[Omen of the Witchblade] Chapter 150 – Nerd Loot

Contract Complete: Tooling Around

A clutch of sageworms have taken residence in the basement of Virgil’s shop where he keeps his most precious restoration tools. Oust the creatures preventing him from continuing his work.

Objective: Remove the sageworms from the basement (7/7).

Reward: Mercenary Order foundation contract fulfillment (1/3).

To Mel’s great surprise, Charlie didn’t move an inch. If she had, Mel could have seriously wounded her.

For some reason, the thought that Charlie would react poorly never occurred to Mel.

Even after the sageworm behind Charlie had been skewered, Mel replayed the scene over and over in her mind. Why hadn’t Charlie moved? How could Charlie trust her so much?

I would’ve moved!

At the very least, she would have dropped to the ground and out of the way.

The Necromancer didn’t even look at the weapon flying by her head. Instead, she closely watched Mel.

Other Mel must’ve really done a number on you, girl. Mel almost felt…jealous.

She shook her head, stalked past Charlie and scooped up her twinblade. Mel went around looting the sageworms, mostly because she didn’t like the way Charlie just watched her without saying a word.

I would be yelling right about now, Mel thought to herself. Just absolutely losing my shit.

(1) [Enigmatic Weapon Scroll] has been stored in your inventory.

(1) [Red Tomefinder Tabard] has been stored in your inventory.

(10) [Sheets of Blank Magical Paper] has been stored in your inventory.

(2) [Pouches of Simple Ritual Components] has been stored in your inventory.

(1) [Linksource Ritual Scroll] has been stored in your inventory.

(1) [Aspect Shield Ritual Scroll] has been stored in your inventory.

Mel wasted no time taking out the new items, and she wasn’t the only one. When Mel looted the sageworms, everybody received their share of the loot.

Charlie straightened her witch hat that had been forced askew by Mel’s passing twinblade, then banished her blackened staff into a flurry of obsidian ash.

With a relaxed posture, the Necromancer pulled out a new piece of equipment from her inventory, studying the [Sageworm Manahide Gloves]. Her eyes brightened with surprised interest.

“Oh, these are good.” Charlie swapped her old equipment out immediately for the new gloves. “Quickened casting speed for aspect skills that are marked as spells. Some magical defense too.”

Thomas held up a metallic ring shaped into the likeness of a sageworm. “This makes my spellcasting harder to detect from the sense attribute, and by sound too.”

Charlie went over, tracing the ridges of the ring’s segmented skin with a finger. “Looks majorly metal too. If it had centipede legs though, that’d be too much.”

Thomas snickered, then slipped into an exaggerated stoner tone. “Far out right, man?”

“Hah-hah, very funny,” she said dryly. “Too bad your ring isn’t Iron Rank like my gloves.”

Thomas froze. “Damn, really?”

“Yeah, a couple of the Sageworms were actually Iron. I think we would’ve had more trouble with them if they weren’t so weak to magic damage.”

“That’s ironic, considering the gear they dropped.”

Mel picked out a unique-looking scroll.

[Enigmatic Weapon Scroll]

(Copper Rank, Item)

(Rare)

A magical scroll concealed in a mana layered cipher that transforms a weapon into a chosen type that you possess knowledge for.

Imprint: Transforms a weapon into another type at a one-to-one ratio, preserving compatible imprints from the original item. One time use. Effective up to one rank above the enigmatic scroll.

Okay, I need that. Like right now. I need it so bad.

While Mel loved her [Frostbite Stinger Twinblade], it was old and in need of a refresh. The problem was, it had an excellent imprint. At least this way she could take the Iron sawblade she got from the orcs and try her hand at making an Iron twinblade.

[Red Tomefinder Tabard]

(Iron Rank, Armor)

(Uncommon)

A padded chainmail tabard adorned with sigils stolen from various magical pages, providing this item with abnormally high magical resistance.

Imprint: Increased armor against piercing physical and magical attacks. Affinity can be altered by two embers. Enhances magical defense based on the attribute scaling from its ember affinities.

As much as Mel loved her [Heathen’s Cuirass], it too was showing signs of age. Even an Uncommon Iron ranked would be worlds above what an Epic Copper piece of armor could provide.

Mel was curious about the armor’s imprint. She had never been able to put an ember on a piece of armor before, and yet the tabard’s imprint stated it could take on the affinity of two embers.

“Hold on,” Mel began. “Can all Iron rank armor use embers, or just mine?”

“Can it?” Thomas asked. “Is that what you have there? Iron rank armor?”

Charlie swept in beside Mel, touching the links on the [Red Tomefinder Tabard]. She silently mouthed the item’s imprint. “All Iron armor must,” she said in astonishment. “The wording states two, as if that’s an abnormal enhancement.”

“Sick,” Mel said. “My first piece of Iron armor that’s double any Copper junk I could find or buy.”

I wonder if it’s possible I could salvage the imprint on the cuirass somehow? Mel thought to herself. She put away the tabard for now since taking off her [Sanguine Coat] was too much hassle.

Charlie looked around. “We really need to talk privately back at the Rook. My specialized ritual is…useful for gear.”

Thomas’ golden eyes shined with greed. Mel wasn’t that convinced. Her specialized ritual was useful for gear.

Gods above, what are the odds that Charlie has the same ritual spell as me for breaking down gear?

She moved onto the next piece of loot to distract herself.

[Linksource Ritual Scroll]

(Copper Rank, Item)

(Epic)

A furled scroll inscribed with the instructions for a type of ritual magic that connects one or more ritual spells together.

Imprint: Use to learn [Linksource Ritual (F-Tier)].

