RE: LORD OF TIME

Inside his Sea of Consciousness, William stared at the white pearl hovering beside his trait images.

"Look, I know you can hear me. I am not here to ask you for any skills or treasures. Just answer one of my questions..." He took a deep breath and asked in a serious voice.

"You informed me earlier that you are shielding my presence from the Time Devourers. Then, is this shielding effect also effective against skills and artifacts that can track me through karma and destiny?"

William had thought it would be difficult to get an answer from the spirit of the pearl, as it had never answered any of his questions before.

But to his surprise, immediately after he asked the question, the pearl flashed, and a piece of information appeared in his mind.

The information was very simple. Yet that simple piece of information made his heart race with excitement.

According to the information he had just received, the shielding effect was equally effective against artifacts and skills capable of tracing him through karma and destiny.

Unless an artifact or skill stronger than the Soul Armament of the God of Time was used, no one would be able to track him.

"Perfect..." William clenched his fists in excitement and looked at the pearl again.

"Since you told me such good news, I will now only charge you five time-related skills for informing me about the Time Devourers too late."

After speaking, he didn’t wait for the pearl’s response and immediately left his Sea of Consciousness, leaving behind the speechless spirit of the God of Time’s Soul Armament.

"Now there is nothing stopping me from killing that twisted bastard."

As he spoke, William took out the storage ring Vivian had sent him.

He looked inside the ring once again, and a beautiful sword with a black blade covered in intricate blood-red patterns came into his sight.

The sword was the weapon he had asked Vivian to forge for him.

With a thought, it appeared in his hand.

The first thing he noticed after taking out the sword was the blade’s size. It was nearly one hundred centimeters long.

Including the handle, the entire sword measured about one hundred and forty centimeters.

William wasn’t surprised by its size, as this was exactly how he had wanted it to be.

With its slightly curved blade, the sword looked very similar to an Odachi.

Because of its length, he couldn’t properly use it inside the room, so he left the house and walked into the backyard.

In the original timeline, his Soul Armament had been very similar to this sword, so William didn’t feel the slightest unfamiliarity the moment he grasped it.

Swish! Swish! — — — —

As he swung the sword, it effortlessly sliced through the air, moving with exceptional smoothness.

The sword weighed nearly four hundred pounds, but because of William’s strength, it felt incredibly light in his hands.

"Vivian seems to have added some very high-level materials to this sword..." William muttered after testing it for a few minutes.

His eyes fell upon the blood-red patterns running along the blade, and a thought suddenly appeared in his mind.

"She couldn’t have used Deep Blood Crystals while forging this sword... right?"

As this thought crossed his mind, he couldn’t help but gulp.

If it were true, he would have to work like a donkey to repay its cost, as Deep Blood Crystal was an extremely rare material.

So rare that even in the original timeline, he hadn’t used it while forging his own Soul Armament.

"I will know once I turn this into my Soul Armament..." William cleared his distracting thoughts and held the sword firmly with both hands.

As he focused on the sword, the Sword Dominator trait image within his Sea of Consciousness trembled slightly.

The next instant, a white light bloomed around the sword, causing it to float into the air.

William recalled the day he had first obtained his Soul Armament in the original timeline, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Welcome back, partner."

Although this sword was different from the one he had wielded in his previous life, he couldn’t help but say those words as from this moment onward, this sword would become his closest ally.

The sword remained suspended in the air for several minutes before the white glow surrounding it slowly began to fade.

At the same time, a notification flashed before William’s eyes.

(You have used your trait Sword Dominator to create your own Soul Armament.)

William suddenly felt a deep connection with the sword floating before him.

It felt as though he could summon it to his hand with nothing more than a single thought.

Soon, the white glow disappeared completely, and William caught the falling sword.

The moment he grasped it, he immediately noticed that its previous weight, which had felt slightly unbalanced, had now become perfectly suited to his current strength.

This was one of the characteristics of a Soul Armament.

The moment it connected with its user’s soul, it automatically became perfectly suited to its owner.

At the same time, it awakened new abilities.

Normally, high-grade weapons possessed abilities from the moment they were forged.

However, weapons created specifically to become Soul Armaments possessed no abilities even after they were completed.

William’s sword had been no different.

Previously, it had no special abilities.

But now that it had connected to his soul and had become a true Soul Armament, it had awakened its own unique abilities.

Generally, the abilities a Soul Armament awakened depended entirely upon its user and the materials used during the forging process.

William himself had no idea what abilities his Soul Armament had awakened.

As such, he looked at the sword in his hand, and its information immediately appeared on his status window.

====

---) Yet to Be Named (Soul Armament): A sword-type Soul Armament forged using Black Mythril and Heavy Earth Essence, with the core of an Astral Rift incorporated into it. During the forging process, a skilled blacksmith added the appropriate amount of Deep Blood Crystal, giving the sword a chance to awaken an extraordinary ability.

---) Current Soul Armament Abilities: Energy Pool, Blood Burst.

---) Energy Pool: You can infuse your Aether Energy into your Soul Armament and store it, allowing you to instantly recover Aether Energy when needed. The amount of Aether Energy that can be stored increases along with your cultivation level.

====

William read the details of the first ability, and his eyes immediately lit up.

The thing William lacked the most right now was Aether Energy.

His Aether Energy reserves were already far greater than those of people at the same level.

Even so, they still weren’t enough for him to freely use the Seven Steps of Supreme, as the skill consumed an absurd amount of Aether Energy.

After using it once, he would be nearly drained of Aether Energy, causing his combat power to decline significantly.

But if he stored Aether Energy inside his sword beforehand, he could instantly recover his energy after using the Seven Steps of Supreme, avoiding the situation where he would be left without any Aether Energy after using just a single skill.

"As expected from a sword forged using both Black Mythril and Heavy Earth Essence, materials renowned for their exceptional Aether Energy conductivity."

William nodded in satisfaction before looking at the second ability, which had most likely awakened because of the Deep Blood Crystal.

====

---) Blood Burst: Your Soul Armament possesses a bleeding effect. As long as you successfully injure your opponent, it will leave behind a Bleeding Mark, making wounds inflicted by your Soul Armament extremely difficult to heal. Once you stack ten Bleeding Marks on the same opponent, you can trigger the Blood Burst effect, detonating all the Bleeding Marks to inflict devastating damage.

====

William raised an eyebrow after reading the details of the Blood Burst ability and couldn’t help but sigh.

"As expected from an ability awakened because of the Deep Blood Crystal..." He muttered to himself as both effects of Blood Burst were incredibly powerful.

The first effect greatly reduced an opponent’s ability to recover from injuries, continuously weakening them.

The second effect allowed him to detonate all accumulated Bleeding Marks once the opponent had suffered enough injuries, dealing devastating damage and potentially finishing them off in a single strike.

As William continued to grow stronger, the sword would awaken even more abilities, while its existing abilities would also continue to evolve.

This absurd growth potential was one of the primary reasons everyone desired a Soul Armament, as it greatly increased a person’s combat strength.

William’s eyes then fell upon the sword’s name, which was still blank and he pondered silently for a moment.

"In the original timeline, the name of my Soul Armament was Moon."

He looked at the sword in his hand, especially at the blood-red patterns decorating its blade, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"But this time...Let’s call it Blood Moon."

His status window flashed slightly, and the name Blood Moon immediately appeared beneath the Soul Armament section.

William raised his head and looked at the cloudy sky, which was slowly beginning to clear and a cold light flashed across his eyes.

"Tomorrow is going to be a chaotic day." He muttered as he turned around and walked back toward his room to get a proper night’s rest.

As tomorrow...It would mark the beginning of his revenge against those bastard nobles.