Fram and Haleth - Arc rise of the light kingdom
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Talion is finally coming out of the forge after a few days spent in it. Although he still has many ideas to exploit, he is still limited by the number of resources at his disposal. Despite Idril's work, and the new mines, smelters and roads to ensure a constant flow of ore to Nurn, they are not yet fully completed, and the overall organization of the northern mines is still lacking.
For all these reasons, Talion is once again waiting for ores before he can implement all the ideas he has theorized. But although this is a problem that hinders his progress in this field, it still gives him time to supervise the organization of his territory.
It is with this in mind that Talion heads for Baranor to get an update on the progress of the kingdom's fortifications.
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-POV Talion-
During these few days at the forge I was able to make progress on several of my projects, first of all the communication system of my army is finished, we just need to set it up and automate the production.
The production factor will be ensured by the runic assembler that I have developed, this last one although it asked me a lot of resources to make and a lot of time is now also functional.
But I'm kind of stuck on my biggest project, I can't manage to codify the cube, this one is crucial, I need to ensure the loyalty of my subject, and by liking it to the souls of my people, I will be assured of their loyalty. Despite multiple attempts, no ore can conduct magical energy well enough, I will have to find new abundant sources of ore, or even create a new material from scratch in order to create this artifact.
I have also determined two essential points to ensure the proper creation of this artifact, I will need a better forge, allowing me to express my full potential, and a higher magic level to ensure the smooth running of the main rune, which will be the one connected to the soul.
I now only have a few days to wait for new ores, and I already have some ideas to work on.
I wanted to solve the problem of resources by teleporting to the khazad-dûm mines and stealing the resources directly from there, but this force that I felt there is very powerful, this Balrog is terrifying, much more than the one I faced, and I could surely defeat him, but it will require a lot of time, which I don't have currently.
I will go and see how far the fortification of the kingdom has progressed, we currently own the area in the north east of Mordor, or Seregost, the south of Mordor with Nurn, and part of the west of Mordor with Cirith Ungol.
It is not an ideal position, and I wish more than anything to finish Sauron and end this war, but I must be patient, we are not yet ready for a shock of this magnitude.
It is also in this objective that I am going to meet Baranor, I have a plan to put in place as soon as possible.
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-Third POV-
Talion approaches a training camp, sensing Baranor's presence in the vicinity, he sees a number of orcs and humans, all wearing newly created armor and weapons, each of which is engraved with a crest, the new crest of Talion's kingdom.
Seeing Baranor in the distance, Talion approaches him and sees a man standing next to him talking with him.
As he gets closer, many human and orc soldiers are disturbed in their training by the presence of Talion, their ruler, some whisper and murmur, others are simply impressed by his body posture, being warriors they can only note with fear the perfect posture of their lord, without flaw, like a great beast that stands before them.
This obviously does not escape Talion eyes, who observes this scene somewhat amused.
"Silence!" Baranor clamors seeing the lack of discipline in the ranks, then after a few moments silence sets in.
" Resume! " shouts Baranor once again, showing his authority and his unfailing control of the troops.
Then the latter comes directly to welcome Talion accompanied by the mysterious character at his side.
"Hello Baranor, I've come to know more about the developpement of the city and the overall the kingdom" said Talion while greeting the other person with a nod of his head.
"Ah, Talion, it's been a while, as you can see I'm supervising the training of the recruits, by the way I'd like you to meet Fram" he answers while pointing to the person next to him.
The latter then spoke " Hello my lord, I am delighted to meet you, I hope we can work together in the future " while staring at Talion without letting him out of his sight, a smile on his lips.
"Fram is now my advisor, he is a brilliant person that I met during a visit to the administrative quarters, he was a high ranking official in the eastern countries and is now under my direct orders, he has been a great help, as you know we are lacking in administrative workers"
"As Baranor said so well, I was a high official in the variags of Khands, before being made a slave" he said before letting the silence settle for a few moments, then he continues "But, all that is in the past thanks to you, I can now return to my first function and devote myself body and soul to your cause my lord, after all it is to you that I owe my life"
'This person is very interesting, he is not impressed by my presence like the other citizens, he must have been trained to be so eloquent, this cannot be a natural gift, I must be wary of this kind of person, although he is on our side for the moment, if Baranor is true and he is talented, I need a way to ensure his loyalty, I can not and will not take any risk' thinks Talion
"Well Fram, I thank you for your loyalty and your work, you will be duly rewarded in due time, but we are still in a delicate situation, so I ask for your services for the moment without any compensation, I hope it suits you "
"Of course my lord, I can only be satisfied with your compliments and I make myself available to Baranor to assist him in his tasks".
