The Amber Sword

Chapter 31- Master of the Mithril Fort, Tulman

In the Amber Sword, there had been a long standing rumor in the forums. A hidden sage that had a level of hundred and twenty was residing in the Needle Forest between Bruglas and Ankries. It was only after a long period into the game before a player finally discovered that legendary figure.

[Austein Tulman. Master of the Mithril Fort. Grand sage, as well as an intermediate wizard. The Silver leader of the Twelve Circles magic association. After the association disbanded, he left the air city Kanogi and retired in the Needle Forest. Users tried to garner goodwill from him and found that they could get the sub profession Sage from him, but the majority of them chose to pay a little money and get the profession from Bruglas’s library for nobles.]

Brendel did not know if there were any additional side quests or secrets from him as no users mentioned that they did. However, regardless of whether they succeeded or not, he was about to try out personally now.

[There’s no harm in trying anyway. I personally think it strange that a level 120 titled sage only offered a profession as a reward. Since I didn’t try it out in the game, I’ll do it now. If there’s a shortcut to success, I’ll definitely take it.]

He found out from Batum that Tulman did not live in the village, but a short distance away on a hill. Due to his small error, Batum took the entire morning before finding out the correct place.

[That’s a pretty big blunder that I made.]

The four of them slowly made their way to the Sage’s house. The path from Ankries to Bruglas was considerably used, so they did not see a rustic scenery like Bucce’s region had.

They were still placed on a desolate beach where seafarers could see them from time to time.

That legendary figure was now in front of him and what shocked him was Brendel’s casual attitude towards him. He could not help but feel this lord knight was insane.

But he was even more shocked to find out what happened later on.

Tulman turned around and looked at the young man again when he heard his words. He carefully observed him as if to make sure that there was no one like him in his memories, before he spoke again.

“Young man, it seems like you’re prepared when you came here. But who exactly are you, I don’t recall someone like you in my memories. Whose son are you?”

Brendel thought that was something suspicious when Tulman recognized Romaine’s aunt.

[One of the famous witches? Perhaps the legendary Blue Witch who abandoned her title as the ruler of witches to live in the world of mortals? Hmm. Well I can think about it later on.]

Brendel shook his head. “I’m not a son of any of your acquaintances. I came here because I have a question.”

“Question?”

Brendel cleared his throat and spoke with an accent: “Stam—“

The old man looked as if he understood something, but his eyebrows knitted together soon enough.

“What is the meaning of that word?”

Brendel’s eyebrow went up. He just spoke a word from Kirrlutz’s poem of world creation, the text in the original Blue Poem. In the later era, every original document in the game literally sparked a war between wizards each time they were discovered. Cold perspiration formed on his head when he thought there were no ‘Nature Slates’ in this world.

[W-wait. It’s because the era isn’t right. The main quest isn’t about Madara conquering Aouine, the real primary quest started when the Nature Slates started showing up. The ‘World Wizard War 1’…. Or something. Cough. I don’t intend to spark the war but this word should be enough to spark the interest of Tulman. It’s meaningless if one doesn’t have the entire text, but it’s a word from the ‘Creation of the World’…]

Brendel believed that Tulman was able to recognize the research value in it.

“Ser Tulman, have you heard of the Blue Poem, the poem of creation from Kirrlutz?”

Tulman stroked his beard. He had indeed felt the ancient magic and meaning from that word. It was not powerful, but it seemed to encompass the origin of magic. He thought that it was an ancient dragon word, or a variant of wizard or druid languages, but he did not manage to find anything close to it after carefully searching his memories.

Tulman did not suspect the youth was lying to him, and quite frankly as a sage who had spent a century researching such things, he would be impressed with the people who managed to lie to him.

“You mean the very first historic poem that Kirrlutz translated as the Holy Elven song?”

Brendel knew that the Silver Citizens were biased against humans. The residents of Buga were humans of ancient blood and despised the humans who lived on the surface. However, the lineage of Kirrlutz extended deeply into history and made the Silver Citizens jealous and certainly something they were unwilling to admit.

Brendel simply nodded as all these had nothing to do with him.

“What does it have anything to do with what you said?”

The discussion had gone beyond the limit as to what the other three people could accept. They did not understand anything what Brendel and Tulman were saying. Freya could only watch as Brendel’s shadow grew bigger in her heart, while Batum’s jaws were completely opened.

[Ahem. Indeed, I certainly don’t know what exactly it has to do with what I said…] Only the Gods know that Brendel was trying to pull a false one.

“It’s a word from the Blue Poem, describing how Mother Marsha created this world with kind intentions, Ser Tulman. I believe you are able to experience the magic for yourself on the word itself.”

Tulman’s expression changed and he hurriedly went back into his house. There was a series of noises where books were opened and pages being turned.

Brendel knew that his plan had half succeeded, and he gestured to the others to come along with him. All four of them went into Tulman’s home.