The question came out flat, but Wade's blessing caught something underneath. Confusion. Maybe concern?

Old romans had completely different sword shapes, and so did other cultures around the globe and era. Maybe Bael didn't recognize this as shape at all? Wade took his best guess. ""Uh, it's a longsword."

The demon blinked slowly, then changed his question. "Who did you get this from?"

Leon said he'd visited a shop in Las Vegas that sold swords, Wade didn't know exactly what the shop's name was or how in-depth they were. Could be a mall-ninja quality sword. Or could be something more, Leon would be the type to know where to go looking for something like this. He was a history nerd and this was history.

For now though, Wade would need to be vague. "Bought it at a store where… well, where I came from."

"What? At a market? A public one?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Bael didn't answer. He tilted the blade and checked the balance with a few careful motions. Then touched the blade with a finger, as if testing for something deeper. "Steel. Completely uniform, no slag pockets, nothing." He pinched the base and then ran the fingers up the entire path to the tip. "Geometry's perfect too. Gets thinner toward the point without getting fragile. Unnaturally perfect."

Then, from the pinched tip, he started to bend the blade slightly. Testing how flexible it was. Another pause, and another critical look over the entire thing, as if searching for something. "Whoever made this knew what they were doing. Really knew what they were doing. And that makes it baffling."

"Baffling?"

Bael's finger tapped the flat part of the blade, a few times. Like a teacher showing where the mistakes were. "It's unenchanted. That's why it's baffling. This should have enchantments for the quality it has. And not the basic runes either. Multiple, expensive, ones. Whatever materials or techniques were used to forge this are either bleeding edge of modern ability or something from an older time. The fact that it doesn't have enchantments makes no sense for either case."

"I'm... not really following here?"

Bael gave a snort and a head shake. "Would have thought it for decoration, but the material. It's no trick. No smith would waste steel like this for a rich asshole's decoration. Whoever forged this has too much precision not to have pride. And you bought this on an open market." He hummed, thinking further. "Meant to be sent to an artificer maybe. Someone with their own runes and methods. Trade secrets the blacksmith wasn't in on. A commission piece then." He turned back to Wade. "... But sold on the open market? Could have been stolen away halfway through that process by the ignorant. Then resold to another ignorant." He shook his head, and Wade wasn't sure if Bael was even talking to him anymore or just rambling to himself now. "Still doesn't make sense. Anyone selling blades wouldn't bother trying to hawk an unenchanted sword. Broken contract then? Lack of funding to pay for the enchantment part of the process? No, not with materials of this quality. They would have sold it to the rich in a private auction."

He gave a snort, then looked over to Wade. There was deep suspicion in those beady eyes. And a clear question.

Wade debated if he should tell Bael more about THE GAME, where he was from and all that detail. If anything, Bael seemed to know his stuff as a forgemaster. Wade could use someone like that in his enterprise. The more he thought about it, the more it felt right.

A few more seconds of thinking passed and Wade firmly decided he was going to try and recruit Bael into being the second employee of Wade Heavy Industries.

Luck triggered!

New Personal Quest: The forgemaster - Convince Bael'Nazradim'Elgor'Asent to follow you back to Earth and work as your retainer. Rewards: One storefront coin.

He could feel the phone in his pocket vibrate, almost immediately on the quest popping up. Wade slowly pulled the phone out to see what Play had sent.

fyi, demons are immortal. So could be this guy's got centuries of forging experience. Not saying you should drop everything and recruit this guy in particular, plenty more demons out there.

But heavily implying he's probably the easiest to get a good contract setup with. No home, brand new start here, and best of all, it'll make Zinny here start sweating a bit which would be hilarious. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

"I'll consider it." Wade said, in english. The storefront coin offered here was very much the System throwing him a high suggestion. He didn't know what exactly his luck trigger had done, but that it came right before the quest did meant they were linked in some way. Was his luck being constantly gambled on? That stat was getting more and more mysterious despite him having learned a bit from the last time he'd talked to the System. Twelve percent chance of triggering.

What would happen if he ran a round with all his points shoved into luck?

Wade wasn't sure why the System was giving this a full coin for this quest either, maybe the difficulty was all about making it out of the mithril sea and surviving to the end of the round?

Well. Details. For the moment, he he'd get Bael recruited up and they'll figure it out from there. "All right, if you want to know, you have to agree to a contract between us that this knowledge doesn't slip to anyone else. Let's hash out the details."

The demon held his gaze for a long moment. "No."

Wade blinked. "No?"

