Shang grabbed the other pieces of ore inside his room and gathered them in the middle.

As all the pieces of ore gathered, Shang felt his sword vibrate with glee.

It wanted to eat these pieces right away.

"Wait just one second. You can start soon," Shang said.

The sword didn't understand Shang and only transmitted hunger to him.

Shang took the two pieces of Darkness ore out of their sacks first and placed them beside each other.

Then, he took out the two pieces of Ice ore and placed them beside the Darkness ore in a line.

If he put the Darkness ore directly beside the Light ore, the two would damage each other. The same was true for the Fire and Ice ore.

Next, Shang took the Light ore and placed it a bit further away from the Ice ore, leaving a gap.

Lastly, Shang put the Fire ore beside the Light ore.

Two short lines.

One was Darkness and Ice.

One was Light and Fire.

Then, Shang took his sword into his hands with a smirk.

"Have fun," Shang said.

And he placed his sword on top of the ore.

The sword touched all eight pieces at the same time.

Shang could visibly see how the ore was vanishing. It wasn't nearly as fast as when the sword had absorbed the metal around the General Stage Vanishing Snake's tail, but it was still quite fast.

However, that was understandable. After all, back then, the sword had only absorbed pure Metal Mana, while this time, it was absorbing actual ore.

One could liken it to someone eating a big stone and actual food.

While the big stone remained in someone's stomach, they would weigh more. However, the stone would sooner or later leave their body. After that, the person would be just as heavy as before they had eaten the stone.

But if someone ate a lot of food with the same weight, they would definitely gain weight in the long term.

However, the transformation from food into sugars and fat would take work and time.

That was why the sword was taking longer this time. After all, it was absorbing the ore and fusing with it permanently.

It took a couple of minutes, but eventually, the sword was done.

Surprisingly, the sword had consumed all the ore. Since the sword was only around seven units of ore big, Shang had assumed that it would leave some ore, but it didn't.

It seemed like it had been rather greedy.

When the sword realized that all the ore was gone, it returned to Shang.

It moved quite a bit faster compared to before.

Before its upgrade, the sword had moved as fast as an ant.

Now, it was moving at the speeds of a small lizard.

If Shang walked very slowly, the sword could theoretically keep up with him.

When the sword reached Shang, it stood up, surprising him.

Then, it seemingly jumped, which looked weird. After all, it didn't curve at all.

Sadly, the sword didn't manage to reach Shang's back and fell down.

Shang only chuckled a bit. For some reason, he found the sword cute.

Shang took hold of the sword.

As soon as he touched it, he felt its feelings.

It was satisfied and thankful.

'Sure enough, the feelings have become more pronounced. It's actually able to feel thankful now. It's no longer just a wandering mass of instincts.'

"Try."

It wasn't a real word, but it also wasn't just a feeling.

It seemed like the sword had been able to imitate a word in Shang's mind.

Shang nodded in appreciation.

"Will do," he said.

"Fire Mana," the sword said in Shang's mind.

Shang put his hand on the sword and released a Fire Blast.

Nothing happened.

And that was good.

Usually, a small explosion of Fire Mana would appear, which would push Shang into the distance.

But this time, it was like Shang had done nothing.

Yet, his arm was nearly freezing.

"Strike," the sword said.

Shang followed the sword's instructions and did an overhead strike.

WRRRR!

As Shang's strike started, the lower edge of the sword began to become orange with heat.

The sword had gathered all the scattered Fire Mana from Shang's left arm and had focused it on the very tip of its edge. That essentially transformed an undamaging gust of hot air into a searing line.

The air around the sword had warped with searing heat during the strike.

On top of that, Shang noticed that the sword had cooled down at terrifying speeds. Just now, it had been incredibly hot, but as soon as Shang finished his strike, it had returned to room temperature.

There wasn't any remaining heat.

"Once," the sword said to Shang in his mind.

"One load of Fire Mana is enough for one strike?" Shang asked.

"Yes," the sword answered.

Shang wasn't surprised that the sword could already somewhat talk and understand him. After all, it had gotten an inheritance from the dean's spear. That probably included language.

"Ice Mana," the sword said.

"Wait a second," Shang answered. "I can't use my abilities without waiting for a bit. I don't want to injure my left arm right now."

"Wait, ok," the sword answered.

Shang moved his arm around for a bit until it returned to somewhat of a normal temperature.

Then, he used an Ice Blast on the sword again. Just like before, seemingly nothing happened.

"Strike," the sword said.

Shang released a strike.

This time, white mist followed his swing as the water in the air froze.

"Once," the sword said. "Dangerous to weapons."

"That ability is dangerous to other weapons?" Shang asked.

"Yes. Harder. Other weapons weaker," it said.

"You become harder, and any weapon that hits you becomes weaker?" Shang asked.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Yes," the sword answered.

"Ice, target, hard."

"Fire, target, soft."

Shang nodded. "I get it. Thanks."

"Darkness Mana."

"Well, I'm not sure if I can release Darkness Mana," Shang said.

"Try," the sword said.

Shang looked at his sword with furrowed brows.

Then, he put his arm on his sword and used Darkness Absorb.

Shang's eyes widened as his left arm suddenly shriveled up.

"Stop!" Shang shouted as he pulled his thin and old-looking arm away. "If you absorb too much, my arm gets destroyed."

"Sorry. Will remember," the sword answered.

Shang focused his Mana onto his left arm, and it began healing. A lack of life energy took a bit longer to regenerate than just a simple injury.

However, it would heal in a couple of minutes.

"Darkness, target, Mana," the sword said.

Shang furrowed his brows. "I don't get what you mean."

"Target, Mana. Target, fire, water, air, lightning. Target, enemy attack," it said.

"Wait, you mean Spells?" Shang asked.

"Right, Spells," the sword said.

"Wait, you're telling me that Darkness Mana can be used to destroy my enemy's spells?" Shang asked.

"Yes. Darkness, absorb. Darkness, weaken, Mana. Darkness, weaken, attack. Darkness, fire, colder. Darkness, earth, softer. Darkness, wind, weaker," the sword explained.

Shang's eyes widened in surprise.

"So, if I were to attack a fireball with Darkness Mana, it won't explode as soon as it hits you?" Shang asked.

"Yes," the sword said.

Shang was quite surprised.

The upgrade of his sword had improved his power by way more than he had expected.

He had gained three very useful and powerful attacks, and he didn't need to use his Affinity only for movement.

Now, he could strengthen his sword with them.

"What about Light?" Shang asked.

"Light, useless."

Shang blinked a couple of times.

"It's useless? There's no use for it?" he asked.

"Light, useless."

Shang frowned.

"Light, heal. Light, strengthen. Light, attack, enemy. Enemy, stronger. I, attack, Light, friend. Friend, weak, strong. Pointless."

Shang understood what the sword was saying.

If Shang attacked his enemy with Light, they would become stronger. If he wanted to use it on a friend, the sword would need to strike them first. That would essentially injure and heal them, making it useless.

"Light, useless," the sword repeated.

Shang could only sigh.

"Well, it might become useful in the future when I get my true Affinity."

"Missing, ore," the sword said.

"You want more ore?" Shang asked.

"Yes, no."

Shang only looked confused at the sword.

"Fire, present. Ice, present. Light, present. Darkness, present. Last, missing. Need, last," the sword said.

"You're saying that there is a last piece of ore that you're missing?"

"Yes."

Shang frowned.

"Do you know where to get it?"

Shang looked at his sword in anticipation.

"No."

"No, me, problem."

"You, problem."

Shang looked with shock at his sword.

Was it developing an attitude?

It was telling him that this was his problem?!