บท 806: Organizing the court
Hera thought about going to her private room, the workshop version, to give this hammer a Royal Seal, but that would require one crossing, and they still weren't sure where they would end up staying. Instead, she just carried it in her hand despite the weight. The hammer would easily be 50kg. Even with all her strength, wielding it would be hard work. Still, she wanted to ask Flint if he had any material to help her give it the seal. Maybe the Empress could add this weapon to her court when they stopped to sleep.
She had already been kicked out of the Forgotten Forge, and was now walking with Vash back to the hotel. They were not talking, not to each other, which allowed her to check one thing with her herald.
'Daskka, how many blades can I have at the moment?'
'Eight. And I just checked; it's not going to increase right now.'
'Why? Is that the limit?'
'Not really. I had some trouble sleeping during the past week, and I ended up checking a lot of things about the legacy. The maximum number of court members was one of those things.'
'And?'
'And…. I don't have an answer. Apparently, one of the previous holders had only five court members, plus the titled blades, while another had 30, plus the titled blades. So, I think it depends on the holder. Or there is a limit, but no one was able to reach it.'
'I see. What else did you check?' Hera asked.
'The skills you can still learn. If there was any skill you currently had that could be merged into something else, and if we were missing anything about the legacy.'
'What are the results?'
'Well… you can get three skills still and one skill that can be merged. All the different 'X weapon combat' skills can become one, but you still need a few more different variations of the skill. Then it will become a more generic weapon combat skill that will affect any weapon you have.'
'That's kind of nice. What else?'
'There is a two for one. Remember how you can assign a skill to be inherited by other blades? Well, the skill related to that will let you make 'houses' for your court, like giving them a noble title. Like duke, count, or marquess. Each house will have a buff and an inheritance. The buff you can pick but it can never change. That house will always have the same buff, and the inheritance you need to take from one of the members of the current house. That will change the skill but allow it to be passed to the next generation, as well as the current one.'
Hera nodded, 'That is better than I expected. Can I get it now? I mean, it's been a while since I got a legacy skill. The last one was the… blade graveyard,' the Ophidianite stopped walking.
"What's wrong?" Vash asked.
"I… just remembered… I have a new skill that I can only use once a week. And it could've helped SO MUCH against the fucking wendigo. So fucking much," Hera let out a mixture of a groan with a roar that made even some of the people nearby step away.
The performer just stared at her for a moment before starting to laugh. Hera frowned, but the harpy didn't stop, "C'mon, you killed the wendigo, and now you are complaining because during the fight, while you were super pissed and tired, you forgot a skill? That's just too good. I'm glad you are a mortal."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You worked like a machine during the entire rampage. Never stopping, sending your court to every place where we needed help. Even when you stepped away to rest, you continued giving commands and kept some of the spells you used up. I honestly was half thinking that you were a construc yourself. But now I see that you can also make mistakes. And it makes a lot of sense that you would forget about something you had. Especially if it's new and has that long of a cooldown."
"Thanks?" Hera tilted her head.
"It makes me less worried about traveling with you. We were doing okay, but then this happened, and I wasn't sure how to feel about you. I'm sure you felt the same way about us. We all got tired and angry during the rampage," Vash shrugged her off.
"Not really. I was worried about you all, but that was it. I actually never noticed any of you getting upset, but my head wasn't in a good place during the rampage anyway."
"That's… Fair actually. We knew the spell was taking a toll on you. I mean, you had massive bags under your eyes. They are gone now. You really need to tell me what cream you used."
"I think that is a combo of my Ophidianite skills and having 110 points in charisma and endurance. Well, 112 now. I didn't use any cream, but Daskka might have used some healing mist on me while I slept."
"Can she do that to me, too?" Vash asked.
Hera turned to the snake, who looked down for a moment before nodding, 'As long as he is sleeping close to you. Yeah.'
"We need to be close, but she says she can. On a side note, do you mind if I stop talking now? I was checking something with her about my legacy."
"Oh yeah, sure. Sorry if I interrupted."
"No worries," Hera smiled and turned back to the herald, 'Okay. So, I can't get a new skill right now. What are the other two?'
'First, it's one called 'Hunting Contest,' while that one is active, any time you or a court member gets a kill, they get a stacking buff to one of their attributes for a while. Scaling in the case of the court. Each member gets only the buff for their own kill, but because of the army of one, that would bleed out to everyone else.'
'That is nice, great for long fights. Like here, it would've been amazing,' Hera sighed.
