CHAPTER 820: CHAPTER 820 - NEW WEAPONS [2/2]

When Erik found Emma, he discovered Elora had already arrived. The latter hovered over Emma’s shoulder as they both inspected a display case. In fact, this appeared to be the only closed case in the hall, and it was located in a central position.

Arriving next to them, Erik looked inside to see several pristine weapons displayed inside. His expert eye instantly identified these weapons as being of even higher quality than most of the others in here.

"Found something interesting?" he asked curiously, leaning over to take a closer look. Not only did the case hold weapons of higher quality, but also some that were a little more unusual.

Elora nodded thoughtfully, rubbing her chin. Her focus seemed more on the display case, rather than the weapons. Yet, she didn’t immediately answer, so Emma did instead.

Smiling, she looked at Erik. "It seems so, Master. We couldn’t find any weapons suitable for my light or big Em’s darkness affinity. But big sis thinks they might be inside this case."

Elora couldn’t help but smile at being called bis sis. She knew her sister-wives only called her that when they needed something, or when she was already doing something for them, but she still enjoyed the feeling.

Meanwhile, Erik nodded at Emma’s explanation as he rubbed the short hairs on his chin. "That makes sense. Since light and dark are fifth-rank affinities, I wouldn’t even be surprised if there were none located here. But if there are, they’d certainly deserve a special place."

Unfortunately, Erik found himself unable to more closely inspect the weapons. His piercing gaze alone could not discern the weapons’ affinities, and his omnisense was stopped by the case.

"Can we not open it?" he asked, curiously. Gently, he reached out to finger the cover to see if he could lift it. Unfortunately, it didn’t move an inch, even after leveraging a more significant portion of his strength. He frowned and began to wonder if she should put two hands on it instead.

"Don’t waste your energy," Elora answered the unasked question. The fairy was still floating in front of the case, carefully inspecting every inch of it. "This case was built to withstand worse than you."

"Really?" Erik asked, a little surprised—not at the fact that it could withstand worse than him, but surprised that it was built like that. If they set all this up to be inherited because aetherium would soon disappear from the world along with any higher-rankers, then what was the point of guarding these weapons so heavily?

Elora understood his meaning and nodded. "It’s not meant to keep you out, that’s merely a byproduct of its actual function."

Understanding dawned, but with it came more questions as Erik raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Before he could ask, Elora explained, green magic dancing on her fingertips. "Rather, this case is built to be a perfectly sealed environment... for aetherium."

Erik blinked... then his eyes widened. "Wait! You mean...?"

Elora nodded thoughtfully. "The weapons in this case have likely not degraded at all, having spent however long in a bath of aetherium, unlike the rest of these weapons."

Erik’s interest in these weapons quickly spiked. "Awesome," he muttered, even more desperate to get his fingers on them now.

Unlike Arcanists and Runebound who needed to actually absorb aetherium to survive long-term, weapons did not need to consume any aetherium to not degrade, they simply couldn’t be in an aetherium vacuum. Thus, the aetherium inside the case had been there since the case closed, preventing degradation.

"Wait, but..." Emma muttered, a little unsure and worried. "Wouldn’t that mean that, even if there’s suitable weapons in there for me and big Em, that we couldn’t even use them? Because they’d be too high-ranking?"

Erik and Elora halted in their tracks as this realisation sank in. "That... is possible," Elora muttered, frowning, deep in thought. She turned to Emma. "Though, I wonder if..."

Erik cocked an eyebrow. "You think they might have degraded after all?"

"Not exactly," Elora denied, shaking her head, before turning back towards the case. "But there’s only one way to find out!" She quickly went back to work under Emma’s anxious gaze.

Erik turned to his second wife. "Did you find any weapons for your nature affinity, at least?"

A small blush appeared on Emma’s cheeks, then she nodded with a pout. "We did, but... big sis says I shouldn’t wield two weapons of different affinities, and I’d rather have a weapon for my light affinity..." Her voice was like a soft mutter, unaccustomed to voicing her own desires.

Done muttering, she turned to Erik with a little more passion. "Plus, big Em only has darkness, so she has no choice! She should have a weapon, too!"

Erik smiled. He liked it when Emma was passionate and voiced her wants. He gently pecked her lips. "Don’t worry. Even if today doesn’t work out, I’ll get you both weapons eventually, alright?"

A shy smile spread on Emma’s lips as she nodded happily. It wasn’t a promise he hadn’t made before, but she enjoyed the love, care, and conviction in his tone. Still, her pout quickly returned. "But let’s assume today works out, alright...?"

Erik smiled at her. "You got it."

A few moments later, Elora was finally done with her inspection. "I can’t discover an opening mechanism," she grumbled, rubbing her chin. "I can probably open it with enough time, but it would take quite long, and it’s not like I don’t have other things to do..."

She looked up and around. "We should see if that Kara has a way to open it. If needed, we can ask Eira to root around in this system’s programming again."

A sheepish smirk spread across Erik’s lips. "Only as a last resort, though..."

He didn’t explain why, but Elora and Emma understood he’d been affected by Zahra’s emotional breakdown earlier. The former rolled her eyes and muttered about bleeding hearts, while Emma giggled happily.

They quickly found Kara, and she informed them she could indeed open the case. "But I can only open it with permission from Mistress, as well as confirmation that someone here possesses one of the affinities these weapons are meant for," she told them gently, but firmly.

Whatever else, this sigil construct’s programming was gentler than the one they found in Enkare Nkai.

So, they quickly interrupted Zahra’s bow-training and got them to join her. After explaining the situation, they looked at her expectantly.

Zahra blinked, several thoughts shooting through her mind. For a moment, she realised she had some leverage here, and wondered if she should press for more promises regarding the sigil core.

But she quickly discarded that thought. For one, promises still meant very little, and for two, if she refused, she was afraid they’d send that other spirit over to root around in Kara’s mind again.

So, deciding it was better to increase her standing with them, she quickly nodded. "It’s fine, Kara. You can open it," she told the sigil construct.

Next, it was time for Emma to show her affinity. A little anxiously, she lifted her hands to create a small ball of light energy in front of Kara.

The sigil construct blinked.

The room held its breath, as they waited to see if there was a light affinity weapon located in the case...