Love's Bond

*dotf is a story of the love between a man and his weapon*

Love's Bond is an unorthodox spirit tool that Zachary Atwood created using the Divine Investiture Array he received as his last floor reward from the Tower of Eternity to save some part of Alea when she was dying due to her soul falling apart, and her body being irrevocably damaged by clones of the Lich King. Love's Bond was a peak quality peak F-Grade spirit tool when created and has been upgraded with incalculable treasures to peak quality early D-Grade.

Zac supposes that using [Love's Bond] is probably the best he could do for Alea. Just hanging around his neck day after day wouldn’t challenge her spirit. Spirit Tools grow and are refined through battle, and only through being used can they bring out their full potential. **Chapter 533**

## Unorthodoxy

* It was undeniable that **[Love’s Bond]** was an unorthodox weapon, no matter if you talked about its origins or what it had fed on. **Chapter 836**
* The culprit was Alea herself rather than the Daos or materials that went into it. A living being's soul becoming a Tool Spirit could be seen as cheating death, a shortcut to gaining immortality. **Chapter 1,080**

## F-Grade

### Inputs

The things Zac expended for creating the tool "would be able to pay for the foundation of a great faction", as Ogras put it.

* [Divine Investiture Array]
* Alea in her Stasis Array (used to keep mortally wounded people alive (**Chapter 363**), that was modified by Adriel in his attempt of salvaging Alea through turning her into an undead. *"The golden glass was replaced by a murky black sheen, and he couldn't even see Alea's body inside due to an extremely dense violet cloud within the glass."* **Chapter 478** *"Alea's body had been turned completely black, and dense waves of corruption and death were emitted from her body. Gases leaked out of her pores as well."* **Chapter 480**
* a third of the Soul Crystals (trophies from the Mentalist Cultivator on the 7th floor) [Chapter 448], that are not produced in Zecia sector. **Chapter 485**
* the fossilized bug (from the 3rd floor of the Tower of Eternity) that radiated a strong aura of corrosion. **Chapter 409**
* [Pathfinder Oracle Eye]
* [Everlasting]
* a few of the largest branches of the poisoned [Tree of Ascension].
* *"a storm of gases was dragged out from the underground where the Amanita Mushroom resided"*.

### Description

A versatile coffin-like tool that can change size and form to a degree on a mental command. It seems to be crafted from a mix of the wood from the [Tree of Ascension] and some black crystal or smooth stone. The two materials form intricate patterns all across the surface, though they don't seem to be fractals. They are similar to the markings of the Primordial Stele of Conflict Zac saw in his apparition after the Tower of Eternity, though they obviously don't contain that kind of power. There are two sets of fractals covering the lid as well. First is a circle placed at the wider section toward the top, and the other set is two lines of inscriptions that run parallel along the length of the lid. **Chapter 480**

The item is versatile and can take different forms.

* A massive black coffin, over two meters long. The coffin's shape is traditional with the top being slightly wider before narrowing again toward the bottom. It looks nothing like the translucent glass studded with Divine Crystals of Stasis Array, but rather a rugged and completely opaque box that carries a heavy and solemn aura. There are thick pitch-black chains that are wound around the whole coffin a few times, they actually emerge from holes on the side of the coffin. There are over five meters of links wound around the ominous item, and there are even more chains waiting inside the coffin itself. **Chapter 480**
* A necklace, just half a decimeter's length, and one of its chains forms a loop through the top holes of the coffin. **Chapter 480**
* A shield. Two chains rush out from the holes on the side of the coffin and latch onto his left arm, the coffin becomes almost as tall as Zac himself while keeping the width of a normal coffin. But it is a lot thinner, with a depth of just 15 centimetres. **Chapter 482**
	+ this form was lost on evolving to late E-grade **Chapter 849**
* A backpack. The chains to snake around his torso as the coffin moves toward Zac's back. It grows a lot shorter as well, making it almost resemble a coffin for a child or perhaps a gnome. Four more chains reach out from their respective holes, each of them dancing in the air as though Zac is a snake charmer. Zac is already used to this kind of fighting from the chains in [Profane Seal], and commanding them is almost as natural as moving his own limbs. **Chapter 482**

