Chương 102: B2 Chapter 10 - Bondsmith

[Warning, this NPC uses vulgar and offensive language. Proceed with caution.]"Jackpot," I said at the sight of the Bondsmith tag in Quisel's name, and even more so at the warning. This would be good. Maybe I wasn't so terrible at questing, after all. It only took us, what, half a day of work to get here. That was half a day of not grinding levels and not exploring the map. Hopefully this would end up being worth it.

"Jackpot?" Quisel asked, frowning at me.

"Yeah, that's what you folk make of royal bondsmiths these days. I'm just a living cork puller for soulshards!" Quisel couldn't have been more than twenty years old. A scraggly beard and unkempt long hair made him look older, but his face itself had smooth skin, and his voice sounded like it had just been deepened by puberty. His chin was definitely sharp. A bath and a better outfit than a dirty robe would have made him look pretty good.

"Hello, hello, and my apologies," I said.

"We just kicked a gang out next door. Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"If Chisa is dead, I'm over fucking joyed," Quisel said.

"As long as you two aren't also going to lock me up in a cell and force me to work! At least in the palace, Shaltar gave me baths, even if she used my services to enslave this entire damn city!"

"It's alright, sir," Veyra said calmly.

"Would you like a meal? We'll try our best not to be as bad as Chisa."

"You'd have to try to be worse than her!" Quisel barked.

"This whole fucking city is corrupt! And yes, I would like a meal! I may have the power to bond spirits to your soul, indeed, but that job is certainly easier if my stomach isn't trying to eat itself for energy!" Veyra turned to me, and I took her look as a request to go search for food. I kept the door open to listen to them while I returned to the main hideout to search for something edible.

"Your life will be a lot more pleasant from now on," Veyra said. I heard a quiet hiss of frost magic, followed by a cutting sound. She must have freed him from the chair. I searched the counter, finding nothing but cabinets full of alcohol bottles. It didn't look like anything edible was kept in this room. I grabbed the fanciest whiskey bottle, one that had a label still, and brought it to the room.

"We'll have to go to a tavern, I think," I said.

"This might have some calories for now." Veyra gave me a why the hell did you bring that here look, only for Quisel to grab the bottle from my hands. He popped the cork open with his hands and gulped it straight from the bottle. I shrugged at Veyra. She looked more and more concerned with each gulp our new best friend took. Quisel put the bottle down with force, having drunk enough that none spilled over from the thump.

"So," he said.

"I'm Quisel. A bondsmith, formerly a royal, and I suppose still technically in Shaltar's service. I tried to retire a month ago. One big mistake, that fucking idea was. Shaltar didn't really think kindly of that, you see."

"What happened?" Veyra asked.

"She sent me here is what she did," Quisel said.

"For this fake gang!" Veyra and I looked at each other.

"Wait," I said.

"Fake gang?"

"What, you haven't figured it out?" Quisel asked.

"Chisa, Melissa, all of these goons, they're all employed by Shaltar! The Phantom Spirits are just working here. Why do you think they haven't been caught yet? It's because they're purposefully spreading hope to these idiots in this fucking city."

"Wow," I said, grinning at Veyra.

"You were exactly right. Impressive." She shrugged.

"It was just a guess." To Quisel, she said, "So even the savior gangs in this city are all just Shaltar's men."

"In fucking deed," Quisel said, taking another gulp. A burp escaped, and his breath did not smell good.

"I presume you two are also looking for a bondsmith."

"We have soulshards, yes," I said. Quisel nodded.

"I offer my services for an adequate price. Or, you may kidnap me and force me to work, in which case I will eternally hope you die, but my services will be cheaper."

"We'll choose the kind option this time," I said.

"Just because you seem like a pleasant fellow to work with."

"Sure, whatever," Quisel said, stretching.

"The first exchange will be free as thanks for saving me from that gang. Give me your shards and spirits. We'll see if they'll be of any use against Shaltar." Interestingly, I still didn't have any quests active. Usually, Wonderwind rewarded milestones like these in quests with rewards of gold and XP. For S-ranked quests, the rewards themselves were sometimes worth more than whatever the NPCs themselves offered. The lack of a quest now could have been a red flag.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Veyra and I were frontrunning the quest. I could only hope finding Quisel was on par with an S-ranked quest.

"We have three total," I said, offering all two shards as well as Chisa's spirit to Quisel.

"Ah, so you want the first free exchange to include three exchanges," Quisel said, frowning at me.

"Very well. As long as you let me free, I'll agree."

"We won't kidnap you," I said and handed the soulshards and spirit to him.

"Tell me what the spirits do, please." Quisel breathed in.

