Amber had a myriad of notifications, most of her skills had leveled once from this whole escapade; Quick Dash, Cursed Supreme Momentum, Cursed Supreme Momentum, Cursed Stomp, Curse Manipulation, Recovery of Curses, Cursed Rage Synergy, Curse Battery, Crimson Venom, Crimson Fuel, Crimson Fervor, Sharp Instincts— all of those had leveled up once. Her resistances — except for Toxin Resistance — had also gained a level.
Though, not every skill had leveled up only once, two skills in particular had leveled up twice.
[Cursed Cleave has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 6 to 3rd Rank level 8.]
[General Weapon Mastery has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 7 to 3rd Rank level 9.]
And there was another skill that had also leveled, it had been ages since it had leveled in the past—
[Identify has leveled up from level 2 to 3.]
That wasn’t all, a skill had also hit its 2nd Rank.
[Quick Recovery has reached 2nd Rank — level 1
You’ve survived numerous encounters with the help of your skills. This is an upgraded version of Fast Recovery helping you heal from your wounds and injuries slightly faster.
2nd Rank — You require half the sleep of a normal person to function.]
Of course, Amber didn’t really need to sleep at this point due to Recovery of Curses, but she still felt good from leveling Quick Recovery to 2nd Rank. After all, the skill had been stuck at level 10 for so long that she had nearly forgotten it existed. She had also leveled up a couple of times.
[You have reached level 123. 5 stat points awarded.]
+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]
…
[You have reached level 125. 5 stat points awarded.]
+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]
However, Amber didn’t care about that. She didn’t care for her level ups, she didn’t care about having a new Legacy Branch skill to receive, and she didn’t care about the skills leveling up either. Because, there was a notification she had never seen before.
She had gotten a title.
Amber had never even so much as heard of titles before, and yet she had gotten one.
[You have received a title: Demonkiller
Vitality +10
Strength +10
Dexterity +10
Endurance +10
Intelligence +10
Wisdom +10
You deal 150% bonus damage towards demons.
You have received the Title Skill [Abyssal Blast].]
The stat bonuses were quite nice all things considered, and the fact that it basically made her deal more damage towards demons was something she found great too, but the main thing that surprised her was the skill she had gotten.
If someone had told her that titles were a thing and that they came with a Title Skill Amber would’ve immediately thought it would be some sort of buff, but looking at Abyssal Blast, she seemed dead wrong.
[New Title Skill! You have learned Abyssal Blast
Through slaying more demons than most people do in their lifetime, you have acquired access to the Curse of the Abyss, a curse that is extremely effective against demons. The skill unleashes the Curse of the Abyss in a blast cone in front of you, it can only be used once a day.
The Curse of the Abyss will exacerbate any curse that a being is bearing and exacerbate curses on its user, on demons it will melt their flesh.
This skill cannot be leveled.]
It was such a weird skill in Amber’s opinion, mainly the fact that it couldn’t be leveled, but at the same time it seemed incredibly strong. If it was used after unleashing Curse Battery on an enemy repeatedly it would essentially act as a finisher move. Something that Amber wished she had when fighting against the Server of Chaos.
Though before she could continue thinking about it, a group of knights had rushed to tend to her, while the captains took over and commanded the rest of the squads to chase after Oracle. The warriors that had given their swords, had gotten new swords from the cultists in the room, which they used to give chase.
“Drink this, Lady Amber.” A knight pushed a potion onto her, but Amber shook her head and tried to stand up.
She wanted to chase after Oracle, but after she found her legs wobbling she sat back down on the corpse of the demon. She turned towards the knight, he wore the same white armor as everyone else so she couldn’t really see his expression, but the way he held the potion for her showed that he was worried.
However, Amber wasn’t all that injured, in fact the main thing that kept her from chasing was the fact that she was damn exhausted. Though…
I guess I won’t say no to a free potion.
Amber grabbed the crystal vial and uncorked it, chugging its contents. There was some level of relief provided, and to her surprise, she felt slightly less exhausted. Amber watched as most of the knights moved, leaving only two of them behind with her.
