Once her weapon was ready, Hera felt no need to stay with Clan Azure any longer. Despite the class being fun and showing that not all of them were awful. There were enough of the bad ones to kill any desire to stay. Even though Insomniac was doing his best to make the experience more bearable. She appreciated his efforts. She really did. But it was just too much.
And when morning came, Hera quickly left the room where Clan Azure was located. Insomniac came along after all, he still had to help her cross the dinosaur room once again. But after that, there was no need for him to be with her on her travels.
Not only would she be in a more civilized area, and the paths that she was going to take were all frequently traveled, but she was also aware of a passage through the Underground Babel nearby. That was still a room that the alliance wasn't sharing with the humans, and understandably so.
It was one of the key aspects that allowed them to win the war. Or at least, a place that allowed them to move the key players in the right places during that period. And while there were some humans, including Insomniac, who entered that place at one point or another, the full location of all the entrances was still a very closely guarded secret by the alliance.
As a matter of fact, only those involved with the intelligence agency currently had the permission to use those passages to travel to the MAZE. And Hera, being an aspirant hero and someone who was already aware of that room, was one of the people who could utilize its shortcuts as much as she wanted. As long as she was careful not to be seen.
Thanks to that, it took her just two days to get back to the Aerie of First Flight. She refused to go talk to Typhera since she already had a very specific message she wanted to send to the Harpy Queen. But she did drop by the royal palace in order to get the weapons that she got as a reward from the Thrain, the Dwarven king.
As she had requested, he sent six weapons. A sword, a dagger, a spear, a hatchet, a rapier, and a chakram. Of all of those weapons, most of them were epic in rarity. But there were two unique ones. The chakram, and the rapier. And just like the Dwarven King promised, every single one of the items had a bad alignment with the attributes.
For one, almost every weapon had a charisma attribute. Which was something that people generally didn't like on their weapons. After all, charisma was the one attribute that made little to no impact on combat. There were people who specialized in it, sure, but they required a very specific set of skills in order to make their build work.
A couple of hours later, Hera was in a hotel room, sending part of her court to the graveyard, while adding the new members to the noble houses. She could have waited, but carrying all those weapons was too much of a hassle, especially across a doorway.
After sending all of her Court members away, she stopped to cry for a few moments, which turned into about an hour. Doing this kind of thing was never easy. No matter how many times she did it, it was always something that hurt a lot.
But she knew that this was part of the legacy. There was no alternative to what she was doing. That would continue forever. She would have to continuously swap out her blades over and over again. The only time when that would stop was going to be when she decided to stop trying to level up. And that wasn't something that Hera could think about doing.
After she stopped crying, Hera gave herself a moment to rest and gather her bearings before continuing with the addition of her new weapons. During that time, together with Vulcan and the other titled blades, they worked on the seals that would be placed on each of the new weapons.
Just like the Dwarven King had promised, the weapons were all, without exception, strange. They had mismatched attributes that would be very hard to fit anyone, or effects that would require a lot of effort in order to trigger properly. Not to mention that there were a couple of them who had skills completely unrelated to each other. For instance, one of the weapons had one particular skill that targeted charmed enemies. But the weapon itself had no way of charming a target.
One could say that the wielder of this weapon was the one who needed to have that skill in the first place. But generally speaking, that kind weapon wouldn't be made in bulk. If someone wanted a skill that benefited from a charm or something like that, they would commission it specifically instead of just looking around for a crafted weapon with that type of skill.
It would be very different if this was something dropped in a dungeon. In that case, then the skills could be whatever it would be. But as a product created by someone, there were a lot of oddities with it.
The first thing she did before even adding any of them back to the court was to assign two new court members to their respective places. Oberon already was at the Cerulean Marquessate, and as a matter of fact, he was the Cerulean Marquis. Hoop continued to be in the Fiord County, but now Avalon was the Fiord Count, gaining the exclusive skill that used to belong to Eira, [Permafrost Vortex]. That was what Hera decided to make the heirloom for now. It was a skill that made everything around them lose some defenses, and that seemed to fit very well with Avalon.
Next came the actual new weapons that were joining. First came a silver blade with a hilt shaped like a grinning theater mask. The edge glimmered faintly, and when the light hit it just right, you could see almost a spotlight traveling through the blade itself. This dagger gained the name Whisper, and Hera decided to add to the Alabaster Dukedom since that felt very fitting. Their skills felt very sabotage-like.
Whisper - Dagger - Sound
Empress attributes: 183
Charisma X 30.9 Agility X 25.9 Luck X 15.9
Strength X 5.9 Endurance X 5.9 Intelligence X 5.9
Whisper delivers a flourishing stab dealing increased damage. If it kills, resets one ally's shortest cooldown.
Mana Cost: 10% maximum mana.
Killing a foe restores 5% mana missing mana and plays phantom applause.
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Critical hits silence enemies for 1.5 seconds.
Seal of the Dramatist - Crowd Surge
Every 3 kills within 10 seconds grants +5% movement speed.
This effect can stack up to 3 times.
Next came a blackened hatchet with a haft wrapped in grudges. That wasn't a figure of speech. The crafter actually carved various names of monsters and rivals that he hated on the hilt of the weapon. Hera only knew about that due to a letter that came along with it. It was an apology, as the person who created this weapon was not expecting it to turn out so well.
Apparently, the crafter was hoping to waste the wood to prove someone wrong. Instead, it ended up creating this hatchet with a blade that seemed to be always smoldering like dying embers. The Empress decided to name it Grudge since it was the entire setup of the weapon. She also added it to The Verdant Marquis, hoping that the increased damage given by the [Ever Evolving Tactics] skill would resonate with the weapon.
