Preparations for Battle II

Freya pulled the magic sword wrapped in a dark cloth from her back and put it on the ground.

'Remember, focus on keeping a hold of it.' Art voiced as Freya hesitantly looked at the sword, 'Let me deal with the Miasma. It will hurt, but not as much as the first time.'

The female nodded after a moment and unwrapped the hidden sword. The dark blade rested on the dark cloth with its regained aura of malice. Freya could also notice a faint purple glow surrounding it. As she went to grab it, the same purple pulse of Miasma flashed across the blade but she didn't stop and tightly grabbed onto the blade from its handle.

'No! Let me go!' Freya once more heard the childish voice in her head as Art guided her mana into her hands in droves. Mana and Miasma, the two opposite energies, collided at the point of contact and clashed violently.

Freya's hands began to burn but it was still manageable and she held strong. Art used her mana as an impenetrable shield that blocked the demonic energy from entering her body. The sword sent even more Miasma into her hands, trying to get out of her grip.

Art stopped the purple energy from running wild and created tiny tunnels of mana inside Freya's right hand that led to the purple arc on the back of her hand. And then he allowed the dangerous Miasma to enter these channels.

As soon as the energy was inside her hand, it tried to break through the Mana walls and wreak havoc, but the walls held strong. As the demonic energy began to travel towards the tattoo on her hands, Freya felt as if red hot worms were crawling underneath her flesh, burning her body from the inside, but it was still far better than the pain she felt last time.

The energy reached the back of her hand and the purple arc began to grow gradually. Artium didn't waste a single iota of the purple essence and directed every drop towards the tattoo. The arc expanded slowly and steadily, until almost a minute later it was on the verge of finally forming a complete circle. Just then, the sword stopped pushing out the energy as its reserves were completely exhausted, and the arc stopped just shy of joining its two edges and becoming a circle.

Freya breathed out a sigh of relief when her pain vanished. It may not be too extreme, but feeling burning worms crawling beneath your skin was not a pleasant feeling. Art then guided her mana to repair the damage done to her body, and a pleasant feeling filled her hands.

'Thanks.' Freya expressed her gratitude to the ancient mage. 'I hope I also find a way to get accepted by this damn sword soon.'

'I hope so, too. You are already close to completing the second requirement.' Art attracted her eyes to the quest window's requirements.

[i) Absorb even more Miasma. (50/100)]

'The progress is better than last night, now that we didn't waste anything. Two more days and it will be done.'

'That still doesn't solve the other condition.' Freya was still clueless about it. She had no idea how she was going to do it. 'I have thought about it a lot but I still have no idea what the damn sword wants.'

'The sword's consciousness similar to that of a child, since it is very weak.' Artium began to explain his thoughts. 'It uses very few words and sounds childish. If you can somehow prove that you are worthy to wield it, perhaps by using it to beat a strong opponent, then it may recognize you.'

'How am I supposed to wield it when it doesn't even let me touch it?' The annoyed mage/swordswoman mentally shouted in frustration. 'I can barely hold it as it is, let alone in a fight.'

'You leave that to me. Even with a small amount of your mana I can stop its Miasma from entering your body.' The male mage gave her an option. 'As long as you are able to deal with your enemy with your own skill, the sword will not hinder you. Now that's leaves finding you a good opponent.'

'How about Jeera?' Freya suggested as she took at the second quest she had been given to find and kill the Orc raiders.

[Quest: Orc Extermination

Difficulty: Rare

Description: A group of Orcs has been raiding and pillaging the countryside of Chemor and the Mayor of Betlam has given you a quest to find them and exterminate them. Prove yourself during the quest and you may get a surprising reward.

Objectives:

i) Find and eliminate the Orcs.

ii) Rescue the Hostages.

iii) (Bonus) Kill the Orc leader Jeera using solely your Swordsmanship.

Rewards:

i) Exp.

ii) 5 Gold coins, plus 2 for each Orc killed by you.

iii) +5 to a random stat.

iv) (Bonus)???]

The quest menu showed a mysterious reward for killing the Orc leader, yet Freya was not sure that she will be able to fight him, let alone defeat him. According to the information she gained from Lorcias, Jeera had been practicing the fighting style of his father, who was a famous fighter among the Orc tribes, for close to a decade. He was a powerful aura user that was known as the Axe Demon due to his ferocious fighting style. And his son inherited those techniques.

How Freya even think of fighting someone like that without even using her magic. She had only been practicing the sword for a few days, and Jeera had been practicing his for years. She had no hope of defeating him alone.

Luckily for her, the quest requirement said nothing of fighting him by herself. If she fought side by side with Morris who had excellent defense and Ariane who could provide her with support, she saw a sliver of hope. Maybe she could do it. Maybe she could defeat him with help from her teammates, and then the sword will finally accept her as its master.

'Jeera might just do. He is quite a formidable warrior, according to that info.' Art liked her idea, in fact he was already thinking of the Orc leader himself. If Freya followed the quest conditions and only fought him using swordsmanship, then the sword might just recognize her. However, if she used magic to fight him, while increasing her chance exponentially against the Orc fighter, it would lose her the Sword's trust and the secret reward, whatever it was.