"I'll name you Shiver." Chronos said with a smile.
He didn't have any deep reasoning for naming it Shiver. He just thought it was a good name for a spear that would eventually make his enemies shiver in their boots.
Then he felt the spear shiver in acceptance and wondered if he had done the right thing.
King Roderick glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "Are you sure you want to call it such a simple name? Just look at what it did to the royal forge before it was even completed."
Chronos looked around again.
Despite having multiple fourth rank lords and even the fifth rank King Roderick present, every wall and surface was either cut or frozen during the creation of Shiver.
Except for the forge furnace he noticed.
That was a bit strange.
"Yes, I prefer a simple name for something that's going to accompany me for the rest of my life. More importantly, isn't this level of power kind of strange for an artifact?" He said while looking at the damage.
He'd heard about many artifacts but one that could deal this much damage was rare. He even owned two artifacts, the Heartwood sword and Echoforge, and they couldn't do anything close to this.
"That's because we created a true artifact boy," Smith called out from where he was cleaning up the ice. "A regular artifact doesn't possess what your artifact does. Have you not realized how different it is?"
Chronos shook his head, "Forgive me I'm not that familiar with artifacts. Give me a moment to read the description the system gave it."
"The system does that too!?" Archivist Quillfeather shouted in excitement.
"Yes, it can help identify many things and what they do but it's not perfect so I.. wouldn't..."
His words faded as he stared at the description from the system. Not even five lines down he found something very different from other artifacts.
[[Rift Spear — Shiver]
Type: Artifact / Spear
Rank: Unranked — Growth Artifact
Attributes: Space / Void Ice
Core: Physical spear transformed through the [Rift Spear] spell
Artifact Soul: Newly Born
Primary Abilities: Spatial Edge, Folded Reach, Rift Recall, Rift Restoration, Voidfrost, Miasma Bane, Thousandfold Rift]
It had a soul!?
He'd only heard about the most powerful and ancient artifacts possessing a soul! Or perhaps a divine artifact might also have a soul, but he had never seen a divine artifact before.
If others found out that he had an artifact with a soul, then countless nobles and greedy scum would be coming to steal it from him.
Having a soul might not seem like a big deal for most creatures, however having one and not having one made a huge difference in how much a creature could grow.
If a weapon lacked a soul, then eventually it would stop growing and fail to meet the standards of its wielder. That was why nobles wanted growth type artifacts as they could develop a soul on their own eventually, but his artifact was starting with one.
That meant that at the same rank it would be stronger and possess more abilities than regular artifacts. The seven abilities it had now was already proof of that.
On top of that even if an artifact had a soul being able to detect it was near impossible. Chronos certainly couldn't sense the infant soul.
But with the system's assistance that was no longer an issue.
"What? So stunned you can't speak?" Bron chuckled.
"Come take a look and you'll understand," Chronos replied.
They all gathered around more interested in what it said now. With the exception of Smith who had known from the beginning everyone else's mouths fell open.
They glanced at each other then decided to continue reading before they made a final judgement.
[Description
An extraordinary spear created by using a physical weapon as the foundation for the [Rift Spear] spell. Through an arduous process of spatial refinement and repeated exposure to Void Ice, the spear has become something greater than either its original materials or the spell that created it.
Its spearhead exists across several closely overlapping spatial positions, allowing its attacks to strike multiple points at once. A thin layer of unnatural frost perpetually covers its surface, while faint spatial distortions ripple around its edges.
Unlike an ordinary summoned [Rift Spear], this artifact possesses a permanent physical foundation, allowing it to withstand greater concentrations of power and develop abilities beyond those of the original spell.]
That part made sense. They had cut off the miasma using [Void Ice] and expected it to affect the weapon in some way but giving it the powers of ice and freezing was a bit unexpected.
They'd thought it would merely carry a small trace of the void's destructive power.
Chronos could hardly wait to read about its abilities now but decided to read the full entry so that he didn't miss anything.
[Birth of an Artifact Soul
During its creation, a soulglass Lily sacrificed its life, allowing the spear to give birth to a genuine artifact soul.
This newly born soul grants the spear the ability to grow alongside its wielder, gradually strengthening its existing abilities and potentially developing entirely new ones as it accumulates experience and power.
According to the system's understanding, the spear is still considered a newborn artifact, possessing only the most rudimentary form of awareness. As its soul matures, it may undergo unusual evolutions or develop abilities that neither its creator nor the system can currently predict.
The artifact's ultimate potential remains unknown.]
As one they all turned to look at the two soulglass lilies that the priest had given them. The vase now held two withered stems with the flowers having died at some point during Shivers creation.
"Now it makes sense," Smith said. "A soul can't come from nothing; it has to have a starting point. Which is usually the countless years it's been lovingly cared for and used but today a soulglass lily gave it life instead."
Chronos stared at the empty vase tilting his head in worry.
"Should I have given it a name related to lilies instead?"
"No, it will prefer the name you gave it while thinking only of it. But you might want to engrave a lily onto the shaft as a reminder." Smith said.
Chronos nodded and gave himself a mental note to do so later.
"I didn't know that a soulglass lily could grant a soul to other things. We could use that to enhance the nation." King Roderick muttered, narrowing his eyes.
Archivist Quillfeather saw the look in the king's eye and scolded him before he could go too far.
"Don't even think about it, these lilies were a gift. I don't want to deal with the fallout of an angry Goddess after she kills you."
King Roderick sighed, "You're right and I don't want to watch my people suffer because of my own hubris. Come Chronos, turn to the abilities page. I want to see what Shiver can do."
Chronos nodded and flipped open the abilities page where they were once again shocked by what they found.