I studied and I trained without paying attention to anything else. Three weeks passed without a single message from Alexandra Hallworth. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought she had forgotten about me.

Confining myself to my apartment, I earnestly sought growth and I received just that.

Firstly, I delved deeper into the nature of artifacts learning the system used to appraise them. There were four grades of artifacts. In order from highest to lowest, there was Grade S, Grade A, Grade B, and finally Grade C.

All artifacts assisted the user in some way, but Grade S and Grade A were on an entirely different level of power.

The artifact I possessed would be classified as a Grade-S grimoire. Its value would definitely be somewhere up in the hundred million range. Even if the prerequisite for its use required a user in possession of a necromantic gift, it still would keep the same value for its potential alone. I made it up in my mind to never say a word of it to anyone else.

Next was my advancement in Penelope’s Dance. I reached a critical juncture where I couldn’t use my home as a place to practice. Simply put, my swings felt a bit too strong and it didn’t take much to overturn all of my furniture. The good news was, my forward step with Penelope’s Dance unlocked a third section within the grimoire. While the first concerned my path, the second held general knowledge, the third was related to… well, weapons. At least, that’s how I interpreted it. I opened up the grimoire and took another look.

Your experience with a single weapon is only the start of your journey.

Death is boundless, so do not constrain yourself. Take as many forms as needed.

Current Souls: 2230

Scarlet Blades (Sword/Shortsword): Solidify your blood into two powerful blades. If the blades are broken, your vitality will temporarily fall as a result. The effects of blood-related abilities are transferred to the blades.

Price:1000

Koschei’s Finger (Sword/Rapier): A skeletal rapier that inflicts a chain of life-draining curses once it pierces the target. When this weapon is summoned, you will be stricken with a mental affliction that grows stronger with each use. Can be from summoned anywhere.

Price:1000

Sword of The Deathsworn (Sword/Greatsword): A hefty blade that grants a massive increase in strength but every swing drains a large amount of your vitality. Once your vitality falls beyond a certain point, the sword will automatically be unsummoned. Can be summoned from anywhere.

Price:1000

Pale Bow (Bow/Longbow): A translucent bow that fires spectral arrows that can pass directly through any non-magical or non-enchanted material Arrows do not cause physical damage, instead they weaken the victim's vitality. Arrows will seek out whoever you choose as a target. A maximum of three arrows can be fired before the weapon is unsummoned. There is a large draw time between each arrow. Arrows cannot be fired in quick succession or your soul be damaged.

Price:1000

Ghoulish Warhammer (Maul/Warhammer): A warhammer that increases strength, speed, and resistance to all forms of harm. In exchange, you will be driven into an uncontrollable frenzy. Can be summoned from anywhere.

Price:1000

Skeletal Caestus (Battle Gloves): Use your own bones to create a caestus. The strength of your strikes can be increased up to fivefold, but in exchange, the caestus will erode faster. Once the caestus is shattered, your bones will become weaker for a period of time.

Price:1000

Phantom Spear (Polearm/Spear): An ivory spear that can be created from bones. It has a spectral form that is able to pass through non-magical or non-enchanted material and deliver a soul-piercing strike. Once it’s spectral form is used, the spear is immediately unsummoned and cannot be used again for a period of time.

Price:1000

Up to two weapons can be summoned in quick succession.

Two weapons cannot be summoned simultaneously at your current level of strength.

More weapons may appear as you grow stronger.

I was excited by the list of weapons I had to choose from. Each had their own strengths and weakness that could change the way I approached a battle.

I could see a few weaknesses in the weapons that needed my bones to create them. Although I usually carried a pouch of skeletal fragments when I went into ruins if they were lost, I’d be weaponless and screwed. Not only that, but ruins held many types of enemies and not all would have a skeletal system.

Oddly enough, ‘Koschei’s Finger’ was a skeletal weapon but fell under the category of “can be summoned from anywhere,” which I guess meant I wouldn’t need bones to summon them. Of course, each one came with a downside that couldn’t simply be ignored when compared to everything else.

I put those options aside and selected the Scarlet Blades as my first choice. The effects weren’t as damaging as the others and they seemed to be the most ideal. The Pale Bow came in as a close second even though it had no obvious negative effects. The delay between each shot and the fact I could only use three arrows each time it was summoned made it hard to choose first.

Seeing no reason not to, I purchased the Scarlet Blades for 1000 souls. When the knowledge of their use poured into my mind, I was slightly surprised.