While Talion, Baranor and Fram are exchanging pleasantries, Talion is trying to find out more about Fram's work in the city and in the territory as a whole.
But interestingly, Talion sees a swordsman surrounded by several orcs and men, all armed to the teeth.
Intrigued and while listening to the other two, he looks carefully at the fight, and he was surprised to see this swordsman easily defeating all his opponents.
Wishing to know more, Talion then asks Baranor "I change the subject, I just saw a talented swordsman, who is he?" pointing to the swordsman.
Turning to the man in question, Fram replies, "This man is the most talented swordsman in the army, every time I've seen him fight, he's had great precision and amazing speed, only Baranor has been able to defeat him".
"What Fram says is true, his name is Haleth, and I could only beat him thanks to the ring that you gave me, he is strong, very talented and has a very particular style, it is in fact after my fight against him that I handed him the second ring that you gave me, since then he has not stopped progressing, I don't know if I could still defeat him "
"Interesting, very interesting, I would like to fight him, in a friendly spar of course, it can only be beneficial and I'm sure it will be good for the army to see a fight between two good swordsman" Talion then proposed, eager to fight.
"Well, it's seems interesting, i'll talk to him" said Baranor before walking towards Haleth.
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Ten minutes later, the fight takes place, Talion facing Haleth
"I am happy to see such promising warriors in my army, I hope you will give it your all" said Talion while preparing his spectral sword.
"Don't worry my lord, I'm not used to holding back my blows" he replied coldly, scrutinizing Talion's every move
"I don't need to remind you of the rules, gentlemen, this is only a friendly fight, on my mark you can start" said Baranor, acting as referee.
Meanwhile all the other soldiers stopped to watch this exciting match, it's not every day that a fight like this takes place, and they can progress by watching the fight.
"Do you think Haleth has a chance?" asked a soldier to another man.
"Obviously, even if our lord is very talented and despite what we have seen of him during the various battles, Haleth remains a very good warrior, he has trained hard and he also has extraordinary abilities" replied one of the soldiers speaking as a wise man while rubbing his beard.
"Bwahaha, the lord will eat him up!" laughs an orc
While many of the soldiers are chatting, Baranor calls the start of the match.
"Begin!"
Without waiting, Haleth rushes towards Talion and strikes him with multiple sword blows in the direction of his vital points, all of which are parried by Talion who retaliates with equally powerful blows.
Haleth seeing Talion's ease of defending himself from his blows chooses another strategy, he strikes upwards as a feint and tries to tackle Talion who dodges it by taking a step back.
Haleth continues with various swords strikes, heavy and light in order to destabilize his opponent while examining his fighting style.
*Woosh*
Talion decides to end this introduction and begins to attack seriously his opponent, he strikes more heavily and becomes much more agile and fast, Haleth is immediately caught off guard and struggles to parry all of Talion's blows.
Finding himself on the defensive, he immediately steps back to adjust to Talion's level to charge once again.
He now manages to parry Talion's blows and sends back some strike towards Talion's vital points. Talion, having fun with his opponent, decides to speed up and use his true fighting style.
Being unpredictable Talion feints with his sword multiple times and lightly hits Haleth on his vital points so as not to hurt him. Being overtaken, Haleth can only defend himself as best he can in front of the absolute supremacy and mastery of his opponent.
But Haleth's talent allows him to resist even if he is hit several times.
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-POV Talion-
While fighting with Haleth I notice something strange in his style, he uses me to improve himself, he calculates each of my moves and the effects they have and I can't feint more than twice.
But... Even if this young man is very talented, his style leaves something to be desired, since the beginning of the fight I can observe multiple flaws in his defense, I could exploit them but i just want to test him.
He is a good element to watch, but he will need a lot of training before reaching my level.
Deciding to finish, I accelerate again, my first sword strike disarms him, then I kick him on the knee making him fall and then put my sword on his throat.
"End of the fight, Talion's victory" shouts Baranor followed by the crowd cheering me.
Withdrawing my sword Haleth stands up and shakes my hand.
"It was a good fight, I thank you for the lesson my lord, I will make good use of it" he says while bowing his head.
"It was a good fight, you are talented and you will make a good fighter, train more, you have the ability to reach a much higher level".
" Baranor, in two days I want you to organize a meeting, we will discuss some important things and some plans I have, I will talk with Idril to let her know".
"Alright Talion, I'll take care of it" he replies before I disappear by teleporting away.
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Greetings everyone, I hope you liked this chapter, for those of you who want to support me you can do it on my pa*treon at pa*treon.com/I_am_Baal and read chapter ahead.