I was itching with anxiety. I wanted to feel the sensation of leveling up again.

With a newfound purpose and excitement, I stood up from my seat in the arena and joined the crowds leaving the arena.

I made my way along the streets with the still shocked masses, tracing the way I had come from the woods. Along the way, I was able to understand more about why everyone was so shocked through the conversations of those around me. Apparently, the spearman that had been killed was the son of the Region Lord. There were even rumors going around that it was an assassination, considering the manner in which he was killed.

Although all of that was interesting, it really didn’t concern me, nor did I care. At the moment I was completely obsessed with increasing my strength. The only thing on my mind was leveling up more.

I smiled to myself as I saw the edge of the woods from where I had come, hardly able to restrain myself from running.

Making my way towards the woods once again, I remembered my fight with the wolf. The pain and struggle I had experienced, as well as how helpless I would have been without my skills.

I should try to find my way back to that wolf. If nothing has eaten or taken it, then I may be able to sell it for a good amoun-

That was when it hit me. The amount of blood I had lost from using that Bloodart, and the aftereffects of using my Class Skills. There was no way I would risk going through those again. If I wanted to hunt more creatures like the wolf, I would need a weapon, only using my Skills as a last resort. Reluctantly, I turned back to the town.

I searched the still slightly shocked and panicked crowd for someone who wasn’t in too big of a hurry to give me directions. I spotted a woman, sitting on steps of what I assumed to be some shabby restaurant. As I approached her I could see that she was in fact quite beautiful.

I stopped in front of her and noticed that she had a melancholy look on her face. Rubbing my neck, I made a coughing noise to gain her attention.

“You don’t happen to know where the nearest, uhh, weapon shop is?”

She looked up at me. “You mean the blacksmith? Just head that way and take the first left. You won’t be able to miss it.”

I nodded my thanks and turned away. Surprisingly, I felt the woman grab my arm and whipped back around.

“Wait. Can I… ask a favor of you?” The woman said with tears starting to run down her cheeks.

I froze for a moment but was able to recover quickly. I felt bad for her, whatever had happened to make her cry like this must have been awful, but…

“Sorry, but I, uhm, really have some pretty important stuff to do.”

And with that I broke away and quickly walked in the direction that she had pointed out to me. Although I felt a bit bad about it, I tried to chase those feelings out of my head as I walked to the blacksmith. After all, I didn’t know her, and it wasn’t my problem.

Turning the corner that the woman had pointed out to me, there was suddenly a large decrease in the amount of people on the road. It probably had something to do with the majority of the street containing rundown looking shops and homes. Fortunately, the lack of people meant the street was quieter as well, and with it I could hear a faint banging. From what I had seen in movies, I assumed that it must have been the sound of a hammer and made my way in the direction of the noise.

I came upon a relatively large smithy, but unlike the other buildings on the street, it looked well kept. Walking into the blacksmith shop, I spotted the source of the noise.

A boy around my age was hammering on an anvil. He was making what looked to be a large sword, around 2 meters in length. It was mostly black with touches of purple and green in some places. The most eye-catching part of it was the shape.

It wasn’t perfectly flat, looking somewhat rough, nor was it straight. The blade was curved, not like a scimitar, but more like a tooth. Although I wanted a weapon as soon as possible, I figured that it wouldn’t be the best idea to interrupt him in the middle of his work. The sword looked near completed anyways.

As I stood at the entrance, watching the boy’s skill with a hammer, a thought came to me.

I don’t have any money. Or whatever currency they use here.

As I was deep in my thoughts, trying to come up with something to do, I heard the hammering stop. Looking up, I saw the boy wipe his hands and proceed to inspect the finished sword. With a look of joy on his face, no doubt happy with the results, he retrieved a large sheath with a strap and placed the sword into it.

Setting the sword and sheath onto a nearby table the boy then approached me. With a welcoming smile on his face he greeted me.

“Welcome to the smithy. The name’s Blake, is there anything I can help you with?”

He reached out to shake my hand.

“Hi, I was wondering what types of weapons you have here?”

A slight look of suspicion crossed his face as he glanced at my ruined clothes and tattered appearance. Thankfully, he shook the expression off his face and resumed smiling.

“I’ll go grab a few that I think might suit you from the back room. I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”

And just like that he turned around and started walking towards a door on the other side of the room. As I watched him leave, an ingenious idea struck me… kind of. Hopefully I wouldn’t end up dead.

The moment the door closed behind Blake, I sprinted as fast as I could towards the table holding the sword.

Grabbing it, I noticed that for its size it was surprisingly light. That didn’t mean it was easy to carry though, as its size was quite a burden. A notification screen also popped up, but at the moment I didn’t dare look at it.

Holding the large sword and sheath in my arms I burst out the blacksmith’s door and ran the path I knew towards the woods. Fortunately, the crowds were now much more diminished, allowing me to reach the forest line without incident. I ran through the woods until I had reached a point where I was sure that I was out of sight.

