Azaroth stiffened, and he wasn’t the only one. What did the Crypt Master just say? Fight to the death?

"What?" Stallus put her surprise into words. "What are you talking about now?"

"The weapon?" the Crypt Master started. "It’s a valuable thing that will only grow more valuable as time goes on. And there’s only one. Don’t you all want it?" His eyes shone.

Azaroth narrowed his red eyes and looked at Catena, who was frowning at the weapon in front of him as if it had suddenly grown a head and struck back at him.

Azaroth wasn’t the only one looking at him; others were as well. They studied the weapon, looking for anything that might seem important about it, but all they saw was the wooden club, fit only for making fire.

Azaroth looked back at the Crypt Master. "What makes it valuable?"

Catena was looking at it all with a still confused expression in his eyes. Or was it a sleepy one? You could not tell sometimes with him.

The Crypt Master nodded. "Hmm. A very good question. I’ll answer you! There are basically two types of enchanted weapons. One is the non-growth one, which means the weapon will be at the same level of power always.

"Meaning it will not advance or decrease in advancement. But the other type is the growth-enchanted weapon, which grows with its owner. Meaning, as you advance, the weapon will advance with you and even gain abilities of its own."

Azaroth was all ears. Everyone was immediately attentive at the mention of it gaining extra abilities on its own. Azaroth looked at the weapon again. It seemed like something that would increase his power; adding a weapon with an extra skill is something that would make his firepower even greater.

Catena shook his head and patted his chains. "Isn’t that what our weapons are supposed to do? By feeding them with our essence, we hope they’ll grow powerful with us."

The Crypt Master smiled with amusement. "As a rule, everything made in a crypt is always five to seven times more powerful than one made outside. Made in the crypt, as in the crypt itself manifested it," the Crypt Master said.

"You can never compare it with your weapon, even though your weapons are strong considering they were made with material from the crypt.

"What you are trying to do with your weapons is forcing them to gain power as you use them, which might take years. Or never even happen.

"Unlike this, which has the innate ability to grow. It’s like an Awakener on its own, only at the control of a Master. And it can only have one Master," the Crypt Master smiled.

When everyone looked at the weapon this time, there was greed in their eyes. Azaroth would not deny that he wanted it, and he would use his chaos core essence to get it if he must.

A weapon like this is absolutely needed if he wanted more power. The others must be thinking the same.

Catena moved closer to the weapon, his green eyes sharp now, alert. No longer sleepy.

Azaroth narrowed his eyes and his hand went to his sword. Should there be a fight? He knew he would win, but it was still something to think about before he set off.

He looked at the weapon from another perspective. It was big. And it wasn’t a sharp weapon; it was a blunted one. It was more suited for those with raw strength for fighting.

It didn’t suit Azaroth’s fighting style. In fact, it was far from it. He didn’t have the raw strength to use it, but he could probably still manage with essence. But how long would that last?

Azaroth turned suspicious eyes to the Crypt Master. "What type of weapon is this?" he asked.

The Crypt Master looked at him in amusement. "You’re curious? Curious, curious. I’ll tell you. It’s a strength weapon. It will grow stronger and stronger with its Master. And when I say stronger, I mean in raw strength. Its weight will increase. That’s its basic ability."

Azaroth knew it. He would have to change his whole fighting style because of the weapon. It wasn’t worth it for him. He turned away from it and dropped his hand from his sword.

Stallus also stepped away from it. It was useless for her unless she wanted to use it to smack her crystals at enemies. "Well, that’s disappointing," she said.

Alex and Catena stared at each other, the weapon between them. Catena narrowed his eyes, and his hand dropped to his chains in clear threat.

Alex followed his example, and his hand rested on the hilt of his weapon. "You want to do this? You are up here, where there’s no rock or soil to draw power from."

Catena smiled thinly, and from his storage space dropped several big chunks of rocks. "Don’t worry about me."

The Crypt Master clapped. "A fight! A fight!"

Stallus raised her brows wearily. "Are you serious?"

Alex snorted and shook his head. Then he dropped his hand and stepped back. "The weapon will only work for you anyway. Good luck with it."

Catena looked at him for a while, then he nodded and turned to the Crypt Master.

The Crypt Master looked sad that the fight had been stopped. He shook his head and muttered about children who don’t know the value of fighting over something. "Very well. The weapon is yours, Catena. The monster you took it from hadn’t grown a core and found a way to bond with it yet."

Catena frowned. "Bond?"

"Yes. The weapon will be bound to the master so it can take essence directly from him until it gains a core of its own."

"Wait," Azaroth said. "The weapon will still gain a core?"

The Crypt Master shrugged casually. "Yes, when it gets to a very high level. The Master will be able to use the essence of that core. It’s the only way to gain a second core."

The Crypt Master laughed. "What? Regretting now that you didn’t fight for the weapon?"