“Hm?” I summoned them, feeling a warm sensation above wrists as two crimson blades appeared and extended forward. They appeared to be around 50-ish centimeters in length and were incredibly sharp. I stared at the glossy surface of the blades in awe, feeling a bit like a certain comic book mutant.

I stood up and tried to swing them a few times, making a lot of awkward attempts in the process. However, once I tried Penelope’s Dance in conjunction with the blades, I began to feel like a fish in water. It was a great foundation for footwork and fit perfectly with the way the blades were meant to be used.

“Ah, I shouldn’t get distracted.” I halted my demonstration and returned to the grimoire.

Current Souls: 1230

I could either save the souls I had or purchase another weapon. I decided to go with the second option. Souls were easily earned, but having another weapon to rely on would only be beneficial for me.

The War Scythe was good for multiple enemies or keeping my enemies at a distance. The Scarlet Blades would obviously be better at a shorter-range as well as dealing with a few enemies. If I wanted a true long distance weapon, I felt like the Pale Bow would be the best option.

Especially when I had a crow-shifting ability that would allow me to reach a greater height. If I could stealthily find a perch to aim from, the slow-firing rate of the bow wouldn’t be a problem for me.

“Ah!” I facepalmed as I remembered I was in possession of Spirit Sight.

That further increased the potential of the bow, making it a very powerful weapon. I didn’t have to convince myself any further and immediately purchased it, leaving me with 230 souls.

Just like with the Scarlet Blades, I tried out the Pale Bow. It was a bit strange, but I posed as if I was preparing to fire a bow, mostly copying what I had seen in videos and movies.

A translucent blue bow slowly formed in my hands. A curved thorn pattern covered most of the limbs while a skull was directly in the middle of it. At the... um… The place where the arrow was shot from. I really didn’t have much knowledge of bows beyond knowing about the limbs and the bowstring. Speaking of, the latter was a fine twinkling thread that once pulled, caused an arrow to appear. I pulled the bowstring back as hard as I could and watched as the arrow slowly moved into place.

“Damn this is harder than I thought,” I muttered as I finally readied the bow to fire.

I relaxed my grip and unsummoned since I was afraid of shooting someone through a wall by accident. Even if it didn’t cause physical damage, I’d hate to accidentally hurt someone.

Just when I was attempting to figure out what to do next, my phone began ringing from somewhere inside the room.

“Ah!” I hurriedly scrambled around for it before checking the caller ID only to find that it was an unknown number.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Casper Clay?” A man spoke.

“Yeah. Who’s this?” I replied back.

“Who do you think?”

“Uh… I’m not too sure...”

“Try to think really hard and I’m sure it’ll come to you,” He said sarcastically.

“Look, could you just tell me?”

“The Iron Wyvern Guild.”

“Why not start with that then-”

“Outside. Five minutes.” He cut me off before I heard a click.

“What do you mean outside? Hello?” I was a step late in realizing he had hung up.

“Asshole,” I muttered before going to grab some clothes.

…

I threw on a grey hoodie, some pants, and an old pair of shoes before heading out. I turned to lock my door like normal, but when I turned back around Rosemary was standing there with a fruit basket in hand.

“Fuck!” I pressed my back against the door after being startled.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you… Sunny told me about what happen and… Well, we haven’t seen you in a long time so we were beginning to get worried. I just put together this fruit basket in hopes of cheering you up a little.” Rosemary smiled.

The smile I found motherly now seemed a bit fucking creepy. Especially coupled with my knowledge of what she had done to the last basket and the decorative sweater she wore.

“Oh… Thank you.” I accepted the basket with a smile. “I’ll be sure to eat it on the way.”

“On the way?” Rosemary’s eyes briefly flashed with surprise before projecting an innocent curiosity.

“Yeah, I’m going to run some errands.”

“Y-You want me to hold the basket until you get back?” She asked with a hint of panic.

“No, no, that’s okay. It’s perfect because now I have a snack with me.” My smile became genuine as I observed her. “Anyway, my friend is waiting on me.”

“Oh, okay, you take care, Casper.” Rosemary formed a dry smile and waved.

“You too,” I replied as I headed out.

A black sedan with tinted windows sat right outside of my apartment complex. The more I looked at it the more it screamed: “We’re extremely shady!”

The windows rolled down as I approached and I saw a vaguely familiar face inside.

“Get in,” said A well-dressed man probably a little older than me. His hair was short and neat which went very well with his curt, straight to the point, attitude.

I did as instructed since I had no reason not to, but I stared at the man hoping he would catch on.

“What?” He noticed my gaze.

