James was nervously waiting in the hall for Zaeus to return with his weapons, he tried to redeem them in the shop menu at first but was told that he had to ask high-ranking officials of the War God's temple to give them to him.
Excitement filled him, he simply couldn't wait. Even though he couldn't use any of the weapons thanks to him being a swordsman, just seeing their full effects was already something to get excited over. The only people he had ever seen wielding Divine weapons were Leaders of Apex powers, and even then, most of them didn't have them. Even when they were lucky enough to acquire such a weapon, they would rarely take it out, they would use it mostly as a symbol of their power, only using it when they knew there was no chance of losing it. James had also heard of some extremely lucky individuals who weren't part of an apex power getting their hands on pieces of Divine equipment, but none of them managed to keep them. Most of them decided to just sell their equipment to an apex power, and the ones that decided to keep them got hunted down.
While he tried to calm down James saw Zaeus walking back into the hall from behind his purple throne. In his left hand, he was holding a white ancient-looking branch that seemed to be holding a pearl around its top swirl, the staff had little speckles that shined brightly all over it, making it look like a white starry sky. Zaeus seemed to be averting his eyes every time he came close to glaring at it.
In his right hand, he was holding a cloth covering his hand, around 3 inches above this hand a mighty spear was gently floating. Zaeus seemed to be dedicating most of his attention to not accidentally touching the spear, which intrigued James. How many secrets did this spear hold?
"Here you are you man, this staff is really dear to me. Make sure that its next owner is truly worthy of holding her will you."
Zaeus lightly pushed the staff in James's direction, making it slowly float toward him. He was so concentrated on catching it that he almost didn't catch the little tear running down Zaeus's cheek while he was looking at the staff. Only when he inspected the Divine weapon did he realize why Zaeus had become so emotional.
[Luminous Starlight] (Divine Rank, Two-Handed Staff)
Equipment Requirement: Strength 30,000, Intelligence 100,000
Class Restriction: Summoner
Attack Power (600% of Intelligence)
Attack Speed (5% of Agility and Concentration)
Attributes will be adjusted according to the user's Level and Tier.
When Equipped:
Attacks ignore Monster Level +150
Attacks ignore 100% of the target's Magic Defense
Attacks ignore 50% of the target's Divine defense
Decreases mana and Concentration consumption by 60%
Increases the density of mana around you by 200%
Forms a thin layer of Eternal Energy around the user.
Summons last 200% longer
Life rating of summons gets increased by 50%
All summon-type skills +4 Ranks (up to Tier 6 Peak)
Attributes of summons +100% per Tier of the summoner
Increases Intelligence by 500%, Agility by 250%, Strength by 200%, Endurance by 150%, and Vitality by 150% All Attributes are increased by 50% per Tier
Additional passive skill 1 – summon strengthening
Increases the Tier of any summoned creature by 1, to a maximum of Tier 6. If the target is already Tier 6 it will get a bonus in attributes.
Additional passive skill 2 – beast link
Attribute points from the summoner can be transferred to the summoned beast and vice versa. If the summoned beast dies while this link is being utilized the effect of the skill will be nullified, and the summoner will gain an attribute debuff depending on how many stat points were exchanged.
Additional Passive Skill 3 – Celestial Enlightenment
During the night, Intelligence is increased by 50% per tier.
Additional Passive Skill 4 – universal clarity
During the night, your whole being gets empowered, and everything from your concentration and mana density to your skills raises by 1 Tier. Up to Tier 6 (this doesn't include the user's actual Tier).
Additional Active Skill 1 – Moonlight Rage
Use the power of the stars gathered and condensed by the pearl to forcibly increase the user's Tier by 1 for 10 minutes, up to Tier 6.
Cooldown: 96 hours.
Additional Active Skill 2 – Call of the Night
Summons a Moonlight Phoenix which is Tier (Player's tier + 1), up to Tier 6. Gains 150% of the summoner's Attributes. Does not stack with Moonlight Rage or other ways to temporarily increase one-tier.
Duration: 15 minutes.
