Chapter 68 - Wesley's... Epilogue (4)

The northern gate of Blackreach City was currently filled with lines upon lines of people trying to enter. The people in the line knew they would be there for hours, but none of them left, as such long lines were the norm in Blackreach City.

Wesley and Kellan were walking along the long lines, heading straight for the entrance. This was one of the many privileges of nobility, and although Wesley didn’t enjoy using his status, he was in too much of a hurry.

Neither Wesley nor Kellan looked anything like nobles with their torn and dusty robes. However, no one complained, as the giant Kellan with his similarly giant sword was enough to intimidate anyone. When the two of them reached the entrance to the city, a shout came from one of the guards:

"Halt."

Wesley and Kellan turned to the white-armored guard, who was staring at them with a shaky gaze. They didn’t stop as instructed, but Wesley simply showed the man a tile with four moons on it.

Seeing the four moons emblem on the tile Wesley was holding, the guard’s gaze flickered slightly, and he walked away from them. Who in the city didn’t recognize the emblem of the Four Moons Royal Academy?

Wesley and Kellan continued walking through the gate and along the main road. The main road, which started from the gate and stretched all the way to the Central District, was bustling with people rushing in all directions.

After almost two hours of walking, the two of them reached the seventh district and proceeded to Wesley's Manor. Their pace was slightly slowed by the crowds, but they still pushed through and reached their destination.

At the entrance to the Manor, the two guards standing there eyed them suspiciously. However, when they saw Wesley, both of them broke into smiles and spoke together:

"Master."

Wesley smiled at the two guards and spoke:

"Mark, Will. Long time no see."

"Indeed, it has been a while, Master. How are you?"

"Good. Don't worry too much. Haha."

Wesley waved at the two guards and entered the Manor with Kellan. As he walked through the Manor, Wesley was met with a barrage of greetings from the guards and maids. After all, he had been gone for a whole year.

After exchanging pleasantries with everyone he met, Wesley headed straight to the backyard. As soon as they reached the backyard, the scene that greeted them could only be described as odd.

There were six green-clad guards sparring with one another, while a dark-clad youth sat cross-legged, doing breathing exercises. This scene caused Wesley to wonder, but what truly caught his attention was the old man, wearing a flower-embroidered shirt, sipping tea under a tree.

Wesley turned to Kellan and saw that he had the same look of astonishment on his face. It seemed that wherever the second elder went, swords would follow suit. Is this really a vacation? It seemed like he was doing the same thing he did at the academy.

The guards that were sparring immediately stopped their movements and turned to Wesley and Kellan; their sensitivity was really astonishing to have noticed the presence of the two so quickly. Also, the cross legged youth opened his eyes and also stared at the two.

After a few seconds of quietude, the entire yard burst into shouts of joy and greeting as they all recognized Wesley. Wesley smiled and greeted everyone back, but he was mostly taking with the dark clothed youth.

He spoke with a flattering voice:

"Stein. You grew stronger in this year. I don't think I can be your opponent anymore."

Stein was slightly shorter than Wesley and his body seemed extremely similar Wesley. He smiled while slightly rolling his eyes and spoke:

"You joke too much Master. Ten of me will hardly be your opponent."

At this point, another voice that seemed to be beaming with laughter and amusement:

"Wesley, Kellan. The two of you are back. I was worried you died."

The old man with the flowery shirt came up to the group while smiling. Wesley and Kellan immediately bowed to the old man and spoke:

"Elder."

The second elder simply smiled and spoke again:

"Since the two of you returned, I assume you’ve reached my requirement."

"Yes Elder."

"Well then show me. Kellan."

Kellan immediately waved his right hand and the greatsword on his back floated in front of him. He breathed deeply for a second and then his sword started shaking while a red mist emerged from its tip covering everyone within.

The faces of the guards as well as Stein changed immediately. This mist was blood. The second elder's voice resounded once again:

"That's enough."

The bloody mist retreated into the sword's tip and disappeared without a trace. Some of the guards had fearful expressions on their faces while other simply retreated away from Kellan. Kellan simply ignored the guards' reaction and spoke:

"I just broke through, so I am not very proficient in using my Blood Zone yet."

The second elder smilingly nodded his head and then he turned to Wesley. Wesley also waved his hand and his dark sword floated in front of him. However, unlike the shaking of Kellan's sword, Wesley's sword simply disappeared into thin air.

The sword's disappearance caused everyone present, including the second elder to be surprised. The second elder looked around for a while and then he spoke quizzically:

"Wesley. What is this odd Zone. I have never seen anything like it."

Wesley smiled and spoke while shaking his head:

"Elder, this is my Null Zone. My sword absorbs light rather than reflecting it causing it to seem like it disappeared."

"Oh. What an odd Zone. I don't even know if this qualifies as a zone ability. Hmm, Odd."

Wesley couldn’t help but scratch his head with embarrassment. His zone ability does not impact anything aside from his sword making it hard to qualify as a zone ability. This, no doubt, had something to do with the fact that he was a mage.

Bonding with a sword requires smelting a sword with the users blood for a long period of time, usually a year. And then after the smelting process is done, the sword will become an extension of the swordsman's hand which is why they are able to be controlled with hand movements.

After the bonding is done, the swordsman must familiarize himself with his sword and learn how to best control it as well as how to apply their techniques to the sword. At this point, the swordsman is considered Master level. This usually takes a year or two.

Next, the swordsmen must refine their swords using specific methods that depend on the metal the sword is made from. For example, Kellan's sword is made from Blood Ore, which is why he needed a lot of blood to awaken the sword's zone ability. After the awakening of the zone ability, the swordsman would then become a Grandmaster. This step, however, is very hard to reach because an understanding of the properties of one's sword is needed. If you use any random metal to make your bonded sword, then you'll most likely be stuck at the master level.

These steps are the steps followed by all swordsmen. And although their results might vary, they all still fairly resemble each other, that is, all zone abilities impacts the zone around the sword in some way.

This is why Wesley's zone ability which impacted the sword itself was extremely odd.The reason why Wesley's results diverged from the regular is because he bonded with the sword with his affinity in mind.

The metal Wesley chose was from a meteorite that was known as the darkest known metal in the world. Wesley took his dark sword to a blacksmith and found out that it was made from this meteorite. Next, when Wesley was bonding with the sword, he not only fed it his blood, but his mana as well, attuning the sword to his affinity and mana.

The sword's origin coupled with Wesley's mana and affinity led to its odd zone ability. However, Wesley couldn’t tell any of this to the second elder so he simply feigned ignorance and embarrassment.

The second elder was quiet for a moment as he thought, and then he spoke:

"Don't mind. Although it is truly odd, it is still useful. Anyway, since you both reached the goal, you can now graduate."

Wesley and Kellan's eyes lit up simultaneously as they both nodded their heads vigorously. The second elder simply laughed and spoke:

"Good. Go change to your uniforms and we'll head to the Academy."