Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Partner for Life
Once its appearance finished changing, it started violently shaking before suddenly flying out of Great-grandmother's hand and heading directly toward me. However, the sword shot towards me blade first; I wasn't one bit nervous or scared, as I could somehow feel that the sword wouldn't harm me. When the blade was only a few inches in front of my face, it instantly stopped and just hovered there doing nothing, I didn't know exactly what to do, but I followed my instincts and reached my right hand forward.
Not even a second later, the sword turned around and placed its hilt on my hand; the moment I grabbed the sword, it again shook before settling down.
"Are swords, no, are weapons supposed to do this, Great-grandmother?" Asked Elif, not having a single idea of what had just occurred with his sword.
"Yes, but it usually doesn't happen that quickly, you see Elif, when you wield a specific weapon for a long enough time, it's possible to form a connection or bond with it; however, it usually takes years for a bond to form between you and your weapon, yet somehow that sword has completely bypassed the waiting time by using your as blood a substitute." Stated Celeste, surprised at the sword's abilities and even more impressed at the blacksmith who was capable of forging such an incredible sword.
"Isn't that a good thing, then?" Asked Elif, not entirely understanding the concept of bonding with his sword.
"Yes, it's a good thing; I've just never thought something like this is possible, that's all; however, now that you have a bonded weapon, you shouldn't treat it like a random object; it's only possible to be bonded with one weapon at a time as the already bonded weapon will stop any other weapons from forming a connection with you. So I would recommend treating it as a partner since it'll always be fighting battles alongside you in the future." Answered Celeste, giving Elif some weapon advice
"So, If I should treat it as a partner, shouldn't I give it a name because calling it just a sword doesn't sound that cool?" Asked Elif while looking down at the beautiful sword in his hands.
"That is up to you, but if you decide to, think carefully about it because if you constantly change the name, there would be no point in naming it in the first place. Anyways, here's a sheath to keep your partner in; it's made from a branch of the Erdtree, so it's incredibly durable and comfortable, and now that you've acquired your partner, it's time to leave, as those two children have just about finished as well." Stated Celeste as she picked up Elif into her arms before suddenly vanishing from the spot, with Illumia following right behind.
By the time I realized what had happened, we were already back outside. I could see the giant vault door in the midst of closing, and right in front of it, I could see father and mother walking toward us.
"Did you guys get me a lot of resources!" Yelled Elif asking his parents.
"Yes, we did, and we even got some for your new sword, Grandmother told us about; I must say, son, your luck is just plain ridiculous." Answered Marcus as he and Maria eyed the Ōdachi within Elifs hand still.
"Grandmother wasn't lying, you've really managed to form a connection with the sword within a couple of minutes of just holding it, yet it took me seven years to achieve the same thing. Is this what they say by life is unfair?" lamented Maria, though there was a smile adorned her face while looking at Elif before finally arriving near the group.
"Alright, here you go, Elif; this is all the resources we've collected for you and your partner." Said Marcus as he handed over a very exquisite purple ring to Elif, who looked at it with slight confusion.
"There must be something unique about this ring, right father?" Asked Elif in slight confusion as he inspected the purple ring.
"That right there is called a dimension ring. By engraving a rune or formation onto the ring, it creates a separate space attached to the object." Answered Maria, as she showed Elif her gold dimension ring that was placed on her ring finger.
"This is my dimension ring, and Marcus has his own; now place it on your finger, but be careful as it's going to sting a little bit." Warned Maria.
Placing the ring on the same finger mother's ring was on, I felt a slight stinging pain come from my head for a little bit before it receded, now though I could sense another connection to me other than my partner when I tried focusing on that connection, I suddenly saw a vast white space for as far as I could see, but in the middle, I could see an uncountable number of small golden bottles along with thousands of various sized boxes that littered the area, and behind both of them was a giant mountain of small crystal-like cubes.
"That's a lot of stuff!" Shouted Elif in surprise, which caused everyone to let out a chuckle, though Illumia just had a smile on her face.
