The Grand Weave

As we walked closer to the lady selling items, I caught the tail end of her words. "-And that is why today, we're adding a special bonus! Whenever you make a purchase, you'll get a randomly selected ether storm enchanted item, FOR FREE!" she shouted, with all the gusto of a confident car salesman.

"Aren't most ether storm items completely useless?" I asked out loud, without thinking.

The salesgirl turned my way and gave me an exaggerated wink. She cleared her throat before addressing the crowd. "Yes, most of the items will have little actual use. BUT! That doesn't mean you can't win something amazing. Half the fun is taking that chance and the thrill of being a lucky winner."

The crowd showed a surprising amount of excitement. It looks like people love gambling no matter what world or realm you find yourself in. I gave half of our coin to Sam, and we both set off to see everything on display. As we walked around the large table, more tables were being set up, along with stands for weapons and armor.

There was some really cool stuff on display. It wasn't entirely mundane. Some of the gear looked enchanted, at least judging off the colorful glow shimmering across the items. And while I hungered to own magic items, they were beyond out of my price range. I even saw a few skill stones for sale. One of the most expensive stones was a high, high-tier skill stone called Oblivion's Fallen Star. It's purple, so dark it was almost black; the crystal radiated an ominous crimson glow. I couldn't tell what kind of mana type the skill was, but it looked scary.

In the end, I didn't really find anything I wanted that I could afford.

At the last minute, I did a double check on a stall that had caught my eye but was too crowded with people. The crowd had moved on and I approached, inspecting the items. On the third table was a small clay pot with an interesting tag. It was labeled as a weapon maintenance gell.

The man who was staffing the table walked over with a smile. "Are you looking to buy that, sir?"

"Maybe. It's just that I don't know what this is exactly," I admitted.

The man nodded and gestured to a nearby sword.

"It's a special mixture made from a tier one slime monster extract. One applies the gell-like blade oil. The gell sharpens, cleans, and repairs the blade it is used on," he explained.

It wasn't something absolutely life-changing, but it was a handy convenience. I was curious about how they extracted the reagents. To my knowledge, dungeon monsters dissolve within a few minutes after death. I picked up the little grey pot and weighed it in my hand.

"I think I'll take it," I decided.

I ended up paying fifteen silver for the weapon gell. I still had around thirty silver, but it wasn't enough for anything extraordinary and enchanted. When I handed the man the coin, he held up a small bowl with different slips of paper in it. He explained that if I went to the main table, they'd have an attendant who would let me exchange my slip for a free item.

I wandered around some while waiting for Sam. She eventually came over carrying three small bottles in her hands. She handed me one before she put the other two in her storage. I held the bottle up to the light; the bottle was made of clear glass and shaped like a teardrop. No bigger than my palm, the liquid was so clear that it made the bottle appear empty.

"What's this?" I asked curiously.

"Scent remover," Sam replied.

I squinted my eyes and saw a barely visible shimmer in the liquid. It only showed when the light hit the bottle just right.

"Define scent remover."

She shrugged. "Completely removes your smell. Apparently, the liquid is very popular. Adventurers use it after being covered in blood and guts for a few hours. Figured it wouldn't hurt to have them."

"Cool, thanks."

"No problem, so what did you get?"

I showed her the weapon gel and explained what it was for. She agreed the price was reasonable enough.

"Do you think it'd do any good for my hammer?" she asked while sniffing the slimy substance.

"Maybe? I don't think you'd get anything out of the sharpening feature, but I'm sure the repair and coating would do you some good."

"Hmm, do we have any spare coins then? I think I'll go buy myself some. I can even get a second bonus item that way."

I handed over the remaining pouch of coins and pointed her toward the right table. She finished her purchase, and we finally walked over to the main table.

