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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 207
There was no way to find Isna immediately.
It would've been convenient if I had at least cast a tracking spell on the orichalcum sword I gave her as a gift, but I hadn't.
Of course, even though she's someone who pulls outrageous stunts as casually as breathing, she's not stupid.
She wouldn't jump into something she couldn't handle.
At least, that’s what I thought for now.
She’s not some fanatic who follows her own path regardless of the world, nor is she being watched by surveillance squads.
Who in their right mind would dare attack the heiress of the massive Mielephon family?
No matter how hard I thought, no suspects came to mind.
“For now, let’s wait and see.”
[The number of recoverable memories has increased.]
“Already?”
[Yes.]
The memory currently available for download was the Hall of Spirits.
Just from the name, it seemed to be related to spirit arts.
I had pressed a fair number of buttons within the hall.
But if asked whether they all belonged to different categories—well, not really.
“So? What is it this time?”
[It is the Hall of Spirit Blades.]
What even is that?
The Hall of Spirits was likely associated with spirit users who wield the power of spirits.
But the Hall of Spirit Blades was a completely unfamiliar concept.
What in the world could it be?
“What exactly is the Hall of Spirit Blades?”
[There’s no way to confirm that without directly downloading it. Not at this time.]
Just like how I had the choice to retrieve memories from the hall, it meant that by continuing to clash with the Red Moon, even more features would eventually unlock.
“This is ridiculous. So I just have to keep enduring and wait until I have the leeway to receive it?”
Downloading a memory from the hall was no small burden, which is why I had delayed doing it.
Once a memory is downloaded, I couldn’t download another for a while.
In other words, if I chose to take one now, it would open up another slot.
Faced with this subtle decision, I finally made up my mind.
“Hall of Spirit Blades—retrieve it.”
[Do you wish to retrieve the memory contained within the Hall of Spirit Blades?]
“Let’s do it. Whatever hall it is, it’s not like it won’t be useful.”
Each and every memory lies in a realm that cannot be reached without accumulating history.
No doubt it would be effective.
As if responding to my decision, a dizzying sensation swept over my mind, like an alien force rummaging through my brain.
Urgh…
The backlash from recovering the memory was more intense than I had expected—much stronger than before.
Would I still be myself after this?
A tidal wave of vast memories surged forth, so intense it nearly made me gag.
“Ugh… ughhh!!”
It felt like my brain was being compressed.
They say the human brain can only store a certain amount of information.
The rest is supposedly discarded automatically.
But how many people’s worth of memories was I holding in my head now?
“Urgh… bleh!”
As I clamped a hand over my mouth to stop the gagging, Luna, face pale, rushed over and patted my back.
“What in the world are you doing!?”
Thankfully, only she saw me in this state.
If Melissa had seen, it would've been a total disaster.
“Urgh! Ugh!”
While I was doubled over from the intense nausea, Luna pressed a stream of five-colored energy into me.
“What is this…? His soul and body are shifting in real time? Is this… adaptation?”
Luna's keen observation was accurate.
Even amidst the terrible nausea, I could faintly sense real-time changes happening in both my soul and body.
If I had been just an ordinary human, my brain would have overloaded, and I probably would’ve bled out from every orifice and died.
Thankfully, the horrible nausea slowly began to subside, perhaps thanks to Luna’s healing abilities.
After about five minutes of writhing in agony, I finally caught my breath, gradually adjusting to the unfamiliar sensations.
“What did you do to shake your soul so violently… and what is this now?”
She seemed startled by the massive presence now rooted inside my body.
What kind of energy was being used this time?
Since it was the Hall of Spirit Blades, it seemed related to aura, but the power I’d obtained wasn’t aura.
Though it interacted with necromantic mana, it wasn’t necromantic mana itself either.
It was something strangely different.
Life force?
No, it was too alien for that.
Simply calling it necromantic mana didn’t fit either.
As I looked at the intangible energy swirling in my palm like a dance, I combed through the memories.
How did I even know how to do this?
What the Hall of Spirit Blades had granted me was a vast armory of weapons.
Swords, spears, axes—varied in type but mostly plain and unremarkable.
At first, I thought it had something to do with swordsmanship.
But that wasn’t it.
The power I had gained—I decided to call it Spirablade Energy.
“I need to run some tests.”
As I slowly stood up, Luna grabbed me by the collar.
“Must rest.”
“No, I’m fine. It’s not bad. I just got nauseous from the energy boost process.”
“…What are you going to do? I’ll help.”
“I can’t use the Ghost Blade yet, so I’ll start by crafting a sword.”
One thing was clear.
Whatever the memory of the Hall of Spirit Blades actually was, this power—based on my impressions and compared with the other halls—was incredibly unique and refreshing.
* * *
For me, making a sword wasn’t particularly advanced or difficult.
After all, the essence of blacksmithing is heating and hammering metal into the desired shape.
But with the Heart of the Machine God, which allowed me to understand and restructure the very composition and form of metal, there was no need to melt and forge it traditionally.
Unless I was trying to capture some profound concept within the blacksmithing technique itself.
“What are you doing?”
Luna seemed fascinated by the power emanating from me, circling around me with curiosity.
“What should I call this…? It’s kind of like parenting.”
“Parenting?”
“Yeah. Based on what I remember, this thing could turn out to be pretty temperamental.”