Requires: [Novice Ritual Magic Training]

[Aspect Shield Ritual Scroll]

(Copper Rank, Item)

(Rare)

A furled scroll inscribed with the instructions for a type of ritual magic that creates a shield around yourself and those nearby based on the aspect(s) used in the ritual.

Imprint: Use to learn [Aspect Shield Ritual (F-Tier)].

Requires: [Novice Ritual Magic Training]

The last two scrolls were understated in their usefulness. While she couldn’t use ritual spells in battle, she could use them as part of her preparation.

If the upcoming Convocation trial was anything like the first, there would be plateau beasts or something similar. She had even felt impossibly powerful creatures out in the Seabrim Crater.

There would always be noble beasts, sacred beasts, notorious monsters, and whatever other noteworthy names people gave creatures of great strength. That was the way of the world.

With Mel’s [Blessing of the Hunt], no matter where powerful beasts made their lairs, she could find them.

And hunt them.

This Convocation trial would be different. She was going to go in with a competent team and hit the ground running. That meant she needed more supplies and abilities that helped her prepare for difficult encounters.

It was highly unlikely that there’d be any Copper plateau beasts. Even in a trial that had Mundane creatures, Copper was the weakest plateau beast she saw. Most of them were High Copper and a few toward the center of the trial had been Iron.

I wonder how many people died fighting that Iron.

It was the work of a moment to learn the two ritual spells and add them to her repository. Compared to what a Magi should know, she had a paltry three ritual spells, but she wasn’t worried.

Quality over quantity, baby.

Once they reported back to Virgil, he gleefully slashed the price of the [Fringedust] and threw in an [Insulation Ritual Scroll], [Light Fire Ritual Scroll], [Scour Surface Ritual Scroll], plus five [Pouches of Simple Ritual Components].

It still was expensive at 200 [Iron Rune Coins], but well worth the price. It also just so happened that it was practically all of Mel’s money.

Something she kept close to the vest, but apparently not close enough.

Charlie closed Mel’s hand around her pouch of offered [Iron Rune Coins] and pushed it away. She handed Virgil the entire sum from her own pocket, paying for the two pinches of [Frindedust] herself.

Mel didn’t have to spend a single [Copper Rune Coin].

Shame and gratitude warred within Mel, flushing her face and making her ears burn. She turned to Charlie, ready to let her have a piece of her mind.

She wasn’t some sort of charity case.

Charlie gave her a rare, warm smile. “Let me do this. I want to. You deserve to be pampered, Mel. You haven’t had enough of that in your life.”

Mel tried to open her mouth, but no sound came out. Virgil completed their transaction with a friendly smile and a cheery, “come back anytime!”

Thomas and Charlie guided Mel out of the bookshop before she had a chance to blow up.

***

“And up next we have not one, but two First Champions! Give a warm Gauntlet welcome to the Dreadwolf and…” There was a brief stretch of silence as the announcer conferred with his co-host. “And Nightboy! Here’s hoping Nightboy’s skills in the gauntlet are better than his name!”

Gwen looked over at Heath, tearing up with the effort not to laugh at his legend.

Heath tapped the side of his temple. “This way they’ll underestimate me. I can bet on myself and I’ll get better odds! Plus, Nightboy sounds cool! I’m all about the night, and obviously I’m a boy.”

“It sounds cool to you?” she asked quietly. “Good on you I guess, for owning it.”

The other contestants in the waiting room looked over with varying degrees of incredulity.

“Of course it does!” Heath said. He leaned in closer and dropped his voice. “Why…do you think it’s not?”

Gwen took a deep, steadying breath. The metal in her armor creaked. “It’s fine,” she said in a high-pitched tone, desperately trying to keep it together. “You’re a First Champion. You should call yourself whatever you want, Nightboy.”

It was almost too much.

Heath pumped his fist into the air just as a red light went off and the doors opened.

Gwen loped into the gauntlet, forgetting all about Heath’s humiliating legend.

Dressed all in black, as was apparently appropriate for the Nightboy, Heath jogged behind Gwen with his arms raised.

“The more spectacular the run, the greater the reward!” the announcer cried, blaring his voice through the trap lined obstacle course. “And the faster. Let’s see if our First Champions are all that they’re cracked up to be! Bring on the dreamlight!”

Dreamlight conjured monsters materialized on a green tile in front of a buzzsaw trap that clashed together, spraying sparks across the smooth stone floor.

The tiny green and blue oozes were as unthreatening as they could get.

“I got an idea, Heath. Not sure you’re going to like it.”

Heath bounced back and forth like he was ready to go ten rounds in a boxing ring. “I’m all for it, Gwen. We’re going to win the gold and show Mel that–”

“Use your most defensive aspect on yourself. Right now.” Gwen gathered [Frostbringer] upon her armor, fusing the protection of frost and snow into the Viking furs and chainmail.

“What?”

Gwen charged in, grabbing the oozes and shoving them into the buzzsaw traps. They exploded into chunks of blue and green jelly, dropping loot like two tiny pinatas.

The traps ground to a halt in the slots set into the walls. She moved on ahead, coming to a fork. Between the two doors was a solid section of wall.

Heath ran in after her. “Gwen, what’re you doing? You didn’t leave anything for me!”

“I left the loot for you. Go grab it!”

He looked back and hung his head, but he did pick the loot up off the ground. “Okay, now what?”

“Hmm…Yeah, this is too low level for us. Let’s go.” Gwen picked up Heath, then broke through the wall, then the next wall, exposing the guts of the arcade Gauntlet. The inner workings of the traps were easy to destroy on the inside when she could just charge through them with [Frostbringer].

“Hold on now!” the announcer called out. “I’ve never seen this sort of malarkey in all my days! The Dreadwolf is breaking through the walls as if they don’t even exist! Is this the power of a First Champion on raw display? Let’s see what else these Champions of Champions have for us!”