Sitting up against a tree, I took a moment to catch my breath as well as take a glance at the notification I had received earlier, only the notification was gone. Confused, I picked the sword up off the ground and was once again met with a notification.

Fang of Corruption: Epic

A unique greatsword crafted from the fang of a powerful Corrupted Python. Created by a blacksmith with limitless potential, the sword possesses an inherent lightness.

*Using the power of Corruption, inflict rapid corrosion with wounds

*Summon an ethereal form of the Corrupted Python as a temporary ally

*Bond with the sword, greatly increasing the sword’s strength as well as user compatibility

Woah! So that Blake guy must have been quite the talent.

Greatly pleased with my “harvest”, I decided to take the blade out of its sheath.

As I drew out the sword, I couldn’t help but marvel at how great the sword felt. It seemed perfectly balanced as far as I could tell, and I was able to swing it around with relative ease. As for the options at the bottom of the sword’s description, I assumed that they must be skills and effects belonging to the sword.

Eager to try out the skill concerning the ethereal snake, I stood still and focused on activating it. All of a sudden, the blue Mana bar popped up in my view once again, and as I focused on it I saw that I had used 20 Mana. I heard a hissing to my right and turned to see a ten foot long ghost-like snake. It was a mix of dark green and purple with pitch black fangs, and looked extremely tense and menacing, ready to fight at moment’s notice.

I thought for a moment before looking up at my surroundings. With nothing else to test the snakes power, I mentally commanded it to attack a large nearby tree.

With vicious speed, the snake sprung at the tree, sinking its large fangs completely within the trunk.

I was satisfied with the sharpness of the snake’s fangs as well as its speed, but that quickly changed to joy as the wood around the puncture marks quickly began to corrode. The poison rapidly spread throughout the tree and within two minutes, some of the leaves had started to shrivel up and fall.

Observing in bliss, I had the snake attack several other trees in the vicinity. After I had obtained my fill in testing out my summoned ghost-snake, I decided to un-summon it. With a thought, the snake dissipated, and I was once again alone in the woods.

Perhaps that poison the snake used is the same as the corrosive power my sword has.

Eager to experiment more I approached a healthy tree. Swinging the large sword with a moderate amount of force, I lodged it a fair distance into the tree. As I removed the blade, I readily looked for any signs of corrosion. Sure enough, the tree started to ruin just as, if not more quickly than with that of the snake.

Beyond happy, I was left with one more skill attached to the sword. Having no idea what to expect, I activated the sword bond skill.

All of a sudden, I felt something moving around my arm. Looking down I saw green vines so dark that they could be mistaken for black curling around my arm. The vines had originated from the greatsword’s hilt, as they grew up the sides of the blade as well. As the vines grew thicker, they soon completely covered my hand and the hilt, leaving me no choice but to let go of the sword with my left hand.

Much to my surprise, I found that even though I was holding it with one hand, the sword was many times lighter than before. It felt almost like an extension of my own arm. The feelings of fear and panic were quickly replaced with reassurance and excitement. My mana bar was gradually depleting by one every couple of seconds, therefore I quickly got to testing things out.

Approaching one of the few remaining healthy trees, I once again swung the sword, this time much faster. The sword cut cleanly through the tree’s trunk, slicing completely through.

As the top part of the tree fell to the ground, both halves had already started to wither. This time, in two minutes, both sides of the tree had completely withered and died. Slicing through some of the nearby dead trees, I basked in the incredible power.

After nearly 5 minutes of playing around, I was able to get myself together. Standing in the clearing I had created, I once again summoned the snake. Unlike previously, there was no small hiss to my side, as my mana decreased by a large 100. This time I heard the breaking of fallen trees behind me, and as I turned to look, became frozen in shock.

There stood an enormous snake, so real and solid that I doubted it was ethereal at all. It had to have been at least 100 feet long, with fangs the same size as the sword. My shock turned to joy at the thought of controlling it, as I readily commanded the snake to attack the last remaining healthy tree in the vicinity.

Instead of obeying my order, the snake instead bared its fangs and menacingly hissed at me. Trembling, I gave the snake no more orders and quickly un-summoned it. I breathed a sigh of relief as it dissipated away.

That must have been the snake used to make this sword. That means it has a mind of its own.

Still recovering from being on the wrong end of the snake’s anger, I made up my mind not to summon it unless I had to.

Having tested out everything to come with my newly acquired sword, I decided that it was high time I went hunting. I didn’t know my way around the woods, therefore had no idea where any monsters would be.

I decided I might as well try and find my way back to the wolf, so that I might recover the corpse. I deactivated my bond with the sword, having used close to 400 mana in total, and placed the now vine-less sword back into its sheath.

Attaching the sheath comfortably to my back, I set off on my hunt.