I woke from my half-sleep early the next day, I had much to do. I had acquired a large amount of money during my short stint in the military, and I put it to good use. I spent a good half of the money, multiple platinum coins, on express ordering weapons, armor, and clothes from the best craftsmen in the city.
I washed and dressed then left the castle and headed to the worker's quarter. My first stop was Galum's Smithy, a smithery that had existed since the dawn of the Warren Kingdom. It was owned by a family of blacksmiths whose ancestors had been friends with the first king. The current head smith, Kalk, had been surprised when I placed my unordinary order, saying that I would need to reserve every smith that worked there if I wanted it completed on time. He had been dumbfounded when I actually agreed to it. The man himself greeted me when I walked in, seeming to have just come from the forges.
"Ah, sir Witherthorn, perfect timing, the boys just finished with the final polish. Follow me"
Even though I had retired, I still technically held my level six operative status, so most people addressed me like this. Kalk led me through the backdoor of the shop and towards the workspaces. Next to a group of apprentices was a rack full of the weapons I had ordered, shining in the morning sun.
"I must say, these are some of the finest pieces I have worked on in a while"
The first thing to draw my eye was the glaive. The shaft was hewn from the finest blood oak, a dark brown(almost black) wood with veins of scarlet running through it that was known for its extreme toughness. The blade was wide and heavy, about a foot from the front to the back, with a shallow curve that ended in a sharp point. It was a weapon that any non-ascender would have great trouble wielding. Next to it was a sword with a standard double-sided straight blade, the hilt was partially made of blood oak and warped in earth bear leather. Next was a pair of curved daggers, useful for easy drawing and cutting while still holding strong piercing power. Even though I have [Conjure Shadow Dagger] I wanted a physical backup in case I encountered a situation where I cant use or am out of essence. Last of the weapons was a set of 22 slim throwing knives, each fully metal and 10 inches(25 cm) long. I had gotten [Greater Throwing Mastery] from the third book I read from the library so I had included throwing weapons in the order. The blades of all the weapons were forged from silver-steel, a rare metal that contained neither silver nor steel but was named for its appearance. It was strong and heavy but hard to work with, making weapons crafted from it exponentially more expensive than normal ones.
After inspecting the weapons I picked up the glaive, stepped away from the rack, and performed a series of fast cuts that weren't practical but used for determining the quality of a glaive. Even with its large blade, the silver-steel glaive was perfectly balanced; I could easily execute the lattice of cuts. I put down the weapon and addressed Kalk.
"You truly live up to your reputation, this is a fine weapon"
"And you live up to yours, I have difficulty even lifting the thing. That aside, Don and Cassie finished your order yesterday, you should go pick it up. Good doing business with you"
Kalk shook my hand and handed me the rest of the weapons in a reinforced sack. My next stop was right next-door, the workshop of the tailor tanner pair Don and Cassie. I walked in and was greeted by Cassie.
"Welcome, welcome, sir Witherthorn, your order is in dressing room 4. We assure you that the utmost care was put into every piece"
I gave her a short nod and entered the dressing room. Like Kalk, Don and Cassie didn't disappoint, I quickly changed into my new gear. First was a set of thin long-sleeved shirts and pants, the cloth woven from dyed elka hair; they were soft and comfortable while still being resistant to ripping. Next was the leather and cloth light armor, made from more elka hair and scarred boar leather. It fit on me like a thick second layer of skin. On top of that went the most expensive item I had ordered, a large, black, traveler's coat. It reached my shins with a slit in the back of the lower part and had a deep hood. It was crafted from corrupt salamander skin and lined with wind hound fur, closing in the front with three diagonal buckles. Sheathes for my throwing knives were all over it, one in each sleeve, one hidden inside the base of the hood, six in the left flap(the handles of the knives would slightly poke out around the buckles), five on each side of my torso, and one under my left armpit. The coat was insulated, waterproof, non-flammable, and able to deter slashes from a blade. After that, I buckled an earth bear leather belt around my waist and attached the sheath for my sword to it. Then I strapped on the double sheath for my daggers, allowing easy access to the weapons from my lower back. Next, I threw on the shoulder strap that had multiple adjustable rings that let me carry my glaive as well as attach a back quiver. Lastly, I tightened a pair of steel-toed boots around my feet, they held the sheaths for my last two knives. I then turned to the mirror. I looked intimidating. The coat obscured my frame and the multitude of weapons I wore outweighed the harmless factor of my young face.
'Good, just looking like this will deter small groups of common bandits. Though I should probably put the glaive into my subspace, it will slow down my access to it in case of an emergency, but not having to carry it around will greatly increase my mobility. I could also put a physical bow in its place, it will appear strange if I carry around arrows and no bow... No, I should just keep the arrows and quiver in the subspace as well, I won't need to use a bow in split-second combat. The extra second or two to retrieve it won't matter'
I picked up the extra sets of under-cloths and exited the workshop. I then ducked into a nearby alley, opened my subspace, and tossed in the glaive, quiver, and shoulder strap inside. My last stop was a fletcher's that one of the castles' servant's had told me was reliable a few days ago. His shop was a single street over and I reached It quickly. The tiny man was startled when I dropped a pile of coins on the counter and asked for every arrow he had. I left the shop a few minutes later with five large sacks, each filled with 100 high-quality arrows. I dipped into another alley, filled my quiver with twenty of the arrows, and put everything back in the subspace. After a moment of consideration, I stopped by a nearby bowyer and picked up a nice longbow, throwing it into my subspace as well. I had already placed a small hill of rations and a few dozen books in the subspace earlier in the week, so I was ready to go. I wasted no time and quickly exited the northern gate. Once I was outside the inner city I began jogging down the familiar road and opened my stat screen.
