Path of Dragons 16 - Chapter 68 - Upgrade (Patreon)

“A place called Orveth Kaal.”

“Was it a system reward?” asked the Appraiser, still staring at the folded cloak.  The leaves fluttered in a nonexistent wind, creating a rustling sound that should not have existed.  It only lasted for a second, but even that was enough to establish it as something wholly special.

“Yeah.  Why?  Does that make a difference?”

“I…I don’t know,” admitted the Appraiser.  He ran his hand through his hair, sweat beading on his forehead.  “Maybe.  It would explain some things.”

“Like what?”

He finally looked up and locked eyes with Elijah.  “Like the fact that this is the most powerful piece of equipment in the world.  And it’s probably not even close.”

“Oh.  Well, that kind of makes sense, given what I had to do to get it,” Elijah admitted.  After all, he’d gotten first place in an ancestral world, and judging by the other rewards – fifteen levels, an ancestral boon, and a token to access the Empire of Scale’s Second Treasury – it was always going to be a powerful one.  “So?”

“Huh?” asked the still stunned Appraiser.

“Can I see the appraisal?” Elijah asked.

That question broke the spell.  “Oh.  Right.  Yeah.  Sorry,” he breathed.  Then, he waved his hand, and an illusory display manifested above the table.  That was when Elijah saw why the Appraiser was so surprised.

Cloak of the Wild Revenant

Overall Grade: Sacred (Low) (Growth)

Enchantment Grade: S

Description:  The Cloak of the Wild Revenant is only one piece of the Wild Revenant Raiment, once worn by the leader of a sect of groveless Druids.  It is as much a symbol of authority as it is a useful piece of equipment.

Attribute Bonuses:

+ 125 Strength, +125 Dexterity, +200 Constitution, +215 Regeneration, +195 Ethera

Trait:

Druid’s Sacrifice: Absorb a piece of equipment to redistribute its power into the Raiment of the Wild Revenant. Limited to one sacrifice per year.

“What does this mean?” Elijah asked after reading the description a couple of times.

“I…I don’t know,” admitted the Appraiser.  “I have encountered growth items in the past, but this…this…it breaks our understanding of how they work.”

Then, he went on to explain that in order to upgrade most growth items, one usually needed to create powerful potions, then apply them under the guidance of a qualified Tradesman.  Even then, results weren’t guaranteed.

“So, how do I make it work?” Elijah asked.

“That is a good question.  Give me a moment,” he said, clearly still trying to gather his wits.  Not an easy proposition, given it seemed that his entire worldview had been shattered.  For Elijah, it was a little easier to accept, and for two reasons.  The first was that he’d not made a study of how things like that were supposed to work, so the revelation didn’t hit quite as hard as it did for someone who had.  The second was that he routinely encountered things that others might find miraculous.  As interesting as the Cloak of the Wild Revenant was, it wasn’t even in his top five of system events.

That wasn’t to undersell its importance, though.  If it worked the way he hoped it would, then it made one of his concerns – that he would outgrow the set of gear – obsolete.  Given enough time, the growth potential was enormous.

As Elijah considered the implications, the Appraiser – whose name he’d never gotten – activated an ability.  Bands of ethera snapped out, invisible but thick enough for Elijah to feel, and wrapped around the apparatus.  They contracted slowly, feeding energy back into the Appraiser.  He clenched his fists in clear effort, his eyes narrowing in concentration.

The ability remained active for nearly five minutes, during which time Elijah watched with some interest.  He’d never really considered what kinds of skills an Appraiser might get at higher levels, and seeing it in action was intriguing.

When Elijah probed those bands of ethera with the sense granted by Soul of the Wild, he got the impression of vast flows of data.  He was reminded of the earliest days of the internet, when movies and television shows depicted the “information superhighway” in various visual forms. 

The Appraiser’s ability wasn’t that, but it came with a similar feeling.

Elijah’s touch seemed to irritate the man, though.  Once he realized that, he pulled back and let the Appraiser work.

