"Are you gonna give it a go, or just leave us all in suspense?"
Von pondered Grimdon's words for a moment before realizing it was true dark outside already, and Monica would likely be worried. He also wanted to be able to use his system's ability to analyze Marshfang. "How long will it take? I'm still a little tired, and since I think it will be alright, I think I'd rather wait until the scabbard was here. Sort of like a bribe." He tried to make it sound natural instead of seeming like he was stalling for time.
"I mean, Master Grimdon tried to just walk in to try to convice her to give up her secrets. Master Oren tried to woo them out of her like she was a beautiful lady in a tavern."
These words caused Grimdon as well as several watching healers to snort and laugh at the sudden image of Oren wooing a sword, but given the thought and the words he used, they all understood Von's reasoning, and it was kind of funny.
Seeing the smiles around the room, the boy continued. "Vorolen's method was different still. She just sat there waiting and watching. It was like she knew with enough patience, Marshfang would give in to what she wanted. I think I need to figure out my own way of getting the results, and I'm not sure any of those would work for me."
Von looked for the message his system would give him. Between being knocked out by the sword, and watching and waiting for the other three, and everyone else, he knew a lot of time had passed. He asked in his mind, System, how long before your upgrade is complete? He received no answer directed to him, only a banal response.
He realized he spent quite a while unconscious, but there were a large number of people for the healers to examine before they entered the smithy. For him though, it put him over twelve hours closer to his system upgrade being complete. By the time he woke in the morning, it would be nearly done if not completely done.
Vorolen, looked at Von and Oren before stating, "It is late, and he's just a boy. Let him think on it overnight and try to bribe the sword. Our ways were only partially successful with neither of us being able to confirm the other's finding. Maybe it's a fickle greedy inanimate object. Oh wait, if I were a sword, I'd take it as an insult, right Grimmy?"
Grimdon's mouth opened and closed several times as his harsh words about the sword were thrown back at him. Out of the three of them, he was the only one who received no results at all. Eventually, he had a comeback, and snapped at all three of them. "At least I didn't go to sleep with it on my lap for several hours, Vollie. I could have made a new sword by the time you finished your nap. For as long as you took, it's past the boy's bedtime. Even Oren looks another century older."
After such a long pause, his barbs didn't hit home. Instead, it made him seem a little more foolish because of the wait. Von touched the back of Voloren's hand and thought, I think it may be past his bedtime.
The dwarf snorted with laughter and ruffled the boy's hair. She nodded repeatedly as she said. "I think so." Looking to Oren, she inquired, "What are your thoughts?"
The elf let out a yawn, "I don't know about his bedtime, but I could use some sleep. If he needs time to think, or maybe just to let go of his worries, it can wait until morning. Maybe it will take some of the crankiness out of Grimdon at the same time. I'll lock up and we can reconvene tomorrow after breakfast."
As the discussion came to a close, Von couldn't help but feel a sense of relief at the prospect of getting some rest. The events of the day had taken their toll on him, both physically and emotionally, and the idea of retreating to his bed sounded like a welcome reprieve. The fact his system would also have completed its upgrade in the morning made it even better.
With a grateful nod to Grimdon, Oren and Vorolen, and laying his hand on Felinblade then Marshgang, Von bid them goodnight before making his way to the Flooded Haven Inn. After several yards, it occurred to him he didn't need to walk if he didn't want to, but he slept quite a while earlier and the night air felt good. Finally reaching his destination, he requested a bowl of the day's stew and gulped it down. Once it settled in his stomach, he made his way to the baths for a warm, soothing soak, before making his way to the stairs and up to his shared room.
As he settled into bed, his mind buzzed with thoughts of Marshfang and the mysteries it held. He knew that tomorrow would bring new opportunities to uncover its secrets, and he felt a renewed sense of determination to unravel the enigma of the magical sword. Rolling over, he saw Monica's eyes were open and she stared at him.
Her words rushed out. "Did you hear about the green waves that hit the town? Was that what Mistress Hellyne took off to take care of? Was it really Oren's doing? Are you alright?"
