Chapter 52.

CHAPTER 52.

Amber stared at the sword in front of her, it was as if the whole world had paused as she looked at the wall of effects the sword had. She knew it was a divine weapon, and therefore her expectations were high, but even with such high expectations, she was still blown away. But for a moment, she thought back about the fact that she had failed to kill Oracle, and that⁠— annoyed her.

“Oracle may have gotten away, but the threat to my nation has been destroyed from the root.” The king nodded. “So, don’t be shy, grab the Cursewelder, it is yours now.”

Amber at that, nodded as well. She didn’t need to think about all of this at the moment. While she had failed to kill Oracle, Liz would probably not have to deal with that threat for a while, or hopefully never again. But if by any chance, the demons appeared again, she would take care of it, however for that, she needed to grow stronger. And for that, she needed all the help she could get.

Finally, Amber shook her stupid emotions off, and looked towards the Cursewelder. She needed it for her ambitions, and while now it was pretty much confirmed that the other Primordial Spirit hadn’t been the one to make it, it would still serve as a bargaining chip towards gaining their trust given Val’leri’s advice to be careful.

The path towards Essence, the path towards seeing Ax’thra once more. It all began with this.

Amber took a deep breath and with a step forward, she reached for the handle of the sword inside the glass case. It was wrapped in some unknown leather, and as soon as she got a hold off it, the light of the Cursewelder⁠— stopped. It became a much less attention grabbing sword, though while at first glance it looked normal, Amber could see carvings and designs all along the blade. It was truly an artpiece on its own right.

And now, it belonged to her.

She pulled it, and while it was about twice as heavy as the Flamecursed Sword, she actually didn’t mind the weight at all. In fact, she kind of preferred it. She stared at the Cursewelder for a few moments, while Amber was tempted to feed it the enchantment of the Sword of all Mortals and feed it the Flamecursed Sword itself, she stopped herself.

Instead, she placed it into her storage ring and turned towards the king. While she was happy, she still made sure to not disrespect the king.

“Thank you for your generous reward, your majesty.”

And at that the king chuckled. “When will you talk to me normally?” He smiled. “Come on now, my name is Octavius, no need for formalities.”

Amber blinked.

She remembered the king declaring her his friend, but it was still a bit unexpected for him to ask for such a thing. However, as Amber saw his expectant gaze, she decided that⁠— he clearly wanted this, and frankly being all courteous was a pain for her, so she had no quals with obliging.

“Thank you for the sword, Octavius.” She smiled.

The king had been nothing but nice to her, and all things considered, there was no reason as to why the king wasn’t her friend. And so, she relaxed. Amber felt the need to return to Laria, but she didn’t actually see why rush that much⁠— especially when she had just finished culling the demon people from the capital. She wanted to relax for a day or two before departing again.

“So, where is my room?” she asked jokingly.

Octavius laughed at that. “And here I thought you were leaving already!” He turned to the mage. “Instruct the servants to prepare the guest house.”

“Guest house?” Amber raised her eyebrow. “Not room?”

“Of course not, you are a friend of the nation, a friend of the Primordial Spirit Vi, and my friend. It is only natural you’re treated as if you were the ambassador of a different nation⁠— at the very least,” he explained.

Amber couldn’t help but pause at that. Her sudden shift in social status had still yet to catch up to her. However, she figured she should take this opportunity.

“Octavius,” she started. “Is there any place I can eat and test the new sword out?”

He got a pensive look for a moment before he nodded. “While there isn’t a place where you can do both, it will be arranged.”

“It doesn’t need to be arranged.” Amber shook her head. “I’ll just do one after the other.”

Octavius waved his hand dismissively. “Nonsense, I’ll do at least this much for you since I don’t see you coming back for a long while. So just stay still.”

“Right.”

And Amber watched as the king ended up making his assistant send numerous messages to accommodate for her poorly worded request. Not even five minutes passed before a well-dressed man came to retrieve her from the throne room.

And all she could say was “thank you” to Octavius as he smiled at her and waved her off.

* * *

Amber found herself in a large garden, and while she could see a myriad of flowers in her surroundings, she could also see stone statues with swords in the distance. They had been put on the grass part of the garden just for her.

Though, she wasn’t going to go there yet.

Instead, she was at a table, the two chairs present were as ornate as ever even for outdoor chairs. There was an umbrella for shade, and of course, under its shade there was a full course of the finest delicacies that the royal chefs could possibly prepare.

