[Omen of the Witchblade] Chapter 107 - First Champion

While Elian answered questions and extolled the virtues of the Seabrim Crater, Mel looked at her status. She had gotten a few increases, a new title, and something about an Authority Level.

First up, however, was her all-important status:

[Mel Harper]

Race: Human

Standing: Vagrant (G-League) [1st Echelon]

Class: Witchblade

Rank: High Copper

Next Rank: Iron (89%)

[==Attributes==]

Strength [Divine Aspect]: Copper (Grade 5)

Agility [Mist Aspect]: Copper (Grade 10)

Vigor [Blood Aspect]: Copper (Grade 8)

Sense [Serpent Aspect]: Copper (Grade 8)

Arcane [Omen Aspect]: Copper (Grade 6)

[==Aspects==]

[Divine Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 5)

        • [Tempest Heart] (Grade 5)

[Mist Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 10)

        • [Hidden Mist] (Grade 11)

        • [Condensate] (Grade 5)

[Blood Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 8)

        • [Sanguine Coat] (Grade 8)

        • [Blood Magic] (Grade 4)

[Serpent Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 8)

        • [Gaze of the Serpent] (Grade 8)

        • [Avatar of Askara] (Grade 5)

[Omen Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 6)

        • [Omen Mark] (Grade 7)

        • [Bane of Tartarus] (Grade 6)

[==Knowledge & Traits==]

Class: [Light Armor Knowledge], [Basic Weapon Knowledge], [Mana Hardening], [Initiate Bladed Weapons Knowledge (F-Tier)], [Calamity Specialist], [Novice Alchemy Knowledge], [Initiate Ritual Magic Knowledge], [Conserve Mana]

Spells: [Armament Scrap Ritual (G-Tier)]

Combat Arts: [Quickstep], [Shinobi Parry]

[==Titles & Blessings==]

Titles: [Boss Rash (Legendary)], [Bloodseeker (Legendary)], [Blood Tax (Legendary)], [Vessel of Anguish (Rare)], [Eye for Talent (Legendary)], [First Champion (Unique)]

Blessings: [Blessing of the Hunt (Rare)]

Mel had hoped for more progress, but who wouldn’t? It was solid all the same, and she was a stone’s throw from Iron, which was a massive achievement in her books. She barely had any time with Copper and she was already cruising toward the next rank.

If it was anything like her power leap from Mundane to Copper, she was in for a very good time.

Her latest title was quite interesting.

You earn the Title: [First Champion]

[First Champion]

(Title, Unique)

Earned by not only placing first in your Convocation trial, but also as the leader of the top party. The Convocation awards those brave enough to seek the highest mountains and battle the strongest beasts. Few are capable of claiming the title of Champion, let alone First Champion. You are now part of a select group. Though many will wish to drag you down, the Shard recognizes your hard work and will ease your passage slightly through this new reality.

Whenever you acquire rune coins via the system, you gain 10% more. Additionally, whenever you use rune coins, you consume 10% less.

As a Unique title, it is eligible for additional growth should you satisfy specific requirements. Additionally, should you be slain, this title will be transferred to you upon rebirth.

Excuse me, WHAT?! Rebirth? That could easily mean so many things.

The System did not answer.

Friggin’ typical! Eat a colossal–y’know, what? No. We’re cool. I’m not going to get mad. Not when I’m getting a System discount.

“What’re you making that face for?” Gwen asked as they waited beside what Mel assumed was an elevator. She tentatively sniffed the air, then made a face too.

“I believe she’s noticed her new Champion title,” Elian said. “You both should have one. I am told they are particularly good for your cohort. Very loot-centric.”

“A new title, huh?” Gwen’s gaze shifted upwards, reading her own Shardscript. “Ohh, I get a 5% higher armament drop rate from monsters!”

That would be good for piling up more armament scrap, Mel thought, already planning for the future. There’s gotta be a way to break through the next rank.

The sliding doors opened with a faint ding. Instead of an elevator or a tube of any kind that Mel might have expected, they were met with a shimmering sheet of golden light.

