave him no time to think as he held his arm out in front of him slightly and his essence flowed out of his body invisibly and touched the rocking, screeching box.
The runes on the box slowly started to dim and the box got rowdier as if knowing it would soon be free. Alan looked one last time at Alex who was sweating and took a deep breath himself before getting rid of the last rune.
"Don't die."
"That is not helpful at all!" Alex said as the lid of the box shot open.
*SCREEEEEEEEEE!!!!*
Another loud metallic screech echoed in the chamber as something shot straight up and hit the roof. It bounced off with an ear piercing clang and shot toward the wall the two of them were at. They both ducked off to the side as it aimed between them.
It hit the wall that was once the door and made it dent! Just how strong was this weapon?! The weapon screeched in anger as it tried to find a way out of the room only for it to only leave some dents or scratches on the walls.
After it realized it couldn't leave, it calmed down a bit. It didn't screech as loudly and slowly slithered like a snake along the roof, floating only a few inches below.
Alex was finally able to lift his head and see what he was dealing with since it was too fast for him to keep up.
His eyes widened as he saw a long metal chain coiling around itself like a snake. Alex knew why Alan said his chain art would work since it was a chain weapon. However, rather than a weapon, it looked more like a metal serpent to him!
He couldn't see the "head" of the weapon, but its body was massive! It was a long series of common links about the size of one you might find on a sailboat back on earth, however, it every once in a while would flare up its aura, and the size of the chains would suddenly thicken until it was more like a giant anchor chain you might find on a ship like the titanic.
It's aura pulsed like it was breathing and covered pretty much the entire ceiling. It kept making its metal screeching noise a bit lower this time and Alex could also see sharp spines come off of it every few chains.
Whatever this thing was, was extremely deadly. Slowly, Alex saw it calm down further and the number of chain links started to get smaller. The chain was somehow able to grow longer or shorter at will!
Alex shivered while Alan looked to him before shooting his eyes at the chain. Alan wanted him to tame it but he had no confidence in that. Either way, it was either tame it or die so he would at least go down trying.
He tried to calm his heart while thinking of the Lost Art skill he had. He still knew very little about it but he had a natural affinity with chain-like things, especially weapons, and was able to use his aura to help control it. However he felt that the chain's aura was stronger than his.
He wouldn't be able to control it completely, he could only reason with it...
With a shaky heart, he began to channel the Lost art, as his aura slowly made its way to the chain monster. When his aura was barely a yard away from him, the "head" of the chain turned toward him.
"Watch out!" Alan yelled at him as the "head" shot itself toward Alex.
Alex reacted on instinct and leaned to the side as the chain hit him. The chain head dug deep into his skin and dragged across his body before it hit the back wall and ricochet off it. Alex winched in pain as the weapon left a deep gash all the way down his torso.
His muscle quickly became exposed and he paled at just how strong it was with a "graze." He quickly continued to channel his Lost Art, getting the weapon agitated and started trying to dodge its attacks. Alan tried to help by holding on to the end of the chain but would be thrown off eventually whenever it spun around quickly and increased its size to knock them both around.
Several times Alex would almost die, as it aimed for vital areas like it knew what it was doing. He tried to grab onto it a few times, only to break fingers when it yanked itself out of its grasp. It continued screeching in his ears, making it harder to focus so he worked harder to calm it down.
The spines on the chains were the most dangerous since they were thin, sharp, and difficult to see with its fast movements. There were also a lot of them so whenever he got to close, he would end up with several deep wounds.
Both him and Alan racked up wounds, with Alex being worse since he was weaker and the main target of the chain. Eventually, Alan got a good grip on the back of it and was able to hold it in place.
"Do something now if you were waiting for a good chance!" He yelled to the freeloader who quickly acted.
He channeled the art as much as he could, almost doing a kind of Taiichi, and led the chain to flow with his arms and follow his aura. The chain followed his aura trail roughly, still attacking him and leaving bad wounds in his body as it was now very close to him.
Alex had to grit his teeth through the whole thing as his body was being torn slowly. The now slow-moving chain dragged his body around with his aura and finally began settling down. Just when Alex thought it couldn't get worse, he suddenly felt hundreds of spines puncture his body.
"GAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" He screamed out in pain.
The chain coiled itself tightly around him, suffocating him and digging the spines deeper into his body. Important organs got pierced and he did his best to move his body to prevent the spines from hitting any more fatal areas as his vision went dim.
He fought to stay awake as the chain slowly shrunk and began melting into his skin. Alan watched the process in wonder as this was a different way most Ego weapons bonded with their owners.
Some Egos stayed physically separate, while some became a part of their body, like an extra limb. It all depended on the weapon but there were rare times when they became tattoos and such that could be summoned.
What's worse, is that most Egos wouldn't attack their owners after the bonding process began yet this Ego decided to try and kill Alex as it slowly melted into his body.
He figured this strange Ego would be one of the rarer breeds but it was still shocking to watch the process in person. Plus, Alex wasn't doing this the normal way since he had no essence to bond with it.
He was pretty much forced to make a bond with his body as a medium.