A spirit weapon skill that was fully leveled had a duration of ten minutes. Jack's legendary-grade Superior Amulet of Summoning doubled that duration to twenty minutes.
So, Spark should have gone out of existence by now, but it was still here crossing swords with Jack.
Jack realized that and disengaged from the fight. "Spark, hold!" He called as he jumped away.
"Are you getting tired, master?" Spark asked. There was a hint of disappointment in his computerized voice.
"No, I'm not getting tired," Jack said. "I want to know why you don't disappear. It should be past your duration."
"I'm sorry. I should have explained earlier. I'm too engrossed in our fight I wasn't aware that I have gone past my original duration," Spark said. Jack somehow found this statement hard to believe. Because of Spark's appearance, he saw the automaton as an emotionless machine. Perhaps this was a wrong perception.
"After I obtained my full form, I'm no longer bound by the duration rule of a spirit weapon skill," Spark explained.
"Huh? It can do that?" Jack turned to Peniel.
"… I'm not aware of that," Peniel answered. "Then again, I also don't know the kind of spirit weapon that weapon of yours produces."
"So, you can stay around indefinitely?" Jack asked Spark.
"That is correct," Spark confirmed.
"Can you still use your finishing mode?" Jack asked again.
"I can. But after using that mode, I will be considered to have died. Not a real death, of course, but I will become unavailable for as long as the cooldown time of the spirit weapon skill, which is three hours."
"If you don't die and I unsummon you, will I have to wait for your cooldown time as well?"
"No," Spark answered.
"Cool!" Jack exclaimed. In terms of availability, Spark was now the same as Therras. He could summon Spark at any time without having to worry about duration or cooldown time. Spark was also expendable, unlike Therras who could die a permanent death. Spark would come back to life again if it died.
Jack checked Spark's HP then. Spark had 810,000 HP.
"Hm…," Jack ma.s.saged his chin.
"It is more than twice its previous HP," Peniel remarked.
"I think its HP depends on my main cla.s.s' level," Jack said. "My Brave Swordsmaster was originally level 81. It is level 80 now because I used a level-down pill for that cla.s.s. I think if I level up another level, it will have 820,000 HP."
"Your deduction is correct, master," Spark said.
"In terms of survivability, you've improved a lot," Jack remarked. "I'm not just talking about your HP. You are also faster and much more skillful in swordplay. I couldn't land a hit throughout our spar just now."
"Thank you for your compliment, master. To tell you the truth, I've not gone all out yet."
"Huh? Are you saying you are holding back on me?"
"That is correct."
"Interesting," Jack chuckled. "All right. Show me your true power then."
"Affirmative."
Once Spark finished speaking, the three pairs of wing-blades on its back extended. They turned into something that looked like a mantis' long forelegs. These wing blades now reached forward and became additional weapons.
"Whoa! I thought you said you have no skill!" Jack shouted.
"This is not a skill. These are my natural weapons. They have no duration. I can use them for as long as I stay on the field," Spark informed.
"Impressive… All right. Then allow me to use one skill to even the field," Jack said and activated Soul Asura. Four extra arms grew from his back.
"Let's resume our spar!" Jack lunged forward.
In terms of the number of weapons, Jack lost by two, but they didn't fuss about this difference. Jack's six swords clashed with Spark's eight blades.
The sword lights became even more jam-packed than before. Other players had difficulty seeing Jack and Spark among those sword lights. The two also didn't stay in the same spots. They moved around as loud clanging sounds followed their movements. The spectating players ran away when the two seemed to move in their direction.
These went on until Jack's Soul Asura ended. With only two arms, Jack had difficulty defending against Spark's eight blades without using any skill. Jack called for a stop then.
"That was a great practice," Jack announced. "You are very good, Spark. I can't believe I say this to my summon but I think you can be a better swordsman than me. Well, considering you have more natural arms, that is. I very much like to continue this but I'm afraid I have other tasks I need to attend to."
"It was my pleasure, Master," Spark replied. "I'm also glad that I can finally put all the martial arts I've learned into practice. If you need another practice, I'm just one call away."
Jack was amused by the statement. Spark was not wrong, though. Jack could easily summon it any time now. Jack thanked the automaton before unsummoning it.
Spark still had the ranged mode and finishing mode, but Jack decided to just leave those for later.
The players dispersed after seeing that the show had ended. Some of them displayed disappointed expressions. These players used swords for weapons and had been trying to copy the swordplay from the spar. Domon had taught these core members Formless Flowing Sword Style as well, but their level of understanding was still far below Jack's. That's why they were very absorbed when they saw the high-level sword art in action.
Jack left the s.p.a.ce-time Chamber and teleported to Thereath. Now that he reached level 80 and had the Lightning G.o.d Incarnation, he wanted to try beating the stages in the League of Champions and the Order of Magi.
Jack traveled to the Order of Magi first. He planned to ascend the rank in this faction. Hence, he had to beat the stage here first. Once he ascended, the next rank in the League of Champions would be locked out for him.
He greeted young Ja.n.u.s before entering the obelisk courtyard. He now stood before the stage 90 obelisk.