"Give me a moment…" He closed his eyes and channeled some sort of magic. Suddenly, the disheveled man in front of us ascended into a deity. His feet lifted from the air, and an aura of heavenly white coated his skin. His eyes evolved from a dim brown to a beautiful gold. Any hints of intoxication disappeared as Quisel turned into a god. [Your spirits have been examined.] [You may bond with up to twenty five spirits of your choosing.] [Upon death, a bonded spirit might be lost.] Minor Spirit Of Soulsong Rarity: Tiny Spirit Abilities: Minor Soulsong (Active): The Creator's Soulsong calls upon weapons, enhancing all offensive attacks with abyssal power. All offensive attacks and abilities deal 100 and 2% more damage. Mitigate blocking and shielding by 5%. Duration: 60 seconds. Cooldown: 300 seconds.

"Interesting…" I said. This one was the blue spirit Chisa had wielded. It wasn't amazing, but also not inconsequential, depending on how that two percent was calculated. If the spirit's enhancement was added after all of my own enhancements were already calculated, the two percent would do some decent damage. Minor Spirit Of Stormsurge Rarity: Tiny Spirit Abilities: Minor Stormsurge (Active): The Stormsurge thrives in the violence of nature. Knockback resistance increased by 5%.

All elemental resistances increased by 25. Duration: 60 seconds. Cooldown: 300 seconds. Once again, nothing amazing on its own, but if twenty-five buffs like these could be equipped at once, the effects could start stacking up. Both spirits were also tiny, which probably meant they were the worst rarity. I could imagine higher rarity spirits being utterly overpowered. Our last spirit was small, however.

Lesser Spirit Of Astral Ambition Rarity: Small Spirit Lesser Astral Ambition (Active): The astral spirits dream of forgotten starscapes. All elemental spells deal an additional 5% time damage. Time spells cost 5% less mana. Duration: 60 seconds. Cooldown: 300 seconds.

"Oohhh," I said.

"Look at this one." Veyra read the details next to me.

"That's not bad at all," she said.

"Imagine twenty five of these active at the same time." My grin grew wider.

"I'd say these should all go to you. You'll make good use of them."

"No way," Veyra said.

"You take the two tiny ones. I'll bond with the time magic one. That I should definitely use."

"Fine." I turned to Quisel.

"Please bond the astral spirit to Veyra." A divine echo accompanied his voice.

"Affirmative." He pressed his hands together and closed his eyes. His aura burned from his shoulders like he was a large, calm candle. A flash came from his chest, and a spirit appeared, floating toward Veyra. It spun around her, examining her body, before bonding with her. For a moment, she glowed with time magic. Immediately as it happened, a global notification hit the server. The type of notification that was public for every player.

[The first player has bonded with a Spirit Of The Creators] [Spiritualists with the most influence may command castles] [The powers of spirits will be active in Worlds 2027] [Happy Hunting!]"And the remaining spirits?" Quisel asked.

"To me, please," I said, while awed by the notification. Quietly, I asked Veyra, "We can rule fucking castles?" She responded with an amused smile as she watched two more spirits bond to me. My inventory suddenly had another section in it, filled with twenty five slots for spirits. I could activate their powers just like any other skill. With all the spirits bonded, Quisel's ascension ended. Abruptly. He crashed down to his feet, the glow disappearing.

He barely caught the landing with his feet, only to drunkenly stumble forward, into my arms. He groaned, holding a hand against his head in pain.

"I'm never doing that for… hic … Free again!" He groaned.

"That's it, then. You promised to let me free."

"Uh, yes…" I said.

"Where can we find you again later?"

"I'm… hic … heading to the underworld," he said.

"The sewers. Business will boom, I know it. Find me there. And make sure to bring booze." He stumbled out through the door. Veyra and I watched, concerned. If this was real life, I'd be ordering a taxi for this guy right about now. Nevertheless, he exited, leaving us alone once again. I grinned at Veyra.

"Well. Not a bad event so far, right?"

"Wind Virtual really did expand their budget, huh?" Veyra said.

"It looks like we'll need to gather more soulshards. My build should become viable again at twenty five."

"Ah, we should have asked him where we can find more," I said.

"Killing spiritualists seems to be reliable, at least. Chisa dropped her spirits." I paused, then said, "So should Shaltar be our next target?" Veyra chuckled.

"Oh yeah, let's just casually kill the final boss of this area."

"I'd like to see what level she is, at least. But we'll need better gear. We're rocking garbage for any boss fight."

"Right," Veyra said.

"Maybe we'll snoop around in the city's underworld? That could be a good plan for tomorrow."

"Could be an option…" I said, but my tone probably showed that I wasn't ecstatic about that option. Surely, there were faster ways to max out with twenty five spirits.

"Either way, we need better gear, and we need it now," I said.

"Surely, one player in the top five hundred has a decent upgrade for our builds."

"You're finally selling the goddamned robe?" Veyra asked.

"Not selling," I said.

"Maybe we can trade it. Do you still have time today?" She glanced at the clock.

"I can play for another hour. If it's important." I nodded. Then I sent a message to the one top player who wasn't a total jackass, requesting to negotiate over business deals.