NOVEL NEXT Chapter 504: The Missing Sword Key
Ethan hadn't expected his talk with the Blood King to be this fruitful. The revelation hit him like a jolt: the one who had triggered the heavenly tribulation wasn't just anyone—it was Uncle Jed. And more than that, Jed had been captured, not killed. He'd even survived the final strike of the tribulation.
That last trial, the king explained, had been intercepted by a so-called "twisted individual." The news stirred a mix of relief and dread in Ethan. Relief, because survival meant Uncle Jed had broken through and reached the rank of a Saint. Dread, because if Jed had truly been corrupted, then he wasn't just lost—he would return as a powerful enemy.
"Shatterstar, stop collecting. We're leaving." Ethan's tone left no room for hesitation.
[Collection vessels returning. Please wait!] came the mechanical reply.
The Blood King stirred, his voice heavy yet tinged with something almost pleading. "The key to my clan's flagship should still be somewhere inside this barrier. If you can… help me find it."
A crisp chime followed.
[Ding… System prompt: Accept request from Blood King Osloak? Quest name: Find the Missing Ship Key!]
"Accept," Ethan said without hesitation. He had more quests than he could count, and another one hardly mattered. Whether he succeeded or not was another question entirely.
[Ding… System prompt: Quest accepted. Reward: Passive Skill – Immunity to Blood Clan Corruption.]
"Holy crap." Ethan's eyes widened. A permanent immunity to blood corruption wasn't just good—it was game-changing. For a moment, he considered dropping everything to hunt for the key. With that kind of protection, he'd have a much better shot at facing the so-called "twisted individual."
But Uncle Jed's situation gnawed at him. Time wasn't a luxury he had, and the Blood King himself had admitted the key had been missing for ages. Chasing after it would be like betting everything on blind luck.
Still, curiosity got the better of him. He pulled open the quest panel.
[Find the Missing Ship Key]
Quest Level: Serendipity
Time Limit: 1 year, 2 months, 3 days, 15 hours
Quest Description: The key to the Blood Clan's flagship is a spirit-grade relic, likely possessing intelligence and possibly a human form.
Item Description: Sword-shaped, five feet six and a quarter inches in length, seven and a half inches in width. Blood-red blade with a carved flying-bird pattern.
Reward: Passive Skill – Immunity to Blood Clan Corruption.
The countdown timer was identical to the time Ethan had left in this world. That alone sent a chill down his spine. The description made it clear the key wasn't just a relic—it was alive, or at least self-aware. And in the form of a blood-red greatsword almost six feet long, it wasn't exactly the kind of item one could misplace easily.
That made the task a little less impossible. He could always put word out in the larger cities, see if anyone had spotted something that matched the description. Still, the possibility remained that the sword had wandered into some remote tribe or was lying forgotten in some wilderness corner.
And then there was that icon etched in the quest log. Ethan stared at it, a faint itch tugging at the back of his mind. He'd seen that blade somewhere before—he was sure of it. But before he could chase the thought further, Shatterstar's chime cut through.
[All resource collection vessels have been retrieved!]
"Good. Ascend. Set course due north," Ethan ordered.
With a roar of fire, Shatterstar lifted from the canyon, slicing through the clouds in a streak of light.
"Finally! If I had to watch one more collection drone fly in and out, I'd have died of boredom," Blackie grumbled from his seat inside the mech, nose pressed to the window as the scenery blurred past.
Julian and Micah were slower to stir, both of them having spent the past days submerged in meditation. Blackie, of course, thought the whole practice pointless. "I'm nearly twenty thousand years old. What's five minutes of meditating gonna do for me?" he'd said more than once.
As the mech picked up speed, Micah's eyes opened first. "Boss, what's the plan?" His voice carried the eagerness of someone itching for action.
"The plan?" Ethan gave him a faint smile. "The same one you're already imagining."
Micah chuckled, fishing through his dimensional pouch and piling items onto his lap like a child sorting through toys. Julian, quieter, drew out the saber Ethan had gifted him, running a cloth across the battered blade.
"Don't waste your time polishing that thing," Ethan said. "I'll get you something better."
Julian's head snapped up, eyes lighting like a boy hearing the word "Christmas." "Ethan… could it be a longsword? That's what I really want."
"A longsword?" Ethan blinked. The first time he'd met Julian, the man had been wielding a saber, and later he'd switched to a spear. He'd never mentioned swords.
Julian nodded firmly. "I've always been best with a sword. I even commissioned one from the smiths in Forgotten City once, but their work was garbage. The steel cracked after a few swings. After that, I settled for a saber."
His voice carried a trace of longing. Ethan remembered the craftsmanship of Uncle Jed's dragon-spear—a weapon Jed wielded as if it had been born for him. That spear had been Ethan's gift too. No wonder Julian looked at him with such hope.
"You want a sword with the specs you just listed?" Ethan tilted his head.
Julian described it with exacting precision: a blade nearly six feet long, seven to eight inches wide, with a hilt of a foot. It sounded more like a cleaver made for giants than a longsword.
"Damn, that's a sword for chopping, not fencing. You sure you don't want a saber?" Ethan teased, shaking his head.
Julian's expression dimmed instantly. He assumed the answer meant Ethan didn't have the kind of weapon he wanted.
"Wait," Ethan added, voice softening. "I'll forge one for you."
The spark returned to Julian's eyes.
"Shatterstar," Ethan said, "the ores we just harvested—can they be refined into a sword like that?"
[Completely sufficient. They can be forged into a mech-grade weapon, advanced standard.]
"Perfect. Begin the refining process. I'll send the design."
Ethan pulled open the quest panel again. The description of the missing ship key contained a design diagram. He copied it directly and uploaded it to Shatterstar's system.
And once again, that nagging sense of familiarity struck him. He had seen this sword before. Somewhere. Somehow. The memory was right at the edge of his grasp, but no matter how hard he pushed, it wouldn't surface.
[Ore refinement estimated time: 20 minutes. Forging: 10 minutes. Total: 30 minutes.]