The Shatterplate War Chapter 36

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Bloody Step

- A prosthetic leg made of blood by Lord Kay, the Class Line Progenitor of Blood Manipulation and Blood Lord of Avalon, for a member of his Blood Guard. Created to replace a limb lost in duty to him, he made this personally with his own magic and will, providing a limb, a tool, a weapon, and a path to power all in one item. This item will bind itself to the person who puts it on. Functions like a real limb under the control of the one it is bound to and cannot be controlled magically by anyone else unless it is overwhelmed by magic more powerful than it. This item has been magically infused with the power of a Skill, making the use of Shape Blood easier and stronger for the wielder of this item.

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“It’s interesting that the descriptions are so similar.” Kay commented to Tyuah after looking over her new leg, “Although I’m not really a fan of the names. I don’t want people thinking my naming sense is that bad.”

Tyuah had been switching her flummoxed stare from Kay to the limbs he’d made and back over and over again for the last several minutes, but hearing Kay’s comment pulled her out of her shock enough for her to finally respond. “That’s what you’re worried about? You’re naming sense? What about the fact that you’ve just completely overturned the balance of power for the world!?” She was practically screaming by the end.

“What?” Kay made a face at her, “You think I’ve thrown off the world’s power balance?”

“You just made two enchanted items in less than an hour!” She gestured at her new arm, “Enchanted items that act just like the limbs I lost!” She poked at the blood arm with her regular one, “I can feel that!” She shook her head almost violently, “Enchanters can’t just manufacture magical items that fast!”

Kay held up one hand. “Okay, wait a second. I don’t think I’m going to start replacing enchanters or anything. Mostly because I made those two, and now I’m completely out of mana.” He held out a finger, and a few drops of blood floated above it for a moment before they started wobbling and fell to the ground. “I probably couldn’t even defend myself right now.”

“That’s… A little better, I guess?”

“Added to that, I’m pretty sure there’s going to be limits to what I can do with this Skill. The description didn’t say anything, but I have a feeling it’s similar to Meld Blood, where the magic types that I’m using either come from me or the blood I’m using.” He tapped his enchanted canteen. “Something like this? The only way I’m making anything even close to this is with an insane amount of blood from someone or something with loads of space bending magic.”

“I… I’m not… Okay, I guess?” Tyuah reached up and scratched the back of her head. “So you aren’t going to suddenly start pumping out enchanted items that turn Avalon into a massive target on the world stage?”

“Mmm,” Kay wiggled a hand back and forth, “Kind of. I’m definitely going to be making magic stuff for the Blood Guard and any of the Ministers that want stuff, but I’m not going to be able to make a piece of gear for every soldier, adventurer, or citizen. The thing is, and this is what I meant earlier by suddenly realizing why people are so obsessed with me being a Class Line Progenitor, is that I am making Avalon a target on the world stage just by existing.” He gestured at himself with both hands, “It took me a while to understand it myself, but I’m a powerful person now. Earlier, I was someone who could be powerful. But now, just with two Skills, I can outfit my personal troops with gear that boosts the power of their own Skills.” Kay shook his head and chuckled. “Here I was trying to reassure you, and I’m just doubling down on your own points, aren’t I?”

“A little, yeah,” Tyuah responded, having calmed down slightly.

“Well, to actually try and reassure you, I know for a fact that I’m not the only person who can make items that boost Skills. Eleniah told me her cousin bought a couple of them from someone while she was still there. I’m probably not even the only person who can combine them with magical items of my own creation. It would make sense if someone on the Enchanter path could make stuff like that. The only reason we don’t see more awesome magical items everywhere, or even in slightly greater circulation, is that we’re in that dark age I explained about.” Kay shrugged, “People haven’t had the Classes or Skills necessary to make those kinds of items until pretty recently, at least that’s my theory, so they’ve been hoarding the things they can make to build up their own power. As more and more people learn how to make enchanted items, the price will eventually go down, and we’ll see a lot more of them over time.”