Next to her, there was a butler at the ready, and Amber had just been staring at everything, once more⁠— taken aback by her newfound status.

“Is this not to your liking, Lady Amber?” he asked, gently.

“No, it’s not that…” She stared at the food. “Is it really alright if I eat all of this?”

The butler in response nodded. “Of course, his majesty had all of this prepared for you, please do not hesitate.”

Amber heard his words, and still felt awkward⁠— who could go from not eating food, fighting monsters non-stop, sleeping on the ground and hardly cleaning oneself to sudden royal treatment. But still, as her stomach rumbled for the first time in eight months, she brought herself to take a bite of a juicy steak in front of her.

She sliced it open as its juices seeped onto the plate and then, placed it into her mouth and as soon as she did⁠— her eyes widened.

Amber suddenly felt like crying⁠, having forgotten everything she had missed, and a moment later, she began to scarf down the food.

* * *

Even though the table contained enough food for three people, Amber devoured it all. And by the time she finished, she felt nothing but pure bliss. The food had to be the best tasting thing she had had since coming to Vir⁠— no, in all her life. Of course, she didn’t know if it was due to the fact that she was famished, or if it really was that good. But she decided not to think about it.

That said, the thought of putting that much food into her ring⁠ was odd to her. She didn’t actually see the need to have whole feasts in the dungeon or anything, but she did consider putting in some food for when she wanted to eat. As for having feasts like these⁠— every few months would be nice.

The butler had already taken the dirty dishes, and thankfully he hadn’t so much as looked at Amber while she ate, otherwise it would’ve been quite the sight. Amber looked at her surroundings. She was in the castle’s garden, surrounded by its walls and sitting under the table that was used for tea or something. In the distance there were statues prepared for her.

Given she was alone, Amber figured this was the best time to test out her sword. She had been told that the stone statues would attack her as soon as she got close to them, which she found to be a great start.

And so, she stood up and began to walk towards the prepared statues.

The first thing Amber did was take out the Cursewelder, the massive sword that was just as tall as her. And then, from her back, she unsheathed the Flamecursed Sword, she didn’t even know how to make the Cursewelder absorb things, but turns out it was a rather straightforward process.

As soon as she held the two swords close to each other, she felt a tug in her mind telling her to put mana into the Cursewelder to absorb the sword, but⁠—

“What if I want to absorb the curse instead?” she asked the sword.

And to her surprise, the feeling in the sword shifted⁠— but it didn’t stop there, she also felt the need to place mana into the Flamecursed Sword. It was interesting and a rather intuitive process all things considered.

After testing switching between the two absorption modes, she absorbed the Flamecursed Sword⁠— which basically disintegrated into dust, which was absorbed by the Cursewelder, and a moment later a notification came.

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[ One out of five swords has been absorbed.

Cursewelder has absorbed the Flamecursed Sword and now has the ability: Flamethrower.

Cursewelder now wields the Curse of Consuming Flames. ]

Amber blinked and saw as the Cursewelder’s blade immediately turned a bright orange, much to her surprise. Then, she pulled the Sword of all Mortals, and instead of absorbing the entire sword, she decided to take the curse off of it. There was no point in preserving it, in her opinion⁠—

Though Ax’thra will probably quite upset to find out I removed the curse from his sword. She smiled, and then⁠— consumed its curse.

[ One of out five curses has been absorbed.

Cursewelder now wields the Curse of Laceration. ]

And just like that, it was done. She tossed the Sword of all Mortals into her ring, and then⁠— she paused, having a random thought. Amber placed the Cursewelder on the ground, ensuring she didn’t cause a fire in the process, and then, she grabbed her dagger and the Staff of Demons before throwing both of them into the ring⁠. Essentially leaving her unaffected by every curse.

Amber suddenly felt all the fatigue hit her and she sighed. She took out the dagger and the Staff of Demons from the ring⁠. In the end, the curses wouldn’t go through the ring, but then again it would’ve been incredibly broken all things considered. So, she absorbed the curse from the Staff of Demons⁠ into Cursewelder and then threw the staff into the ring just in case she needed it as an emergency weapon.

[ Two of out five curses has been absorbed.

Cursewelder has discarded the decayed ability: Summon Server of Chaos.