“I have to say, Lady Amber, I saw your fight against the demon, even though your level is much lower to mine, I would never be able to do that,” the knight that gave her the potion said.
And before she could reply, the wizard knight nodded.
“That is correct, none of the warriors dared to step in, it was too dangerous. You are nothing short of impressive, no wonder the king sent you, Amber.”
Amber didn’t really know what to say to either of the two people, but in the end, she nodded after they held their expectant gazes long enough.
“Thank you.”
Amber turned towards the dark cave ahead, the knights were nowhere to be seen now. But even though the knights were missing, she could still see the ashes belonging to the cultists, the blood on the ground was still present, and it was a dreary sight.
“Do you all think that Oracle got away?” she asked both of the knights.
At her question, there was a silence. The mage looked down and the warrior crossed his arms, both of them seemed to be thinking.
“I think, it is likely, yes,” the wizard said simply.
“I think so too, Lady Amber,” the warrior agreed a moment later.
Amber sighed at that.
Of course, she still clung onto hope that the man hadn’t escaped and that they were fighting right now. She wanted to end all of this— she wanted get the divine weapon, she wanted to demand more rewards from the king, and she wanted to know that no more people would get sacrificed to summon demons. Specially, the fact that Liz or her sister wouldn’t have anybody come for them vying for their classes anymore.
Which is why she had to recover as soon as possible.
“Do you have more of the same kind of potion you gave me?” Amber asked, turning to the warrior. “It seemed to cure fatigue.”
The warrior nodded, and reached for a pouch on his back before producing two more vials. Vials which Amber took.
The knight nodded. “They are good potions, only accessible to us. Slightly more effective than a High Quality health potion and with extra benefits.”
Amber nodded and turned to the mage.
“Can I have your potions too?”
“Uh, sure.” The mage agreed in a confused manner before giving the vials to her.
Now, with a grand total of five vials in her hand, she received questioning glances from the two knights present.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“What are you planning to do with them?” the warrior asked.
Amber smiled. “Drink them.”
They both paused and then, she uncorked all of the vials at once much to the horror of the knights.
“Wait, Lady Amber that is a bad idea!”
“You will be poisoned!” the wizard said in a hurry.
But Amber ignored both of their protests and chugged their contents to her heart’s content. It took about a second before she recoiled— and then the sensation immediately disappeared, being replaced with a feeling of great relief.
The two knights looked at each other in confusion.
“What just happened…?”
“I don’t know, I saw her recoil, but she seems fine…?”
Amber didn’t necessarily blame their reaction, but at the same time she didn’t plan on explaining it. Instead, she got off the large demon and immediately turned to the warrior.
“You, help me move the demon, my main sword is stuck on its back.”
The warrior blinked but immediately complied, and with his almost non-existent help, Amber flipped the demon. Why did I ask him for help if I could’ve flipped it myself? It seemed that she had greatly underestimated her own strength, specially given Cursed Supreme Momentum was still active.
Amber immediately moved to recover her weapons, and refreshed her skills while at it, much to the present knight’s confusion. And then, once she was done she turned to them.
“Let’s go chase after Oracle.”
The two blinked.
“Now…?”
Amber ignored them and immediately dashed into the darkness, leaving the two knights to chase after her in a hurry.
* * *
It had taken about two minutes of running, but eventually, she reached a dead end with all the knight squads present. The warriors were resting, while the wizards were analysing the collapsed tunnel. Ave and the other captains seemed to be overseeing the process, and while Amber knew the fact that Oracle had gotten away she still approached the captain she was familiar with.
“So, what is the situation looking like?” she asked.
The red-haired captain turned to her, no longer wearing her helmet. A bitter laugh left her.
“What do you think?”
“Well, can he be tracked— is what I’m asking?” Amber asked.
Ave shook her head. “That is what we’re trying to achieve but…” she glanced back at the wall. “No success so far.”
Amber sighed at that. Perhaps she was being overly eager, but the idea of nipping a problem at its bud greatly appealed to her. Plus, she couldn’t do it halfway and say “I tried”, that seemed lazy and simply wrong.
