Novel Full Chapter 327: Kurogoroshi
“Well? Go on, boy. Pick up the damn sword already.”
Solron’s impatient voice finally snapped Elion out of his daze. The others also seemed to recover at the same time.
“R-right…”
Elion slowly brought both trembling hands toward the wooden case.
His fingers touched the sleek black scabbard first, carefully tracing along its smooth surface before finally wrapping around the weapon itself. Then, with both hands, he slowly lifted it from the box.
One hand shifted naturally toward the intricate hilt while the other steadied the scabbard.
Shing!
The blade slid free with a sharp metallic cry that seemed to echo resoundingly through the entire room, and only then did they realise something.
As beautiful as the scabbard was, the blade itself was what truly felt unnatural. The steel was neither fully black nor silver; it existed somewhere in between, a shifting metallic darkness that reflected the world around it in warped, distorted fragments.
Faint patterns flowed beneath the surface of the blade like living shadows trapped within the steel itself, and every slight movement caused ghostly crimson ripples to dance across the edge before fading away again.
Even stranger, the air around the sword seemed unnaturally still, and sound dulled faintly whenever one focused too long upon it, as though the blade quietly rejected the world surrounding it.
It was beautiful, but not in any comforting way. It was beautiful in the same way a storm over a graveyard was beautiful.
“…Wow.”
Elion, Alexander, and Cecil all spoke at the exact same time. Inexplicably, Elion felt something inside him transform.
The flow of mana throughout his body suddenly eased, like some invisible blockage deep within him had been forcefully unclogged.
The blade shimmered faintly, and the faint glow within its depths spread from the weapon and crawled slowly along his arm.
Elion immediately became alarmed, but before he could react, he felt the glow incite a gentle warmth inside himself.
What he didn’t know or see was that the sword had formed a soul bond with him, but he could feel the link form.
In that instant, it felt as though some tiny, unnoticeable void deep within his being had finally been filled.
Coincidentally, his base strength suddenly surged upward violently, by a margin of roughly twenty-five percent, which was utterly absurd considering how monstrously skewed his strength already was for his level.
If Elion checked his status right now, he would discover that while his level itself remained unchanged, every single one of his stats had increased by that same horrifying margin.
“Well?”
Solron crossed his arms smugly.
“Is that all you’ve got to say?”
A grin slowly spread across the old craftsman’s face.
“In case you pair of idiots haven’t noticed…”
His grin widened further.
“That is not a Legendary Grade weapon.”
He paused dramatically for the effect.
“It’s Mythical Grade.”
“What!?”
Both Elion and Alexander shouted simultaneously, “Impossible!” Alexander blurted out before instinctively stepping forward toward the blade, though thankfully, he stopped himself just short of grabbing it outright.
The prince clearly looked like he wanted to inspect the weapon personally to confirm whether Solron had finally gone senile.
Meanwhile, Elion immediately activated Discerning Eye to establish the truth of the old man’s claims.
Unlike ordinary weapons, the sword didn’t simply reveal a grade; it possessed an entire status panel of its own, like what he would usually see from a person.
[Status]
[Name: Kurogoroshi — Black Slayer]
[Item Type: Blade Weapon]
[Grade: Stage 1 Mythical Grade (Fragments 1/10)]
[Description: In the age before recorded dawn, when creatures of living darkness devoured the world beneath silent skies, a lofty figure raised a blade against the night itself. The sword shattered before the end of that ancient war, its remnants lost to time and buried beneath ruined ages. Yet the fragments remained. And when a modern craftsman uncovered a sleeping shard and forged it anew, the dead steel remembered the darkness it was born to kill.]
[Enchantments x10]
[1. Semi-Conscious Relic Soul — The sword possesses a faint dormant will of its own, capable of recognising intent, emotion, killing desire, and even danger before its wielder notices it.]
[2. Nightbane Authority — Creatures aligned with darkness, curses, corruption, abyssal mana, undead energy, or demonic essence experience instinctive fear and suppression in the blade’s presence. Wounds inflicted upon such beings heal drastically slower, if at all.]
