City of Sin

Book 3, 26

A Change Of Fates

When her long fingers touched the orb of light, the coordinates of Norland appeared within and entered her mind. There was still plenty of divine grace left afterwards, at least enough to obtain part of the reincarnation set or a guardian.

Looking through her options, Flowsand knew that she had to increase her level. She could go a complete two levels up with the remaining divine grace, allowing her Lens of Time to pose a threat to level 18 saints from Norland. That was the most dominant type of force in Faelor, with pitifully few people at that level. Of course, that was why such powerhouses were reputed guardians of entire countries.

However, she was feeling very lonely; rationality was not her desire. No, she wanted to leave a mark on this turning point in her life.

“Grant me the blessing of luck!” Flowsand said gently, reminiscing about her past with Richard.

The blessing of luck was a special kind of gift; it would form a piece of equipment, but the piece was decided based upon the sacrificer, and was extremely random. Even on the same day, a ceremony at dusk and dawn would grant completely different equipment. The only constant was that any item bestowed would prove to be very useful, in the present or in the future.

She quickly had the blessing of luck targeted at Richard. The remaining power of time converged, soon transforming into a dark gold pen that landed in her hands. Looking at this magic pen that was at the level of a divine artefact, her heart twitched a little. This was definitely a gift that suited Richard, the best kind of souvenir.

With all the divine grace used up, the Book of Time slowly closed. The dragon bones nearby had already dimmed, but they could still activate one last lesser sacrifice.

Flowsand stowed the Book of Time away, walking out of the room only to realise it was already time for dinner. This time, she requested to be alone with Richard.

“You want to tell me something?” Richard flashed a cheeky smile her way. He still had vivid memories of the wonders of the previous night, and as he thought back to it he was filled with both anticipation and fear.

“I have a present for you.” Flowsand handed him a rather exquisite looking box.

“Present?” Richard asked in a suspicious tone, eagerly opening it up. But then, his breath was immediately caught in his chest.

A divine tool! This was definitely a divine tool!

Richard quickly noticed that the pen was resistant to abrasion; it would never be worn down, and would last an eternity so he could do as he pleased. These were unbelievable attributes, but on top of that the entire design including the core was perfect without a blemish. It was a valuable item any runemaster would wish for, able to bring his runes to the next level. The success rate and scope of his runecrafting would immediately be increased.

He abruptly looked back towards Flowsand, asking in a slightly trembling voice, “Where did you get this?”

Flowsand raised her eyebrows and smiled, “There was some grace left over, so when I saw this pen in the options I decided to get it for you. It took almost nothing; why, is it not good enough?”

“NO! The complete opposite, it’s divine!” Richard said solemnly. He felt a little strange; Flowsand was normally very good at evaluating items... Did the Eternal Dragon look down on runemasters so much that something this powerful was cheap?

Flowsand shrugged, “Divine? That’s a relief. At least it didn’t go to waste.” She deliberately changed the subject afterwards, starting discussion about a rune set of her own.

The moment she mentioned it, Richard immediately started talking non-stop. Mystic Glory... He had already designed the core of the set, with three out of the six runes thought out. The runes weren’t random either; the complete set would be even stronger than Waterflower’s Breath of Darkness. Despite being made of a combination of grade 1 and grade 2 runes, it would not lose to a complete grade 2 set.

Flowsand thought it over, “Richard, Mystic Glory is just too complex. I think we can forget it for the time being, just focus on making a grade 1 set that doesn’t need to be of the same standard as this or Breath of Darkness. Differences don’t matter, it just has to be a set.”

“Who for?”

This was an important question; the user of a rune set would form the basis for its design. However, Flowsand brushed it off, “It doesn’t have to be for a specific person, it just needs to be a set. Think of it like designing a set for a basic rune knight.”

A basic rune knight? This was quite extravagant thinking, an unrealistic goal so early into their journey. Richard muttered to himself for a while before asking, “Why do you want me to design something like that?”

“Once we return to Norland, you need to hold a rune convention. Every famous runemaster does it, and I feel like these conventions greatly increase the market for runes.”

