Inside his mind, Tiamat stirred as Lin Fang began to walk, boots crunching against gravel as he followed the familiar paths etched into his mory.
"This place…" the Chaos Dragon murmured, its many voices overlapping softly. "It feels real, yet not. Like a world carved from rules rather than ti."
Lin Fang didn't answer imdiately. He kept walking, eyes scanning the terrain until he finally spotted the dark mouth of a mine nestled between two massive stone ridges.
"Real enough for what I need," he replied at last.
He stepped inside.
The mont he crossed the threshold, the system-issued mana pickaxe materialized in his hand. Lin Fang rolled his shoulders once, then swung.
Clang.
Sparks flew as the pickaxe struck the stone wall. Veins of elental ore shimred faintly beneath the surface, responding to his mana with dull flashes of color. Lin Fang fell into a steady rhythm, each strike precise and controlled. Ti passed quietly, marked only by the echo of tal on stone and the growing pile of harvested crystals at his feet.
Three hours slipped by without him noticing.
By the ti he finally paused, sweat clung to his skin and dozens upon dozens of elental crystals lay stacked neatly nearby. Lin Fang straightened his back and summoned the Sword of Goujian, the ancient blade appearing in his grasp with a familiar weight.
"All right," he said, exhaling slowly. "Let's see how far this gets us."
He picked up a crystal and pressed it gently against the blade.
The crystal dissolved into light, absorbed instantly.
A faint surge rippled through the sword.
Again. And again.
Lin Fang repeated the process, crystal after crystal, his focus unwavering. Each ti, the elental energy within the sword crept upward by a few points. Three. Sotis five. Never more. It was slow, painstaking work, and his arms began to ache long before his patience wore thin.
Two hours later, he finally stopped.
The numbers hovered clearly before his eyes.
**9812 elental energy.**
Lin Fang stared at it in silence, then let out a tired laugh. "That's… really not a lot for that much work."
Inside his mind, Alpha spoke up calmly. "You should leave now. It's already dawn outside."
Lin Fang nodded faintly, understanding the reminder. He was about to exit the Training Grounds when his gaze flicked back to the number.
9812.
"So close," he muttered.
After a brief pause, he sighed and bent down, picking up a few more crystals. "Fine. Let's make it a clean number."
He worked for a few more minutes, feeding the blade another handful of crystals. When the final shard dissolved, the number ticked upward one last ti.
**10,002 elental energy.**
The reaction was imdiate.
The Sword of Goujian vibrated violently in his hand, then broke free, floating upright in the air before him. A low, resonant hum filled the cavern as faint streams of light traced along the blade's ancient inscriptions.
[ Upgrade conditions fulfilled.]
[ Do you wish to use 10,000 elental energy to upgrade the skill?]
He frowned slightly and lowered his hand, the system interface dimming as his thoughts drifted. Hours. That was how long he had spent inside the mines, swinging the mana pickaxe until his arms ached, gathering crystal after crystal. Then more hours feeding those sa crystals into the Sword of Goujian, watching the elental energy creep upward in painfully small incrents.
"All that work I did to upgrade it to get a sword spirit but," he muttered, rubbing his temple, "it wants to spend it on upgrading so skill?"
The sword continued to hum, as if reacting to his reluctance.
Inside his mind, Alpha's voice sounded calm, steady, and unhurried. "You're looking at it the wrong way, kiddo."
Lin Fang exhaled and leaned back against the rough stone wall of the mine, crossing his arms. "Am I? Ten thousand elental energy doesn't co cheap. I didn't exactly trip over those crystals."
Alpha didn't argue imdiately. Instead, his presence shifted slightly, attention focused entirely on the floating blade. "You're treating that energy like a resource you're losing. But what you're really doing is investing it."
Lin Fang raised an eyebrow. "That's a nice way to dress it up."
Alpha went on, voice lowering slightly. "Upgrading the blade is like improving its base stats. Once the sword spirit is form, the foundation will be built, You might miss out on unnecessary benefits."
Lin Fang's eyes narrowed. "Well, if you put it that way..."
Lin Fang closed and opened his eyes and looked at the sword again.
"Fine," he said at last, straightening. "Let's do it."
He reached out and confird the upgrade.
The mont his choice was registered, the air inside the mine changed.
Ten thousand points of condensed elental power surged from the sword's surface inward, vanishing into its core like water sinking into dry earth.
The blade rang out sharply.
Not a tallic clang, but a clear, resonant tone that echoed through the mine tunnels and beyond, vibrating through Lin Fang's bones. The sword spun once in midair, faster and faster, until the elental veins along its surface blazed to life. Gold, azure, crimson, and pale green light wove together, forming intricate patterns that crawled across the blade like living runes.
Lin Fang shielded his eyes as a wave of pressure washed over him.
"What the hell…" he whispered.
Alpha spoke again, a trace of approval in his voice. "Good."
The light slowly dimd, the pressure easing until the mine returned to its quiet stillness. The sword drifted gently downward and settled into Lin Fang's waiting hand, its weight familiar, comforting.
Lin Fang studied the longsword in his hand as the final traces of light faded from its surface. The aura that had wrapped around it monts ago slowly withdrew, sinking back into the blade as if it had never existed. Yet the feeling remained. The sword felt different now. Sharper. More awake.
The system notification hovered before his eyes, steady and clear.
[ Skill Upgraded]
[ Severing Edge: Effect: Deals 150% bonus damage with a strike. Cooldown: 300 seconds]
"Hundred and fifty percent…" Lin Fang murmured, rolling the sword slightly in his grip, watching how naturally the balance settled into his palm. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, that was definitely worth the effort."
He gave the blade a short, testing swing. The air parted cleanly, the motion smooth enough that it barely felt like resistance existed at all. Still, the smile didn't last long. He let the sword lower and exhaled slowly.
"Too bad," he added with a sigh, "I still don't like using long swords that much."
Inside his mind, Alpha's laughter echoed, soft but unmistakably amused. "You say that like it's a flaw."
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