The Strongest Spellblade

“Take a look,” Healer Melon told me and handed me the College’s newspaper. It wasn’t cheap, but if someone wanted to stay up to date on important news it was useful. I normally didn’t bother reading it, since I didn’t want to deal with drama outside of my classes and my personal issues.

Other people’s problems weren’t my problems. I took the newspaper and looked it over.

Legend Darren Burnstock Takes Genoa

He had been elected both the Prime Minster and Supreme General of Genoa. I shook my head and didn’t bother reading the rest of the articles.

“Done already?” Healer Melon asked me.

“No, I just don’t care,” I replied.

“Even your own father?” he asked me.

“Even then. He is living his life, and I will live my life. Getting involved or even thinking about what he is doing is a distraction I don’t need or want.”

“Fair enough. I knew I was like that in the Five Star Institute of Healing when I was studying. But it could cause complications,” he replied.

“That is why I am not planning to leave the College until my graduation. And then I plan to go into the dungeon. No need to get involved with politics or whatever plans my father has cooked up for world domination,” I replied.

“I don’t know if I should be impressed by your maturity or worried about your lack of concern,” Healer Melon said.

“Both, neither? My mother believed in personal power and died. My father believes in political power and is scrambling everywhere,” I countered.

“And what do you believe in?”

“That the strong make the rules and other people have no choice but to accept their decisions. Ultimately power comes at the end of a sword and one’s skills. That is why I plan to focus on myself and my skills. Unless my father is sending me a gift or support it isn’t worth worrying about what he does,” I replied.

I already knew he was planning world domination from the letter he had left me. I didn’t care for any of it. Let him do whatever he wanted, I would stay completely out of it. The only one I had a grudge with was Legend Xanatos of the Dark Cabal. Besides him, I would focus on leveling my skills as much as possible.

My mother might have fallen in the dungeon, but I would surpass her. A demon that was over level 300 was no simple matter. I would need to truly become the strongest to overcome such a challenge.

“What you think Healer Melon?” I asked my watcher and retainer.

“I think you are right. It is going to be a mess. Genoa is at the center of coastal trade on the East side of the continent. With it falling to the control of your father, trade routes and powerful interests are going to be disrupted,” he replied.

“He is going to use the island nation as a staging ground for his invasion of the continent,” I replied. It was obvious. The strait between the island of Genoa and the continent offered quite a bit protection from armies and other invasions. The far side of the island was protected by the immense waves of the Great Ocean.

My father would build up his forces in Genoa and then use the trade routes to launch his invasion plans. I had no doubt that he had already arranged for the dwarves to supply him weapons. Using the funds from Genoa, he would be able to afford quite a bit. The synergy was incredibly obvious, which was why he had jumped on the opportunity to take over the city.

“It is going to get messy. A continent wide war hasn’t happened since the fall of the Eldarin Empire,” Healer Melon said. That meant my father would have a huge advantage as he would be the only one who knew how to properly conduct such large scale warfare after all this time.

Unless you were a Supreme Legend like my mother, even legends couldn’t ignore troop movements and combat deployments. They couldn’t just rush forward crushing everything in their path. That was how they would get worn down and killed.

Also, the continent was fractured at least in terms of human nations. The Elves and Dwarves wouldn’t care that much as my father took over other human nations. By the time they realized the threat, the Eldarin Empire would likely be reborn. They would have no choice but to submit or die.

My father wouldn’t spare them a second time. He might be planning to remake the Eldarin Empire without slavery, but he had said nothing about human supremacy. The dwarves would become second class crafting citizens, and the elves would likely be wiped out. No slaves, just death awaited them.

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But all of that would take years, if not decades to achieve. While my father had gathered a large number of legends, expansion and taking over other nations without completely wrecking them would not be simple.

It wasn’t conquering that was hard but holding and maintaining those gains. He could win every battle but lose the war. While I doubted, he would make such mistakes, it was also a fact of conquest that one had to administer all that territory and people.

It would be interesting to see what my father did to handle it all, but I was going to be an observer not a participant. “This could increase tensions with the adventuring team I have planned,” I said.

“You could back out,” Healer Melon said and I shook my head.

“No. Things haven’t reached that point yet. It is best to say nothing and see if anyone else brings the issue with my father up. Hopefully it won’t cause issues, but I have no doubt there will be problems with the Wither Corporation.”

“A living war mech, what will they think of next,” Healer Melon said. I had shared with him the information I had learned to get his opinion on such a device.

