Apocalypse Knights 1: A LitRPG Fantasy, page 20
“See? You’re a natural at this!” Marina punched Max playfully on the upper arm. “You’re absolutely correct. The kobolds at the riverside wield spears and slings, but there are also shamans among them. They can cast spells that enhance the strength and speed of other kobolds. They also like to hide behind their brethren, which makes them very tricky to deal with.”
Monsters with spells, eh? I can’t wait to copy them with Arcane Flux. With its higher Flux Strength, I should be able to learn any Level 1 spell or ability immediately.
Max grinned eagerly. “Great. That should be quite an experience. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Oh, right.” Felix rummaged through his belt pouch and retrieved three pieces of silver. “These are yours, Max. The slain arachnovores dropped them after their bodies disappeared.”
“Brent tried to take them for himself, since he was the first to arrive, but I told Miss Trist, and she stopped him,” Alicia said.
“Thanks, kid.” Max accepted the silver pieces from Felix and placed them in his ring of holding. “There were four monsters. Did one piece of silver make its way into Brent’s pockets after all?”
“One of the monsters didn’t leave behind a silver piece, Max.” Felix grinned eagerly and pulled out something else from his belt pouch. It was a small grayish token, similar in hue and texture to the bony plates upon the arachnovores’ bodies. He placed the curious item in Max’s palm. “This is an uncommon enchanted item! Lucky you!”
“Really? Looks like garbage to me.” Max held the token up to eye level. It looked like a cheap, tacky fortune charm, the type sold by the charlatans infesting Hisktown’s marketplace. As an Enforcer, Max had arrested more than a dozen such swindlers and marched them before a judge on charges of fraud and unlicensed peddling.
“Scan it with your Soul Lens.” Felix shot Max one of his characteristically exasperated looks. “Come on, Max.”
Max chuckled and complied.
Armor Emblem: Uncommon enchanted item
On equip:
+ 10% damage reduction
+ 4% universal resistance
“I think I understand what damage reduction means. If I get hit, I get hurt less,” Max mused. “I’m not sure what universal resistance is, though.”
“Some monsters can cast elemental spells or use abilities that have elemental effects. There are enchanted items that provide resistances to specific elements, such as fire, lightning, and so on,” Marina explained. “An item that offers universal resistance means just that. It resists all elements, though in doing so, it provides less protection overall. For instance, my amulet here reduces the effects of fire-based elemental attacks on me by a tenth. It doesn’t do anything against the other elements, however.”
“I see.” Max turned the emblem around in his hands and frowned quizzically. “I don’t know how to equip this.”
“You put it over your eye and squint to hold it in place,” Felix said, trying and failing to keep a straight face.
Marina laughed and slapped the Infiltrator on the back. “Much as I’d like to see you do that, Max, it would be remiss of me to misinform you,” she said. “As long as you have the emblem on your person, you will enjoy its effects. You can even put it in your ring of holding. Emblems are very handy and versatile enchanted items, which is why they’re so coveted.”
Max nodded and let the emblem vanish into his ring of holding.
Secondary compartment
Hardtack packets x 4.5
Waterskin (half full)
Copper pieces x 75
Silver pieces x 3
Armor Emblem (active)
Something caught his eye just before he was about to return his attention to the other Knights-Errant.
Enchanted Armaments:
Brightened-Edge (metamorphosis imminent, unusable until complete)
Enchanted Items:
Ring of Holding
Armor Emblem
Wait. What happened to my sword? Max frowned.
“What’s wrong, Max?” Felix asked, evidently noticing Max’s expression.
“Something strange is happening to my sword.” Max projected his Soul Lens into visibility.
“You just gained a Level, right?” Marina said, studying Brightened-Edge’s description. “Naturally, that means your Soul-Bound weapon has improved as well. Why don’t you try summoning it and see how it looks now?”
Max nodded and reached out for Brightened-Edge. The glowing sword coalesced into being over his palm... then shattered into a thousand shards of light.