She turned to the surroundings and saw how tired the knights looked, she actually hadn’t killed all that many cultists, and while most knights had probably done less than her, they endured curses she didn’t have ever deal with. So, all things considered, maybe they weren’t even in the state to give chase.
Finally, she turned to look at Ave, aside from having dirt smudges on her face she looked rather normal, though bitter about the whole thing.
“Well, for what it’s worth we reported this result, and our majesty, the king of Cytel, has declared this operation a success, of course, I relayed your monumental contributions to him too,” she smiled.
Amber felt happy at that. “Thank you.”
“He said that you truly earned your reward, so if that’s what you wanted to hear and why you were so eager— congratulations,” Ave said, some bitterness in her voice.
“I’m not shallow enough to chase Oracle to the end of the world just for a sword, I had my own reasons to,” Amber snorted.
The captain nodded at that, evidently pleased with the answer. However, Amber had something else in mind:
“So, what happens now?”
The red-haired woman tilted her head in deep thought, then she glanced back to the walls and the mages that were shaking their heads.
“We will return to the castle in about thirty minutes, and then— to each their own, I suppose.” Ave shrugged. “Even though you contributed a lot more than me, I’m spent so I’m just looking to relax myself.”
Amber nodded. “Yeah, I should probably relax too.”
In reality, she hadn’t had much of a break— she had ascended the Primordial Spirit tower in a rush, met Val’leri and talked with her for a few hours and then descended the tower and started this whole thing without even sleeping. Even though more than a day had already passed since then, Amber hadn’t rested at all.
She turned to the collapsed wall.
So in the end, he got away.
Amber didn’t know what they were trying to summon, but she was glad that she didn’t have to witness a city being destroyed first-hand.
* * *
After an hour, the knights gave their search up, even with Court Mages they had been unable to track Oracle and his group, and while Amber was a bit disillusioned at that, she also didn’t find it to be unexpected that they had measures against being tracked in place.
She thought about looking into that for herself, but that was for another day, for now, she returned along with the other knights. However, even though she tried to just be at the back of the whole group of knights, she was unanimously forced to lead them.
Amber found that a bit annoying, but just focused on returning to the castle. She passed through the stairs that led them there initially, passed through a now empty Institute of Arcane Research, and exited the building to see an empty street.
Finally, as she rounded the corner she saw a group of knights cordoning off the section she was in, which she supposed was normal. Though what she didn’t expect was what happened after she went past the restricted area—
“Mommy, look they are the heroes of the city!”
“Is that the famous friend of the nation!?”
“Terrifying, I can’t see any of their levels…”
There were people, and they were all pointing and cheering at them. However, one in every three gazes landed directly on Amber— every single one of them calling her the friend of Cytel, the adventurer that had fought the demons and won— it was ridiculous.
All Amber wanted was to return and get her reward, she didn’t want to be celebrated for it. While she enjoyed the attention, it simply wasn’t the right time for her.
“How do they even know this anyway?” she muttered.
In response, Ave chuckled. “The king probably made an official announcement.”
Amber shook her head at that, and found herself being stared at and being called a hero. In all honesty, she didn’t feel like she deserved to be calling that given her main motivator for coming in the first place was a reward.
Of course, she didn’t tell that to anyone.
* * *
The return to the castle was time consuming given the knights had slowed to greet and wave at people, and Amber ended up engaging in that a bit too. But eventually, everyone went their separate ways and she was guided to see the king alone.
Or “alone”.
She was still in the throne room surrounded by the personal guards of the king, the assistant mage was also present. Though, it was as private as it could get.
“Amber,” the king began. “Today you have proven to be a great ally, a dependable person, and someone that the knights can truly call a friend.”
Amber nodded, she was planning on letting the king talk, though it didn’t seem like it would take long, as the sword was summoned in front of the king.
“You have gone above and beyond what was asked of you, which is why I wish to grant you the nobility title of Duke.”
And she blinked. Isn’t that a high rank?
The king chuckled watching her reaction. “Of course, you won’t have a land to manage or people or any duties towards being a noble, unless you want them?” the king raised his brow.
Amber shook her head. “I appreciate the offer towards having duties, but I don’t think I am suitable for that kind of thing.”
