The Amber Sword

Brendel was rather taken aback by the name, for he recalled in his past life that his senior once had an item with a similar name, the “The Realm of Wind”, which was also an ancient item. With the similar designs and craftsmanship, along with carvings of the King of the Wind Spirits on the pommel, the resemblance was uncanny.

Glancing over to Maynild, noticing that she was also staring strangely at the sword, which had unsurprisingly also invoked memories of her own, “Could the sword and this staff be a set?” Brendel held up the sword.

Realm of Flames.

Attack:55-87

Bloodline/Power:+100

Bloodline of Flames: The Realm of Flames converts attributes to power when engulfed in flames. Simultaneously, the wielder will be unscathed when in contact with the flames, and any damage will be converted to healing.

When the wielder displays any magic spell associated with the fire attribute, spellcasting speed +3

The stats of this weapon sure are extreme! Brendel thought to himself. Extreme attributes on prehistoric artifacts are rare among current-era items to say the least, but this sword is quite literally the standard for a magic sword. This sword in the possession of any adept Magic swordsman would be like icing on the cake!

Once again, Brendel lamented the fact that he did not choose the path of Magic Swordsman. Glancing over to Maynild, he then placed the weapon down and awaited Dark Korfa’s final explanation.

Unsurprisingly, the most valuable of the five items had to be the stone staff.

Korfa took a good look at the staff, before she then sighed, “This staff, I’m sure you’ve heard of it, also known as the Crown of the Mountains.”

“The Crown of the Mountains?” It was Maynild who remarked this time around, her forehead wrinkled, “You mean the Holy object of Gaia herself?”

“That’s what it is!” After Maynild’s reminder, Brendel too recalled its existence. Until this very day, the Southwestern boundaries of the Kirrlutzian empire, bordering Aouine was a vast grassland, a region named the Benning grasslands, and it was still a traditional stronghold of the Holy Cathedral of Earth.

North of it was a range of snow-capped mountains, steep and impassable by most mortals. The Mountain dwarfs cut the empire’s southernmost borderlands from the Benning grassland, and the land was now where the Lion Beastmen Kingdom stood. Throughout the history of lore, the Goldenmane people evaded the Covenant of the Gods, which left them in great shame.

After the victory of the War of The Holy Saints, the Lion Beastmen and the Holy Cathedral of Earth were detached from one another, which in turn built a sense of ingrained hatred between the two races to this very day. Currently, the Lion Beastmen would still pillage and ransack human villages by the border, which presumably were their means of reliving their glorious past.

Even longer ago, when the strength of the Holy Cathedral of Earth was not as diminished as it was today, before the collapse of Ebabel Fort, in the center of the Benning grasslands by the Northern Highlands, there stood a Holy cathedral of the Earth Goddess, and within it laid three Divine Artifacts.

The first was the Staff of Earth, the second was the Azure Lance, and the final piece was the Crown of the Mountains.

Amongst the three Divine Artifacts, the Staff of Earth was a Holy Sword gifted to the champions of the giants, Mikhail. Upon Mikhail’s death, it was also lost in the abyss.

What Brendel had in his hands, the mysterious Halran Gaia, was exactly this. Nevertheless, due to the ravage of the Dusk war, the weapon experienced the same fate as its owner, and was now only left with Fantastical level power. It was fair to say at this point it served more of a symbolic purpose to the Holy Cathedral of the Earth than actual combat use.

The Azure Lance and its origins were a no-brainer, it was renowned as the Holy gift from Gaia to the mortal heroes.

The last of the three Divine artifacts was the Crown of the Mountains, a holy weapon created by the Goddess of Earth for her own. Legend had it that only those who genuinely worship her would be permitted the ability to wield the weapon. Its next owner, a holy bearer chosen by the Goddess Gaia herself shall also be the next master of the Holy Cathedral of Earth.

And fortunately for them, there was one person in his company that fits the description perfectly.

The Himilude Shepherd girl, Hipamila.

Priestess Himilude pays tribute to the daughter of the Goddess Gaia, the Tundra Goddess Himilude, a subsidiary of the World Goddess herself. The key point was that in this era, the Priests of the Holy Cathedral of Earth pay tribute to the Giant Mikhail, for he was the creator of the dwarfs and the patron guardian of the race.

The true worshippers of Gaia were long gone after the War of The Holy Saints. Nevertheless, Hipamila’s priest was one of the closest mortal lineages to the Gods.

Brendel suppressed the glee within himself as he carefully held onto the scepter, it was heavy and slightly cold.

