Inside the dark, damp cave, Rudra lay motionless on the ground. Suddenly, his fingers twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes.
"Am I… not dead?" he muttered, dazed and confused.
He examined his body in disbelief. All the wounds that once covered him were gone. Even the arm that had been ripped off was fully intact.
"What the hell...?" he whispered, sitting up in shock.
Looking around, he searched for the terrifying Wolf King, but it was nowhere to be found. All he saw was the eerie stillness of the cave and the dark mouth of the entrance.
Then—
"Have you woken up, idiot?"
Rudra looked around. The voice came out of nowhere. He scanned his surroundings but saw no one.
He frowned. "Am I hallucinating…?"
"Hey! I'm talking to you!"
Again, the mysterious voice echoed, but no one appeared. Panic appears in Rudra's voice.
"Who's there? Where are you?!" he shouted. "A-Are you a ghost?!"
"I'm inside your body, idiot."
His eyes widened in horror.
"Someone help! I've been possessed! There's a ghost in my body!"
"You're the ghost! Your whole family's full of ghosts!" the voice snapped.
Then, a ball of light floated in front of him, flickering with ethereal energy. Slowly, it morphed into the shape of a small girl, about seven or eight years old.
Rudra blinked. "What the... I've been possessed by a chuunibyo brat?!"
The little girl's face darkened with rage.
"HOW DARE a mere mortal insult this deity?!" she bellowed, smacking Rudra on the head.
"If it weren't for me, you'd have been wolf food, you little brat !"
That hit Rudra hard. The girl was right—he would've died back there. Then he recalled the strange weapon that had fallen from the stone statue.
"Wait… are you that weapon?"
The girl crossed her arms smugly. "Hmph! I'm not some ordinary weapon. I am the divine weapon of a supreme being!"
Rudra asked, "Then what are you doing here?"
Her expression turned gloomy. "My master fell in a great battle, and I was flung into this cursed world. My body was destroyed and shattered into 4 fragments."
She suddenly pointed at him. "Since I helped you, you should help me too"
"Mortal! You shall help me retrieve my missing parts!"
Rudra paled. "M-Me? But I'm not strong. I can't even cultivate. My spiritual roots are trash…"
"Hmph! You think I don't know that?" she said with a sly smirk.
"But you want revenge, don't you? I can make you powerful."
He stared at her in disbelief. "How?"
She burst out laughing. "It seems you haven't even noticed what's happened to your body."
Rudra blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Try channeling Prana into your body," she instructed.
Though doubtful, Rudra sat cross-legged and followed her instructions. Moments later, his eyes snapped open in shock.
He could feel it—the Prana was entering his dantian.
"I can cultivate… I can actually cultivate!" he exclaimed, overjoyed.
In the past, people had mocked him, shamed his family, and dismissed him as useless. But now... everything had changed.
"I'm not trash anymore. I'll take back everything that was stolen from me!"
"Thank you!" he said gratefully to the weapon spirit.
"Hmph. A mere thank you isn't enough. You also have to help me find the rest of my body fragments!" she snapped.
"How am I supposed to do that?"
She waved her hand, and a glowing map appeared in front of him. A large red dot pulsed on the display.
"This map shows the layout of your world. The red dot is where one of my fragments lies."
Rudra looked confused. "But… where exactly is that?"
"That's for you to find out!" she said, crossing her arms.
Rudra sighed. "Fine. I'll help you."
Then he paused. "By the way, how did my spiritual roots become able to cultivate?"
The girl smirked again. "Heh. This is nothing for a deity like me."
I can even make a pig able to cultivate!" she said with a proud expression.
Rudra rolled his eyes. In his entire life, he hadn't met anyone like her who just boasted about their abilities.
Seeing Rudra's expression, the weapon spirit became very angry and scolded Rudra harshly. "How dare you doubt the abilities of this deity!"
"I am sorry, really sorry," Rudra then apologized to her.
"I will forgive you this time," the weapon spirit said.
"By the way, you didn't tell me how you helped me cultivate?" Rudra asked again.
"It's just a simple thing. I upgraded your spiritual roots."
Rudra was shocked to hear this.
"Because your spiritual root is trash, it cannot be upgraded by normal methods".
It was possible only because it was combined with a drop of divine fluid Agnivata's root. It takes a lot of money to do that.
So, Rudra was able to upgrade them very easily and for free.
"But how?" he asked again.
Then she explained. "Remember the herb you ate?" she asked.
"Yes," he said.
"That was not a normal herb. The herb was a special ingredient used to make a special type of spiritual root known as Agnivata spiritual roots. These roots are known as the 'Holy Roots.' But you didn't take it with the proper medication, so its power was limited and was only upgraded to pseudo rare roots."
"Is that so?" he said with a surprised expression.
"But don't worry, I will teach you the method to completely awaken it and merge new spiritual roots' attributes with it."
Hearing the weapon spirit's words, Rudra was overjoyed. Then he asked again:
"When will I be able to cultivate and start my cultivation?"
"Not so soon. Your body is still weak. You need to make your body strong enough to withstand the energy of your new spiritual roots."
"Why?" he questioned.
"The Agnivata spiritual root is based on fire energy. But the fire energy is not ordinary. It is one of the celestial fire energies—so strong that even the immortals will be jealous of it."
"You have to be careful not to show this fire in front of anyone, even your close relatives," the weapon spirit warned Rudra.
"When will we start our training?"
He asked.
"Very soon, boy. Prepare yourself. The road of cultivation is very difficult, and it will be even more difficult for you," she said with a sly expression.
The expression of the weapon spirit sent chills down Rudra's spine. Even the spirit didn't know what would happen to him...