Rhys stared at the data pad, the glow of the Coil-Worn map the only light in the desolate maintenance outpost. The heavy scent of ozone and stale water hung in the air, a miserable but comforting cloak of anonymity. He had 3,000 Credits and a moment of terrifying peace. But peace was a lie; Karrus, the Furnace Rank Hunter, was out there, tracking him like an animal. He had to prepare for the hunt in Utility Sector 7, where the Shadow-Edge Blade demanded its feast of corrupted Arcana.
His decision was immediate, driven by the cold, ruthless logic of the Scavenger. Survival first.
Base Defense is temporary, he reasoned, tracing the dusty outline of the entry hatch. If Karrus sends a serious B-Rank agent, my tripwires and alarms won't slow them down for more than a minute. I'd be trapped here, cut off from my retreat. His eyes shifted to his left shoulder, where the memory of Karrus's Incineration Blast still burned deep. The Blade needs to be fed. The hunt is unavoidable. I will take damage. A healing schematic ensures that damage is not fatal. It gives me self-sufficiency in the ruins.
He made his choice: Healing Schematics. The money was better spent on the one thing Karrus couldn't burn away—knowledge.
"System," he muttered, opening his encrypted communications channel on the data pad. "Access Zara's Black Market network. Purchase Basic Arcana Healing Potion Schematic."
[CONFIRM: PURCHASE BASIC ARCANA HEALING POTION SCHEMATIC (1,000 CREDITS)? YES/NO]
"Confirm."
The network transaction was a frantic, silent dance. Rhys watched his Arcana Vision intensely, his mind mapping the digital signal as it left his outdated pad, bounced off three corrupted signal relays in the foundation, and finally confirmed the purchase. The schematic immediately transferred—not as text, but as a complex array of geometric matrices that instantly imprinted themselves onto the technical lobe of his brain. He now knew the exact process, the required reagents, and the precise Arcana frequencies needed to stabilize toxic runoff into a powerful restorative agent.
"I need to leave no traces," he thought aloud, his eyes scanning the Arcana flow around him. He took the Obsidian Compass and used its ability to absorb residual Mists-Arcana, drawing in any lingering digital dust left from the transaction. The outpost was clean again.
The schematic detailed three main components: Activated Ruin Moss (a common bio-absorbent material in the forgotten tunnels), Stabilized Coolant Fluid (leftover from the ancient, non-Arcana machinery), and a Precise Arcana Signature—a thin, steady stream of clean Lantern energy used to catalyze the mix.
Rhys spent the next six hours in the immediate, isolated tunnels around the outpost. He moved quietly, using his Arcana Vision to differentiate the dull, inert moss from the hyper-active, vibrant green Ruin Moss. He avoided the patches where the Corrupted Arcana was thickest, focusing instead on collecting the base components. His Steel Heart Martial Art breathing techniques kept his Core calm and minimized the energy drain of keeping his Arcana Vision active. He collected the coolant from a leaking pipe near the abandoned mineral pool, purifying it with a low-level Arcana pulse.
The Alchemy of Survival
Back at the outpost's workbench, Rhys began the meticulous process of synthesis. He lined up three cracked, salvaged containers. This wasn't merely chemistry; it was low-grade Arcana alchemy, demanding absolute focus and control that was taxing even for a C-Rank Core.
"The Core has to be perfectly steady," he murmured to himself, consulting the detailed schematics in his mind. The Lantern Core is currently fluctuating by 7% due to the temporary B+ boost yesterday. I need that down to 1%.
He sat in the classic Steel Heart meditation posture—back straight, legs crossed, hands resting on his knees—and began the Core Stabilization routine. For an hour, he wrestled with the wild, exuberant energy of his new Lantern Rank, slowly taming it. He felt the Core's roaring flame become a tight, disciplined sun, the fluctuations dropping from 7% to 3%, and finally, to a perfect, unwavering 0.9% stability.
He began the crafting. He mixed the moss and fluid, creating a thick, dark green sludge. The final, critical step was infusing the catalyst.
Rhys extended his hand over the mixture. He pictured the Core in his chest, then drew a breath so deep it felt like pulling the cold air into the heart of his Arcana. He directed a thin, hair-like strand of pure, clean Lantern energy out of his palm and into the sludge.
The mixture instantly resisted. The Ruin Moss, accustomed to absorbing chaotic energy, tried to pull the clean Arcana apart.