By far, the main table had the most people around it. I already checked on my first pass around, and the table held the most expensive items on display. Sam looked longingly at a beautifully carved hammer. The weapon was enchanted with weightlessness and supersize. I could tell Sam was envisioning herself running around smacking things into craters like a cartoon villian. Dragging her away from her fantasy, we finally walked up to the attendant handing out the bonus prizes.

"Hello there! I can hand out your free enchanted item if you made any purchases today. Just need your slips," the woman greeted.

I handed over my single slip, and Sam handed over her two slips. The woman thanked us for our patronage and disappeared momentarily into one of the carts. She returned, gave us our items with slips of paper, and moved on to the people waiting behind us.

We walked into the woods away from the noise before settling next to a stream.

Sam flopped onto the grass and sighed as I joined her.

"So you first, what did you win?" I asked.

She held up a simple silver earring, along with what looked like a bag of marbles.

"The earring is basically a mood ring, and these marbles return to the bag when I close it. I can see why they were willing to give them out as a free bonus," she said dejectedly.

I laughed at her lack of enthusiasm. To be honest, I never expected anything amazing, but at least they would make for good children's toys. I opened up the little slip of paper I got with the item and read it.

"The mask is called Ink Master's Mask of Expression," I explained.

I examined the mask in my hand. It was just a blank white oval with random splotches of ink pooled in the middle. It looked like somebody made a portable Rorschach test. There were no straps attached, and the paper said it adheres to the face at will. There were no breathing holes or eyeslits, but it mentioned that I wouldn't have any issues seeing, smelling, or breathing with the mask on.

Slowly, I raised the mask to my face, and I felt it lock into place. My vision went dark for a few seconds, but after a moment, I could see as if I had nothing covering my eyes. I couldn't even feel the mask, and my lungs sucked in air without obstruction. There was a feeling that the mask shared a very, very faint connection to my mana pool.

Did the mask work via connecting to my mana? Interesting.

"Dude, you look like a squid splooged on your face," Sam commented.

"Thanks for putting that image in my head," I said dryly.

She raised her eyebrows. "That was strange to look at. The inkblot on the mask shifted into a large frowny face."

I blinked. It looks like the ink also worked subconsciously. I tried to picture a question mark appearing.

"Did it work?"

"Are you trying to look like a two-bit batman villian?" she asked. I replied by making a checkmark symbol. "Yeah, no, that's going to get really annoying very fast."

I chuckled. And I could tell my mask was laughing with me, considering the faces Sam was giving me. "I like this a lot. Looks like I'm three for zero on cool loot."

"Yay for you," she grumbled.

---------

We stood a few dozen meters in front of the village. Brelten ended up enlisting the help of the two earth magic specialists that arrived with the caravan. He had them clear out a massive circle, creating a wide-open field. Besides a few large rocks, the soccer field of dirt remained unblemished.

It looked like the entire village had come out to watch the showdown between Brelten and Isaac. Even the guards were there, running a loose perimeter, helping keep people organized, and not stepping on each other's toes. Brelten stood casually inside the circle, not moving an inch. Isaac brushed off the half-hearted pats on the back from his team members.

The crowd grew silent as Isaac took a deep breath and strutted into the circle, standing just opposite Brelten. They stood only a dozen yards apart. Isaac pulled out his weapons and got into a low crouch. Brelten merely smirked.

"Are you ready to prove that you've done more than slack off?" Brelten asked.

Isaac growled. "Slacking off? Never Old Man! We've worked our asses off for years. I know you can feel what rank we are, don't even joke about that!"

"You're right; I'm sorry for insinuating, even if it was in jest. I know exactly how hard you guys have been working," Brelten said. His eyes started glowing like a blazing green fire flickered behind his eyes. "I'm proud of each and every one of you."

Isaac seemed slightly stunned at the admission. His tense posture temporarily went slack. Brelten startled him back into high alert by banging his shield a few times. The loud ringing tone echoed across the silent crowd.

