Chapter 102: Golden Fortune City VIII
Rhys kept walking. The stalls were fewer now, the buildings older. The streets were cracked and moss grew between the stones. The air smelled of smoke and rust.
At one stall, an old man sold broken weapons—rusted swords, bent hilts, scraps no one wanted. At the very bottom of the pile, Rhys saw a shard of dark metal.
He picked it up. The piece was heavy, heavier than normal iron. Black lines ran through it, glowing faint purple when sunlight touched it. The fragments in his bag began to hum louder, like they were reacting.
The merchant shrugged. "Worthless junk. You can’t fix it, can’t melt it. If you want it, pay cheap."
Rhys gave the coins and walked away.
When the shard touched his bag, the humming didn’t stop. Instead, a system message appeared in his mind.
[You have acquired Fragment: Sword of Night Shroud]
Rhys stopped. The name stayed in his head. It wasn’t a skill he had learned. It wasn’t from his class. It came from the shard itself.
"So, it was here," Rhys mumbled. At first, he didn’t know what it was, but now that he had learned its name, he understood what weapon this was. This weapon came from a villain in the original book, called the Ruinous Darkness Blade.
This blade had the ability to create an area of darkness where only the wielder could see. No skill, no technique could counter it. Once trapped inside, you were dead unless you had godly senses—an ultra-sense beyond normal perception.
"It’s good I got it first," he muttered, and then went back to shop and bought an longsword, it was just a simple, common long sword—ranked low, nothing special.
He went into a quiet alley. Drawing the sword he had just purchased, he pressed the shard to the blade. The shard sank into the weapon like liquid.
The sword changed. The blade grew a little longer, the edge turning black, and a thin mist of shadow leaked from it. Rhys swung once. The strike carried a second shadow edge with it, wide and heavy. The stone wall in front of him cracked open with a deep cut.
Then another message appeared.
[Lore Authority Resonates]
[New Function Unlocked: Remembrance Realm]
[You may now enter fragments of memory tied to ancient relics.]
Rhys lowered the sword slowly. The shadow disappeared, but the system message stayed clear in his mind.
The Remembrance Realm wasn’t a dungeon or a quest. It was different. A place made by powerful weapons and skills—those at least of Legend rank. Anyone who entered had to pass the trial left behind. Only then could they gain the weapon or skill.
The shard of the Night Shroud had opened that path. His trial for the Ruinous Darkness Blade had now begun.
He slid the sword back into its sheath, calm on the outside. Beyond the alley, Golden Fortune City was alive as always—merchants calling out, adventurers trading.
Rhys left the alley and walked through the busy streets of Golden Fortune City. He didn’t hurry, but he stayed focused. The shard had triggered the trial, and he needed somewhere quiet before it began.
He reached the inn and went straight to his room. After shutting the door, he dropped his bag on the table and sat on the bed.
The sword lay across his knees. The shadow around it was gone, but he could still feel a pulse inside the blade.
"Alright," he said quietly. "Let’s start."
The system reacted immediately.
[ Remembrance Realm: Ruinous Darkness Blade ]
[ Trial Starting... ]
The air grew heavy. The walls of the room turned dark and slowly vanished. The noise of the city faded away.
When Rhys opened his eyes, he was standing in a wide field covered in thick black fog. The ground was cracked and dead.
Above him, a giant blade of shadow hung in the sky, stretching so far he couldn’t see the end.
The trial had begun.
Rhys held his sword tightly and looked around. The black fog made it hard to see far, but he could feel movement in it.
The system message appeared again.
[ Trial Objective: Defeat the guardians of the Ruinous Darkness Blade. ]
The ground shook. From the fog, shapes began to crawl out—knights made of broken armor, their bodies hollow but filled with black mist. Each one held a sword shaped like a shard of the giant blade above.
There were five of them, standing in a line, their eyes glowing faint purple.
Rhys exhaled slowly. "Guardians, huh."
The first knight rushed forward. Its movements were fast, too fast for broken armor, and the shadow around its sword left trails of darkness in the air.