“Could healing magic work on a machine? A living machine?” I asked.

“Maybe? Nothing like that has ever been created before. It would be a question of how the soul overlays with the mechanical components and how the core interfaces with everything. I suspect that the core can be healed, but everything else will be treated as equipment for purposes of the status,” Healer Melon said.

“Unless there are skills that expand the soul outwards,” I replied.

“It would be too risky, but it could be possible. It is likely that the Wither Corporation has some kind of hidden soul mage. You must be careful around such things,” Healer Melon said and I nodded.

“Don’t worry, I am not about to start driving such a thing myself. Even if it is an interesting concept. The value would be leveling it up long term over the centuries. But the investment would be immense. And one mistake and it would be lost,” I replied.

“Yes, it is a huge risk. It could also be stolen. Or there could be something darker at play. Don’t underestimate the Dark Cabal. While they might have made a lot of noise confront your mother, they tend to operate in the shadows. If the Wither Corporation didn’t have a legacy to draw upon, then it is likely the Dark Cabal gave them knowledge to create a living artifact. The Dark Library is another such artifact of legend,” Healer Melon said.

“I will keep my senses on full alert. But the team is large enough that there shouldn’t be any betrayals. Maybe if it was a smaller team,” I replied.

“Don’t count on such things. There are no rules or laws in the dungeon. Only trust and the power of the strongest. While adventurers like to adhere to a certain code, it can be broken with none the wiser,” Healer Melon said, and I nodded at this.

“Any more specific advice?” I asked.

“No. But don’t hesitate to run if you need to. Live to fight another day,” Healer Melon said.

“I will keep that in mind. You think the Dark Cabal helped create the war mech?” I asked.

“It is a possibility. It sounds like something they would do with what is little is known about them. Forbidden knowledge that others latch onto but will ultimately meet a bad ending,” he said and that did sound remarkably familiar, at least the first half about getting forbidden knowledge.

“Forbidden by whom?” I asked.

“By common sense. The Dark Cabal is filled with mad men. Why else would they provoke your mother?” That was a very good point. Having the curse skill on me drop by a tier was most likely not something Legend Xanatos wanted.

“I will have to ask the Dean about some kind of tracking skill or counter curse skill when I earn personal instruction from him this year. A shame that it isn’t The Mathemancer,” I said.

“Don’t underestimate anyone who could take control of this place after such a storied figure. His knowledge and ability won’t be simple, and he is a legend in his own right. The fact that things have been running smoothly is a testament to the current Dean’s good leadership,” Healer Melon said.

“I won’t. But he isn’t a supreme legend,” I countered.

“True. At least you will have Ozy with you, that will put my mind at ease,” Healer Melon said.

“Thank you for not leaving. Without my mother around…” I trailed off. He could have left and there was nothing I could do about it.

“I gave my word, and she helped me gain levels. It would be quite poor of me to do something like that. Also, spending time in the College isn’t that bad.”

“I can’t tempt you to travel with me afterwards?” I asked.

‘No, I am going to enjoy retiring to the Institute. Don’t worry, I will train Ozy up. Consider that my gift to you. A professionally trained monster in various healing skills.”

“I appreciate that. Thank you,” I replied.

“I know you want to become strong, strong enough to go face that demon. But I worry about you. That way lies death,” Healer Melon said.

“I know. But it is something I will have to overcome if I want to surpass my mother,” I replied with determination. I would avenge her and surpass her all at once.

“Well as long as you don’t act recklessly, I am sure you will get quite far.”

“I am really curious to see how this war mech, the pinnacle of dwarven engineering matches up to me. Who knows, I might try to get one myself if it does well enough,” I replied. I doubted it would. It would be an external source of support like Ozy, but unlike my pet it represented a completely new paradigm of fighting. I would need to train up new skills to be pilot and maintain the war mech.

“It will be interesting to see if it heralds a new age of our civilization or not. Living machines, how novel,” Healer Melon said.

“Don’t let it spread around that I told you or you know,” I replied.

“Don’t worry. I won’t chat about such a thing, like I already promised.” I didn’t want to make waves with my future teammates, but I wanted a second opinion on such a thing. The fact it could be involved with the Dark Cabal was exactly the kind of thinking I needed from Healer Melon. It was something I hadn’t even considered before. Now I would be on the lookout for their influence and members.

I could even see the Dark Cabal making a move to claim the war mech in the dungeon. I would need to be on guard. Perhaps I should look into other skills I could get through Alchemical means after graduating, most likely sensory skills of some kind.