Cooldown: 24 hours.
Additional Active Skill 3 – Darkness decent
Call upon the night, swap the day to night.
Duration: 20 minutes
Cooldown: 10 days.
During the battle with the Ancient Gods, The Moon Goddess Aphine used her own life force to turn herself into the Luminous Starlight. With tears in his eyes, War God Zaeus used his wife's legacy to partially turn the tides of the war. The Luminous Starlight can be seen crying at night, during a Full Moon.
James felt truly baffled while seeing the stats of the Divine staff, now this was a weapon worthy of being called a Divine weapon. When reading the description, he also realized why Zaeus had shed a tear while handing the staff over.
"Don't worry sir Zaeus, I will bestow this on a user that is worthy of carrying your wife's legacy."
Zaeus's somber look turned around when he heard this as he felt relieved but most importantly grateful.
"Thank you, young man, I trust you."
Then he pushed the spear toward James the same way he had done with the staff, but right before it reached him Zaeus pulled it back a little, preventing James from touching it.
"There are a couple of things you need to know about this Divine weapon before I can give it to you. The first thing is that it isn't a spear, nor does it have the name that you think it has."
The spear then turned into countless light particles all filled with seemingly unlimited divine might, all rushing towards a single point in the middle of the spear. Leaving only a ball of Divine might where the powerful spear once was. James was so shocked he couldn't even ask a question; he was just waiting for some more explanation on the edge of his seat.
"This Divine weapon is called [Spirit Weapon Orb], It might sound tacky, but that is truly a befitting name because this orb can transform into any kind of weapon. There is a catch though, this weapon is made with a Divine weapon spirit of every kind of weapon. That is how it is able to transform and keep its power of a divine weapon, but there is also a rather big side effect, to be able to transform into a certain form, you need to gain approval from said spirit. This might sound quite simple but believe me, it is far from that. Even I myself tried to get acknowledged by the great sword spirit some time ago, alas, he rejected me right away. That is to say, we will take the orb back if you fail to get acknowledged by a spirit, the merit points you paid are just a fee to try and get this weapon, nothing more."
Zaeus stopped talking for a second while looking at the orb, seemingly full of regret. This slight pause gave James some time to think, he was extremely nervous after all. This was his first and probably the last chance in a long time he was going to get, to get his own Divine weapon. He tried to calm himself down by thinking about his title, [Blessing of the God of Swordsmanship], that should count for something right?
Thinking about it even deeper James started to become curious about the orb's power, The staff he had just inspected was already incredibly powerful, yet not only did this [Spirit Weapon Orb] cost more merit points, but it was also only a try at getting it.
"I assume you are going to try to get acknowledged by the Spirit of the One-handed sword, she is seen as one of the more difficult ones, so good luck young man."
The orb proceeded to fly towards James, who stuck his hand out to catch it. He didn't manage to do that though since the orb passed right through his hands, like it didn't exist, and flew straight into his body. Seemingly attaching itself to James's soul.
Wondering what to do now James just tried to think about the orb, and surprisingly the information widow showed up.
[Spirit Weapon Orb] (weapon, Divine Rank)
Equipment Requirement: 10,000 Strength
Additional Active Skill 1 – Transform
Transform the Spirit Weapon Orb into any weapon in existence, to do so you must have permission from the Divine weapon spirit of the specific weapon you want.
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Additional Active Skill 2 – Devour
Can devour any weapon of the Spirit Weapon Orb's Grade or below, 10% of the Devoured weapons Attributes, attribute enhancers and other passive boosts will be absorbed. All skills the absorbed weapon possessed will also transfer to the Spirit Weapon Orb. Only able to absorb weapons of its own class while in weapon state, absorbed attributes and skills do not transfer between weapon forms. (If you absorb a one-handed sword those Attributes and skills will only show on the one-handed sword form)
Cooldown: Depends on the Grade of the absorbed weapon with a minimum of 1 day for Dark-Gold and every grade above those +2 days.
