Twin Adders
When Hera pressed the option to receive the Spiral Masterwork, she was expecting something interesting, but she could never imagine that it would come as the exact thing she needed right now. After the light appeared, a pair of long daggers materialized in her hands. They were white and red, but the colors were the opposite of one another. While one of the daggers had a red blade with a white handle, the other had a white blade with a red handle. The edges were smooth to the touch, but looking at them made it seem like they had scales like a snake. Another unique feature was the size of the blade itself. Unlike most daggers with a somewhat flat piece of metal, this pair had a bulkier form. The metal formed a triangular shape, with a wide size of 5 centimeters in length connecting to the sharpened edge on the opposite side. Each dagger was slightly curved, making it very similar to the fangs of a snake.
At first glance, the handles seemed extremely simple, almost as if someone had just glued them to the rest of the weapon. However, on a closer inspection, Hera could see several engravings around the leather. She used her [Observe - Red Sight] to check if something else was hidden in the daggers and only found more engravings that overlapped, making it impossible for someone to understand. But, right beneath the blade itself, there was a single line that she could somehow understand. In the white dagger, it said, 'My fangs are true,' and in the one with the red blade, which was smaller than the white one, there was the phrase 'My claws don't fail.'
She spent a few moments looking over the weapons. They were beautiful and gave off a certain presence. Hera felt drawn to the daggers, although that could also be said for all the other equipment the Royal Explorers were receiving at the moment. When she was finally done looking over her new weapons, Hera wanted to see what they could actually do. Interesting enough, a single notification appeared when she used her [Inspect].
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Twin Adders - Fang & Claw
Rarity: Epic
A pair of daggers made to function as the fangs and claws of a Naga. These daggers came from the collective imagination of the Naga blacksmiths, who were inspired by their warriors.
Fang, the white dagger, is a reminder of the past, of an age where the Naga had to hunt like animals.
Claw, the red dagger, is a hope for the future, showing that even if their claws are bloodied, the Naga always push forward.
Attribute Scaling:
Fang:
Strength x 15, Endurance x 10, Charisma x 8, Luck x 5
Claw:
Agility x 16, Intelligence x 12, Luck x 10
Passive Skills:
Two fight as one:
When wielding both daggers, the daggers will be affected by each other's scaling. In the case where both have the scaling for a specific attribute, only the highest one will apply.
Enhanced Poison:
When using any poison-related spells or skills with Fang as the catalyst, increase the poison effect by 30%
Rending Blade:
Claw's attacks can cause the target to receive a grievous wound, reducing any healing that it receives by 20%
Active Skills:
Alluring Presence:
By activating this skill, your target will feel attracted to the daggers.
Mana Cost: 300 mana
Grasping Strike:
Fang deals a blow that binds the target temporarily. The duration of the bind depends on the strength of the target.
Mana Cost: 500 mana
Bloody Claw:
Claw launches a long-range attack made out of blood. Depending on how much mana was spent, the attack can be performed with one, two, or three claws.
Mana Cost: 300, 600, 1 200 Mana. Distance: 50 meters
Familiarity: 12%
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"Shit. Nimbus, they are stronger than your tonfas," Hera gasped.
'I mean… they are a special reward,' Nimbus pouted.
"Sorry. I didn't mean anything bad by it. I was just surprised because they were a reward from a deeper layer. They should be stronger," Hera patted Nimbus.
"Don't be a big baby. We will find things that are stronger than you in the future," Daskka rolled her eyes.
"Ok, don't start now, you two. Nimbus, you don't have to worry. I wasn't complaining or anything. Now let's see what the scroll can do," Hera tried to change the subject.
She pulled up the scroll and stopped to think for a moment. There were 3 charges, and she didn't want to use 2 of them for the daggers. If she had to choose only one to upgrade, it would be Fang. Claw seemed cool and all, but Fang could increase her poison, and she already accepted that she focused on poison. Unsure of how to use the scroll, Hera did the first thing that came to mind, place it on top of Fang.
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Do you wish to use the Spirit of the Spiral Mural with the weapon [Twin Adders - Fang & Claw]
[Yes] [No]
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"Oh? Both? Ok," Hera smiled and touched the 'yes' option.
