Bloodstained Blade-Chapter 31 - Bigger Game

The next few days were dominated by practice more than actual fighting. Now that Ivarr understood just how big a difference an inch or two could make, he fought with saplings all along his route. Each of these faux battles had a renewed intensity, sheering limbs off exactly where he meant to instead of simply being satisfied with being close enough.

Though the blade gained no Life Force from these activities, it warmed some part of it to see its wielder improving. Plus, that martial focus kept its wielder from thinking wistfully about his barmaid, so it did not complain.

Each day would begin and end with a vigorous exercise regime as Ivarr went through the sequence of strikes that the blade had taught him. When he pestered the blade, it even promised to teach it the rest of the sequence when he could execute the first half perfectly. It still didn’t remember learning it, but it was impossible to miss the effect it was having on the young man.

Not only was he noticeably more muscular than he’d been a couple of months before when he first found the Ebon Blade among the rubble. His strikes were also more powerful and precise.

In that time, they only killed a few packs of goblins. Still, since it had left Kalraka with just over 3,000 Life Force that was good progress. Also, it was enough to finally get the blade over its goal of 3,500 Life Force.

+341 Life Force

+28 lesser monster souls

However, for obvious reasons, it didn’t spend it immediately. Its wielder was in a dangerous place, and it did not wish for some errant blow to strike Ivarr down and leave it somewhere inconvenient. So, it waited for some big score to build enough of a buffer that it could finally upgrade and see what that unlocked.

That happened a few days later when all of its wielder’s efforts paid off after he spotted a lone orc hunter on the far side of the ogre’s valley. It was a short battle that was barely worth mentioning, save for how different it was from his last brutal encounter with the green skins.

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This time, he didn’t attempt to sneak up on it. He just approached with his sword in a two-handed grip as the thing raised its stone axe and bellowed a challenge. Ivarr still wasn’t particularly talented at feints, but then, his opponent was the opposite of sophisticated.

When he feigned a strike at the monster’s heart, the thing roared and swung wildly, allowing Ivarr to step through the space behind its weapon and strike its undefended back before it could whirl around. Even though another half a dozen strikes were exchanged, the single blow had already decided the outcome of the fight. The blade had felt the main thoracic artery slice neatly in two along its edge as it reached for the heart and only just missed it.

+1 Life Force.

+18 Life Force.

The Ebon Blade could have corrected that strike. Only a few degrees difference would have severed the heart as well, but if it held Ivarr’s hand forever, then he would never improve. Instead, it would save those interventions for desperate situations, just as it had with the minotaur weeks before.

+1 Life Force.

+14 Life Force.

+2 Life Force.

You have gained 1 greater monster soul!

When the orc finally collapsed mid-swing and fell down face-first on the rocky slope, Ivarr let out a whoop of delight. “Did you see that?” he yelled. “Did you see that? I destroyed him.”

The blade had done more than see it. It had felt it as it absorbed another greater monster soul. Before it could use that Life Force to upgrade, though, it had to inform its wielder that its battle had been noticed by others.

Maybe turn around and deal with the three that are coming rather than celebrate the one on the ground, it told him.

Ivarr turned and sprinted toward the nearest boulder just as one of them pulled back to throw their spear at him. The second round was far less kind to Ivarr than the first had been. Though he avoided that first spear, he almost died to the monster’s bare hands. While the other two spread out, it charged straight at the blade’s wielder and tried to rip the boy’s head clean off with its big meaty hands.

-4 Life Force.

It practically embedded the Ebon Blade in its own chest as it charged Ivarr, but even as it did so, it pinned the young man’s arms at his side as it grabbed his skull with both hands and wrenched it hard. The blade felt half a dozen varieties of pain echo through its wielder in that moment. There was the pain of his hair being pulled out in chunks, the pain of claws ripping through his scalp to skitter across his skull, and more than anything the feeling that his neck was about to break.

+1 Life Force.

+2 Life Force.

+2 Life Force.

-23 Life Force.

+21 Life Force.

+1 Life Force.

+1 Life Force.

That last one was a close thing. The blade could feel several vertebrae cracking beneath the terrible force of the monster’s big green muscles. Only the slumping body of the orc as the blade in its chest drained it dry was enough to save Ivarr.

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+1 Life Force.

+1 Life Force.

+2 Life Force.

-18 Life Force.

+14 Life Force.

You have gained 1 greater monster soul!

+2 Life Force.

+1 Life Force.

It died in the attempt with a sword in his chest, but not before it left Ivarr half blind from all the blood in his eyes where its claws raked across his scalp. As he staggered backward, the blade was forced to take over. It parried a blow that would have split its wielder’s skull instead of simply his scalp, and then it followed that up by disemboweling the monster.

