WebNovels

Chapter 8 - Lore: Unlocked

Ten minutes later, Adriel was sitting on the floor, Jean the magic book in hand, while Ethan lay on the floor next to him. 

"Hmm," Adriel murmured. "It says that the further you are away from a cursed sword, the easier it is for the sword to corrupt the environment around it."

"Dude, I thought you wanted to communicate telepathically. Why are you muttering out loud like some weirdo?" Ethan said. 

His words were ignored. 

"For the first few months to a year, cursed swords need to be stabilized by the wielder's magic. Otherwise, it will draw magical energy from objects around it."

I sense an infodump…! At last, I can find out how the cursed sword system actually works. Freaking finally!

Adriel continued reading after a short glance around the room. "That magic will quickly be converted into cursed magic, and begin temporarily corrupting the surrounding environment. If the wielder is more than a hundred meters away, the bond will become volatile, potentially doing catastrophic damage to anyone nearby."

This textbook is somehow almost worse than my college essays. Does catastrophic mean, like, fatal? Are people near the sword or the wielder affected? That would definitely be useful to know! 

"Is there anything else on that last part?" Ethan asked. 

"No." 

"Then does it say anything about why you felt weird?"

"I'm getting to it!" Adriel barked. He flipped to the next page. "Right. Here it is. If the wielder is fifty meters or more away, they will feel nauseous within ten minutes. Migraines, sudden anxiety, and a burning compulsion to return to their sword will be felt immediately if the wielder goes beyond eighty meters in distance."

Ethan watched him as his eyes narrowed. "The sword's magic will become uncontrollable, even to it. The wielder must make physical contact with the sword to stop their nausea, and bring its magic under control. If they do not do this within an hour, then…"

"Then what?"

"They die."

"...!"

Ethan was stunned. 

Okay, that went from mild inconvenience to final boss inflicted debuff real quick.

There's a lot of yap about how dangerous cursed swords are in the novel, but the author never said anything about that…

Once again, it was probably because he didn't read beyond the scene where he'd woken up in. 

They finally knew the true stakes of Ethan's existence. 

Their bond could kill Adriel. The protagonist destined to do… great things, Ethan assumed.

Grind levels, face tragedies. Get all the women. Usual main character activities. He can't do that if he's dead.

Who knew what it could mean for this world if the story's most important character died before the conclusion? 

"And intense cursed magic erupts from both the wielder's body and the cursed sword afterwards, destroying anything in a mile radius. The sword will usually then possess the wielder's body," Adriel finished. "Oh, wow. Just perfect."

Ethan said nothing for a few moments, processing his flurry of thoughts. 

"You can't die," he said quietly.

"What?"

"You can't."

Adriel glared at Ethan. "Don't try to pretend like you don't want to take over my body, sword. Sure, you might act sane now, but there's no such thing as a nice cursed sword."

Ugh, not this AGAIN. That's like the third "I don't trust you" per chapter. Is this a romance slow burn or a villain origin story?

"How many cursed swords have you seen in your life, huh?" Ethan challenged. 

"Well, I--"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Look, I'm not like the other swords. Indeed, I am powerful, but I'm also generous like no other. Me not deciding to get your dumb ass expelled from here is proof!"

"You little--! Hmph, forget it! I'm not going to argue with a goddamn talking sword."

Adriel slammed Jean shut in clear irritation.

"Can ya tell him to calm down?" Jean mumbled, as Adriel got up and shoved them back in the closet. "Oh, my time's up. It was nice being out…"

"We're going to be stuck together until I can safely break the bond. I have a bright future, you know? I'm a member of House Kaen. I will not bring dishonor to my family."

Ooh, some actual info on this guy's backstory?? Been waiting all day for a flashback. 

"So from now on, you are a normal sword. You don't have sentience. You don't say anything. No activating power randomly. If you do this, maybe you won't end up as scrap metal."

Pfft, this guy just admitted he has more to lose than I do. Basics of Prideful Begging: Don't Admit You Need Them; failed. 

"I'm going to sleep," Adriel said, without waiting for Ethan's response. Leaving him on the ground, Adriel flicked the light off with a little too much force, angrily collapsing on his bed like a kid who'd just had his iPad taken away.

Ethan seriously had doubts about whether Adriel was actually seventeen.

Never mind that, he decided, from where he still lay on the hard floor. I have to dissect and analyze what he just said, to better understand him. Yeah. Time to make my high school English teacher proud. 

One of Ethan's smaller criticisms about The Strongest Doomed Swordmaster is how it spent too long on the introduction, yet hardly a word was written about Adriel's origins. The most that was ever even implied was in a few short lines, quietly suggesting that his success wasn't a result of true effort, but rather, lineage. 

Yeah, nepotism speedrun featuring House Kaen. 

Ethan didn't know what their status was, or how wealthy they were. But to have a son like Adriel, and being able to send him to Zarodei Academy, they must have been pretty prestigious. 

Even in the novel, he gave off rich kid vibes. And has basically been acting that out all day, from the very moment I met him.

But Adriel had simply referred to himself as a member of the house. If he was the heir, surely he would've flexed about it proudly. 

He probably wasn't an illegitimate child, judging by his status as he was one of the top students of a renowned academy. 

Maybe he was unfavored in the family. 

Ethan's throat tightened. Family. 

Nope, not thinking about that. Let's just tuck that away for a future arc…

The moment passed. Never mind. I'll just ask him tomorrow. Speaking of, I wonder how magic academies actually work? I'll be super disappointed if he doesn't take me along to some witchcraft class or something. 

According to what he'd read, there were also dozens of clubs in the Academy, and Adriel was part of a ridiculous number of them. As well as--

"Mmmm…" Ethan heard coming from where Adriel slept. "I won't… disappoint… you…"

Oh, what have we here?? Sleep-talking, let's goooo. Hidden emotions have been unlocked. 

Who was he trying to avoid disappointing? The mystery of Adriel's backstory had suddenly become deeper. 

Ethan listened out for a few more minutes, but Adriel said nothing else. 

Aw, come on, at least drop some antagonist's name. He better tell me about his family. I'm super curious now. 

He supposed he should go to sleep himself, now. There was no telling if swords even needed to sleep or not. It was probably the latter, since Ethan was now just cursed metal, not flesh and bone. 

Ethan lay there, seeing everything around him in perfect detail, the moonlight from the room's one window illuminating his surroundings with an eerie glow. 

Half an hour later, he was still lying there. Sigh.

Why can't I feel sleepy already?! Is there no off button for consciousness?

Did being a sword mean he couldn't sleep anymore?

NOOOOO!

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