Chapter 85: Devour (1)

The hunger of the Devouring Soul Blade felt almost like that of a living creature, and through their soul link, Aiden could clearly sense it stirring within his heart.

This was not a physiological need, but an instinctive and overwhelming craving for evolution and completeness.

The slight growth it had gained from consuming the [Power Gauntlets] was like a single drop of water falling into a parched desert. Rather than satisfying its hunger, that tiny improvement had only awakened the greedy nature that had lain dormant for who knew how many years.

Aiden could feel the short blade trembling faintly in his hand.

The dark blade, exposed beneath the layer of rust it had shed, resembled a newborn black hole—silent, bottomless, and desperately yearning to devour more.

"It seems I’ll have to ’feed’ you a little first," Aiden muttered, a trace of anticipation flashing across his eyes.

He was eager to witness firsthand what kind of transformation this ferocious weapon, crowned with the name Devourer, would undergo once it received sufficient nourishment.

Without wasting any time, Aiden began taking stock of the equipment he and his teammates no longer needed and had already intended to dispose of.

Thanks to their frantic leveling, multiple dungeon first clears, and the generous rewards brought about by Luna’s [Good Luck], they had accumulated a considerable amount of obsolete equipment.

"Silas, Luna, give me all the common- and uncommon-tier equipment you don’t need," Aiden instructed.

Without a word, Silas opened his storage space and dumped a pile of equipment onto the ground with a series of metallic clatters.

Most were common-quality items, such as [Rusty Iron Swords] and [Damaged Leather Armor], along with a handful of uncommon-tier pieces with mediocre stats, including [Hardwood Bows] and [Agile Boots]. As a pure defensive tank, Silas had no use for most of them.

Luna obediently took out several pieces of cloth armor and magic-oriented accessories as well. All of them were common or uncommon quality and no longer suited her current development path.

Aiden’s own ring space contained an even larger stockpile of obsolete equipment, piled together like a mountain of discarded treasures.

He made a rough estimate. There were more than thirty pieces of common equipment and fifteen or sixteen pieces of uncommon equipment.

To ordinary players, such a collection would have been a small fortune—enough to make many fledgling teams green with envy.

But to Aiden, they were nothing more than... Feed for the Devouring Soul Blade.

He didn’t feel the slightest bit of reluctance. If the Devouring Soul Blade could grow stronger by consuming them, then investing these useless pieces of equipment into its future was far more valuable than leaving them to gather dust in his storage space.

Aiden first picked up a common-quality [Rusty Iron Sword] and gently pressed it against the blade of the [Devouring Soul Blade].

The scene that followed was similar to when it had consumed the [Power Gauntlets]—only this time, it was much faster.

The dark-red rust covering the blade spread instantly, like a shark catching the scent of blood, enveloping the iron sword in the blink of an eye.

A faint sizzling sound filled the laboratory.

The once-hard iron sword softened and decomposed at a speed visible to the naked eye, breaking down into wisps of extremely faint white energy that were greedily absorbed by the Blade.

In the blink of an eye, the entire sword vanished, leaving behind nothing but a faint metallic scent lingering in the air.

[The Devouring Soul Blade has consumed "Rusty Iron Sword (Common)." Growth increased by 5.1%!]

The increase was negligible, but Aiden wasn’t surprised.

The essence contained within common-quality equipment was simply too little.

Rather than waste time feeding them one at a time, he immediately switched to a more efficient method. Batch feeding.

Aiden picked up several pieces of common equipment in both hands and, like a blacksmith feeding fuel into a furnace, continuously pressed them against the [Devouring Blade].

For a while, the laboratory was filled with a dense series of faint sizzling sounds.

The moment each piece of equipment came into contact with the eerie rust, it dissolved and disintegrated like snow beneath the scorching sun.

Streams of faint, multicolored energy emerged from the dissolving equipment and flowed continuously into the short blade.

At the same time, the rust covering the Devouring Soul Blade began to peel away.

Bit by bit.

Slowly, yet unmistakably.

It was as if the weapon were shedding an ancient shell that had imprisoned it for countless years.

Silas and Luna watched from the side, completely dumbfounded.

Silas was especially stunned. He had personally tested the durability of these common-tier pieces of equipment. Their stats might have been mediocre, but their materials were still considerably tougher than ordinary metal.

Yet now, they were being devoured as effortlessly as fragile crackers.

The sight was undeniably eerie.

"Sir Aiden... it eats so fast," Luna whispered.

Her purple eyes were filled with curiosity, but there was also a trace of instinctive fear toward the unknown weapon.

After more than thirty pieces of common equipment had been consumed, the Devouring Soul Blade’s growth reached 8.5%.

Approximately one-tenth of the rust covering its surface had disappeared, revealing more of the dark blade beneath.

Its metallic luster was deep and restrained, almost as though it could absorb the light around it.

Even the faint cold glint along its edge had become noticeably sharper.

"Next, it’s time for the uncommon equipment." Aiden shifted his gaze toward the dozen or so pieces of uncommon-quality "feed."

He knew that these were the real main course. He picked up an uncommon-quality [Hardwood Bow].

The consumption process was noticeably slower this time.

After the dark-red rust enveloped the bow, the decomposition proceeded at a much more measured pace than before.

Still, it remained steady. A faint green energy essence was extracted from the [Hardwood Bow] strand by strand, flowing into the blade like a thin green stream.

[The [Devouring Blade] has consumed "Hardwood Bow (Uncommon)." Growth increased to 9.8%!]

The effect was significantly greater than that of common equipment.

Aiden’s eyes brightened slightly as he continued feeding it.