The chains of [Love's Bond] don’t have the life-sucking abilities of the spectral chains, but there seems to be some inherently corrosive effect attached to them, perhaps an addition provided from the mysterious fossilized bug. Furthermore, the chains are actual corporeal links made by top-tier materials like Neprosium, compared to the far more fragile fractal chains that his skill conjures. The chains are essentially a combination of fusion of hardness and rot, which makes them a perfect fit for using together with the Fragment of the Coffin. **Chapter 482**

After the encounter with the Primal Dao in the Twilight Tapestry, the chains are still pure black like they have been since the start, but they are now covered in a somewhat familiar pattern. The engravings are black as well, but they emit a dense aura of death, making them light up under the scrutiny of [Cosmic Gaze]. The script does not seem like an actual skill fractal or something like that, but they rather remind Zac of the markings on the Stele of Conflict. Of course, their instilled meaning isn’t at the same level. The stele held the fundamental truths of conflict, profundity at its highest level. Meanwhile, it looks like [Love’s Bond] is marked by the deathly runes from the encounter. **Chapter 748**

Zac uses these chains as a mode of transportation as well. He still isn’t fast as when he walks with the help of [Loamwalker], but it is still a huge improvement for his Draugr side, which was previously a slow-moving tank (**Chapter 534**). *The trees flashed past Zac with a dizzying blur as the chains pulled him forward with extreme momentum. He almost felt like a certain superhero.* **Chapter 534**

The whole coffin gains a temporary upgrade from [Vanguard of Undeath], just like how Verun turns into a massive Bardiche. [Love's Bond] still looks like a coffin, but instead of being child-sized it turns into a massive box that reaches almost three meters tall. It is a lot wider as well, and it completely blocks Zac's whole back like a turtle shell. A similar effect happens when he uses the coffin in its shield form. The difference isn't as startling there though, as [Love's Bond] is able to adjust its size to match Zac's increased stature by itself. It only gains another protective layer. **Chapter 534**

### Skills

There are two skills in the Spirit Tool, they are represented by the beforementioned sets of fractals on the surface of the coffin. These 2 skills have pretty big cool-downs (several days or even weeks) that mean that the skills are a lot stronger than normal. **Chapter 483**

#### [Death’s Embrace]

* *"The whole coffin shook as the chains that held the lid shut twisted and moved until a small opening appeared. A dense black cloud spread out and rose into the air until it formed a massive torso, making it look like he had summoned a genie. But Zac's heart was still thrown into chaos as it was no ordinary elemental that had appeared. It was Alea."* **Chapter 501**
* The avatar looks a lot like the poison mistress, but there are also undeniable differences. Its eyes have not the signature red irises, but they are rather pitch-black and without emotion. The same goes for her usually expressive features, as it is the same delicate face but without any of the emotions. The previously beautiful horns that shimmer in red like a sunset or crystallized fire are replaced by far longer curved horns, these ones tainted by green and purple. She no longer looks like the Torrid Demonkin that all the members of Clan Azh'Rezak belong to, but is rather an avatar of corruption. The skill doesn't create a whole body either, which is yet another reminder it isn't actually Alea. Beneath her upper torso there is only black smoke that reaches down into the coffin. Yet this semi-corporeal avatar is still more than ten meters in height. **Chapter 502**

#### [Fate's Obduracy]

* This skill can be used to wear down a single target with an unceasing wave of chains wrought from darkness. Another strategy can be sending the set of chains out to cause widespread destruction, where any attempt of stopping the advance would worsen the situation. **Chapter 505**
* It's represented by the two lines of fractals running along the coffin's length. **Chapter 505**
* Two week cooldown requiring energy-rich treasures to recharge. There is also a limit of just how many times the chains could reproduce. **Chapter 505**