"No," Rhys hissed, leaning into the resistance. He held the vision of the geometric matrices from the schematic in his mind—a perfect six-sided structure. "Hold. Stabilize."
He exerted precise, agonizing control, maintaining the purity and frequency of the energy thread. His Core screamed with the effort. Sweat beaded on his forehead, but he held the focus for a full minute. Slowly, miraculously, the dark green sludge began to bubble, then lighten, until it transformed into a clear, viscous, pale-gold liquid.
[BASIC ARCANA HEALING POTION (X3) CRAFTED. ARCANA CORE STABILITY +5%.]
Rhys sagged back against the cold wall, utterly drained, but victorious. He had three potions, each capable of healing minor to moderate Arcana burns and physical damage. He secured them in thick, stoppered vials. Now I can survive the hunt.
He had 2,000 Credits remaining, and the immediate need to secure the 100 Corrupted Arcana charges for his Shadow-Edge Blade (0/100). The Blade lay on the bench, a jet-black promise of deadly evolution.
The Corrupted Labyrinth of Sector 7
Utility Sector 7 was a massive, ancient filtration network located three sectors over. Zara's map indicated it was a prime source of Corrupted Arcana runoff, a place where low-level beasts congregated to feed on the toxic energy that filtered down from the city's unregulated consumption.
Rhys left the outpost, moving through the deep, abandoned tunnels. His Arcana Vision became his primary sense, replacing sight and sound. The clean blue lines of the city's active infrastructure faded, replaced by an increasingly dense, choking fog of dark purple and malignant green—Corrupted Arcana. The air grew heavy and damp, and the faint, low hum of the coils overhead was replaced by a sinister, intermittent buzzing.
As he entered Sector 7, the tunnels became a labyrinth of massive, rusted pipes and churning, toxic effluent. Every shadow felt alive.
Rhys switched the Shadow-Edge Blade to his dominant hand and adopted the Steel Heart: Silent Stalker stance—a technique that kept his energy tightly bound, masking his C-Rank Core signature from the low-level Corrupted Drones he knew patrolled here.
His Arcana Vision was working overtime. He didn't just see the purple fog; he saw the swirling energy signatures of the beasts hidden within.
Target 1: A small, flickering green signature clinging to a ceiling pipe. A Rust-Mite Drone. E-Rank. Harmless alone, but their swarm signal was dangerous.
Rhys moved. Using the Steel Heart: Whispering Step, he leaped onto a narrow pipe, the movement silent and fluid. He brought the Shadow-Edge Blade down in a clean, vertical cut. The dark metal sliced through the drone's metal carapace. The drone didn't bleed, but its flickering green Core signature instantly dissolved into a thin, wispy black smoke—Corrupted Arcana.
Rhys brought the Obsidian Compass forward, holding it over the dissolving smoke. The Compass pulsed, greedily sucking in the toxic energy.
[EVOLVING ARTIFACT QUEST: CORRUPTED ARCANUM COLLECTED (3/100)]
Only three charges from that? Rhys frowned. He realized this would be a long, tedious, and immensely dangerous grind. He needed to find larger concentrations of Corrupted beasts, or he would be stuck in this toxic wasteland for days.
He moved deeper.
The Ambush of the Slugs
The air became thick enough to taste, metallic and sweet. His Arcana Vision was now struggling, the intensity of the purple fog overwhelming the clear blue lines of his own Lantern energy. He found himself in a vast, cylindrical chamber—a defunct water filtration tank, hundreds of feet wide and shrouded in gloom. The walls were covered in a repulsive, glittering black slime.
Rhys froze. His Arcana Vision immediately flagged dozens of large, pulsating signatures—a dense cluster of dark yellow, D-Rank cores, radiating outward from the black slime.
Arcana Slugs. Large, repulsive creatures that fed directly on the Corrupted runoff, storing the toxic energy in their thick, rubbery bodies. They were slow, but their venom was potent, capable of dissolving a lower-rank Core in minutes.
This is the concentration I needed. But it's an entire nest, Rhys thought, channeling more power into his Silent Stalker stance.
He decided on a high-speed flanking attack. He activated the Steel Heart: Serpent's Dash, covering sixty feet of slick floor in a terrifying burst of speed. He arrived at the edge of the nest, the slime squelching under his boots, and began to strike with precision.
SSS-KRIK!
