Pre-Trial Motions

John looked at his sheet on the morning of the trial and lamented that some of his skills were still at level one.

‘I mean, Charm is a bit dubious to use, so it staying at level one is okay,’ he thought. ‘Hell, wouldn’t be sad if I could cash it in for something new. Doesn’t really fit my theme anyway. Amplify is a lot more on brand and I haven’t used it in ages.’

Shaking away thoughts on the oddities of his build, John focused back on the things he had more control over: his stats. The week they had to work with hadn’t been as productive as he wished it was. Between Lynn’s caution regarding potion overdose and her needing to work with Martius and Harker on the tracing device, they hadn’t been able to do long grinding sessions.

Still, an extra level wasn’t anything to sneeze at. Though, looking back, the last few days had been a bit easier and John wondered if upping the difficulty would have been better for them.

‘Sometimes I forget everyone’s getting stronger,’ he thought. ‘I really need to Observe them more often. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone’s gained a level or two.’

Putting that idea aside, John stared at the five unallocated stat points. He stood at the precipice of a breakthrough. Or he was about to have a lot of egg on his face. With Gaia, he could never be sure. Still, he made the commitment last level up to dump everything into Intelligence to see what happens when a stat hits fifty, so now was the time to deliver.

Critical Stat Investment Hit
50 Intelligence
Mana Per Point of Intelligence is now ‘3’
This change is retroactive

In an instant, John felt his mana surge, jumping over sixty points in an instant.

“That’s going to help a lot,” John said aloud as he reviewed his sheet. “I guess hitting the same point with Strength, Endurance, and Wisdom will affect my HP and regeneration figures. That’s going to be a long haul.”

Putting down his regrets over how he’d built himself, John brought his focus back to the task ahead of him. Today was about what he could do, not about how he could have invested himself in the past. And that meant he had to be properly equipped.

“Steelwood Greaves, Steelwood Chestplate, Steelwood Gauntlets, Steelwood Helmet, really glad we were able to grind for those last two,” he muttered as he reviewed his equipment list. With four pieces of the ‘Knight of the Forest’ set, he would get another boost to Health Regen, more Strength and more Endurance. He had no idea what the fifth and final piece was, but he doubted he would be dealing with necrotic damage today so the last bonus wasn’t needed.

Over the wooden armor, he would wear his trusty combat coat for the additional defences it provided, the Tree Sage Ring which was nearly always on, along with the Amulet of Valor for their overall useful boosts to his stats, mana and regeneration. For weapons, he had Senka’s vessel knife and the greatwood sword. With the gauntlets on, he couldn’t wear his fire glove, so they had to make a new item using a fire crystal. And when Beth made a joke about him being a wizard due to his stat spread, there was only one thing to try and make.

Blaze Wand
Uncommon
Crafted from a piece of steelwood and a fire crystal by the Gamer. The wood twists around the crystal, leaving the gem cocooned around the halfway point, faintly glowing and giving the whole wand a pleasant warmth.
Attributes: Mana Conversion (Fire), Elemental Echo, Living Core
Evocation: Flame Spike

Evocation: Flame Spike: Launches a spike of fire from the tip of the wand. This spike can be rendered solid enough to impale a target, dealing lingering fire damage. At your command, upon impact or once out of range, the spike will explode. Cost: 17 MP. Range: (Evo Lv. x 3) meters.

John twirled the wand in his left hand, the fire gem in the center glowing faintly. It lost a bit of the flexibility of Fiery Pursuit but it was a bit cheaper and he could infuse Candle into the wand to reach a similar level of directability. Plus, he could favorite the wand as a weapon and freely swap it with his other weapons as needed.

Stowing the wand, John thought of his last bit of equipment. The Diamond Shield won from the Luster Knight was more than just an additional defensive tool he could call upon. As a drop from the mine, made of gems, it was an advertisement on his arm. Was it a bit presumptive that the mine would produce diamonds? Maybe, but it was a risk Vivian had mulled over and found acceptable.

Beyond armor and main weapons, and the jeans and shirt he wore under them, John had his mana battery, fully charged, a few mana and health potions Lynn had made between work and a small selection of other items with useful Evocations like his goggles. He spent a moment clearing out all the random junk he had left in his inventory until there was only what he was bringing with him into the trial.

Inventory cleared out and gear sorted, John finally allowed himself to leave his room. There was one thing he was missing, but Verida hadn’t let him know if her gamble had paid off.

“A new sword would have been cool,” he muttered as he made his way down the stairs. Everyone was already moving about, readying breakfast. Well, everyone but Senka. She had elected to fully unsummon herself, to let John fully regenerate his mana overnight and to have his full regeneration on hand to top off after applying his stat points.

He didn’t like it, but trying to fight her on it was a losing battle. “Once my mana’s back to full, I’ll pull her into her unmanifested state so we can at least talk.”

He barely reached the base of the stairs when Kiera shot out of the kitchen and towards him.

“J-John, Verida says it's ready!”

“You didn’t need to rush,” Verida said.