After almost five minutes, the man withdrew his ability and slumped his shoulders in exhaustion.  A second later, he nearly collapsed.  Elijah stepped forward to keep him from falling.  On reflex, he cast Wild Resurgence, filling the Appraiser with vitality.  It didn’t really help much regarding the fatigue, though the influx of life energy was a net benefit for his health.

“I apologize,” he muttered, forcing himself to straighten.  “That is a new ability, and I’ve never kept it active for its entire duration.  That item’s history is just so interesting that I couldn’t resist.”

“Really?  What’s the story?” Elijah asked.

The Appraiser answered with a short story about a group of Druids whose planet was destroyed.  Without a grove, they set out into the multi-verse, eventually finding their way into the plane of nature.  Also known as Silvara.  There, they established themselves as something like eco-terrorists, taking the spontaneously forming portals into Mortalum and exacting vengeance upon anyone they deemed guilty of violating nature.

“They were a scourge, rapidly growing in power until an alliance of transcendents was forced to destroy them – along with a good portion of Silvara,” the Appraiser finished.  “Some of them persisted, even then, though they were confined to the plane of nature.  They were known as wild revenants.”

“Thus, the name,” Elijah guessed.

The Appraiser nodded.  “The system took their…essence? Spirits?  It’s unclear.  But it infused it into that set of gear,” he added.  “That’s where we are now.”

“Interesting,” Elijah admitted.  He’d long wondered about the history of his set, and now that he knew it, he wasn’t sure what to think.  On the one hand, he couldn’t help but applaud the idea of a bunch of Druids hunting people who violated nature. He’d done similar, and on multiple occasions.  However, he got the distinct impression that they took things much further than he ever would. 

Then again, he wasn’t sure how he would react if someone destroyed his grove, much less his entire planet.  It wouldn’t be pretty, though.  That much was absolutely certain.

So, maybe he didn’t have any room to judge the wild revenants.

However, the story did serve to awaken something inside him.  One day – maybe even soon – he intended to venture into Silvara.  And perhaps he would meet one of those disembodied revenants and get their side of the story.

“So?”

“What?”

“How does it work?” Elijah asked.

“Oh.  That.  You just wrap the cloak around an item.  It’ll absorb its power.  The more powerful the item, the longer it takes.  But I got the impression that it wouldn’t take more than a week, regardless of the strength,” the Appraiser explained.  “One caveat is that the cloak needs to completely surround the item.  If it’s too big, then it won’t really work. I also don’t think it will work on anything with a higher grade than it.”

So that ruled a lot of things out.

Like the spear still sitting in Carmen’s smithy.  Or Thorn, come to that.  However, the possibilities were practically endless.

“And then it just puts the attributes onto another piece of gear?  What about traits?” he asked.

That was where he got a bit of a disappointment.  The Appraiser explained that activated abilities were non-transferable.  However, that was followed by a bit of good news when he said, “Passive traits transfer to one of the pieces in your set.  Only twenty percent of the attributes, though.”

“Is there a limit?  Like, let’s say I sacrifice twenty items over the next two decades – they’ll just keep adding on?” he asked.

The answer to that question was, “Probably.”

Then, the Appraiser went on to explain that his ability didn’t always give him exact information.  It was really good at providing historical information, but was a little less effective when it came to specific data on things like cooldowns.  That was by design – he’d taken that evolution of his original Appraise ability because history was one of the ways they justified higher prices.

Unfortunately, he was the highest level pure Appraiser in Atticus’s employ.  The rest were barely ascendent.

“I’m guessing I have to wear the cloak to get the effect, huh?” Elijah asked.

The Appraiser nodded, confirming that was the case.  It made sense.  Otherwise, he could just use Sacrifice to absorb a piece of gear.  Then, exchange the cloak for something with better attributes or other traits.  Like the Mantle of the Chimera.  Even though its accompanying attributes were much lower than the Cloak of the Wild Revenant, Chimeric Shielding was worth it all on its own.