“Kind of like how my grandma talks about potions being a lot more expensive and rare than they are now? She told me about how a simple healing potion used to cost hundreds of times more than they do now, and you might be able to buy one or two in large cities.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I expect that the price and availability of potions are going to go down as well, and we’re going to start seeing even more impressive potions later on as Alchemists get more numerous and the older ones grow more experienced. But that’s really another topic. The subject I was really talking about is Class Line Progenitors and why I need to be more powerful.”

“What you’re trying to boil it down to is that you need to be like the Rune Master.”

“Exactly! They’re just as much a potential threat to everyone else’s power, but everyone leaves them alone for two reasons. The first is that they don’t really get involved with anything outside their own territory. But the second reason is the reason that let them get to that point, where they could pay attention to their own stuff and ignore everyone else, which is that they’re powerful enough to smack down anyone who comes for them.” Kay shrugged, “I’m not at that point yet. There are lots more tier fives and higher out there that might cause us trouble, even if they are a smaller proportion of the population worldwide. I’m not even at tier five yet. So while these,” He tapped her arm, “Are awesome and a good start, they aren’t going to ‘change the balance of the world’.”

Tyuah breathed deeply. “Okay, I understand now. It’s not really worth freaking out about.”

“On a large scale level, no. There are probably tons of Kings or other ruling Nobles that have awesome Class and Skill synergy that makes them powerful enough to be threats to us or to other nations; I’m not special there. The thing that does make me, and by extension Avalon, any level of special is my Title. Which is why I’m focusing on using it to its fullest potential.” He smiled proudly and tapped her new arm again. “Like this!”

“So we need to focus on getting you stronger.”

“Yes, but not just me. Everyone does. Including things like helping people recover from wounds.” He grinned at Tyuah. “Or making people we know are loyal stronger or better able to contribute.”

“Alright. What’s next, then?”

“Well, I thought we might do a little sparring to test out your new limbs, and then we could talk about how you want to build yourself now that these changes have happened.” He walked over to grab a training sword. “What was your style before this? I know that you were a scout, like Lauren, but she’s been switching up into a pure archer, so you don’t have to stay with what you were previously either.”

Tyuah walked over and grabbed a pair of daggers. “I focused mostly on melee damage when I fought, although I have used a bow here and there.” She spun the daggers around in her hands, testing both the practice weapons and hr new hand. “I think I’d like to try being a melee damage focus.”

“Let’s see how you feel about it after some sparring and go from there if you want to continue.” He watched as she started practicing different grips in her Sanguine Grasp. “…Hey.”

She looked over at him, “Hmm? What’s up?”

Kay walked over, looking down at the blood arm. “Instead of using a dagger in this hand, try turning the hand into a weapon.”

“What?”

“It’s made of blood, right? And you have Manipulate Blood. So turn it into a weapon.”

With a frown, she turned her attention to her arm and concentrated. A moment later, the fingers sharpened themselves into small blades.

“Nice,” Kay grinned, “You’re going to be a terror once we get you trained up with this.” He tapped on her bicep, “I bet you can use this to store blood to use as well.”

She looked up at him, her shocked expression back in full force.

“Looks like you’re going to be one of the people whose name’s get bandied around in the future.” His grin got wider.

“What?”

“Eleniah keeps insisting I’m going to end up as some kind of legend if I win. Well, every legend has to have a supporting cast, right?”

Tyuah’s expression immediately became one of dismay and horror. “No! Don’t get me involved in something like that!”

Kay threw his back and laughed, “It’s too late! You’re second in command of my personal troops! You’re part of my legend now!”

“No! You… You fiend!” She rushed him with the dagger. “How dare you subject me to such a curse!”

“Muhahaha!” Kay deflected her swipe with his sword and pulled his head out of the way of her bladed fingers. “You shall be sung about by bards, and your tales will be recounted by chroniclers and historians!”

