The Amber Sword

There are indescribable miracles in this world.

The same thought cut across Brendel’s mind every time he looked up to see the lance glinting among the intertwining flashes of lightning.

The lance was suspended in the air above the middle of the great hall.

It was surrounded by layers of storm clouds and arcs of pale golden lightning shot out from the clouds, struck the blade, and then bounced back, dissipating into the darkness.

But it was dead quiet in the center of the storm clouds, devoid of any noise of rolling thunder. Everyone stared in a trance at the sight of heaven and earth tumbling over each other and the stars plummeting from the skies.

Azure light flowed on top of the Great Hall’s floor and outlined every pebble’s shadow. The light shimmered like water and the floor looked like it was covered by a gently flowing stream.

Having been faced with such a scene, even William’s expression cracked. Furthermore, Sir Makarov and Oberwei had been stunned into silence since they entered the hall.

Tania the Elf’s tiny staff fell from her grasp and hit the ground with a clank, and she didn’t even notice.

Romaine tilted her head and stared at the sight with rounded eyes, not even noticing her lack of proper etiquette. Freya, who had been standing beside her, adopted the same face of shock. The Knights of the Lake stood behind her and stared dumbly at the lance, and Maynild’s eyes glinted with captivated fascination.

“So that’s the Azure Lance…”

Brendel heard the female knight mutter behind him and couldn’t help but turn around and look at her thoughtfully. That was the same reaction he had before. But he didn’t think much more of this and waited for William to finish admiring the lance.

After all, aside from these erudite Buga Craft Mages, there was probably no one who could say they have the qualifications to identify this as the real Azure Lance.

They didn’t have to wait long.

After just a few minutes, Brendel heard William sigh deeply. The old mage breathed out slowly and then proclaimed, “This is the real Azure Lance.”

Those words were met with silence.

Sir Makarov acted like an Ensnarer that was sealed underground for a long time by the Hazaiers. He turned around stiffly and stuttered out a question, “… Grandmaster… you’re saying this is…”

“Be quiet, nobody asked for your opinion.” William interrupted him firmly. Makarov may be known as the King’s Fox, but even he dared not cause trouble in front of this important person. He jerked in surprise and then shut his mouth forcibly, but the look on his face was as ugly as can be.

Only then did the old mage nod in satisfaction.

He looked back at Brendel and asked, “The Azure Lance revealing itself to the world may not be a good thing. How do you plan on handling this?”

Brendel and Tania had already come up with a plan, but he could understand why the Great Mage would ask this. According to Buga tradition, in order to avoid causing further trouble, they would completely seal this place after having studied this place adequately.

It sounded a bit illogical. The Buga Craft Mages who were at the top of civilization were, in fact, the group of people most afraid of trouble. This is why they adhered to the isolation philosophy, hiding themselves away from the world and, if necessary, destroying any possible catalysts that would pull them into a messy situation.

This mindset was not exclusive to the Bugas, who were part of the Silver Folk. In fact, most of the Silver Folk had this tendency. The Silver Elves had also hidden themselves away because of a prophecy, and the Dragons, who were Golden Folks, took it one step further and sealed themselves into the Realm of the Dragons with only a few young Dragons venturing out of it.

Players had a hard time understanding the motivation behind this design. Some players believed this was a setting meant to balance the game. After all, for the humans and Wind Elves, who were both Black Dwarves, the Silver Folk possessed insurmountable powers.

For example, the most powerful enemy Brendel had encountered since his transmigration would undoubtedly be Andersha, one of the Twelve Tree Herding Chiefs he had met in the Loop of Trade Winds. Andersha had been at the height of her Elemental Powers and her realm made her body near perfect. But even at that level, when faced with William, a Silver Folk, she could only be considered a little girl.

This applied to both her age and her abilities.

And William was only one of the twelve leaders of the Mages of Derroura. The Silver Alliance still had the Great Library, the Tower of Purity, the League of Rainbow Infernal Craft, as well as the Craft Mage Association and the disbanded Twelve Ring Magic Committee [4].

It was precisely because of these terrifying powers that the Buga’s dared to call themselves the ruler of the skies and consider themselves equals to the Dragons.

Even if the Holy Cathedral of Fire, the Holy Cathedral of Wind, and the Sanctuary of Light combined forces and even had help from the Sanctuary of Nature, the All for One Society and all the Tree Herding Folks, they might not even stand a chance against the Buga’s.

If the Buga’s abandoned their isolation philosophy and the Silver Elves from the Silver Folks no longer kept themselves away, then Vaunte wouldn’t have so many kingdoms. It would be split between two evenly matched forces.

That’s why players assumed that Buga’s and the Silver Elves behaved the way they do in order to balance the game.

But Brendel didn’t think so.

