Chapter 79 The Artifact

An unknown time later, Evernya’s eyes cracked open. She tried to move but immediately stopped as pain wracked her entire body. A weak whimper escaped her dry lips, summoning a worried elf to her side.

“Don’t move. You shouldn’t even be awake. Please hang on, Elizabeth is getting MEL from a local hospital.” Meira cried, holding onto Evernya’s left hand, covered in dried-out and cracked skin.

Information flooded Evernya’s mind, which she immediately acted on. The black object materialized in her right hand, followed by pure rejuvenating mana flooding her body. Evernya moaned as her emaciated body filled out rapidly. The pain wracking her body soon dimmed to a dull ache as the last of the damage repaired itself.

Meira stood at the side of the tub in shock. “Are-are you ok?” Meira stuttered out.

Evernya forced her sore body upright with a groan. “I wouldn’t say ok, but I think I’ll survive. Do you have any smoothies? I’m starving.”

Snapping out of her shock, Meira materialized two smoothies, placing them on the edge of the tub. Evernya’s left hand flashed out, snatching the first red smoothie, chugging it in record time. After one lick cleaning off her fangs, Evernya’s left hand grabbed the second smoothie, downing it too.

After a kitten finished the second smoothie, Meira inquired, “What happened? You were fine twenty minutes before I got that call.”

After taking a minute to review her memories, Evernya answered, “I don’t know myself. I felt a draw to a stall filled with rusty weapons and an ancient-looking man. After I touched a metal fragment, he disappeared, and all I felt was pain.”

Meira finally noticed the gleaming translucent black object in Evernya’s right hand. The object gave off an oppressive aura, as if just staring at it would suck the life out of you. Beyond the aura, the object appeared almost fragile, with nine thin curvy legs jutting out of the centerpiece. Six of the legs extend out of each side of the longer sections of the oval while two longer almost tail-like legs anchored themselves on one of the shorter sides. The last leg was much shorter and thicker than the others as it bulged out of the opposite end of the centerpiece as the tails. Unlike the curvy legs, the centerpiece was simple in design other than the blue veins running through the entire oval and half cylinder centered lengthwise on the oval.

“Holy shit, how the hell did one of those find you!” Meira exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the object in Evernya’s right hand.

“Those? You mean there are more of these?” Evernya questioned.

Again shaking herself out of shock, Meira replied. “If I’m right, I think that thing is a mana bound artifact, but that’s not a huge deal, though rare mana bound artifacts show up from time to time even in tier 2 cities. Now the scary part is your artifact has striking similarities to another artifact found in the same ruins the language of your brand originated. The other artifact has a murderous reputation, sucking anyone who attempts to claim it dry until they are nothing but a dried-up husk. Which lines up with the oppressive aura of your artifact.”

Seriously? Did I stumble upon some sort of evil spider thing? It seems a little too convenient to find an artifact possibly linked to that ruin. Scratch that possibility more like almost guaranteed as I feel a pull to the southeast, which I’m guessing is the ruin. Wait, why do I think it’s pulling me to the southeast? Do I have an internal compass? At this point, nothing should surprise me, but it keeps happening. Evernya thought in disbelief as she stared down at her new artifact.

After collecting herself Evernya said, “If it’s anything like my new artifact, I’d believe it just touching it nearly killed me.”

“It was like the artifact drained their life force. Anyone who attempts to claim artifact ages decades within seconds. The worst part is once you touched it, you can’t pull away until you die.” Meira revealed, shivering as her mind flashed back to a video Thomas showed her.

“I know the feeling the rusty fragment super-glued to itself to my hand. Still, couldn’t they chop their handoff to escape? I know I didn’t have much time to respond, but I’m sure someone could pull it off.” Evernya questioned, paling slightly after replaying the events after touching the fragment.

“Some tried, but it didn’t save them. The artifact just kept on sucking. Either way, most didn’t even have a chance to try before it overwhelmed them with pain.”

“Brutal, I’m glad I didn’t touch that artifact instead,” Evernya commented, shivering at the prospect.

“Agreed, but if you survived this artifact, maybe you would have a chance, but I wouldn’t risk it,” Meira replied with Evernya enthusiastically nodding in agreement.

Suddenly Evernya remembered something prompting her to look around in panic. “Where are my other purchases!?”

“When I arrived, all I saw was a large wooden box filled with some odd bladed spheres, nothing else,” Meira replied in confusion.

“Did you grab them?” Evernya asked, staring into Meira’s eyes.