“Breakfast wasn’t ready yet,” John remarked. “And Kiera was pretty insistent that I head over here and see you. I think she could feel your excitement.”

John’s smirk grew when Verida’s cool expression became bashful. “I didn’t want to mess up your preparations.”

“They’re already messed up,” John said, stepping up and pulling Verida into a hug. “You don’t get to be there with us.”

“So that’s why we’re coming to you,” Beth loudly announced as she stepped through the pathway, arms laden with plates. “Timing good?”

“Perfect,” John answered.

“You-” Verida tried to say, her throat tightening with emotion. “You didn’t have to.”

“I think we did,” John said, running his hands up and down her back soothingly. “Wouldn’t feel right to leave you out of the pre-game ritual, especially given what we’re fighting for. I already feel guilty enough about Senka not being here, not sure how I’d deal with two missing out.”

“I’d hate to see what you’d look like if we weren’t here either,” Teri’s voice came from across the clearing. She and Estelle were walking from the direction of the Golmerk village.

“Probably a gibbering mess,” John joked before he and Verida broke their embrace.

“That tracks.” Aeolia smirked. “Come on, food’s getting cold. Let’s eat before we get to doing whatever over the top equipment sequence this sword requires.”

“It really doesn’t need any pomp and circumstance,” Verida protested, though her voice was weak.

“It’s a weapon with two goddesses involved in its creation,” Vivian interjected. “I think it deserves a bit of ceremony. You weren’t just going to hand it to John, were you?”

“Well,” Verida looked away a bit and blushed, “I did think of a little something. Nothing requiring a band or fireworks or anything like that.”

“Not like we could pull something like that off,” Beth remarked.

“A little less business, a little more breakfast,” Brenda said. “We’ve time for everything, so no need to put work first.”

‘If that’s the case,’ John thought as they began to head for the hall, his eyes hovering over his regeneration number. ‘Senka, you are not missing this out of some idea that it will hamper me. Get in here!’

‘You don’t have to shout,’ the spirit’s sullen and flat voice rang out in his head. ‘Ugh, this was a mistake. You go so long without being cut off that going back in is a slog.’

‘You okay?’ John asked, his concern blindingly obvious.

‘I’m fine, just suffering in my own hubris,’ Senka bemoaned.

John wrapped her in a mental hug. ‘I think there’s a lesson in this. Sometimes it’s better to be a little inefficient if it means not suffering.’

‘Agreed. I’ll still stay here though. No point in letting my suffering be totally in vain.’
‘If you’re sure,’ John thought and focused his attention back to the outside world.

“Senka wake up?” Vivian asked. “You had that ‘talking in my head look’.”

“Yeah, she’s here,” John answered, tapping his temple. “She says she was overthinking things when she decided on that plan.”

“It wasn’t a bad idea,” the redhead said. “We still don’t know just how this trial is going to go, so starting with full mana was the right call, but going all in to free up your regeneration was a bit much.”

“She knows.” John chuckled as Senka sighed. “Let’s not harp on it. We’ve got a pre-game breakfast to have.”

Vivian nodded and they followed after everyone into the hall.

“I’m surprised how well the mana’s held up so far,” Estelle muttered as she looked Brenda up and down. The meal was, for the most part, done and they were simply engaging in small talk before getting to the reveal of Verida’s project.

“I can’t really do anything with it,” Brenda admitted. “I try, but it just doesn’t respond to me anymore.”

“That’s an expected reaction,” the witch said, rubbing her chin. “To put in terms of John’s numbers, your mana pool is in the single digits and even your small displays of magic cost too much, so they don’t even start up. With the core of that mana remaining, however, I think we can basically refresh your mana with the transfer again. It’s possible that a few cycles of that will result in creating a sustained regeneration. From there, your magic would be indistinguishable from anyone else's. No need to bind a spirit or elemental to you at all.”

Estelle sighed. “We are going to have to wait a bit to try though. I’m hip deep in work. Right as we’re on the edge of something great too. Wendy has the worst timing.”

“W-wendy?” Kiera asked.

“A colleague of ours,” Estelle said. “Specallized in hunting down natural barriers and the like. She doesn’t always have the time to make her own equipment so she hires us to do it. It’s good money but really bad timing this go round.”

“I’m not in any hurry, dear,” Brenda said. “Though, I think we might be cutting things a bit close today.”

“Your food is just too good, Brenda.” Verida smiled. “It’s hard to not sit back and enjoy.”

“Maybe we could have offered a feast to the Baz Clan instead of fighting,” Anita suggested as she nibbled on a piece of toast smothered in jam.

“As much as that could have helped, they had this trial in production already. We were just added to something almost ready to go,” Vivian said before placing her hand on her chin. “Still, maybe some kind of potluck wouldn’t be a bad idea to foster an alliance.”

“I think I’d need to borrow Cammie and Mason’s kitchen to pull something of that scale off.” Brenda laughed.

“I don’t think they’d mind,” Aeolia chimed in. “Hell, they’d pitch right in and try to talk up the diner as they serve it up.”

