Chapter 287: Won Wager
Rory wasn’t normally overly competitive. Oh, he liked a good competition occasionally, and he could get quite stubborn at times. Still, the fact that he’d spent his entire life on Aelia pursuing a path as an Architect who leveraged his ability to create rather than attempting to be some martial god spoke volumes about his mindset regarding all that jazz.
Except, arms crossed and facing the Spear, he found himself hilariously insistent on wanting to win.
No, he definitely wasn’t hung up on losing to her, even if on a technicality, during their Founders duel.
Given the expression in her eyes, Rory could see the woman felt similairly, unhappy with her win through technicality.
“I’m game,” The Spear said as she turned away, and the two instead turned to face their real opponent, Eia’s roided-up ‘cousin.’
Tapping his head, a helmet covered his face as Rory took one final, quick breath before stepping forward.
Before instantly appearing behind Apophis Serpent Chushi, driving a glorified ice pick down toward its back.
The serpent’s aura attempted to envelop him in its aural toxin effect, yet it found zero purchase against Rory. Not minimal, not a tiny bit. Zero. The reason was simple enough: having spent as many years around Eia as he had, Rory had plenty of time to consider how he would tackle an opponent that could utilize the dangerous aura toxin. While it was generally quite weakened against similar strength or level opponents, it could still build up over time, or in the case of the Rogue, receiving a direct triple dose could even overwhelm the normally ‘nerfed’ output of being used on a similar level opponent.
Rory’s solution was his own affinity, specifically, Lattice. Lattice was, in simple terms, all about structure, and having spent so many years with it now, all he had to do was to lean into the affinity, his own aura taking on an almost ‘panel’ like appearance if one looked really closely at it.
Entirely unfazed by the territory alpha’s aura, Rory’s rapier-like weapon drove down toward the snake’s scales, which turned it crystal a moment later. Undeterred, the snake shrieked as, between Rory’s lattice affinity and integrated seams unseen, he perfectly struck a weak point within a scale, shattering it and punching into the softer flesh beneath before blasting the serpent with a fun dose of lightning.
| Lightning Lacquered Promethium Stiletto Grade: Rare A promethium stiletto knife crafted and designed for piercing the weak points of even the strongest armors, it has been lacquered to reduce heat-resistance but, in turn, gains a natural lightning effect.
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