[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 26: Upgrade

Without access to personal stores of Fire Mana or Metal Mana, what Sam could do was somewhat limited. But thankfully, he had access to a ready supply of Fire right in front of him, and the blade itself was composed of Metal.

While not the same as having the attunements themselves, he could still manipulate them with his affinities. In some ways, having an affinity was better than an attunement.

With an affinity, Sam could mold and manipulate the associated mana as if it was an extension of himself. An attunement, however, only allowed him to generate that mana.

From what he understood from the mages he had briefly spoken to, it conferred a small innate amount of control, but it was leagues behind anything the lowest level affinity provided.

In that way, earning the Void Maw title worked to his advantage. More affinities, rather than more attunements, meant greater control and manipulation of mana sources. At least, that seemed to be the case thus far for Sam.

Granted, he would need to find sources of mana somehow. But that was a problem for another day. With magic so rife on Il’dran, Sam was willing to bet that there would be plenty to go around.

All it took was looking in the right places.

While fighting was turning into his forte, he couldn’t help but be intensely curious about how this new world worked. Naturally, that meant questioning things, and testing how powers worked.

Careful not to draw Heat from the [Archflame], Sam pulled in streams of Fire, soaking the Metal, and combining the two energies. He reveled in the incredible feeling of wielding mana, even such tiny threads.

It took a few false starts and burned fingertips before he could get the balance just right. But as soon as he did….

Durability restored!

Sam took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He had just done magic. Real magic! His instincts had been right, and it had only taken a few minor tweaks to the process to produce something tangible.

While he could repair the item by hand, which he had no problem doing, there were some things you couldn’t repair. Cracks in the metal, weaknesses that only revealed themselves under duress, such as fighting a great beastly golem with bark skin as hard as stone.

Using it as a very poor rudder didn’t help either, he reminded himself. Considering the state the poor weapon was in, it was something of a surprise that the blade didn’t snap in half during the bumpy ride.

Another notification popped up, alarming him. He had only meant to fully repair the claymore after all.

Your [Dull Claymore] has upgraded into:

[Charred Claymore]

(Heavy Greatsword) (F-Class)

(☆Primitive VI)

Enhancements:

Slashing Damage III | Swing Speed II

Fire Damage I

A freshly sharpened and decently maintained, two-handed greatsword once forged from incredibly dense blackiron that has been altered by the Archflame and the Alloy of War. Deals additional damage, both slashing and fire, in the hands of one skilled in leveraging heavy weapons.

Sam blinked at the notification, and then, just to be sure, lifted the weapon and looked closer at it. The item’s description confirmed the changes.

The weapon’s rarity tier was dramatically improved. And surprisingly from his own actions.

It was pleasing to see a direct result from his efforts.

He hadn’t tried to use the [Archflame]… but it seemed it wanted to lend its help all the same. Thinking on it, he wondered if using the sword while using that primordial buff had been part of what enacted that upgrade.

If he repaired his armor as well, would a similar upgrade occur?

He was looking forward to trying after some rest.

With a nod at the flame within the campfire’s crackling heat, Sam silently thanked the flame.

Turning his attention to the blade, it had changed quite a bit as well. Like its new namesake, the [Charred Claymore] was blackened throughout even more than already was.

Sam couldn’t help but notice that if it were dark enough, it would be hard to tell precisely where the blade ended. If only I could see in the dark, instead of my shitty human vision.

Not only that, but its enhanced rarity was a massive boost even aside from the added fire damage, and the increased slashing damage by a tier.

Still don’t know what that means, but an upgrade is an upgrade. I bet I’ll be doing more damage now with this weapon.

Without any damage numbers or anything for him to judge as a baseline, telling how much damage he could deal was going to be difficult.

Which meant it wasn’t that different from Earth. Everything was relative, and it took quite a bit of time to tell the difference in anything that wasn’t leaps and bounds better immediately.

At least here he had rarity and tiers to go by.

As Sam bedded down beside the slumbering Komachi, he felt oddly at peace despite everything that had happened. He worried for his friends, and he would love to get some solid payback for Darren’s betrayal, but on the whole, things were… good.

He had achieved more in a single day than he had in a decade of menial minimum-wage jobs, and this was only the beginning.

He wondered about Raiko, and then worried too. Did she make it to the starting island too? Is she alright? And Haman as well?

Just before Sam nodded off, something thumped against his chest at the same time as a notification popped up.

For being the first Incarnate in your cohort to awaken a bloodline you gain the following:

[Breaker Bloodline Questbook]

(Ascension Manual) (F-Class)

(☆ Primitive)

Learn to destroy your adversaries and opponents with this manual filled with combat and training-based Challenge Quests. Awards greater Experience, loot and even Deeds the more objectives you complete. Uniquely created for the Breaker Bloodline’s progression.

I’ll get to it in the morning, he thought, stuffing it away into his Inventory. Sleep dragged him into the swaddling depths of dreamless peace.

***

Kale stared disconsolately into the tiny flickering flames, replaying what he was sure he had seen and yet couldn’t have seen at the same time.

Okay, he thought, replaying the scene at the bridge again. Sam was pulling up the rear, keeping that golem off the rest of us. We got across the bridge, but Sam lagged behind. And then he got to it and….

That’s where Kale’s memory went haywire.

