Blue River Continent, Aethelgard Megacity, Below Floors District. Madame Joyce’s Private Lounge.
The air in the lounge was thick with the scent of expensive ambergris and the metallic tang of blood from David’s grey cloak. He stood by a mahogany desk. His Void-Shimmer was still active, making his face look like a smudge of charcoal in a room full of gold. Joyce sat behind the desk. She was counting out a stack of heavy gold sovereigns with a practiced rhythm.
"Five hundred gold," Joyce said. She slid the coins toward him. "You’ve made a lot of people poor tonight, Wraith. And you’ve made me very, very interested."
David reached out. His hand disappeared into the shadow of his sleeve as he swept the coins into a pouch. "I told you. I am just here for the money."
"Is that so?" Joyce leaned back. Her violet eyes scanned the blurred void where his face should be. Her massive chest moved along with her breathing. She was a wonderfully blessed woman and she had to rest them on the desk she was sitting behind to relieve herself. "Because a boy with your efficiency usually has a goal. You are looking for something. Power? Revenge? Or maybe a way to fix that clogged mana core?"
David stiffened. Joyce was a shark. Before he could respond, the heavy iron doors were kicked open!
A young man swaggered in. He looked like he had just stepped out of a tailor shop. He wore blue leather armor with gold filigree. A rapier hung at his hip with a hilt shaped like a hawk. This was Julian the Gilded. He was a 2-Star Magic Swordsman and a high stakes winner in the pits. He enjoyed the art of the kill.
"Joyce," Julian drawled. He ignored David completely. "I just lost twenty thousand sovereigns on that rock Grog. Who is this grey rat?"
"Julian," Joyce sighed. Her eyes danced with amusement. Her chest jiggled as she cleared her throat. "Meet The Wraith. He is the one who turned your investment into a wall decoration."
Julian turned his gaze toward David. His lip curled in a sneer of pure arrogance. "This? This beat Grog? He looks like a laundry bag. He is probably using a cheap artifact to hide his Tier. I do not care how fast he is; he has no foundation. No pedigree."
"He has your money, Julian," Joyce pointed out. She puffed on her silver pipe. "That seems like a solid pedigree to me."
Julian’s hand moved to his rapier. The room suddenly felt colder as ribbons of blue mana began to coil around his arm. "I challenge him. Right now. In the private circle. I want my gold back, and I want to see what is under that mask."
David sighed internally. Why was it always the pretty ones who wanted to get punched?
[Ding! Quest Detected: The Mirror’s Reflection.]
[Objective: Defeat Julian the Gilded.]
[Reward: Obsidian Marrow Information and 200 Proficiency Points.]
David looked at the prompt. Obsidian Marrow. That was the cleaning agent he needed to clear the seal on his core. He could not walk away from this.
"Fine," David’s rasped voice came from his hood. "But the stakes are a thousand gold. And if I win, you give me your VIP pass to the Alchemical District."
Julian laughed. It was a sharp and entitled sound. "A thousand? I spend more than that on my horse. Deal. Prepare yourself, rat. You are about to see what real swordplay looks like."
The private circle was smaller than the main pit. It was lined with runes that absorbed mana shocks. Julian stood at the far end. He drew his rapier with a flourish.
"The Julian family’s secret art," Julian boasted. The blue mana around his blade turned into flowing water. "The Flowing Azure Blade. It is Tier 4 complexity. You won’t even see the strike that ends you."
Julian moved. He did not charge like Grog; he flowed. He became a blur of blue light as his rapier whistled through the air.
[Observation Skill Triggered!]
[Passive Multiplier Activated: 100,000x!]
The world did not just slow down for David; it broke. As Julian lunged, David saw the sword style as a series of errors and mana leaks. Because his skill was multiplied by a hundred thousand, David was running a hundred thousand simulations of the fight every second.
Julian thought he was being graceful, but he was actually leaving his ribs open for 0.0004 seconds during every rotation.
To Julian, David was just standing there. Julian grinned and thrust his rapier forward in his signature move: The Azure Torrent. A dozen strikes of blue mana erupted toward David’s chest.
David did not move his feet. He simply tilted his head two inches to the right. Then he swayed his torso back an inch. The rapier strikes hissed past him. They missed his cloak by the width of a hair!
"Impossible!" Julian barked. His rhythm was breaking.
Julian grew desperate. He began to move faster. His blade became a vortex of azure energy. He was pouring every drop of his Tier 2 mana into the technique. His face twisted with the effort.
In David’s mind, the system was screaming with data.
[Analysis Complete: Flowing Azure Blade (Julian Variant) contains 42 fatal flaws.]
[Correction Matrix Applied...]
[New Skill Acquired: Flowing Aeon Blade (Divine Tier).]
"My turn," David whispered.
Julian lunged for a final strike. His rapier aimed directly at David’s face. David did not dodge this time. He did not have a sword, so he picked up a wooden training stick from a rack beside the circle.
David swung the piece of wood.
The movement was identical to Julian’s but it was perfect. Where Julian’s mana was a river, David’s was a line of absolute stillness. He did not use 100,000 times the power; he used 100,000 times the precision!
The wooden stick caught the ribbons of Julian’s mana. It did not break them; it improved them. David’s strike flowed through the Azure Torrent like it was not even there. The wood whistled through the air. It vibrated with the power of a god.
CRACK!
David’s wooden stick struck Julian’s gilded rapier at the exact weak point. The steel did not just bend; it shattered into dozens of blue fragments!
David did not stop. He stepped into Julian’s guard. The wood moved in a perfect version of the Julian family’s finishing move. He tapped Julian three times. Once on the wrist, once on the shoulder, and once on the tip of his nose.
Julian froze. His rapier was gone. His mana had been dispersed by the perfect flow David had projected. He stood there trembling. His nose was turning a bright pink where the wood had touched him.
"That was the Flowing Azure Blade," Julian stammered. His eyes were wide with horror. "But better. How do you know my family’s secret? Who are you?"
David tossed the wood aside. It turned into sawdust the moment it left his hand. It could not survive the stress of the Divine Mastery it had channeled.
"I just have a good eye for detail," David’s voice replied. "And your family’s secret has a lot of leaks. You should work on your left heel."
Joyce stood at the edge of the circle. Her silver pipe was halfway to her mouth. She looked at the shattered fragments of the rapier. Then she looked at the Wraith. Her massive chest jiggled as she clearance her throat. "You did not just beat him," she whispered. "You evolved his own technique while he was using it. You are a monster."
[Quest Complete!]
[Reward: Obsidian Marrow located at ’The Alchemists’ Grotto’.]
[Bonus: Julian’s VIP Pass acquired.]
[Relatable Humor: Julian is currently reconsidering his life choices. To be that embarrassed towards yourself...]
Julian slumped to his knees. David walked past him toward the exit. He had the money and the location of the Obsidian Marrow. He had humiliated a 2-Star Swordsman without even using a real spell.
I really need to find a way to make this look like luck, David thought. If the Council finds out I can rewrite Tier 4 sword arts in three seconds, they will harvest my core.
He ducked into an alleyway and deactivated the Void-Shimmer. David Silver was back. He looked down at his trembling hands. The power was intoxicating, but the seal was still there.
"Obsidian Marrow," David whispered.
He began to walk toward the Alchemical District. Julian the Gilded was still staring at the pink spot on his nose in a nearby puddle. David had a new goal. He was not running anymore. He was hunting.