Chapter 321: Etherium

"Both armies will have three days to prepare. According to our reports, the enemy has not yet begun moving toward our battlefield. However, once that deadline expires, the confrontation could erupt at any moment."

The Central Elder’s words echoed firmly before his projection dissipated into the air.

A tense silence hung over the square as everyone absorbed the gravity of the situation.

Little by little, the spatial rifts connecting the branches began to close.

Mishnar took a deep breath and turned her gaze toward the members of her branch. "You heard him. Disciples, return to your factions and begin preparations immediately. Priam, you’re coming with the Elders and me."

With a gesture, an intense light enveloped the thousands of disciples, teleporting them back to their respective territories.

Priam reappeared in front of a colossal building located in the innermost region of the branch, a short distance from the area where the Ylisse Clan had settled. Hundreds of Elders stood solemnly around him.

Mishnar walked toward the entrance and used her authority emblem to undo an extremely complex protective seal. The process took several minutes before the barrier changed color, revealing gleaming white runes across the surface of the gates.

After a long sigh, she turned to Priam and explained:

"This pavilion houses the 11th Branch’s collection of core techniques. Our strength declined throughout the ages because, in the distant past, we suffered a devastating defeat against the Sorcerers. That conflict cost us our ancestral territory at the time, forcing our ancestors to evacuate in a hurry."

"As a consequence... we managed to preserve only the elite techniques. We lost all the beginner and intermediate-level manuals, along with our defensive armor techniques. All that remained were the advanced techniques, accessible only to those who had reached the level of a Sage."

"I’m explaining this because, in the upcoming battle, you may face Sorcerers using methods similar to those preserved here. They stole many things from us. Many techniques originally had nine levels of mastery, and we preserved only the final two—although they can still be used in a weakened form without the foundational stages."

Priam nodded, understanding the situation.

Having received all the specialties from the other branches, he knew that the others possessed methods adapted for every level of Mage.

The 11th Branch had no such gradual progression.

It was a miracle they weren’t currently dead last among the branches. Having almost nothing to offer Mages created an absurd power gap compared to the other branches.

"I’ve granted you and the Elders unlimited access to the pavilion," Mishnar continued.

She explained that those techniques weren’t classified as conventional Magical Arts because they were performed in direct synergy with weapons.

In the Sage Realm, everyone used weapons equipped with their own core and a rudimentary consciousness. By synchronizing their energy with the artifact, a Sage could unleash devastating attacks with dynamics completely different from ordinary magic.

These weapons were divided into three grades of power: Mortal, Divine, and Emperor.

All of them were forged by master blacksmiths at the Sage level—a task so difficult that even the most talented among them rarely produced more than a single weapon per century.

The most basic artifacts were what Enlightened and Philosopher Sages used; they were known as Spiritual Artifacts. They possessed a basic consciousness, capable of understanding their wielder’s commands and learning combat techniques.

The next tier consisted of Ancestral Artifacts, restricted to Exalted Sages—the third rank of the Sage Realm.

At the pinnacle were the legendary Eternal Artifacts. Throughout the entire world, only nine of these items had ever been recorded, all belonging to the supreme sects.

Only Immortals could unleash their full power. However, an Exalted Sage at Level 9 with exceptional power could unleash one or two attacks using an Eternal Artifact—enough to erase any mortal as if they were nothing more than an insect.

Mishnar turned her attention back to the pavilion entrance.

"Since the branch lacked basic manuals, the Elder Leaders of each generation invested fortunes into acquiring elite weapons. This way, every new Sage emerging from the 11th Branch had the opportunity to obtain a high-level weapon and a corresponding technique."

That strategy was what had kept the 11th Branch’s prestige alive, at least to some extent. By using their powerful techniques and weapons, the approval rate of their Sages in the Inner Sect examination was twice that of any other branch.

The problem was the number of candidates: while the 8th Branch sent three dozen candidates to each examination, the 11th Branch could send, at most, three.

Of those three, historically, two became Inner Disciples. Meanwhile, the 8th Branch averaged only five successful candidates.