Additional Active Skill 3 – Soul Protector
The Divine weapons Spirits near the user's soul protect it when it is in danger, negating 1 true death. Afterward, no weapon is usable for the next 24 hours thanks to the amount of power the spirits have lost.
Cooldown 10 days.
The creator of this weapon is unknown. It is made through the combination of countless divine weapon spirits, all trapped within countless Divine engravings.
James couldn't help but drool over the skills of the [Divine Weapon Orb], there might not be many, but every one of them was the best of the best. Especially the Devour skill which seemed to have no upper limit, that was unheard of.
Setting these thoughts aside for the moment James calmed himself before using the transform skill to transform the orb into a one-handed sword. As he expected the orb didn't form into a sword, the particles of light wrapped themselves around James dulling all his senses and making his vision pure white.
After some time, this white light faded and his senses started to slowly return, but unlike the challenge grounds he was expecting, he stood in a big field of lush grass as far as the eye could see. Nothing was on this grassland except a small glass outdoor table with a white frame, 2 chairs that fit the table standing opposite of each other, and an umbrella standing on the table giving the whole setup some shade. One of the chairs seeded a beautiful young lady, that seemed to be in her 20s, she looked like an angel, James simply couldn't keep his eyes off her.
After a few seconds of James staring at the young lady, she lightly smiled and motioned to the chair opposite hers.
"Would you mind having a cup of tea with me, mister Matthews?"
The sudden mention of his name made James snap out of his daze, putting his guard up yet again while walking towards the chair.
"Of course not, I would be delighted to have some tea, miss?"
"You don't have to be so formal, call me Angelina. You would also know me as the divine weapon spirit of the one-handed sword."
James nodded while taking a sip of tea.
"So, Angelina, would you mind telling me how I would get the acknowledgment of such a beautiful lady as yourself."
Angelina just lightly chuckled when hearing James flatter her.
"Flattery isn't going to give you extra points mister casanova. All of that aside though there is no need for you to earn it, you already have my acknowledgment."
James couldn't help but give a surprised look after he heard Angelina.
"If you don't mind me asking Miss Angelina, is it because of my title."
"Well yes, and no, that title gives me a better perception of you sure, but that sure as hell isn't enough to get acknowledged by a Divine Weapon spirit. The main reason I think you are worthy of wielding me is because of the second effect of the title and your potential. You know how it is possible for the devour effect to be so powerful?"
James pondered for a moment but truly didn't know the answer, he honestly found it a skill with too much power. Even a divine weapon shouldn't be able to have that.
"It is because of flaws, as you know this skill is too powerful for a Divine weapon, even if it is one of only 3 skills it possesses. To compensate for this disturbance of the balance of power 2 flaws appeared in the weapon, the first one is that you will feel more and more pressure on your consciousness the more weapons you feed to it. Even someone with Tier 6 upper-grade concentration would not be able to wield me after more than 15 Legendary Rank weapons were absorbed. The second flaw is that all stats and skills dispel once the weapon changes owners. That first flaw is also why I acknowledged you so fast, that title of yours doesn't have unlimited power when it comes to influencing me, but for some reason, it seems to dispel all the backlash given by the Devour skill. You are the first person that I have ever met that can truly bring out my full potential. That is why I acknowledged you so fast."
After listening to the explanation James could only marvel at the power of his title, to be able to completely dispel the backlash of a Divine rank weapon. Before he was done admiring his title James got a notification and started slowly losing his senses yet again.
System: you have been acknowledged by the Divine weapon spirit of the one-handed sword; The Spirit Weapon Orb has been bound to your soul.
Already fading away James fell into a slight panic, he still wanted to ask Angelina many things, especially about her knowing his real name.
"Will I be able to see you again in the future Angelina?"
"Are you going to miss me that much James?"
She said with a playful smile.
"Don't worry, now that you are the official owner of the Spirit Weapon orb, our souls are bound to each other, we are one, and you can call upon me whenever you'd like."
Now relieved James's senses disappeared yet again for a moment before appearing again in the grand hall, with all the elders and especially Zaeus staring at him.