B2 Chapter 155: Skill Testing & Arrival

After spending the rest of the day working with Ianmus and Porkchop on Masking, Kaius had gotten better at the strange focus-intensive skill. Somewhat. It was still ruinously fatiguing to falsify his class identifier, though that had gotten a little easier as he grew more familiar with the method.

Instead, most of his gains had come from hiding just how much effort it was taking him to deceive an analysis skill. Afterall, there was no point in hiding something if the person in question was staring at him making an expression like he was actively straining against a heavy load.

Porkchop had gotten better too, potentially even faster than he had. Though, Kaius liked to think that was mostly because of him joining in. With his high Will, it was significantly harder to ward off his probes, but that increased difficulty had honed his brother’s skills.

Eventually though, they had to make camp for the eve. Once again, Ianmus had been out quickly, leaving him and Porkchop alone, sitting around their fire.

With a grunt, Kaius pushed himself to his feet, moving slowly so that his armour didn’t clank loudly. Looking up from where he was lying, his brother gave him an inquisitive look.

“Going back to that tree?” Porkchop asked. They’d passed one of the rare few that stood alone outside of the odd copses that littered the area about a quarter hour before making camp.

“Yeah, just want to see what difference the new skill makes. Getting itchy from hiding the change to the sword from Ianmus.” Kaius replied with a nod.

“Alright, I’ll keep watch. Don’t be too long though.” Porkchop replied, before he settled back down. Kaius gave his brother a nod and set off, palming the hilt of his blade as he rubbed the new gem in its pommel with his thumb, feeling its glossy smoothness.

Once he was out of eyeshot of their camp, he drew his blade, admiring its new form in the greyscale of True Sight. It was a beautiful thing, the crystal fuller and edge elevating the sword from fine craftsmanship to something that looked like a proper artefact. Something worthy of being a growth item.

Still, what he was most interested in was the effect its change and his new skill would have had on its capabilities. Both the upgrade, and the scaling boost to his enchantments would pair nicely with the effects of Liturgical Bladeform and he was reluctant to wait until a battle to understand his new abilities.

Stepping through the long grasses, Kaius eventually spotted his target. The darkvision provided by his ocular skill had expanded with his levels, letting him see his surroundings in perfect clarity.

Out of the earth a stout hardwood rose, surrounded by a canopy of branches that shrouded the tree from waist height up. He’d taken note of it earlier due to the thickness of its limbs, some of the lower ones being even thicker than his thigh. Perfect to test out how well he could cut.

Striding forwards, he stepped under the burroughs, stopping a few paces from one of the branches.

He took his stance.

One foot forwards, the other just behind him and slightly angled. He held A Father’s Gift in the mid-guard, hilt close to his waist with the blade angled up and away from him. It was still as perfectly balanced and weighted as it had always been.

A slow breath escaped as Kaius relaxed, readying himself. Then he inhaled, sharp and fast.

His blade snapped up, hips pivoting to the right as the crystalline edge of his sword melded into the shadows. Then he cut, leveraging his weight and power into the swing.

Hardwood chips flew as the edge of his sword bit into the branch with a soft thwack. With perfect edge alignment, his blade sunk in deep, powered by his stats and an arcane blade empowered by two different skills.

Thrumming reverberations shuddered up his sword, stinging his palms as it stuck fast, unable to penetrate further. Kaius grinned, that had been the first thing he had been worried about.

Swords needed to be flexible, to give before opposing forces lest they shatter. Crystal was sharp as sin and tough as the hells, but flexible was not what it was known for. Mundane crystals at least, whatever had infused his sword seemed to have much the same properties of metal, flexing perfectly fine as he had hit the hard target.

Taking his hand off the hilt, Kaius left his sword hanging out of the branch as he inspected his work.

Buried cleanly in the wood, the edge of his sword was wedged a good handspan into the branch. A soft whistle escaped his lips, satisfaction buoying him at his efforts.

A sword was a fantastic weapon, but it was a terrible tool for hewing through wood, especially against the grain. To make it so far was impressive.

He stepped away, and gripped the soft leather of his hilt before giving his sword a yank.

The sword held firm, pulling him forward with the force of his motion. Kaius frowned, tugging the hilt a bit more.

Nothing.

It was stuck fast.

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“For fuck’s sake.” he groaned, crouching under the hilt to heave upwards. Wood squealed, and bit by bit his blade was levered free. Grunting as it finally escaped its bind, Kaius snatched it back into his hands.

That was the other problem, without the wedge of an axe, a blade was far more likely to get stuck.

In the end, it was worth it. Eyeing the thick branch, he reset himself.

Then he reached for the Initiate’s Glyphic Bladerite. Stamina flooded from his pool in an instantaneous wave, flooding his connection to the sword with empowering force.

At once, the glyph on his palm and its twin embedded in the crystal of his fuller lit up with ghostly white light, quickly joined by the Ykkardian inscriptions further up the blade’s length. A Father’s Gift thrumbed, empowered and ready.

Once more, he cut.

**Ding! Initiate’s Glyphic Bladerite has reached level 2!**