"Keep your secrets, human. Whatever you are, whatever you're doing down here, whatever brought you to the first circle - that's not my problem." Bael slid the sword back into its sheath with a deliberate, final motion. Then walked over to pick some of the spare climbing rope and fashioned a quick few knots to hold the sheath over the back of his shoulder. All the while he spoke, "You want to reach the surface. I want to reach the surface. That's enough common ground for me. I'll use this for now, as you offered. I need a blade. But I don't need to know where it came from or why you're carrying a masterpiece of impossibly perfect steel like it's spare junk in your bag."

Wade really hadn't expected the demon to just outright not want to hear any answers. But put all together like that, he supposed he was a walking 'I'm dangerous and probably involved with the mafia' sign. He looked down at his yellow rain boots, and then to the backpack filled with random junk and weird items like radios and bullets.

Might complicate things. A tad bit.

The demon secured the last knot on the makeshift sword strap, tugged it tight, and gave it a pat before turning back to Wade. "When we part ways, I'll hand this back and forget I ever saw this."

Eri clicked his jaw in the back, laughing it up as usual. He was still ruffling through the sack looking for more things he could wear on his head for now until they ran into the group and he had to give it back.

"Well, there's a method to my madness. I swear it's not that bad." Wade lied through his teeth.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Bael snorted, laughing. "Doesn't mean the method makes sense to anyone but the madman. And I fear turning mad myself should I understand it. No thanks."

"Right, but there really is a reason for all this. So long as you make a deal not to tell it to others, I can fill you in. There might be a lot of opportunity here in the future for you, come on."

"You shall not tempt me, madman." Bael said, snorting. "I learned my craft to gain leverage in contracts I choose. Once the mortals learn my name is freed to summon again, they'll begin doing so and I'll wait for a good offer. I am not desperate." Bael turned toward the trail leading out of the village ruins. "So, are we leaving, or are you going to keep trying?"

"Uh, guess not."

Well he would. The tempting offers part at least. There was a whole storefront coin riding on it, and there was a very long journey across the mountains in a technical desert. In which Wade could try his luck tempting the demon in different ways.

He'd find a way, Wade Heavy Industries depended on it.

Eri on his part eventually had a good selection. It didn't end up being anything in the backpack, but instead he grabbed one of the discarded arm floaties. And put that on his head. It looked a little like an orange pope's hat, minus the triangular shape.

He certainly looked pleased with another hat to his collection.

But if that made his minion happy and not asking for a raise, Wade was more than happy to let Eri run free with his winnings.

Also, there was howling starting to come from the vale, and the sounds of fighting. Savage fighting. Which meant the feral creatures had probably forgotten why they'd been avoiding this part of the vale, and gotten back into the swing of killing each other.

"Let's get going." Wade said, waving for Bael to lead the way.

Bael nodded, turned and waved at the trail in front. "First lesson. Insects."

"Oh, the Blackrotten bugs?"

Eri glanced up immediately, sensing his job.

"Indeed. The Blackrotten insects. Until we get mana crystals, insects will be a problem. They're everywhere here. Most insects will be harmless - too small for the rot to take hold. Rot needs size. About this much." He held up his thumb. "A fat beetle or larger."

Wade had been right then, to think bugs would be a problem.

"They hid often in shrubs like that." Bael pointed a finger up ahead. "One sting, one bite - rot gets in. It's deceptive, rot masks pain. If you don't notice in time, it'll have spread through your insides. If you catch it early, you'll have options. Less so for you as a mortal."

"... And what are those options?"

He made a cutting gesture across his forearm. "Amputation. Fine for demons like myself, we can die and reset our progress anytime. You're mortal, you have even less of a chance. Pay attention or pay with your life. Do you understand?"

"You know, if you can just kill yourself and reset all the time, why is this place so dangerous?"

"Blackrot can sense life. And demonic essence is life, even as it's reconstructing itself in the air. I'll just as easily find myself spawned right into the jaws of something waiting."

Wade realized what that meant. Sure Bael could tank an insect bite at his feet for a few hours and then reset himself. But that's one hour floating in the air, sounding a dinner bell. "What if we can find them all ahead of time? Eri could clear the path."

The skeleton walked up, and pulled his boots tighter over his skeletal feet. It remained loose and floppy of course, the stuffed snowboard pants were the main thing holding those boots in place.

Bael watched with a raised eyebrow but made no other comment on that. "If you see them, sure. But you won't always see them. That's the problem. And they're not always on the ground either, one inevitably seems to fall inside a boot." He took a step step onto a flat stone, hoof tapping it a few times, deliberately avoiding the grass around it. "Basic rules: Always stay on stone, packed dirt, or clear ground if you don't have boots or equipment yet."

He gestured to a thick bush blocking part of the trail ahead. "Second - never push through vegetation. Ever. Cut it back, burn it if you have to, or walk around. I don't care if it takes extra time. The shortcut isn't worth losing a leg."