'I know, right? Especially if you used the pool of Styx on top. Either way, the last one is called 'Temporary Alliance,' and… it's weird,' Daskka frowned but quickly continued, 'Basically, it lets between two and four of the regular court members form an alliance. When they do that, they merge into a single weapon, adding all their skills and scaling, plus some extras depending on how well they work together. Once they do that, they can stay in this new form indefinitely, but they can't swap back and forth. They are stuck. To go back to their own separate versions, they need to break the alliance. Then, it will take some days for any of the court members who were part of said alliance to be able to make a new one. And again, this only works with the regular blades, not the titled ones like Nimbus and Lurize.'
'Okay, and why is this weird?' Hera frowned.
'Well… it's weak. When I see the skills, I can get a sense of their strength. I never mentioned anything because so far, all the skills had a similar…. Power level. Yeah, I think that fits. Anyway, all skills had a similar power level. Some of the ones you created are also there. Like Venomous Arsenal, Army of One is considered to be a bit weaker, but not by much. It should be still on the same level as the rest, just like at the lower end. But that one is just… bad. It's so much weaker than the rest.'
'Really? I mean, it does sound a bit powerful. If I need a big attack, I can add all the scaling of the weapons into one big burst,' Hera replied.
'Mum, you are probably the only person who can actually use that skill to the fullest. And from what I understand, the extra boost is really not that big. That skill feels like it doesn't fit. Like it was not supposed to be part of the legacy, but someone kind of forced it.'
'Can you force the legacy to have a specific skill?'
'Sort of. You can brute force it, I think. Like, if there is a skill you really want to make a part of the legacy, it should be possible for you to keep trying it again and again until it works. But I wouldn't recommend that,' Daskka explained.
'Because it gets weaker?'
'Yeah, if a skill is forced to be part of the legacy, it won't be as strong as the regular skill, and it kind of stops anyone from ever being able to get a better skill that does something similar.'
'How does the skill I made fare against the others? I mean, I created what? Three skills?' Hera asked.
'Yeah, Venomous Arsenal, Empress Core, and Army of One. Royal Seal, you didn't create exactly. That one already existed, but you got it without getting it from the legacy. Either way, they are all on the same level as the rest. Considered as powerful as any of the other skills. Except that one.'
'Got it, is there anything else?'
'I was thinking if we were missing something about the legacy. I didn't think about anything during the week, but in that forge, I think I realized something.'
'Well, we were tired. It makes sense you couldn't think much about it. What did you realize?'
'Every court member knows how to wield itself, right? I mean, even if you don't have a skill about that specific weapon, they still know how to fight properly using moves that one would use the weapon they are,' Daskka looked Hera in the eyes.
'Yeah… I mean, to a certain point. Some moves they do only work because they can move freely.'
'Exactly, so the court could get stronger if we used various complex and weird weapons. Like a nunchaku, a whip sword, a scythe. We saw something talking about how scythes are shown in media but are stupidly hard to use in a fight. Also, we really could look into getting a bow blade. If it has the skill to make arrows, we could have someone helping at long range. And since we are on the topic, which blade are you removing to add the hammer? Ember?'
'She is the oldest one, but isn't there a way to increase the court now? How about using the Empress core? Can't I use it to maintain the court member? Reserving the mana or something.'
Daskka frowned, 'Let me check,' her eyes glazed over for a few moments before she returned, 'Oh. Actually, yeah, there is one thing. You can spend an amount equal to your regular max mana to increase how many court members you can have by one. But, if you ever try to do that again, you will need double your regular max mana. Then four times, then eight, sixteen, and so on.
'Oh.. That is a lot. I would probably only get two, maybe three slots with that. But it will just take a few days to recover all of that. Let's do it.'
'Sorry mum, but no. It's not just spending the mana. You are reducing your Empress Core by that value. So your core now will go from over 9 million mana to a bit over 4.'
'That makes it a bit more complicated… but let's do it. Even if it's a hit to the core, it's better to do it now. The longer I wait, the more mana I'll spend to increase the number of court members I can get. As you said, I will still have a bit over 4 million mana on it, meaning I can use the big spells I was using,' Hera replied.
'Okay then,' Daskka nodded, and her eyes glazed over again. Usually, she would just close them, but it seemed as if something had changed. Or was it just a personal preference? The Empress made a mental note to ask about it later just as she felt her mana core, a small round shape in the center of her chest, being quickly drained and filled with mana simultaneously. When that feeling was finally over, the herald spoke, 'Done. Now you can have nine court members.'
'This felt weird. But thanks. We can add this one later,' the Ophidianite glanced up, realizing they were already in front of the hotel. She turned to the harpy that was flying by her side, "Sorry. I didn't even realize I was talking with Daskka for so long."
Vash tapped the side of his neck, "No worries. I kind of realized your talk was going to last a while, and I started hearing some music. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. I worked out what we needed, and I think we are ready to go."
"Good, because the rest of the team is already coming down with our stuff. We are eating, dropping by the command center since Vazor asked, and then leaving."
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