However, now that he was aware of how it all worked, he knew exactly which piece of gear would be his first sacrifice.  So, he asked, “Want to see the first one?”

The Appraiser excitedly answered, “Yes!”

So, Elijah pulled the Mantle of the Chimera out of his storage space.  Then, he retrieved the Cloak of the Wild Revenant from the table before gingerly wrapping it around the shimmery bundle of cloth.

And nothing happened.

“Inject a little ethera and a bit of blood.  Kind of like you’re binding something.”

“Oh.  Right.  That makes sense.”

Elijah pricked his finger with a dagger he kept in his storage, then pushed some ethera through his channels and into the Cloak of the Wild Revenant.  The effect was immediate.

Something latched onto that flow of energy and yanked it forward.  Elijah nearly stumbled at the sudden change, and out of reflex, he activated his Mantle of Authority.  The building shook as enchantments throughout the structure sparked.  The Appraiser collapsed, shaking with a seizure.

Elijah only kept his mantle deployed for an instant, but by that point, the damage was done.  He yanked it back just as the door shattered off its hinges.  A second later, three demigod Warriors burst through.

Elijah only needed one look to know they meant business.  So, he raised his hands – with the bundle of cloth in one – and said, “Just a misunderstanding guys.  I don’t want trouble.”

They rushed him anyway.

That lasted right up until Elijah kicked the leader’s legs, shattering his kneecaps so thoroughly that it almost resulted in amputation.  He skidded forward, slamming into the appraisal table and turning it into a collection of stone and splinters. 

More importantly, the other two guards recognized just how thoroughly they were outmatched, and they skidded to a stop.  A second later, a domain slammed into Elijah.  He gasped for breath, but for only a moment before he once again deployed his Mantle of Authority. 

The domain broke immediately.

“I don’t want a fight!” Elijah reiterated.  “Just calm down so I can heal your friend.”

The dissolution of the domain broke through the guards’ panic, and Elijah retracted his Mantle of Authority to within a few inches of his body.  Then, he knelt next to the injured Warrior, who’d gone into shock.  Elijah cast Wild Resurgence, then Bough of the World Tree.  Finally, he added Blessing of the Grove.

It wasn’t enough.

Elijah was then forced to rearrange the broken bones in the lead guard’s knee.  Once the pieces were back together, they began to mend.  Relief flooded the man’s face.

For his part, Elijah then moved on to the Appraiser. 

His seizure had ceased, but he was still unconscious.  Elijah cast his heals , but it soon became clear that the problem wasn’t physical.  Taking a deep breath, Elijah wrapped his soul around Wild Resurgence and recast it.  The idea was similar to how he’d used it at the beginning of the ancestral world, meant to heal metaphysical injuries.

And it worked.

Quickly, too.  Evidence that the Appraiser had neglected his cultivation, as far as Elijah was concerned. 

“What happened?”

“I reacted poorly to something unexpected. I’m sorry.”

“It…it’s okay,” the Appraiser muttered.  Then, he looked around and saw the gthree guards, one of whom was still on the ground nursing his healing knees.  “What are you three doing in here?”

“We responded to a threat,” answered one of the standing guards.  She looked a little embarrassed. 

“Do you know who this is?”

She nodded.

“Then you’d better pray that Mr. Ariti doesn’t find out about this,” the Appraiser spat. Then, in a much calmer tone, he told Elijah, “I apologize for their conduct.  Please – what can we do to make it right?”

Elijah shook his head.  “No – it was my fault.  I’ll send a message to Atticus telling him to take the cost of repairs out of my account.  And to give you all bonuses for quick action,” he said.  It felt insufficient, but he didn’t know what else to do. 

The bottom line was that he’d screwed up.  He was still wound pretty tight after his time in Orveth Kaal, and he’d reacted poorly. 

He apologized again.  They did the same, creating a standoff of sorries.  And eventually, Elijah just decided to leave by casting Root Nexus and returning to his grove.

“That was a disaster,” he mumbled to himself.  Then, he looked at the bundle.  “Well, not totally wasted, at least.”