The Shadow-Edge Blade was perfectly designed for this. It cut through the Arcana Slug's thick hide as if it were air. He didn't just rely on the blade's sharpness; he used the Steel Heart discipline to angle the blade for maximum disruption of the slug's D-Rank Core.
He struck once, twice, three times, targeting the glowing yellow core within each slug. Each strike was a killing blow, dissolving the slug into a plume of black smoke. The Obsidian Compass pulsed, greedily drawing the released energy.
[EVOLVING ARTIFACT QUEST: CORRUPTED ARCANUM COLLECTED (39/100)]
Rhys was a whirlwind of black steel and silent movement. But the sheer number of slugs was overwhelming. The entire nest reacted instantly, dozens of D-Rank creatures surging towards him, trailing thick, caustic slime.
He was forced onto the defensive. He executed the Steel Heart: Iron Shell Stance, using the blade to deflect the incoming bodies while keeping his own Core protected.
SPLAT!
One large slug, moving faster than the rest, hit his side. Its venomous slime instantly began to burn through the fabric of his jacket, and the corrupted energy seeped into his skin, stinging him deep into the bone. The pain was sharp and blinding, unlike anything a normal wound could inflict.
[WARNING: CORRUPTED DAMAGE TAKEN. ARCANA CORE DRAIN: 140/200]
Rhys felt a sudden, terrifying fatigue. His C-Rank Core energy was being poisoned, slowing his movements and dulling his senses. He needed to get out, or he needed to heal now.
He plunged the Shadow-Edge Blade into the last slug, creating a screen of dissipating smoke, and leaped backward twenty feet, landing on a dry, concrete barrier. He yanked one of the pale-gold vials from his pouch, his hands shaking slightly.
This is why I bought the schematic.
He uncorked the vial and drank the thick, metallic-tasting liquid in a single gulp.
The sensation was immediate and profound. The Basic Arcana Healing Potion didn't just dull the pain; it instantly countered the Corrupted energy. He felt a wave of clean, disciplined Lantern Arcana flood his system, seeking out the toxic sludge in his veins and neutralizing it. The burning stopped, and the terrifying exhaustion lifted.
[CORRUPTED DAMAGE NEUTRALIZED. ARCANA CORE RESTORED: 180/200]
Rhys had bought back his life. He stared at the dozens of hissing slugs crawling towards him. Now, he was angry.
The Shadow-Edge's Feast
"You want to eat?" Rhys snarled, gripping the Shadow-Edge Blade tighter. "Fine. You can feed my blade."
He channeled a focused stream of Lantern Arcana into his legs, adopting the Steel Heart: Exploding Gale stance. He moved not as a swordsman, but as a pure engine of destruction. He didn't strike to defend; he struck to kill, weaving through the slugs with blinding speed.
Rhys was now fighting with a controlled frenzy. He didn't waste time dodging the slow-moving creatures; he simply used their bodies to propel himself forward, leaving clean, dissolving plumes of black smoke in his wake.
The Obsidian Compass, strapped to his left wrist, was vibrating violently, constantly absorbing the raw Corrupted Arcana released by the dying slugs.
Clang, slice, dissipate. Clang, slice, dissipate. The rhythmic killing was the only sound in the massive chamber. Rhys felt the fatigue return—the constant movement and the drain of maintaining his C-Rank Core were immense—but the realization that he was surviving, winning, fueled him.
He cleared the first wave, leaving a vast patch of concrete covered in nothing but residual black mist. He paused for only a second, checking the System log.
[EVOLVING ARTIFACT QUEST: CORRUPTED ARCANUM COLLECTED (78/100)]
Almost there. Rhys scanned the chamber again. The entire environment felt thinner, cleaner. He had depleted the immediate energy reserve. He needed only one more large cluster.
He looked up toward the massive, corroded ceiling pipe—the main runoff from the sectors above. His Arcana Vision showed a large, solid cluster of D+ signatures clinging to the metal—a group of mature Arcana Slugs, feeding directly on the strongest runoff.
Rhys didn't hesitate. He took his last two healing potions and tucked them securely away. He needed to reach the pipe without wasting energy.
He leaped onto a vertical strut, channeling the full force of his Lantern Core into his muscles. The Steel Heart: Iron Climb technique was not elegant, but brutal and effective. He scaled the sixty-foot height in seconds, landing on the thick, slippery pipe directly above the cluster of D+ slugs.
These slugs were different. They were larger, their cores pulsed a dangerous, hungry yellow, and they immediately retracted into their shells, waiting for him.
