The Strongest Spellblade

There was a one sheet daily newspaper that was being published here in Port Hammer. Only two copper per copy, which was why I purchased one each day so I could learn what was happening.

“Dwarves declare war against the elves,” was the biggest headline. The attack on Garth and myself was listed. The Adventurer’s Guild had issued an official statement of warning to the elves and probation for the next five years.

Basically, a slap on the wrist, telling them don’t do what they did. But the Adventurer’s Guild wasn’t going to completely break away from the elves just yet. The merchants were instituting a full-scale embargo on the elves and elven merchants.

That wasn’t surprising. The Adventurer’s Guild wasn’t a nation state. It was a business organization that handled adventurers across borders. My report had been nothing special. I just detailed everything that happened truthfully and my statements were checked against others.

Once that was done, it was sent to the headquarters of the Adventurer’s Guild, which was on some remote island, away from other nations. The leadership clearly didn’t want to escalate the event, unlike the dwarves.

It wasn’t surprising, since doing so was an action that couldn’t be undone. But the elven cities were now on probation as a whole. I wouldn’t get any compensation or anything similar. The Adventurer’s Guild didn’t care about a small adventurer like me, even with my background.

The organization was concerned about stability and making money. The merchants embargoing the elven nations could be considered a response from the Adventurer’s Guild, instead of saying something themselves.

There was another article, detailing that the war was taking a new direction. My father had stepped down as Emperor and the article speculated if it was related to the attack on me. Nothing on where he was going or what he had planned.

Things were in flux as the human legends were trying to decide who would be the next Emperor as they occupied Moonwood City. My father had given up on his dream. I guess he didn’t have the capability to see it through. I could only shake my head at that. World conquest would be exhausting for anyone.

The next day, the newspaper headline was much more concerning. Moonwood Forest contained a secret Necromancer. Over ten legends had perished and thousands of lesser soldiers had died as well. The entire forest was being consumed with Death, the trees turning to dried out husks.

I knew from history that the Moonwood had been burnt in the past to stop the Eldarin Empire. To use necromancy type skills would invite even more of a backlash on the elves. Necromancy type skills were viewed in the same category as soul skills. Anyone using them was likely a bad person.

There was no good reason for necromancy, since it involved the souls of sentient beings. To create a widespread effect that killed people and turned them to undead, was clearly done by someone sadistic.

No one would be going into the Moonwood for a long time. The risk of being caught up in whatever was happening was too great. While the article didn’t explain, I knew all those deaths would put the Reforged Eldarin Empire on even shakier footing.

It appeared my father’s attempt to reclaim his previous glory was going to fall completely apart. Instead of a stable political system with legends being in charge, now there would be chaos since so many had died. The nobles had been mostly wiped out in my father’s campaign.

Hidden nobles, legends, and everyone would be competing for territory and power. The entire continent was about to descend into a state of war. I had no doubt the dwarves were loving this outcome to sell their weapons and the elves as well since they would be able to breathe after the intense pressure they had been under.

Things were going to get a lot worse before they got better. I set the newspaper to the side. “Clean.” That removed the ink stains from my hands as I finished enjoying my meal.

Heading to the College was the best option, but the problem was that it was across the continent. Trying to cross would see me caught up in a range of conflicts.

“Justin,” Lanner greeted me as he walked over to my table. He had new clothes, cut hair, and was smiling.

“Lanner. How goes things?” I asked. He held up a gold adventurer’s plate. “Congratulations, feel free to join me.”

“Thanks. It took some time to sort things out that I have a damaged soul and that I am not a child,” he said.

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“Planning to head into the dungeon from here?” I asked.

“Yes. A solo descent. Before I left, I wanted to say a proper thank you for all your help,” he said.

“There is no need to thank me. You were quite capable on your own. I just taught you the basics,” I replied.

“You taught them very well and I have a high level. Once I complete my solo descent, I will be able to get a platinum adventurer’s plate and really start pushing for level 100,” he said.

“I am glad to hear that you aren’t giving up after all the work you put in to becoming an adventurer,” I said.

“It was the promise I made when I set off into the dungeon with you. Also the craftsmen here can make wands. They aren’t cheap,” he said with a sigh.

“Oh, how much?” I asked.

“A Tier 4 wand, runs around 5,000 gold,” he said and I nodded at that.

“It’s the tier and detail work needed. But that sounds about right,” I replied.

“Are you still planning to head to your father?” he asked me.

“He has stepped down from his position. I will probably make a trip to the College. But the surface is a complete mess. Right now, I am waiting for a new set of armor. Hopefully I can arrange a magical carriage to make the trip quickly. Just going to be a hassle to cross such a large distance. Will take a few months at least,” I replied with a touch of frustration.

“You could go back into the dungeon? Try to travel that way?” Lanner asked and I shook my head.

“That method has issues as well and would take even longer even with the ongoing conflicts. I also want to work on some other skills besides my combat ones for a while. Any news about Wild Tail?” I asked.

“He disappeared once the team disbanded and I haven’t seen or heard from him. Worried?” Lanner asked me.

“No. Now that we are out of elven territory, there is nothing important that he knows. Let him find work and make his way without us. He is capable enough and this continent is warm, unlike his home. He won’t starve to death,” I replied.

“It is nice. The sun, warmth, and plants.”

“Well you will have to put in the work to become a legend. A few decades at least,” I said.

“I will make it, don’t you worry about that.” I had a waiter bring over more food and drinks.

“Well, I expect your name to become well known, once you become a legend. Perhaps we will meet at the Last Bastion one day,” I said.

“That would be nice. I know you are aiming far beyond that,” Lanner said.

“One step at a time. There are several things I have to take care of first,” I replied.

“Hmm. Well, if you ever need help, let me know,” he said.

“I appreciate that,” I replied. We enjoyed a meal, but that was it for our time together. Lanner left after that. That had been better than when our team suddenly split apart, but I wasn’t his parent or relative. Lanner was an adult who could decide his own future.

While getting to the College would be useful for him, it wouldn’t be easy. Breaking up the team in Port Hammer was the best decision. Each of us could go our own way without being forced to drag the others along.

Wild Tail wanted to find some place to live quietly, and Lanner wanted to go back into the dungeon. I wanted to get to the College of Advancement to sell the information I possessed.

Once that was done, I needed to commission a container that could block out all Mana and attempts at divination to transport that sword. Once I had a carrying case, I would head back to the beastkin continent to handle that problem.

It was time I started taking care of cursed skills. Experience Siphon needed to go. That meant more work on my soul skills. It was dragging me down and I had a way to navigate the dungeon now. There was no need for that cursed skill.

Tracking down and killing Xanatos. I might have harbored some fantasies before. But after the latest fight with a legend, I knew how outclassed I was in such a fight. Xanatos would be even more difficult to deal with than that archer.

No word on the specific legend that had attacked me, but they weren’t going to be long term trouble like Xanatos was. I needed to handle the curse skill as quickly as possible. I could still feel the Gnomish Silence curse skill.

Like a wet blanket on my soul. I could feel it, despite the changes over time. It had dried off and sunken deeper into my soul over time. The longer the curse skill remained, the more it would become integrated into a person. It hadn’t been removed, which made me annoyed at the actions of Baldeenk. But at the end of the day I had expected to handle this issue myself, so nothing changed, just disappointment in being lied to.

It was an issue I had been thinking about a lot during my break. I needed a better sensing skill, I needed to sense the curse skills to remove them. That meant a new Tier 2 skill. Most sensory skills were at Tier 2. A Tier 3 aura sensory skill had a higher tier, due to the higher amount of Mana used and being an aura type skill.

The lower the tier of the skill, the harder it was to create. A sensory skill was even more difficult. I had already maximized System Sense and Soul Sense for quite a while. It was just too difficult to come up with anything better than those two sensory skills.

Skill Sense would probably be the name of the skill I needed, but I had never heard of that skill. A skill to sense skills would not be simple to create. I had some understanding of skill creation, but this kind of skill would have to be created from scratch. I could already sense my skills and my soul, but not enough.

Once I could work out the exact boundaries of the curse skills, I would have to create another skill, like Skill Erasure that leaned heavily on soul skills. Another hypothetical skill that I would need to create.

Or Xanatos could trip and break his neck, saving me the hassle. But that was unlikely to happen if he hadn’t been killed yet. There was always the ritual route as well. Just skip past all the tedious steps and make a ritual to deal with the problem of a curse skill.

The issue was the strength of the curse skill. Removing a Tier 4 skill would require a complicated ritual. The chance of something going wrong was too high. Training over a long period of time was safer. I hadn’t forgotten all the warnings I had received growing up about messing with my soul.

Perhaps if I was lucky enough, I would come across a natural treasure in the dungeon that would help. While I was losing skill levels, I couldn’t risk my foundation to deal with the cursed skill on me.