"In acknowledgment of your efforts, I'll finally stop limiting myself to tier two," Brelten spoke, his words carrying a weird sense of finality.

That familiar crushing pressure pushed against me. A flash of images reminding me of a giant world tree looming over the lands blitz across my mind. Brelten now emitted a tangible aura, his whole body casting an emerald glow. He remained as still as a statue, his head held tall, and shoulders relaxed.

Isaac must have finally decided that Brelten wouldn't make the first move and started things off. He slashed his right hand forward, and a dagger made of shadows flew out. Brelten smacked it away with his shield, treating the conjured blades little more than one would a pesky fly.

Isaac slashed twice with both daggers, sending out four projectiles. Instead of waiting for Brelten to block, he seemed to jump into the ground. As Brelten maneuvered his shield and blocked the shadow daggers, Isaac popped halfway out of the earth, emerging from the guildmaster's shadow. The daggers pierced the air. As they neared the back of Brelten's leg, he was forced to make a sudden retreat.

A surge of green vines erupted out of Brelten's body.

The rogue reappeared twenty feet away, completely unharmed. No, that was wrong. Looking closer, you could see a small tear in the fabric of his face mask. Brelten now looked like an angry octopus with vines waving behind him.

He gave Isaac a once over and said a single word. "Come."

Isaac replied by growing his own boneless appendages. Four shadowy tendrils sprouted from the middle of his back. Brelten raised his eyebrow, causing Isaac to grip his daggers tighter.

"Don't act so surprised. You've shown me before just how effective they can be," he shouted.

Brelten took the initiative this time and bent his knees slightly. He got launched by what looked like a large root and jumped. At the apex of the launch, he whipped his vines forward and pulled himself like a meteor towards Isaac. Isaac teleported away as Brelten crashed down, crushing the dirt into a crate around the impact.

When Brelten straightened himself, Isaac was already there. Four tentacles and two daggers came rushing towards Brelten's sides. The large man responded by taking two tentacles on his shield and bashing away the others with his mace. His vines moved to intercept the two daggers and barely caught them before they punctured his skin.

It was only now that I took notice of the fact that Brelten wasn't wearing any armor. While Isaac was dressed in full black leathers, Brelten wore a blue and gold silk robe and pants, with simple leather boots on his feet.

Without a word, Brelten brute forced his way past the tentacles and swung his mace down. With his daggers caught in the green vines, I assumed Isaac would be forced to let go of his weapons. Instead, as the metal mace head thundered onto Isaac's head, the rogue seemed to shift. It would be more accurate to describe it as him splitting into three seperate images. Brelten's mace smashed into the crushed dirt beneath his feet.

Two Isaac's flanked his sides. Their bodies distorted the air, built from writing shadows. The third, real Isaac stood slightly apart, daggers bared.

"Never let yourself fall for the obvious. You taught me that," Isaac said, his voice sounding like it echoed itself.

The two Isaacs jumped back, sending out a barrage of shadow daggers. Brelten's vines whipped around furiously. Most of the daggers were repelled, but a few made their way through the wall of vines and left small cuts on Brelten's body. Visible blood started appearing, angry red lines bleeding freely. Despite the wounds, Brelten made not a sound as he continued his efforts to block most of the damage.

Isaac, however, wasn't done with this opening salvo. Soon, the twin Isaacs started appearing and reappearing throughout the field. Each body taking the place of where a dagger was. Like two buzzing hornets, Isaac flitted across the battlefield. His tendrils proved effective at scoring small slices against the bigger man.

Another noticeable difference between now and the start of the battle was Brelten's condition. His body no longer emitted the dim aura of green light. Instead, the wounds seemed to absorb the light around them where there were cuts. His blood was also visibly turning black. Isaac must have been using some type of poison.

Brelten jabbed his shield into the ground, leaning on it, as Isaac and his clone backed off.

His chest rose erratically. "They definitely sting harder than they used to," he grunted.

