[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 274 – Band of Apathy

Like most mornings, Sam awoke to Komachi batting his face with her paw. He snatched her around the middle, eliciting a yowl from the young cat, then buried his face in her fluffy golden belly.

His cat flailed and meowed boisterously until they were both fully awake.

Komachi slinked off to the foot of the bed and began grooming herself where Sam had ruffled her fur. “What’re those?” she asked, poking at the coffers with her tail.

“Oh yeah!” Sam said, getting out of bed and padding over to them. “I totally forgot about them last night.”

Without missing a beat, Sam reached over and flicked open the catch on the first coffer. He didn’t expect the Shardscript that drifted in front of his blurry vision.

Please select a designation:

Path Coffer

Profession Coffer

Job coffer

Sam rubbed his stubbled chin thoughtfully. “Interesting.”

Komachi turned and hopped onto the table. “Oh, yis. Machi got these.” She looked up at Sam. “You didn’t open yours?”

Sam shook his head.

“Machi already got some epic lootz!” And then to accentuate the point, she put on a floppy bohemian beret with a feather and jewel on it.

Sam shook his head with a smile. Komachi had a fascination with hats.

“Looks good on you,” Sam told her. “Does it do anything?”

Komachi rattled off the stats and bonuses it provided. As the list grew longer, Sam’s eyes widened.

“Okay, I need to try that!”

Of course, that meant making a selection. With only two coffers and three selections, one would be left out.

The choice was more difficult than Sam would have liked it to be.

On the one hand, his crafting tools were severely outdated. They were still the first things he ever gained, well over 30 levels ago.

On the other hand…he pretty much had no equipment that was directly related to his Path. He figured due to his Path being Apocalypse mana, he never would.

It seemed a waste not to go for at least one Path selection.

Once the selection was made, another prompt abruptly appeared.

Sam hardly expected it, but somehow knew it would be too good to be true to gain a Path item without strings attached.

Warning: Selecting Path equipment will consume both [Imperial Coffers]. Do you still wish to proceed?

If it’s taking both coffers, it better be good, Sam thought to himself. He nodded his agreement. Both coffers blurred for a moment before snapping together into one gilded box that popped open, filling the room with light.

Even before the golden light from within faded, Sam could make out the dark circle of pure black.

[Devouring Band of Apathy]

(Relic) (E-Class)

(★★★ Rare)

Enhancements

Elemental Defense V

Apocalypse Defense V

Imbuements

Void Mana X

A band of utter darkness lined with a thread of silver Void held frozen in time. Void is often misunderstood to be a corrupting, horrible force when, in fact, it is much worse. In the right hands, the Void stabilizes and reinforces, but it can just as easily be used to prolong suffering, cruelty, and unspeakable horrors until even the strongest of wills shatter like glass.

As the only known entity in Il’dran with access to Void mana, this ring is only compatible with you. Any others who attempt to wear it will be devoured by the ring, enhancing its properties.

(E-Class Skill) [Devour]: There may come a time when killing is not enough. [Devour] rips a single entity from the fabric of reality, using its accumulated levels to empower and upgrade this ring. The cooldown of this skill is based on the strength of the creature consumed, with stronger creatures applying a longer cooldown.

(Copper Trait): [Devour] consumes a greater portion of their essence, further enhancing this ring.

(Tin Trait): [Devour] is capable of retaining one more trait or skill from the devoured target.

Sam stared at the description. “Oh.”

“Is good?” Komachi asked, peeking over the lip of the coffer. She instinctively hissed at the Apocalypse mana she sensed, then got confused and began purring.

Sam dropped a hand onto her back and stroked her silky fur. He didn’t blame her. On one hand, Apocalypse mana was a horrible thing. It was aptly named. It destroyed Shards.

Then again, Sam only had a piece of it. In his hands, he had tried to make it a force for good. Power that he could wield to protect and aid.

Komachi likely both disliked the mana and associated it with Sam, hence the confusion.

