Chapter 25: Two New Friends

"Ughhh! That hurts! You ugly piece of meat!" Aron angrily exclaimed as he kicked the lifeless body of the troll.

"Here! Drink this." A soft, familiar voice came from behind him. He turned around and saw Pethra pulling a red vial from her bag.

" What's that?" he asked

Pethra gazed momentarily at him. She didn't expect him to ask about the red vial. Everyone knows about the red vial; it's common sense

"This is a healing potion. It can restore some of your health and stop the wound from bleeding."

Gratefully, Aron accepted the vial and drank its contents. As the healing potion took effect, he felt the pain subsiding and the wound on his arm slowly closing. With a deep breath, he turned to Pethra and said, "Thanks; I owe you one."

Pethra simply smiled and shook her head. "No need to thank me; you saved my life, and you also changed the way I think about my magic."

Aron raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What do you mean?" he asked, intrigued by her words.

Pethra took a deep breath and looked at him seriously. "I always thought that my magic was only good for defense, but you've shown me that it can also be used offensively. I've been limiting myself because of my own beliefs. You've opened my eyes to a new way of thinking. Thank you for that."

Aron smiled at her words. "I'm glad I could inspire you. We make a good team, don't we?"

Pethra nodded, a small smile forming on her lips. "Yes, we do."

"..." Raum narrowed his eyes. 'I don't like where this is going.'

They stood there for a moment, reflecting on everything that had happened, before Pethra broke the silence.

"What now?"

Aron gazed at the 20-meter pit that Pethra had created with her magic.

"I want you to pull out the dead trolls. I need to extract their cores for my quest."

'I hope my flames didn't destroy the cores,' he sighed.

"After that, let's make camp for the day and head back to town at first light tomorrow."

Pethra nodded obediently and made her way to the edge of the pit, chanting magic words. Meanwhile, Aron went to pick up his great black sword. Again, he was surprised by how sharp the two black weapons were. Clearly, they were made from the best metal out there, or that's what Aron thinks, as despite calling it metal, the two weapons seem to be crafted from black stone, and this stone has the same characteristics as metal.

Aron's blood is all over his arm from his upper arm wound. With his bloody hand, Aron picked up his greatsword from the ground, and as soon as he touched it, Aron saw the blood on his hand move like a living thing, making its way like a serpent to the greatsword, and the latter just absorbed it.

Aron was stunned by what just happened. He got a familiar feeling as he recalled the same thing happening when he first touched the red diamond on the coffin when he first woke up.

"Hey! Did you just absorb my blood?" Aron spoke what was on his mind without thinking. He didn't mean anything by it, nor did he mean to talk to the sword, which is actually a stupid thing to do, right?

However, Aron found another surprise that shocked him even more. The greatsword actually reacted to his words and shook a little. Aron's eyes widened, and he didn't know why or how, but he could somehow understand what the sword wants.

Blood.

He wants more blood. The black greatsword was hungry—a very deep and heavy hunger, like a long hunt with no kill.

Aron was now even more curious about what would happen if he gave the sword his blood. And since Aron never thought so much about something he wanted to do, he did the one thing that he liked to do best: just do the damn thing and think of the consequences later.

Aron placed the sword on the ground, then took his knife and made a cut on his palm, placing it on the sword's blade. It didn't take long for the sword to start absorbing Aron's blood. As the sword drank his blood, Aron could feel a strange connection forming between them, like he was a part of the sword and the sword was a part of him.

Raum noticed what Aron was doing and rushed over to him. "What are you doing?" he asked in concern.

Aron turned to him, the sword still absorbing his blood. "I don't know, but I think this sword is feeding off my blood. I think the sword is somehow alive."

Raum looked at him skeptically. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You could end up killing yourself."

Before Aron could respond to his concern, suddenly the sword started shaking violently, and then it began floating in the air. Aron quickly understood what would happen next, as he had seen the same thing before. Just as he guessed, black flames consumed the greatsword.

Pethra, from the other side, saw the huge black flames next to Aron. She interrupted her work and focused her attention on Aron, hoping to learn a thing or two, as from her perspective, those black flames were high-level magic.

Minutes later, the black flames began to shrink, eventually taking the shape of a small flaming ball. Without warning, the flaming ball dashed toward Aron and hit his right arm. The ball exploded, leaving behind a trail of black smoke that found its way under Aron's gauntlet and attached itself to his skin.

Aron removed his gauntlet and intently gazed at his arm. Soon, he found a tattoo of a black serpent eating its own tail on his wrist.

Aron was surprised for a moment, but then he frowned instantly. 'Did I just lose my sword or what?' The possibility of losing the sword permanently frightened him, as Aron was sure he would never find a weapon as good as it, no matter what.

