NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42: Will 'Burn'
Spark spent his days laying low, letting them pass uneventfully, and before he knew it, the news of the Bloodied Shadow was old news, with barely anyone speaking of it anymore.
It was a given—as the mass killings only happened once, and a lot had happened since then, like the execution of Viscount Ji, the conquest that the crown prince had just embarked on, and so many more. So naturally, people unconsciously forgot about the Bloodied Shadow, and now the night was as rowdy as it was on the first day Spark arrived.
But unlike everyone else, to Spark, these past few days had been hell. His urges were back, and he didn't dare let loose. It was slowly building up, and as of right now, he felt his bloodlust could go out of control at any moment…
But thankfully, today was the day. Not only did he finally get to leave this empire and experience more of this world, he would also get to rid himself of his urges.
Knock! Knock!
His ears perked up in expectation as he rushed to the door, and sure enough, it was Guo. "Be down in three minutes. The caravan has to leave early," he instructed, then handed him a box. "Use the artifact. Make sure you don it before leaving… we don't want anyone to know you're coming along."
Spark accepted it and nodded. "True. We can't take that chance."
"Good, you understand. Me and the princess will be tagging along, but don't waste time finding us. We'll only show ourselves if you've successfully taken them down," Guo said, then left.
Spark was now alone with his thoughts and the artifact. Caressing the box longingly, he thought, Is it possible for them to let me keep it?
Over the past few days, though things had been monotonous, he had spent his time studying the pair of artifact gauntlets he was given as a compensation gift by Prince Jian.
And he discovered a lot of things they could be useful for. Apart from being a power bank for him, artifacts each had their own abilities. But unlike the abilities of mutants, these were different. He didn't know how to describe it, but it was strange.
The ability of the gauntlet he acquired was a flame-like ability that inflicted fire damage with its user's attacks. Seemed simple, right? But that was before one knew that the flames emitted by the gauntlet burned Spark!
In all nineteen years of his life, there were a limited number of things that could hurt Spark—and fire or heat wasn't among the list.
His input would have absorbed whatever energy acted on him before it could become lethal. It had never failed him before. It only did that once, and that was when he had just arrived in this world. He understood then that there were some energies here that he couldn't just wantonly devour. But even then, his input at least detected Qi and registered it as a form of energy—it even absorbed it.
But for this gauntlet, his input remained unresponsive. No matter how much the flames burned, he couldn't even activate it to devour the flames, as his senses couldn't detect any form of energy. Yet his eyes could see the flames.
Unknown to Spark, this was his first encounter with what mortals called Will. You see, those who had Will had the ability to impose a certain desire on reality. It was like an ability—but different.
For example, the flame gauntlets Spark possessed had been infected by an Essence Weaver who imbued the artifact with his Will, which was called Burn.
And as Spark discovered, abilities that came with one's Will didn't follow the rules of reality. Like with these gauntlets, which had a sliver of the Will Burn on them—they could directly burn anything in their way even though they didn't carry heat. It was like a law: anything struck by their flames would burn.
Be it water, be it metal—even Spark wasn't exempted from this heaven-defying rule. They didn't need cause—they just delivered the effect.
And that was how Wills operated. Each person's Will was different. Some might be similar, but they were still different, as their Wills were the manifestation of their existence.
So the moment Spark discovered this bizarre trait of the artifact, he decided against sucking it dry. He would just take as much as he needed and leave the rest so he could study more on the artifact's ability.
After all, this could be said to be something that was directly a bane to his input. And if his conjecture was correct, all artifacts had similar abilities and could harm him without him being able to defend.
This was serious. For the first time in a while, Spark felt stifled. His instincts were telling him this world wouldn't be so easy to scale as he thought. He couldn't rely on his abilities forever—he had to join a path.
And what better place to go than to the Essence Weavers—the ones responsible for creating these artifacts, his conviction to join them grew stronger.
Getting the bracelet out of the box, he slid it onto his wrist, watching and waiting expectantly. Now… what ability does this have?
Quickly, as it was worn, the once oversized bracelet contracted, fitting his wrist perfectly. Then, bursting with radiance, a substance that looked like liquid metal was suddenly released from it in torrents.
Spark stood calm, letting himself be devoured by the rapid flow of the bronze mercury. And after a few moments of wriggling, it began taking form.
A seamless armor, with a smooth and simple design, formed. Even Spark's face was totally enveloped, leaving a mirror-like surface in its place.
Even with that, he could still see perfectly—and better. His movement flowed freely, as the metal had barely any weight at all. His flexibility wasn't impeded—if anything, it had been enhanced.
Then Spark applied his output on a whim to test if the artifact would mess with his abilities, and the response he got from the bronze armor left him in shock.
You see, as explained previously, Spark's condition made him akin to a bucket filled with holes. Any attempt to channel energy would lead to severe leakages and wastage.
But this armor completely remedied that. It was as though the leaking bucket had been layered into a perfectly sized one. Naturally, it wouldn't leak anymore.
And that is what the armor did—it isolated all flow of energy internally. Spark's eyes glistened beneath the bronze carapace. It seems this job wouldn't be as difficult as estimated!