Avatar - Conquering the Elements-Chapter 173. Spiritual Weapon

Southern region of the Earth Kingdom. Quarry.

Nestled among a picturesque landscape of towering cliffs, tiered terraces, and oddly shaped rocks lay one of the bases tasked with guarding the world against unexpected intruders. For years, a metallic fortress had stood on a flat plain surrounding a light-distorting rift.

In a small dormitory room for soldiers, a man in his early thirties sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. His sturdy hands gripped a sword, its edge glowing faintly green. Occasionally, the blade seemed to breathe, filling with a beautiful emerald light. It appeared as though the weapon and the man were two parts of a single whole.

"You've grown stronger again, my friend," the man said, opening his eyes and lightly running his fingers along the blade. Conversing with one's sword was a common habit among those who dedicated their lives to swordsmanship, as the blade became a true companion or even a brother.

Over the past few years, the popularity of various bladed weapons had seen a resurgence. Nearly every practitioner had acquired some form of killing tool, mostly swords, thanks to his teacher.

He, Hasuk, had joined the teacher's school of the sword after witnessing a duel at a tournament. Though his mentor had lost to his opponent, the fame of Bey the Slasher still spread like wildfire through the nearby provinces. Young Hasuk had pushed himself to the limit to pass the rigorous selection among hundreds of other hopefuls vying to enter Bey's school.

As far as he knew, the teacher never stopped searching for materials with greater durability. After years of exploration and hundreds of different materials, he discovered meteoritic iron—now called "spiritual iron." Another year passed before the first results emerged. The dark color of the spiritual iron shifted slightly, and the blade gained dark green flecks.

Experiments with other materials were immediately abandoned, and all focus turned to spiritual iron. Through further research and continuously infusing the sword with life energy, the entire blade took on a green hue. It's worth noting that early on, the sword gained devastating cutting power and increased durability. The more the blade changed color, the deadlier it became. At one point, Bey began to truly feel his sword. From fifteen to twenty meters away, he could sense exactly where his weapon was.

It didn't stop there. By filling his weapon with life energy, he unlocked a previously unexplored world of techniques. Within a twenty-meter radius, he could levitate his blade using his mind, striking opponents from a distance. A powerful swing of the sword created an energy wave that dealt significant damage.

It wasn't long before the teacher began teaching them the first step—infusing the sword with their energy. Only then did they realize the truly Herculean effort their mentor had undertaken. Spiritual iron had immense resistance to life energy, and at times, it felt like they were defying the laws of the universe. To replicate his achievement, they had to lock themselves in their quarters for months, and the school's unofficial motto became: "Perseverance is the greatest virtue."

The teacher refused to keep everything secret. As soon as he recorded his observations, he contacted officials in the Earth Kingdom. They, in turn, sent his manuscripts higher, straight to the King's desk. Within a week, Roku himself appeared at the teacher's doorstep. No one knows what they discussed behind closed doors, but Bey walked around with a huge smile for a long time afterward.

Later, it became known that the teacher had been granted the title of landless aristocrat, and the school began receiving direct state funding. The previously unnamed fencing school proudly adopted the title: "The Path of the Spiritual Sword." A month later, they received peculiar life energy crystals. With them, infusing their swords became exponentially easier, and their speed increased as well.

Practitioners quickly saw the usefulness of the spiritual sword, and within six months, not a single gram of spiritual iron remained on the market. All reserves were in the hands of practitioners as piercing and slashing weapons. A direct correlation was observed between a practitioner's level and the speed of infusion—the stronger and more skilled one was with life energy, the smoother their path became.

Practitioners' powers had long been divided into seven levels. While the first level only significantly enhanced physical attributes, the mythical seventh would grant physical immortality. Needless to say, no one believed a human lifespan was enough to reach even the sixth level. The difficulty of training and the amount of energy required increased exponentially. Over the years, only a couple dozen people had reached the third level, and they had literally lived for their practice, sidelining everything else.

Governments worldwide enacted a unified law requiring practitioners to use their spiritual weapons only in cases of direct threat to their lives. The issue was that clashes between practitioners, who liked to "settle" disputes by infusing their spiritual blades, had become frequent, often harming innocent bystanders. After all, the destructive potential of an average practitioner was only slightly less than that of an average mage.

Not long after, practitioners with spiritual weapons guarding the rifts between worlds made a significant impact. It became clear that spiritual weapons could effortlessly kill spirits, often better than elemental attacks from conquerors. Of course, it all depended on how infused your sword was. If the weapon only glowed faintly green, you couldn't handle spirits above average—higher spirits would feel your attacks like mosquito bites.

The shortage of spiritual iron on the market became especially acute. According to recent data, only fifteen percent of practitioners owned their own spiritual weapons, and half of those were only partially spiritual—with a thin coating of spiritual iron on the surface. No one had known about the life energy crystals before. Shortly after, it became known that they were obtained through risky expeditions into the Spirit Realm, and that was also where spiritual iron occasionally came from.