The two rogues kept circling the man, their tendrils poised and ready to lash out.

"Glad you noticed," Isaac retorted.

Brelten straightened himself out and stood tall. With a deep inhale of air, the green glow around his body brightened. It consumed his form under its radiance, forcing the rogue to pause. When the light dimmed, Brelten stood. His clothes were stained, but his skin looked unblemished, unharmed, and untouched.

Isaac audibly snarled, and the shadow tentacles whipped at the air. "You're such an annoying opponent to fight. Damn you people, with your stupid regeneration skills."

Brelten gave a hearty laugh. With a small gesture, his weapon and shield disappeared. The crowd burst out into surprised whispers. Looking over at Isaac's team, their faces were somber and intently focused.

What do they know?

"Surely, you didn't think the divide between the second and third tier was so small. My boy, we are just getting started," he said.

"Etch this next moment into your hearts, young adventurers. I'm far from the pinnacle, and yet with my powers..." he yelled, his voice booming across the area. He looked past Isaac, and his eyes locked onto mine. With one last grin, he turned back to his opponent. With an emerald glow brighter than ever before, his voice shook the very air around him. "I AM THE LORD OF THIS BATTLEFIELD!"

The vines sprouting from his back multiplied and thickened. Within seconds, they wrapped around his body in a cocoon of thick roots. Isaac sent his clone forward, and it tried to hack at the green roots to no avail. The blades cut and sliced, tearing chunks and severing pieces but the roots were so thick it seemed unending. The real Isaac crouched, coiled and ready to pounce.

He leaned forward and then rolled and jumped away. The world shook. There were screams of alarm, and somewhere in the crowd a kid cried for their parent.

The earthquake lastedfor a single tense minute before one final shake nearly knocked everybody on their asses. The giant green roots writhed and grew, sprouting upwards. First, a pair of legs came into shape, then a massive torso. Next the roots formed a rigged wooden head with two massive antlers resting on its crown.

The cocoon of roots had birthed a giant made of wood.

Brelten's new form stood over one hundred feet tall. The arms were slim, but the forearms bulged out and ended in two giant club-like hands. The treant body had no face; instead, it was helmeted and armored by a darker green wood. His baleful glowing eyes from before now showed themselves in this form through the dark slits of the wooden helmet.

When he spoke, his voice rumbled. It sounded like a mountain speaking to mortals.

"You want to be taken seriously, and I shall acknowledge this desire. Now prepare yourself, Isaac Dawnborn!" Brelten thundered.

He stomped, and changed the landscape. A wave of verdant green erupted from the ground. The blades grew tall and sharp. Massive trees bloomed with a second stomp, greeting the darkened sky with moans of creaking wood. Two giant trees grew next to either side of Brelten. One rose up, slim and long, with a massive bulb sprouting sharpened branches at the end. With a growing sense of awe and trepidation, I realized that Brelten had grown a giant living version of his mace. The other tree shifted into a massive v-shaped wall of wood with its own sharpened spikes sticking out the front. And just like that, the giant treant had weapons appropriate to its size.

With one final stomp, a surge of wooden growth rushed out of the ground and formed a set of daunting-looking wooden armor. Isaac now looked so incomparably small to the guildmaster's new form. David stared at the peak of the goliath's head.

To the adventurer's credit, he did not waver in the face of an impossible fight. He widened his stance and held up his tiny-looking daggers. Another shadowy copy split from him, and all three stood with grim determination. Isaac conjured another spectral dagger, overlaying it on top of his real blade. With one swift flick, he held the extended shadowy knife in a reverse grip and plunged it into his heart.

His teammates audibly sighed, the oni and archer girl wincing at his actions. Pivoting my focus back to Isaac, he seemed fine. At the least, not dead, despite what a blade to a heart usually entails. His form rippled and darkened like he was being plunged into a lake of inky black. The tentacles on his back grew to six in number. He pulled out the blade with a twist and resumed his previous stance.

