Chapter 37: The Final Stage (3)

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: The Final Stage (3)

Around three miles deeper into the northern ravine of the Ironwood Expanse, the violet light of a teleportation circle flashed beneath the twisted roots of a century-old ironwood tree.

?Unlike Marcus, Aegon did not stumble when his boots touched the damp earth. He stood completely still, his posture straight and his breathing steady as the 70% mana suppression array pressed down on his shoulders like an invisible mountain.

?Aegon inhaled the air.

Immediately, he felt the heavy sluggishness restricting his publicly registered Blood Berserker Grimoire.

But his Blood Rage spell was a physical enhancement type ability, so he doubted yhe suppression would work on it.

That meant he already had one card to play with.

But of course, that’s not all.

?Deep within the center of his soul space, the black leather cover of ATUM remained completely untouched by the suppression array.

?Aegon smiled with superiority.

Asking a mortal runic formation to suppress the primordial Grimoire of Creation was like trying to dam the ocean with a handful of sand.

?Glancing at the wooden weapon rack placed ten paces away, Aegon ignored the dull, mass-produced iron swords left by the academy proctors.

He knew well that those cheap blades would snap the moment they collided with the reinforced alchemical steel of a Giant Puppet.

?Aegon then looked up at the dense canopy overhead.

Through the gaps in the leaves, he spotted a faint, microscopic glint of silver light clinging to a high branch. It was a Scrying Beetle, one of thousands of magical surveillance constructs used by Chief Proctor Ronin to project the forest’s battles onto the water-mirrors outside.

He smirked evilly.

?Next, Sstepping calmly behind the massive, hollowed-out trunk of the ancient ironwood tree, Aegon positioned himself directly inside the dead angle of the beetle’s vision.

With his back turned to the surveillance rune and his cloak draped over his left arm, he silently called forth the black notebook and the Quill of Finality.

?He did not need to forge a mythical artifact that would draw the greed of the Imperial Court. He only needed a lethal weapon that could pass for a family heirloom hidden inside a spatial pouch.

?Closing his eyes for a brief second, Aegon’s hand danced across the dark page, inscribing a crimson-hilted longsword forged from volcanic star-iron and etched with a dual-layered amplification circuit.

?Ting.

?In an instantl, 6 points of Soul Power vanished, and a heavy longsword materialized silently into his right hand.

Its dark crimson scabbard blended perfectly with the folds of his cloak.

?[ Item Created: Flame Sword (D-Grade Magic Weapon) ]

[ Effect: Amplifies the wielder’s channeled magic power and elemental output by 200%. ]

?

With a mental command, Aegon sent ATUM back into his soul.

He wrapped his fingers around the warm leather grip of the Flame Sword and then glanced at the translucent status screen hovering before his eyes.

?[ Name: Aegon Noiré Delacroix ]

[ Strength: 38 ]

[ Vitality: 40 ]

[ Speed: 41 ]

[ Mana: 20 / 20 ]

[ Soul Power: 13 / 19 (Nascent) ]

[ Spells: Blood Rage (F) ]

?As the writer, Aegons knew an average, fully grown ordinary adult man in this world possessed physical attributes hovering around 10 in each category. Even a veteran knight on the front lines rarely exceeded 25 without channeling mana to reinforce his body.

After absorbing the two Titan’s Marrow Potions and undergoing Mana refinement, Aegon’s ten-year-old frame possessed nearly four times the raw strength, vitality, and speed of a grown adult.

And [ Blood Rage ] could increase it by another 30%.

?Combined with the Magic Sword, Basic Swordplay skills, and a stronger body, Aegon was practically a walking calamity.

With that confidence blooming in his chest, he stepped forward.

As soon as he did—

?Swish!

The wind above his head split apart without a sound.

He looked up in alarm, and saw two Seventh-Generation Combat Puppets dropped simultaneously from the canopy like giant spiders.

Unlike the lone assassin that had ambushed the boy near Marcus, these two moved in a synchronized pincer formation. One swung a heavy iron halberd straight at Aegon’s neck from the left to force him to block, while the second puppet lunged low from the right, thrusting a serrated broadsword toward his heart.

?It was a textbook execution strike designed by Grandmaster Gorden to slaughter panicked children who tried to dodge backward.

?Yet to Aegon’s eyes, backed by 41 points of Speed and the icy clarity of the [ Ring of the Focused Mind], the two lunging automatons looked as though they were swimming through thick mud.

?He could see every twitch of their monster-tendon joints and every flicker of the crimson runes beneath their silver-wood armor.

More importantly, he saw the fatal flaw hidden beneath their left armpits, where the secondary mana conduit crossed the shoulder joint without armor plating to allow for human-like sword swings.

?Aegon did not retreat a single inch.

?With a crisp shing, he drew the Flame Sword from its scabbard and poured a single point of mana into the hilt.

?WHOOSH!

?Even under the forest’s seventy-percent suppression field, the sword’s innate 200% magic amplification roared to life.

Every edge of its blades erupted with terrifying heat.

To any proctor watching from the scrying arrays above, it looked exactly like a secret blood-flame martial art derived from his Blood Berserker Grimoire.

Swoosh!

Aegon moved.

?Like a phantom, he stepped straight inside the arc of the falling halberd.

?With 38 points of raw Strength behind his wrist, he did not bother with fancy footwork.

He swung the burning blade upward in a single, violent arc.

?CLANG—CRACK!

?The Flame Sword sheared straight through the thick iron shaft of the first puppet’s halberd as if it were dry bamboo, continuing uninterrupted into the unarmored conduit beneath its left arm.

Hisss!

The moment it connected, searing crimson fire flooded the puppet’s internal circuit, and its silver-wood chest exploded into burning splinters from the inside out.

?Before the shattered pieces of the first automaton even hit the dirt, the second puppet’s broadsword was an inch away from Aegon’s ribs.

?Without even turning his head, Aegon rotated on his hell.

Then, his left hand shot out to grab the puppet’s iron wrist in midair.

?Crunch!

?Under the monstrous grip of someone four times stronger than an adult man, the puppet’s alchemical steel wrist crumpled like tin foil.

Aegon yanked the staggered automaton forward and drove the tip of the Flame Sword straight through the three-inch gap beneath its sternum, shattering its glowing crimson core into dust.

?Ding!

?[ Two Ordinary Combat Puppets Destroyed. +20 Points Acquired. ]

?