Grudge - Hatchet - Fire
Empress attributes: 183
Charisma X 31.1 Strength X 26.1 Endurance X 21.1
Agility X 6.1 Intelligence X 6.1 Luck X 6.1
Ignite all Grudge stacks, dealing burn damage over 4 seconds.
Mana Cost: 8% of current mana.
Attacks apply Grudge stacks up to a maximum of 3.
At max stacks, the target takes 15% more damage from allies.
Seal of the Ashwalker
Staying close to burning enemies cleanses one debuff every 10 seconds.
The next weapon was a gaudy gold-plated spear with a ribbon-wrapped shaft. Its tip was comically oversized, like a ceremonial lance. Yet, it was one of the, if not the sharpest weapon she received. The entire cone-like tip of this weapon was actually made out of hundreds of tiny blades forming that shape.
The Empress decided to name this particular weapon Parade. Mostly due to the fact that she couldn't imagine anywhere else where this wouldn't be out of place. Unless it was a parade or some sort of a ceremonial event that included marching through a street, the weapon was simply not a fit. Even though its attributes were nothing but incredible. The Empress decided that this would be part of Alabaster Dukedom due to one of its abilities. The one active attack would be able to hit various enemies at once, and the Dukedom skill was likely a good fit for that.
Parade - Spear - Marching
Empress attributes: 183
Charisma X 33.1 Agility X 23.1 Endurance X 18.1
Strength X 6.1 Intelligence X 6.1 Luck X 6.1
Charge forward 10m, dragging impaled enemies. Once the charge reaches its end, all targets dragged by the skill are launched while receiving damage.
Mana Cost: 5% of maximum mana.
Every 4th attack pierces all enemies in a line.
Blocking an attack charms the attacker for 0.5 seconds.
This effect can only happen on the same target once every 24 hours.
Seal of the Pied Piper
Charmed enemies take 10% extra damage.
The next one was the first of the two unique items. A rapier so thin that it seemed decorative. Its blade etched with tiny, mocking portraits of past duelists. And the cross guard resembling a sneering gargoyle. The portraits of the duelists were not of actual people. Only stick figures, each mocking their opponents in a different way. And strangely enough, the weapon had the element of Honor despite all of its skills being everything but. Its original name was Sovereign Toothpick, but Hera would know him as Tooth. And this would be the Verdant Marquis.
Tooth - Rapier - Honor
Empress attributes: 183
Charisma X 45.1 Agility X 35.1 Intelligence X 15.1
Strength X 6.1 Endurance X 6.1 Luck X 6.1
Feint an attack, then teleport behind foe for guaranteed critical hit. If this attack is blocked, checkmate is disabled for 48 hours.
Dodging an attack reduces their damage for the next 20 seconds.
Damage reduction: 10%
Backhanded Compliment
Every time 5 attacks hit the same target in a row, a minor healing effect is created on Hera or one of her court members.
Sigil of the Noble's Gambit
If Checkmate kills a target, its cooldown is reset.
Next was a sword with a blade twisted like a multicolor musical note. The hilt was wrapped in frayed strings that hummed when it swung. This was Crescendo, the sword sent by the Dwarven king. It felt a bit strange to call a weapon the same name as one of its skills, but Hera couldn't think of anything else when adding this particular weapon to her court. It was just too perfect to let go. And this weapon would be joining Oberon in the Cerulean Marquis.
Crescendo - Sword - Music
Empress attributes: 183
Charisma X 38.1 Strength X 28.1 Luck X 13.1
Agility X 6.1 Endurance X 6.1 Intelligence X 6.
Spin slash dealing damage. Consumes all Discord stacks to increase power.
Taking damage grants Discord. Each stack of Discord increases Crescendo movement speed by 3%.
Discord can have up to 5 stacks.
Every 20 seconds that Crescendo doesn't take damage, it loses 1 stack of Discord.
At max Discord, simple attacks strike twice. The second strike only deals 40% of the original's damage.
Sigil of the Broken Record
Crescendo's movement leaves behind sound waves slowing enemies by 15% for 2 seconds.
Lastly, came the second unique weapon that she received. The chakram that was a circular blade with a serpent's head biting its own tail. Whatever metal used to make this was unnaturally light, and it seemed to giggle and rattle when thrown.
The Empress was 90% sure that this was already something Thrain was preparing when they first discussed the mission. It was the first weapon she ever got from the chaos element. But it didn't feel like some elemental force of chaos. It was simply about its chaotic nature. And due to that, the Empress decided that this would be the new Alabaster Duke. And thanks to the seal, the skill that would only work with charmed targets gained another option, one that was already part of the weapon's skill set.
Feeling might be a dig at her, the Ophidianite decided to lean in and called the chakram Mock.
Mock - Chakram - Chaos
Empress attributes: 183
Charisma X 45.1 Agility X 30.1 Luck X 25.1
Strength X 6.1 Endurance X 6.1 Intelligence X 6.1
Mock spins in a spiral pattern, dealing damage and taunting all hit enemies for 3 seconds.
Mana Cost: 8% of current mana.
Attacks mark enemies making them suffer extra damage from all attacks while marked.
If a marked target dies its mark will jump to the closest market target. Doubling the extra damage taken by the target.
This effect can happen any number of times.
If a mark jumps to another enemy, the duration of the original mark is not refreshed.
Seal of the Jester - Punchline
Enemies under the effect of a taunt or a charm effect release a magic explosion on death.
With all the blades with her, the empress went to bed knowing that in the morning she would be returning to Zaxalam. And the very next day she had all the intention of starting to explore Deakoshara and wasn't going to let anyone stop her.