Chapter 114 – Durandal’s Magic Bow
To be blunt, this was the pinnacle performance of a weapon custom made by individuals. Mass-produced rune weapons were normal weapons that were able to conduct soul power. For customized rune weapons, they were made to be compatible with the specific wielder's soul power frequency. This allowed for greater exerted power.
Professor Moore was an outstanding figure among the Federation's current generation. Yet, the rune weapons produced now couldn't reach the same standard as their dark era counterparts. Some said this was due to the loss of certain technologies, while others said it was due to a change in hyperdimension energy.
There were many confusing and diverse theories, yet every rune grandmaster placed those old weapons as their target. The reason why those weapons were so well-known across the world wasn't due to their wielders, but their creators.
In fact, the reason why Tianjing Academy could retain its ranking amongst the 50s was largely due to the rune department's high level of achievement.
"The second type is the soul transformation class. Simply put, there is no direct relation between the quality of forging used and the birth of divine weapons themselves. This is because those types of weapons are mainly a result of endless nourishment from the powerful soul power used by their wielders, coupled with a tempering of countless battles which supplemented the weapon with the life force of many mutated life forms and dimension organisms. These factors led to the creation of a weapon's soul, thus giving them the status of a divine weapon."
Moor smiled. Most of the students weren't asleep now and were paying rapt attention to his 'stories'. In fact, this divine weapon was useless to normal people. He could only paint a very large and optimistic picture so that his students could yearn for the future. This was one of the duties and responsibilities of a teacher.
"Naturally, for a divine weapon, this creation process is very slow, arduous, and complex. It also requires a bit of good fortune. An example of a fortuitous event would be Durandal Magic Bow which student Wang Zhong raised."
Wang Zhong was still a ranged soldier after all. Furthermore, he had taken the bow and arrow path and had trained in it for the past year. Due to this he had paid no small amount of attention toward those famed ranged combat experts in mankind's history. The most mysterious of them had been the wielder of Durandal Magic Bow.
"Duran had been the name of Randal's soul beast. Using modern terms, Randal would have been considered a soul beastmaster, in addition to being an outstanding archer. He was a first generation soul beastmaster inside the federation and a genius at that. It is said he possessed the strength to summon Duran for extended periods of time when he was barely seven years old. They were the best of friends, as well as the best of partners, and they both made numerous outstanding achievements for the Federation.
"One day they accepted an expedition mission. Due to receiving an incorrect report, Randal's squadron encountered an inconceivably powerful enemy; Tali's Demon Bee Queen's Hive! Possessing an extremely fast speed and proboscises that couldn't be blocked, along with a small and nimble body shape, the bees had almost completely wiped out Randal's squadron."
When Moore reached this part in the story, the entire classroom was silent. Even Wang Zhong was unable to take his eyes off Moore. The knowledge he'd searched up in the library had been limited and definitely wasn't as detailed. Information in the Freedom Federation was split into different classifications and clearance levels. Only those with high clearance levels were able to read and understand more of the secrets inside higher grade sources.
"If it hadn't been for Duran's resistance, then Randal would have died long ago. Even still, the price he paid for his survival was his eyes. The speed of his arrow couldn't match up to the speed of these Demon Bee Queens. Furthermore, Duran still had a summoning time limit. If he were to disappear, Randal wouldn't have had any other path left for survival.
"In this extremely critical and desperate moment, Duran made a choice that has baffled innumerable scientists to this day. He fused with Randal's rune bow and remained in our world perpetually. In addition, so long as Randal wielded that bow, he moved as though he possessed another set of eyes. This should actually be called 'Mind's Eye', as every minute and faint surrounding detail was unable to escape his awareness.
"One man and one bow then started a slaughter of the entire swarm of Demon Bees and eventually became glorified as the number one archer in the Federation."
A demon swarm was still a terrifying existence to this day and to the current Federation. Everyone could only imagine how magnificent a scene it would have been. Moore's storytelling roused the blood of this group of youths and all of them wished they would one day become a hero in this way.
"Everyone knows that hyperdimension life forms exist in our world only as a projection of their true energy body. Even their so-called intellect is just an imitation of us, like a kind of talking parrot. Yet, Duran left us with boundless wild and fanciful thoughts. We are unable to imagine exactly why sort of price Duran had to pay for his action. The only thing we know is that Randal was unable to summon Duran since then. This matter sparked debates and research among the countless researchers of the scientific world. Although this is just an example, it is still the most powerful attack against those who insist that hyperdimension life forms have no emotions and no intelligence."
Wang Zhong was somewhat enthralled with Moore's storytelling. Durandal's origin story had unavoidably made him think of that little clown Simba. He didn't know if Simba was a hyperdimensional life form, but he should be. Only hyperdimensional life forms could possess such powers. Yet, Simba's intelligence had already far surpassed examples of the other hyperdimensional beasts he knew of. Furthermore, Simba definitely wasn't imitating such intellect like a parrot.
Whenever he spoke of the biographies of the Ten Great Divine Weapons, Professor Moore sighed with obvious regret a considerable number of times. He was a military nut that truly loved rune weapons. Those that were called the Ten Great Divine Weapons by him weren't only constructed powerfully, but also had formidable legends and figures behind them. To him, it was insufficient to only judge them purely through power.
"Wishing to commemorate the friendship between Duran and Randal, later generations named this magic bow as Durandal Magic Bow. Anyone who wields it can temporarily possess the power of Mind's Eye," said Moore. When they heard this, the ranged soldiers present couldn't suppress their calm. This fucking thing was too heaven-defying; it was a truly divine weapon!