System Change

“An epic duel?” Derek asked. “Isn’t that good? Sounds like a pretty quick trial to me.”

Edgar looked at Derek, then at all the others behind him, waiting. Derek then understood who would be chosen to go into the duel. To guarantee success, he, Edgar, or Avery would be the best for it, but, even though there was some trepidation out of the party after losing a party member, they were all professionals, and it wasn’t like Layne was the first person they’d lost in a dungeon or fighting.

“I’m going,” a feminine voice sounded out from the crown. Derek turned to look to see Asana Greenland standing close to them. “We already made the decision that me and Vic were going to take lead on the next dungeon. I’ll take this duel. Vic can have the next trial and take John and Ray in with him if it’s rare or easier. How does that sound?”

John and Ray were the two people, other than Tyron, who hadn’t had a chance to go into a trial yet. Honestly, to Derek, her suggestion didn’t seem too bad. She should be strong enough for an epic ranked trial. His only hesitation was how well would a wood-type mage, even an epic or better class, work in a duel. Then again, if she can root who or whatever she’s dueling in place, it shouldn’t be too hard.

Derek turned his head and shrugged at Edgar. Honestly, he was more worried about his glaive than this current trial. Besides, it wasn’t up to him to make the decision, that fell on the prince.

“That’s fine by me,” Edgar said. “Is everyone else good with Asana taking this trial?”

Everyone nodded and agreed to her suggestion.

“Very well. Prepare yourself well before you go in. The duel is yours.” Edgar stepped aside, leaving the path to the trial orb open. Then he walked away, and Derek followed.

Looking back, Derek saw Asana Greenland and her cousin Victor talking and exchanging items, obviously trying to stack the deck against the trial. He and Edgar waited for the elven woman to approach the orb and disappear before both of them hopped on Blitz’s back.

“Good luck,” Edgar muttered to nobody before giving Blitz the command to take him and Derek back to their other camp.

The next day, it was finally finished. With one last resounding clang from the blacksmith’s hammer, a purple aura emanated from the freshly forged glaive, and encompassed the entire blacksmith camp before flashing back into the glaive, like it had never been there to begin with.

Derek, his patience finally spent upon seeing the completion of his weapon, jumped up from his seat and rushed over to Tyron, who was wiping the sweat from his brow. With one look at the finished product, Derek fell in love.

True to his word, Tyron had made the glaive simple. It was a pole with a blade at the end, with a slight hook on the back that could be used for parrying if needed. Both the butt of the pole and around three-quarters up it were wrapped in a black leather made from hide from the wyvern, with the pole itself being forged from bone. The bone pole wasn’t white like most bones, nor was it black from the death attuned wyvern it was forged out of.

It was a deep purple, so deep that it was almost black, but once could still see the difference. It also had a spiral going from the base to the tip of the blade that was a brighter purple, the same color as his void mana, in fact. It was the same pattern that Derek had seen on Silvi’s horn, and the same color. It was slightly dull, though.

The spiral stopped where it connected to the blade on the end, which was made from the wyvern’s fang and reinforced by its scales. The spiral connected to the top of the blade, which gave the top half the same purple sheen that faded into a sharp metallic color as it faded into the edge of the blade.

“She sure is a beauty,” Tyron spoke with awe in his voice. “Quite basic, yet the best weapon I’ve ever forged. Even got an Achievement to prove it. Not often does a smith, even the best of them, forge a legendary weapon of the highest quality. This could put me in the history books.”

Derek heard him, but Tyron’s words simply didn’t quite register in his head. He was currently too fascinated by the weapon laying before him. That was, until he felt a massive hand smack him dead on in the center of his back, which caused him to snap back to the present.

“Did you hear me?” Tyron asked as he withdrew his hand.

“What?”

“I said, it’s almost finished. You can go ahead and pick it up. It is still unnamed, though. Normally, I would name the weapon myself, especially something of such quality, but you provided the materials, and you provided the extreme amount of mana, so it is yours to name. Once you name it, it will officially be complete,” the smith explained.

Oh, no! Derek thought. I have to name the weapon? He didn’t have such a great naming sense. He named Silvi, but she was actually named after the Silvi Jacobs he knew from earth because they exhibited some of the same qualities, like trying to kill Derek.

What he needed was a name fit for a dragon of the void. But, even going through his list, though limited, of dragon names he could remember from his past, he couldn’t think of anything. The last thing he wanted to do was call it the Void Glaive or Wyvern Blade. So, he had to think, and think hard. According to Tyron, it was a legendary weapon and thus, needed a legendary name.

Hmm… my mythical class’s name is Void Monarch. Maybe I can name it something after that? Or I could just call it Void, or Abyss… Derek thought. Names like Monarch’s Abyss, and Fractured Void appeared in his head, but they just didn’t seem quite right. The weapon was a legendary weapon, that was for sure, but by just looking at it, other than the glowing spiral, it was basic. No, the more he thought about it, the more he changed his mind. Such a weapon, even a legendary one, didn’t need such a grand name.

So, instead of thinking about it being made from a wyvern, or it being enforced by void, he thought about how the blade would function-about his own fighting style with the weapon. He thought about how his attacks passed through most defenses and directly damaged vital areas.

His glaive would be the instrument used to deliver that direct damage. It would be the void’s messenger of destruction. It would be the Void Monarch’s Harbinger.

“Harbinger,” Derek said. It was simple, just one word. His glaive would foreshadow the incoming, unstoppable attack. The attack would be from the void itself. The glaive was just there to deliver it.

Derek reached out and gripped his new weapon in his right hand and lifted it. He made a couple of slashes in the air, then nodded. “This glaive’s name is Void’s Harbinger.”

“Very well,” Tyron said, not asking for reasons. He knew that Derek’s element was void, and that a massive amount of void energy went into making the glaive. “It’s a good name.” The smith then held his palm out. “If you would.”

Derek nodded and held the glaive out with both hands. Tyron place one hand on the center of the polearm, then nodded. “Your weapon will now be called Void’s Harbinger,” Tyron said, then broke out into the biggest grin Derek had ever seen on the man. Which, quite honestly, still wasn’t that big. “And another Achievement for that.”

“Thank you,” was all Derek could say after everything. Now, he was anxious to go test his new weapon, one that would hopefully be with him for a long time to come. He still had his other glaive, and he planned on keeping it. That glaive had been with him in his darkest hours while trapped in the void, so he doubted he would ever get rid of it.

“You can go now,” Tyron said. “I see that glint in your eyes. You want to go get acquainted with your new companion. Go ahead. I’m going to take a good long break before I get started on your armor. You can look forward to a very nice set of dragon scale armor soon.”

Derek nodded seriously and disappeared with his new blade, Harbinger. Once he was in the forest, he began going over everything. He had his new weapon, now all he needed to do was choose it as a bond for his Polearm Specialty skill. But first, he wanted to get used to it.

Obviously, the first thing he needed to do was test the weapon’s conductivity and durability. Its conductivity wasn’t some that was visible to the naked eye. He would need to experience it for himself to learn more. However, he could see the glaive’s durability and such by using Identify on it.

Void’s Harbinger

Durability:

1500/1500

Void’s Harbinger is the first high-quality legendary weapon created by an extremely talented expert Blacksmith. With the help from another, the smith was able to push the weapon’s affinity for the void element to an unheard of level. This weapon has acquired an innate ability upon reaching legendary status.

Material Drain: Any material, organic or not, can be used to repair Void’s Harbinger by using its innate connection to the void.

Well, his first concern was quashed. With Material Drain, he wouldn’t have to worry about taking his glaive to blacksmiths for repair. If it worked the way it sounded, as long as he had materials on hand, whether that be meat from a beast or hide from a dragon, he would be able to repair it if it lost durability. Now, how much it would take of different types of materials was something he would have to test later.

Derek dismissed the information window and proceeded to his next test. Slowly, he focused on moving the sludge-like void mana from his level 20 Channel Void skill through his body and into his arm. To him, it felt like it was moving at a snail’s pace, but in reality, his control over his mana was still quite skillful.

Soon, his mana reached his hand, and he projected it into Harbinger. To his surprise, instead of the purple aura surrounding the weapon like he was used to with his other weapons, it instead disappeared into the polearm. As he pushed his mana thought it, the dull spiral on the pole began to radiate void purple and glow as it filled up.

The mana reached where the spiral connected to the blade, and even the top gradient of the blade lit up in a void glow. Derek still had his Void Sense activated at its highest capacity, and when all the parts connected with his void-laced mana, he finally saw it. He saw the near transparent image of another blade overlapping his own. The image was at least triple the size of his own blade, and as he concentrated and pushed harder, it only grew.

So that must be a visible form of what I’ve been doing all along. Well, visible for me, at least. With Harbinger, he could easily control the size of the image, increasing and decreasing it at will. He could also choose to keep the size the same, but increase the quantity of mana inside, which caused the near transparent image to gain even more opaqueness. I bet that will increase the damage of the attack.

Finally, Derek decided to test his theories by launching his most devastating attack. Controlling his mana, he made the void image around four times the size of his blade, and poured his mana into it, almost ridding the image of its transparency. Then, he queued up Multi-Strike before striking out with a Sweeping Slash.

The results were immediate and ephemeral. When the crescent blade shot out from Sweeping Slash, another, much larger image of a blade flew too, overlapping the crescent energy. The original energy hit a grouping of trees and cut right through them, slowing by only a small amount in the process. However, the void imaged did not slow; it kept flying at the same speed as before, soon outpacing the physical attack.

The energy from Sweeping Slash soon dissipated after clearing dozens of trees in front of him and reaching its natural end, but the void energy kept going. It flew through tree after tree, causing no damage and not slowing one bit. Finally, at about twice the distance as the original blade, the energy from the image disappeared.

Even though it didn’t seem like it caused any damage before disappearing, Derek knew better. If there was a person or beast standing before the void energy, they would be having a terrible day right about now. Actually, he wasn’t completely sure, but if he had to guess, the trees that the void energy flew through were probably dead, too. A tree dying from internal wounds just wasn’t as apparent as some other creature. If it was dead, though. I bet the trees begin losing leaves soon, maybe a week or two, before dying.

Derek nodded and with a smile, rested Harbinger on his shoulder. “This will do.”