"Zero, scan this book and tell me its gist," Lucian spoke.


    [Sigh, I miss my days of being unemployed, doing nothing all the time and justzing around; that must have been the best part of my life.]


    After that, Zero got to work and began to scan the pages. After a few minutes, Lucian had flipped through the entire book. Then, cing it to the side, he asked:


    "Now tell me what it is all about. And what is this stone?"


    [In short, it is research done by a famous weapon forger.


    She first mentioned all of her great aplishments and h h, telling how famous she was; the first part is just that.


    Then, in the second part, she talked about weapons and how weapons could only be used for each phase of evolution, then be useless at the next phase.


    She talked about it all in great detail, and in the third part, she mentioned her great invention, which could grow along with its user and could feed upon the creatures that you kill.


    That''s the gist of it; that stone is the weapon she had created—the masterpiece of her life. She had given several years of her life just for this.


    To use this weapon, you would need to ce some of your blood on this stone; then it''ll activate.


    But it is also mentioned that you should bepatible with it; otherwise, you won''t be able to use it.]


    "..." Lucian''s lips turned into a thin line as he read thest part of Zero''s exnation.


    He waspletely sure that it was impossible for the weapon to bepatible with him; after all, it was there for the protagonist.


    Suddenly, he felt that all of this was meaningless and felt angry since he had to go through all that. But since he hade this far, he still decided to try.


    "You better work, or I will smash you into pieces," Lucian said, gritting his teeth as he picked up the stone. It was quite heavy and had a smooth surface.


    For some reason, as Lucian removed the handkerchief from around his finger, he could feel fateughing at him, as if making a joke of all the things he went through.


    Blood was still dripping from his finger at the ce that touched the acid earlier. Releasing a breath, he squeezed his finger as several drops of blood fell onto the stone.


    *TIP* *TIP*


    Just as the drops came in contact with the stone''s surface, theypletely disappeared, as if the stone had drunk them. Lucian continued to ce drops of blood on the stone, as it continued to devour it all.


    "How long do I have to do this?" he asked.


    [If it ispatible, then it will show changes on its own after making a connection with you; but if it is notpatible, then it will just stop absorbing any more blood.


    Though, ording to the exnation, it should already have been enough.]


    Without saying anything, Lucian continued to focus on the stone.


    One minute passed.


    Two minutes passed.


    In thepletely silent room, the light glow of the walls illuminated its interior; only the sound of Lucian''s breathing could be heard.


    But within a few seconds, Lucian noticed that the stone had stopped absorbing any more of his blood; it no longer reacted in any way.


    "Sigh, I knew it. These are all rewards ced on a gold tter for the protagonist. Even if someone can pass through those challenges, it would be useless."


    Lucian felt quite bitter; he began to feel his exhaustion even more. He hoped to obtain some treasure to increase his speed of evolution, but it was all pointless.


    He looked at the stone for a few seconds, then standing up from the table, he held the stone in his hand and mumbled:


    "At least I can stop the protagonist from having this; even if I can''t have it, he won''t be able to have it either." Just this thought made him feel a little better.


    "Zero, store this thing," Lucian said, holding the stone.


    [Strange, it seems it is made of some special metal that is stopping me from putting it away in my storage.


    Or maybe it is a restriction ced because of this room, so let''s try again after getting out of here.]


    "Hmmm, I can''t just leave it behind now."


    Finally, he decided to leave. Looking around, he didn''t see any other way out of there, so he decided to go back through the same way.


    "What a waste; I should have been lying in bedfortably right now." Lucian clicked his tongue in annoyance and began to walk towards the door.


    Then he allowed the mes of Corruption to surround his entire body.


    Just as he was about to take a step forward, Lucian felt a strong pull towards his right hand, as if suddenly the stone had be extremely heavy.


    Lucian turned his gaze downwards; the mes of Corruption erupted like a volcano as they swallowed the entire stone and began to attack it.


    "What... is happening?" Lucian was puzzled and astonished at the visual in front of him.


    It was as if the mes had be a beast, and they continued to devour their prey. At first, the stone buzzed heavily, almost making Lucian throw it down, but he held on.


    The stone seemed to fight back against the ck mes, which kept attacking it mercilessly.


    Lucian had no idea what was exactly happening as he just continued to watch, holding the stone with both hands as tightly as he could and releasing more mes from his body.


    *TING* *TING* *TING*


    A strange sound began to ring out as two metals collided against each other.


    This stone was made of a material that was much stronger than the material of the walls.


    So even if Lucian attacked it with all his strength for several days or even months, he wouldn''t be able to leave a single scratch.


    But under the onught of the mes, tiny pieces of the stone began to fall down.


    It got even heavier, making Lucian stumble forward, so he just sat down and held the stone as tightly as he could.


    It felt as if the ck mes hade to life, as they rained down attacks on the stone from all around, almost like the mes had met their mortal enemy.


    ''Is this some kind of corruption?'' Lucian thought in his mind.


    Releasing so many mes was making him feel extremely weak, but he was not going to give up.


    [Just keep doing it. I''ll exin itter. For now, you have to sessfully corrupt this weapon!!]


    Zero''s words appeared in his mind, and she was actually excited, so Lucian was even more motivated to continue.


    He closed his eyes and just focused on releasing more mes; the sound of the stone breaking continued to ring in the room.


    ''It feels like the mes see this stone as something much lower, as they attack it with a feel of disdain.


    Making it regret rejecting the offer earlier?'' Lucian pondered; he got exactly this type of feeling.


    ________________


    Thanks for reading...