On the one hand, he was damn sure that Darren had tried his best to reach out to the fraying ropes and hold them together. But he wasn’t strong enough—no human would be—to do it, and the ropes slipped out of his hands. On the other… Kale thought he saw him take a knife from one of the Scouts and cut through the rope.

But even Darren wasn’t that much of an asshole. They were still all in this together, right?

Yeah, but we’ve lost three people since coming to this place. First Matt, then Sam, and now Kai.

Except for Matt, both Kai and Sam were openly critical of Darren, and didn’t seem the least bit inclined to let him take the lead.

Something that Kale realized they were, whether intentional or not, allowing the uppity little string bean to do. Once they came across Albert’s group, the four remaining members quickly fell in line behind Darren.

And from there, it almost seemed natural to let him take the reins. It was easier than to fight while also trying to stay alive in a place that perpetually wanted to kill you and at the same time dealing with the grief of losing somebody close to you.

Leilani was already grief-stricken when Sam died. When Kai went missing, she was inconsolable. It didn’t help that Leilani was relatively sheltered and all of her friends were natives, largely due to her upbringing.

Kale, Chris, and Kylie all knew her and tried to help but they were dealing with their own grief. That left Darren, Emmit, Ping, and Lisa to help her.

Darren was… disturbingly good at getting her to put one foot in front of the other, while the two Scouts were all but useless. Lisa, for all that she was a half-frantic spoiled brat, at least tried to talk to Leilani from time to time.

Not that it did any good.

They had all watched Sam, backed to the ledge and fighting the golem like a cornered animal. He almost seemed to be winning… right up until the cliff gave way.

Nobody could have survived that fall. Not even Sam’s cat.

Even if he got lucky and [Endure] worked for Sam—which it didn’t always trigger, Kale learned from Albert’s group—the golem was clearly still alive as they plunged into the mist below.

Kale felt numb inside just remembering, which always seemed to clear away the confusion surrounding what Darren had done. The more he dredged up the pain at seeing his best friend die, the more he could see through the haze of his memories.

He did take that knife and cut the rope!

But what could he do about it?

Albert and his three remaining people were firmly following Darren’s orders. The rest of their group was broken or dealing as best they could with the loss of a friend or family member.

Komachi was gone as well. Kale and Komachi got on like a house on fire, and it took some mental work to remember that she was more than just a pet.

It broke his heart twice over to lose both of them. And just when Komachi was turning into an awesome magical cat as well. A loved family pet dying was horrible on its own. To lose a nascent sapience like Komachi?

That was a tragedy without equal. Who knows what impossibly crazy and glorious future she had before her.

In Kale’s case, Sam had been both his best friend and a brother. Sam had always blamed himself for Kale’s paralysis, as if he could have somehow swerved out of the way of a drunk driver.

Sam never said it openly, but ever since sophomore year, he would drop everything if Kale asked for help. Need a ride to a doctor’s appointment? Sam made it happen.

Need some groceries, or a part fixed on his stupidly expensive insurance-scam of a wheelchair? Sam would make it happen. Kale never asked where he got the parts, and Sam never offered an explanation.

He was that kind of friend. The sort that was there when you needed him but didn’t hover or crowd you out like a worrisome parent.

And now he was gone. All the while, the man that had caused it not only got off scot-free but profited from it.

Kale ground his teeth together and did his best to keep the mounting rage from his face.

He was never going to be the same person without Sam. A ragged anger leeched into his soul, settling in to stay. Already, it grew and festered just looking at Darren’s face.

“All right everybody,” Darren said, clapping his hands lightly to get their attention, “we did an excellent job today. Lost some good people, but I’m confident that we’ll see them again. Our goal, however, remains the same! We need to get off this island, and Emmit tells me—well, I’ll let the man speak for himself.”

The hunch-shouldered figure of Emmit, one of their Scouts who always managed to be far away from any combat, got to his feet and came into the firelight. “Ping and I were scouting ahead and about half a mile away is a hill that overlooks the west. And only a few miles from there, we could see these strange, fractured bits of land with wooden bridges attached to them.”

Darren put a hand on Emmit’s shoulder, nodded thankfully, and then gently pushed him back until the older man sat down. “There’s hope yet! We still have all day tomorrow to reach our goal. A few more miles and we’re home free! We’ve all seen the floating islands moving around us. This is our ticket out of here and to a new life. A new start for us all. Hell, we could probably find an island to farm and build a town on!”

“Whose to say the next island won’t be just as dangerous? Or worse?” Leilani whispered, staring down at her feet.

Without acknowledging what Leilani mentioned at all, Darren continued, “With how small these islands are, we’re talking like the size of two houses here, right?” Emmit and Ping both nodded. “Right. So, if there are any monsters, all we need to do is push them off! They can enjoy a nice trip into the wild blue yonder, and then we’re home free. Seriously, think about it, people. We’ll be as secure as an island on the ocean without the tsunamis, storms, or hurricanes to worry about! You want safety? Can’t get any better than a floating island.”

As far as inspiring speeches went, it fell pretty flat. And yet… several people looked up at Darren with a disturbing light of hope in their eyes.

Something needs to be done, and soon, Kale thought, staring into the meager fire that Albert, a Fire Mage, had managed to get going after nearly an hour.

The question was: what?