Chapter 71: The Perfect Weapon

His original spear was of a poison attribute. Not because the spear itself possessed any poison, but because it used the materials from a poisonous spiritual creature that, when combined with the necessary sigils, leads to the efficient ejection of poison from the spear's tip.

Technically this injection effect could be obtained using the materials of any attribute with enough skill. Pheneos had likely used the remnants of an injection mechanism from the spiritual creature he used to make the spear to make up for the skills he lacked.

Kain would like a similar injection mechanism so that Bea could show some combat effectiveness on land, but he didn't think picking the poison attribute should be necessary to achieve this. After all, although he has his gripes with the System it should have more skill than a blacksmith apprentice.

Kain also disregarded the mental attribute. He already had a mental attribute armour and Bea with a mental attribute, he felt another weapon with this attribute would be redundant.

While, he was looking through the different attributes, he was intrigued by a combination attribute that he had never considered before.

If this attribute worked as he thought, then it could completely change his combat style—but for the better. Allowing him to have many more options and the ability to take on multiple opponents even on land.

Combination attributes are born from the combination of two or more other attributes. For example, the mist-attribute that Kain was interested in would need to be produced from the materials of a spiritual creature with both water and wind attributes. The result would be water droplets suspended in the air.

Looking at this attribute, Kain wondered—could Bea perhaps float inside the mist's water droplets?

Normally, in water, Bea infects others by going up their nose to their brain. Although, she can invade using other locations like the mouth, and cuts. The nose is her preferred method.

Wouldn't the same effect be achieved from breathing in mist?

It would also make Bea's usage incredibly more versatile if he only had to wait for his prey to take a breath in the mist he created.

Kain had not seen a back button to go back to the previous screen for selecting a weapon type, therefore he was going to operate under the belief that all decisions were final.

Hoping that he won't come to regret his decision, he selected the mist attribute.

He was brought to another screen with two empty squares and a third square with a plus symbol in the center

He assumed the empty boxes were meant to contain the sigils with the effects he wanted.

Clicking on the first box a long list of possible sigils for the attribute he selected appeared.

When he saw an intricate blue sigil resembling a cloud, he had an idea that this was the effect he desired. However, he wanted the description to be sure. It's not as though he was a blacksmith and knew what they all meant.

"System, please place a simplified description of the effects of each sigil next to their image. I don't want to play guessing games for something so important"

Thankfully, although the System did not reply to his words it still followed his request.

Next to the sigil he was staring at was now a description of its effect.

"'When injected with spiritual power, the weapon will produce a dense mist to obscure the vision of opponents.' Exactly what I wanted. Although I won't be using this effect just to obscure vision."

For the second slot, he selected the non-attribute specific sigil that would allow a poison or other liquid to be stored within the spear for injection. Similar to his previous weapon. With this sigil, he could ensure that Bea's splits will be injected into every droplet in the mist, instead of just tossing Bea into the air and hoping for the best.

Finally, Kain turned to the third box with a plus symbol, assuming that it was an option for a third sigil.

Kain was excited. Any weapon with one more sigil than its level would be incredibly expensive to produce, having high requirements on the materials used and the blacksmith.

However, when he clicked the square a message appeared requesting that he pay an additional 200 GP to unlock a third sigil.

"Of course," Kain grumbled.

Doing this would completely clear out all of the GP he had earned, but a stronger weapon would help with completing missions to obtain even more GP.

Looking at the expense as an investment, he eventually decided to purchase the option for a third sigil.

He already had an effect in mind from the sigils he had previously seen, but the two he selected just ranked higher in importance.

He had once read that high-level spiritual creatures with dual water and wind attributes, use the mist they produce to create illusions and disorient opponents.

Obviously, such a powerful effect as creating illusions would not be possible for a mere 2-star weapon. However, he did see a sigil earlier that would allow him to manipulate the shape and movement of the mist instead of it spreading out in an uncontrollable cloud around him.

Now that Bea can control the symptoms she causes with infection, this sigil might have a great synergy with Bea's ability to distort thinking and cause hallucinations to further confuse opponents.

After all 3 sigils he wanted were selected, a 2D image of a furnace appeared.

The spear silhouette, the name of the attribute he selected, and his desired sigils all flew into the furnace and then a chibi version of Kain with a blacksmith's hammer appeared next to the furnace to begin working on the spear.

"Are the animations really necessary? Can't you just materialize my spear instantly?"

*What would be the fun in doing so?*

"And this is fun?" Kain almost felt sorry for the System. It was so bored that chibi blacksmiths were its idea of entertainment? "Whatever. Do what you want."

A minute later, Kain received a notification that his weapon was ready and he wanted to shout from excitement as it appeared in front of him.