He turned back to Wade. "Third - If something lands on you, don't slap it. Brush it off. Slow and controlled. The rot picks up habits from its host. By nature, insects aren't always going to sting first and we aren't considered food to them until the Rot itself starts overriding the instincts. You have time. If you panic and crush it against your skin, blackrot panics as well and dives for the first source of mass it can. Which will be you. Understand so far?"

Wade did. But he also had a secret weapon. "I can tell where all the bugs are around me." He said. "Don't worry about that part."

"You are skilled with a field of control?" Bael asked. "Rare for a mage to train up a skill meant for warriors. Spreading yourself thin mortal, although I can't argue the results. If you wish, I can also make the attempt." He held out a hand, expecting something. "I don't often fight with a sword anymore, but I haven't forgotten how to cast a field wide enough to cover a five feet around me. If your own range is lower, hand me your crystal and I can clear the path forward instead."

"Uh, no. No mana crystals on me, sorry. Just imagine this as a supernatural sense I mean."

Bael hummed. Wade got the feeling the demon didn't believe him, but also didn't care to challenge or fish for more. "Show me all the insects around us this moment."

Okay, so Bael would do a challenge, but Wade could see the practicality of it. Trusting the weird human with his life without verifying it would probably be stupid.

Identify. Wade thought, then stepped forward a little past the clearing they'd been on a rampage within. Eri happily followed behind, already preparing himself for boot stomping pests.

Within a few dozen feet into the trail, bugs started appearing all around. Wade pointed and Eri went on a rampage, working with Wade to narrow down where the bugs were, and then crush each and every one.

Bael watched with a frown. It wasn't making sense to him. Because it was working.

"Good enough?" Wade asked, shooting Eri a thumbs up.

Bael grunted, shrugged, then began a hike forward. Slowly, the two of them started making their way out of the village ruins. All the while, Bael was deep in thought as he watched the skeletal minion roam ahead of them, crushing bugs left and right.

A field of control would be attuned mana expelled outwards in a wide cloud around the caster. Anything that disturbed the mana within that region would be felt.

It would be extra trivial here against the blackrot. Any wisps that passed through a blackrotten bug would immediately vanish from his control the moment it passed through, alerting him the exact location of the insect.

Not to different from what a field of control was actually used for. It would let swordmasters notice where the enemy was at all times and how they were swinging a blade at the higher levels, when one could sense the distortions and ripples caused within the field from the blade swings.

It was foundational knowledge for any warrior. Always keep track of the enemy's weapons at all times, even without eyes on it. Otherwise an errant spear stab from the most untrained soldier to the back of an unprotected head would be fatal.

Very much a useless skill to a mage. Their training was on internal control and ability to move mana through runes in precise circuits.

Even without a mana catalyst burning inside his stomach, he should have felt Wade's attuned mana brush up against him. It would have felt like a dense cloud that resisted control, far more concentrated than the wisps of ambient mana.

Instead, he felt nothing. No trace of Wade's mana. Only the weak ambient unattuned mana in the air, of which there wasn't enough to condense into even a cubic half inch of control, let alone cast the weakest free magic spell. Hell was nearly devoid of mana in general, all of it eventually getting trapped in the mithril sea above over time.

So how was the human finding the Blackrotten bugs? And doing so perfectly as well. At such range too. Even with his full focus, Bael could only control his attuned mana at a range of ten feet ahead of him, within that specific direction. Wade was sweeping through the terrain at a range of twenty or more feet, in every direction. All without revealing a hint of mana.

Bael didn't have any hints or ideas, and was even further baffled by what the human did when the pair inevitably ran into danger, only a half hour into the hike downwards.

It started with a landslide.

Fortunately, not one that took the group off their feet and down further.

Bael immediately recognized what had probably happened.

A fight broke out further above. The combatants didn't care enough for the terrain, took a step over an uneven rock or was tackled off of it, and started falling straight down. Biting and wrestling with each other even during the roll.

They slammed into the path ahead, Blackrot quickly mending the broken bones on both opponents.

One was a wolf, scrambling to get back onto its feet. And it was quickly outmaneuvered, bit savagely in the throat, all while the attacker dug her claws into the wound and ripped the wolf's head off in one brutal power move.

She then turned and howled up at the rest of the Blackrotten wolves pawing the edge of the cliff far above, likely the rest of the pack that had been in a fight.

They growled back, but knew better than to leap off the side of a cliff, and land right into biting range of the feral Blackrotten demon.

Bael slowly drew out his sword. "Unlucky for us. She's going to spot us any second, prepare yourself human." He whispered out, keeping his movements slow as to not reveal themselves early.

Wade on the other hand was far more excited.

Because he'd gotten a far different notification from the moment the landslide happened, even before the two Blackrotten foes had landed into the path ahead:

Luck triggered!

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