“This will take us to the ground floor,” Elian said. “I can see from your faces that you are both familiar with portals?”

They nodded.

“What a relief! You would not believe how long it takes people to get used to them.”

“Yeah, we’re not normies,” Mel said. “I wonder how Heath reacted.”

“Probably screamed,” Gwen remarked.

Elian waited for the pair to enter first, then stepped through and joined them on the ground floor.

Heath bounded up from a bench, looking very out of place in his black armor against the white polished stone floor and the clean sterile walls of the healing tower.

He seemed so relieved to see Mel and Gwen.

“I walked through a portal! A portal! There’s no terrible elevator music because you just appear on the next floor. It’s great!” He looked at the two of them, then frowned. “Where’s Thomas?”

“He’ll be joining us later tonight,” Mel said, more to head off Gwen’s concern than anything. “You doing okay, little buddy?”

Heath nodded. “That one goth girl saved me, but apparently she ‘made a right mess of this guy’s guts’ as one of the healers told me. She said it wouldn’t have been noticeable for a while, but I would have had trouble taking a dump without putting both feet against the opposite wall.”

“Did…Miss Perfect do that on purpose?” Gwen asked, aghast.

“Oh, that’s evil.” Mel chuckled darkly. “Still, can’t blame her. She did save your life. Better to have weird bathroom habits than to be dead.”

“I know, right!” Heath looked like the epitome of bright eyed and bushy tailed. Despite acting like a kid, he had grown a lot during the Convocation’s first trial. Lean and pale with jet black hair, he looked like he never grew out of his emo phase.

Underneath it all, Mel knew the guy had a kind heart. It was welcome news that all the death and chaos hadn’t tainted him. For a little while, she had worried that he might be like Sabrina and the others.

Despite being a lower rank during the trial, Heath had kept up with the rest of the group. That said a lot about his character.

He was going to go places. Probably not good places, but places all the same.

“Sabrina!” Mel said, slapping her forehead. She still had their [Soul Crystals].

Elian looked over curiously.

Mel cursed. “The rewards are going to remain locked until Thomas is out of the hospital, aren’t they?”

“Correct. However, I am sure that the time will pass in the blink of an eye. The Seabrim Crater is a first-class destination. Even people from the higher rings come down to visit!”

Gwen grumbled.

Heath looked between the three of them. “Are you our tour guide?”

“That is a way to put it,” Elian said companionably. “I’m afraid you were released before I was able to introduce myself to you. I am Elian, High Clerk of the Seabrim Crater. As the Champions of the first Convocation, I am at your disposal.”

“So…you’re like our butler or something?” Heath asked, trying to wrap his head around it.

“Not precisely,” Elian said. “Think of me as an assistant. If you would like to know more about this Shardrune that you will be calling home, you can always ask me. Alternatively, I can facilitate meetings between yourselves and interested parties. I can also filter mail and offers if you wish, but the most desired accommodation is bubbling.”

“Bubbling?” Heath asked.

“This way, if you please,” Elian said, leading them out into the lobby area and through a pair of glass doors.

“How long are your services going to be available to us?” Mel asked.

“For the duration of your stay. Perhaps longer. I do earn runes of experience for such tasks, after all.”

“Really, how?” Heath asked, puzzled.

“I’m a High Clerk,” Elian answered as if that explained everything.

The moment they were outside, the warmth of a tropical sun hit them with all its overpowering heat and brilliance. A tidal wave of voices assaulted them.

“Mel! Mel! Over here!” One voice called.

“Over here, Gwen! Tell us what it’s like to win the first Convocation!”

“Sign this and we’ll make you rich!”

“Who the hell is that other guy?!”

Elian pulled out a light blue silken umbrella and snapped it open. The crowding throng of bodies was pushed back 10 feet all around them. The wall of sound that was their voices dimmed to a bare whisper.

The High Clerk looked at them and grinned, twirling the umbrella that sheltered them all in his hand. “Bubbling.”