“A man in a stall nearby said he would hold on to them until I returned. He said you bought them from his stall.” Meira replied.

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. His stall was at least one hundred meters away from where it happened.” Evernya questioned, receiving a helpless look from Meira, who was just as clueless as her.

To reassure her kitten, Meira said, “I put a tracking rune on the box so we can find it later, just in case.”

Unbothered by the cooling mana-depleted water in the tub, Evernya slumped back in relief before asking, “What about the rest?”

“I’m guessing some thieves took whatever else you bought, assuming you were dead.” Meira theorized, not really caring as long as her kitten is safe.

Unlike Meira, Evernya’s previous relaxed mood gave way to anger. “Damn it! I should have taken the free transport option. That’s 2150 crystals wasted!”

Afraid of her kitten hurting herself, Meira assured her. “It’s fine, especially if your artifact is what I think it is. Even if it’s not connected to the other artifact, it’s still precious.”

“By the way, how did you know the artifact would save you?” Meira inquired, taking her kitten’s mind away from her stolen purchases.

“I don’t know, the information just showed up in my mind,” Evernya replied, still unnerved by the fact information just popped into her head.

Triggered by Evernya’s response, Meira bounced in her chair with excitement. “Oh my, it’s more valuable than I thought. Do you mind if I peek at your mana core?”

“Go ahead,” Evernya replied, curious about what made Meira so excited.

Meira leaned forward to touch Evernya’s bare chest just below her heart as she closed her eyes to concentrate.

A minute later, she opened her eyes and let out a whistle. “What you went through may have been worth it. Check out your mana core. I can’t decipher the runes on it, but I’m sure it’s a mana-bound artifact.” Meira ordered a bit forcefully, caught up in her excitement.

Evernya closed her eyes to bring up her mana system, focusing on her mana core, finding a new brand on its surface with hundreds of little roots woven into her mana core. “Mana bound artifact summons and a few other runes I don’t really understand.” Evernya translated.

Meira jumped to her feet, giddy with excitement. “Jackpot! I can’t believe one of those was floating around out here. I thought all discovered Mana bound artifacts were in the hands of the old families or unobtainable like the twin to this artifact.” Meira rambled.

“What does it mean?” Evernya inquired, confused by Meira’s reaction.

After taking a few seconds to calm down, Meira sat down on her chair to explain, “A mana-bound artifact is an enchanted item from the Mythic era capable of binding itself to its owner. I don’t know how, but they created weapons that bind themselves to the owner’s mana core, allowing them to store the item inside. No need to carry it around or store it in a storage device, but that’s not the only advantage. Unless the owner voluntarily gives up the weapon, no one can take the weapon from them by any means, even death. Depending on the quality of the artifact, it may even have many extra enchantments. Typically, modern items can only handle three to five enchantments, but these items could have double that.”

“Cool, but I don’t know if it was worth pain,” Evernya commented, unimpressed.

“Do you mind if I touch your artifact to see if I can check what enchantments it has?” Meira asked, with a hint of begging in her tone.

“Go ahead, but be careful,” Evernya replied, lifting her artifact out of the cold water, causing the lights to dim as they strained against an unknown force.

Undeterred by the dying lights and thinning mana in the room, Meira reached her hand out to touch the translucent black artifact. As if she touched a stove burner, Meira yanked her hand away a moment later, shaken.

“Damn, that thing has a bite to it. No wonder it sucked you dry so quickly.” Meira commented in awe, masking her fear.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Evernya asked, “so did you learn anything?”

“Besides a nasty mana draining enchantment, no. There’s no way I could crack its security before it would suck me dry.” Meira replied, depressed by her failure before she realized something unusual. “Are you sure you don’t know what the artifact can do? As the owner, it should download all capabilities into your mind.”

Evernya remained quiet for a few minutes as she scoured her brain for any information before responding, “No, all I got was a way to absorb mana collected by the artifact, but I have this odd neighing feeling that something is missing.”

“How unusual,” Meira commented, before pulling out her cell phone to text someone. A minute later, a ring tone sounding suspiciously like Evernya’s purr sounded, causing Evernya to glare accusingly. Meira ignored her kitten’s glare as she read the response.

“According to Thomas, there are only a few possibilities of an owner not receiving their artifact’s capabilities. The first one is an incomplete or corrupted binding, but if anything, your binding is more thorough than most, so that’s out. The other and the more likely reason is a missing dependency preventing full activation, usually in the form of another artifact since the artifact will not bind to someone unqualified.” Meira explained.