“It’s good, but it’s a bit dark.”

“Lemme see.” She reached in and began to bat at the ring, but Sam snatched it before she could touch it.

“No!” Sam shouted, realizing just how close he had come to losing Komachi. Even if it only worked when somebody tried to put it on or Sam willingly invoked [Devour], he didn’t want to risk it.

Not with Komachi. Never with Komachi.

“It’s dangerous,” Sam told her, slipping the cold band onto his finger. “Anybody who tries to wear it will be harmed.” He picked her up and squeezed her close to his chest. “I couldn’t bear to let anything like that happen to you.”

“What happens?” Komachi asked, hardly bothered. Sam could tell that his cat couldn’t even entertain the notion that he might harm her. Not even accidentally.

“Well, the skill is called [Devour], so you can use your imagination.”

Komachi’s eyes drifted apart slowly as she tried to do as he asked. “Komachi can’t fit in a ring,” she said finally, as if it was all settled.

Sam laughed, gave her an affectionate squeeze to draw some comfort from her warm furry body, and then set her down. “Are you coming or staying here today?”

“Machi goes!”

“Very well, let’s grab something to eat. Zahif said he’d be waiting near the Artisan’s Square.”

“Then let’s get some grub!” Komachi howled, her tail bottle brushing with excitement as she sprinted ahead.

Like his time aboard the Wavedancer, Sam thoroughly enjoyed the weeks that followed. He allowed himself to live in the moment, to fully appreciate the sights and sounds of the Empire.

His time was split between training with Zahif and apprenticing under a revolving list of Master Blacksmiths. Zahif had not been joking when he said he knew only the best. Though Sam was given over to their tutelage, they were harder than Zahif had been on him.

Sam gained a full 10 Blacksmith levels, helping to close the gap between his Profession, Path, and Job. With the constant monster incursions and his training with Zahif, Sam’s levels rose steadily. He gained a host of new skills and abilities beyond [Jewelcraft Foundation], which he picked up immediately when it became available.

He flourished during those weeks, creating works of art that he never imagined he would be capable of. All the while, the masters pointed out his flaws and errors. Whether they were trying to break his spirit or were truly that meticulous, Sam could never figure out.

Not that it mattered.

Sam refused to back down from a challenge. Whether it was a fight with a towering monster or a difficult silversteel crosspiece he was creating, Sam loved a challenge.

Soon enough, the criticisms dried up and slowly gave way to terse, begrudging praise. A phrase he had heard many times aboard the Wavedancer was repeated here, often when the masters thought Sam was out of earshot.

“Give me a decade with the lad and he’ll be making the finest weapons worthy of ol’ Emperor Balhran.”

“A few more years at the forge and he’ll have his own smithy with adventurers clamoring for his goods across the Empire.”

“Give him over to me fully for a year and I’ll set him straight on the path to Master Blacksmith, Zahif. You can bet on it.”

To his face, the masters seemed to feel it was best to be silent. Though more than a few gave him a wink or a nod when Sam looked up from his most recent work.

Still, the majority of his creations were scrapped because they failed to live up to his expectations. Sam held himself to a standard that even the masters were beginning to think was too much.

They didn’t say anything, but whenever Sam was ready to toss a chunk of bluesteel into a pile to be made into something lesser, his master of the day always came over to make sure it was the right call.

Sometimes they argued with him that it could be saved. The true test of a master was not tossing aside anything with the slightest fault, but creating a work of art by incorporating the flaws.

“A work of art is not created from wholly perfect parts,” Master Nalith told him. Elven smiths were rare, but not unheard of in the Empire. By far, Nalith was the kindest and yet most demanding of all his masters. “It is working with the imperfections that creates a work of art. A creation made entirely from perfect pieces is boring. Anybody can do that. By working with the imperfections, we create something greater than the sum of its parts. Ad’hen.”

That was the only Elvish word that Sam knew. Ad’hen, like many words the elves used, had a myriad of meanings based on the inflection and context. In Nalith’s case, it meant “observe closely”.

