The weapons hall was the place where all Blessed weapons were stored in the military — as its name implied, it was a massive hall filled with a vast array of weapons.

What Dale didn’t understand was why recruits didn’t just wander in there to take some.

He and his group stood outside the door and Sarah opened it.

Meeting his expectations, the weapons hall extended as far as his eyes could see and even beyond that.

It made him wonder just how large the boot camp building was. ’Then again, it could be a mix of technology and magical items like our watches.’

Both sides of the hall were lined with various weapons of a nature and more.

Spears, swords, shields, gauntlets, and many more odd contraptions that Dale had never seen hung on them.

And right in the center of the hall, a rather tall man was sitting on the floor. His long grey beard contrasted with his bald head.

As though sensing their gaze, his wrinkled eyelids folded open and he pierced them with his dull white eyes.

His eyes traced over them lazily before closing shut.

Dale studied the old man. The white cloak he was wearing bore the insignia of the Utra nation so it was clear he was meant to be there.

"Just take the weapon you need. He knows we’re meant to be here." Gary spoke as he walked to a section of the wall with giant needles.

Sarah, then Trevor, and even Austin went around the place, looking at different weapons and items.

Left to himself, he walked to the section with swords.

Some of the swords were wide and long, others were slender and curved. Double-edged, single-edged, a whole variety.

At some point, he saw a sword with no handle — just the blade.

’How does the creator expect anyone to grip it?’ He shrugged. Perhaps the elites of society would know.

He walked past that section and came to where the gauntlets were.

Most of the gauntlets came in pairs but there was the occasional one that was by itself.

As he walked, scanning them, he bumped into Austin.

The latter turned to him with a smile on his face. "Look!" He shoved his hands into his face.

Dale adjusted to avoid getting smacked across his face and he stared at his roommate’s hands.

A pair of dull silver gauntlets adorned his hands, stretching past his wrists and stopping just short of his elbows.

The silver was accentuated by flowery designs curling around the arm guards of the gauntlets.

"Nice."

Austin’s smile widened. "I know right? And check this out."

He threw his fist out and the air in front of it rippled, folding on itself and detonating with a violent boom.

"Blooming punches!!"

Dale’s eyes nearly popped out of his eye sockets. ’What was that?!’

Without thinking, he grabbed a random gauntlet and for the first time in a while, the AIDE whispered new information into his ear:

[A shard of the sun fell on the land and bore fruit. Burn. Burn. Burn.]

[Weapon Rank: Awakened]

[Weapon Skill: Incinerator]

[Incinerator(Active): Coat your arm in flames]

A wave of shock ran over him making him stumble a little. He managed to get his footing.

He immediately grabbed another the same thing happened. It seemed every weapon here had AIDE descriptions and abilities.

Soon, he calmed down and continued exploring. Soon, he came across other blades other than traditional swords.

Amongst them was a pair of sabers. They were tilted at opposite angles such that they formed an ’x’.

He reached and grabbed them, wincing at the cold feel of the silver, metal handles.

The sabers were clearly back-handed.

One had a black blade with an asymmetrical wave of white veins decorating its surface while the other was the opposite.

Its blade was white with black veins running through it. All in all, they were clearly a set.

The AIDE whispered:

[Take the darkness from light and keep both.]

[Weapon Rank: Quasi-Ascended]

[Weapon Skills]

[Embodiment of Light]

[Thrall of Darkness]

[Perfect Conduit]

Despite having read it all, Dale still stared at the words like they were a figment of his imagination.

There were too many bombs being dropped on him with what he was seeing.

The most glaringly obvious one was the rank. ’Quasi-Ascended?’

As far as he knew, Ascended was the rank above even Awakened. So the pair of sabers was halfway through that step?

Not only that but it was technically a rank and a half above him and would probably be that way for a while.

The second was the fact that it had multiple skills for him to use. One skill had shocked yet here he was... stunned.

Dale shivered suddenly, goosebumps flaring across his skin.

His eyes flickered up to meet the old man staring at him with focus.

They both broke eye contact and looked at the saber, then back to making eye contact.

Slowly, he closed his eyes and his presence went back to being non-existent. Dale shuddered a little.

’He clearly knows the rank of these. He might be surprised someone picked them up.’

A hunger to search for a fully Ascended weapon lit in his stomach but he bit back his greed.

Finding a quasi-Ascended was already lucky in all regards. It would be foolish to risk his apparent win for one he wasn’t sure he’d get.

"The twin sabers; Decay and Blight. Congratulations, I’m surprised anyone actually picked them." An elderly voice spoke behind Dale.

He snapped his head in its direction so fast he was shocked he didn’t break it.

The man who had been in the middle of the hall a minute ago was behind him.

His feet floated a few inches above the ground, barely noticeable unless he was close to you and he was very close to Dale.

Dale opened his mouth but he didn’t let him speak. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"So do you know any saber-based martial arts?" The old man asked.

Dale turned around, wondering why the others weren’t speaking lightly anymore. Much to his shock — and fear, he couldn’t see them anywhere.