Rhys raised his blade to meet it. The clash rang out sharply, and for a moment he felt the heavy pressure of the trial—it was stronger than normal enemies, like the weapon itself was testing him.
He pushed back, swung again, and the fight began.
Rhys twisted his blade, forcing the knight back a step. The shadow around its sword clung to his weapon like tar before breaking apart.
The knight didn’t stagger. It swung again, fast and heavy. Rhys ducked under the strike and countered with a clean slash across its torso. The armor cracked, and black mist poured out like blood.
The knight collapsed into the fog, fading as if it had never existed.
[ 1 Guardian Defeated ]
The other four moved at once. Two rushed straight at him, while the other two circled, their steps silent in the dead ground.
Rhys set his stance. The pressure was heavier now, as if the trial was increasing the difficulty after the first kill.
The second knight’s blade came from the left. Rhys blocked it and kicked forward, knocking it back. The third knight attacked from behind—he turned quickly, swinging wide. His blade cut through the shadow sword, and the knight split apart into smoke.
[ 2 Guardians Defeated ]
The remaining three didn’t hesitate. Their purple eyes burned brighter as they charged together.
Rhys gritted his teeth. "Alright. Let’s finish this."
He drew in mana, coating his sword. The shadow mist around the blade reacted, thickening as if feeding on his power.
When the knights came down on him, Rhys slashed upward with everything he had. The blade cut through all three at once, the shadow edge extending beyond the steel.
The fog exploded around him, and the knights vanished into nothing.
[ 5 Guardians Defeated ]
[ First Phase Complete ]
The ground rumbled again. Above him, the giant blade of shadow began to lower, sinking closer to the cracked earth. Its weight pressed down on everything, filling the air with sharp, crushing pressure.
Rhys staggered a step as the weight of the blade pressed down, almost like the air itself had turned solid. His chest felt heavy, and every breath came slower.
The system message appeared again.
[ Second Phase: Face the Blade of Ruinous Darkness ]
The fog around him parted. From the sky, the giant shadow blade began to split. A massive figure stepped out of it—tall, armored in jagged black steel, with the same glowing purple eyes as the guardians but brighter, sharper. In its hands, it held a full version of the Ruinous Darkness Blade.
Rhys tightened his grip. This wasn’t a normal fight. The pressure rolling off the figure was overwhelming, like a boss monster.
The figure raised the sword. The ground beneath Rhys cracked before the blade even moved. When it finally swung down, the shadow edge stretched far beyond the steel, cutting across the entire field in one strike.
Rhys jumped back, rolling across the ground as the slash tore a massive trench where he had stood. The black fog rushed to fill the gap, swallowing the destruction.
He stood quickly, sweat forming on his brow. "One hit and I’m done..."
The figure lifted the blade again, slower this time, almost like it was waiting for him to attack.
Rhys steadied his stance, pulling mana into his weapon. The shadow around his sword reacted again, forming a second edge.
He knew the trial wasn’t just about surviving. It was about proving he could control the Ruinous Darkness Blade.
Rhys tightened his stance, both hands on the hilt. The shadow edge around his blade pulsed, growing sharper, almost alive.
The armored figure took a single step forward. The ground shook as if it couldn’t hold its weight. Then the giant blade came down again, faster than before.
Rhys met it head-on. His sword clashed against the Ruinous Darkness Blade, steel against shadow. The impact nearly crushed him—his arms shook, his knees bent, and the force drove cracks into the ground under his feet.
"Too strong..." he muttered, teeth clenched.
The figure leaned in, pressing harder. Its purple eyes burned into him, like it was measuring his worth.
Rhys drew more mana, forcing it into his sword. The shadow edge around his weapon thickened, pushing back against the crushing weight. With a sharp shout, he twisted and shoved the blade aside.
The giant sword slid past him, cutting deep into the ground and splitting it wide. Rhys used the opening, swinging upward in a heavy arc. His sword slashed across the figure’s chest, shadow meeting shadow.