Chapter 683 (2/2)

He even broke out his old Engraving Encyclopedias to puzzle over it, but ultimately he just made a charcoal rubbing and decided he would investigate more thoroughly later.

Obviously, Randidly couldn’t repair this. But he figured he had an easy workaround: stuffing a battery in it.

For all that most people viewed the Soulstones as useful only for boasting, they clearly absorbed usable energy from Wights. This energy wasn’t anything that the human body could use, but that didn’t matter to a spear. So Randidly planned on chopping the complicated design down the middle and stuffing a Soulstone into it.

After sanding down the base of the spear to wipe away most of the power of the previous engravings, Randidly gave Skarch a look. She nodded stiffly.

With a smile, Randidly began to drill through the middle of the shaft. After a short talk, Skarch admitted this would be the best method, even if she didn’t like defacing the spear. In order to distract her, Randidly said casually. “I’m honestly surprised at the workmanship of the spear. These Engravings… a met an Engraving clan once, but this… this is much more sophisticated.”

Immediately, Skarch’s expression grew stiff, but after a second of studying Randidly, she sighed. “...yes. Well, it is something you likely do not know much about, but before the Censure, my family was a powerful force within the Engraving Clans. When the Censure came and all who knew of Engraving were to join the Guilds or perish… many in my family were forced to leave. But because they went, most of us survived, with the teachings of our elders occurring only in secret.

“Even then, we dare not move lightly. We waited 150 years, simply accumulating wealth through other means before we began preparations to forge this spear…” Skarch trailed off, staring at the smooth hole the size of a strawberry that Randidly made in the spear shaft.

Randidly frowned. “They certainly take controlling Engraving seriously. Is it the same in all Schools?”

“Yes, it is known,” Skarch bowed her head.

In spite of himself, Randidly chuckled. “Then why are you telling me this?”

Blinking at him, Skarch said. “Are you not in a similar situation? Otherwise, how would you have the capability to do this? If the Engraving Guilds find you, your fate will not be a simple one. What point is there in hiding things between us?”

That took a lot of the cheer out of Randidly, and he turned his attention back to the spear. Grimly, he raised a silver Engraving Needle and began to work. The Needle was Level 40, and let to him by Skarch, which cemented Randidly’s impression that her family was incredibly talented in terms of Engraving.

The Engraving Guild. An old enemy. Not even an enemy. An old worry. But it was difficult not to realize that if Randidly did as he planned, the Engraving Guild would likely have no qualms about moving against him. Especially as he attempted to research more of the history of this world, it would be decidedly inconvenient.

But did he have any choice?

The next ten minutes passed in tense silence. With great care, Randidly channeled his Mana through the silver needle and into the wood around the hole. At this point, he couldn’t do anything more sophisticated that creating the means of the spear drawing the energy. But, in this case, that should be enough. It would be inefficient, but that could be improved in the future.

After a bit of fiddling, Randidly placed his Soulstone into the shaft and attached it with thin metal strips. It burned with a bright light, still filled with all of the energy he had gathered from killing Wights. One part of him wondered how much energy he had gathered, but the other knew it was more than the next closest by a lot. There was no point and showboating here. Better to use the energy productively, like this.

“Well, that should be that,” Randidly announced. “Now we just need to try it.”