The scroll started to move, and the drawing inside came alive. On the corner of the scroll, a tiny speck of light appeared. It started to move through the pictures, almost as if someone was exploring those areas. Hera smiled as she watched this little ball of energy move about in the scroll. At first, it passed by a forest with some pyramids in the background, but it stopped there. The small mote of light started spinning and jumping, and another appeared. Now that he had a friend, it continued going through the scroll. It kept going, stopping in a few more of the drawings and gathering more companions while doing their happy dance with the rest of them. When the speck of light reached the last of the drawings, there were a total of eight particles following the first one. Those lights jumped off the scroll and flew towards the daggers. Four of the particles hit each of the daggers and spread around the entire weapon.
The process was slow, and Hera took a moment to think about what had just happened. From what she could tell, there are a total of 20 drawings in the scroll. She was going on the assumption that the light particle would only dance when it found a picture that matched the target weapon. It stopped on the first image, which she imagined was something related to the Naga. She didn't ask Darni, but the first picture should be his birthplace. Then it stopped in a desert with black sand, which felt odd since none of the daggers were black. The next stop was a place filled with ice with a blood-red river crossing the middle. Following that, they stopped in a white garden, but what came after seemed to have lost any kind of pattern. It was almost impossible for her to imagine what those images had to do with the weapons that she had just got. While she was trying to figure out that pattern, the lights stopped, and the daggers completed their transformation.
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Twin Adders - Fang & Claw were upgraded by the Spirit of the Spiral Mural.
The following skills were added to the item.
Predator of the Shadows:
Attacks with either Fang or Claw will deal 10-30% extra shadow damage. The damage is increased when attacking from the shadows.
Compound Poison:
When Fang strikes a target that is currently under the effect of any type of poison, it can absorb some of that poison. When using Fang as a catalyst for a poison-based attack, the absorbed poison will be spent to increase the power of said attack.
Strength of Blood:
When Claw draws blood from an enemy, it can store that blood around the dagger to increase the number of claws created by the Bloody Claw skill.
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All those skills sounded amazing. Especially when Hera was no longer wielding them herself. But that also came with a problem. Her court was currently full, and if she wanted to use the daggers, she would have to remove one of her court members. Looking at the weapons, they seemed to be the same, but on a closer inspection, Hera saw some changes. The scale-like pattern text covering the blades now seemed to move ever so slightly, and the handles were more comfortable to the touch. Aside from that, the weapons looked just the same.
"Daskka. Is there a way for me to increase my court right now? I mean, how many can I have in my court," Hera asked.
The herald thought for a moment but then shook her head, "No. As far as I can tell, there isn't a skill that allows you to increase the number of your court members. You can still have more court members but you need to give time for both you and the legacy. But there is a skill that can be very interesting when you have enough points to get it."
"What skill?"
"It's called Blade Graveyard. When using that skill, you can activate the abilities of a blade that is no longer with you, but the cooldown will be increased by a lot. You can use it once a day if it is something like Beam's long-range attack. If it's something like Armory's buff, which has a 2-hour cooldown, it will take 2 weeks for the cooldown to be over when using it like this. Also, you can call the graveyard, and a copy of all the blades you lost will appear to your aid. But that is a one-time deal, if you summon one of your previous court members like that, they can never be summoned again, and the skill will no longer be available to you," Daskka explained.
Hera's eyes started to sparkle. A skill like that opened many possibilities, and she could even start to look for random weapons with interesting skills so she could call them when needed, "Ok, that sounds amazing. How can I get that one?"
"It's a bit on the expensive side. But the worst-case scenario may be a year or so. That's only considering you don't do anything with your legacy. As you know, the more you use it, the more points you get, so if you keep calling everyone out, it shouldn't take that long for you to be able to get that skill," Daskka explained.
"Ok. I like that. Let's save for that one, but if you end up finding another interesting skill that's cheaper, let me know," Hera turned to Nimbus, "Ok, so you saw what happened with the daggers, right? Do you want me to do that with the tonfas too?"
"Now that we see what the scroll does, I can tell that you shouldn't have any major changes. At least not on your appearance or personality," Daskka added.