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[Magnus Witherthorn]
Rank 4 - Mortal
Essence - 2512
Essence type - Myriad Elemental
[Strength] - 1478(+100)
[Agility] - 1774(+20)
[Dexterity] - 1530
[Intelligence] - 1630
[Spirit] - 140
[Sense] - 13
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Active skills:
[SS] - [Rage of The Elements], [Accelerated Cognitive Planning]
[S] - [Sky Steps], [Sacrifice], [Create Dead Subspace]
[A] - [Identify], [Wind Dash], [Assassinate], [Wind Bolt], [Earth Manipulation], [Summon Greater Scholar's Domain], [Carnage Pinwheel], [Shadow Cloak], [Conjure Steel Longbow], [Iron Rain]
[B] - [Essence Boost], [Heat Sense], [Higher Speed Enhancement], [Conjure Ice Armament], [Seismic Sense], [Healing Orb], [Lightning Field], [Flow Control]
[C] - [Conjure Shadow Dagger], [Reinforcement], [Flame lash], [Light Discharge]
[D] - [Fire Starter]
Passive skills:
[SS] - [The Blessing of Myriad Elements]
[S] - [Pinnacle Dagger Mastery]
[A] - [Greater Arithmetic Mastery], [Greater calligraphy Mastery], [Danger Sense], [Greater Acrobatics Mastery], [Accelerated Regeneration], [Diamond Skin], [Essence Perception], [Greater Glaive Mastery] , [Giant's Endowment], [Greater Etiquette Mastery], [Greater Longbow Mastery], [Greater Throwing Mastery]
[B] - [Keen Senses], [Swift Steps], [Conceal Presence], [Higher Close Quarters Combat Mastery], [Uncanny Eyesight], [Higher Sword Mastery]
[C] - [Balance], [Movement Style: Silent Wisp], [Burn resistance], [Median Cooking Mastery], [Frost Resistance], [Wind Resistance]
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'...My stats took a bit of a hit from me just sitting and reading for the last two weeks, but the skills I got were worth it. And I think I'm beginning to get more of an understanding of skills in general. Passive skills seem to be much more useful than active skills most of the time, especially the mastery skills. They allow me to achieve the results of years of training and practice in just a few hours. But that aside, I should rush to the great kingdoms. While I could run into powerful ascenders before I'm ready to face them, my mind being defenseless if a far more worrying issue'
Done analyzing my stats, I hurried out of the city. When I was a few miles away and found an empty stretch of road I opened my subspace and pulled out a thick book. I flipped through It as I picked up my speed. It was a general encyclopedia that I believed carried information that would be useful on my journey.
As I read and barreled down the road I passed many merchant caravans. Even though Palance had suffered a crushing defeat in the first battle of the war, many guerilla attacks and small incursion had taken place in the last few weeks. Palence wanted to prevent a return invasion while they were still in their weakened state. The king wanted me to rejoin the military so he had been sending me a daily report on the situation, even giving me the results of the investigation of the blood golems. Palence had somehow gotten their hands on either a person or item that allowed them to perform blood essence spells. They waited until tens of thousands of soldiers had died and then took advantage of the mountains of fresh blood to summon the blood golems. The king and his advisors suspected that a higher tiered kingdom had assisted them, though they still couldn't pinpoint a motive. Most kingdoms in the inner part of the continent cared little for the fringe kingdoms, as there were few resources at the edge of the continent. The oceans were vastly different than the ones I was used to, being turbulent year-round and full of vicious beasts. Therefore there are no ocean fishing industries and sailing could only be accomplished by the extremely powerful. Of course, the information he provided me didn't really matter and did nothing to sway me to stay; there was very little for me left in Warren, the royal library didn't even have a useful absorption technique.
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Reading the encyclopedia took the entire day, in which I covered a distance that had taken me five days on the return trip. It gave me an incredibly useful skill, especially considering where I was headed. The language that I considered English was known in this world as simply the "human language." It was considered relatively easy to learn by the other races, so many of them spoke it, but it was still an inconvenience for me since I wanted to enter the great demon kingdom. However, this was no longer an issue.
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[Pinnacle Language Mastery]
Rank S
You are able to read, write, understand, and speak any language. You stand a step away from transcendence.
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'Transcendence again huh? Neither of my active S rank skills say anything about it, but both of my passive ones include the same sentence in their description. Does it just indicate that they can be ranked up to extremely powerful skills or do they have some other significance? I wish this system wasn't so vague sometimes, it makes planning my actions based on my abilities difficult'
I put the thoughts of transcendence aside and walked off the road. With the clear skies and my new coat, a tent was unnecessary; so I just laid against a nearby tree and fell half-asleep.