Daru stared at the faintly glowing golden cores in his hands, a gleam of anticipation in his eyes.
It took him quite some time.
However, late was better than never.
He tossed all five Novice Swordheart Cores in the air, slashing them open before they hit the ground.
Only empty, transparent husks were left, dissipating shortly after.
The golden energies danced along the edges of his tachi, cleansing it of what little rust that remained.
A loud yet illusory shattering sound then echoed the next moment.
It seemed as though only he could hear it, but Daru wasn't one to sweat the small details.
He cared more about his sword, which was now being covered by a thick, jet-black and gold aura, along with his entire right hand.
Strangely, he felt nothing.
Daru waited, as excited as a child the night before the class field trip, though his exterior didn't reflect his anticipation much.
He merely stood with a seemingly blank face and a faint smile that one could barely make out even if one stared at his face for a long time.
The unsealing process was taking longer than expected, and in his momentary lapse of focus, he didn't notice that one of the level 16 Cleaver Crickets was patrolling a little too closely to where he was standing.
It emitted a long and aggressive chirping sound, capturing Daru's attention.
He quickly turned to look, his gaze sharpening as he assumed a combat stance.
There seemed to be no problem with him grasping the tachi's handle with both hands.
A moment later, the Cleaver Cricket lunged at unbelievable speeds, but Daru was already used to it.
He had already hunted down quite a number of these specific swordspawns.
He merely raised his sword horizontally to block, but to his startlement, the iron cleaver of the cricket simply phased through his sword.
Had it not been for his fast reaction of lowering his stance at the right moment and dashing slightly forward to throw off the Swordspawn's timing and push it back with a crafty shoulder charge, his head would've been chopped vertically in two.
In any case, he survived for now...
Daru glanced at his sword before shifting his attention back to the Cleaver Cricket, who had just recovered its footing and was already lunging again.
This time, he could only sidestep to dodge, but his attacker was hot on his heels, chirping angrily as it brandished its weapon repeatedly.
Daru's footwork proved immaculate.
Despite its furious and increasingly desperate attempts, the Cleaver Cricket wasn't able to touch him.
Then, with one last sidestep, a notification appeared in front of Daru:
[The state of your Soulbound Sword has changed from Sealed >> Dormant.]
[Sword status window has been updated.]
He couldn't help but smile as the jet-black and gold aura vanished and unveiled the true appearance of his weapon: a tachi with a jet-black blade, golden edges and cross-guard, and a black handle cord wrap.
Daru couldn't appreciate its new appearance immediately.
However, it didn't take long for him to defeat the Cleaver Cricket, having already figured out its attack patterns from its earlier attacks.
With a final masterful parry, Daru rotated his wrists and moved his arms above his head for a downward slash counterattack, splitting the Swordspawn in half like a hot knife through butter.
A vital hit.
The Cleaver Cricket soon bled heavily in red cubic particles, scattering to the four winds as notifications serving as a death confirmation receipt flooded the air in front of Daru.
But he didn't even spare a glance at them, dismissing every single one with a snap of his fingers.
He couldn't wait half a second to see his updated sword status.
Daru quickly scrolled down to the part he wanted to see, his eyes momentarily widening at what he saw.
Overwhelming excitement coursed through his body.
However, his delight was reflected only by his slightly trembling hands and the tiny smile on his face.
===
Sword Status:
Name: Onimaru Kunitsuna
Type: Tachi
Tier: S
Status: Dormant - 0 / 500 Oni or Demon Essence (First Awakening)
Sword Skills: –
Passives: [Divine Comprehension (Soulbound Sword)], [Tainted Enforcer (Soulbound Sword)]
===
"Onimaru Kunitsuna…" Daru muttered his sword's name as he admired its true form.
His sword was outright gorgeous.
He wasn't able to snap out of his daze for a few seconds, but as soon as he did, he quickly tapped on his sword's now-activated passives:
===
Passive: Divine Comprehension
Description: Son of heaven, you've been both blessed and cursed by the gods to test your worth as their emissary.
Effects: Your sword will not have an innate sword skill, but you will be able to learn new ones and increase mastery through observation, natural enlightenment, and diligent practice. You will not be limited by usual restrictions.
Learned Sword Skills: –
===
Daru's heart raced wildly, and his breathing grew ragged.
He would be able to learn sword skills as long as he observed a sword skill and practiced its motions repeatedly!
A few ones used by his previous opponents immediately came to mind, and he planned to test them out immediately after reading the effect of his other passive.
===
Passive: Tainted Enforcer
Description: Having tasted unholy blood beneath a blood moon without divine supervision, Onimaru Kunitsuna succumbed, craving some every now and then.
Effects: Killing a swordspawn grants a 0.1% chance to permanently gain +1 to a random attribute. This chance increases to 2% if the Swordspawn has the [Unholy] attribute.
Gained attributes:
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Agility: 0
Stamina: 0
Vitality: 0
Perception:0
===