"Inside, you’ll find Spiritual Weapons of Mortal, Divine, and Emperor grades. All of these weapons have already assimilated a compatible technique of extremely high level, saving you the time it would take to learn one. You may also choose an additional technique to incorporate into your repertoire. However, you can’t simply choose any item: the Sage must demonstrate energetic compatibility with the weapon’s consciousness and technique."

Mishnar stared at the open gates.

"The pavilion is protected by a Sage-level inscription. To claim a weapon, you’ll have to pass the compatibility test. This inscription was created back during the golden age of our branch, and it evaluates each individual with absolute precision."

She made a brief hand gesture, fully opening the passage.

"Elder Nozan, take over the supervision. I’ll isolate myself for the final preparations," Mishnar declared to a white-haired elder, disappearing into thin air the next moment.

Elder Nozan took a deep breath and gestured for everyone to enter.

Priam calmly followed the crowd.

The inside of the pavilion seemed like a world of its own. Although the outer structure looked like an ordinary building, its inner dimension had been spatially expanded to such an extent that it was impossible to see its boundaries.

Floating more than a hundred meters above the ground, thousands of transparent orbs hovered in the air, each one containing a weapon inside. There were spears, swords, sabers, axes, bows... hundreds of options for each category.

The orbs gave off different-colored glows. Nearly 80% emitted a reddish hue, while 19.99% glowed green.

Only five of them radiated a celestial-blue hue. The hierarchy was obvious: the vast majority belonged to the lower grade, while the branch housed only five Emperor-grade weapons.

Priam followed the others without much expectation. The Elder Leader hadn’t given him a chance to refuse to come here. Since he didn’t use weapons, he doubted there would be anything that interested him.

Still, since he was already there, he decided to examine the five Emperor-grade items...

"?"

One of the artifacts completely stood out from the others. It didn’t look anything like a traditional weapon. It was a black flame only a few centimeters in size, twisting in the air and constantly changing its shape.

Focusing his vision on the center of the orb, Priam noticed tiny black metal plates floating inside the flame.

"Found something that interests you?" a gentle voice sounded beside him.

Priam turned and nodded to Elder Nozan before pointing at the peculiar sphere. "What’s that thing?"

The old man followed the direction of his gesture and smiled knowingly.

"That’s Elder Central Maut’s latest masterpiece, the greatest blacksmith in the sect."

Priam was surprised to hear the name. Elder Central Maut was precisely the one who had approached him after he returned from the mission—the blacksmith who had forged the earrings for the twins and offered to study the two rare metals he’d brought back from another world.

"Elder Central Maut forged two of the five Emperor-grade weapons in our branch. The one you’ve focused on, though... is quite peculiar. It’s made of Etherium Metal, an amorphous metal known for being the most difficult natural metal in our world to work with."

"Etherium is excellent for support items. If a weapon or armor breaks during battle, Etherium can instantly reshape itself to cover the damaged area and allow the user to keep fighting. Because it’s extremely difficult to forge and few Sages are willing to pay a high price for a secondary item, very few blacksmiths bother creating anything high-level with it. But... Elder Central Maut is eccentric, and he accepted the project purely for the challenge."

"Elder Leader Mishnar acquired this piece about three centuries ago. I don’t know the exact reason—perhaps it was simply to help Elder Central find a use for his creation."

Priam listened to the explanation carefully, and a cunning gleam appeared in his eyes. An ambitious idea took hold of his mind.

"This artifact can take any shape... Would it be possible to turn it into a gauntlet, for example?"

Elder Nozan nodded. "Yes. It might not look like it, but it’s possible to make the metal take an incredibly solid form. Unfortunately, the energy consumption required to maintain it is considerable, but once stabilized, this metal becomes absurdly heavy and durable, incapable of being destroyed even by an Ancient Weapon."

"Besides, the more Ether you inject into the material, the heavier it becomes... That connection to Ether is why they gave it a similar name. But it’s not much of an advantage, because too much durability and weight destroys mobility and makes attacks slow and predictable..."

The old man stopped speaking when he noticed Priam’s eyes shining like stars.

To the young man, that didn’t sound like a flaw—it sounded like the greatest treasure of all.

However, before Priam could take a step forward...

"I’ll succeed this time!" another Elder roared, filled with fierce determination.

He shot toward the sky, heading straight for the orb containing the black Etherium flame.