## E-Grade

### Evolution

#### Inputs

* The items he had used when forming [Love’s Bond] had ultimately been a mixed hodgepodge of things he had at hand. The fusion between her soul and the Spirit Tool wasn’t perfect because he hadn’t properly prepared all materials. After all, while the [Divine Investiture Array] would create an item without flaws, it was still ultimately dependant on the materials that were put into the process. Later, that his horizons had been broadened it didn't felt like he had spent a fortune on the formation of [Love’s Bond], but rather almost like he had shortchanged Alea. **Chapter 701**
* In the Twilight Ascent, he has fed her thousands of Twilight Fruits along with the Life-Death Pearls. She has even absorbed quite a bit of the extremely condensed energy inside the valley. **Chapter 775**
* And finally, he managed to feed Alea a purifier egg, one of the purifiers used by Alvod to purify the Twilight energies for his ascension. **Chapter 787, Chapter 784**
* For almost five years she has been digesting the enormous ball of blood and Oblivion, joined by Temporal Energy and continuously bolstered by the Ambient Energy inside the Orom World. **Chapter 836**
* At the upgrade event Love's Bond consumed:
	+ [Blackearth Steel] from Qi’Sar’s treasury **Chapter 836** *“Diluted Blackearth Steel,” Qi’Sar grunted. “Blackearth Steel is a proper D-grade metal known for its durability and ability to isolate energy. But with the System limiting materials, I had to turn it into a Pseudo D-grade alloy to prevent it from being sealed.”* **Chapter 782**
	+ the supreme-quality death-attuned wood, that could raise the quality of an E-grade Spirit Tool upon evolution **Chapter 762 & Chapter 836** Reminder, Catheya recognized a total of five treasures that each one was at the level of a uniquely supreme E-grade treasure, which was shocking considering that not a single such item was found in most trials. Unsurprisingly, four of them had been found on the floating mountains, with the last one in the lower parts of the cave system. **Chapter 762**
	+ five other unnamed Death-attuned metals Zac had found in the Twilight Ocean **Chapter 836**
	+ a few dozen Death-attuned natural treasures **Chapter 836**
	+ a mote of minor Lightning Tribulation that had arrived because of the upgrade. **Chapter 836**

### Skills

* **[Death’s Embrace]** was gone with Alea’s Evolution, replaced by **[Fate's Predestination]**. **Chapter 925**

#### [Fate's Predestination]

* To completely seal every aspect of a person briefly was heaven-defying. A skill like that could reverse any battle—it almost went against the law of balance. However, it came at a horrible cost. It harmed Alea's soul rather than draining her energy. Even worse, the stronger the opponent whose fate you wanted to seal, the greater the damage. **Chapter 1,030**
* For weak enemies, there was no need to use it since he could defeat them on his own. For enemies that pushed him to his breaking point, he risked shattering Alea's soul. Zac hadn't even been able to activate the skill for a long time, as her soul hadn't reached the minimum threshold of soul strength. **Chapter 1,030**

### Equipment

[Black Death]

* a pitch-black axe. At the end of its hilt, a chain was attached, connecting the weapon with the bottom of the coffin. It was roughly the same size as [Verun's Bite]; somewhat oversized for a one-handed axe with a 45cm crescent edge. On the back of the edge, a big spike acted as a counterweight, mirroring the smaller teeth on his primal-series axe. Its hilt was made from some slightly mottled metal that felt extremely sturdy. On the back of the haft there was also a familiar set of runes – identical to the ones that had appeared on the coffin lid. The horizontal line ran along the full length of the haft, while the three horizontal scripts became his grip. The temper line of the edge was also quite interesting, almost perfectly matching the carvings on the coffin itself. Curious, Zac swung the weapon a few times, and he felt the balance was simply perfect even if its length and edge differed slightly from [**Verun’s Bite]**. **Chapter 848**
* Zac had been worried that the chain attached to the haft of his new axe would become a hindrance, even if it was thinner than the other ones he used to attack. However, he was relieved to find that the chain seemed to have a mind of its own, never getting in his way or hitting his hip. In fact, it could even be considered a strength rather than a weakness. **Chapter 849**
	+ First of all, the chain constantly danced in the air next to the handle, acting a bit like a crossguard. It probably wouldn’t be able to block out an all-out strike, but having some metal in the way of a surprise strike targeting his weapon-holding hand was obviously a good thing.
	+ Secondly, the chain essentially turned the axe into a throwing weapon. It was a fusion between his understanding of axes and armaments, allowing him to control his axe as both.