Amongst the three Holy Objects of Gaia, there was the Staff of Earth, Azure Lance, and the Crown of the Mountains.

All of which was Divine artifacts of their own right, without any duplicates of their name. Besides the Staff of Earth that was slightly worn, the others were kept in pristine condition. With that in mind, he was certain that the staff in his grasp was the legitimate artifact.

Raising the staff, a dull, semitransparent gold menu screen appeared before his eyes.

Crown of the Mountains (Divine artifact)

Attack 1-215

Power +(1-400)

To the chosen one of the Mountains and Earth:

The wielder obtains Summoner warrior level and fighting experience + Earth blessing skill will be merged into the wielder’s fighting style.

The higher the blessing she received, the more powerful the staff could get, in terms of attack and elemental ability.

Specialty: Only the chosen worshipper of Gaia will be allowed to wield this staff.

Brendel promptly noticed the stats and was stupefied. What the fuck is this stat, 1-215 attack?

Which means nearly double that of the Azure Lance?! Azure Lance is already one of the weapons with the highest attack in the world!

Taking a closer look into the attack description, he nearly burst into awkward laughter. So this the legendary judgemental staff?

Continuing with the attributional bonus, which he noted was a variable, he was left further baffled.

A variable attributional bonus?

Shifting his focus onward to the specialty stat, he finally understood the reason for such drastic difference, yet he was unfamiliar with Earth’s blessing. No idea what any of this even means, gotta talk to Hipamila about this…

Pausing for a moment, he finally decided to place the divine artifact down. Just then, a glowing ball of light hovered in from the peephole on the roof and paused mid-air, right before Brendel, and down with it came a letter. Brendel turned to look at the letter and was surprised to notice the sigil of the Grey Wolf.

He was less confused but rather caught off-guard. He never thought this opportunity would come right then, it was as if the long wait had come into fruition. “Carglise is finally here.”

Letting out a long breath of relief, then lifting his head towards Kind Korfa, the latter by now already read his mind, with a gentle smile she remarked, “I heard Lord sir had been preparing for war, it seems the opportunity has come. Unfortunately, Korfa had no interest in any of this, and I will have to leave you now.”

Brendel felt rather embarrassed that the Divine power would seem like a symbol of astonishment in the eyes of mortals, and he knew well that this Korfa wouldn’t be up to no good but he still felt uncomfortable to be revealing this before her.

He couldn’t help but explain instead, “This isn’t for war, this is for the pursuit of peace,” Brendel replied, hoping it wouldn’t leave a bad taste from her perspective.

But the teenage maiden decisively rejected, “I understand, milord, that not all wars are meaningless, some are for personal greed, others for justice, there are many reasons they are started and continued, some even to the extent of defending the light from dark. But that is not what I meant, milord, for I am not against it, I just do not fancy it, please do not misunderstand.”

Once she was done speaking, she tilted her head forward ever so slightly, gave him a bow, and excused herself out, displaying hardly any semblance of a demigod, but instead an elegant and courteous Noblewoman.

Dark Korfa on the other hand seemingly ignored the conversation her sister had with Brendel. Standing at her exact spot, after her sister took leave, she shook her head in dismay, “How innocent.”

Brendel surely was not expecting the wretch to be this spiteful with her own identical twin sister, but what he found more unexpected was that Maynild who was observing by the sidelines the whole time appear to agree with her. Nevertheless, he belatedly thought it true and agree that Kind Korfa was indeed too naive in her decision.

Hating the concept of war was naturally not a bad thing, but sometimes when war creeps onto your doorstep, it becomes less of an option to evade war. By doing so, it would just mean the responsibility of fighting would be passed on to the ones who offered shelter.

Eventually, people that were willing to fight for you would all be gone, and you will run out of options, who will be fighting then? In her case, Arreck would involve them in the battle one way or another, and by then Dark Korfa would be fighting on behalf of her sister, but what if she was no longer there?

Brendel shook his head, only then had he decided to reply to the little ball of light, “Pardon me, please retrieve Monica.”

The little spirit nodded vigorously at him, and in a blink of an eye flew out of the main hall.

Brendel tore the envelope along its edges, and on the letter was a familiar name.

“Lest shall I forget your deeds, milord,”

“Ko.”

He looked towards a distance, his vision seemingly beyond the stained glass arch window. Zooming across the upliftingly blue sky, on the far end of the clouds, was a range of mountains. The Autumn War had officially begun.