33 Risen#re

The journey down the new slope went by quickly, Lirian moved around with ease that left both Edith and Mordred flabbergasted.

Even they were having a hard time climbing down with two functional eyes, yet Lirian strolled over the rocky terrain like it was his back garden.

They noticed that more and more people were coming down as well, aside from those that were carrying out guard duty almost everyone from the camp had come down the slope and formed a large circle around the katana.

As they got closer Mordred saw a flash of light and suddenly the sound of someone screaming while flying through the air echoed in everyone's ears.

A boy crashed into a tree and came tumbling down with little currents of electricity still traveling through his hair.

Mordred couldn't help but notice that the boy was still breathing, it was odd since Sarah had assured him that whoever tried to touch the blade would get a shocking trip to the afterlife.

Sarah saw them approaching so she came them in a rush.

"I thought that it would kill anyone that tried to touch it?" Mordred questioned her, he wondered if she had just lied so that she could retrieve the blade and bring it to Lirian herself.

"I wasn't lying," she snapped in annoyance at the underlining accusation, "It can still kill a cultivator, but once the crowd grew around it seemed to…" she said thoughtfully trying to find the right word.

"Conserve its energy, almost as if was alive," Lirian added with a knowing smirk.

Karen nodded, it was exactly as Lirian said but once it was said aloud the students came to a halt.

"But that's impossible," Mordred said what all of them were thinking, "A sword gaining awareness, that's something that only happens to the weapons of a saint!" he said in surprise.

Lirian chuckled, "Well you know me, I'm always full of surprises and tricks."

"Now then would all of you clear away from my katana," Lirian said to the crowd and took quick steps towards the blade.

Edith watched the arching energy and with every step Lirian took the energy only seemed to grow, "Wait!" she shouted and ran forward to grab Lirian's hand.

"It's to dangerous Lirian and the energy is only growing as you get closer," she pleaded with him and pulled his arm pressing it between her soft breasts.

"As it is it won't allow anyone to approach it and only body cultivators can handle the shock, if it hits you…" she stopped not even wanting to say the words aloud, but she only received a smirk from Lirian.

"Well of course it won't allow anyone to touch it after I wielded it, how could my blade allow anyone else to wield it after I used it, it would be the blades greatest shame," Lirian's words quickly caused everyone's faces to contort into sour frowns.

He had just insulted them and didn't even show any guilt over his choice of words, but none of them said anything in complaint after what they had seen him do none of them would dare to act out against him even if he insulted them.

Lirian gently slipped his hand away from Edith and gave her a comforting smile before turning back to his katana.

As he approached he could feel the energy grow around the blade, "You must have wanted to return to me very much, to be able to do this to yourself," Lirian commented as he got closer.

He could hear the blades cries with every step he took like a child seeing its parent after being separated for a long time.

Lirian listened to the growing arcs of lightning, it crackled, it snapped, but it failed to pop, and so the cycle repeated.

"Now let's see what's wrong with you," Lirian said reaching down to pick up the blade.

Edith watched with batted breath as the students breathing came to a halt, her eyes were shaking as Lirians hand reached closer to the blade it was then that the lightning moved.

But it moved in a completely different manner than it should, the lightning reached out wrapping around Lirians hand, causing many people to gasp out loud.

Lirian smiled and quickly gave the blade a few swipes in the air, with each swipe little sparks darted in the surroundings but sizzled out almost as quickly.

Lirian sighed after a moment, 'It's such a pity but the blade can't take anymore stress or it will shatter, but the main problem is the hilt there is a piece missing and without it, it's impossible to complete the fate forging process, I was lucky enough to find the blade but to find the broken piece of the hilt I'll have to use up a hundred years of my good luck.'

"Has anyone seen the broken piece of the handle?" he asked hopefully while pointing to the broken handle that still had coiling lightning wrapped around it.

In the next second he felt like the gods of luck were on his side for the first time in history as Mordred came forward and gave him the piece he found running down the river.

"I can almost forgive you for your crimes," Lirian told him with a chuckle and took the piece.

'Almost!' Mordred cried to himself, 'I found your blade and the broken piece, and I'm still not forgiven,' he thought with a down cast expression.

Lirian stuck the tip into the ground and after placing the broken piece in place he took a quick step back expecting the change to begin, but as seconds passed nothing happened.

Lirian furrowed his brows and focused on the katana listening to the familiar sounds.

The lightning crackled…

The lightning snapped…

That's when he noticed a slight changed, until then the lightning failed to pop, but now it was deliberate as if the katana was waiting for something else.

As he thought of what to do he chose to use the system, it was currently useless for prediction, so he removed all its fate particles and used it to increase his luck.

He quickly shifted a trillion points back into the system to power it up.

The first thing that greeted him was a pile of messages and fate achievements that he gained during the expeditions and in total, thanks to the heavens chosen boon that granted him 10 times all fate particles earned he found himself with well over 4 million new fate particles.

He skipped over his fate achievements and focused on the sword.

<Tungsten Alloy Katana>

- Made from a special alloy that gives tungsten a great deal of flexibility.

- Folded 20 times creating over a million layers, granting the blade extreme sharpness.

- Condition: Cannot be used.

- The blade is undergoing the process of fate forging.

<Feats>

- The blade has awaked a consciousness due to its wielder's extreme skill.

- <Limit Breaker> - the blade has performed a task it was never meant to be able to do, as an ordinary blade it injured a creature of the second grade.

Lirian read the limit breaker feat and realized why the katana was stopping its upgrade it was because he had an almost identical fate achievement.

<Limit Breaker> - as an ordinary mortal you have done the impossible, you have slain a second-grade creature by yourself.

"You really are a greedy blade," Lirian chuckled, it turned out that the blade wanted to be wielded only by him and since they shared a fate achievement he could bind it to him and fuel its fate forging.

[System will merge the two fate achievements Y/N?]

The system prompted him and he quickly hit yes, "Also use up all the fate particles I earned," Lirian ordered, and well over 4 million fate particles rushed in to the blade from Lirians hand.

All the students saw was a ray of white light shoot out of Lirians hand and wrap around the blade concealing all wildly the arching energy, the glow around the blade grew brighter by the second and they soon found themselves raising their hands to block out the sharp light.

It was then that they heard a thundering boom in the air and as they looked up a massive black cloud hung over their heads.

"It's a lightning tribulation!" someone shouted in the crowd and they quickly began to run back in all directions, they knew the fate of those that intervened with a tribulation, not even the gods themselves would get away with intervening in the heavens judgement.

Lirian stood before the glowing blade, he could feel the forming currents of wind pulling at his clothing and pushing him around, but he held no fear of what was to come.

Mortal gear had seven grades that corresponded with the cultivation grades, mythic, mystic, exotic, king, legendary, emperor and calamity.

Lirian judged the energy he could feel in the air, from that he determined the quality of his katana and he was pleasantly surprised with the result.

'It's probably because of how much fate particles I poured into it,' he thought to himself as he reached out to grab his Mystic grade equipment.