### Communication

* It was a shame that short conversations were all Alea could manage, even after being fully healed and stabilized from her series of breakthroughs. It took a lot of effort to condense her consciousness to the point it worked like a person's. Its natural form was more of a passive state spread through the coffin, much like Mossy's normal conscious state. **Chapter 975**
* Alea didn't have the monstrous reserves of Mental Energy that Mossy did, either. So while the moon could speak how much it wanted, Alea could not. Zac hoped that would change by the time she became a D-grade Spirit tool, and her soul evolved along with it. And perhaps, this would be the first step in that regard. **Chapter 975**

## D-Grade

### Evolution

#### Inputs

##### Kavriel Clan's Repository Items

* Two of them barely had any aura of Death or Conflict, rather emanating powerful Spiritual Fluctuations. They were rare Natural Treasures that could raise the spiritual strength of a Tool Spirit, though they could also be used on contracted beasts to slowly improve their souls. **Chapter 1,080**
* The third box contained three crystals that emitted an intensely powerful Dao of Death, ... They were actual treasures harvested from the Abyssal Shores called **[Blackwater Gems]**. The crystals were normally used by Draugr to refine their bloodlines and likely sent to the Kavriel Clan to serve as a motivational tool for their young. **Chapter 1,080**
* The fourth box held the broken fragment of a shield, and it was this item that had caused his teleportation house to collapse. ... A talented blacksmith had managed to salvage this piece, turning it into a top-tier material that could technically be considered Early D-grade. **Chapter 1,080**

##### Other Notable Items

* The fifth box was an item Zac had picked up inside the Perennial Vastness, looking like the figurine of a metal heart. And while it didn't move, it released powerful waves of Conflict like a heartbeat. **Chapter 1,080**

##### Miscellaneous Items

* ... piles of Death- and Conflict-attuned materials appeared around the central gathering array. **Chapter 1,080**

##### Divine Investiture Array

* Yet Zac knew that Alea was doing something inside, using the final vestiges of the **[Divine Investiture Array]** to facilitate her entry into the D-grade. **Chapter 1,080**

#### Three Bolt Tribulation

* *Love's Bond received a three bolt tribulation of purple lightning upon evolving to D-Grade which she withstood with the help of runes from the Divine Investiture Array during which she consumed some of the tribulation lightning and her old coffin form, including axe, was sacrificed so her spirit could withstand the tribulation and fuel her transformation to D-Grade.* **Chapter 1,080**

#### Hegemonic Toll

* A second toll spread far and wide, but it didn't clash with the other one. They superimposed as they covered almost the same area [*40 kilometers*], and the storms inside the valley calmed down rather than grew agitated. **Chapter 1,085**

### Appearance

#### Spirit

* It was Alea, looking almost exactly like she did when resisting her tribulation. **Chapter 1,085**
* Alea's projection looked like a dark goddess of war, decked in exquisite armor as she turned her deathly eyes to the sky. Her beautiful horns felt like black spears, sharpened to the point they could puncture the sky. **Chapter 1,080**

#### Physical

* Zac turned to the necklace, a sense of premonition filling him upon seeing that the miniature coffin was replaced by a round pendant. Its motif was a mix of Alea and her flowing hair and an axe. **Chapter 1,085**
* **[Black Death]** had retained most of its appearance, just like **[Verun's Bite]**, except for a few small details. It had been utterly black before but was now a charcoal grey with pitch-black markings to mirror verun's gold. A singular rune was also at the top of the handle, clearly a skill like those on **[Verun's Bite]**. **Chapter 1,085**
* Replacing the coffin was a plate armor made from the same material as the axe. The same pitch-black markings holding the Death and even a hint of Oblivion formed a mysterious pattern moving toward runes of distilled truth. The only part that was different was a black engraving of Alea that covered his heart. It looked just like her, but it was clearly not just decorative. Zac could tell it was a skill like the rune on the handle. **Chapter 1,085**
* The armor only covered part of his body. A sturdy breastplate protected his heart and lungs, and the armor continued down his right arm. Zac's midsection, left shoulder, and neck were left fully exposed, but not even a blade of grass could get through the covered sections. **Chapter 1,085**
* The coffin was gone, but Alea had saved the chains. They now emerged from six vortices on his backplate, three running down his shoulders along his spine. A seventh chain emerged just below his elbow, forming an additional layer of protection for his right arm before attaching to the bottom of **[Death's Duality] [***Black Death's new name***]**. **Chapter 1,085**

### Aura

* There were still hints of the poisonous path she'd tread, but it had been rolled into the superseding concept of Death, ... And in the heart of it all was a seed of utter darkness—Oblivion painted in the hue of the Abyss. **Chapter 1,080**
* His companion wasn't just exuding an aura of Death, but also one of intractable ruthlessness you could only nurture from the Peak of Conflict. **Chapter 1,080**

## Foreshadowings and significance of Alea and [Love's Bond] for Zac's cultivation

* *The Seed of Rot had a surprising change in the attributes it provided, but not overly so. Alea had been on his mind a lot lately, and the way she fought had influenced his insights. He already knew that Alea’s highest attribute was Intelligence, closely followed by Vitality, and that was reflected by the gains in his Seed of Rot.* **Chapter 379**
* *He had imagined something along the lines of Petrification or Decay when considering the combination of Rot and Hardness, but the vision had rather created an odd Fragment. Was there such a thing as the Dao of the Coffin? Was it because his thoughts had been on Alea lying in her crystal coffin for the past week? Zac felt that the vision of Alea lying beneath the Tree of Ascension somewhat mirrored what he had just witnessed during his epiphany. Alea was poisonous just like the lotus, and both were preserved within a coffin.* **Chapter 391**
* *The vision of her lying in the stasis array had felt like a perfect mirror of the blood-drenched lotus he witnessed during his Dao Vision. The two visions had merged into the Fragment of the Coffin, and the recent events were a continuation of that reality. Zac couldn't exactly pinpoint what concept was added to the Dao Fragment though, but he slowly started to form an idea.*
* *He had long since started to walk the path of life and death, but only the Seed of Trees had properly incorporated this concept so far. The Seed of Rot was clearly death-attuned, but that seed was mostly propped up by fortuitous encounters. The concept he had incorporated into the Fragment of the Coffin was one he already had brushed upon before; life through death.*
* *There were some differences though. The insight related to trees was more akin to how a seed would grow from the ashes of a burned-down forest, gaining life through the death. However, the insights he gained now was rather based on embracing death for a shot at life.*
* *He knew that he essentially had killed Alea when he turned her into a Spirit Tool. Even if her consciousness awoke again she wouldn't be living. But Alea dying was the only way for her to live. The insight contained the willingness to go against the natural order, whereas the earlier insight was based on making the most of the natural order.*
* *They were the same, but also the opposite.*
* *Zac felt it was an extremely important step in the creation he was building for himself, a realignment of his Dao so that it would better fit as one half of the whole.* **Chapter 483**
* Fetters of Desolation*... There was undeniably something about that class that pulled at him. He wasn't sure whether there was the advertised Karmic Guidance that was supposed to be included in the [Heaven's Secret Array], or if it was because of his recently acquired Spirit Tool.* **Chapter 486**
* *The lid swung almost completely wide open, but he couldn’t see Alea’s body at all. Instead, there was only vast darkness that almost reminded him of the Abyssal Lake. For now, the darkness was only a shadow of the real thing, but was [Love’s Bond]moving in that direction, toward the Abyssal Death of the Draugr? Was it he who had influenced her path that way? Or was it the System who had implanted the Spirit Tool with this path upon its creation, to make the coffin better match Zac’s Draugr persona?* **Chapter 836**

## Curse-Like

* This is not right. It goes against the natural order. How will her soul find rest or enter the cycle of the Heavens this way? You have cursed her. **Chapter 480**
* Brazla stated that Zac needed to upgrade this blasphemous thing if he wanted to heal Alea and that Spirit Tools can reach a sublime state where they are virtually indistinguishable from cultivators. **Chapter 484**
* This thing will not be able to improve the normal way. You need to find... creative solutions to upgrade it. Solutions that the heavens won't be too happy about. **Chapter 484**
* According to Catheya Sharva'Zi, there really isn’t a point of having a Cursed Spirit Tool instead of a normal Spirit Tool. Spirit Tools are generally more convenient as the Tool Spirits are more compatible to reside in a weapon. It’s sinister unorthodox cultivators who make such cursed objects with mass sacrifices to suit their warped paths or as a punishment, capturing the soul of your enemy and forcing it into an old rotten sword is pretty impactful. **Chapter 473**

1. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/593783253320597515/593789035584159765/757965827961126986