Azure Roar

The news of the Azure Roar shocked everyone in Norland, resounding just as much as when Emperor Charles had slain Daramore or Philip had attacked the Fort of Dawn. This was a grand occasion for the entire plane; most people didn’t even know just what a grade 6 rune signified, but they had seen the power of Richard’s saint runes and Midren and had an inkling of what more powerful meant.

The reward point system of the Archerons had always been fair, the pricing accurate to the total value. Considering that, the Azure Roar at 50,000 points had to be at least five times as powerful as Midren’s battle edition. While the description was rather simplistic— it provided an increase to all attributes and added the flames of destruction to one’s attacks— the power of Richard’s blue flames that originated from the star of destruction were obvious to everyone.

## Inspiration

The Rainbow of the Moons sat silently in Faust, but his attention was drawn to what was supposed to be the phantom of the blue moon that had replaced the original. Most people could tell that this image of the blue moon was different from the real one, but as he focused on it he noticed that every flicker was accompanied by countless changes to the surrounding laws. This wasn’t a simple change of brightness, but an entire process of birth and death.

To those of Norland, the color blue represented destruction. This was the final destination of all life, which was why the moonforce of the blue moon powered the secret sword known as Annihilation. It was just that this was a move that ended in mutual destruction; Annihilation drew upon its user’s power with reckless disregard for life, inevitably injuring or even killing them.

Watching the phantom moon, Richard felt like he had seen the life and death of the world. His thoughts drifted to when he had witnessed the Land of Dawn being pulled into the domain of order, birthing a number of new planes before his very eyes. The laws of the Darkness weren’t truly extinguished, but that sector had been pulled away and destroyed.

He suddenly realised the connection between the blue moon, creation, and destruction. As the one person on Norland whose very truename meant destruction, he gasped and rushed back into his lab. This time, he spent an entire month within.

## Creation

This rune was a milestone for Norland and a highlight of his life; with its appearance, the entire plane’s destiny had been changed and it would rise to new peaks. It had used a demon archlord as the core ingredient, and had taken an enormous amount of activated ember essence to power. In tandem, they managed to perfectly reproduce the power of his truename, and the entire process had allowed him to consolidate his experience with the laws of destruction.

That being said, even this rune hadn’t allowed him to express himself completely. His understanding of Issa was nearing completion as well, and with it another grade 6 rune that he called the Final Redemption had already been designed. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the right kind of materials at the moment to craft it, forcing him to shelve the idea. It was slightly disappointing, but he didn’t really care too much; he hadn’t made the Azure Roar for anything but the feeling of making a true grade 6 rune, so that goal had already been achieved.

## First

Counting the duplicates, the eight runes Richard had released so far had been scattered in the hands of five different powerhouses. Now that all four of the rest had been released, they would be snatched away by at least two or three different people. Collecting the entire set this way would take years. Some people had already changed their minds and were selling their pieces on the exchange, but it took far more than the original 10,000 points to collect them all this way. The effective price came up to forty top-tier offerings, a wealth which even the Celestial Sage would find difficult to amass.

Still, many people couldn’t control themselves once the exchange cycle started, many spending their accumulated points in an instant. The end result was that all four pieces landed in the hands of different people, making collecting everything that much harder.

Once the auction ended, those who had emptied their pockets wanted nothing more than to rush back into the abyss. They only had points in their eyes, but even the most agitated of them had to wait for two days as the next exchange list was delayed for two days before being announced. This list was the motivation for all of their struggles, and with Richard’s return any delays could only bring good news.

All of the powerhouses restrained themselves and waited patiently for the new list, and two days passed in the blink of an eye. When the time arrived, Nasia arrived at the plaza and placed a thick stack of papers on the table, the copies being snatched up immediately as everyone read through carefully. One impatient sky saint suddenly let out a weird shriek, followed quickly by a legendary warrior. It wasn’t long before even the more powerful legends started whispering to their friends, but their voices were as loud as shouts anyway.

This season, there was only one high-grade rune up for exchange, and it required a whopping 50,000 points to win. It was called the Azure Roar, and the first line of explanation alone made it worth ten times that price.

This was the first true grade 6 rune in Norland!

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Book 9, Chapter 130
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Book 9, Chapter 129