William groggily opened his eyes after an unknown amount of time. He was on his side, lying on the cold stone floor of a dimly lit room. He could barely make out a glowing blue figure standing in the center of the room in front of a tall stone pillar.
"Did I die...? This doesn't look like the courtyard..." he mumbled to himself as he placed his hands on the floor. The color of his skin was a shade darker than normal, and his hands felt a bit rougher than before, but he assumed he was just exhausted, and the poor lighting was probably messing with his head.
"Dead? Hahaha, no my boy." the glowing figure spoke. The figure bent slightly and released a slight chuckle, "Although I'm surprised you were able to survive two entire floors of the trial while asleep. Maybe you would be dead if I hadn't intervened and stopped the next trial from starting."
As William's vision cleared, he realized the glowing blue figure was an actual person, seemingly an old man in light grey robes. He wore a long beard, and his eyes were completely white, as if he was a ghost.
What appeared to be a stone pillar behind the old man turned out to be the massive statue of a snake, its stone eyes seemingly bursting with intelligence as they stared directly at him.
System, what is that?
The System didn't know which answer William needed, but both options were free so it answered readily.
-This is an Artifact Spirit, created by the one who founded the Gravitas Ruins. Normally, Artifact Spirits cannot be physically seen, but your Soul Strength sets you apart from others.
-Behind the Artifact Spirit is Medusa, a legendary creature similar to the myths of your old world.
William had heard of Artifact Spirits before, which were said to inhabit powerful artifacts to give them a mind of their own. Adding an Artifact Spirit to a piece of armor, equipment, or the like would not only increase its power, but also would provide the item autonomy.
If an Artifact Spirit was placed into a sword, a Cultivator could let the weapon fight on its own while they cast Magic from afar. If it was a piece of armor, the Artifact Spirit could activate defensive abilities at critical moments, allowing the Cultivator to place all of its focus on offense.
There were many more ways to utilize Artifact Spirits, but these were the ones that William knew so far.
He was more focused on another thing.
"Medusa..." he muttered. If William remembered correctly, Medusa was a woman that had snakes for hair, turning those who looked her directly in the eyes into stone.
It didn't look like a woman, and he had already looked at the snake in the eyes, but William wasn't going to ignore the System's information. Maybe the only reason he hadn't been turned to stone already was because of the Artifact Spirit.
"So you've heard of Medusa as well, huh? It seems my choice to stop the trial was a good one after all. You're not like the others." the old man surmised.
"Master has told me a few things. You're from another world, aren't you?" the Artifact Spirit asked.
"Like I said, I've lived a long time and I have a powerful Master. We haven't been in contact with the outside in a long time, does this mean those fellows succeeded?" the Artifact Spirit gave William a questioning look.
William didn't know what the Artifact Spirit was talking about. "Those fellows? I have no idea who or what you're talking about."
"Tch, of course you don't. I forgot you're just another Sect lackey that has been sent to clear this training ground. No matter, I'll have to see for myself in a few hundred years..."
"Why not now?" William was jealous of the Artifact Spirit's perception of time. Clearly a hundred years was just the blink of an eye to something so old.
"You don't need to know this." the Spirit snapped. He took a moment to calm down, then he smiled, "We are getting off track, I came to speak with you for two reasons. First, I have your reward here with me."
The Artifact Spirit motioned with his hands and a small box appeared in William's hands. Instead of the standard black box, this one was made of pure silver with ornate designs around the edges. The front of the silver box held a small knob that could be turned to reveal the insides without the need for a key.
As William looked at the silver box, the Artifact Spirit moved a bit closer to him until the old man was just a few meters away. "Second, if you are truly from another world, I would like to hear about it from you. After all, I've never been outside the Gravitas trial grounds, much less to another world."
William was a bit nervous telling stories of his other world to a stranger. What if he painted another target on his back by doing so?
He decided not to make the decision himself. Thıs content belongs to novel✶fire.net
System, what do you think?
-Request requires 5 Potential Points: Yes/No?
-An Artifact Spirit cannot lie, but it may be masking the real reason for its request. Ask the being directly what it plans to do with the information.
"What will you do if I tell you?" he followed the System's direction.
The Artifact Spirit was surprised. It didn't expect William to catch onto its misdirection so easily. "I will tell my Master, who is very interested in you."
Another ambiguous answer that could mean anything. What if its Master had other plans for the information?
William communicated with the System silently, realizing he was stuck in a predicament. Even if he didn't tell the Artifact Spirit about his world, the powerful Cultivator it served might just decide to kill him anyway. After all, he was in their territory.
Man, it sucks to be weak.
After a bit of deliberation, William decided the best action to take was to tell them most of what he knew. He couldn't help but worry about Fria and his foster parents back home, but there was nothing more to do.
"Which would you prefer? The short version or the long version?" William asked.
The Artifact Spirit's eyes lit up at Williams positive response. "Tell me as much as you want. I want to know everything from how they Cultivate to what they look like to what powerful Magic they have developed."
William laughed. "Well first off, no one in my previous world Cultivates, at least not that I know of."
"Oh? Then how do they become stronger? Do they have incredible Innate Talents that allow them to surpass Cultivation?"
The Artifact Spirit's enthusiasm made William laugh once again. He felt that the Artifact Spirit would be incredibly disappointed when it found out the sad truth of his old world. Its only redeeming qualities were the existence of modern items like vehicles, video games, and television.
William sighed. "I'll explain everything I can, but I'm going to have to start from the beginning..."