Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (ereader iphone .TXT) 📗

He grimaced but nodded. "If you can use it, though. That specific sword was designed for a magic user, not a knight."

Why would a mage need a sword? Unless you specialized as a battlemage, physical weapons are almost useless to pure casters. I walked over to the rack, anticipation building. I wanted the sword, wanted to wield it. My hand reached out as if it were being pulled by a string to grasp the hilt of the fiery blade. It glowed with delight at the thought of being used, but the moment my hand touched the hilt, it shocked me, sending my hand away from it.

"Ow! Damn, that stings."

Magnus and Aliria both laughed from the far side of the room, chuckling over my pain. Even Raven let out a quick snort of humor, which didn't endear herself to me in the slightest.

"I warned you,” Magnus said.

A notification appeared in my interface.

Warning! Stat Requirements Unmet.

Stats Required.

Strength: 90-Met

Constitution: 80-Met

Wisdom: 75-Unmet

Damn it. Oh well. I fanned my hand, trying to dispel some of the pain and numbness. I'd forgotten how much that hurt.

With that sword out of the question, I went through the many racks of swords, searching for one that would be appropriate for me. I discounted the heavier and large claymores and such to focus on the lighter weapons and went down the line, picking them up one at a time and testing them out. A few were nicely balanced and felt right in my hands but were completely ostentatious, adorned with gold, silver, and numerous gems.

I nearly picked the one that was just like my own sword, but I hesitated. It was nice, but it was built for a class similar to Blade Master, something I wasn't any longer. So I tried to find one better suited to my Hive Knight class.

Only a few swords remained when I found the best choice. It was a hand and a half sword, and a little flashier than I was used to, but not overly so. It was slightly shorter than a normal longsword, the blade wide and thick, and it sported a solid heft to it that I liked.

The blade was shadowsteel and a stark black. The handle was polished drake horn, and the smooth gray accented the black of the blade and silver crossguard nicely. Etched into the silver were the branches of a tree, and in the flickering light, they came alive as if blown about in a breeze.

The final and most extravagant aspect of the sword was the pommel, which was also silver and had an emerald the size of my eye set into the hilt.

I found the stone symbolic of the job I was about to undertake and very fitting. I rubbed the gem for good luck and strapped the sword to my belt. The sheath was a pure black with small green lines spreading out like the veins of a leaf.

Sword down, next is armor.

I went to the far side and perused the armor sets. As soon as I took a good look, I immediately found the section I wanted—the medium sets.

These were all made with a mixture of leather and chainmail, but the chest and back plates were crafted from shadowsteel plates. I chose one of the darker ones—black wyvern leather with thick shadowsteel plating. Flipping over the chestpiece revealed something startling. It was backed with thin leather along with chainmail, but as I ran my fingers over the blackened chain, I found it wasn't standard steel, it was shadowsteel. That's something you don't see every day.

I equipped it and moved around a bit to get the feel of the new weight. It's not that noticeable, but I'm slower. The weight is heavier than I'm used to. That could prove fatal if I don't watch it. But the main ideal feature of my newest equipment was that, despite its heaviness, there was no discernible sound as I moved around. Every single slab of metal separated from the rest. The only sound was from the leather rubbing against itself, but with a little oil in those trouble spots, I'd be virtually silent. Perfect for a heist.

Speaking of, if I'm pulling a heist, I'll need some specialized tools. I'd probably need a full burglar’s kit, and since I'd be deep underground, it wouldn't hurt to have a dungeon delving kit, just to be on the safe side.

A dull pain throbbed through my skull at the thought of everything I might need for this. My go-to was usually carry more than I could possibly need. Overkill has never failed me before. Before I left, I went through the potions. The entire bottom shelves were stacked with health and mana potions, hundreds of them in neat rows. I took ten of each.

Then I went through and grabbed everything I could even think I might need for such a quest.

Potion of the Revenant went into my inventory, along with a lightstep potion, wraithsight, and an invisibility potion. All the ones I might need for this job. I had turned to head out of the room when a thought struck me, and I went back to search the shelves for one more potion.

"Gotcha," I said as I snagged the recovery potion that was hidden behind a few dragonsbane draughts.

Potions secure, I headed for the door.

Magnus and the others had already left the war room, leaving me alone with literal millions of gold. Is this another test, or am I reading too much into it? Regardless, my inventory could only store so much, and I couldn't carry away even five percent of the items in this room.

I only took the items I absolutely thought I needed. Though, I would still need supplies and provisions. Magnus would know where I could acquire them. The emptiness of