“By the Verdant Gods!” Felix swore, leaping back from the radiant motes that had once been Brightened-Edge as they cascaded to the ground and disappeared. “It broke! Artur’s sword broke!”
That’s not good. I’ll have to get myself another weapon. Max grunted in annoyance. Brightened-Edge had been a fine blade. It had also been fantastically convenient to handle, since it didn’t need to be carried around until battle began.
“Artur’s sword? Is that Brightened-Edge?” Xander asked, awestruck yet horrified at the same time. “How did you get it?”
“It was Brightened-Edge.” Max sighed. “And as for how I got it, that’s a long story. In any case, the blade is gone now. What a damned shame.”
His Soul Lens flickered, then. Max froze as he looked at it.
Enchanted Armaments:
Stridentsong (Longsword + 2; Soul-bound weapon)
“It isn’t gone, Max,” Marina said. “A Soul-Bound weapon is a reflection of its wielder. Brightened-Edge was Artur’s. Now, it seems Stridentsong is yours.”
Max called for it instinctively. Dark-gray motes swirled above his palm, before coalescing into a longsword of black steel within his grasp.
No, not steel. It only looks like steel, Max thought, raising Stridentsong to his eyes. Brightened-Edge had a utilitarian cross-guard, set squarely perpendicular to the hilt. In contrast, Stridentsong sported sweeping quillons with curving arches slightly angled toward the blade. Lines of blue light ran down its length from tip to hilt, before branching out at the guard, then coming back together again to pool at its pommel.
Stridentsong’s blade was a few inches longer than Brightened-Edge’s, but its hilt was slightly shorter, favoring a single-handed grip despite the weapon’s greater length. Stridentsong was a Swordmaster’s blade, more difficult to wield than a conventional longsword, yet deadlier and more elegant in the right hands.
Such as Max’s.
Stepping clear of the other Knights-Errant, he twirled Stridentsong, then swung the blade through a few sweeping, experimental cuts. Without missing a beat, he brought Stridentsong through a Moonlit Reflection Arc, a Lotus Fang Thrust, and Helmcrush Spike, moving seamlessly from one blade form to another. He ended Helmcrush Spike with Stridentsong held high and ready, as the blade form’s concluding movements demanded. The enchanted sword gleamed beneath the cold light of the Kobold Hills’ pale moon.
Max sighed with pleasure as he lowered Stridentsong. Brightened-Edge had been one of the finest blades Max had ever held. Stridentsong was magnitudes above that. Its balance perfectly complemented his build. Its edge was flawlessly tapered to his posture.
“Check its properties!” Felix prompted. The Infiltrator’s face was fervent with excitement.
Max focused on Stridentsong.
Stridentsong: Soul-bound weapon
Longsword + 2
Keen +1, Sure +1, Sundering
I know a keen weapon is sharper, and a sure weapon handles better, Max thought. Does this mean that Stridentsong is just sharper and better to handle than Brightened-Edge? What does it mean for a weapon to have sundering?
He focused on the weapon property.
Sundering
Anti-armor property
Reduces target’s armor effectiveness by 4% per strike
Interesting. Petrifying Rend allows only my blows to bypass my opponent’s armor. Max hefted Stridentsong and grunted appreciatively. But my blade can now break down an enemy’s armor, making it vulnerable to all my allies.
Max dismissed Stridentsong and turned to Marina. Before he could say anything, however, Alicia gasped in surprise.
“What is it?” Xander asked.
The young Defender seemed abashed. She slumped her shoulders and bowed her head.
“I just scanned Max,” she admitted sheepishly, before raising her awe-filled gaze. “He’s got Sagas now.”
“What?” Xander looked at Max. A moment later, the same expression of awe washed over his features. “You’re right. He does!”
“Damn, Max!” Felix gasped. “That’s amazing! You have the Beast-Slayer and Intrepid Errantry Sagas!”
“Did everyone just scan me without asking?” Max demanded, clenching his jaw. None of the other Knights-Errant had formed a cohort link with him, which meant that his Sagas were as visible as his name, Level, and Classification. “Isn’t that supposed to be rude, or do we just not care anymore?”
