Chapter 27. Storm Breaker

Jack used a finger to lightly nudge the fairy.

"Come on, I apologize if I have offended you," he said. "The Goddess told you to help me, right? We should get along."

She gave him a sidelong glance.

"Humph, fine!" She said. "So, what are you planning to do now, Mr. Storm Wind? If there are any questions you need answered, just ask. Know that I possess all the basic knowledge of this world."

"I see," he nodded. "First, tell me your name then."

"Peniel," she answered.

'That's one weird name,' Jack thought, but he was not going to risk the Fairy's tantrum again by saying that out loud.

"Ok, next: what are the clues that the Goddess said I will get soon?"

"Don't worry about it, you will find out about it sooner or later." She said.

"Didn't you say you can answer any of my questions?" Jack complained.

"It's not that I can't, I just choose not to. It is not a secret. You will find out soon. Same as the others."

"Others? Are you saying there are other people here?"

"Of course there are. Why, have you not met any people all this time?"

"Well, I have…"

"Then what's so surprising about me mentioning others?"

"I suppose you're right…"

"Enough of this nonsense," Peniel said. "That boost Her Holiness bestowed upon you has a time limit. If you waste your time talking here, it will run out. Don't come crying to me when that happens."

"Oh, you're right," Jack said. "Guess I'd better get on with it then."

"What monster is out there anyway?"

"It's a Lizardman Blood Guard," Jack answered.

"Lizardman Blood Guard? Elite or Special Elite?"

"Special Elite."

"That's bad."

"Tell me about it."

"What level?"

"12."

"I see. That's good. If it was level 20, then you could forget about it, even with the boost."

"No worry," Jack shrugged. "If I can't defeat it, I will just run past it. The other door is not locked, and the Lizardman won't chase past his room."

Peniel rolled her eyes. "That was before. Now you have a problem that wasn't there before."

"What do you mean?"

"It didn't continue chasing you out of its room because its job was to guard this place. You can imagine a scenario where you have a partner who taunts the boss and it continues chasing him out of its room, then you sneak inside and loot its treasure. No Guardian Boss is that dumb."

"I see, but what's that got to do about it being a problem now?"

"No Guardian Boss is dumb, but you certainly are," Peniel mocked. "Since the place it was guarding has already been looted, why would it continue to guard it now?"

"You mean this time it will continue to chase me all the way?"

"Until one of you drops dead. It will even be more passionate in chasing you now that you have caused it to fail its guard duty."

"Shit… Wait, so how come it didn't just come in here?"

"It can't. This place is protected from monsters."

Jack's shoulders slumped. He was depressed. He imagined that being chased by the Lizardman Blood Guard all around the building wouldn't be thrilling at all.

"So I have to kill it?"

"Unless you can outrun it. But usually this kind of Special Elite has marking skill. It will continue to come after you no matter how far you run. So it's better for you to take care of it now, or risk running into it in an unfavorable situation, like when you are fighting other monsters."

"Can I win?" Jack asked skeptically.

"With the boost the Goddess has granted to you, you should have an even chance. You will increase it further if you activate that," Peniel pointed at the black metallic ball in Jack's hand.

"This Seed of Thousand Forms?" Jack asked.

"Yes, choose a piece of equipment to feed to it. A weapon will do most nicely," Peniel answered.

Jack thought for a moment then took out his original weapon, Bronze Short Sword.

Peniel gave him an exasperated expression. "Is that your best weapon?" She asked.

"No."

"Then take out your best weapon. You can use that level 1 crap to increase the weapon's level later."

Jack followed Peniel's instructions. After all, the fairy was given to him to provide him with guidance. He stored the Bronze Short Sword and took out his Blade of Haste.

"Level 10. Not bad." She praised.

"You can know the weapon's level by looking at it?"

"I can even read its description. My Inspect skill is already at its maximum level."

"Inspect skill?" He remembered reading it in the Auxiliary skill page window.

"Yes, you have it too. But yours is still at the lowest level of Basic Apprentice. You have to use it often in order to level it up."

'No need, I already have this God-Eye thingy for that,' Jack thought in his mind.

"What should I do now?" He asked while holding both the black metallic ball and Blade of Haste.

"You activate the ball, and then choose the weapon to feed into it."

"So I am going to lose this blade?" He was unwilling.

"You will get a better one, just feed it to the ball!" Peniel sounded a little peeved.

Jack didn't delay any more after hearing the Fairy's tone. He clicked on the activate screen of the ball. The ball broke apart into a bowl shape with four tentacle-like appendages branching out.

"Put that blade into the middle of it," Peniel instructed.

He followed the Fairy's command. The tentacles wrapped around the blade when it came near them. He let go of the blade. The components of the ball started fusing together with the blade. The blade was broken down to its molecular level and merged with the black components to form a new shape. It took a full minute before a slightly longer straight sword was formed.

The sword was mostly black with some thin golden lines stretching from hilt to tip of its blade. He could see a trace of light running along the lines occasionally. The sword floated in front of Jack as he heard a system voice.

"Please give your sword a name."

"A name?" Jack was confounded.

"This is a customized weapon that is bound to you. Only you can use and equip it. It won't drop under any circumstances, so you are given the privilege to name it," Peniel explained.

Jack nodded. He thought for a moment. Well, since his alias was Storm Wind, he will take an element of his name for this weapon.

"Let's call it Storm Breaker then," Jack said as he inputted the name.

After the process was completed, the sword floated down to his hand.  Jack grabbed it and inspected his new weapon with his God-eye monocle.

*

Storm Breaker, level 10 (uncommon one-handed sword, growth weapon)

Physical damage: 55

Attack speed: 2

Cannot be destroyed

Bound to Storm Wind

Passive skill: Increase movement speed by 10%

Active Skill: Overlimit. Release the weapon's hidden power that adds an additional 100% damage as chaos damage, increases weapon range by 2 feet, and decreases target's defense by 60%. Duration: 80 seconds. Cooldown: 8 hours.

*

He was thrilled after seeing the description. Not only did the weapon possess all the traits from Blade of Haste, the damage was also slightly higher and it was no longer bound by durability. In other words, he no longer needed to worry that it might get broken from overuse, and it would never need to be repaired. The weapon also had a new active skill which sounded really overpowered from its description.

"If you find higher level or higher-tiered weapons, you can feed them to it. It will always inherit the highest weapon's stats and level, and its damage will always be 10% higher than the strongest weapon you feed to it." Peniel explained. "But as an uncommon weapon, it can only hold one weapon skill apart from its trademark skill Overlimit. If the weapon you feed to it has a different skill, then you have to choose one of them. If you manage to upgrade it to Rare tier, then it can hold two skills at one time, and so on."

"That's sweet," Jack was excited by this new function. He hoped he could find a stronger weapon soon in order to feed it to his Storm Breaker.

"What is chaos damage?" He asked as he read the description from the Overlimit skill.

"It's a type of damage that basically has no known resistance."

"Huh?"

"It means not many will be able to defend against it as it can bypass most defenses. You will find out about it as you get stronger. There is no need for you to be concerned about it at the moment." Peniel didn't seem to want to bother to explain more.

'What the hell kind of guide are you? Can't you take your job more seriously?' Jack complained in his mind. He wondered if the Goddess had chosen the best guide for him or simply randomly picked one from amongst the crowd.