Chapter 520: Changing of the Guard I

Chapter 520: Changing of the Guard I

Vatius

Vatius believed he played one of the most important roles in the Exterreri Empire.

Sure, the Senate passed laws.

Sure, the Emperor ruled.

Sure, the guards, Rangers, and Sentinels took care of problems.DiiScôver new stories on no/v/e()/lbin(.)com

Sure, the various guilds ran the economy.

Sure, merchants made the whole thing run smoothly.

Sure, theyd all starve without farmers.

But!

All that paled in comparison to his work. His art.

Who would know of the Sixteen Trials of Sentinel Invincible if it were not for him?

Who would know of the great triumph of Sentinel Devour against the near-mythical typhon, if he didnt tell the tale?

Who would ever hear of the greatest romance between Sentinel Dawn and Valkyrie Dusk, the two names oh-so-poetic, if he didnt shout it from the rooftops?

Vatius was a [Bard], both best and worst of his type, and credit where credit was due:

Vatius was extremely well organized, and his favorite subjects were the Sentinels.

One day his genius would be appreciated and noticed, and hed gain an official position - along with vampiredom - on his songs. Until then, hed continue writing and studying the movements of the Sentinels, getting as many songs and inspiration as possible.

[Year 28,267] - The Twilight Romance - Sentinel Dawn and Valkyrie Dusk getting married.

Notes: Couldnt find much about their early years together. It was like they just saw each other, said lets get married and went from there. Only the wedding is factual - the fights, duels, and feuding families are made up. Popular with the ladies.

[Year 28,268] - The Undying Legion - The Sixth Legion eliminating an entire Pekari army without a single casualty.

Notes: Not only did nobody in the Legion die, none of the ancillaries died either. Verses 3, 5, and 6 about them are unpopular, cut from further iteration. Extremely popular with soldiers.

[Year 28,269] - Bid for Immortality - Sentinel Dawn holding an auction in Sanguino.

Notes: The wordplay in this ones excellent, but nobodys interested. Use as reference. Might find more success in mortal lands. Look into translating into Yayoi.

Today was an important day.

It didnt mean I was going to slack off.

Immortality, eternity, an easy source of income and a somewhat relaxed job made it all too easy and tempting to sit on my laurels, grab some mangos from the garden, kick up my feet, grab a book, and indulge myself. All day, every day.

I woke up to the smell of frying eggs, with salt, pepper, and a tiny dash of cayenne peppers. I inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent, and happy that I didnt need to worry about how ungodly expensive spices were on Pallos.

I slipped into the small private kitchen, where Iona was expertly frying fourteen eggs. Two for me, a dozen for her. I grabbed a mango and orange out of the bowl, and started peeling both. [Rapid Reshelving] got me plates directly out of the cupboard and onto the table. The Valkyries that occasionally passed through the place got the large-scale kitchen, but our private domain was just for the family.

Morning love! Sleep well? She asked as I arranged the slices of orange artfully onto her plate.

Eh. I was up, I was functioning, I had a full day ahead of me, [Zenith Everlasting], go!

[*ding!* [Zenith Everlasting] leveled up! 600 -> 601]

Oh nice. Itd been a while since Id seen that one level up.

Iona expertly flicked her knife out, slicing off two slices of bread. With a deft twist of her wrist, she sent them my way. [The First Rays of Dawn] was complete overkill for toasting bread, but it was fun getting both sides done completely evenly before they landed on our plates. I frowned at mine.

Overlapped a hair here. I pointed to the spot as Iona sauntered over with the hot frying pan filled with delicious dinosaur eggs.

Chicken, of course.

She squinted at the spot I was pointing to.

I think I see it. She removed any further analysis of my aim by dumping two eggs onto my toast. Eat up! Big day today.

Thanks! They look great! I chowed down with gusto. Iona started eating as well, eventually grabbing a pitcher of water and starting to pour it onto the table. Without a word I teleported a cup right into the stream, smoothly intercepting her pour before it could be a problem.

I loved our teamwork.

Are you up for hitting my armor after breakfast? I asked.

Iona hummed and nodded.

Yeah, I can make that work. Sharp weapons? Ive got something Id like to try, and dulls could ruin the effect.

Titania was the only squishy person around, and she knew to stay far away from the sparring room. Some Valkyries might also be using the salle, but this early in the morning they were likely doing other activities. A few little chores that helped keep the place running, alleviating the impact of their stay here. Iona and I cleaned up entirely after ourselves, and our housekeeper never entered. It was a safety thing, and it made it a little easier on us all.

I teleported into [Vault of Ages], mentally checking what my to-do list had.

Ugh. At some point I still needed to sit down and plot out the contents of every room at the level 85, 90, 95, and 105 markers. One thing Id never considered with the skill - how often Id need to manually pick up a bunch of stuff and move it around to a better storage layout when it expanded.

It was always worth it long term, but it sucked in the moment. The first half-dozen times Id needed to replan and remodel had been fun, then it turned into a chore. Who knew a gigantic pocket dimension for storage could be such a chore?!

I passed through a nearby broken and destroyed room, filled with armor sets that were battered and broken to the point of uselessness, and found one of my last remaining intact sets. Id need to visit Harper soon, she had a [Smith] that repaired the sets for me. Good experience for everyone!

