15
1071 Words
Kevin shrugged. “Nothing yet, but we got a lead on a private viewing of the old tournament, cut down to only the highlights of what we can expect from the rifts here.”
Kacy nodded to Liz, who finally sat up and joined them.
“Yup. I already agreed for us to go as well. It’s next week, and while we won’t learn much, it can’t hurt.”
Matt smiled down at Liz.
They had spent years undercover and created their own understanding of subtle signs, and her drawing on his chest was one of them.
She was indicating that the team was one they should get to know as she expected them to do well enough in the tournament that they were worth becoming acquainted with.
The drunk act was exactly that—an excuse for her to get close without anyone questioning it.
Kacy leaned back as a waiter dropped off the drinks for him and Felix.
Matt reached to take his drink, but Liz snagged the green liquid and coyly sipped at it before he could.
Her playful demeanor shattered before the glass even left her lips.
Gagging, she shoved her ill-gotten gains back into his hand. “Harpy s**t! How does something called an Apple Drop taste so foul? Ugh. That’s vile.”
Matt ventured his own sip and instantly concurred. The cocktail was somehow sickeningly sweet and oppressively bitter at the same time.
The wretched flavor was already massacring his taste buds anyway so, tilting his head back, Matt downed the rest of the drink and quickly ordered something called a Sunflower’s Dew. It couldn’t be worse than his last drink.
Kacy had been waiting for him to finish his drink and asked, “So, I hear you’re quite the swordsman?”
Matt smiled back and, after checking he had room, withdrew his blade from his spatial ring and handed it over to the woman.
She whistled. “I’m jealous. A growth item. I want to get a spatial ring, but I change weapons so often it’s just not worth it yet.”
As she ran testing fingers over his blade, inspecting the enchantments etched in the metal, he said, “Yeah. Though, there’s always the reward for some of the challenges that will get you a Tier 10 general spatial ring.”
Without looking up, she nodded. “Sure, but that’s a little later than I’d prefer. I’m just waiting for the guy who sells the spatial bracelet-bag thingies.”
Matt wasn’t surprised that Jamie’s product was well known. He had gone around the Empire selling his cloth bracelets in the last years. Luckily for his customers, Jamie had figured some way to lower the prices of his goods from a king’s ransom down to mere highway robbery.
Trusting Liz’s instincts, he offered, “While I wouldn’t say we are friends with the guy, I do know him and can probably get you a meeting with him. Should at least ensure you get one before he inevitably sells out.”
Kacy smiled up at Matt. “Thank you. I normally wouldn’t take that offer from a new friend, but I just can’t say no right now. Though, I do have to ask how you know him.” Coughing slightly, she said, “Sorry, feel free not to answer that.”
Matt waved off her faux pas. “I was at Amelia Galley’s big meeting a few years back and won a cooking competition that earned me some face time. I leveraged that to get Jamie a meeting with her. Nothing crazy.”
Kacy turned her attention back to his blade. “Huh. It’s a fantastic blade, but I can’t tell what it does. It feels almost…empty?”
Matt chuckled. “That’s because it currently is. This blade is just the best I could get as a growth item. It weighs more than it should for its Tier, which is good for my physical strength, but its actual growth aspect is that it can clear itself of enchantments and be re-enchanted at each Tier. The only downside is, I have to do the enchanting myself. I just Tiered the blade up, so I haven’t gotten around to that yet.”
That was true enough, as Matt wanted to keep the blade free from enchantments until he could consult a professional enchanter about the next design. While he was competent enough, he was about to embark on an important challenge and wanted to see if there were any Tier 11 enchantments outside his knowledge that would better match his melee identity.
After giving back his weapon, Kacy pulled out a greatax that had two gleaming blades.
As she passed it over, he noted that the weapon, like his own, was far heavier than what most Tier 10 melee fighters could handle. That made him belatedly realize that Kacy had handled his Tier 12 blade in the same way, showing her physical strength far surpassed the average for their Tier.
“This baby is my new weapon. Tier 11, and as heavy as I can reasonably handle.”
Matt traced the runes engraved on the side of the weapon and bobbed his head. “I feel sharpness, durability, and repair runes, but there’s something else… Lightning maybe? I’m not getting a good feel for it.”
Kacy grinned and tapped the wooden handle. “With a big ol’ ax, I get the ability to have a lot more wood than most, which lets me shove an extra enchantment or two into my weapons. I used this lightning-ironwood-tree-thing to add a bit of extra damage to armored foes.”
Matt nodded in appreciation. While a greatax would fare better against an armored opponent than his longsword, it would still struggle against metal monsters or heavy plate armor. The lightning damage would bypass most standard defenses that didn’t explicitly counter that. It made him wonder why she didn’t go with the standard spike as a counterweight and instead opted for a double-bladed weapon. Still, her choices were her own, and she didn’t get this far on The Path by being ignorant of basic weapon theory.
“That’s a good idea. One I should look into myself. When I can’t cut something up, I usually just default to the ‘club it with something blunt’ strategy.”
Their conversation was interrupted by Kevin steering the topic back to the tournament.
- Writer
