Chapter 71: Gearing Up

Lucius took a proper stance and held the sword in front of him. He felt the weight of the sword and the faint power coming from the gem at the base of the blade. He knew this was the Aether of the Rune crystal, and he could activate the gift using his own Aether as a command.

Lucius first swung the sword without using the gift to get a hang of it and then decided to use the gift. Aether flowed out of his body and into the sword before reacting with the Aether of the Rune crystal.

~whoosh~

The green rune crystal gainly glowed before the sound of wind could be heard. An invisible layer had surrounded the blade of the sword but Lucius could tell it was there.

"So this is what using an artifact feels like. It's almost as if I have an additional gift." Lucius muttered.

Using an artifact felt quite unique to Lucius and he understood why so many people wanted them. He then aimed the sword at the training dummy before slashing at it from a distance.

There was about a distance of five meters between him and the dummy, yet that was nothing to the sword.

~shing~

~thud~

An invisible blade of wind easily cut through the training dummy as if a hot knife through butter. The top half of the wooden dummy fell to the ground with a thud, leaving Lucius surprised.

"This… this is significantly better than I thought," Lucius said.

When Gabriel had said that it could cut through a man with ease, Lucius had thought he meant a man without an armor. He could understand if it could cut through flesh with ease, but this time it was solid wood.

If the sword's wind blade could cut through what was eight inches of solid wood, then it would easily be able to cut through metal armor that was a couple of millimeters thick. Lucius realized that he may have underestimated the power of the sword.

"This wind blade… it's even powerful than similar spells of my past life." Lucius compared.

There were many magics that had a similar effect. They were wind magics that would use the wind to cut things or push them back. While they were also powerful, the most common version of those spells was in no way comparable to the power of this gift.

Lucius tried out the sword and its gift a few more times before feeling content. He had fully exhausted the Aether of the Rune crystal and discovered that the sword could execute the gift about twelve times before it would need to recharge.

There were of course, multiple ways to speed up this process. Lucius could pour his own Aether to recharge it, use an Aether Crystal or let someone else charge it for him. Though if he considered it during a battle, using his own Aether seemed like the choice, though he was unsure if it would even be enough to use the gift once.

Lucius had sensed the Aether capacity of the Rune crystal faintly, and it was definitely many times than his. 

'Carrying this sword is definitely worth it.' Lucius thought.

Nodding his head in appreciation, he went back to his bedroom to practice forming his hell imprint again. He had gotten a few more insights into it and realized that if he used the coordinates derived from the hell dimensions he had seen before coming to this world, he had a better chance of forming one.

Although a few of them that he had derived from them ended up being destroyed dimension. Lucius didn't mind that though, as he knew he was getting close to a correct one.

The next morning, he woke up early and got ready for the long journey ahead. The location they were going to was about two hundred kilometers from here and it would take them a day to reach there.

While Lucius got ready, Kiana knocked on the door of his room. 

"I'm here." Kiana said.

"Come in, I kept the door unlocked," Lucius replied.

"Oh, you're already prepared?" Kiana asked.

Lucius nodded his head before turning to look at Kiana. She was wearing different clothes than her regular uniform. She looked much more like a mercenary right now than a maid. She wore a multi-layered armor that was metal on the top and leather on the bottom. 

She also had a rapier hanging on her waist, along with a dagger on the other side of her waist. Her hair was also in a tight braid, making it so that it would not interfere while fighting.

"You're looking good." Lucius replied. 

Even though Kiana was in her early thirties, she looked much younger than that. One would not be able to tell that there was a difference between her and Lucius's age. This thought made Lucius wonder what her age actually was.

"Kiana, how old are you?" Lucius casually asked, much to the surprise of Kiana.

"I'm thirty one." Kiana answered, feeling a bit shy.

"Ah… your eight years older than me. Though we look the same age." Lucius replied.

Kiana felt a bit pleased with Lucius's words, taking them as a compliment. 

"Ah yes, I almost forgot. Your armor is ready as well. It just came from the blacksmith." Kiana suddenly spoke.

"My armor? Don't we have a few in the armory?" Lucius asked.

"This one is different. You are the Young Lord of the Land of Etara. You need an appropriate armor for that." Kiana said with a stern look.

"Alright, I'll get into it. Hopefully it is comfortable…" Lucius said.

The two of them went downstairs, where the servants were ready with the armor. 

"Here it is." Kiana presented the metal armor.

"May we?" The servants asked for permission to put it on Asher.

"Go ahead," Lucius replied. 

The chest armor consisted of multiple parts, with it being split in the front and back plate. There were steel gauntlets that slid onto Lucius's hands and a cape that hung from the back. The cape had the three tailed dragon on it, being the crest of the Inanis family.

"You look dashing…" Lita who had just appeared praised.