More monster incursions came and went, with Sam freely switching between his greatsword dual wielding and his dreadfang style. Fighting in the tight halls and atop the narrow balconies was hardly difficult now that he could sheathe his weapons and fight with hands and feet.

He studied as much as he could from the members of the Scarlet Lotus. Though they kept their true agenda from Sam, he learned enough. They desired to guide the Empire into a golden age.

Beyond the sycophantic nobles, their goal was the constant betterment of the Empire through progress and change. A stout opposition to the typical conservative approach of nobles who preferred the status quo. Even worse were those who pined for the “good old days” when peasants “knew their place”.

Though Sam tried to stay out of Zarishna and Zorin’s way–they seemed to be hitting it off exceptionally well–he couldn’t help but feel drawn to them.

They were both powerful, though not nearly as strong as Sam knew they would one day become. There was something strikingly familiar about Zorin that bothered Sam. Beyond his suspicion that, somehow, Zorin was from Earth that is.

There was no easy way to broach the subject. In any case, Zorin was rarely around when Sam had free time.

Zarishna was another story. Her arm was taken by some horrible illness that ravaged her entire province and nearly claimed her life.

The prosthetic she wore was suitable for combat, but only just. Sam was not a mechanic, but when he brought up the possibility of a mana-controlled prosthetic to Nalith, the elf’s eyes lit up with inspiration.

With his constant participation in the monster incursions and earnings from his commissions, Sam had more money than he knew what to do with. He spent it freely on gifts for his friends and eating out at every establishment he could find.

His friends in the Scarlet Lotus joked that Sam was living each day as if it were his last. They couldn’t know how close to the truth they were.

Sensing that his time was drawing to a close in the Empire, Sam began working on his last pieces. The Empire’s smiths were renowned for their skill and such skill brought in huge sums of money.

With their money and the Empire’s research backing them, the smithies of the Empire were a true sight to behold. It was little wonder they could create relics and works of art by the dozen.

Even with the Archflame, Sam would struggle to make something even a tenth as good without the facilities of the Empire. With the backing of so many Master Blacksmiths, creating a new set of armor for himself was fairly easy.

Primarily made of [Imperial Bluesteel], with a few [Imperial Silversteel] accents, the heavy plate armor resembled the shimmering waves of the sea he so loved from his days aboard the Wavedancer.

Combined with his new pair of [Imperial Baldrs], strange wavy looking greatswords that resembled large bladed tuning forks, Sam’s equipment was squared away.

Besides the slight annoyance of the Empire to name everything under the sun “Imperial This” and “Imperial That”, Sam was impressed with the materials.

I guess I would want to trademark this stuff too, he thought to himself. “Imperial Grade” was among the best you could get. [Imperial Silversteel] was significantly better than standard [Silversteel]. A fact that his tutors were keen to expound upon with complicated explanations and lessons on advanced metallurgy that made his head spin.

There was nothing more that Sam could make for himself without spending several more months perfecting the imparted techniques and abilities from the Master Blacksmiths. Instead, Sam wanted to repay his friends and allies.

With the aid of Nalith, Sam created a blacksteel prosthetic for Zarishna. It took him nearly a full week of constant work. The details had to be exact. Nalith led the project, but it was Sam who put in the majority of the work. It had to be perfect to pair up with the core components that Nalith created.

For Rhagur, Sam crafted a splendid shield of silversteel. Silversteel was renowned for its magical defenses and extreme physical robustness.

Renni the nelana received a pair of katars honed to a razor edge and infused with Opaline mana, a unique form of mana that enhanced all forms of elemental mana a person possessed.

Sam had tried to create something imbued with Opaline to bolster his Void powers, but it didn’t work. Opaline only worked for elemental mana, and only that mana which a person natively possessed. Just having an imbuement on an item wasn’t enough.

And then there was Zahif. What to give the man that already had everything?

Sam could think of only one answer.