Brelten stood silently as the rogue prepared himself. "Are you ready?"

Isaac gave a short nod and then began sprinting towards the tree knight. His form blurred the edges impossible to see as the shadows swallowed the light.

"Is Brelten going to kill him? I don't see how he survives this," Sam gaped.

I didn't answer. I had no idea how this was supposed to be a sparring match. The village remained, and there weren't any signs of damage outside of the circle. I'm not sure how, but Brelten must have localized the tremors to around just shy of the ring. My heart thumped, a pulse of rising energy spreading throughout my chest.

This, this right here, was what I longed for. Magic powers that defy expectations. The ability to literally shake the earth around you and terraform the land with a single stomp of your foot.

Andit was just the beggining. Out there, people like Calstrax and Eraztis existed. At a minimum, they were tier five, probably tier six. Just what wonders could they do? What grand feats could they display with a level of power so high that they were labeled as gods?

Isaac raced forward and blinked through the shadows of the tall grass. He and his clones were dark blurs, moving like speeding ghosts to attack the living giant. With speed at odds with his lumbering form, Brelten swung his massive mace downward, the wind shrieking in the weapon's wake.

Before the Isaacs were hit, they disappeared into the shadows entirely and reappeared on top of the wooden club. One clone dispersed' destroyed as Brelten thrust his shield across his arm. Massive ropey vines the size of my torso snaked out of Brelten's wooden armour, and snatched up a second body and crushed it.

With a flicker of light, Isaac switched out of the hold with his remaining clone and stumbled briefly.

Damn...

One lone shadowy monster of a man running almost vertically up a treant. Dodging vines and spikes of wood by a hair's breadth. The only thing the fight lacked to complete the display was music.

With one final leap, Isaac soared up to Brelten's helmet. Using his tentacles, he wrapped them firmly around the faceplates and secured himself to the tree. His daggers wisped, glowing with dark purple energy.

With a dramatic thrust, he shoved both of his daggers into the helmet. A blast of black-violet energy erupted out, engulfing the rogue's form entirely. Only the creaking of wood was heard; Isaac's attack was made in complete silence.

Brelten's helmet stopped emitting the green light, looking as dark as the void.

Everybody froze; A collective in take of breath while none dared to breath.

A loud, groaning sound broke the silence. Faster than when he swung his mace, Brelten grabbed Isaac with a massive barked hand, ripping him off. The shadowy tentacles were torn asunder, unable to combat the unparalleled strength ripping them free.

Brelten gripped the squirming Isaac in his fist and held him up high.

"You were terrific, boy. Know that you managed to actually deal considerable harm to me. In this form, nonetheless. When you wake, hold your head high and absorb that confidence deep into your bones. You deserved the pride you fought for," Brelten's voice rang out. Like a lamp with its switch flipped back on, the blazing emerald radiance returned beneath the wooden helmet. "With my sincerest heart, I'm proud of being able to call you an adventurer."

With those final words sounding like a whisper in the wind, Brelten raised the man high. Isaac's face was held up to the day's remaining light; his mask had been torn off, revealing his face. A single tear marred the blood oozing down his nose across face-splitting grin on the man's visage.

The earth exploded as Brelten smashed his fist into the ground. A wave of dirt and debris blanketed the area, restricting visibility. I coughed a few times to clear the dirt from my lungs. My eyes watered and I squinted at the destruction.

The dust slowly settled.

Isaac's body lay embedded inside a bed of roots and grass. On closer inspection, he breathed and seemed no worse for wear. He was unconscious but living.

Brelten's form slowly melted away, turning into dust. Brushing himself off, he walked out of the circle and headed toward the crowd. He approached the rest of Isaac's team and put his hands on his hips.

"Unless any of you want to take a shot at me, I think I'm going to head over to Oleander's and partake of Bera's cooking. Feeling like buying your old mentor a drink?"