Heath was so impressed he started clapping.

Mel was less impressed, but appreciated it all the same. Being surrounded by so many noisy people was nearly overwhelming after two months in the elemental plateaus.

Gwen hadn’t reacted much better, but at least she moved closer defensively rather than lashing out.

As they walked away from the healing tower and it became obvious they were being protected, the dozens of people slowly filtered away. A few snapped pictures with what looked like frosted glass cubes. Mel swore she saw a miniature demon frantically scribbling on an easel inside one of them.

Gwen watched the photographers curiously. “It’s strange being the center of attention again. Least I’m not an oddity this time.”

Mel couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Gwen, a lycanthrope viking from the 8th century, suddenly thrust into present day Earth. Like the other Magi that came from disparate time periods on Earth, she was Disjoined. Mel hadn’t talked to her much about it, but there was no way such a shift wasn’t impossibly difficult.

It would be hard not to find yourself at the center of people’s attention. Why reference a dusty old tome about some historical conundrum when you could literally ask the people who had lived through it?

“Might be a good idea to get used to it,” Elian said, stepping up to the street. He took out a thin silvery blue whistle and blew on it. There was no noise that Mel could hear, but within a few seconds, a carriage rolled up to the sidewalk.

A pair of ethereal steeds pulled it along, but Mel could not find a driver. The door opened and Elian gestured for them to get inside the richly padded and ornately decorated interior.

“Holy moly, it’s bigger on the inside!” Heath exclaimed as he stood upright in the middle of the carpeted room that was the interior of the carriage. He plopped himself into an overstuffed leather armchair. “Ahhh, I could get used to this sort of life!”

“It is good to be a winner, is it not?” Elian asked, shutting the door and sitting on a smaller chair only after everybody else had picked their seats.

There was a faint lurch, little more than a tug, that told Mel they were moving. There was no rumble, no vibration or bouncing, no outside noise at all.

Before Mel could, Heath hopped out of his chair and ran to a window, throwing wide the heavy velvet curtains. “We’re flying!”

Mel leaned over to the nearest window and twitched the curtain aside.

Heath was right. They were in the air and gaining altitude at a breakneck pace. No ear popping, no stomach dropping nausea, not the slightest hint of discomfort as they climbed to at least a thousand feet and circled the Seabrim Crater.

The view was nothing short of immaculate. Gwen’s breath caught from beside Mel, and something…furry brushed against her side.

Mel was too enraptured to bother seeing whatever it was.

Seabrim Crater was a good name for this place. A verdant, mountainous island thrust itself out of the ocean. Colorful buildings like stacked children’s blocks dotted the sides of the green hills from the bay all the way up to the rim of the mountain’s crater.

As they climbed higher, Mel could see another city inside the crater. At its center, a large lake was filled with sail craft of all sorts. Tall stone skyscrapers dotted the land within and around the inner rim of the crater. The area bordering the lake, however, was open and beautiful, with plentiful green spaces.

Arching bridges as thin as paper spanned across canals and from one building’s rooftop garden to the other. With all the changes in elevation, you could walk at what seemed like street level for a few feet, then suddenly be on top of a ten-story building.

“Wow!” Heath cried. “I’d love to vacation in one of those places.”

“That is where you will be staying,” Elian said, pointing at the lakeside buildings. “Should you wish, of course. All lodging is waived. You will meet many other top contenders from other cohorts as well, should you wish. Of course, you can also stay in your rooms and be waited on at your leisure. The choice is yours.”

“And if we want to go down to the main city?” Mel asked, watching the ships in the wide ocean surrounding the island. The waves glittered in the morning sun like diamonds.

“That is your choice,” Elian said, sitting back down. “As the Champions, you have your pick of lodgings. Any innkeeper would be beside themselves to put you up. For now, we are circling the island to give you a proper view of your new home.”

After everything she had been through in the last two months, Mel admitted that it felt good to finally have a place to call her own. She could sleep in a real bed for once!

I wonder what kind of room service they have?