“Have we met?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, we have.”

“Really? Where?” I inquired further, ignoring his snarky comment.

“The government facility where you went to report your gift.”

“Wait! I think I actually remember you.” I clapped my hands together as my memory pushed out a brief encounter. “You said your gift made you really good at punching things, right?”

“That's correct.”

“Cool.” I nodded.

After our brief greeting, we drove in silence before he suddenly spoke again.

“Is that all of your questions?”

“Huh? Oh, no. Would you like some fruit?” I lifted the fruit basket with a polite smile.

“You have no idea do you?” He frowned.

“About what?” I narrowed my eyes in confusion.

“About what we’re going to do.”

“We’re meeting Ms. Hallworth, right?”

“No.” He said with a snide laugh. “You’re going on your first assignment.”

“What?” I was surprised by what he said and I mean really surprised. “That’s unprofessional, don’t you think? I mean shouldn’t there be a meeting first or something?”

“Ha!” He let out a short derisive chuckle. “You’re going to kill a few criminals.”

“Are you serious?” I began to get a little upset. His uptight attitude was getting harder to ignore the more he spoke.

“There’s a small gang of black market dealers illegally selling materials harnessed from monsters.”

“So?”

“So, we’ve been told to take care of them.”

“I thought it was only Gifted you all dealt with.”

“We do, mostly. Though, from time to time we have to take on jobs like this. It isn’t something negotiable.”

“So you want me to kill them alone?”

“Is that a problem for you?”

“You want me to kill someone who’s only selling illegal goods, so yeah, it’s sort of a fucking problem.”

“Is it a moral thing?” He asked with contempt.

I narrowed my eyes at him as he pushed the limits of my patience.

“If it is you shouldn’t worry. These guys do some very, very, terrible things to people.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” I rolled my eyes.

“You know what? I think I’ll have some fruit.” He reached into the basket and grabbed an apple before biting into it with an obnoxious crunch.

I half-hoped that Rosemary put poison in it, but then I realized he was the one driving and that it would be a bad if he suddenly passed out or died.

“Hey, what’s your name by the way?”

“Matthew,” He answered.

“Well, I don’t like you, Matthew.”

He grinned happily as if I just complimented him before replying. “I feel the same way, Casper.”

Our ride was filled with silence for sometime before we arrived at some beat-up laundry place with a neon sign that barely flickered. It was the sort of place that you wouldn’t want to wash your hands at, let alone your clothes. Just passing by, I couldn’t see any people inside washing their clothes. Just a few men who seemed to be playing cards in the back.

“I’ll drop you off a little further up,” Matthew said before pulling into a back alley.

He shut the car off and opened the glove compartment before taking out a black box.

“Here.” He opened the small box and handed it toward me.

“Are you proposing to me?” I asked while looking at him strangely.

“What? No, no, just- Just take the earring and put it on, smartass. It’s a communication artifact.”

I picked up a silver earring, a clip-on to be exact, and attached it to my ear lobe.

“Just touch it with your finger if you want to speak.” Matthew put on his own earring.

“Testing. Testing.” He spoke aloud but his words echoed in my mind.

“It works,” I replied as I activated the earring.

“If you run into any problems just signal me and I’ll come to help… There is a mask and a combat suit in the trunk, the former is an artifact, so don’t damage it. The mask should improve your eyesight and reflexes and the armor will stop low-caliber bullets.”

“I thought these were small guys?”

“Are you immune to bullets?”

“Not completely, no.”

I mean, my bones would hold up decently, but my internal organs wouldn’t fare well. I wasn’t exactly eager to test the limits of endurance with a few criminals.

“Then take it. Oh, and there’s a bone in the back too. The guild leader said you need bones to fight apparently.”

“Not this time,” I mumbled while climbing out of the car.

I opened the trunk and the equipment was already prepped for me. I donned the all-black, near-skin tight ensemble of gear that was a clear violation of the law. There were no markings to distinguish what guild or group the armor belonged to which the government strongly disliked, but apparently, it was alright for their private hit squad. The last thing I equipped was the mask which had two amber lenses over the eyes. When I put on the mask, the world became clearer. My eyes darted around as I adjusted to the improvement to my sight. There was no doubting that it was an artifact. I kinda felt a vigilante in my current get-up, but I didn’t linger on it too long. I contemplated bringing the bone with me, but I wouldn’t be able to return it if I used it to make a war scythe. And I wanted to avoid piling on debt.

I made up my mind to use my new weapons as I shifted into a flock of crows and quickly flew toward the laundromat.