He could feel the avatar’s enthusiasm flowing through their bond, mirroring his rising excitement. Both of them had been looking forward to this moment ever since he’d used the token that took Elemental Blade from Uncommon to Rare, and he couldn’t wait to find out how the power would grow in just a few short moments.
Rarer skills offered more powerful upgrades, and the options for a rank-four advancement altered their behavior in more fundamental ways than those provided at rank two.
The sword came closer when he summoned his Guide, hovering beside his head so it could read over his shoulder as the wisp of golden light detached from his chest and flattened to form a screen.
The skill Elemental Blade has advanced to Rank 4.
Its mana efficiency has been enhanced.
Please choose between one of the following options:
- The skill can be used to create or imbue any weapon, and its name will change to Elemental Weapon.
- Gain total immunity to the elemental effect created by the skill.
- The skill will become multimodal, gaining the ability to manifest fire and lightning in addition to ice.
Warning: If no option is selected, your skill will remain unchanged and gain a significant bonus to mana efficiency.
These are even better than I expected. He grinned as he took a seat in his father’s armchair—ready to give the matter the consideration it deserved.
Edge could already tell this was going to be one of his most important decisions yet. He began by crossing the options he wasn’t interested in off the list, which would make it a little easier to decide between the other two.
The efficiency upgrade was a hard pass. Blade wasn’t too expensive to maintain with his current Generation, and compared to other choices he’d been given, it didn’t appeal to him at all.
The second option was the one he would have chosen if he didn’t have Regulate Temperature.
He had noticed early on that Elemental Blade was a little too powerful for an Uncommon skill. Edge had eventually decided the intense cold it generated was intended to be a drawback as well as a benefit. Without a skill that shielded him from the elements, he would have to be extremely careful when using his iceblade and run the risk of freezing his own body every time he swung his sword—severely limiting its utility.
However, the chill wasn’t a problem after granting Regulate the power to shield him from fire and ice attacks. His iceblade was uncomfortably cold at times, but he always could flare the passive skill if he needed a bit of extra insulation. In short, he had no reason to choose the immunity upgrade anymore.
He rubbed his chin as he turned to face the avatar floating beside him. “Now then, which type of diversity sounds best? Should we teach you how to use other weapons, or broaden our horizons by adding two more elements to the mix?”
He thought the sword might be averse to becoming Elemental Weapon, since being a blade was intrinsic to its nature. But the avatar surprised him by liking both options, leaving the decision entirely up to Edge.
He was leaning toward the elemental trinity, but he took his time and pondered both proposals before committing to a course of action that would irrevocably change Blade’s nature and alter the path of its future upgrades.
Over the course of countless battles, he had developed an appreciation for the efficacy of bladed weapons. They could pierce, prod, and slash, leaving painful wounds that could puncture vital organs and sever tendons, nerves, and blood vessels if you shoved the sharp sections into the proper places—a proficiency he was training on his own after his lesson on applied combat anatomy from Izzio the Butcher.
That being said, Edge might be boxing himself in by specializing in a single category of weapons. Earl and Able were battlefield juggernauts with their oversized stone hammers—killing tools capable of shattering stones like shotguns and transmitting shockwaves through soil and armor alike.
Blunt weapons like hammers, maces, and clubs were effective against a range of opponents that were resistant to blades, and piercing weapons offered advantages of their own, although Edge hadn’t learned as much about them. He had done most of his fighting to date with his naginata and iceblade, with a bit of chakram and chain thrown into the mix.
On the subject of chains, there was a chance that picking Elemental Weapon would let Edge infuse Manifest Chain with subzero mana. If that is the case, it would probably be a better pick than gaining fire and lightning. He nodded as he thought the matter through. Wielding a frozen Foebinder on top of widening his palette of weapons was simply too good to pass up.
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That was when inspiration hit him like a brick to the head.
Wait a minute. One of the reasons Manifest Chain is Unique is because, in addition to having its own will, the chain can behave like an extension of my body. Normally, my iceblades dematerialize the moment I stop touching them, but maybe there’s a way to let Foebinder wield them too.
He paused his deliberations and called Chibime over to his side to moderate the conversation. Then he asked Manifest Chain to emerge through the black door that led to Skill-Eater’s realm and join the discussion too.
Edge went on for a few minutes and then summarized his request to Elemental Blade. “I was hoping you could remain manifested while Foebinder is holding you too. Is that something you could make happen?”
For a while, the sword just hovered there, considering his words. Then, to his utter delight, he felt understanding and agreement flowing through their bond.
He had a hunch this breakthrough wouldn’t have been possible before developing a relationship with both skills and giving the avatars time to become friends. Thanks to Skill Bond, the growing rapport between Edge and his powers let them behave in new and increasingly complex ways.
