Silas took a deep breath, feeling the power of his new qi cultivation settle within him. His senses were sharper, his body stronger, and his mind clearer. But this was only the beginning. He had come too far to stop now, and there was one final task to complete—his scythe and armor.
The knowledge from his inherited memories flowed through his mind, ancient techniques passed down from the Grim Reaper King himself. Among those memories was the Fiendgod Weapon Refinement technique—a method used by Fiendgods to forge their weapons and armor with their own blood and divine power, binding them for eternity. It was a process that not only strengthened the weapons but allowed them to grow in power as their master did.
Silas stood up and unslung his scythe, the weapon he had carried for a year now but never truly refined. Its dark blade gleamed ominously in the fading light, and he could feel the weight of fate behind it. This weapon was more than just a tool—it was a symbol of his path. His armor, the black and red-accented robe, had protected him in countless battles. Now, it would be reforged to suit his newly ascended power.
"Time to begin," Silas muttered as he knelt once more, setting the scythe and armor in front of him. He cut his palm with a sharp stroke, letting his blood drip into the earth. The blood that flowed from him was no ordinary human blood—it was the blood of a Fiendgod Body Refiner, filled with the essence of death and destruction.
With his other hand, he formed a series of complicated hand seals, channeling his divine will into the ritual. The blood spread out in a thin film, and as his will guided it, it began to form a complex rune around the scythe and armor. Silas felt the immense strain on his body, but he welcomed it—this was the first step in binding his weapon and armor to his very soul.
The ritual was not a mere practice of skill, it was a contract—a pledge between the wielder and his weapon, forged in blood and battle. As the rune took shape, Silas began to chant the ancient words of the Fiendgods, a language long forgotten by mortals but still living in the memory of the Fiendgods. His voice was low and filled with authority, the words resonating with the very fabric of the world around him.
The blood in the rune shimmered, then erupted in a wave of dark energy, surrounding the scythe and armor. The weapons hummed, absorbing the power of Silas's blood and divine will. Dark tendrils of energy extended from the rune, wrapping around the scythe and armor, and slowly seeping into the metal. The scythe's blade began to pulse with a new, more sinister energy—an aura of death, stronger than ever before.
Silas's divine will now fully controlled the ritual, and with a thought, he activated the most crucial part of the refinement: the absorption of destructive energy. From the very essence of his being, he funneled the energy of destruction he had cultivated, infusing it into the weapons.
The scythe responded first, its blade glowing with an eerie black light. Silas watched as the destructive energy melded with the weapon, giving it a sense of life—dark, cold, and unyielding. He could feel its thirst for battle, its readiness to cut down anything in its path.
Next was the armor. The black and red robe began to ripple, absorbing the destructive energy and fortifying itself. The armor, once just a tool for defense, now became a living extension of his will. The dark energy soaked into every piece, strengthening it beyond what it had been before. It would now adapt to his power, growing stronger as he did, and offer protection far greater than it had ever done before.
The ritual continued, and the rune around him flared brighter. The final stage of the Fiendgod Weapon Refinement had begun. Silas channeled the full might of his blood and qi into the rune, and in response, the scythe and armor seemed to roar with power. They were no longer just items—they had become part of him. His weapons were infused with his very essence, and they would now evolve with him, growing in strength with every enemy he felled.
Sweat dripped from Silas's brow, but he maintained his focus. The blood rune began to dissipate as the refinement neared completion. The final act of binding was at hand. Silas raised his hand, the cut still bleeding, and pressed it against the scythe's hilt and the front of his armor. The moment his blood touched them, both the weapon and armor pulsed with life, and a surge of energy coursed through him. The connection was sealed.
The weapons now belonged to him, in the deepest, most fundamental sense. They would not only grow stronger as he did, but they would be able to grow in size and weight as he wished.
Silas stood, his body and mind both exhausted yet exhilarated. He picked up the scythe and swung it through the air. The weapon felt different now—lighter, more responsive, as if it was an extension of his own body. The dark energy surrounding it hummed with deadly intent, and Silas knew it would only grow more powerful as he walked further down the path of destruction.
He looked at his armor, and he could feel its connection to him. It was a bond stronger than steel or iron—a bond forged in blood and battle.
"Wow, what did you just do?" Red asked. As a Mortal lifeform, he was unaware of what had just taken place. While the Armstrong clan had a Fiendgod Weapon Refinement technique themselves, theirs was much worse, and Red didn't have access to it since he wasn't a Transcendent lifeform yet.
"Hmph!" Kai harrumphed. "Nothing special, just made his weapons a little stronger. I'd have done the same thing long ago if I had some weapons and armor of my own…" Kai said as he looked up at Silas.
Silas could only sigh, "Sorry, Kai. At the time, I wasn't strong enough to request a weapon and armor for a beast companion I didn't even have, but as soon as we go back to the clan, I'll have you made the best set of armor and claw weapons I can."
"As you should," Kai said with a nod of his little head.
"And you too, Red. Once you're a Transcendent lifeform, I'll get you some good armor and whatever weapon you want as well," Silas said, looking at Red.
"Thanks," Red said. He knew as a mere beast companion, he would have no right to ask the clan to make him a set of weapon and armor, so he was glad his little brother hadn't forgotten about him.
"Alright, guys, just give me a minute. I need to go through some of my new inherited memories and see if I got anything useful," Silas said as he sat down in a lotus position.
Before he started to look into his new inherited memories, though, he decided to ask the system, "Hey system… will immortal beings be able to tell I'm a divine beast or that I'm different?" He knew that upon his rank up to Transcendent lifeform, his body was much different from before, and he was worried that with one glance, any immortal would be able to tell he was special and would want to capture him to dig out his secrets, much like the Riverstone elder had wanted to do.
Silas didn't get many prompts from the system, so he was honestly surprised when it actually answered.
[No, they can tell your body is strong and that you are talented, but they can't see that you're a divine beast. Only another Grim Reaper King could tell, and even then, only if they really looked hard. Plus, the Divine Bloodline System has safeguards in place for these very situations, so do not worry.]
Silas nodded his head in relief. This had been something weighing on his mind.
After that, he started to look through his inherited memories, which were like foggy memories of a past life that you could hardly remember, and soon he found something new.
And it was another divine ability.
'Heavenly transformation?' Silas thought. He began to go through the divine ability and learned that while this was one of the most common divine abilities there was, with almost every large power having it, it didn't mean that the ability wasn't powerful.
[Heavenly Transformation] allowed the user to increase in size, and the larger one got, the more their strength would increase in proportion. And this wasn't like when a Transcendent lifeform arbitrarily decided to increase their size because their strength would not increase at all when doing this.
This divine ability actually increased one's strength the larger one got, and the larger one got was directly proportional to one's comprehension of the divine ability as well as the quality of one's divine power.