Cursewelder now wields the Curse of Demonic Blood. ]

Then, she sheathed her dagger. And just like that, she had reorganized all of her possessions. Though transporting the Cursewelder could be a problem⁠— mainly finding it a sheathe, but she figured she could ask Octavius for recommendations. For now, Amber wanted to test the sword, but first⁠—

Amber accepted hew new Legacy Branch skill.

[New Legacy Branch Skill! You have learned Crimson Sense ⁠— level 1.]

You’ve grown so used to blood that you can now sense it from a certain range. The higher the skill level the more accurate the location becomes.

This skill takes twice the time in comparison to normal skills to level.]

It wasn’t the best, but at least she had some sort of sense skill aside from Sharp Instincts now, and it was also the main reason she had taken so long to accept it. Though maybe the skill had some sort of hidden potential that she hadn’t seen yet, she wasn’t particularly sure about it.

Finally, Amber took a deep breath and began to walk towards the sword-wielding stone statues.

It was time to test how strong she had become.

She readied her sword, Cursewelder, and through the use of General Weapon Mastery she already felt as if she had used it countless times.

And with one more step, all of the present statues activated, all ten of them rushed her at speeds rivaling the might of a level 130 monster. Except⁠—

[Training Doll.]

[Training Doll.]

[Training Doll.]

…

Interestingly enough, none of them had levels, but not like it mattered.

Amber flashed a grin and⁠— swung. She didn’t use a skill and yet the massive sword broke through the head of a Training Doll before it could even block. It felt distinctly different to the Flamecursed Sword but in a good way. The weight was different and it was⁠— fun⁠!

The sword slammed onto the ground and a cloud of dirt exploded in all directions, instantly destroying another doll, but Amber didn’t stop there, she carried the momentum of the sword and did a heavy swing, breaking through the body of yet another Training Doll. Very few moments had passed and yet she had already killed three of them.

And while Amber was just testing things, she didn’t dare to let her guard down. Instead, she dug the sword into the ground and used it as a pole to move out of the way from the attacks of three Training Dolls, and when she landed the sword came off the ground as four dolls came for her, all of them already swinging their swords.

She dug the sword into the ground and used it as a shield to receive all of the attacks, and then⁠— she bashed. Throwing the four dolls away from her. They streaked through the air but Amber didn’t stop there, she did a small hop into the ground and then⁠— swung. A forward swing that transformed into a full front-flip motion, doing a forward arc along with Cursed Cleave.

A crescent swing eviscerated through all four of the dolls and cleaved deep into the ground, leaving flaming embers. Then, she only to be attacked by two dolls, but it took nothing more than two powerful swings to destroy both of them.

And finally, she turned towards the last doll which seemed to be in a defensive stance, its sword at the ready to block any attack.

Amber in response raised her sword, pointing at the doll and then⁠ she used⁠— Quick Dash. Her sword stabbed through the abdomen of the doll and then with an upwards swing she threw it into the sky. While she could’ve continued the onslaught on it, it was clearly unfit to fight anymore.

And so, she moved out of the way as it hit the ground, destroyed. Amber smiled looking at her status.

[Name: Amber | Level: 125 | Title: Demonkiller

Class: Cursed Supreme One | Unspent Stat Points: 0

Legacy Branch: Crimson Fervency

Stats:

Vitality: 410

Strength: 355

Dexterity: 335

Endurance: 119

Intelligence: 72

Wisdom: 210

Free Core Skill Slots: 0 | Core Skills:

[Cursed Cleave - 3rd Rank Lvl. 8], [Quick Dash - 3rd Rank Lvl. 8], [General Weapon Mastery - 3rd Rank Lvl. 9], [Cursed Supreme Momentum - 3rd Rank Lvl. 7], [Cursed Supreme Berserker’s Body - Lvl. 3rd Rank Lvl. 7], [Cursed Stomp - 3rd Rank Lvl. 7], [Recovery of Curses - 3rd Rank Lvl. 5], [Curse Battery - 3rd Rank Lvl. 5], [Cursed Rage Synergy - 3rd Rank Lvl. 6], [Curse Manipulation - Lvl. 3rd Rank Lvl. 5]

Legacy Branch Skills:

[Crimson Fervor. Lvl. 7], [Crimson Fuel. Lvl. 7], [Crimson Venom. Lvl. 6], [Crimson Sense. Lvl. 1]

General Skills:

[Supernatural Nullification], [Abyssal Blast], [Identify. Lvl. 3], [Toxin Resistance ⁠- 3rd Rank Lvl. 2], [Elemental Resistance - 3rd Rank Lvl. 4], [Physical Resistance - Lvl. 3rd Rank Lvl. 4], [Magical Resistance - 3rd Rank Lvl. 4], [Sharp Instincts - 3rd Rank Lvl. 6], [Quick Recovery - 2nd Rank Lvl. 1].]

