Chapter 696: Meeting Arlene Again

Third Person’s POV

Her smile became slightly warmer as she looked at the weapon in his hand.

"But if I take this sword, how are you going to fight, son?"

Ethan blinked.

"I saw how you used it during your battle against that giant demon.

You were practically inseparable from it, and the proficiency and unmatched ferocity you displayed with that weapon were something I could never hope to match."

Her gaze briefly moved toward the sword.

"You weren’t simply using it as a weapon.

You seemed completely accustomed to fighting with it, and I could see that it helped you unleash the full extent of your strength."

She paused briefly before continuing.

"I can’t fight in close combat the way you do.

And you are the strongest among the three of us.

If you were to fight without a weapon simply because you gave yours to me, how could I possibly feel comfortable putting you in danger?"

Hearing his mother’s concern laid out so seriously, Ethan stared at her for a moment before suddenly laughing.

His expression seemed to say, ’so that’s what this is about’.

"You don’t need to worry about that, Mother."

He shook his head with a relaxed smile.

"Your concern would have been valid before, but now..."

He deliberately paused, letting the suspense linger for a moment.

"...it’s meaningless."

Eleanor’s brows furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

Ethan only smiled mysteriously in response.

Instead of answering, he raised his other hand.

In the next instant, a dark scythe suddenly appeared in his grasp.

It wasn’t particularly large.

Its dark handle was roughly the same length as Ethan’s height, while its curved black blade extended for about a meter, giving the strange weapon an ominous appearance.

The unusual weapon immediately caught both women’s attention.

For a moment, they simply stared at it, wondering how many weapons Ethan had actually accumulated during his years away.

But their surprise deepened in the next instant.

Dense darkness suddenly coiled out from Ethan’s hand and seeped into the scythe.

The weapon absorbed the dark mana like a sponge, its entire body flashing with a deep, ominous light.

The darkness spread along the handle and gathered around the curved blade, causing its edge to suddenly gleam with a strange purple brilliance.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed slightly as he sensed the change.

So this is some kind of dark poison.

It seemed to be a special property hidden within the weapon, one that could only be activated after the scythe was supplied with a sufficient amount of dark mana.

Although he had only activated it casually, the strange purple brilliance gave him the faint impression that the weapon would become considerably more dangerous once enough darkness was poured into it.

Ethan looked toward his mother with a faint smile.

"You see? Now that my mana veins have been unsealed, I don’t have to restrict myself to a single element anymore."

His voice carried a trace of satisfaction as he finally spoke about the change he had longed for.

"I can finally use my dominant element properly. So you don’t need to worry about me being unable to fight just because you take this sword, Mother."

He gave the scythe one final glance before returning it to his spatial ring.

Then he extended the icy broadsword toward Eleanor again.

This time, Eleanor hesitated for a moment.

Her eyes moved between the sword and Ethan’s face, as though she was still reluctant to take something that had clearly been so important to him.

But seeing the confidence in her son’s expression, she finally reached out and accepted the weapon.

"Now, you two, form a bond with these weapons. It should be easy."

The two women nodded.

With solemn expressions, they began pouring their soul power into the main rune of activation of their respective weapons, initiating the soul-bonding process.

The process was not particularly complicated, but it still required time and concentration.

The weapons needed to recognize their new masters, and the two women had to establish a connection with the weapons through their soul power before they could fully control them.

After roughly half an hour, the ice broadsword in Eleanor’s hands suddenly began to glow.

The intense icy light surrounding the weapon gradually contracted, and the massive broadsword began to change shape under the influence of its new master’s will.

The broad blade became thinner and narrower, eventually transforming into a slender blue longsword roughly three feet in length.

Its appearance was completely different from before.

The new form was slim and elegant, clearly designed for speed and precision rather than overwhelming force.

Its narrow blade seemed particularly suitable for swift attacks and ambushes, while the suppressed lethal chill radiating from its surface clearly demonstrated that its power had not diminished in the slightest.

Eleanor examined the weapon for a few moments, silently appreciating the changes.

At almost the same time, the twin emerald blades in Aurelia’s hands began glowing as well.

However, unlike Eleanor’s weapon, their appearance remained completely unchanged.

Ethan looked at Aurelia curiously.

"You didn’t change their form?"

Aurelia smiled and shook her head.

"I like their current form, so I didn’t change them. Maybe, in the future, I will do so."

"I see."

Ethan nodded, apparently satisfied with her answer.

He then glanced at the weapons in their hands before his own hand flashed.

The dark scythe disappeared from his grasp and was returned to his spatial ring.

"You two should put your weapons away as well."

Both women nodded and stored their newly bonded weapons inside their respective storage rings.

"It’s time to move. We can’t make Arlene wait for too long."

As he spoke, Ethan raised his hand.

The darkness that formed the isolation barrier around them immediately began to move.

Instead of simply dispersing, the entire dark barrier thinned and contracted, flowing inward from every direction before being drawn into Ethan’s palm like a funnel.

The process was smooth and perfectly controlled, without even the slightest bit of mana escaping his manipulation.

It was a simple display of mana control for him, yet Eleanor and Aurelia couldn’t help being awed by it.

Neither of them had ever witnessed someone manipulate mana with such absolute precision.

To Ethan, however, his dark mana felt almost like an extension of his own body.

It moved wherever his mind directed it, obeying his thoughts as naturally as his own hands obeyed his commands.

Only now did the two women begin to truly understand what the legendary grade affinity for an element represented.

Of course, neither of them knew that Ethan’s darkness elemental talent itself was not actually at the Legendary grade.

It was actually in the mythical Overlord Grade.

They only knew what they were witnessing.

Ethan turned and walked out of the dilapidated room.

The moment he stepped outside, he found Arlene and the rest of her group waiting in another nearby room.

The moment they saw him emerge perfectly healthy, everyone in the group was stunned.

After witnessing his condition earlier, they had all believed that it would take much longer for him to recover.

Arlene, however, looked more delighted than shocked.

The moment her eyes landed on Ethan, the relief and happiness on her face became impossible to hide.