Blade of Ruin- Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol 3

Episode 5: Starting the Search for Orichalcum!

*Lei*

"Yummy pancakes," Serein said, patting his stomach.

Eri snickered. In his hands was a bag full of blueberry pancakes for the road. "Here you go, Sei, just try not to eat them all."

My little cousin smiled at his dad. "No worry! Me will save!"

Big bro Eri ruffled his hair. "Good!"

"Well, we best get going," Ocarina said. She stood by the van parked at the edge of the restaurant's full parking lot.

"Where are these orichalcum mines anyway?" Feng asked.

"They're actually a little to the east of here," Iah responded.

"Wonder if that's where the metal to make the shield came from," Eri said, turning around. His eyes slowly shifted up the emerald mountain overlooking the small town we had stopped in.

I lowered my eyes as I recalled a brown-haired man. Strapped to his right arm was a silver shield with a green orb in the center.

"Shield..." Iah asked as he stared at the mountain as well. "I once knew a guy who used one as his signature weapon."

"A shield as an offensive weapon?" Zelde asked.

"Yeah, it's more useful than one thinks," Eri said, snickering.

I summoned my turquoise wand. During the Mahoulympics, it had snapped while in weapon form. While it fixed itself, it probably was best to fortify it to avoid that from happening again.

"Hey, Iah, do you know a wand-smith who works with orichalcum?" I asked.

"There's several of them in the capital. Why do you ask?"

I stretched my wand out at him. "I want to reforge my wand."

"Hmm, is it broken?" Eri asked.

I shook my head. "No. I'm not sure if it was shown on television, but it did break during the games."

He and the other adults gasped.

"How did you fix it?" Mom asked, stepping toward me.

I snickered. "I would like to know that too! So, it's not normal for them to fix themselves?"

"Some do, but I'm sure that model isn't one of those," Dad said as he rubbed his chin.

"Well, the properties of wand tend to depend on their wielders almost as much as on their make up," auntie Ocarina said. She smiled at me. "Maybe Lei is just that special."

"Or maybe it's not him, but the abysmal within him," Nyima said as she stared at my wand.

"You think so?" I asked.

Dad narrowed his eyes at my chest. "That abysmal's doing, huh? I guess it is possible if Lei's weapon is slowly drawing power from it. Or maybe, it's drawing power from its host instead."

I gulped. "You think it's absorbing my prana?"

"It's possible. Those beings need energy to survive. As long as it's keeping it at a minimum, you should be fine, but if it starts to get hungrier... that's when problems will start to appear."