Eventually, the playful banter turned into an actual sparring match that let Tyuah get used to her new limbs in combat and experiment with what they could do. They figured out that she could change the shape of them into a lot of different forms, but for some reason, they couldn’t be turned back into liquid blood. Whatever magic Kay had infused them with during their creation kept them in a solid form. They also wouldn’t come off of her, no matter how hard she tried to get them to detach.

“I don’t think I should try and take them off of you when I get my mana back,” Kay told her after she’d given up, “It says that they resist attempts to control them from people that aren’t you unless the magic overpowers them, and I don’t want to see what kind of effect on overpowering them has, even if I can do it.”

After some more experimenting, they figured out that she could make sections of both the arm and the leg hollow to store regular blood inside for later use. She made a couple of pockets in each, and Kay filled them up with blood from his flask.

“Thank you,” Tyuah told him later after they’d completely finished experimenting and training for the day, “Not many leaders that I’ve heard about would help me like this or make me more powerful while they do it!” She stared him dead in the eyes with an expression that was both deadly serious and somehow calm, “I’ll follow you anywhere.”

“Well, I hope I keep being a good enough leader to deserve you following me,” Kay replied, “And tell me if I’m starting not to be that.”

“I will.”

Kay noticed his notifications flashing, and he frowned slightly as he opened it.

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Skill: Leadership has reached level 30!

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Kay made a face at the notification. I got five levels from that? He glanced at Tyuah, who was cleaning up after their experiments and putting away the training weapons they’d used. Was making her new limbs really worth that much? Wait… He mentally ran back over his earlier notifications. I got something like three levels for the arm, so maybe the same or slightly less for the leg, and then another one for the explanation or her telling me she'd follow me? That’s all I can think of without the System spelling out what earns you experience toward Skill levels…

Before he could say or do anything else, a new notification light started pulsing, this one new to him. It was a series of three concentric rings pulsing outward, like ripples in a pond.

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Noble Class Quest: Pirate Problem

- You have reached the appropriate Skill level to advance your Noble Class, but there is more to being a leader and a Noble than a leader than just improving Skills! You must deal with the issues that plague your lands and people as well! To the north of Avalon is a den of pirates, thieves, slavers, and all sorts of other criminals that prey on the unwary or defenseless. Darkport is not only a lawless den of iniquity that corrupts the lands around it; it is also a direct threat to you and your people, especially since you have rendered one of their most profitable slave-trading routes inoperable. You must end the threat of Darkport before your people suffer!

Objective: Remove the threat posed by Darkport, Potential secondary objectives

Rewards: Noble Class advancements, Other unknown rewards

Failure Consequences: Unknown

Difficulty:

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Kay read through the Quest prompt and shrugged when he finished it. Whatever, I was planning to take out Darkport eventually. It is interesting to learn that they know about us blocking their slaving route, though…

After some deliberation and arguing, the slaver and his guards who they’d captured had ended up being banished from Avalon’s territory after all their possessions had been confiscated. They’d been given some rough clothing and basic rations before being dumped into the wilderness to the south. This had been before they’d set up a constitution and a codified system of laws, so Kay and a few of his other advisers had felt that they didn’t have strong enough grounds to kill them outright. They’d definitely made sure the salvers had been headed away from Darkport, but they hadn’t followed them forever, so it was possible one of them had successfully gone around Avalon and made it back to the pirate port.

Some of the slaves they’d freed had settled in Avalon, while a few others had headed south to Tumbling Rapids, hoping to make it back home someday.

Kay dismissed the notification for the moment as Tyuah walked back up to him. Thanks to his own doing, he couldn’t just start raising the army and marching on Darkport without the agreement of his own Parliament, which hadn’t even been elected yet. He’d tell the guards and Commander Mapsight to keep an eye out for potential threats from the north, and then he’d bring it up in front of Parliament once that was possible.

He expected them to agree once he did get to tell them about it. Letting him advance his Noble Class to tier four helped all of them, after all. But until then…

“Let’s go show you off to everyone, shall we?” He started pulling his friend and guard towards the rest of the town.