“By the Verdant Gods.” Marina chuckled. “First, you advance to Level 2 in a few days. Then it turns out you’ve earned Sagas during that time, too. I believe we’re witnessing Knight-Errant history here. Given all that drama just now with Brightened-Edge, you might just be the very next Artur Brightblade.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m not accepting any applications for the role of Mira Pureheart,” Max replied. “And yes, I noticed the Sagas. One allows me to do a little better in a fight, and the other helps me get more Victory Shards. I can see they’re going to be useful, but what’s the big deal about them?”
“You did see what the requirements are for earning them, right?” Marina said. “Almost no one can pull off what you just did, Max. Knights-Errant with Sagas are few and far between. Even those who do only have one. You already have two, and I have a feeling you’re only just getting started.”
“Ah, I just remembered. Jonn!” Felix cried.
“Jonn Crask?” Max asked. “What about him?”
“He’s got Sagas too, Max,” the Infiltrator replied. “I heard our Guild Master, the Slayer, has Sagas as well.”
“You asked me what was so special about Jonn Crask, Max, what set him beyond other Level 4 Knights-Errant,” Marina said. “One of the reasons is that he has Sagas as well. Seven of them, in fact. I see you’ve attained the Beast-Slayer Saga. He’s got that too, when he was fighting trolls. And the Fiend-Slayer one as well.”
“What did he have to do to get that?” Max asked. “And wait. He fought demons? Are there actually demons in Dungeons?”
“He killed a monster two Levels higher than his,” Marina replied. “He slew a Firewyrm, a Level 4 monster, when he was Level 2. It happened way before my time, but you can read up on it in the Guild’s archives. And yes, Max. Some Dungeons have demons. They eat people and aren’t any fun to fight.”
“That is impressive.” Max nodded, his respect for the Senior Knight-Errant surging. “Good thing he’s in charge of investigating the Forlorn Dungeon, then.”
“Forlorn Dungeon? Is that where you’re going to next, after this?” Xander asked. “What Level is it?”
“Level 1, last we checked,” Marina said ominously. “Let’s hope that doesn’t change.”
Chapter 13
The riverside was exactly as its name suggested: a moss-covered stretch of soft soil running down the length of a babbling river. The water sparkled beneath the light of the midmorning sun, and it was also clean enough to drink, according to Marina and Boris, who refilled a pair of waterskins they’d produced from their rings of holding.
Max did the same. He also washed the sweat and grime from his face. His torn jerkin and chainshirt flapped against his flank as he stood and put his waterskin away, along with his provisions, metal pieces, and the emblem that had also tumbled from its secondary compartment.
“You should pick up a better ring of holding when you have the chance,” Marina commented, sticking out her hand and showing it off to Max. It was a circle of plain steel, as opposed to Max’s which was brass. “This one has three easy access compartments alongside its potion slots.”
“That means I can retrieve up to three items at will on top of my potions without dumping the rest of my things on the floor?” Max asked.
“That’s right,” she replied. “Mine cost me only three gold coins, but if you shop around a bit, you can probably get a slightly cheaper one.”
Max grimaced. There were few things he detested more than bargain hunting. He recalled the times he’d accompanied Sava on her shopping trips and sat through countless of her bartering bouts with peddlers. Max dismissed the memories almost as soon as they emerged. He’d been thinking too much about her recently.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said, glancing down at his own ring of holding. “For now, this is working just fine for me. It’s definitely better than a backpack. How’re the kids? Are they ready to move yet?”
“Give them a few more moments.” Marina smiled as she glanced over her shoulder. A few paces away, Felix, Xander, and Alicia were crouched beside the river, panting with fatigue. To get to the riverside, they’d needed to pass through the plains and defeat at least one group of kobolds. The Level 1 Knights-Errant had stepped up, and with some advice from Marina and Boris, had managed to decisively trounce the kobolds. They did have a few harrowing moments though, which accounted for their flustered and tired state.
