Chapter 4277: Venom Fang (Part 1)

"I can’t believe Auntie Solus took the bait and walked into the joke." Leria panted. "Do you think she will catch us?"

"Maybe, but it was worth it." Aran replied.

***

The tower kept growing and expanding for hours. The process continued for the rest of the day and night, and by sunrise, the tower was still absorbing and processing the materials it extracted from the ground below.

"I did it." Faluel and Fyrwal returned to the Mansion for breakfast, showing all the signs of someone who had pulled an all-nighter.

"Did you already master Blade Magic?" Lith asked in disbelief, making Orion almost choke on his bacon. "That was fast."

"I wish." Faluel replied. "I’m not even close to completing the simplest Blade Spell I could come up with, but I’ve learned enough to give a proper demonstration of your weapon’s quality, Lith."

"Shouldn’t it be better to wait until you’ve practiced more?" Solus asked.

"Quite the contrary." Fyrwal shook her head. "A perfect demonstration would just show what Fanny can do and display the limits of her skill. An imperfect demonstration, instead, will allow the spectators to focus on Gungnir’s potential.

"The Awakened Council, the Royals, and the various Divine Beast bloodlines will be left in awe after witnessing what Fanny can do with so little training. Every ambitious mage will wonder if they could do even better than her, and how far Lith’s Blade Weapon can go in the hands of a skilled user."

"She’s right." Jirni nodded. "In this kind of thing, less is more. You just have to give them a taste and let their imagination fill the blanks. Let your potential clients’ hunger for power and curiosity work together toward the same goal.

"Blade Weapons are unique. Even if Faluel could already tap into her glaive’s full power, it doesn’t mean that in the hands of someone else, Gungnir would be able to display the same prowess. It could be more, but it could also be less.

"A Blade Weapon is only half of the equation. The other half is the user."

"I’ll see to it, then." Lith nodded.

***

All members of the Awakened Council had the right to call for an assembly, but aside from the representative of the five races, no one bothered to do so. All the members of the Awakened Council also had the right to ignore such calls, which was always the outcome unless they had a good reason not to.

When Lith sent out the invitations for an important meeting in Lustria County, only the hermits of the Awakened community didn’t answer. The recent attack on Lutia gave the human and beast factions an opportunity to gain his favor that they couldn’t miss.

Lith’s Tiamat and Indech bloodlines were highly sought after already, but the news of Aran and Leria Awakening and learning Light Mastery brought the interest up a couple of notches.

If such rumors were true and, as some said, the kids were even self-Awakened, then Aran and Leria would soon become the gateway to access Lith’s bloodline. The youths wouldn’t look favorably on those who had abandoned them in their time of need, forcing the two factions to attend.

The mention of Blade Weapons lured everyone else. Undead and plant folk had nothing to gain from marrying a Verhen, but they loved power more than anyone else. Moreover, they were curious to discover if another Ruler of the Flames might soon be born.

It had been centuries since the last Awakened had received such a prestigious title, and no one could afford to gift the favor of a skilled artisan to their competition.

The highest echelons of the Kingdom and the representatives of the Divine Beast bloodlines accepted the invitation as well.

They were eager to discover how much of the rumors surrounding Lith’s ability as a Forgemaster was true, and how much of their time and resources were worth investing in getting on good terms with the Verhens.

So, when Lith arrived at the convened place for the meeting, the green of the grass was hidden not by the clouds covering the stars, but by the feet of a crowd of people belonging to all races that went as far as the eye could see.

Beasts and plants had shrunk to the size of an average human, yet it wasn’t enough. Many of them had brought artifacts that would help them to see and hear from a long distance, just to be safe.

Lith had chosen the Jeghon Plains because of the lack of human settlements for kilometers and because the land was flat for just as far with one exception. Bladerock Mound was the only natural relief in the Plains and worked as a perfect stage.

It was just three meters (10’) high at its top. Close enough for Lith to look at the Awakened in the front rows in the eyes, but also far enough to give everyone a clear line of sight of the demonstration that was about to unfold.

"Since I know you have better things to do than listen to my ramblings, I’ll be brief." Lith said, drawing a standing ovation from the Liches in the crowd. "A few months ago, after a failed attempt to kidnap my mother, I offered you all a deal.

"You find and bring anyone who is bent on harming my family to me, I give you a Blade Weapon. No one took my offer. I don’t know if it was because of a lack of interest or because you failed to uncover any ploy. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter.

"The only thing that matters is that a few days ago, my family was attacked again, and Faluel the Hydra stepped forward to defend them. She took my offer, and I delivered. Faluel, if you please."

Lith took a few steps back, making way for the Hydra.

"I’m not big on speeches either." She said, receiving a warm welcome from the Liches. "Long story short, this is Gungnir, my prize!"

She raised the glaive in the air, and the people surrounding Bladerock Mound either narrowed their eyes to enhance their natural sight or donned all kinds of enchanted glasses in unison.

The Blade Weapon design was simple but refined. It bore elemental crystals of all elements but Spirit that were arranged in such a pattern that gave the impression of six slender snakes coiled around the haft.

Even though Faluel wasn’t using any mana and had yet to start casting her spell, Gungnir reacted by releasing a powerful aura that seemed to challenge all those who stared into its crystals.

"And this is going to be my Blade Spell, Venom Fang!" Faluel swung the glaive in the air in a sequence of complex movements that conjured strings of runes in their wake.

Her spearsmanship was exceptional, but even those who had never seen a Blade Spell in their life could tell that her execution was clumsy and amateurish. The runes flickered right after manifesting, didn’t mix well, and the spacing between them was a mess.

It was akin to watching a young child trying to copy their parents’ handwriting with a crayon instead of a pen.

Yet the aura surrounding Gungnir grew exponentially stronger as the glaive kept cutting through the air.

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