Do you wish to transfer ownership of the Elementum Short Sword of Freezing? Yes or No?
Richter selected “Yes.” Then he opened his eyes and extended a hand with his palm flat. It had cost a fair amount of soul stones, but Richter had soul bound all of his armor and weapons over the past few weeks. Despite the cost, it had given him great peace of mind. If he ever died again, god forbid, at least he knew when he was reborn, all of his items would come back with him. Specks of light gathered above his palm and spun around quickly before coalescing into a clear gem.
You have abdicated ownership of the Elementum Short Sword of Freezing. Safeguard the Crystal of Ownership. Whomever takes ownership of the crystal will be able to soul bind this object and will become its new owner.
Richter handed the crystal over to Sion and the sprite’s eyes lit up. It was almost like he thought the chaos seed had been messing with him until he saw clear proof. Richter was tempted to give his friend shit about that, but the sprite was clearly moved so he decided not to ruin the moment. With a smile on his face now, Richter’s Companion clasped the crystal in his fist. White light seeped out from the edges of his fingers before disappearing. When Sion opened his hand again, the crystal was gone, and the sword had a new owner.
“This is an amazing gift,” Sion said softly. He swung the short sword through the air, marveling at how the clear green metal caught the fading light.
“You deserve it,” Richter said sincerely. Then his face took on a wry twist, “You know, I would have done this earlier, but I thought it might be too much blade for you. Now that you’re all grown up though,” he said, referencing the extra foot of height Sion had gained since bonding to his pixie, “I’m sure you can handle a big boy weapon.”
Sion nodded sagely, “I can understand why you would feel that way. Every time you pee, you have to hold a very little sword. Over time, you must have started thinking that was normal.” The sprite held the short sword at waist height and slowly raised the point. “The rest of us are used to holding something larger.”
Richter rolled his eyes, “You know what, my friend, I’ve had it up to here with you. Actually,” he held his hand flat at chest level, “I’ve had it up to here with you.”
Sion shook his head, “Little joke from such a big man.”
“Ah! So you admit I’m big?” Richter said savoring victory.
The sprite’s face took on a chagrined look and he glanced at Richter’s midsection, “I misspoke. I meant ‘Little joke on such a big man.’ Then Sion gave Richter his best smarmy smile.
Richter went back to short jokes, “You know, you really should stand up when you talk to me…”
Sion shook his head in disgust, “Pathetic. You can do better than that. For instance, …”
The two friends kept walking and found solace in their mocking camaraderie. Both knew however, that bloody deeds and savage days loomed dark on the horizon.
CHAPTER 9 – Day 140 – Kuborn 30, 15,386 EBG
A few minutes later, the two friends went in different directions. Sion decided to take his new weapon to be honed at the Forge. Though to an outside observer the two had just been mocking each other, what they had actually been doing was reaffirming two simple truths. One, that neither of them were alone and two, that they would meet whatever dangers were coming, together. The Companions clasped wrists before they separated, and both felt better than they had when they first caught sight of the village.
Richter made his way to the catacombs. He had to speak with many people, and his Chamberlain was first on the list. Now that he was safely back in his village, he looked at the last of the prompts he had left to read.
You have trapped the soul of a Lugash! Soul level: Luminous. x 4
As horrible as the beasts had been, having another four luminous stones was nothing to turn his nose up at. He checked his inventory to see exactly how many captured souls he had. The count was sixty-one poor, forty-three weak, two hundred and two basic, one hundred and thirty-nine common, fourteen luminous, three brilliant, four special and one resplendent stone. Richter was actually surprised by how many he had been able to collect. The daily hunting of the lands around the village had paid off. Many of the poor and weak souls were actually in soul stones that could hold up to basic level souls, but that was because Richter used small pieces of marbled quartz to make his repositories. It was a bit of a waste using soul stones to capture souls smaller than their maximum capacity, but the marbled stone was so plentiful that it was the best option.
With his current Talents, he could use three soul stones per enchantment. One of the reasons that he had been grinding so hard was that he had an unresolved quest. Krom had charged him with obtaining enough high level souls that the dwarf could finish the skeeling armor and have it enchanted with powerful protections. If Richter used only common stones, he already had more than enough to enchant all six pieces of the armor set.
The problem was, enchanting was a one-shot deal. You got multiple chances for an enchantment to take hold as long as you were within the time window, but once it sunk in, that was it. Ideally, he would use luminous souls or higher, but monsters of that level were not easy to find, and they were even harder to kill. Still, Richter knew that he couldn’t wait forever. The goblin settlement was just the latest in a long line of multiplying enemies. He resolved to talk to Krom as soon as the dwarf got back from his Trial.
There was one final prompt blinking in the corner of his vision, but as he had reached the catacombs, he decided to wait before accessing it. The guard stationed at the entrance saluted, clapping one fist to her chest. Richter returned the salute and kept moving. After walking down a long hall for several hundred meters, he once again stood in the room of the Great Seal.
Richter took a moment to look at it. What had begun as a simple mosaic had turned into a pulsing representation of his awakening Powers. The pattern was comprised of four spirals that met in the center of the design. Two of the spirals depicted Air and Life magic. These both throbbed with light. The other two spirals, which represented Water and Dark magic, remained only inert tile. It might have been Richter’s imagination, but whenever he saw the giant symbol, he felt a faint compulsion to awaken the final two spirals. In recent weeks, it had started to even feel like the tiles were reproaching him for not bringing them to life. Richter knew that was crazy… but still.