He thought there was a deeper reason behind the silence from the Silver Folks and the Golden Race, a reason sparsely recorded in history books. Brendel would rather believe that something happened in the past to make the Silver Folks so cautious.

Of course he had no evidence and this was just his best guess, supported by nothing more than an instinctive belief. The reason behind his belief was laughably simple. He believed that the Torrential Rain design team would never change the in-game history for something as superficial as balancing the game play experience.

So Brendel didn’t immediately reply after hearing William’s question but thought quietly for a few moments. Just as the Great Mage said, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing that the Azure Lance had revealed itself. It might end up becoming a huge problem.

If he was just a player, he’d do anything to possess it. Any player would go crazy for a divine artifact, not to mention the Azure Lance, an object that had only existed in legends.

But he wasn’t just a player anymore.

Everything that happens in this world will affect him and those around him.

After a brief moment of silence, Brendel answered, “Let’s proceed with our previous plans.”

The Great Mage stared at him, as if needing to make sure he wouldn’t change his mind. Brendel could guess what the King of the Mages was thinking, so he clarified, “Mage William, if this is the course of history, then I think we won’t be able to change anything.”

William sighed and acquiesced, “You still don’t understand. Fine, I’ll let it go. You’re not wrong. This is just like Nine Pheonix’s slogan – ‘you can’t escape misery’.”

Brendel was familiar with the slogan, though it was because Nine Phoenix’s character design had included elements of a culture he was very familiar with. He nodded and responded, “Everyone I have invited here was an irreplacable participant in the Battle of the Ampere Seale. Let’s have everyone try, starting with Royal Princess. Maybe someone here will become the master of the Azure Lance, so let us bear witness to this great moment in history.”

“Brendel,” Instead, Princess Gryphine turned around and declared, “I would like for you to go first.”

“Me?” Brendel asked in surprise.

“Yes, you are my knight. In my opinion, you are the only one who comes close to the Azure Knight. I hope the Azure Lance will choose you,” the Royal Princess answered, “so I want you to try first.”

Brendel hesitated. He hadn’t realized that the Royal Princess had such high expectations for him. He thought it over and then nodded at everyone before walking towards the Azure Lance with his head held high.

He had only taken a few steps when a commanding force met him straight on.

Brendel had no time to see what was happening before a figure appeared in front of him. Only a few members in the hall had time to see that the figure was born from the intertwining lightning in the sky above them and then in a flash of lightning, appeared in front of Brendel.

At the moment, the only word Brendel could think of was, “fast.”

Being a swordsman was part of his blood now, and at his current sword skill level, there was almost nobody who could get close to him so quickly that he couldn’t react. Even for someone at William’s level, he should be able to at least react a little bit before the surprise attack.

But clearly this attack was beyond his calculations.

Even counting his previous experience in-game as a master player who reached level 130 in knighthood, he had never seen an attack with this speed.

But he did manage to see that the opponent’s attack stance was the classic lance wielder pose.

But lance wielders usually didn’t have this level of dexterity.

Before he could even blink, the lightning lance pierced through his chest.

Brendel didn’t even register that he had been injured before his body flew through the air. At that moment, he clearly saw the face of the figure made of lightning.

But when he saw the face, Brendel almost cried out.

The elemental figure surrounded by lightning clearly had the shape of a female. That by itself wouldn’t have caused him any surprise. But her face was almost identical to Romaine’s. Though of course, Miss Merchant would never furrow her beautiful brows so ferociously or adopt such a murderous pose.

He slammed into the ground with these questions racing through his head.

“Leader!”

“Leader!” Ciel and Medissa were the first to react. A protective spell surrounded Brendel and the Silver Elf Princess immediately summoned her own lance, putting herself squarely between Brendel and the lightning girl.

But the lightning girl stopped and looked at Medissa. She tossed her own lance into the sky, which scattered into sparks of lightning and disappeared into the darkness.

As she looked coldly around at everyone in the hall, Medissa finally got a clear look at her face. She cried out, “Ah, Miss Romaine!”

“Ah!”

As if in a chain reaction, Romaine also stared in shock at the lightning girl.

The lightning girl paused in surprise and turned around. As if noticing her movement, Medissa immediately raised her own lance in response. Just then, Brendel caught his breath and yelled, “Don’t engage with her, Medissa!”.

Brendel moved his hand away from his chest. Though the Baron’s shirt was burned, there was no sign of blood. He took a breath and said, “She’s not out to kill. She’s probably the Elite Elf protecting the lance.”

“Elite Elf?”

Medissa turned around and asked, “But leader, who, whose elite elf is she? Why would she look… identical to Miss Romaine?”

Before Brendel could answer, a deep and magnetic female voice rang out in the great hall. “I am Ovina. Who are you? Human? Elf? And Silver Folk? What are your intentions?”