She had grown a lot, and she was happy.

Now what? Amber turned and⁠—

She paused. The grass around her was absolutely destroyed and while the flowers were intact, but she couldn’t help but feel that perhaps arranging for this area to be used for this hadn’t been a good idea.

Amber sighed and then she sensed blood.

She turned only to see two people walk into the garden, approaching the table where she had had her food. One of them was a woman with a frilly white dress that was clapping her hands, she had light blonde hair and hazel colored eyes, and the other was a fully armored white knight with a fluttering red cloak.

Of course, Amber couldn’t exactly ignore them so she walked over to meet them. Though, neither of them had blood so⁠— why had she sensed that? She shook her head, she’d think about that later.

First, Amber looked at the woman.

[Mage. Lvl. 100]

Who was higher leveled than she expected considered she didn’t even have a staff on her person, though maybe it made sense since Amber could tell she was someone important.

Then there was the knight⁠.

[Warrior. Lvl. 130]

He wasn’t that much higher level than her, which somewhat surprised her given a lot of the knights were level 140+.

“An admirable spectacle,” the woman chirped. “As expected of you, Amber.”

Amber raised her eyebrow as she arrived at the table, the woman had already taken a seat, her guard standing next to her.

“My admiration for you has nothing but increased.” She nodded, confidently. “Looks like I was right to seek you out!”

“What do you mean seek me out?” Amber asked.

She smiled at that. “You are Amber, the Demonkiller, you are the hero of Cytel, and you are the one who repelled Oracle and his goons,” she declared. “It’s only natural I’d seek you out.”

Amber was still not following.

“You still haven’t explained why you are here.”

“That is true,” the woman agreed. “But it is of extreme importance, which is why, I’d like you to take a seat.”

And Amber shook her head, she wasn’t following this conversation at all, and she wasn’t about to have some tea with some cryptic well-dressed woman. So, she met her gaze.

“Will you please tell me who are you first?”

The woman blinked. “You don’t know? Did father not mention it to you?”

“Father?” Amber placed a hand on her chin. “Who?”

“Octavius III, my father.” The woman was also confused. “Did he not mention me at all? Like, at all?”

Amber processed what she had just heard and decided to sit down, given the king’s daughter was the one in front of her.

“So you are the princess, and no, he didn’t mention you.”

The princess paused before shaking her head and then chuckling. “I guess he got carried away over making a friend.” She smiled, getting up from her seat and bowing. “I’m the princess of this kingdom, Aurelia.”

Amber nodded, and Aurelia sat back down a moment later.

“So, continuing the topic.” The princess clapped her hands and gestured at herself. “I really, really, really admire you.”

“You admire me?” Amber was taken aback by that. “Aren’t you a princess? Shouldn’t I be the one admiring you?”

Aurelia chuckled at that. “Well, do you admire me?”

Amber lightly shook her head in response, before deciding to ask what was in her mind.

“But why do you admire me?”

“Why wouldn’t I admire you?” the princess asked back. “You are free, you are friends with a Primordial Spirit, don’t have to deal with politics and need I say that you are strong? You also have an extremely rare class.”

Amber slowly nodded. This was probably the only princess in the whole world that would admire an adventurer.

“Anyway, I heard about you from my knight⁠— you made quite an appearance at the trainee camp,” she explained. “And after some digging, I found myself interested in you, and then you became the hero of Cytel, and now we are here.”

Huh… Amber wasn’t quite following what Aurelia was getting at, but she had a small idea of it.

“So you just wanted to meet me?”

“Yes.” She nodded immediately. “And I’m glad I did, you are much more impressive than I thought⁠— wish I got to see you fight giving it your all.”

“Right.” Amber was now, once more, not following.

“And since you just got our divine weapon, I imagine you must be itching to test it some more, given the Training Dolls aren’t exactly the most exciting opponents.”

Amber blinked.

“I guess that is true.”

“That’s right.” Aurelia smiled to herself. “Which is why I’ve come up with a proposal that will satisfy both of our needs.”

“A proposal?”

“Yep!” she chirped.

And then, Amber watched as Aurelia extended her hand to her, smiling.

“How about you duel my personal knight, Charles?”