“The great Pruzonian-Baz alliance, sponsored by Cammie’s.” John chuckled. “I can see Cammie putting that on the menus later like one of those awards for excellent cooking.”

“Certainly would be a selling point,” Verida agreed, before her joyful expression dimmed to something more serious. “I think we shouldn’t put off the sword any longer. It’s not too different in size from its progenitor, but I’d feel better if you get some practice with it before going into the trial. It has some powers that might affect how you fight. I’d hate it if it was a bad fit and we didn’t give you the chance to know it.”

“I’m sure it’ll be perfect,” John assured her as they all began to leave the table. Verida led them out and towards the world tree. The clear and bright sun made its golden bark glow and its red leaves rustled softly in a gentle breeze. Verida bade them to wait while she retrieved the sword from the far side of the tree.

She returned with a long bundle wrapped up in green vines. For a moment, John let Arcane Sense sweep over the hidden blade. Immediately, he felt a power like what he had felt when fighting Bill that bloody Sunday. The warmth, like an autumnal sunset, now mixed with its mirrored twin, dawn in spring. With a degree of ceremony, Verida willed the vines to unfurl until the sword within was revealed.

It was the same dark brown color as all his other steelwood gear and in the same rough dimensions as the sword it once was, but where his second weapon had been unadorned, this was far more ornate. A furrow was carved out down the center line of the blade, filled with what looked like amber that glowed a faint mauve color. A decorative etching of flowering vines flowed down the blade, separating the amber from the edge of the sword.

The crossguard bore similar decoration, with a bead of purple amber at the center. The handle was the only piece that bore no real embellishment, with only the pommel, shaped a bit like a nut or acorn, standing out.

“John,” Verida spoke after giving a moment for everyone to take in the blade, “I present to you this sword, regrown from destruction as new growths sprout after a cleansing blaze, to wield for the benefit of Pruzonia, in this Kingdom’s defense and against those that wish us harm.”

She shifted her hold on the sword, turning it so that the handle was now pointed more towards him. John felt the weight of Verida's words, like he was about to accept a heavy burden. And yet, knowing that she wanted him to step up, emboldened John to willingly take on the duty.

He stepped forward and took hold of the smooth handle. Immediately, he felt a surge of warmth and power flow into him, and the pressure of judgement, like the eyes of every teacher he had in school were looking down on him as they reviewed his submitted work.

Then that feeling vanished and John was filled with a certainty that he could wield this sword. He lifted it away from Verida’s open hands, stepping back so he could move the sword without risk of hitting anyone. It felt slightly lighter than the greatsword, even with roughly the same dimensions. He twisted his wrist and directed the sword with ease as he tested his control.

Confident he could wield it at least as well as its plainer cousin, John let the blade come to rest against his arm and cast Observe.

Sword of the Great Forest
Unique
A blade of Steelwood regrown from the splintered remains of one that channeled the power of the goddess Yerda and nurtured by her daughter, the goddess Verida, at a great junction of ley lines within her domain. The magic of both Amarlis and Pruzonia are strong with this weapon, providing great boons to those worthy of wielding it.

Attributes: Arcane Core, Amarlian Aura, Pruzonian Aura, Indestructible, Chosen Wielder
Evocation: Verdant Knight [6/6]

Arcane Core: The strong Earth and Water mana that fed its growth give the wielder of this sword greater command of those magics. Spells and effects using at least 50% Earth or Water Mana are 20% cheaper and 20% stronger.

Amarlian Aura: The essence of Amarlis and its resolve against the undead runs strong in this sword. You are 15% more resistant to undead enemies and effects. This effect can be extended to a radius of (Wis/4) meters with an application of 25 MP/min.

Pruzonian Aura: The essence of Pruzonia and its fresh growth runs strong in this sword. Your HP and MP Regeneration are increased by 25%. This effect can be extended to a radius of (Wis/4) meters with an application of 25 MP/min.

Indestructible: This sword cannot be destroyed.

Chosen Wielder: This sword can choose who may wield it. If unworthy, it becomes too heavy for them to move.

Evocation: Verdant Knight: You are the chosen protector of the forests of Pruzonia and can call upon its waiting power to fight in its name. Increase all Physical Stats by (Evo Lv. x 20)% for 1 minute. Cost: 40 MP.

“Damn,” John said, a bit dumbfounded by the sheer upgrade this was over the Greatwood Sword. The passive effects alone were outstanding and Verdant Knight was a massive upgrade to Verdant Surge.

Aeolia let out a whistle. “Seeing this in action is going to impress them.”

“Or at least it’ll attract attention,” Beth added, gesturing to the glowing core.

“Putting on a good show is the most important part of this endeavor," John said, making sure to assign his new weapon into a quick summon slot. “Showing up with a godly weapon, even if it's something we can’t replicate, shows we’ve got some weight behind our offer. All I have to do is put in the work to seal the deal.”

And with the support he had, both in general and in the time leading up to today, he was confident in that.