Noel sat down in a lotus pose, following Shale’s instruction.
“Take a few deep breaths and start closing your eyes.”
Noel took one deep breath while closing his eyes before stabilizing his heartbeat, which was probably the purpose of his instruction.
“You only need to answer this in your heart. First question, do you have anything you want to accomplish?” Shale asked with a soothing tone to help Noel keep his calm.
Noel recalled all the memories that had happened not long ago. The Royal Family executed his parents, seized his property and sent him to this place because they believed he would die facing those monsters.
Noel wanted to take his revenge against the Royal Family. Yet, he felt something was wrong with this desire. His heart was asking him, ‘What if all those stuff never happened? What was your dream if you still had your family, wealth and status?’
Noel’s heart skipped a beat when he found this question. In the past, he was just a normal nobleman that had average talent and no desire. He just followed whatever happened.
He always believed that he would succeed his father’s position sooner or later and would take a wife before leading the same ordinary life like his father.
This was just an ordinary dream of an ordinary noble child. Everything soon changed when the Royal Family did all that stuff.
‘I see. Desire huh… I don’t truly have a goal that I would continue to chase for as long as I’m alive. All my desires are related to my current life… I have yet to change to the new me… Just following the nature course. If somehow the Royal Family restores my family, will I have another desire?
‘On the other hand, what if I forget about my family, the conflict, my hatred…? What am I? I am just an empty shell. That desire is the one that fulfills me for the rest of my life. So, what is the desire that I Noel Ardagan personally has? Something that is unrelated to my hatred, my family, or my enemies…
‘My desire is…’
While he was thinking, Noel didn’t realize that something was happening outside his body.
“!!!” Shale’s eyes opened wide. Sweats were covering his eyes despite the temperature becoming lower.
Noel’s body was emitting a dim blue particles.
‘Impossible.’ Shale thought while sucking a cold breath. ‘An average person needed years of meditation to find their own desire, their spirit… Even the emerging genius, Anna Stargaze is said to require three days to awaken her spirit. How is this possible? He can actually awaken his spirit in just a few minutes?’
Shale suddenly remembered how the commander wanted to protect him. He was wondering if the commander was already aware of his talent.
However, another light soon shone. It was a red light emitting from the red mark on his right hand, where the Ardagan Sword placed its symbol.
‘Spirit Pact?!’ Shale dropped on his butt, staring at Noel in horror. ‘How can he make a spirit pact within a few minutes? Even I need to have a long talk with my spirit and gain an understanding first before creating an agreement between us…’
On the contrary, Noel was unaware of what was happening outside his body. His consciousness had fallen so deep that it felt like he was leaving his body. 𝙚𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒐𝙧𝙜
He didn’t feel anything in the deep darkness.
However, after finding his desire, a bright light started illuminating the darkness, bringing him to a plain white room.
“Eh? Where is this? Shouldn’t I be in the training ground?” Noel looked left and right, finding nothing.
A sound suddenly echoed inside his mind.
‘Ngiik!’ The high-pitched sound made him close his eyes as his brain started to hurt. If it was a sound from the outside, he felt it would rupture his eardrums.
Yet, when it disappeared, Noel seemed to understand the meaning of that sound.
“Eh? That sound… is telling me to look back?” Confused, Noel slowly turned around while gulping down. Suddenly, he found a red sword that looked exactly like the Ardagan Sword.
“That is… Ardagan.” Although a bit hesitant, Noel tried to approach the sword while trying to reach it.
As if reacting to Noel’s action, the sword released a blazing flame that gradually moved toward him, trying to burn him.
At the same time, Noel’s body started glowing as a snowflake symbol shone on his right chest.
“This is…” Noel felt the heat of the blazing flame gradually decreased when something cold began to spread from his right chest. He lowered his head and found the symbol, fighting against the flame.
“A snowflake?” Noel frowned, not understanding what was going on.
After that exchange clash, another high-pitched sound echoed directly in his head.
“Kh.” Noel gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. He also understood the sound meaning.
‘I am Ardagan. A sword whose purposes are to cut down whoever you want to cut and burn the injustice.’
‘I am Heisk. The Icy Spirit of Northern Plain, your desire.’
“Eh? Spirit? Does that mean I am in the place where I meet my spirit? But a human is supposed to only have one spirit, right?” Noel expressed his confusion, only to receive another high-pitched sound in his head.
‘Outsider.’ This was clearly Heisk’s voice. There was a distinct difference between the two. Ardagan’s voice was similar to a deep voice from a middle-aged man while Heisk’s voice felt like a gentle female. The two were the opposite of each other. Yet, he felt no hatred coming from Heisk’s voice.
Even if she deemed Ardagan to be an outsider, there was no repulsiveness that wanted to chase him out.
‘You’ve become our master! Our goals are the same, which is your desire. To achieve your desire, I have been lending you my power.’
“Your power?” Noel widened his eyes and asked, “The system?”
‘Yes. However, the true essence of my power lies elsewhere. It’s your duty to understand me. The more you understand me, the more power you can receive from me.’
“!!!” Noel recalled the missions and medals in the system. It seemed that the more he completed those things, the more he could understand Ardagan. Hence, his goal was clear. It was to do his best to complete them.
After that, Heisk’s voice echoed in his heart.
‘My power can’t be compared to him, but it doesn’t mean I’m weak. My power lies on my versatility. That’s why I shall…’
The snowflake symbol suddenly came out of his chest and floated to Ardagan.
The jewel on Ardagan’s hilt shone, creating a red symbol. In the middle of the symbol was a flame mark. But the moment Heisk touched that mark, the fire symbol was replaced by a snowflake symbol and integrated itself to Ardagan.
Ardagan was a sword with a black grip and red blade, but after the integration, the color on the blade split into two. One was a blood red while the other was light blue like that of the snowflake.
Then, both of their voices rang at the same time.
‘We shall lend you our power, Master.’