“Thank you, Blade. I am so excited. This is going to be awesome.” Now that the issue had arrived at a happy conclusion, he voiced his decision to the System. “I’ll take option three and add fire and lightning to my repertoire.”
The moment he made his choice, the floating sword started to change. The crystal blade cracked in two places and then separated into three jagged pieces bobbing a few feet apart.
For a second, Edge was afraid something had gone terribly wrong, but then the middle piece expanded, becoming the same frozen weapon he’d fallen in love with the moment he first set eyes upon it.
Now that he knew everything was going to be all right, he lost himself in the wonder of the moment, watching with fascination as the other two pieces transformed into something else entirely.
One of them changed from blue to red—glacial glow darkening to a violent volcanic light. The vermillion lump of crystal formed a cylindrical grip, like the hollow hilt of a sword that was missing its blade. The mystery of the unusual manifestation was solved when a jet of superheated air began blowing out from one end, wavering like a mirage.
Then, to Edge’s delight, the whole thing burst into flames.
He soon decided that fire was too timid a word for what he was witnessing. The dense cylinder of incandescent mana looked more like a plasma beam—as if someone had frozen a slice of the sun and stuck it on the end of a tube. The flameblade wasn’t physical like his iceblade, although the hilt was solid enough. It was more like an industrial welding torch that traveled a good four feet before dispersing.
Meanwhile, the third shard started crackling with intense electrical energy. It formed a hilt made of neon yellow crystal and then kept right on growing. This sword had a blade too, although it was unlike any weapon he’d seen before.
The edge was formed from the same brilliant lemon mineral, with a silvery core suspended within the crystalline matrix. Part of the metal formed bands behind the blade—reminiscent of the hamon of a katana. While it seemed suitable for traditional swordplay, the lightning coursing along the sword’s core was the main attraction. Anything the weapon cut would receive a nasty shock.
Interesting. The iceblade behaves like ultra-dense ice. It’s sharp enough to slice but tends to chip or break when taking heavy blows. The flameblade is an energetic weapon instead of a physical sword. It can’t carve into my enemy’s body, but the damage will ramp up the longer its searing mana touches them.
The… wait. What should I call the lightning one anyway? Arcblade? Sparkblade? I think I’ll go with lightblade. It’s a bit of a misnomer, but I like the way it rolls off the tongue. The lightblade has the properties of a conventional sword, which means it’s better suited for slashing, thrusting, blocking, and parrying, on top of its potent electric mana.
Everything he’d witnessed was amazing, and he still had no idea how Elemental Blade’s new modes would behave when enhancing a physical weapon. Edge had so many questions he wanted to explore, but they could wait until the test drive that was oh so inevitably coming.
Before he left his core, he wanted to check out the power’s revised description. He congratulated the ecstatic avatar while waiting for his Guide to float over to his side. When it arrived, he experienced a brief vision, proving the details of the upgraded skill to accompany the words on the screen.
Elemental Blade
Elemental Blade
This skill can create elemental swords made of subzero ice, searing fire mana, or highly conductive metal suspended within a crystalline matrix. It can also infuse any bladed weapon with fire, ice, or lightning mana.
“All right.” He dismissed the message with a wave of his hand. “That’s enough theory crafting. Come on, Blade. It’s time to find out what you can do.”
His avatar couldn’t literally follow him into the physical world, but Blade knew what he meant, and he would be channeling its magic soon enough. Edge willed himself back into his body and considered his options. He moved to a corner of the yard with plenty of room, so he didn’t accidentally destroy the lodge over the next glorious minutes.
Rue was just as eager to find out what would happen and refused to stay inside his core. He let the golden fox join him after making absolutely sure the pup would stay far enough back that he didn’t have to worry about hurting his Companion while playing with his brand-new power.
By this point, Edge was dancing with excitement, hopping from one foot to the other—awash in the exquisite anticipation of wielding two additional elements. Not to mention witnessing the delicious devastation Foebinder could wreak while wielding an Elemental Blade.
He had a ton of ideas he wanted to test and couldn’t wait to get started. He decided that the safest place to begin was examining the properties of his new weapons before letting the chain take its turn.
Wearing a shit-eating grin, he selected his element, ignited his core, rotated his right wrist so his thumb was facing away from his body, and activated Elemental Blade. Mana came flowing out from his reactor, passing through the skill’s socket to change the energy into a frequency he had never produced before.
A cylinder of lava-colored crystal materialized, sucking in air and emitting a stream of scorching wind. He cackled when the mana ignited, transforming into an incandescent bar of ruby plasma that forced him to switch on Regulate Temperature before it blistered his skin.
He could tell right away the flameblade was incredible. It felt like Edge was wielding a sliver of a star. Like he was holding a dragon by the throat as it unleashed its burning wrath.
In short, Elementa’s Blade’s new mode was every bit as astounding as he’d hoped, and his fun had only just begun.