He swallowed before answering, his stew from earlier suddenly feeling heavy in his stomach. "I know about the green pulses. Mistress Hellyne came to help, but unfortunately, the pulses got her and the others who arrived to help. They had a good plan, but it didn't work." He paused to let her think about what he said.
He looked in her eyes before continuing. "It wasn't Master Oren's fault. It was the sword I made which caused the pulses. I tried to imbue it with my essence to bring out the swamp dragon core's magic and tried to name the weapon at the same time." He took a deep breath then added. "I used too much of my own aura and too much force causing the core to defend itself."
Monica's eyes became even wider. "Did anyone get hurt?"
"No, it knocked out a lot of people, but didn't actually injure any of them. It took in part of my aura and spirit, and the pulses were its way of trying to find the rest of the aura and my body to go back inside. My aura piece in the sword was panicking and trying to get back where it belonged, but I was too dumb to understand, and we all hid behind the wall until Hellyne brought help. We tried to shut it down, but it knocked everyone out by draining their auras until it found mine and eventually, it reformed properly. I did give everyone in the smithy their pieces of aura back, but the others outside have been kinda absorbed into mind now."
She whistles softly. "Are you alright? Is that bad? Is everyone else alright without those pieces? You said nobody was hurt, but what about, you know, mentally?"
"I think some of them were surprised, and some fatigued, maybe a little fearful of Marshfang, but everyone was physically okay."
"Marshfang?" she asked.
The sword's name is Marshfang. The dagger I made for you is Felinblade. It came from a great cat of some sort. The names seemed right in my head."
She looked at him and smiled, "Felinblade? For me?"
"Yes, it will make you more agile and dexterous. You will also be stronger and faster. I thought it would be good for you. It will give you time to get away to use your magic."
She smiled at him. "So far, I don't think I will need a weapon. I can use a chaotic ward to deflect attacks away from me, or an entropic barrier to disrupt the cohesion of spells or projectiles which causes the spells to unravel and arrows and stuff to break down and move randomly, and generally away from me."
She took a breath adding, "If I have to attack, Hellyne has taught me how to use entropy blasts to disrupt objects, structures, and even opponents, causing them to suffer random problems like pains, or paralysis. I can send bolts of chaos which can severely injure an attacker too or distort reality around them confusing them. Well, most of the time. I am getting better at it."
"What is there is a group of people? Sometimes it's better to flee and put space between them and you." He asked.
Without hesitation she responded, "If there are a lot of people, I can create a chaos storm to call down all sorts of random elements and cause confusion, or I can use a chaos field to weaken everything in an area, including their siege weapons, armor, weapons, even their belts and trousers. Eventually, I will be able to fracture reality and call up rifts to drag them into the Fell Realm. I hope I never have to it though, because, Mistress Hellyne said someone doing that a long time ago might have been the reason for the rifts we have now."
"Interesting," he said. "So, someone actually caused all these rifts, and we've never been able to fix them?"
"That's what Mistress Hellyne thinks. She's probably the oldest one here. Well, maybe. She said Masters Oren, Poralis or Alden could be older, but she's not sure. By the time she met them, they were over a thousand themselves, so she doesn't know."
She smiled at Von. "Hey, V. I'm glad you're alright. I was worried when I heard it started at the Bladesteel Forge. You're the closest thing I have to a brother." She then willed the lights to dim as she rolled over to face the window. Inside, she was glad to know Von wasn't hurt and had made it back.
Von crawled under the cover and tried to relax. He had another big day ahead of him and hoped his system was up to the task since it had been upgraded. Von appreciated Monica's concern and words of comfort. Her presence felt like a reassuring anchor in the midst of uncertainty, and he was grateful for their bond as friends and comrades. As he lay in bed, he couldn't shake the lingering thoughts about the events of the day and the mysteries surrounding Marshfang. However, the weariness of his body eventually caught up with him, and he drifted into a deep slumber, his mind filled with dreams of magical swords and ancient secrets.