And if, like reading his thoughts, the tattoo of the serpent moved from its place to Aron's hand and then...

FUSHHHH!.

A black greatsword appeared in his hand, leaving behind a trail of black smoke.

The greatsword looked different than before—it was sharper, longer, and the blade was slightly thinner. However, the most noticeable change was the design of the sword guard. Before, the design was simple, but now the guard takes the shape of a serpent's head, giving the feeling that the blade is coming from its mouth.

"Wow, what a beautiful sword!" Aron's eyes sparkled upon seeing how magnificent the sword was.

"!!!" The sword shook a little in Aron's hand, sending some energy to him.

"Heh?" Aron raised an eyebrow. "Are you happy?... Wait a second! Are you alive?"

"What do you mean?" Pethra asked. She was now standing close to Aron, her eyes fixed on the black greatsword..

Aron didn't bother looking at her; he had sensed her approach a while ago. "I think this sword is alive, and somehow, I can feel its emotions and thoughts."

Raum and Pethra tilted their heads to the side, unable to respond. Silence fell upon them until Pethra broke it.

"Ahh! I remember reading something about this," she spoke loudly and with excitement, as if she had solved a puzzle.

Aron quickly turned to her, and Pethra could almost swear that she saw his eyes sparkle for a second. She chuckled slightly and started explaining, "I think they are called 'Blood weapons.' If I remember correctly, blood weapons are a special type of sentient weapons that can choose their own master. If they sense that their wielder is worthy, they will form a bond with him, unlocking their full potential."

Aron's eyes widened. "Interesting," he said, glancing at the greatsword. "System, what can you tell me about this sword?"

[Analyzing]

[Blood weapon: Nameless greatsword.]

[Master, I can see a connection between the weapon and you. The blood weapon recognizes you as its master, and it will grow as you grow stronger.]

Aron's heart raced with excitement. The blood weapon would grow with him, which meant he wouldn't have to change or look for a stronger weapon as time went on.

'If the greatsword is a blood weapon, then what about that one?' Aron thought as he gazed at the greataxe. He hoped that the greataxe was also a blood weapon, but he knew the possibility of that was slim. Nevertheless, that didn't stop him from trying.

Aron repeated the same process with the greataxe, and his eyes sparkled with excitement when he saw it start absorbing his blood.

"Another blood weapon! How lucky!"

After the greataxe absorbed his blood, the same thing happened—it floated in the air as black flames consumed it. However, this time, the flames remained the same size and didn't shrink like the greatsword.

A few minutes later, the black flames disappeared, revealing the greataxe in a new shape. The blade was now larger and sharper; the pointy spike on the back grew taller; and another one appeared on the top of the handle. The most distinguishable change was the greataxe's head, which took the shape of a dragon's head, with the blade coming out of its jaw. It was a beautiful and intimidating weapon.

"HAHAHA~ A Dragon!....Beautiful, I like it."

When Aron reached his hand to grab the greataxe, it suddenly flew into his hand without warning. Aron immediately knew what happened, as he felt the same connection and emotions coming from the greataxe.

For more testing, he threw the weapon away from him. While the greataxe was in the air, Aron raised his hand, and like magic, the greataxe stopped in mid-air and flew back to him instantly, without delay.

"This is a really useful ability. I can see a lot of possibilities with it." Aron's mind started spinning at full speed, calculating and assessing every scenario in which this ability could be useful.

"You look happy, Aron. Do you like them?" Raum asked, noticing the wide smile on Aron's face.

Aron simply nodded without taking his eyes off the two blood weapons.

"Congratulations, Aron. You have awakened two new blood weapons," Pethra announced, her voice filled with admiration and respect.

'Two blood weapons! What's the possibility of that? Blood weapons are rare mythical weapons. People who had them throughout the history can be counted on one hand, and he has two, TWO!... Sigh... I want one too.'

"Thank you, little witch," he replied. Then he turned to Raum with a smile. "Looks like we've got two new friends."

"..." Raum's smile quickly faded when he heard that. Aron didn't notice and simply took a step forward. However...

"Heh?...What~" Aron collapsed on the ground without warning, and pain intensely invaded every fiber of his being. Agony consumed him, rendering him helpless and unable to move a muscle. He clenched his teeth, determined to endure the excruciating torment.

"ARON!" Raum shouted. He swiftly flew to where Aron lay, followed by Pethra. When the two saw Aron's face, they understood that he was suffering from enormous pain.

"What happened? What's wrong?" They asked, their voices filled with concern. However, Aron didn't reply. In fact, he couldn't even hear them. The only voice he could hear was the system's