Richard quickly captured the hidden meaning, “After we... return to Norland?”

Flowsand blinked her eyes forcefully, “Yes! We can go back very soon. I promised you that we would have a way back.”

“Do you have the coordinates?”

Flowsand tried to play it cool, “We will once we make an offering with the bones.”

“What about Perrin’s problem? Bevry is extremely perceptive, he might figure something out,” Richard frowned.

“Don’t worry about that, the bones will give us enough grace. We can just extract a couple Dewdrops of Life and give them to him. The effect will be very obvious, the person who receives the gift will know. Besides, healing Perrin completely might just make Bevry hostile towards us.”

Richard felt like Flowsand’s words made sense, so he nodded his head.

......

The next day, Duke Bevry reached Bluewater.

He smiled the moment he entered the inn, walking towards Richard and enveloping him with a warm embrace before saying, “Those fellows from Whiterock were very hard to deal with. Thankfully I managed to fight them off. I still feel scared when I think back to it, haha! Right, what about the skeleton?”

“It was very useful!” Richard said confidently.

“Good! That’s great!” The Direwolf obviously understood the underlying meaning, so he rubbed his hands together in excitement. Asking the guard next to him to close the door, he then spoke up, “Perrin, there’s hope for your illness now! Thank Sir Richard at once!”

It was only then that Richard realised the guard was Perrin in disguise. He had carefully covered himself up, changing his appearance and even shape until Richard almost couldn’t recognise him.

Having been plagued by his disease for such a long time, Perrin was naturally excited at the prospects of treatment. He wished for a prolonged life so he could continue his research.

Richard swung his hands, saying sternly, “Your Grace... Strictly speaking, the bones can only alleviate the symptoms and not completely heal Perrin. You should think it through; Perrin’s illness was a divine punishment. If you want to dispel it completely... the price you need to pay would be extreme.”

“Alleviating the symptoms is good enough!” the Duke said immediately. He had been unable to help with Perrin’s problem all these years, leaving his son on the brink of death. At this crucial moment, he would grab hold of even the thinnest straws.

Richard nodded, patting Perrin’s shoulders before following Flowsand to get ready for the ceremony. The ritual was quite simple, with no redundant prayers or complicated procedures.

A temporary altar had been set up in the large hall, the draconic bones placed in front. Kellac and the other three clerics were assisting as well. Bevry was actually surprised at the sight, giving the man a profound stare. Kellac was rather well-known as a powerful priest in the past; becoming a level 13 priest despite being banished from the Church of the Highland Wargod was a miracle.

However, Bevry could see that Kellac was burgeoning with divine power bordering level 14. It was no easy task to produce a level 14 priest in a very short time; the only possibility was for the Eternal Dragon to be extremely powerful. The sight had actually grown the Duke’s faith significantly.

Flowsand placed her hand on the book of time, a strong divine power enveloping the draconic remains. She then picked out several dim gold glimmers from the glow, converging them into the power of time. The bones then turned the colour of ash, disintegrating into dust.

Atop the Book of Time, the extracted power of time converged into a tiny hourglass that was smaller than a single finger.

An expression of joy showed on Flowsand’s face as she spoke to Perrin, “The Eternal Dragon has acknowledged your sincerity, bestowing his divine grace. Come, Perrin, place your hand on the hourglass. Remember, always praise the great Eternal Dragon in your heart!”

Perrin’s excitement was visible on a face. As a mage, despite not being very high in level, he could still sense the power of magic and the divine; he sensed a distant power of time radiating from the grains of sand, as though years were moving like clouds.

Perrin looked at his father before proceeding to the altar, reaching out to the hourglass floating in the air. The moment his fingertips touched it, the hourglass turned into a divine glow that entered his body. At the same time, information about the blessing appeared in his consciousness.

“What is it?” the Duke asked impatiently. He could not take the anticipation any longer.

Perrin carefully analysed the information, going through each sentence before his face slowly flushed with excitement, “This... Dewdrop of Life! For a year from now, my body will not age!”