Chapter 50: Preparations

The Old man looked at his grandson and was left speechless. The once boisterous and cheerful kid now looked like a mercenary. Scars decorated his body and the dark gloomy aura of a warrior surrounded Valdor, although faint, the old man could also sense killing intent emanating from his grandson.

Kalder let out a long sigh after looking at his grandson for a while. They had both sat down for a drink in his yard, neither saying anything, they both knew exchanging empty words would be pointless at that moment. Just like Valdor's father, Karlon had walked a different path from the Dwarves in the clan, his son was doing the same. The old man however decided this time he wasn't going to just watch without helping.

"Valdor, I cannot say that I understand what you're doing or what you're experiencing at the moment, so I won't give you any advice or try to deter you. Just as you lost a father, I have lost my son"

The old man took a sip from his wine pot and turned to face his grandson

"I thought regardless of what happened to the fool of a son of mine, I wouldn't mind it, but here I am lamenting his disappearance, I truly have grown old. When you get back to your quarters, you'll find a box underneath your bed, use it wisely and stop getting beat up every time"

"Keeping the gift underneath my bed, just how childish can this old man get"

Valdor grumbled as he entered his room. He had just left the old man's place after they had drank together and had returned to his quarters.

Valdor wasn't a fool, he understood what the old man was trying to do, it's just that no dwarf would straightforwardly talk about their feelings, they all avoided it using such means.

Thinking back, he knew he wasn't the best person to talk to, with him being all over the place and his mood being down since he started his journey to gather all the parts he needed for his quest, but Valdor needed strength, a lot of it.

Others might not have known, both in Gamora and back in the clan, but Valdor knew just how strong his father was, even back in the clan, only a few elders had the strength of a mid level ascendant and the only had a single high level awakener, Kaldur

So far he had gotten the soul disrupter and stabilizer, a creation by the tower of eli for criminal soul ascendants.

They were potions of varying potency from one capable of severing the soul connection to the body to one that just partially inhibited the soul connection. While it was hard, Valdor had successfully secured one of the potions, the one with a relatively high potency.

Of course he had to take a backdoor, as there was no way the potion would have been sold to the general populace, he had to make a lot of equipment and sell to the party in question to get the soul disrupter.

As for the soul stabilizer, while there were different varieties with different efficacies, due to its particular need in the act Valdor was going to perform, he settled for the moon flower, a natural treasure that could only be gotten in a select location, thereby increasing the price.

The moon flower could only be seen on certain peaks in areas where the moon was in the sky for extended periods of time, and unfortunately the dwarven continent had no such locations. After scouring auction houses and hiring brokers to no avail, Valdoe eventually had to take matters into his own hands, venturing to the merfolk continent.

That was one of the most dangerous trips he had ever made. With just his hand crafted weapons anand his measly knowledge, Valdor secured flight to the city closest to the isle of tears.

No one knew where Isle of tears got its name from or who named it, but it was a part of the merfolk continent that was declared inhabitable. Many efforts had been made to conquer it and explore it but a lot of factors got in the way of their exploration,

Of the multiple reasons, the abrupt cycle of day and night was the first. The isle was shrouded in darkness for as long as seven months without sunlight, experiencing the sun only the months ignis and labes

Apart from that, it was a land of perpetual cold and ice. Even for the merfolk continent that was renowned for its low temperatures, this place took the top spot.

And finally, the creatures that lived on the isle. The isle was like a dungeon. No matter how much effort was put into clearing the isle, they kept coming back, increasing in number in fact.

After countless battles and attempts, at sometime in the past, the head of the expedition towards the isle was found dead in his quarters, he blood drained from his body and used to write on the floor of his quarters

"Just as we do not trespass into your lands, do not trespass into ours, you're allowed to explore and take what you need, but do not think of conquering our home, we are not afraid of war and if you do not heed our warnings, blood shall flow"

This warning wasn't taken seriously at that time, but after a war that had wiped out two of the merfolk kingdoms, they finally complied. As for the creatures responsible for the carnage?

Apart from those who met them during the war ages ago, no one knew who or what they were exactly, if it wasn;t for how intense the war was in that time and the evidence of destruction that was present even after hundred of years had passed, it would be taken as an legend made up to scare intruders.

Valdor read the information he had gotten from his broker but apart from the history and general information, it wasn't really helpful. But he couldn't blame them

Most people tend to keep the useful information to themselves, who would want to sell their source of livelihood?

During that trip, Valdor had braced challenges from nature and from other people. The Isle was a hotspot for different treasures so it wasn't a surprise that there were others who wanted the moon flower.

Three months, that was how long it took him to complete his quest, but it wasn't all easy. Valdor had managed to survive a massacre.

As for the elemental source, that was the easiest, he just turned in the contribution points for all he had achieved for the clan; building weapons and equipment, fulfilling missions etc, in exchange for a rare spirit crystal.

The crystal was a unique one that had the imprint of the earth element, but did not belong to it. The best term to describe it would be a variant of the earth element, just like metal was.

Since Valdor couldn't alter his base element, he wanted to try influencing his future advanced element.

The array had already been designed by the creator of the blueprint, and only needed an ascendant mage to create the main part unto the elemental source, and the rest would be done by Valdor himself in the midst of the ritual.

It had taken some convincing from the young halflin to get one of the geezers of the clan to design the array, especially since Valdor was keeping the truth about the process he was about to undergo a secret.

If they knew what he was up to, they would have stopped him. It had been nine months since he started his preparations, since it was confirmed that Gamora had vanished from the face of Kreatia along with everyone in it and it was about time he put an end to this.

Checking his body state, although now ridden with scars and signs of aging, Valdor's body was now more developed, optimized for his profession as a craftsman, yet leaving room for his role as a weapon master.

A hundred and three of his energy channels had been open, a record in the clan, as anything more than ninety was pretty much impossible to open and nourish, the eighties range was where most people tended to stop and undergo baptism, and the nineties was the realm of geniuses.

Valdor took a seat on his bed and looked around, this room had become home for him, but now it felt like a cage, a reminder of his helplessness and powerlessness, however that was going to change soon.

Preparations had been made for the last two objects on the list, the soul source and the power source and luckily they were in the same location.

Getting up from his bed, Valdor gathered all his equipment and all he had prepared for his journey, the items necessary for reforging his soul weapon were all stashed in the storage bracelet on his arm, leaving only the rest of his items and equipment in the bag.

Valdor was about to leave, but he remembered what his grandfather had left for him, bending over to retrieve the box from underneath the bed, Valdor placed it on the bed before popping it open.

And what a sight it was, he stood there for minutes just looking at it and feeling love and care the old dwarf had for him, there wasn't a note or instruction added to the piece, but there was no need for that

"You really outdid yourself old man"

Valdor chucked before shutting the lid on the box and placing it into his storage bracelet.

It was finally time.

Valdor was now finally going for the last two objects required for his rebirth.