“Leon, did you cheat on me or something while I wasn’t looking?”
“What are you talking about? Why would I cheat on you?”
“……”
The sudden comeback made me wonder if I’d spoken too recklessly.
I grimaced slightly.
Luna didn’t say anything either.
“Anyway, there’s something like that. It’s kind of hard to explain.”
Perhaps worried about my physical condition, Luna had even flown out to the mine herself to bring back orichalcum from Master Verus.
With the mine development underway, a small amount of orichalcum and mithril was already being mined.
The quantity was minimal, but compared to before—when it was completely unattainable—it was now just a matter of time.
That makes a huge difference.
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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“Hmm... I don’t know if the material really matters, though.”
Based on what I remembered from the Labyrinthos, all the prototype weapons had been simple iron swords.
What mattered was what I’d built up as a spirit swordsman, not the material of the weapon. Still, since it was the first one I was making, it felt right to put in the effort.
I placed the ingots down and activated the Heart of the Machine God.
I twisted and fused their forms, inducing structural changes.
Only after the molecular structure was blended just right did I shape it into a claymore of appropriate size.
“A claymore? Leon, didn’t you usually avoid using those?”
“Honestly, the shape doesn’t matter. What matters is whether this thing I made is a sword or not. Watch.”
After finishing the hilt with leather and wood, I placed the sword on the table and held out my hand.
Energy began to gather in my palm.
It wasn’t quite mana, nor could it be called aura.
It was similar to necromantic mana, but not quite life force, and it couldn’t be classified as demonic energy either.
And yet, it was composed of the most secretive of the basic atoms that made up the world.
[Spirit Energy]
I call it spirit energy, but maybe it already has a proper name somewhere on this continent.
In any case, using spirit energy is extremely difficult—but that didn’t matter to me.
In the Labyrinthos, I’d died tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of times learning how to use it.
The Labyrinthos truly had no mercy.
Toss you a plain old weapon and refuse to acknowledge anything but a spirit sword in battle.
No aura, no mana could be used in that space.
Only spirit energy existed.
Thanks to that, I’d come to understand spirit energy better.
I channeled the spirit energy gathered in my hand into the orichalcum-alloyed claymore.
Light-like particles began to seep into the blade.
“Hmm? This is...”
Luna seemed to sense the spirit energy too, her expression intrigued.
Spirit energy is just a type of particle.
But it is an essential building block of this world.
And a spirit swordsman is someone who channels that energy into a physical form...
“Awaken.”
A profession of creation, breathing life into objects.
Though their combat power is completely alien compared to anything I’ve seen.
As spirit energy began to flow into the claymore, it started to emit light.
Like a newborn entering the world, the claymore began to exude vibrant life.
It was no longer just a sword.
A living sword.
And yet, not alive.
It had no concept of life or death, no conventional communication or thought. It existed outside the normal laws of living beings.
The claymore soon transformed into a beautifully refined sword.
Its form hadn’t changed much.
Normally, when spirit energy enters a weapon, it undergoes a significant transformation, but this one seemed quite fond of its orichalcum-claymore body.
I felt the strength emanating from the elegant greatsword and grasped it in my hand—only for the sword to react like a baby bird meeting its parent for the first time.
I expected it to be prickly, but a surprisingly calm one was born.
It couldn’t speak.
It couldn’t clearly express its will.
But to its wielder, its owner, it could communicate in its own way.
“Your name is... Let’s go with Falling Blossom, yeah?”
Falling Blossom...
A falling flower.
Not a bad name.
I placed the completed blade into a pre-made scabbard and headed to the training grounds.
Standing a straw dummy before me, I drew the sword again.
Luna, eyes gleaming with curiosity, asked me a question.
“Leon, how did you do that?”
“Hard to say. It’s really difficult to explain.”
Truthfully, spirit energy was hard even for me to explain.
I’d learned it mostly through intuition.
“Can I try it too?”
“Well... want to try holding it?”
I wasn’t sure if ownership would transfer now that I’d named it.
Once a spirit sword takes form, it becomes one with its wielder.
They are inseparable...
“Oh, this one’s got a surprisingly cute side.”
“……”
Watching Falling Blossom tremble in Luna’s grip like it was humming in joy, I felt oddly annoyed.
“What? How does that make any sense?”
Based on what I remembered from the Labyrinthos, no one had ever broken this rule.
But no amount of thinking would give me the answer.
Spirit swords, as entities of living spirit energy, don’t really lend themselves to logical explanations.
Regardless, Luna swung the massive claymore like it was a twig, laughing like a child.
The sword was still linked to me.
But since I’d never seen another human in the Labyrinthos, I’d never even considered this kind of situation.
Well, I’d have to test it out.
I slowly took the sword back from Luna and swung it through the air.
Then, activating the spirit energy, I let it flow through the blade—now imbued with will—and opened my mouth.
There was no need to learn the activation word.
As soon as I gripped the sword, I instinctively knew what to say.
“Bloom.”
But—
“Huh?”
Nothing happened.
At the same time, Luna stifled a laugh, and I narrowed my eyes.
“So it did seem like a calm one was born... Turns out it's got a temper.”
The biggest downside of spirit swords is that, being clusters of living spirit energy, they can sometimes be... disobedient.
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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