Rhys took a deep breath, recalling Zara's warning: The blade is hungry. It needs to feed. He channeled his remaining Arcana not into his body for speed, but into the weapon itself.
The Shadow-Edge Blade responded instantly. A thin, dark crimson aura, a mixture of his own clean Lantern energy and the stored Corrupted Arcana it had already consumed, pulsed around the blade's edge.
He dropped down onto the cluster.
The slugs tried to spray him with venom, but Rhys was already moving. He used the pure density of the Steel Heart defense to ignore the impact, focusing entirely on the offense. He moved like a dark blur, the crimson-edged Blade a terrifying extension of his will.
The blade cut deeper, the resistance was less. The D+ cores, which should have taken two strikes, dissolved in one perfect, clean slice. Rhys realized the Blade was already getting stronger, boosted by the sheer volume of Corrupted energy it was now processing.
He moved through the cluster in less than ten seconds, killing with the cold efficiency of a programmed machine. The slugs' cores dissolved, sending up a massive cloud of noxious, black Arcana smoke—the highest concentration he had seen yet.
Rhys held the Obsidian Compass high into the cloud. The black stone vibrated so violently it nearly slipped from his grip. It sucked in the raw, toxic Arcana like a vacuum cleaner.
[EVOLVING ARTIFACT QUEST: CORRUPTED ARCANUM COLLECTED (100/100)]
[QUEST OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: FEED THE SHADOW-EDGE BLADE CORRUPTED ARCANUM (100/100)]
The Evolution
The second the Quest hit 100/100, the change was instantaneous and overwhelming.
Rhys felt a searing, painful connection to the Shadow-Edge Blade. The weapon, which had been jet-black, now began to crackle and weep a dark, crimson energy that felt both familiar and alien. The energy flowed out of the blade, wrapping around Rhys's hand, up his arm, and directly into his Lantern Core.
The Blade was not just a container anymore; it was now a parasitic amplifier, linked directly to his cultivation.
[EVOLVING ARTIFACT RANK UPGRADE: SHADOW-EDGE BLADE (LEVEL 2) ACHIEVED!]
[NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: GALE WOUNDS]
[GALE WOUNDS: Strikes from the Shadow-Edge Blade leave a temporary (5 seconds) Arcana-Corroded Wound, preventing low-rank Arcana Cores (E and D) from regenerating power.]
[ARCANA CORE STABILITY OPTIMIZED: CURRENT STABILITY: 99.8%]
The pain subsided, replaced by an intoxicating feeling of synchronized power. The Shadow-Edge Blade was now sleek, still black, but its cutting edge shone with a permanent, subtle crimson luminescence. The Blade was faster, lighter, and truly his.
Rhys was utterly exhausted. His Core was nearly empty, running at 10/200, and he was physically shaking. The adrenaline was gone, replaced by the crushing knowledge that he had to get out of the Corrupted Sector immediately.
He didn't need his Arcana Vision to know he had drawn attention. The massive, singular burst of energy from the Blade's evolution would have registered across multiple sectors—a massive, silent alarm bell.
He quickly descended the pipe, his movements now slow and clumsy. He gathered his wits, focusing on the escape route. He had to be back in the security of his outpost before a higher-rank predator arrived to investigate the sudden power spike.
But as he reached the floor, a new signal flared on his Arcana Vision, bright and unmistakable: B-Rank, Furnace. Not Karrus, but another, smaller signature.
A scout. Karrus sent a specialist to check the Arcana spike.
Rhys immediately canceled his Silent Stalker stance and adopted the Steel Heart: Last Stand form—a defensive, energy-conserving stance designed for survival against superior force. He was facing a Furnace Rank agent with an empty Core. He had to use the environment, and he had to use his newly upgraded Blade.
The air around him suddenly thickened, not with Corrupted Arcana, but with a refined, metallic heat. A voice, calm and cruel, echoed from the darkness of the pipe junction:
"The Core signature is weak, but the weapon is magnificent. The Flame Sentinel sends his thanks, Scavenger. I will be collecting both the blade and your life now."
Rhys stood his ground, the crimson glow of the Shadow-Edge Blade Level 2 a terrifying challenge in the darkness. He had no energy left for a fight, but he had no choice.
Rhys is currently facing a B-Rank Furnace Agent sent by Karrus. His Arcana Core is almost empty (10/200). He has 2,000 Credits and two vital, immediate options: