Chapter 63 Weaponry in Motion (Patreon)

Nathan was holding onto the hilts of two 100% cursed weapons. On one hand, he should definitely have tried to break the curses on the swords one at a time, so that if he failed on the first weapon he could apply the lessons to the second one. On the other hand, the swords were part of a set, and it seemed wrong to not treat them as a set.

Nathan had wondered if the curse would be able to detect him and trigger at all, given that some of Herdin’s practice weapons hadn’t triggered when he’d grabbed them. It had made it harder to break the curses, since it was harder to pick out the inactive curse from the other enchantments.

That quickly proved to not be a problem. The swords pulsed some sort of detection magic at his hands. Nathan recognized what kind of spell it was - he’d seen and heard enough about the self-destruct mechanism on the guns to be able to piece together that it was the same sort of thing.

The enchantments to enable that magic weren’t visible on the hilts of the swords any more than they were on the guns. It was an obviously bad idea to make your security runes visible on the outside of what you were trying to secure - though some of Herdin’s cursed items had worked that way. Regardless, the appraiser and enchanter who had looked over these swords had decided it wasn’t worth the risk to break the curses.

The enchantments had checked if Nathan was the proper wielder, and determined that he was not. The flesh-dissolving spell started to bite at Nathan’s hands, but he understood death mana well at this point and it was barely a tickle. The spell ramped up in intensity as Nathan drew the sabers from their sheaths. The swords were beautiful, an artistic curve of shining metal without any engravings. The single sharp edge seemed to drink the light, steaming with faint dark tendrils.

Are the enchantments inside the blade somehow?

Nathan held the swords crossed in front of him as he furrowed his brow, concentrating on the feeling of magic playing around his hands and creeping up his wrist. The hilts of the swords contained a mess of spellwork, and Nathan closed his eyes as he constructed a mental model of what was going on. He tried to keep his antimagic from breaking anything before he understood the enchantments, but he felt the enchantments closest to his hands starting to fray.

There were smoothed crystals of necromancy-charged conductive quartz embedded in the hilt and touching his palms. They linked to more enchantments farther up the blade. Those crystals were full of death mana, and Nathan tried to prevent his [Magic Absorption] from draining them dry just yet, until he understood more about what the overall structure was. The Talent wasn’t built for discrimination, but Nathan focused his willpower on reducing the suction.

There were more spells strung throughout the handles for all kinds of purposes. Some reinforced the handle to make it less likely to break. Others preventing the blade from slipping and… wicked away moisture?

{Mid-tier Spellsense 7 achieved!}

The crystals are the key. They fuel all of the other enchantments, and need to be separately charged. This weapon has only a limited charge unless you can charge it with death mana. I bet that’s why Neverin wasn’t interested, because the quartz is death-aspected, so that would be impossible to change. For anybody that’s not me. But if I just rip the mana out, it’ll probably break all of the enchantments.

{Mid-tier Identify 4 achieved!}

Man, analyzing spells while they try to eat me is great for skill ranks. And I’m doing something new, so that’s helping.

Nathan kept the drain on the crystals low, but constant. He was trying not to give the enchantments any sudden shocks. After that was set, Nathan bent to disentangling the magic that was trying to eat his hand from the rest. It was a race against time as his antimagic started to fragment and absorb the other spellwork in the handle. The entire structure of the interlocking spells quivered, and Nathan’s lips pursed as he tried to stabilize the structure and target only the spellwork that was directing the death mana into a disintegration field that reached nearly to his elbows. It was like trying to stabilize a jenga tower when the only tool you had was a pickaxe.

He heard the Heirs moving around, but didn’t spare any attention. The crystals were almost drained of mana, which meant Nathan was nearly out of time. Nathan recalled how he’d broken Taoel’s early spells and latched his Talent onto the threads of destructive power that were wrapping around his flesh. Then he gave a metaphysical yank. The spellwork in the sword quaked, but Nathan followed the propagation of the pull on the disintegration spell.

{Mid-tier Notice 6 achieved!}

Got you.

Nathan pulsed his antimagic into the hilt of the sword, targeting specifically the flows of mana that he was pretty sure consisted of the security curse. That part of the spellwork fragmented, and Nathan cast the swords away from him. The crystals were out of mana, but he’d destroyed the curse. And he was pretty sure he’d only broken one or two additional enchantments along the way.

{High-tier Focused Mind 6 achieved!}

Nathan opened his eyes to see that the Heirs had vacated the room. One of the swords had sunk into the table in front of Nathan, which was half-disintegrated. It seemed that the disintegration spell hadn’t just focused on him, but tried to get everything nearby. It had eaten the sleeves of his shirt back to the elbows, and taken a chunk out of the table.

The second sword had bounced off the table and clattered to the floor when Nathan released it. The edge was shinier than usual, but without the death mana empowering whatever enchantments were on the edge it no longer sucked in the light.

“Did it work?” Khachi spoke from the side of the room, looking in with some exasperation.

Nathan reached down to grab the sword, then thought better of it. “I think so. I’m almost certain the curse enchantment is gone, but I don’t know if the rest of the enchantments still work. Either way, I completely emptied the mana reservoir. I think it can be recharged with another kind of mana now? Maybe?”

Stella poked her head around the corner now that the fireworks were over. “Oh, that’s weird. I’d be a bit surprised if the spells all still worked if you charged it with a different kind of mana. But if they were built well… maybe?”

Aarl walked forward, looking excited. He poked at the sword that was sticking out of the table tentatively. When nothing happened, he slid it out without effort. Then he admired the blade for a moment before delicately placing it on the table and bending to pick up the other sword of the pair.

Stella walked over, looking at the swords. “Yeah, definitely uncharged. I think I can charge those with mana, though you won’t be able to change it after it’s placed unless Nathan drains them again. I don’t know exactly how the enchantments work though, so I don’t know what different kinds of mana would do.”

Nathan answered. “Well, there should be a good enchanter around when I give Sarah her new weapons. We can probably ask her?”

Aarl picked up both swords, feeling at their balance for a moment. “It would be nice to have weapons that have specific magical effects. Most of mine have durability and sharpness enchantments. But Stanel has made it clear that he won’t just gift us any of the truly potent weapons. Those we need to earn.”

He slipped the swords into his dimensional pouch. “Or be gifted by a teammate. Thank you, Nathan. I will think about what mana I wish to put into these weapons. I am leaning towards a different type in each, but I will wait to speak to this enchanter first and see what is compatible.”

Both he and Sarah looked towards Stella, who was yawning. She jumped. “Right. I’ll ask my parents next time I see them. Stupid [Message] spell is really hard to cast with air mana. Would be a lot easier with shadow or dreams or one of the silly and insubstantial mana types.”

—

The next day, another team returned from their surprise mission. The rest of the trainees had started to wise up, and acquired rations and camping gear in case they got sent out into the wilderness at a moment’s notice.

The latest team to return was a group of trainees called the Dusteaters: a few humans and catfolk from the southern villages. They were telling the story of their mission in the dining hall, and Nathan scooted over to listen.

Their leader was somebody Nathan had met in passing before - a young human man named Nornan. He was a bit of a jokester and a large group of trainees were listening to him with smiles on their faces. He was declaiming on how they’d tracked a group of Ashblood serpents to their lair.

“... and then Inarl tripped over a rock and started a small rockslide. It was like the opening of a Dragon’s maw! All dozen serpents turned towards us and hissed fit to make your grandmothers’ bones shake. Hear me, but the light from their mouths illuminated the hillside bright as day.”

Nathan stepped up to the group, smiling. This guy had flair. “Did they swarm you?”

The pale-skinned human man turned towards Nathan, blonde mop swinging. He raised a finger. “Aha! You would think so, but we’d prepared. We were on the steeper of the slopes, and the slope was covered with loose scree, so they couldn’t simply slither up to us. After I gallantly helped Inarl to her feet, we beat a hasty retreat to the top of the hill, peppering them with poisoned arrows!”

A catfolk to Nornan’s left swatted at him. “By my memory you screamed like a piglet and shot them a dozen times without helping me at all.”

Nornan turned on her with a radiant smile. “Ah, but that was helping you up, since they were slowed by my incredible marksmanship. I got one arrow right down one’s throat, must have given it terrible indigestion!”

Everybody was laughing at Nornan’s incredibly bombastic story, including his own team.

That guy’s great.

Nathan hung around, meeting some of the other Adventurers and learning their names. The Dusteaters specialized in ranging the drier desert region to the south of Gemore, and Nathan wasn’t surprised to hear that Nornan had been the one to choose the name.

—

It didn’t take long to set up another small dinner party at the Caxol’s place. Stella made it clear that not nearly as many people were invited. It was just going to be Dalo, Kullal, Stanel, Kia and whoever Nathan brought in addition to the Heirs.

Stella was apologetic when she informed them that, “It won’t be Cantas cooking, but we’ll have some good food.”

Nathan wasn’t worried about food. He was worried about presenting a gun to the famous [Weaponmaster] of Davrar, and finding that it wasn’t very interesting. Nathan told himself that it had been impressive to Beatred, Poppy and Herdin, so it should be impressive to Stanel.

Nathan had asked Kadid to let Beatred and Herdin know earlier. Nathan was expecting him to complain about being asked to pass a message, but the dark-skinned man had taken the request in stride. Then he’d said something interesting. “It appears that you are making valuable connections between my family and the true adventurers in this city. I thank you for this, Nathan.”

And with that, Nathan met up with all three crafters at Beatred’s shop, before they set off to the Caxol estate. Nathan ended up carrying a stack of unenchanted ammunition boxes. Carefully. Poppy was carrying the rest of the ammunition, while Beatred carried the guns on a cushioned sack.

On the way, Nathan mentioned that he’d uncursed a pair of swords and wanted Herdin to take a look.

The old woman sniffed disdainfully. “Eh, get another enchanter for that. I’ve spent enough of my time hunched over old enchantments, trying to figure out how they work. What’s the source of the swords?”

“They’re Sklian dominion, we think they were the personal arms of a mage-lord. Found them in a hidden treasure room right off where he was buried.”

Yeah, buried as the power core and intelligence of a giant naga-mech.

Herdin shook her head slightly, sending her mane of poofy white hair shaking. “Sklians were shit enchanters. Those swords are probably packed with rare materials used poorly. Might get more selling the raw materials now that the curse is broken.”

Hmm, she still doesn’t seem interested. Well, time for a bit of bait.

Nathan grinned at the elderly enchanter. She looked back with narrowed eyes. “I know that look. You think you have something interesting. I will decide that, indeed I will.”

So, Nathan explained. “Well, the swords were loaded with death mana, but I think they’re un-aspected now. We want to know if they can be recharged with a different kind of mana and if the enchantments will still work.”

Herdin sniffed. “No. The aspected nature of whatever they were using as a mana storage will make the whole thing blow up. Basic shit, boy.” She paused and glanced at him again. “Unless the storage material was prismatic diamond. But if it was, then it would be a crime to leave that material in a Sklian sword. It wasn't a prismatic diamond, was it?”

Nathan’s grin didn’t slip. “No. It was conductive quartz. But what if I told you that the quartz doesn’t have an aspect any longer? No trace of death mana to be found. Ready to be charged with any other kind of mana. And we want to know if the enchantments on the sword will still work with other mana types.”

Herdin frowned in thought. “I’d have to take a look. It’s not many enchantments that could cope with that. But the Sklians tended to build their enchantments sturdy, and versatile. If stupid. So maybe.” She paused, then swore. “Harpy’s tits, Nathan. Fine, I’ll take a look at this sword. And if you’ve managed to remove the aspect from a mana storage enchant, I might call in this favor one day for a project of mine.”

The old woman was moderately grumpy the rest of the walk to the Caxol’s mansion, but Nathan could tell it was mostly an affectation. She didn’t want people asking her about enchanting all the time, so she got grumpy about it. But she liked enchanting, and couldn’t help getting involved when somebody presented her with an interesting problem.

They approached the front gates to Stella’s house. The gates and walls were sparking with lightning just like last time. But as they walked up the gates opened and they could pass inside, to the garden.

Nathan spied Dalo and Kullal sitting in the garden. Kullal was sprawled idyllically against Dalo’s chest, and they were both examining the beauty of the lush garden. They both stood as Nathan and the crafters approached.

Dalo nodded in their direction. “Herdin. I haven’t heard from you for long enoughI assumed you were dead.”

The old woman snorted. “Retired, not dead.”

Dalo stroked his beard in her direction. “It is hard to tell the difference. Your activities were loud enough that their sudden absence invoked a death.”

Herdin just glared at him. “At least you’re not like Kozor. Damned fool bothers me every week to make more shit for him. I told him to go lick a muckgrabber’s asshole last time.”

Dalo chuckled, stroking his beard in a dignified fashion. That lasted until Kullal leaned in and licked his ear, making him start. “Dear. Let’s invite them in, let them put down those heavy boxes.”

Dano snorted. “Nathan’s got stamina. He’ll be fine.” Regardless, the crotchety man turned and walked towards the front door. Kullal stayed behind in the garden, to let other people through the front gates.

Everybody else followed Dalo, and he led them downstairs to the practice area in the basement. They set everything down on a table in the viewing area, then sat around to wait for Stanel and his kids.

Stella joined them after a few minutes. “Sorry I missed you arriving. I was busy reading in the library. Is this it, then?” She gestured to the clutter of boxes on the table.

Nathan nodded, and almost moved to open the bag when Beatred stopped him. “Let’s wait until all are present, yeah?”

It didn’t take long before Sarah clattered down the stairs and popped into the basement room. She looked excited. Stanel was close behind, his heavy tread and bemused expression signaling that his expectations weren’t as high as his daughter’s.

Then again, she knows these weapons came from Earth, while he does not.

Aarl walked in behind, followed by Khachi and his mother.

And the gang’s all here. Well, except for Leska and Xarian, but I’m pretty sure they’re not coming.

Beatred looked over to Nathan, gesturing to ask if he wanted to start. He shrugged and stepped out into the practice area, turning to address the gathered Heirs and Guardians. It felt a bit like giving lab meeting.

Not really that different in a way. I’ve been working on something new for a while, and now it’s time to explain to an audience of my peers what I’ve been spending time and money on, and convince them it was good and worthwhile. Then ask for their input and hope they find it useful.

Overall Status:

{Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 6

Permanent Talent 2: High-tier Regeneration 6

Talent 3: None

Class: Spellbreaker Juggernaut level 52

Class skills:

Stamina: 620/620

Juggernaut's Wrath

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Juggernaut's Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Utility skills:

High-tier Focused Mind 6

Mid-tier Earnestness 9

Mid-tier Sprinting 5

Mid-tier Spellsense 7

Mid-tier Notice 6

Mid-tier Identify 4

Mid-tier Dodging Footwork 3

Mid-tier Enhanced Memory 10

Low-tier Lecturing 9

Low-tier Tumbling 9}