"If you think that's a lot, then wait until you see the actual storage area, the pile you have didn't even make a dent in the number of resources we have." Said Maria.
"Since these are resources meant to help me cultivate, what do they do?" Asked Elif as he exited the dimension ring.
"Hmm, most of the pills are there to help strengthen your foundation after advancing a minor or major realm, but some of the other pills can heal you and replenish your Qi reserves. The boxes mainly consist of different types of metals for your partner to use as a cultivation resource to improve its grade, and the mountain of glowing crystal cubes are Spirit stones, which are the universal currency; they can also be used for cultivating as well, but you won't need to use them like that." Explained Marcus in one breath.
We continued having an enjoyable chat while walking back from where we originally came from. Still, eventually, all things must come to an end, as when we finally arrived at Great-grandmother's room, it was time to leave.
"It was nice visiting you, grandmother, but we must leave now; Maria and I still have some things to take care of." Said Marcus, as he got forcefully hugged by Celeste, with his face ending up in her breasts.
"I understand; it was great seeing you two little children after so long, and make sure to come to visit sooner next time your grandmother gets lonely." Replied Celeste as she let go of Marcus before doing the same thing with Maria, though she sounded a little grumpy because of it.
"And you, Elif, I better see you again real soon, or I'm going to get sad, ok?" Said Celeste as she fake pouted to try and coerce Elif into visiting, which worked.
"I'll make sure to visit ok Great-grandmother, besides I haven't see the other sections of the treasury." Answered Elif while he was getting hugged by Celeste.
"And don't forget to take good care of your new partner!" Said Celeste, reminding Elif before he walked out of the room.
"I won't; see you later, Great-grandmother." Responded Elif as he made his way out of the room, with Illumia bowing before shutting the door.
Once the door closed, I turned around opposite the door and held up my hands which were holding my new partner sheathed away.
'So we're partners now; well, let's make sure to have a whole bunch of fun in the future!' Thought Elif before storing it in his dimension ring since its size is awkward to walk with.
"Well, it seems you're already getting along with your partner; that's good since you'll have to trust it with your life in future battles." Said Marcus with a smile as he ruffled Elifs hair, much to his annoyance.
"I know, father, and can you stop messing up my hair? It's not fun trying to fix it." Responded Elif in annoyance as he waved his father's hand away, causing Marcus to laugh.
"Anyways, dear, we must return as we haven't finished our work since I canceled the meeting with the nobles, which unfortunately caused some other problem to arise." Announced Maria, irked at the idea of having to do more work because of the nobles.
"Will you still be there for dinner?" Asked Elif.
"Yes, we will always be ready for dinner, so just go and do whatever you want for now; we'll see you soon, Elif." Answered Maria as she and Marcus went down a different hallway, separating themselves from Elif.
"Well, I guess there's not much to do; let's go visit Elaine and then return back to my room." Thought Elif out loud.
When I visited Elaine, who's been staying with my grandparents, they were surprised when I told them about my partner before they calmed down, saying, "I'm just a box full of surprises." I then played around with Elaine for a little bit, and while doing so, I noticed that Elaine greatly enjoyed playing with the purple streaks in my hair, which just caused me to chuckle. I continued playing with Elaine till she got tired and went to sleep; I then kissed her on the forehead before giving her back to grandmother and saying goodbye before heading back to my room to cultivate.
Nothing interesting happened after that; I just cultivated till dinner time, went to eat dinner with my family, and returned to my room to continue cultivating, though I did break through to the middle realm of Foundation Establishment, which allowed me to pick up my bed quite easily. By the time it was dark outside, I had decided to go to sleep and continue cultivating tomorrow.
'Goodnight.' Thought Elif to himself as he lay in the bed.
Not too long later, Elif had gone to sleep, but while today was a fantastic day for him, what he didn't know was tomorrow would be a day he would remember for the rest of his life as one of the worst days ever.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone