“You’ll realized they’ll die if they try that dungeon, right?” Jeriah asked me.
“That’s the idea,” I responded with a callous shrug. “They either admit to their own weakness and cowardice, they die in the dungeon, or they survive and actually become useful.”
“They want a society where everyone is gifted,” Jeriah said with tired sigh.
“Why isn’t everyone gifted?” I asked. “Your world has had the system for thousands of years as I understand it. If gifts are passed down genetically than how is that everyone doesn’t have them by now? They aren’t that rare.”
“I don’t know what genetically means,” Jeriah said. “But if a person’s bloodline goes on for to long without earning new abilities and increasing in rank, they stop passing on their abilities. You can’t just have abilities you actually need to use them. If a family of farmers were all given abilities now but didn’t give up their life of farming to go hunt down monsters and raid dungeons, they would revert back to regular people in two generations.”
“And since there aren’t enough rank points to go around when the gods aren’t having their competition every five hundred years that means only a select few can maintain their abilities,” I said understanding.
“Exactly,” Jeriah said. “Its what heretics who fight against the gods want. A new system that allows for other ways to gain power than just killing.”
“Even if such a system existed those who gained power by killing would still be in charge,” I said shaking my head. “You can change the environment someone is but you can’t change human… humanoid nature.”
--
Returning to my work I began making spearhead after spearhead. No two were the same even if I made an enchantment to do the same effect I was constantly tweaking and altering them in search of better outcomes or slightly altered effects. I had ones that would unleash a blast of lightning when impacting a creature and others that would deal major fire, ice or curse damage.
I set out the loot I’d gotten after killing Jamis. I’d never had a chance to look and analyze them properly.
Gauntlets of the Bearserker (Artifact V): Type: Armor/Weapons (hands), Made from adamantine and the hide of greater demon these gauntlets are made to defend the hands and allow for brutal unarmed attacks with the spikes on them.
· Deals a major amount of piercing and bludgeoning damage with each hit.
· Inflicts the Laceration condition on each hit.
· Your Might is increased by +4, gain an additional +1 every ten ranks.
· For every wound your receive while wearing these gauntlets you gain an instance of Bear Skin.
*Laceration: Targets wounds do not close when healed and will continue to bleed until the bleeding is staunched or the effect removed.
*Bear Skin: While wearing no other piece of armor your take one less damage stage for the next minute. Stacks to a maximum of 10 times.
Reading the puns for the weapon’s name and effects removed any guilt I had for killing him. The gauntlets extended all the way down to the elbow serving also as a pair of bracers. They didn’t fit my fighting style and even if they did, I couldn’t wear them and the Manica of Ares. Of the two pieces of armor the lesser artifact was superior in my opinion.
Setting the gauntlets on top of Mab’s pages I let him read and copy the divine enchantments into his pages. Just because I personally couldn’t use them didn’t mean I couldn’t find a use for them. They didn’t fit any of the Dragon Breakers who all fought with large weapons and wore heavy plate armor. I’d probably give them to Juruk, the goblin only wore hide armor so he wouldn’t be losing much, and the artifact might help him out.
Belt of the Wrestler: Type: Equipment (waist); Your unarmed attacks deal one more damage stage and your might is doubled when grappling with an opponent.
Made of the hide of an earth-dragon and enchanted by a master enchanter.
Hardness:
9
Durability:
12-20
Again, not useful for me; I copied the enchantment and tossed it in the giveaway pile.
Boots of the Traveler: Type: Footwear; Your walking and running speed is increased by one pace, and the stamina cost of movement abilities are reduced by 5.
Made from the hide of storm-elk and enchanted by a journeyman enchanter.
Hardness:
9
Durability:
18-20
The boots wouldn’t have been bad if I wasn’t already wearing a far superior pair. Again, I simply copied them and tossed them into the pile.
Headband of Endurance: Type: Headgear; The cost of your stamina abilities is reduced by 10%. Increases your Endurance by +5.
Made by a master weaver from sun silk and dyed with the distilled blood of a fire dragon and enchanted by a journeyman enchanter.
Hardness:
7
Durability:
2-16
This one had some potential uses for myself however it was almost broken, so I’d have to use Hell Dragon’s armory to repair it. Potentially I could also just replicate its effects and create a better version considering I was a better enchanter than whoever had made this.
Amulet of Elemental Shielding: Type: Jewelry; You take two less damage stages from fire, cold and lightning.
Made from the fragments of a fallen star and five elemental gems by a master jeweler then enchanted by a master enchanter.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Hardness:
11
Durability:
18-25
This amulet had some potential for resisting those damage types, but I already had titles that reduced the damage by three stages. I guess I could try to stack resistances against them, seeing as I didn’t have anything else in my neck slot right now, so I put it on.
That was all the loot Jamis had on him. Considering it was decently powerful he’d likely moved on or upgraded from lesser pieces of gear. My equipment was much better than his, but I’d likely performed better in the first Event than they had, and I had completed a quest and discovered another piece of my armor set.
Mab was happy with the new knowledge he’d absorbed and there was a lot I could do with the new runes and enchantments I had learned. I began crafting a new ring to replace the Ring of Auroch’s Strength. I could make better than it now and it was time to move on. I had thousands of spearheads to make, and I needed to get started now if I wanted to finish them before the start of the Event.
While it was sometimes tedious my time below had given me a great deal of patience. I sat on the throne for days as I created spearhead after spearhead. It wasn’t just the enchantments that I changed. Some of the heads were made to pierce armor better, others were barbed, or had rings in them to tear open flesh more and create wider wounds. I created several tri-blades spearheads and some that spiraled around like a cyclone just to break up the monotony.
Days passed as I created spearhead after spearhead spending hours enchanting them. I barely slept as added the enchantments to them setting them aside and picking up another. It took me around two weeks to complete just a little over a thousand.
I was interrupted by knocking at the throne room door before it swung open, the sunlight from outside was blinding for a second and Jeriah walked in. I hadn’t seen another person in days. I had a little over a week before the Event and had given orders for me not to be disturbed.
“There’s an army at the front gates to see you Mordred,” he said.
“Again?” I asked with a sigh but rose to my feet.
“Just humanoids this time,” he said. “Also, I think I found your princess.”
--
The doors of Dragonhold swung open as stepped out from under them. As I moved the ground, walls, gatehouse and doors changed darkening in color as I condensed and improved the structures around me my various Perception abilities and the senses I had from Hell Dragon’s Armory letting me change the buildings without even looking at them.
Exar’kun landed on top of the gatehouse which probably would have collapsed moments ago under his weight. His long neck hung down going level with me and Jeriah as we confronted the woman leading the army of brown robed figures.
“I am Princess Andromeda…” she began.
“We can read your description princess there are no need for introductions,” I interrupted her. “What do you want?”
“I have come to retake my throne,” she said glaring at me, even if you could read a person’s name it was considered polite to let them introduce themselves.
She had an ugly scare marring an otherwise beautiful face. Not that I was in any position to criticize people and their scars, my own face bore the scars from when I’d nearly lost an eye to the adolescent nemean lion.
“It taken you a long time,” I said. “Camelot conquered your country nearly a year ago. What took you so long to come back?” I asked as I paced back and forth examining her and the army behind her. They wore brown robes, their faces obscured by black masks. I couldn’t see only a few descriptions among them but most of them didn’t show anything meaning they weren’t gifted.
“I’ve been gathering support to drive out all invaders,” she said her hand dropping to the hilt of her sword.
“Easy there,” I said. “You don’t want to be the one to start this.”
“And why is that?” she asked.
“Because you’ll die,” I said flatly.
“You seem very sure,” Andromeda said. “But I’ve learned powers that even you a champion cannot contend with. Their will be a dragon on the throne again.”
“If we wanted a dragon on the throne,” Exar’kun growled. “I’d crawl inside your little stone nest and sit there myself. Insult me again by calling yourself a dragon and regardless of Mordred’s thoughts on the matter I will melt the flesh from your bones.”
Andromeda paled as a low reverberation began to build up in Exar’kun’s chest and the edges of his scales began to glow brighter and brighter.
“Let’s put a pause on that for now,” I reprimanded Exar’kun lightly. “Though I would listen to him, I’m pretty sure he was serious about that.”
The army of robbed figures shifted uncomfortably since they were right in the path the line of fire would take. There was around two-thousand of them in total. Their robes obscured what weapons or armor they were wearing. The lack of descriptions above their heads should have been comforting but I sensed a trick of some kind.
I circled around Andromeda and watched as she stiffened as I passed into her blind spot as she refused to take her eyes off the dragon and the walls in front of us.
“It’s said you were rescued by the Order of the Magi,” I said.
“Maybe I was,” Andromeda said.
“And what do you think of their philosophy and goal?” I asked. “That everyone deserves to have access to the system and a chance to ascend?”
“I think its noble,” she said. “What do you think of it?”
“I think it sounds too much like socialism,” I said. “I also think it’s foolish. They are addressing the symptoms instead of the problem. I come from a world with no system, and we aren’t all equal there. There will always be those with power and those without it.”
“And those without power? They’re meant to just accept their lives under the boot of people like you?” she asked her voice telling me exactly what she thought of me.
“The strong do what they will, and the weak suffer what they must,” I said. “Why are you really here? Your army isn’t big enough to take me on, what do you hope to accomplish?”
“Are you sure of that?” a man called stepping out from the ranks of the army. He pushed back his hood and pulled down his mask to reveal a sandy brown beard and piercing blue eyes.
“And you are?” I asked noting there was no description above his head.
“I am Pierce,” he said extending his hand out. “I’ve trained to counter champions since I was a child.”
I watched as arcane power began to build up in his hands. I held up my hand to stop my army from firing as the spell built up. It only took two seconds before the blast of purple energy in the form a laser beam as thick as a tree trunk blasted from his fingers. The spell’s power was devastating and would have evaporated anyone without some sort of shielding or teleporting ability. I just stood there and held out Mab. The book’s pages fluttered as it greedily drank in the spell leaving behind not even a spec of soot when it was done.
Lowering the grimoire back to my belt I hung it there again as I met the astonished expression of Pierce.
“That book… it can’t be…” he said.
“I believe it was once one your Order’s,” I said. “Sadly, for you I don’t think he’s too happy with you after your ripped out all the knowledge he’d accumulated working for you.”
“They should have destroyed it when they had the chance,” he growled in frustration as he glared at the black crystal covers.
“Now, now,” I admonished him. “We both know what happens when we destroy an artifact you can’t blame them for not wanting to commit suicide.”
“You can’t destroy an artifact,” Andromeda said a look of confusion on her face after witnessing the display.
“Sure, you can’t,” I agreed winking at Pierce. “It’s definitely never been done before.”
“Are we going to fight these people or not?” Exar’kun asked me irritably.
“I think this has gone on for long enough,” Jeriah agreed. “What are your orders Mordred?”
Circling around Andromeda again I stopped in front of her. “I need your blood to open the vault below the palace, I don’t particularly care about this country, so I’ll make you a deal. You open the vault and swear a binding oath to me, when Camelot is driven out and my quest for this land is complete, I will establish you as its Queen. You can rule as tyrannically or benevolently as you want as long as you don’t try to go after me or my vassals.”
Jeriah coughed and I snapped my fingers. “You will of course be required to return the ancestral lands of the Dragonbreakers to them.”
“And what else would her oath require from her?” Pierce asked, stepping forward, revealing himself as the real power behind the throne.
“Nothing really,” I said and shrugged. “I don’t care enough to be bothered with setting tax rates or immigration policy; you can do what you want as long as you don’t interfere with me.”
“You really don’t care about running a country?” Pierce asked suspiciously.
“Why would I?” I asked. “You’re the ones that think they can change the world, I’m just living in it. Whether I die in battle or become a god nothing about human nature and the way things are run is going to change.”
“Than why even bother?” Andromeda asked. “If it’s all meaningless, why are you even competing?”
“Because I can change myself, I can become something greater and change my own nature,” I replied.
Pulling a piece of parchment out I took out my stylus and drew up the contract. It was simple, only a few paragraphs or so. I wasn’t trying to tie down Andromeda with every legal phrase I could. If she found some loophole to slip out and betray me than so be it. The contract made it clear that if she did so I would be released from my part and be free to kill her. I held out the contract to her with the stylus and small knife.
“This is a blood pact,” I said. “Your companions can tell you more about it but it will use your own mana to bind you to your word.”
Andromeda looked to Pierce who slowly nodded. Andromeda took the parchment read over it one final time than signed. I let her keep the contract as I stepped back.
“Welcome home Princess,” I said.
“I’m surprised you didn’t require me to marry you,” Andromeda said. “Most others would have.”
“Would you have agreed to that?” I asked looking at her sidelong.
“I would do anything to secure the future of my house,” she said.
“Well, my princess is in another castle,” I said. “And she wouldn’t tolerate any rivals and I’m not really into harems anyway.”
Turning to the Magi I looked them over. “You are welcome in the city since you are allies of mine by proxy, just know that if you start anything with me you better be able to finish it. I don’t want you get the wrong impression of me from today, I chose this route because it was the most interesting not because I don’t enjoy combat. If you want to go to war with the gods do so, I don’t care, just leave me out of it.”
“You’re a champion of one of the gods and plan on becoming one,” Pierce said. “Do you really think you can stay out of it.”
“I’m prepared to give it a try for as long as I can,” I said. “To the vault princess, you have your part of the deal to hold up.”