The Amber Sword

Calling him an Acolyte was not exactly wrong, but the Dragon of Darkness’s gift to him was a single drop of blood that completely usurped the energy from the Blood of Gods.

An ancient signal seemed to have awakened something inside the youth’s soul. He felt as though his mental strength and willpower grow stronger a hundredfold, and the ‘weak’ corruption from the Blood of Gods was completely washed away.

It was an evolution of his bloodline.

He now had the ability to regenerate quickly and replenish his lifeforce, which meant that he could recover from injuries ten times faster than before. Even Scarlett’s healing factor was not as good as his, though it was not surprising to the youth since the quality of Andesha’s Blood of Gods was higher.

There was also a new description in his stats window. It was the ‘Darkness’ trait, a rough equivalent of possessing the Darkness Element Power; he had the capability of manipulating the Darkness Element.

This trait was mostly used by Necromancers and Dark Priests’ skillsets. Currently, Brendel was only able to add it into his attacks. Although it might seem like it sounded weak to anyone else, he knew it was actually a great advantage because it was an attribute that bypassed physical defense.

[Even throughout the whole game, the weapons with the Lightning or Darkness elements were sky-high prices. Lightning had the best area damage, while Darkness weakens defense and weakens healing spells.]

Brendel fiddled with his stats windows, discovering that his Darkness EP had become twice as much, but his Light EP had been reduced by a third, making him wonder how he should react to this situation. The Physique and Perception stats were increased as well, but it was his Will that caused him to drop his jaws.

[124 Will? I knew there was a substantial increase, but I didn’t think it was this much...... A hundred Will means that any magic spells below the Twelve Circle would be ineffective on me. I’m pretty much immune to magic under most circumstances. It’s no wonder why Andesha’s magic couldn’t work.]

He then scrolled down to the newly added Talent, the Fool.

– Talent: The Fool (Level 1)

– Abilities: Trance, Ancestral Citizen.

– Trance: All character stats are increased by 100% for half an hour; this ability can be activated twice a day.

– Flavor text: The endless concentration that you have isn’t necessarily a good thing.

– Ancestral Citizen: Ancient Techniques could be learned like any normal skills, ignoring conditions.

Brendel wanted to punch the air in joy when he read the text. Even the talent Genealogy Unification was not as impressive when compared to it.

(TL: Genealogy Unification, modifies profession to possess a new skillset, mentioned in volume 2 chapter 108. To sort of summarize it, since Brendel’s a warrior, it adds the ability Fabled Hero, and increases all his abilities’ level by 1.)

The first ability was simple. He could become superman up to an hour if he chose to activate it.

The second ability was something that was related to his System. If he were to pick up King Gatel’s swordsmanship and learn the true Flash Fire Sword Arte, he would have to first complete Kirrlutz’s chain mission of ‘The Eagle of Brilliance’, and not complete any missions given by Miirna’s NPCs, and finally, to have the highest grade of the Fire Element Power.

After that, the system would allow him to learn and spend his experience points on the swordsmanship.

“Putting the fourth condition aside, the third condition sounds like an easy thing to do, but the majority of the missions in the game’s third chapter has something to do with the Shadow Factions. These quests will eventually lead back to the Miirna race, and people would automatically fail. The only exception would be grinding monsters for the entire chapter.”

Brendel remarked to himself with a giggle.

Skills like Tuman’s creation of the Holy Sigils, or Farnezain’s Prophecy Magic, were tagged with the words ‘Ancient Technique’. These skills required a specific bloodline, stats, and luck. If there was a wrong mission done, or if they failed to complete a specific mission, learning the techniques would not be possible.

Learning a single Ancient Technique changed one’s entire combat style, and countless players wondered if there was the possibility of learning the different Ancient Techniques for the ten limited skill slots that they had, making them the flashiest players alive.

Most of the Ancient Techniques were signature skillsets of famous NPCs too.

(TL: If I recall correctly, you can learn a variety of skills, i.e, Charge, but you can only use them provided if they are placed them under the professions. Smh, rules are too complicated. I probably want to look this up, but seeing that we’re probably at ~400 chapters... I’m not sure that’s easily done.)

Brendel was so gleeful that he wondered if he should congratulate himself with a ‘just-as-planned’ laugh, and write off the mistakes that literally killed him.

But he quickly went back to brooding, when he realized that he had just rejected Veronica’s proposal.

“My respected Master, I’m hungry.” Morpheus suddenly spoke, staring strangely at the youth who was giggling and groaning repeatedly.

Brendel looked up in a distracted manner, realizing it was his summon who spoke to him. He blinked several times and observed Morpheus. No matter how he looked, this vampire noble was a ‘girl’.

[A trap. A huge vampire trap.]

“Ahh, about that, I’m sorry, there’s no food with me,” Brendel said.

But Morpheus only tilted his head and licked his sensual lips, while using his blood-red, crystal-clear large eyes to gaze at the youth without blinking—

It was as though he was looking at him like a delicious meal.

[...... Wait, he’s a vampire.]

Brendel’s facial muscles stiffened, but he was saved by Scarlett suddenly stirring. It did not take long for Faena to do as well.

However, Morpheus managed to get what he wanted in the end. The youth had to decide whether it was to keep his blood or a fight against Andesha at their full strength.

He chose the latter.

It was approximately twenty minutes after Veronica went to sleep, but he decided that the break was enough and they should move again.

The violent winds were like blades that blew past the steep cliffs, sending in loud whistling noises into their ears. Despite the powerful air currents, the mist was not dispelled, and instead seemed like they were appearing together with the wind. In addition, there were sand and dust sweeping up into the air, making the visibility of the ancient canyon low.

This situation was advantageous to the youth and the others to avoid Andesha’s pursuit, but it was increasingly difficult to advance.

Brendel stretched out his hand to a cliff’s protruding rock. The powerful wind was causing him to narrow his eyes.

Once he got a stable foothold, he lent a hand to Scarlett who was climbing below him, helping her up onto the flat ledge above him. Faena was next, while Morpheus assisted the injured Veronica in the same way the youth did.

Finally, Brendel made his way up onto the ledge.

“The wind here is almost unbearable. This must be the area where the Loop of Trade Winds really happens. It is said that no one can go through these walls of violent winds.”

Veronica supported herself by leaning against her sword, which was returned to her by Brendel after she woke up: “What is your plan from now onwards, boy?”