The Hunt.
Axilya stalked through the forest doing her best to be quieter than a church mouse. Although she occasionally cracked branches or stepped on leaves, she did her best, and it was a vast improvement compared to her first day of hunting! However, it wasn't experience that made such a vast difference - instead, it was the fundamental difference between before and now.
The first thing was that she had reached the basic level of Footwork. On a fundamental level, she instinctively had better control of her body. But - there was another part. Determination. It was no longer a case of having to go into debt or feeling like it was her fault. This was a test of her determination and will. It was the only chance Axilya had to bloody herself and her saber before the inevitable battle against a group of bandits!
It could very well be life and death. As such, it was only now that she was truly focused and willing to go deeper and deeper into the forest's depths than she ever dared before. Every moment was now one in which she could run into a dangerous creature at the Houtian level, and as such every extra noise could very well end her life. For Axilya, even before she had begun her hunt, it was a matter of life and death! Her breaths were strong, slow, and quiet as she smoothly glided along the snow. Her eyes darted about to and fro - and yet, the consistent snow made it difficult to find any of the tracks - if there were any in the first place.
However, luck shined upon Axilya, and she finally found them! Hoof prints barely visible were embedded into the snow. Immediately she began to follow them, mind sharpening even further, any feasible thought suddenly being shoved out of her mind as only one thing mattered - the target. Following the trail was difficult. Whatever animal it was seemingly liked to meander, and sometimes walked over itself. On top of the snow constantly falling, numerous times she nearly lost the tracks.
Yet, eventually, Axilya halted. Her eyes trained on an animal that came up to her chest in height, gently meandering around. The beast had dark brown fur that was quite obviously slowly beginning to turn white. It had small horns that curled back over its ears, of which the ears were sharp, pointy, and seemingly slightly barbed. Its eyes were a deep vibrant green, and as it bent down to take a bit of snow Axilya's eyes narrowed, and her breath slowed. A hand ever so slowly gripped onto the wooden saber. A beat passed.
SCHLING!
Axilya's eyes closed, and whispered prayers could be heard as she wished for the soul of the departed animal to be granted life anew in the World Tree's embrace. A minute later blue eyes snapped open and Axilya leaned over and grabbed hold of the animal. With a heave, she lifted it up and hung it around her shoulders. "Alright there, let's get you back to the village." Her eyes were placid, not showing any of her possible emotions or thoughts about killing for the first time. 'Is it... bad I feel nothing? Is it because it's just an animal?' It was only as a few minutes of walking passed that she finally thought about the question that was haunting her. Indeed! She felt nothing. No sorrow, no dread, no fear. No ponderings on the morality of meat eating, there wasn't even a hint of pride. It was as if she had just gone about her day, just an ordinary aspect of life that wasn't worth looking at.
'Is that good or bad? I don't know. Some would say in a cultivation world it's good. But, is that the truth? What happens if the ones I care for die? What happens when I kill a living breathing person?' These thoughts and more spread throughout Axilya's mind as she made the long slow trudge back to the village.
-Edge of the forest-
The beast gently laid out on the ground, Axilya carefully sliced through its stomach with her wooden saber, the blade was unnaturally sharp as she pumped her Ki through it, and with a single slice the entire belly and chest were cut open, and with some slight coaxing organs and other unmentionables began to be removed. Yet, as she went about to continue the butchering process her brows furrowed. 'What's this?' something glinted off of the slowly rising sun, and she leaned over to stare at it, she was only more confused. 'It's some kind of... shard?'
[DING!
Congratulations to the host, you have completed the mission named "Meat"! Your reward is a broken National Armament. Bind?
]
Staring at the bloody and rusty metal shard now in her hand, Axilya would blink rapidly at it, completely befuddled. 'A National Armament? That could mean a lot of things! It could be a fallen nation's crystalized collective faith, it could be a weapon meant to store the fate of a nation, or it could be a 'destiny suppressing' artifact... It's hard to say. But either way, yes! Bind the National Armament!'
[DING!
National Armament being bound, congratulations host! Remember to set up your natio- ERROR. Host does not have a nation. Remember host, make a nation as soon as possible!
]
As the message rang out, a royal purple light seeped from the shard and it floated out of her hand and began to rapidly rotate before whoosh! It flew straight into her wooden saber. Instantly, her saber began to swiftly change. The wooden blade began to turn into a dark metal with a purple sheen, and yet the handle remained the same. The blade grew a single inch, and the sharp edge got more pronounced from the curve at the back of the saber slightly enlarging. A moment passed before all the flaring lights and changes settled down, and she was left with a now metal blade that glinted purple in the light. '... How am I supposed to explain this to Haryk?'
[DING!
Congratulations host on gaining Broken National Armament - Saber. It is suggested that the host does the following.
1. Infuse all Daos learned into the National Armament
2. Seep the Faith of the people in the National Armament
3. Create a Totem for the National Armament.
4. Grow so that the host is actually able to do any of the following three. The system is very disappointed host! The host should be at least a World God by no- *̴̙̀E̸̤͋̄R̵̢̀R̸̗̙͘Ȯ̷̘̳͆R̸̥̯̕*̸͎͓̿̈́
I̵̱̲̬̣͕̤͖̻̼̹͎͇͔͉̫͐͌͛͌̀̈́͋́̂̉͐̈́̐̚͝͝ͅg̸̡̡͇͉̬̥̝̦̟͎̦̦̜̱̻͙͛͊̍̉̋ņ̵̨͕̖̗͕̭͓͙͙̫̱̯̜̦͉́͛͂̊͛͘͜͝o̸͇̣̗̺̠̬̅͒͊̂͑͋̒͗̀̓̍͘r̴̢̭̭̻̞̻͖̩̫̲̻̥̤͕̉ẽ̸̢̞̼̮̥͚̩̭̾͗͒͝ ̶̘̱͇̥͔̒̽̓͒͐͑͌͊̂̀̕t̶̝͉͙̖͕͚̞̲̱͑̇̌̏h̸̢̢̹̬͇͈̝͔̞̘̟̼̗̰̿̈́͗͊̓̓̕a̸̛̞͚̞̓̆̏́͂̋́͛̈́͘t̴̛̮̀ ̶͍͚̲̼̻̗̖̀̽̀͂ͅC̶̢̢̖̻͇̹̭̯̩̯̥̰̗̖̈́̍̋̆̊́͆̃̕͝h̷̜̪̙͍͔̟̤̳͙̯̟̠͛̀͐o̶͓̮̞͇͙͎̐͋̓͘ͅṡ̸̤͗́ę̶̡̢̙̘͕̜̗̾̆͂̃̓̒͒̄̒̂n̸̨̛̘̣̱͙͓̝͚̖͍͇̜̱̹̻̤̉.̴̤̰̜̖̬͉̖͔͕̝̥͍̰̖̄̃̃͐͐̓̏́̈̅̎́̑͝͝
]
Reality itself seemed to break for a moment as the presence of something other corrupted not only the system message at the end but reality itself. Strange mind-shattering script appeared in her eyesight across the trees, on the grass, in the moon, and the cloud. For a brief moment the feeling of runrunrunrun caused Axilya's body to lock up, the gaze of a predator so far beyond her in the foodchain the only thing her body could do was simply freeze - before the moment passed. Reality turned bac to normal, and she found her body shaking with sweat seeping from seemingly every single inch of her skin as her teeth chattered and her body shook.
"What... The... Fuck." The words were panted out in between rapid and shallow breaths as Axilya stood there shaking, covered in sweat, and pupils massively dilated. 'What just happened?'