[Rapid Reshelving] was such a fun skill. I wasnt finding huge amounts of use in instantly move things from one spot to another, apart from little gimmicks like Iona pouring herself a glass of water this morning, but it was incredibly useful for getting things in the right configuration immediately. Case in point - putting on a whole suit of armor took a thought, not thirty minutes and a [Squire]. I grabbed a short sword - swinging against an unarmed target was pointless, and it helped keep Iona mindful of her own openings - and I was set.

I popped back out into our sparring room, Iona slowly moving through a few katas with her glaive.

I hated the glaive.

I didnt stretch or limber up, simply making sure [Etheric Aegis] was up and active. Most enemies wouldnt give me the chance to prepare and warm up. Why should I practice under unrealistic conditions?

That wasnt to say we were completely abandoning all sanity and reason.

Ready to spar. Iona said.

Ready to spar. I confirmed.

As the last syllable left my lips, Iona lunged at me with her glaive. I tried to dodge, but shed been prepared and ready, and she promptly ran me through the gut. A fast jerk to the side ripped my entrails out, my healing reforming my body into perfect shape behind her, but my poor plate clanged against the far wall.

Iona grinned savagely at me, her eyes burning with unholy light. Naturally, she continued swinging. With the little bit of extra momentum from getting impaled, I was able to dodge the first few swings, anticipating with the familiarity of long practice where shed move next and what blow was coming.

The Valkyrie quickly closed the momentum gap by sheer virtue of being faster than I was, and right before she was going to get me, changed her style anyway and slammed the shaft of her polearm over my shoulder.

My collarbone broke and my pauldron had it even worse, and we spent the next 20 minutes systemically wrecking every piece of armor Id put on.

[*ding!* [Etheric Aegis] leveled up! 201 -> 202]

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Woo! Today was a good day! It had been a while since my last level up on the skill. I was getting a sense of deja-vu

Iona managed to destroy my greave with style.

Glaives arent supposed to bounce off walls. I complained, yanking the polearm out of my foot. We were going to need to re-tile the room soon enough - we kept wrecking the floor. Who knew a good sparring room would be so expensive? My wife winked at me.

You know I love you, right? She said.

I know. I confirmed.

Weve finished dismantling the [Battery] line, as per your request. Nike has remained with the Sixth, while the rest have been redistributed to the other Legions as per their need.

I hope we dont end up regretting this.

Legata Katerina.

Short, simple, and thankfully no our scouts have found traces of a monster. Standby for extermination messages.

My job done, I flew back home, the trip having calmed me down. I took the time back to simply enjoy life, enjoy flying. How the wind whistled around me. How the air seemed to wrap around me like an old friend.

It was wonderful. Why couldnt life always be like flying?

I suppose the lows and the boring parts highlighted the fun parts, and made them all richer. There was no such thing as light without darkness, after all.

Back home I shaped [Shroud of the Stellar Sea] into a cup, poured some water into it, then flipped open a spellbook to a simple Fire spell, which I shot into the water.

Steam hissed and the water frothed and roiled, and I sighed at the exercise.

It was boring, but I wanted to see if I could get a neat shield skill out of it, to study the effects and the offered power if nothing else. I glanced at the sun, and almost had a heart attack.

Moldy mangos! I was going to be late!

I dropped my spell and shield, uncaring of the spilled water that went everywhere - Sorry Titania, I didnt usually leave my messes uncleaned, that was unkind of me - and bolted out the door at top speed, flying to Sanguino with my anti-friction runes glowing blue against my skin, in stark relief against the marriage tattoo on my back.

I had a meeting with Night, and if it didnt happen today, it could be months before I had another chance to talk with him.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 35]

[Mana: 3,494,560/3,494,560]

[Mana Regeneration: 9,983,821 +(20,085,302)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 34,398 (Effectively: 275,184)]

[Dexterity: 58,974 (Effectively: 627,955)]

[Vitality: 143,144 (Effectively: 2,236,625)]

[Speed: 130,376 (Effectively: 2,566,191)]

[Mana: 349,456]

[Mana Regeneration: 1,085,692 (+ 2,008,530)]

[Magic Power: 392,514 (+ 16,878,102)]

[Magic Control: 392,235 (+ 16,866,105)]

[Class 1: [The Arbiter of Life and Death - Celestial: Lv 860]]

[Celestial Mastery: 860]

[Aurora Curialis: 770]

[The Stars Never Fade: 51]

[Luminary Mind: 588]

[Universal Cure: 860]

[Etheric Aegis: 202]

[Shroud of the Stellar Sea: 640]

[Zenith Everlasting: 601]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 740]]

[Radiance Affinity: 740]

[Radiance Resistance: 740]

[The Rays of the First Dawn: 740]

[Lepidoptera: 740]

[Nectar: 740]

[Solar Corona: 740]

[Wings of the Mythical Sunbird: 740]

[A Raging Tempest of Golden Phoenix Feathers: 740]

[Class 3: [Ancient Loremaster of Legend - Spatial: Lv 256]]

[Spatial Authority: 256]

[Manuscript Mastery: 256]

[Blink: 181]

[Loremaster's Library: 256]

[Vault of Ages: 81]

[Rapid Reshelving: 235]

[Astral Archives: 256]

[Lust for Lore: 256]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 530]

[Technical Drawing: 56]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 860]

[The World Around Me: 203]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 860]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 860]

[Persistent Casting: 640]

[Gardening: 98]