Lila stopped cutting into the carcass and stood up, turning to face Roger.
He quickly noticed she was hiding a smile, instead trying to appear aloof and annoyed. He had to admit it was pretty cute, but he was also unsure of why she felt the need to act like that.
'Is she afraid of me?'
She had acted guarded and reserved ever since coming here, despite Roger providing her food and tools. It was also odd how she seemed to be standoffish when interacting with him, but was still able to sleep around him, which he felt should have been more difficult if he was the primary issue.
While Lila was wiping blood off her hands, Roger tried to make a workable theory about her strange actions.
'Could it be more of an issue with others? Did something happen to her that made her unwilling to showcase positive emotions around strangers? Does it have something to do with Mind Wraiths?'
His thoughts were interrupted by her finishing her cleaning. She flicked her delicate wrist, and the sleek blade reappeared in a flash of light.
She held it out in front of them horizontally, allowing him to admire the entire blade.
"The System says the blade's name is Vronti."
Roger didn't know what the name meant, if it had a meaning, but was entirely enamored with its appearance. Reaching out, he trepidatiously placed his hand on the blade.
'I wish I knew more about this artifact!'
He couldn't help but be incredibly curious about the weapon, especially as it was the first artifact he had ever seen.
As if it was watching, the System chose that moment to place a screen in front of him, causing Roger to jump back with a scream.
[Vranti]
[Wielder: Lila]
[History: When the Storms Chosen first roamed the land, the Eye of the Storm led them as their king. The emissary of their god, he held powers that brought ruin and devastation to the enemies of the Storm. After conquering the Northern peaks, the Eye of the Storm spoke with his oldest ally, the Gelid Queen, who came bearing news.
"Now that the North has fallen under our banner, the gods call us South to put our unruly siblings down. With us, we bring Storm and Snow. None could stop us now, not even the Quakelord."
Always the level-headed, Eye of the Storm did not share his sister's bloodlust.
"I fear you underestimate them, dear sibling. The Demon has been hard at work, and there are rumors The Outcast shall choose a side in the coming months. We would be wise to shore up our defenses here."
Insulted by her brother's caution, the Gelid Queen couldn't help but let venom infect her words.
"Have you grown soft with age? Where is the unrelenting Storm that forced the gods to notice him? Where is the man of legend, who would cause mountains to tremble and the sky to shatter?"
Storm did not answer with words at first, instead choosing to raise his palm to the sky. With a cacophony of loud bangs, a shortsword crashed into the mountain near them, piercing the stone with ease.
Storm walked to the blade, pulling it from its groove.
"Sister, do you know what the peasants fear about the storm?"
Rolling her eyes, she shook her head.
"The lightning, obviously. They worship it, especially in the fringe villages."
Eye of the Storm leveled his gaze on her.
"No, they do not fear the lightning. That is simply what follows. When the day is bright and the sky clear, what they fear is not the cloud nor the rain."
The blade, Vranti, began to glow a bright blue.
"They fear the thunder."]
[Weapon Effects: Grants the wielder a measure of knowledge in sword fighting. Grants the wielder the ability to fire controlled bolts of lightning after charging Vronti. Vronti charges through usage. Charges faster during a storm.]
Roger's head was spinning as he struggled to internalize all the information he had just read. Multiple names stood out to him, the Storms Chosen, Eye of the Storm, Gelid Queen, Quakelord, The Demon, The Outcast, and even numerous references to the gods.
It was all far too much for the history of a simple weapon and made Roger wish he had spent time researching Avarian history. This would have been difficult as he did not know the world existed before coming here, but he needed an easy target to blame, gods damn it!
It was clear he had extreme knowledge gaps, and those could wait till later. For now, he wanted to focus on the weapon effects, which explained what he had witnessed that morning.
'So it not only provides knowledge on how to use the weapon but also lets someone shoot lightning bolts? That seems incredibly powerful! With this, we should be far more able to defend ourselves!'
At some point, Roger had begun smiling like an idiot, which must have seemed odd as Lila had been on the ground laughing ever since his jumpscare by the System. He didn't even notice until his thoughts paused for a moment, causing his eyes to widen as he realized Lila was currently on her knees while holding her sides.
Her eyes were scrunched closed as she laughed deeply, her voice high-pitched and full of joy. It was a beautiful sound that Roger wished he could hear for the rest of his life.
Roger's cheeks began to turn a bright red when he unexpectedly began to chuckle himself. Before he knew it, he was laughing just as hard as she was, acknowledging that it must have been a funny sight to see.
Once the both of them had calmed down, and Roger had finished wiping the tears from his eyes, he spoke about his thoughts on the artifact.
"It really does seem unfair how you received such a cool artifact with a detailed history, meanwhile all I can do is be a copycat!"
Lila was using her new weapon as a crutch as she responded, her sides still hurting from all her laughing.
"Don't worry, once you rank up a few times you'll find some equally interesting stuff. Although even I noticed my artifact seems to be a little unique."
That caught Roger's attention. Lila knew way more about Avars System than he did, so if she thought something stood out then it almost definitely did.
"What do you mean your artifact is a little unique?"
Lila gestured at it as she stopped leaning on it, lifting it back up to brandish the symbols on its crossguard.
"Well first off the weapon is barely adorned, but the history of it is far more detailed than your average artifact. It also mentions the Archons, which very few weapons do. Not to mention it claims that the weapon was made by one of the Archons."
'So not all weapons have a description that detailed? I wonder what made hers so special? She also hasn't said what element she received yet, nor what rank it is. Maybe that's connected to why she received a unique artifact.
Roger tilted his head to the side.
"Archons? Who are those?"
Lila's smile slowly vanished at his question, and she rolled her eyes.
"It really shouldn't surprise me you don't know about them either. You can consider them the strongest heroes we know about in Avar's history. They had powers granted by the gods, making them incredibly impressive magi. At some point, they had a civil war, with three main sides. This part of Avarian history is the most popular to study so we know a bit about it, but there is still a lot we don't, so take this all with a grain of salt."
Roger leaned in to listen better, which caused Lila to lean back in response, although he didn't notice her reaction.
"No one knows why the civil war started, only that it led to complete annihilation of all sides. Entire continents of the planet were reshaped, and all societies were destroyed, only leaving ruins to remember them by. Each of the Archons died during the war, with the last one to survive being unknown. One did, however, that's why Avar is pulling people from Earth."
Roger looked confused.
'So something had to happen for us to begin to transfer to Avar? But what could be so impactful that two planets were bridged? Not even the technology of Earth could do stuff like that, and we have almost unlocked teleportation!'
"What did he do to cause us to be dragged here?"
Lila smiled genuinely at that as if this was something she actually wanted to talk about.
"Well it's quite simple really, he just shattered all of the gods into fragments."