'Are you sure?' Nimbus stared Daskka dead in the eyes.
"Positive, you don't have to worry about it. Also, it should only affect the weapons, not you."
"That's even better. You can stay by my side when we are going through that," Hera suggested.
'Ok,' Nimbus changed from his griffon form to his humanoid one, "Let's do this," he passed the tonfas to Hera. He was still somewhat scared, but he wasn't about to let a pair of weapons from a lower layer one up him.
Hera nodded and did the same thing with the tonfas, placing the scroll on top of them and pressing yes on the notification. One more time, the speck of light appeared and started traveling through the scroll. It passed through almost half of the drawing before it stopped to dance. It stopped in the picture of the volcano in a tall mountain, and the dance lasted for longer. Instead of just one speck of light, two came from that image. Another one came out in the picture of the mountain with the waterfall and, in the last drawing, a place that was an empty field with blue skies, one final mote of energy came out. In total, five balls of light jumped from the scroll and fell in the tonfas. The weapon started to glow, and Nimbus grabbed Hera's hand.
"Are you ok?" Hera asked.
"I'm… just scared," Nimbus replied.
"I'm here with you. If you feel any pain, just let me know, and I'll stop this," Hera placed her other hand on top of his. She was starting to regret her decision. Even if this could make him stronger, she never expected the Sentinel to be like this. After a few tense moments, the light surrounding the tonfas disappeared, but there was no notification.
"Are they done?" Nimbus reached out to grab the weapons.
"Wait," Hera said, but the Sentinel touched the weapon before she could finish the word. At that moment, the light flew from the tonfas and wrapped around Nimbus' chest, "Nimbus!" Hera cried.
The Sentinel jumped back with a scared expression and yelled as if it was in pain. A few seconds passed before he stopped screaming and touched his chest, "It doesn't hurt."
"THEN WHY DID YOU YELL?" Hera and Daskka yelled at the same time.
"I got spooked!" Nimbus protested as the light vanished and revealed some markings on his body. They were just small lines that were a lighter color than his skin. Those lines would swirl around in a way that it was clear they represented wind.
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Flaming Frostguards were upgraded by the Spirit of the Spiral Mural.
The following skills were added to the item.
Call of the wind:
This weapon has a 20% chance of enchanting its next effect with wind. If the effect deals damage, it adds 30% of wind damage.
Wind Front:
When triggering a fire or cold effect at the same time that the Call of the Wind skill is triggered. The fire or cold effect will increase by 50%
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"Wait, does that mean Wind Front also increases the damage?" Hera asked.
"Yep, it affects everything," Daskka nodded.
"Damn. That's amazing," Hera smiled.
"I truly am," Nimbus puffed up his chest but got a flick on his forehead.
"You are also the person who almost gave me a heart attack," Hera sighed.
Daskka stared at him before scoffing, "Ok, let's look at the last reward."
Hera nodded and tapped the option to take Chika's gift. What came out of it was a pair of round stones that looked like snake eyes. One green and one silver. Hera had to do a double take to look at Chika, but the giant snake still had her eyes intact.
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Snake Eyes Gemstone
A pair of crystals that can be used during the crafting process. They possess a strong affinity to magic and can increase the strength of most other materials.
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"This is… kind of underwhelming in comparison," Hera shrugged.
"Well, not all rewards can be amazing. Besides, we never know what that can turn to," Nimbus smiled.
"Mum… Can I have those?" Daskka asked.
Hera looked at Daskka, "I mean. Sure, what are you going to do with them?"
"I want to eat it," Daskka replied without missing a beat.
"What?" Hera blinked a few times.
"I want to eat it. They seem delicious. Like really delicious," Daskka was already salivating.
"I… I don't…. Really?" Hera couldn't find the words.
"Yes."
Hera rubbed her eyes, "Do you mind waiting a while? I'll talk to Naph to see if this could make you sick or something."
"I can't get sick, mum," Daskka rolled her eyes.
"You also don't have to eat, but here we are. I just want to make sure this is not going to end up as something bad, ok?" Hera waited for Daskka to nod and walked off towards Naph, mumbling, "Now my necklace wants to eat rocks, and my weapon screams because of light… since when did my life get this weird?"