Barda weighed the sword in his hand. It was so perfectly balanced it felt like an extension of his arm. Next, he tried channeling 2% of Magical Energy into the blade. To his surprise, the blade lit up, the Fire Element imbued into the sword.
Barda had tried previously to use magic with a sword or any kind of weapon but had failed. Instead of Magic flowing into the weapon, it consumed the weapon. The sword's hilt had melted when he tried using it. He singed the bow's ropes instead of firing the arrow.
Later on, Barda had come to learn that Magic could not be used with ordinary weapons. As long as a weapon was tier 0, it could not transmit magic. Despite its low grade, the conjuring rod Barda had acquired was a tier 1, capable of transmitting magic.
Looking at the blade in his hands, Barda could not help but appreciate the artistry.
[Starlight Sword:
Type: Longsword
Weapon Grade: D
Tier: 1
A master creation from the forges of the Order of Lord Abu, this is a versatile weapon that can be imbued with magic.]
Lord Abu gifted Barda with the sword after Barda expressed his willingness to attempt the quest. This was his way of wishing him all the best in the path.
Barda himself had come prepared with full-body armor. It looked like leather to most people but it was heavy-kevlar. He had 4 handguns, 2 being the standard issue and 2 others being the modified desert eagles. He also packed 2 retractable blades and a rope in the backpack.
Most people would also carry food and water, supplies for the journey. Barda was not most people, so in the backpack, he carried a dismounted sniper rifle and a hundred rounds of ammunition. Barda also had 10 magazines of each gun he had carried and 10 grenades. Each gun also came equipped with a detachable silencer.
In addition to all that, Barda also had a quiver of arrows and a bow. He was like a moving arsenal, especially now that he had a sword in his belt.
Once all the preparation was done, Barda stepped onto the magic array Lord Abu had drawn. The Queen had come to bid him goodbye. Both had agreed that they were the only ones to know he was gone. No need to alert the whole world of the disappearance of the Lord Commander.
The Lord turned away as the couple embraced and kissed goodbye. Afterward, he began a chant. The Magic array at Barda's feet lit up, and Barda was sucked into another dimension.
***
Manga loved chewing the tonet weed leaves. They were a variant of khat, and they packed a bigger punch. Generally speaking, they were the type that farmers would eat before going to the farms to stimulate themselves. Like taking a cup of coffee in the morning before work.
Despite the appeal of it, many decent people frowned upon tonet leaves. Since they were eaten raw, they had the nasty habit of discoloring the eater's mouth to look all green and nasty.
Now that Manga was a lord and a commander of the first Tristan Airborne Army Legion, he knew he should quit eating the things, but he liked the feeling so much. After he was done, he gaggled some water and rinsed his mouth, hoping to cover the fact that he had indulged.
Trying to look all respectable, Lord Manga got out of his tent and walked towards where the men had gathered. he climbed one of the ships to address them all.
He needed to inspire his 100,000 men in his legion. With sweaty hands and shortness of breath, Manga opened his mouth.
"Brothers, Today we are gathered from various cities. We have served under different sigils and banners and even fought against each other. And fought well!
Today we are not gathered to fight each other, but because an enemy dared to come into our shores. This enemy came to kill us, rape and pillage our homes. They mean to take our children as slaves and steal our land.
Yet the city of Yuniah rolled a welcoming mat to receive them. They have invited the enemies to come in and dine with them. Can we allow that to continue?"
A resounding no!
"They have rolled out a welcome mat for the wolves coming to snatch our sheep, are we going to stand for that?"
"NO!"
"Raise your shields, fire your gun and let us show them what we do to traitors! Let us stand united under one sigil as one army and show them the strength of Our Land!"
"For Our Land!" Manga shouted.
"For Our Land!" Everyone shouted as they raced into the ships.
***
Barda found himself at the gate of a magnificent cuboid-castle built on a cliff. There was no warning sign, no instructions, nothing. Looking down from the cliff, Barda estimated that he must be around 4,000m above sea level.
The castle itself was extremely overbearing, measuring 1.2km long and a kilometer wide. Barda did not know how high it went since most of it was buried by the clouds. It wasn't that tall, just that the peak at which he was in was very high.
'I guess I have to go in,' Barda thought to himself as he walked towards the main gate.
As he pushed the door open, the entire hall seemed to lit up. It seemed as though the entire floor was in this hall, and given the size of the castle, that was saying something.
Barda had entered the castle in the far right corner. Across the call, he saw another day, which was 1.3km away from his entry-point in a hypotenuse. However, he stood frozen. Looking around, Barda felt his skin crawl, even though he knew that was virtually impossible.
All across the hall, there were river-snakes littered. These river-snakes had a small fin on their back. They were called snakes but they looked more like lizards, with 4 limbs and a body much like a lizard's. They were built for aquatic life mostly.
These snakes were not necessarily dangerous. They were poisonous but they rarely attacked unless they were attacked. What's more, they weren't even indigenous to this world. However, Barda recognized them.
As a young boy, Barda did not have a family or anyone to rely on. On the planet he was in, young boys like him were rounded up and placed in the military. This was what kickstarted his spying career.
Once, he tried running away from the facility he was being held. The trip involved making his way through an underground river, and he had almost succeeded too. However, he found himself cornered and boxed in.
His only advantage at the time was that the seekers did not know where he was exactly. He was so well concealed that no matter the tech they used they couldn't find him. Fatigued and sleep-deprived, he drifted off to slumber.
One thing about river-snakes was that they crave heat, despite being cold-blooded. On coming home, the river-snake found a heat source laying comfortably on its bed, so it decided to join in. Secondly, river-snakes love patterns, so the snake chose to lie on the rhythmic pounding of the heart.
Needless to say, when Barda woke up, it was not pretty. Man and beast wrestled as each struggled to escape the other's grasp. In the confusion, Barda was discovered and thrown back to his cell.
From that day onwards, Barda had developed a keen fear of reptiles. Be it snakes or lizards, Barda would enter flight-mode in their presence. Even as a highly advanced android, he still feared them.
As if sensing his fear, millions of eyes shifted their focus on to him. In the next moment, they were rushing at him hell-bent on destruction.
Barda would not let such fear cripple him, he quickly took out his conjuring rod and summoned all five humanoid elementals and had them surround him. There was no way he was going to allow them to get any closer to him.
This time, he overdid it. Each Fire Elemental was powered up to 10% of his Magical Energy. Being just five, Barda had excellent control over them, and they were able to weave their way across the fields of river-snakes, making Barda sneer at them.
Suddenly, he heard a deep guttural roar. Looking ahead, he saw 3 monstrosities. They looked like river-snakes, but instead of their adorable 3 feet length, they measured 200 meters from head to tail, standing at 3 meters.
Seeing the new monsters, the river-snakes seemed to make way to allow their champions to approach. Looks like it'll be a boss fight.