“Don’t tell me it’s what I think it is,” Evernya said while staring fearfully down at her artifact.

“If it makes you feeling better, Thomas said you should know immediately if the artifact is the missing dependency before you even attempt to bind it. Unfortunately, the Sespinian government outlawed any unauthorized access to the ruins. So either way, you won’t find out anytime soon.”

Evernya glared down at the artifact resting in her right hand while grumbling, “So, in other words, the artifact I nearly died claiming is useless.”

Instead of responding right away, Meira sent another text out, receiving the purring reply less than a minute later. “Thomas says it’s okay to use it, but it can be dangerous, not knowing its capabilities, plus many of its enchantments won’t be active. Beyond a potent mana absorption enchantment, we have no idea what it can do. It just isn’t safe to fight with a weapon with so many unknowns.”

“Damn, so I have a weird object that sucks mana. The only thing it would be good for is holding it against someone to suck them dry.” Evernya grumbled.

“The mana drain alone would make it overkill, if not illegal. We will have to get it registered eventually so you can legally use it in public, but we are probably better off waiting until it’s fully unlocked. Fortunately, few people have seen the other artifact, so getting it registered should be fairly straightforward if we register it as is.” Meira explained.

“So why did you text Thomas? I would’ve thought an enchanted weapon would be your specialty,” Evernya questioned, sick of talking about her gimped artifact.

Meira winced as she hesitantly replied. “As much as I would love to profess to be a master of all enchantments, my Mythic era knowledge is woefully lacking. I focus most of my time perfecting my own enchanting ability, not learning about enchantments beyond our capabilities. Thomas, on the other hand, loves anything to do with the mythic era, so he’s my go-to if I need to know something.”

Satisfied with Meira’s answer, Evernya moved on with a tinge of hope while asking her next question. “So, do we get to skip the auction now?”

A small smile appeared on Meira’s face at her kitten’s attempt. “If you didn’t have such a drastic recovery, I would have skipped, but now we have Elizabeth too, so we will go as a trio. I wasn’t able to find anything fitting your requirements qualified to be your primary weapon, so we still need to find one to use until your mana-bound artifact is fully functional. So yes, we are still going.”

After sulking for a few seconds, Evernya gave up and focused on the present. “So, where are we?” Evernya inquired as she scanned her surroundings for the first time since she woke up. She found herself in a decent bathroom with a black-and-white color scheme on par with a three-star hotel bathroom.

“Some hotel just outside the festival grounds. I had to rush you to the nearest place with a tub.” Meira replied.

“So did those thieves take anything else?” Evernya asked, moving on.

“As far as I can tell, no, your ID, debit card, and cell phone are safe. They only snatched your lighter purchases.” Meira replied, materializing all three items in her hands as proof.

“Good, where are my clothes?” Evernya inquired, going down a mental checklist.

“I cut them off. Don’t worry. I have another almost identical outfit in my storage ring in case something happened.” Meira replied to her naked kitten lying in the tub.

“Well, something happened, so could I please have them. I may be a shifter, but I doubt many people would want me to walk around in public with only a towel.” Evernya requested, emphasizing her nakedness with a wave of her left hand.

Meira materialized a black tank top and short shorts along with a bra and panties, setting them on the counter along with her ID, debit card, and cell phone. With a groan, Evernya lifted her soggy body out of the tub and limped the meter distance to the counter. On her slow journey toward the counter, a warm wind blew past her, drying her within seconds. After grabbing her bra and tank top, she plopped her butt on the toilet to clothe her top half before sluggishly standing back up to pull on her bottom half before once again dropping onto the closed toilet, exhausted.

Despite her body screaming for her to stop, her mind wanted to rush forward as she declared, “Now let’s go fetch my other new toys. I see my wristband survived, so we should be able to walk right in.”

While staring at her kitten as if she’s an idiot, Meira said, “Not yet, I want Elizabeth to get back to check you out. You were barely alive five minutes ago. I want to make sure everything is fine.”

“Besides soreness in every inch of my body, I feel ok.” Evernya lied, trying to keep the pain from showing on her face.

“Wait, she should be back any minute,” Meira ordered with a tone brokering no argument.

Half grumbling, half whimpering, Evernya pulled herself upright, stuffing her ID, debit card, and cell phone into the tiny pockets before grabbing her artifact. Once she accounted for everything, Evernya sluggishly followed Meira out of the bathroom with gritted teeth as she pushed her aching body forward.