Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"Yes, I am," the young man answered with a grin. "Hehe, Master. You hadn't realized it yet?"

Alex shook his head. "How was I supposed to?" he asked.

"Fair enough," the young man said. "Yes, I'm a player. Why, does that have anything to do with anything?"

"Not with you, but it has something to do with your sword here," Alex said, showing off the large blade toward the young man.

Shan Wangjiu put on a face of surprise. "You truly are strong, master. I was right to follow you," he quickly said. "I've never been able to pick up this sword as easily as you have. Many have tried too, but they had to give up in the end as well."

"Why do you use something that you can't properly use?" Alex asked him.

The young man shrugged. "Because it looks cool," he said. "I remember reading comics about swordsmen with giant swords. They looked epic in those comics, and I wanted to become similar."

Alex couldn't relate, but he could understand what he was trying to say. However, that didn't mean that was a good reason. He had to stifle laughter before it came out.

"So the entire reason you burden yourself with the sword is because… it looks cool," Alex said.

"Uhuh." The young man nodded vigorously.

Alex sighed a little but did nothing more. He wasn't surprised to learn that he had thought using a large sword would make him look cool. He was surprised that he had stuck with it for more than six decades.

"You were about to say something about my sword earlier," the young man said. "Can you continue please?"

"Ah, right," Alex looked back at the sword. "Has anyone told you why you have such a hard time holding this sword?"

The young man thought for a bit and shook his head. "I had a few friends try it out, but none could tell what was wrong," he said.

"What about some seniors or elders?" Alex asked.

"No, no, no, master," he said, wiggling his finger at him. "I might look dumb but I'm very smart. A sword like this, I know it is good. This sort of treasure would be more than enough for anyone to want to steal it. So, I never showed any seniors this sword. I trained with it in secret."

Alex was a little stunned by hearing the young man. It seemed he had more brains than him when they were starting as cultivators. Alex sometimes wondered what would've happened if he kept his knowledge to himself.

"Besides," the young man continued, catching Alex's attention. "I never really had any seniors or elders to show the sword to even if I wanted to."

"No seniors?" Alex looked at him with a confused expression. "What about the higher realm cultivators in your sect, or whatever place you joined."

"Sect?" the man shook his head. "I am a lone wolf, master. I belong to no pack. I joined one early on, but I quickly left it as it was not for me. Too many… rules and strict policies. I would rather be free as the wind."

"When did you leave?" Alex asked.

"Uhh… I was in a sect for half a year," the young man thought. "Then I struggled for another 2 years on my own as a newly abandoned player, and then joined another sect after I wanted to get back on my feet. 3 months after being there, I remembered why I left the first one."

Alex sighed. "I see," he said. "No wonder nobody was there to tell you about your sword."

"Why? Is something wrong with it?" the young man asked before shaking his head. "That's not possible. It's a good news, right? It has to be. I haven't been struggling all these years for no reason, right?"

Alex shrugged a little. "That depends on what you can do with it in the future," he said before swinging the sword around. "This sword… has a Sword Spirit inside of it."

The young man gasped in an exasperated surprise, his hands hiding his mouth and all. His eyes were still wide when he put down his hand and asked, "What's a Sword Spirit?" he asked.

Alex's brows furrowed. "Why did you just gasp if you don't know what a Sword Spirit is?" he asked.

The young man raised his shoulders. "Because it sounded awesome," he said. "That doesn't matter, master. What is a sword spirit?" 

Alex sighed. "A sword spirit is a spirit that forms in your sword, either when it was created, or over its lifetime, depending on how well it was used or maintained," he said.

"I want to say this sword was created with a Sword Spirit in it, but it is more likely it became so after someone used it for a long time, pouring their Qi into it, refining it," he said.

"Oh, I tried refining the sword," the young man said. "Many different times too, but it never worked."

"Because the Sword spirit in here doesn't acknowledge you as someone worthy of being its master," Alex said. "You have to tame the Sword spirit first before it lends the sword to be refined by you."

"Woah," the young man whistled. "What then? Would it be stronger? Would I be stronger?"

"Your overall prowess will go up. I know for a fact that fighting with unrefined weapons, especially one that doesn't accept you, makes your damage output lessen a lot," Alex said before pausing a little. "How often have you used this sword?"

"All the time," the young man said. "I even used it the last time I came here."

"You came here last time?" Alex asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Yes," the young man said with a laugh. "I was just a Saint Foundation realm fighter back then."

"I see," Alex said. He was about to hand back the sword when he realized something. He thought for a bit and brought out Midnight.

"Can you hold this for me," Alex asked. "See how heavy it is for you."

"Sure, Master," the young man said, before grabbing Midnight's hilt. Instantly, the weight grew upon the young man and he grunted as he quickly grabbed Midnight with both hands.

He pulled it up, barely keeping it from touching the ground.

Alex looked at the young man in shock. 'He's actually keeping Midnight off the ground,' he thought.

Midnight flew back into Alex and the young man sighed in relief. 

"God… damn," Shan Wangjiu took deep breaths. "How… do you fight… with that thing? It's… so heavy."

"My sword is heavy, but that is not the reason why you struggled," Alex said.

"What do you mean?" the young man looked up before his eyes brightened a little. "Wait, do you mean that sword has a Sword spirit too?"

"Yes. One with around the same strength," Alex said. "And from this test, I can tell that your Intent has become a lot stronger after the constant fight with the Sword spirit in your sword."

"If you manage to make the Sword spirit submit, you can finally start your journey as a great swordsman," Alex said.

The young man's eyes were wide as a hawk's. He instantly fell to his knees. "Please teach me how, Master!"

This time, Alex found no reason to refuse.