He smiled. “Then, you will just become an official noble, and ensure every city of Cytel knows about this.”
Amber nodded. She was inclined to decline the offer, but declining just based on how she felt and ignoring the possible benefits would be quite stupid on her part, so she simply accepted her newfound status as a noble.
“As for your friend, Liz Starkell, and her sister, Velda Starkell, their parents and the heads of the Risnar family have yet to be found, they are either dead or with Oracle, the mastermind behind it all,” the king began. “Which is why, I officially declare Liz and Velda Starkell the heads of the Starkell household, and also offer them the chance to take over everything belonging to the Risnar family, I’ll ensure everyone in this city knows of this.”
Amber nodded. That sounded like good news for Liz and Velda.
“Now as for you, there are a couple of things I want to reward you Amber.” The king nodded. “First is your nobility title, second is a thousand gold coins for your efforts and your help, as well as for being a noble.”
She paused. “A thousand…?”
That was more than enough to cover all her armor repairs and food needs for— ages to come. She thought she misheard, but as the king smiled she realized that he indeed had said that number.
The king turned to his assistant. “Give her the gold.”
The mage nodded and after a moment of using magic, Amber saw a large ornate chest appear in front of her, showing its golden and glittering contents. She most definitely couldn’t carry all of that, but before she could even say that, the king continued.
“Another one of your rewards is this ring,” the king said, removing a ring from his own finger. It was a pitch black band with white engravings. “Use it well, I’ll have another one made for me another time.”
With those words, he leaned over and tossed it. Amber catched it with one hand with utmost confusion, and then, she used Identify.
[Enchanted Grade — Ascar Ring — Superb Quality
This ring has the enchantment of Pocket Space, with the use of your mana you can access the pocket space this ring is bound to, allowing you to store or take out items that fit within its pocket space.]
Amber stared at it. It was a literal inventory ring. If that wasn’t incredibly useful she didn’t know what was.
“Consider it a gift.” The king smiled. “Now, you will always be able to eat warm food.”
She raised her brow. “What do you mean warm?”
“Time does not pass inside of the bound pocket space,” the king explained. “Food will remain hot for as long as the ring remains enchanted.”
Amber of course, thought about storing flaming objects to burn herself with instead, but nonetheless she was still incredibly happy, and she was indeed planning on using the ring to store food if it had enough room for that.
“You should try it, just focus on the ring and the object you want to store, then touch it.”
She nodded and touched the chest containing the gold coins, and with a small amount of mana it vanished. To her surprise, she could tell how much space the chest consumed inside the ring, which wasn’t a lot— she would most definitely be able to store whatever she wanted. However, the disappearance of the chest reminded her of something—
“Do all your knights that go to the tower have these?”
The king laughed. “Of course not, but they do have storage rings that only work within the tower itself.” He nodded. “It’s part of my deal with Vi.”
Amber nodded at that, and the king continued.
“And finally, what you are here for.” He straightened. “In my name: King Octavius III, I award you the divine weapon, Cursewelder.”
A moment later the sword appeared in front of her inside its glass case, except the door to it was wide open, and Amber used Identify on the divine weapon for the first time.
And her eyes went wide at what she saw.
[Relic Grade — Cursewelder — Ancient Quality
This is a sword forged at the hands of the Primordial Spirit Val’leri. An unknown alloy was fused with the use of Essence to make this Ancient Quality sword. This sword bears the enchantments of:
Sword Absorber: Absorb swords to gain their enchantments and abilities, this process is reversible. The Cursewelder can absorb up to five swords at any given time.
Curse Absorber: Absorb curses to make Cursewelder gain their effects, only five curses can be stored at any given time.
Curse Amplifier: Any curse while wielding Cursewelder will have its strength doubled, whether it is received or unleashed.
Heavy Attack: Swings from this sword will have double the weight behind them.
Essence Detector: Cursewelder can sense the presence of Essence, showing it with a blue color.
Ability: Self-repair: At the cost of your mana Cursewelder will be repaired from any damage.
This description can only be seen to those that know Val’leri’s name.]