NOVEL NEXT Chapter 311: How Not to Prepare for a Duel
"So, what news do you bring? I'm busy at the moment and would like to get back to crafting," I said in a cold tone to the broad elf sitting across the small table.
"To put it simply: she is coming for a duel of life and death," Althirion said with a small bow.
This was annoying. Thalion wasn't ready for a duel at the moment. On the other hand, it would stop the elven attacks. He also wanted to acquire the bloodline of that female elf. The problem was that the odds of her escaping were far too high. With Thalion's clumsiness, his chances of capturing her were close to zero. Learning to fight with his bloodline to the point of being able to capture her would take weeks, if not months. Even if he abandoned crafting entirely and trained nonstop, the chances of success wouldn't improve much.
"When will she arrive here?" Thalion asked, annoyed that this would likely end as yet another fight where someone just ran away. He had grown to hate those escape tokens.
"I would guess in a few hours. But I strongly advise against accepting the duel. She is incredibly powerful. I don't want to make assumptions, but I don't think you can win," Althirion answered with concern.
"Yes, thanks for the concern, but she's my problem to deal with," Thalion replied coldly. The elf was right about one thing: there was little to gain from the duel. Neither side was likely to die. But scaring her might be enough to stop the attacks on the hunting parties and there was still the chance that he could capture her. Thalion didn't want to miss out on her bloodline. Still, did she have a chance of advancing to D-grade before he reached E-grade? He didn't like his odds. It seemed unlikely he would get another bloodline upgrade during this tutorial. That was especially frustrating since it also meant no improvement to his bloodline skill.
"I also think the duel is important," Maike muttered, rage simmering under her skin. "These attacks need to stop. If they continue, we might even go on the offensive after we finish looting the palace."
"What does she even want with all the humans if she's just coming for a duel anyway?" Kaldrek asked, just as annoyed. The two of them must have suffered some trouble from the constant attacks.
It took a moment before Althirion answered, seemingly searching for the right words to avoid offending everyone present.
"I believe it's meant to provoke Thalion. And… well, I think they plan to use the humans as house slaves, farm workers, or test subjects for alchemists."
"Typical," Thalion thought, rolling his eyes. Maike and Kaldrek mirrored the gesture. Not that Thalion should complain. What he did with his Fear Pillar was probably worse. But in his defense, everyone who ended up in the pillar had tried to kill him or his fighters. He hadn't hunted them down in the jungle purely for the purpose of sacrificing them.
"So what do you expect of me next? Or rather, what do I need to do to earn your trust and permanently join this city?" Althirion asked after a moment.
Thalion, Maike, and Kaldrek exchanged glances before Thalion replied.
"Hmm… helping to save the hunting parties from your former elven friends would be a start. But honestly, I don't care too much. I'll leave it to Maike and Kaldrek."
"What? Why always us?" Maike and Kaldrek exclaimed in unison.
"Because I trust you two, and you've done a damn good job so far. Also, there's literally no one else here. If you want to pass the task on to someone else, be my guest," Thalion said with a smile tugging at his lips.
"Uh… I was the elven leader. Don't you think this should be treated a bit more seriously?" Althirion asked, perplexed.
"Shut it, pointy-ears. When you're forced to work day and night, tomorrow you'll be cursing us anyway," Maike huffed.
"Since everything's settled, I'll take my leave. Good luck with the conflict. Send me a message when the female elf arrives," Thalion said, already starting to walk out of the room.
"Wait... What? Don't you want time to prepare for the coming fight? How can you be so casual about such a duel?" Althirion exclaimed in shock.
"Oh, that's just him. You can count yourself lucky if he doesn't mess himself up before the fight," Kaldrek sighed as Thalion left the three of them, only to hear Maike grin and say:
"Now, let's see how we can make use of the former leader of the elves in this tutorial."
Thalion wasted no time and went straight back to his sword, determined to make as much progress as possible before the female elf arrived. He probably wouldn't be able to finish it in time. He also needed to create a larger sword crystal, but he didn't want to sacrifice more essence blood right before such a fight. He was confident in his strength, and in the form of the crippled Eclipsari it might not matter at all, but he still disliked weakening himself before battle. You could argue the weakness would only be minor and he'd gain a powerful sword in return, but still, there was no need to rush. First finish the blade, then the crystals.
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With that thought, Thalion picked up his blade and went down to see Lucan, eager to discuss what he had discovered and whether the old smith had any ideas to make the weapon even more powerful.
"I think the biggest problem is that the sword's material is too low quality. Push it to its limits, and it might explode," Lucan said after they had exchanged knowledge for a while.
"Where do we get better material? Last time I stabilized it by using my blood, if I remember right," Thalion said, thinking out loud. He definitely wasn't looking forward to weakening himself again, but it was probably necessary either way.
"The same as before. We infuse it with as much energy as possible, and then you'll use your blood for the final touch. But the problem is the time it'll take. Honestly, I'd say we wait for the system shop. There will be items and materials that can help, things that'll really take your weapon to the next level. You don't absolutely need the blade before the end of the week, do you?" Lucan suggested after some thought.
"No, probably not. I just hoped to be done with it a lot sooner. Everything is taking far too long. There are literally so many things I need to do in this tutorial," Thalion muttered, annoyed at how things had turned out. He had hoped for fewer problems once the special quest was finished. But now, with his evolution delayed, the female elf looming, and the bloodline upgrade complicating things, everything was a mess.
"Hmm… I could lend you another bomb if you need one," Lucan suggested.
Thalion waved him off with a smile.
"Nah, that won't help me right now. It's just so much work that it's suffocating. I need a day off, honestly," Thalion sighed.
"Since the runes for the sword are mostly done, I'll move on to the next step of shrinking that massive blue crystal. By the way, did you ever try making a crystal-powered bomb?" he asked, the idea suddenly striking him.
"I did. Multiple times. Those crystals aren't really explosive. When they go off, it's just like a stone breaking apart, shrapnel everywhere," Lucan explained, sounding slightly offended at the suggestion that he hadn't tried.
"Sorry, mate. Should've known better. I'll be upstairs working on shrinking my giant crystal," Thalion said with a grin before leaving the old smith to his work.
Two floors up, he entered the chamber where the formation was set. He wasn't sure if it was even large enough for the massive crystal he had retrieved from the Leviathan's chamber. That chamber had been enormous, and what he now had was a huge crystal, at least sixty meters wide. The formation itself was made up of countless tiny circles within one massive one. To fit the crystal, he'd have to reinforce and expand it.
Thalion pulled the massive crystal from his spatial ring and placed it beside the formation. Moving alongside it with outstretched arms, he measured its size by sight. Yep, the formation was definitely too small. Thankfully, expanding it was simple, just copying the runes outward and connecting them into a larger circle. The task was easy enough and took only about an hour.
Afterwards, Thalion returned the enormous crystal to his ring, placed it inside the formation, and carefully checked every angle to make sure it wasn't cutting the lines. After double- and triple-checking, he prepared himself to activate the array.
This wasn't something to take lightly, if it went wrong, he'd have a giant grenade in the middle of the room. And even if Lucan claimed crystal detonations weren't too dangerous, Thalion really didn't want to be on the receiving end of one. The power needed to shrink such a crystal was astronomical, so he added a few extra wind crystals to help charge the formation, just to be safe.
After checking the formation yet again, Thalion finally activated it, a grin spreading across his face. If this worked, he would finally make some real progress. His skills hadn't worked the way they once had, and the likelihood of obtaining the female elf's bloodline had weighed heavily on him. But no longer. He refused to let setbacks drag him down. No, he would push forward and wring every last drop of progress out of the time he had left.