Max walked up to the young Knights-Errants and gave them a thumbs-up.
“Well done out there, kids,” he said. “That was some really solid teamwork. Keep it up.”
Xander and Alicia smiled at the praise. Felix did as well, though there was more than a hint of wryness in his expression.
“You do know that all three of us have been at this longer than you, right?” the Infiltrator said. “Just a few days ago you didn’t even know what a Soul Lens was.”
“Good thing you walked me through the basics, then.” Max reached down, clasped Felix’s hand, and pulled him to his feet. “Alright. Get up, all of you. We’ve got work to do.”
Boris chuckled at the sight of the three young Knights-Errant nodding and visibly steeling themselves for the day’s challenges.
“We could have used someone like you to whip us into shape during our early days,” the Defender said, sharing an amused glance with Marina. “Our mentor just let us go at our own pace, and Verdant Gods bless her patience, Marina and I did take our damned time.”
Max chuckled. He’d learned the basics of leadership and motivation at Northstar military college, and he’d served as adequately as a company commander, but he’d never considered himself a particularly effective or stirring leader. Such accolades were reserved for the likes of General Tiberius and, he had to grudgingly admit, Prince Irvin Vaustika.
“Alright, listen up.” Marina waved for everyone’s attention. “The next region of this Dungeon is much more dangerous than the previous ones. We can expect traps, stealth ambushes, and bigger groups of kobolds. That’s why Boris and I are going to go ahead first and show you all how it’s done.”
“Let me join you,” Max said. “I like to learn as I go.”
Boris and Marina exchanged glances before nodding.
“That would make things much smoother,” Boris said. “I saw you copy Felix’s Circumvention spell just now, so you can serve as our cohort’s Infiltrator while also doubling up as our Warmonger. That would allow us to demonstrate what an ideal cohort composition would look like.”
“That works for me,” Max said, glancing at his Soul Lens.
Circumvention
Flux Spell: Ready
Instantaneous spell
Level 1
Bypass Strength: 1
Mana Cost: 4
It costs me twice as much Mana to cast this spell as it does for Felix, Max thought. I might have much more Mana now, but I really should be on the lookout for items that either reduce the costs of my spells or increase my Mana reserves.
“Speaking of spells, have you configured your Prowess spell yet?” Felix asked. “It’s Level 2 now, isn’t it? That means you should be able to allocate more points to your physical attributes.”
“I’ll leave that for later. Prowess Level 2 takes up more Mana to cast,” Max said. “Right now, I’ll stick with Prowess Level 1. I also want to have a better feel of which physical attributes would serve me best before I commit to their allocation in Prowess Level 2.”
According to Marina, once a Knight-Errant somehow attained four or more points of perception, every two points added on top of that would increase his or her Mana Points reserves by five. The news had been slightly disheartening to hear, as striving to increase his perception seemed to be a very inefficient method for deepening his Mana Points reserves.
His Soul Lens flickered once more.
Boris Vulk, Level 2 Defender
Marina Trist, Level 2 Elementalist
Accept cohort request?
Max affirmed the request. Golden light washed momentarily over his Soul Lens, and he felt stronger, both mentally and physically.
Health: 22 [+6]/ 22 [+6]
Mana: 30 [+11]/ 30 [+11]
Arcanum: 20 [+6]/ 20 [+6]
My Arcanum gets boosted as well when I’m in a cohort. That’s good to know, he thought. Boris and Marina were staring at him, their jaws agape.
“What?” he asked.
“Your Health and Mana reserves...” Boris said. “The former increased as much as a Warmonger’s does upon attaining a higher Level. The latter is the same as an Elementalist’s.”
“Different Classifications get different amounts of Health and Mana Points as their Levels increase?” Max blinked in surprise.
“Yes. Warmongers get a lot more Health every time they go up in Level, but only a minimal amount of Mana. Elementalists are the opposite,” Marina explained. “Here, you seem to enjoy the best of both worlds.”