+1 Life Force.

+1 Life Force.

+14 Life Force.

-9 Life Force.

+2 Life Force.

+1 Life Force.

That wasn’t enough to kill it, but it was enough to slow it down as its intestines tangled around its legs, which was all the blade was hoping for. It didn’t need to kill it. It just needed to reduce its opponents so that it could face them one at a time. While it tried to stuff its entrails back in, the blade faked a move to one side of the orc before spinning around to the other and stabbing the third creature in the back.

+1 Life Force.

+1 Life Force.

+14 Life Force.

-6 Life Force.

+2 Life Force.

+2 Life Force.

You have gained 1 greater monster soul!

Unlike its wielder, the blade did not miss the most vital spot. It slid cleanly between the thick ribs of its opponent and neatly cleaved its heart in two, dropping in on the spot.

+1 Life Force.

+14 Life Force.

+2 Life Force.

-4 Life Force.

You have gained 1 greater monster soul!

By that point, Ivarr had recovered, and the blade let him retake the initiative as he chopped the last orc into bloody ruin.

Still think you’re ready to fight an ogre? The blade asked as its wielder put his hands on his knees and gasped for breath.

“I think that fucking hurt!” the boy said. “My neck still hurts like hell.”

-2 Life Force.

If it had twisted just a little harder, then the monster would have popped your head right off, and you would have dropped me, the blade informed him. Then it wouldn’t have hurt at all because you’d be dead.

“How badly injured can I be before you can’t heal me anymore?” Ivarr asked. “Like, can I lose an arm, or…”

-2 Life Force.

I have no idea, the blade admitted. As my wielder, you share the power that I store, but if you were to lose a limb… I don’t think that would count as you any longer, and I expect you would stay maimed.

Those words weighed heavily on the young man, and even after he finished harvesting the tusks of the orcs for his bloody collection, he was quiet. The blade didn’t have to read his thoughts to know what he was thinking. He’d gotten cocky and felt like he was immortal, or nearly so.

-1 Life Force.

-1 Life Force.

A brush with death had quickly disabused him of that. A little bit more pressure and his spine would have shattered completely instead of merely cracking. It might have been enough to sever his spinal cord. The blade didn’t know, but it was glad that he lived because now, with 3,884/4,000, it could finally upgrade its storage again and get one step closer to its real goal.

Now, all the blade needed to do was wait for its wielder to fall asleep. It could upgrade at any time, of course, but it knew from long experience that with this much energy involved, the boy was sure to feel it. The Ebon Blade did not feel like explaining those dynamics to him, and since it didn’t want him to think it was keeping secrets, in just waited until he was insensible. Then, with one more look around to make sure that their small camp wasn’t about to have any unexpected visitors, it made the upgrade.

Increased Reserves 9 instantly burned away 3500 Life Force, and the blade felt its heart fill with ice as it lost all that power. Its gem flared to life briefly outshining the embers of their fire. Ivarr moved fitfully in his sleep in that moment, but he did not wake up. Once the moment had passed, it reviewed its current energy levels to see what had changed.

At that moment, the blade’s Life Force stood at 384/5000. That was enough that it could theoretically allow it to repair its soul again, which was positive. More importantly, though, was the fact that it could now hold 36 souls. That was important, considering it currently had 9 of those. The blade had 8 greater monster souls and 1 dragon soul, and it had a whole lot further to go. Fortunately, its upgrade screen revealed some options.

Aura of Hunger: Multiple enhancements available

Lesser Life Reserves 1: 500 Life Force

Lesser Soul Reserves 1: 500 Life Force

Increase Senses 3: 750 Life Force

Increase Connection 4: 1250 Life Force

Increase Control 3: 1500 Life Force

Empower Blade 2: 2000 Life Force - not currently accessible

Improved Siphon 7: 2000 Life Force

Increase Reserves 10: 5000 Life Force

Repair Soul 4: 5000 Life Force

There were, in fact, not one but two more options available. It investigated both of those, along with Increase Reserves 10

Lesser Life Reserves 1: Increase your maximum Life Force reserves by 15%

Lesser Soul Reserves 1: Increase your maximum Soul Force reserves by 15%

Increase Reserves 10: This is the maximum level of increased reserves.

Though the second one dealing with soul reserves was arguably the most important one of the three little blue boxes, it was the third one that interested it the most. Does that mean other powers will stop at 10? It wondered. If that power increases my reserves to 6,000 does that mean that nothing will cost more than that?

The blade had many questions at that moment. What it lacked, was answers, and it spent the night contemplating what its next move should be.