So, it's no surprise that high-ranking officials began discussing an expedition. Soon, words turned into action. Hasuk volunteered, as participants in the first expedition were promised great rewards. Not to mention the money, each practitioner would receive a handful of life energy crystals. He, like the other practitioners in the expedition, would be at the forefront. Fortunately, the organizers weren't fools—to join the expedition, one had to prove their worth. With his senses, he "saw" hundreds of other practitioners, each at least at the second level of development.

An unpleasant signal marked the general assembly. Stepping out of the barracks, he was met with the sight of a bustling anthill: people hurried about, double-checking and finalizing preparations.

"Take them to another cargo truck! This one's already full to the brim!" shouted a transport driver as a grotesque-looking vehicle approached him. Something resembling a six-meter bipedal tank carried sealed wooden crates in its massive "hands." Through the glass, the face and torso of the operator were visible; they gestured that everything was understood.

"Still can't get used to the eerie look of these ro-bo-ts," muttered the cargo driver.

Many shared his sentiment. After all, only a couple of months had passed since the first demonstration of this device at a presentation by "Industries of the Future." Their usefulness was no longer in doubt. The public had nicknamed these robots "loaders"—they were indeed created for the safe and swift transport of various items. Perhaps someday they'd be used in combat, but for now, they were just imperfect prototypes whose specs didn't give them a significant advantage over mages or practitioners.

Another five minutes passed before the camp fell silent. Before a small rift, a formidable force gathered, consisting of mages, practitioners, healers, ordinary workers, and various types of machinery.

"Attention!" barked the base commander.

"Chief Yuki and Stone Roku!" Hasuk exclaimed to himself in awe as he saw the legendary figures emerge from the main building. During the expedition's preparation, he'd witnessed the mastery these individuals held over life energy more than once. Like many other practitioners, he'd attended masterclasses where Roku and Yuki demonstrated their abilities. A sword made of pure life energy would remain the pinnacle of his dreams for years. He didn't even dare dream of similar armor—it was utterly unattainable.

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"But... how did they reach such a level so quickly?" the question circled in his mind, especially since the techniques they showed were definitely not fourth-level. They were at least fifth, if not a full sixth.

Everyone held their breath as Yuki and Roku gripped the edges of the rift, slowly widening it. It was clear how difficult it was for them, but centimeter by centimeter, the hole expanded. The process sped up when another pair of hands appeared from the other side. Someone couldn't hold back and exhaled loudly. On the other side appeared the faces of Senator Yo and Van "Green Flame"—equally famous figures. People began to understand who had been bringing crystals into this world...

"What is their true strength?" many wondered, knowing the powerful spirits that dwelled beyond the boundary. After the briefing, warriors and mages weren't deluded—they were plainly told that only higher spirits could break through here; ancients were a walking natural disaster, and no fortress could withstand their arrival.

"Forward-forward-forward!" the fortress commander shouted as the hole widened to the necessary size.

The long column began to move. The first rows of practitioners disappeared from this world, only to reappear in the realm of spirits. Those who crossed over immediately felt the change—the number of spiritual particles was off the charts. Without a word, the column split into two parts: one moved forward, the other to the left. Those who went left would set up camp near the spiritual iron deposit, while the first group would take the life energy crystals.

They managed to reach their destinations without any skirmishes—they simply didn't encounter a single spirit. The area had been cleared before their arrival. It took a full day to build temporary housing and establish perimeter security. For a whole week, not a single spirit disturbed them, but no one relaxed. As future events would show—rightly so.

At exactly three o'clock on the ninth day of their stay in this world, the first hostile spirits appeared. The weak lower spirits were dealt with swiftly. Every few days, more and more people arrived. The extraction of critical materials had long been streamlined. Along with that, spirit activity grew. And while, back in their world, they saw spirits at most a couple of times a month, here it was almost every few days.

The conquerors' strength grew like yeast—they didn't need to conserve energy; sit for five minutes, and you're full again. The same could be said for the practitioners; constant battles and an abundance of life energy crystals allowed them to develop exponentially faster. But such rapid growth came at the cost of lack of sleep and overall mental exhaustion. After a month, they would be replaced by a new group. Constant battles and tension weren't good for anyone, so people would rotate periodically.

While they fought, the first cargo trucks, loaded with green crystals and tons of spiritual iron, had already departed for the human world. It could be said that the expedition had already paid for itself, as no one had ever seen such an abundance of scarce resources.

Only one question plagued everyone: "Why hasn't an ancient spirit attacked them yet?" One such spirit would surely have taken an interest in such audacity long ago.

A few kilometers away, a human silhouette lay calmly on the ground, holding a book.

"Someone's remembering again, huh?" Yuki mumbled, scratching his nose, which really wanted to be scratched.

"So bo-o-oring," he drawled, yet he'd have to stay here for a while longer, at least until people exhausted the local crystal and ore reserves.

Yuki acts as a sort of "filter," allowing people to grow in strength without encountering powerful ancient spirits.