Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

’A...A Scythe?!’

Veloran thought as he spread the invisible threads more, and the shape of the scythe became clearer with each passing second.

The Crystal Whirlstone was no longer in its crystal form.

It had turned itself into the shape of a weapon, but the whole thing was still completely white. That white glow covered most of its surface, so the final details could not be seen properly yet. Even so, Veloran could already tell from the length, the handle, and the curved end that this was not going to become a sword, saber, spear, hammer, or any ordinary weapon type.

It was forming into a scythe.

Veloran noticed the curved end and made a quick twist in one of his threads.

The moment he did that, the white shape reacted to his thread. The curved right end slowly stretched more. It continued extending little by little, and the weapon’s outline became more balanced as the handle length adjusted at the same time. The blade kept thinning at the edge until even the white glow could not fully hide the sharp curve anymore.

Veloran did not stop.

His hands continued moving while the invisible threads surrounded the forming scythe. The hut remained filled with the bright glow, but Veloran no longer depended on his eyes. His perception had already covered the weapon, the Essence, and the unstable flow moving around it. Through the threads, he could feel every change in the shape and every shift in the pressure coming from the weapon.

Even then, he kept gritting his teeth.

The scythe was releasing too much Essence.

’How is this possible? Even if this boy is somehow special...this much Essence in his weapon...’

Veloran could not understand it properly.

The Whirlstone was an Epic-rank catalyst, and it was rare. That part was true. But a material being rare and a weapon releasing this much Essence were two completely different things. The material was only one part of the process. The owner’s blood, the owner’s soul, the compatibility between the two, and the weapon’s own forming reaction all mattered.

And right now, this scythe was reacting far beyond what Veloran had expected.

He continued the process for more than half an hour.

Sweat slid down his chin as he kept holding the threads in place.

His arms did not shake, but the pressure moving through the threads was not light either. Each time the scythe released another pulse of Essence, Veloran had to adjust the flow and stop it from scattering uselessly. If the Essence scattered too much, the weapon’s shape would weaken. If he forced it too much, the weapon might reject his control.

So he had to guide it carefully.

Then he noticed something else.

’Wait...is that scythe still evolving?’

Veloran’s eyes widened slightly.

’But it shouldn’t be possible.’

He began recalling what his master had taught him, all the weapons he had crafted through this method, and all the failed attempts he had seen from other craftsmen who tried to copy this path without understanding it.

This method was called Essence Forging.

In simple terms, Essence Forging made the weapon through the Essence released after the blood binding between the material and the owner was completed. It did not need a hammer, fire, or a normal forge, but that did not mean it was easy. Actually, it was harder in another way. A TRUE craftsman needed to guide the process carefully, or the weapon could lose shape, reject the owner, or collapse before completion.

There were three main stages.

Stage 1 was shape forming.

The craftsman had to control the Essence and guide the weapon into its own natural shape. The craftsman did not choose the weapon. The owner’s blood, soul, and the material decided the shape together. If the weapon started twisting wrongly while forming, the craftsman used Essence Forging Threads to correct it before the form became unstable.

Stage 2 was evolution.

After the weapon had found its shape, the craftsman guided the released Essence to help the weapon evolve. During this stage, the weapon could rank up depending on how much Essence it released and how well the threads guided it. At this point, the weapon still had no proper physical vessel, so it was more flexible and could still change its rank and structure.

Stage 3 was physical manifestation.

The craftsman had to provide materials that matched the weapon’s rank and form. Those materials became the weapon’s physical body. If the materials were too weak, the weapon would reject them. If the materials were suitable, the weapon would absorb them and complete its final form.

Veloran had followed these stages for countless years.

If not centuries.

He had made many weapons with this method, and he knew exactly how long each stage usually lasted. Even for rare weapons, Stage 2 did not normally take too long. Five minutes was enough most of the time. If the weapon was very special, it might take a little more, but it still had a limit because Essence would normally settle after the weapon reached its proper rank.

But this scythe was different.

Stage 2 had already continued for half an hour.

And the scythe was still evolving.

Not only that, even after climbing four ranks, it was still using the Essence released from itself to evolve again and again. It was not drawing Essence from Veloran. It was not drawing Essence from the hut. It was releasing it from the blood-bound reaction between Atlas and the Whirlstone, then using that same Essence to raise itself higher.

Veloran could only stare at it through his perception.

The weapon had already reached a rank he did not know the proper name of. He only knew it was one rank above Legendary.

That alone made the situation hard to believe.

Veloran had made Legendary weapons before. He knew how difficult that level was. He knew what kind of materials were needed and how much control the craftsman had to maintain. But this weapon had passed that level while still using its own Essence to continue evolving.

After some time, the evolution finally began to slow down.

Veloran immediately understood that Stage 2 was ending.

So Stage 3 had to begin.

He waved his threads with both hands, and three materials appeared beside the scythe.

A black scale...A small vial...A root.

The scythe gave a small hum as if it had accepted the materials the moment they appeared.

Veloran saw that and spoke while still controlling the threads.

”Hmph! Of course you would like them...that scale is a reward from the Dragon Emperor himself, that vial contains the Angelic Queen’s handmade Elixir of Light, and that root...it is the World Tree’s root from Eliana, the Elven Queen.”

Even while saying this, Veloran was not angry about using them.

These three materials had stayed in his care for a very long time. They were too valuable to waste on ordinary weapons, and even most Legendary weapons would not be worth using all three together. But the scythe forming in front of him was different.

It was already one rank above Legendary.

Normal materials would not work anymore.

Even high-grade materials might be rejected because the weapon’s rank had already gone beyond what they could support. If he tried to use weaker materials, the physical manifestation might fail, and after this much Essence had been released, failure would be a complete waste. Veloran did not like wasting materials, but he hated wasting a proper weapon even more.

So he used the best materials he had.

The black scale moved first.

His invisible threads wrapped around it and guided it toward the scythe. The scale trembled for a moment, then slowly broke apart into black particles. Those particles moved into the glowing white scythe and started forming a dark foundation inside the weapon.

Then the World Tree’s root moved.

Unlike the scale, it did not break apart completely. Thin green-gold lines spread from it and entered the scythe slowly. Those lines moved along the long handle and toward the curved blade, as if they were strengthening the weapon from within and giving the forming body a stable path to hold itself together.

Finally, the small vial floated forward.

The lid opened under Veloran’s control.

The Elixir of Light slowly came out.

One drop.

Then another.

The liquid touched the invisible threads, and Veloran guided it toward the mixture of the black scale and the World Tree root. The Elixir spread through the scythe and began stabilizing the two materials inside the weapon’s forming body. The black particles, the green-gold root lines, and the light from the Elixir started connecting with the white weapon shape.

Veloran kept his focus on the process.

His hands moved without stopping.

The scythe’s white glow became steadier, and its shape began to look more complete. The handle became longer and more solid. The curved blade became clearer. The body of the weapon was no longer only light and Essence. It was slowly becoming something physical.

Atlas had remained frozen since the Whirlstone started reacting to his blood.

But now, as the materials entered the scythe and the weapon’s body started stabilizing, his fingers moved slightly.

Veloran noticed it through his perception.

Atlas finally moved.