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 bde 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 compin.
Each day would begin and end with a vigorous exercise regime as Ivarr went through the sequence of strikes that the bde had taught him. When he pestered the bde, 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 muscur than he’d been a couple of months before when he first found the Ebon Bde 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 bde 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 pce, 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 ter 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 st brutal encounter with the green skins.
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 particurly 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 bde 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 Bde 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 colpsed 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 bde 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 bde’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 Bde 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 bde 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 cws 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 st one was a close thing. The bde 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 bde in its chest drained it dry was enough to save Ivarr.
+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 cws raked across his scalp. As he staggered backward, the bde 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 bde 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 bde 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 bde 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 bde let him retake the initiative as he chopped the st orc into bloody ruin.
Still think you’re ready to fight an ogre? The bde 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 bde 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 bde 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 bde 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 bde didn’t know, but it was gd 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 bde 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 Bde did not feel like expining 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 bde felt its heart fill with ice as it lost all that power. Its gem fred 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 bde’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 bde 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 avaibleLesser Life Reserves 1: 500 Life ForceLesser Soul Reserves 1: 500 Life ForceIncrease Senses 3: 750 Life ForceIncrease Connection 4: 1250 Life ForceIncrease Control 3: 1500 Life ForceEmpower Bde 2: 2000 Life Force - not currently accessibleImproved Siphon 7: 2000 Life ForceIncrease Reserves 10: 5000 Life ForceRepair Soul 4: 5000 Life Force
There were, in fact, not one but two more options avaible. 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 bde had many questions at that moment. What it cked, was answers, and it spent the night contempting what its next move should be.