[3. Soul Severance — Injuries caused by the blade damage not only flesh, but soul essence itself. Even immortal beings fear wounds that reach too deeply.]
[4. Void-Touched Edge — The sword’s edge ignores a portion of physical durability, mana reinforcement, and defensive aura protections, allowing it to cut beyond conventional limits.]
[5. Primordial Sharpness — The blade can never dull, rust, chip, or break through ordinary means. Its edge remains eternally perfect regardless of battle.]
[6. Blood Memory Resonance — The sword absorbs fragments of battle experience from slain enemies, subtly sharpening the instincts and reflexes of its wielder over time.]
[7. Heaven Defiance — External suppression effects such as pressure, fear aura, domination magic, divine authority, and spiritual oppression are partially resisted simply by wielding the blade.]
[8. Abyssal Hunger — The sword absorbs lingering mana, death energy, and soul essence from the battlefield to slowly restore its wielder’s stamina and vitality during prolonged combat.]
[9. Fate Rend — The sword possesses an unnatural affinity against barriers, seals, dimensions, and spatial constructs, as though it had once been forged to cut apart things beyond mortal comprehension.]
[10. Silent Heart — The wielder’s emotions become calmer and colder during combat, greatly improving focus, reaction speed, and resistance to illusions or emotional manipulation.]
Elion felt like his soul had left his body for a moment. The trembling in his hands vanished entirely as the list of enchantments fully sank into his mind.
“…What the hell…” he finally muttered weakly.
And only then did he realise something else. Alexander and Cecil had apparently been calling out to him for several minutes already.
“I’m telling you,” Solron said smugly while crossing his arms proudly, “the boy’s completely smitten with the thing. Don’t fault him too much.”
He snorted proudly.
“I’d react the same way if I saw enchantments like those on a blade for the first time.”
Elion didn’t respond immediately. For some reason, his eyes suddenly stung slightly, so he quietly closed them for a moment and tilted his head upward.
The room itself had gone eerily silent as they waited for Elion to do whatever it was he was doing with his eyes closed.
After a long while, Elion slowly opened his eyes again and looked back down at the blade resting in his hands.
Kurogoroshi.
The name itself carried weight. The moment he looked at it now, it no longer felt like he was merely holding a weapon.
It felt alive and dormant. He slowly swung the blade once through the air, and his pupils constricted.
There was almost no resistance. The weapon moved as though it had always belonged in his hands.
No. As though it had been forged specifically for his hands. The weight distribution was flawless and perfectly balanced.
It was neither too light nor too heavy, but just enough weight to make every movement feel devastating. A faint crimson trail lingered behind the edge for a split second before fading away to nothingness.
“…Ridiculous,” Elion muttered quietly.
“You like it?” Solron grinned smugly.
“Like it?” Elion looked toward the old craftsman, then back toward the sword, “I think you’ve ruined every other weapon for me now.”
The old man burst into loud laughter, “HAHAHA! That’s the damn point!” Even Cecil smiled faintly from the side, clearly amused by Elion’s reaction.
Meanwhile, Alexander finally managed to regain enough brain function to speak.
“Mythical Grade…” he muttered blankly. “Do you understand how insane this is?”
As far as Alexander knew, there was only one other mythical grade item that he was aware of, and that item was owned by his father. It was hard to believe that he had just witnessed the advent of another.
“Oh, I understand perfectly,” Solron replied proudly.
Then his expression shifted slightly.
“Though calling it a complete Mythical Grade weapon would still be inaccurate.”
Elion raised a brow slightly.
“The fragments?”
“Exactly.”
Solron pointed toward the blade.
“That sword is incomplete.”
“Incomplete?” Alexander frowned.
Solron nodded slowly.
“Only the crafter, the wielder, or a skillful appraiser can check the enchantments and description on this blade. To put it simply, the shard I found and used along with dragonbone to forge this blade was only one fragment of the original weapon.”
His eyes gleamed strangely as he looked at Kurogoroshi.
“I only managed to awaken the first stage of the relic sleeping inside it…. If the remaining fragments are ever found and fused together…”
Even Solron himself seemed slightly unnerved by the thought.
“…Then that sword may very well become something this world has never seen before.”