Once breakfast finished and Yuan returned to his room, he asked Xiao Hua, "What's a Soul Weapon?"
"Soul Weapons are as its name suggests— weapons that contain a soul, allowing it to have its own consciousness. They are exceedingly rare treasures even in the higher realms with nearly unlimited potential. And due to their uniqueness, they do not have specific Grades like ordinary weapons do. It's really shocking that the Luo Family would have something like this." Xiao Hua explained to him.
"A weapon with a soul… so there's somebody inside the weapon? How does that even happen?" Yuan asked, still confused about the concept.
"That's not quite right, Brother Yuan. There's nobody in the weapon. The term 'soul' does not actually mean there's someone in the weapon. It's just a weapon with just enough consciousness to pick their Masters."
"Oh… So I cannot talk with it?" Yuan said with a slightly disappointed expression.
"That might not be the case either, Brother Yuan. Because Soul Weapons are essentially living weapons that grow stronger with their Master, there's a chance its 'soul' can evolve in the future, allowing it to speak."
"Soul Weapons can grow stronger? No wonder why you say it has unlimited potential."
Xiao Hua nodded and said, "However, in order for it to grow, Brother Yuan must be able to wield it first, and Soul Weapons are not easy to control. Because regardless of your cultivation base, if the Soul Weapon does not recognize you as its Master, it will be no different from an ordinary weapon, perhaps even worse."
Yuan nodded.
He then retrieved the beautiful black dagger and stared at it with a mesmerizing face.
«Starry Abyss»
«Level: 0»
«Rank: Soul Weapon»
«Growth Rate: Very Slow»
«Requirement: ???»
«Description: A beautiful dagger with an unknown origin. Appears to contain its own universe within the blade»
"How do I get it to recognize me?" Yuan asked her a moment later.
"Brother Yuan can try feeding it some of your blood to see whether it will recognize you or not." Xiao Hua suggested.
"Feed it my blood? How much blood?"
"A few drops should be enough," she said.
Yuan nodded and took a deep breath before pricking his finger with the tip of the Starry Abyss, feeding it a few drops of his own blood.
The moment Yuan's blood touched the dagger, his blood sunk into the dagger's blade, and Yuan could see his blood being absorbed by the flickering stars inside the blade.
A few seconds later, the dagger began trembling.
"W-What is going on, Xiao Hua?" Yuan asked her with a nervous expression.
"It's reacting to your blood, Brother Yuan! There's a good chance it will recognize you! Quickly, feed it more of your blood!" She urged him with excitement on her face.
Yuan nodded and squeezed a few more drops of blood onto the shaking dagger.
As the dagger absorbed more of Yuan's blood, the trembling grew stronger, and the dagger itself even started heating up.
"It's burning me!" Yuan dropped the dagger when it became unbearably hot to hold.
However, as though gravity stopped working, the Starry Abyss did not fall to the floor and remained levitating before Yuan.
After spending a few moments suspended in midair, the Starry Abyss finally stopped trembling.
"Try touching it, Brother Yuan." Xiao Hua suddenly said to him.
Yuan nodded and reached for the dagger.
After poking it a few times to make sure it wasn't hot, Yuan grabbed the dagger.
«Congratulations! You have been recognized by the Starry Abyss as its new Master!»
«You have obtained the title 'Soul Weapon Master'»
"I did it, Xiao Hua! It recognized me as its new Master!" Feeling some sort of connection with the dagger, Yuan said to her in excitement afterward.
Xiao Hua nodded with a smile, "The Soul Weapon definitely recognizes Brother Yuan's unlimited potential."
"How do I make it grow stronger?" he asked her.
"Soul Weapons will naturally grow strong with the Master, so as long as Brother Yuan continues growing stronger so will the Soul Weapon. Though, if you wish to make it grow faster, you can hunt monsters with the Soul Weapon so it can absorb their blood and grow stronger that way."
"But I don't know any dagger techniques besides the Thousand Knife Technique, and that's for cooking," he said.
"Even seemingly innocent and useless techniques like cooking techniques can become deadly in combat if used properly, Brother Yuan."
Yuan nodded and said, "I guess I can try using the Thousand Knife Technique with this dagger on weaker monsters when I have the time."
Meanwhile, in Lord Luo's room, a guard said to him, "Lord Luo, there has been an influx of visitors at our city ever since the Mountain Lord's invasion, and they're all Cultivators."
"What? Do you know why?" Lord Luo asked.
"We asked them for their reason for coming to our city, and a few of them said that they were here for 'Player Yuan'."
"Do they mean Daoist Yuan? But why would so many people come here just to see him?" Lord Luo pondered out loud.
"We have also asked them that question, but they did not provide us with any good reasons, saying things like they simply wanted to meet him."
Lord Luo nodded his head and said to the guard a few moments later, "Notify Daoist Yuan of the situation. Since these people came here for him, it'd be for the best to let him decide what we should do in this situation."
Sometime later, the guard explained the situation to Yuan, who was sweating by the end.
"Don't let them know that I am here! In fact, tell them that I have long left the city!" Yuan quickly said to the guard, who was slightly dumbfounded by his reaction, looking like he was on the run or something.
'It looks like Senior Yuan is more popular than we'd anticipated.' The guard thought to himself.
"Understood. We won't let them bother Senior Yuan no matter what." The guard said to him before leaving the room.
'Damn! This must be due to the announcement! Now every player in the world knows that I am in this city! I must leave this place as soon as possible!' Yuan sighed inwardly.
'However, it's too dangerous to leave now when there are so many people looking for me outside. I will leave once there are fewer people tomorrow.'
With that decided, Yuan returned to cultivating in silence to calm his mind.