Chapter 161: Act 94 – Crystal
After finally explaining the summoning rules of the Destiny Cards to Romaine, Antinna, and others, and indicating that he currently lacked the ability to summon Medisa, Brendel’s identity as a traveling mage was partially exposed. Fortunately, the perceptive noble lady did not yet suspect the Rubis mercenaries. After all, it was too incomprehensible.
However, Brendel was not worried they would learn the truth for a simple reason: the only person Antinna could rely on now was him. He believed he had the ability to earn her trust.
Of course, that was an obvious statement. Brendel thought to himself that if he, who knew five hundred years of past events and a hundred years of future events, couldn’t keep a little girl confused, then he would not dare claim to be an expert gamer in his previous life.
He put away the Unicorn Knight card and instructed two mercenaries to scout towards the shrine. Meanwhile, some mercenaries had already brought him the spoils of their battle. As a Phantom Knight, Medisa had only left behind two items: a pair of boots and a crystal.
When Brendel saw the crystal, he almost thought he was mistaken. However, he rubbed his eyes to confirm he wasn’t dreaming. No, this must be a dream; otherwise, how could he, known in-game as the King of the Black Hands, keep encountering such fortunate events?
Just like when he didn’t obtain the Heart of the Tree from the Golden Tree boss, he hadn’t found it strange at that time; based on his usual luck, not obtaining good items was the norm. If he did get something good, it must be an illusion.
But after double-checking, he had to admit that what lay in the hands of that Rubis mercenary archer was indeed the Phantom Knight Crystal.
Phantom Knight Crystal, [Enhancement Item, Arm], increases output power by +10% when equipped.
Brendel pinched Romaine’s face, and she immediately raised her little eyebrows in protest: “W-what are you doing, Brendel?” Although she knew he wouldn’t take such a mild protest seriously, this time he had genuinely hurt her.
Thus, the Merchant Miss could not help but vent her complaints.
“No, I was just confirming whether I was dreaming.” Brendel replied as if in a daze.
“Pinch yourself, you idiot!” Romaine angrily kicked him with her rounded-toed boots.
This time Brendel knew for sure he wasn’t dreaming—it hurt.
“Hiss—!”
“Serves you right.”
“Romaine, you’re not allowed to wear leather boots next time.”
“Absolutely not!”
Antinna watched the two suddenly acting like children, shaking her head. She noticed the mercenaries were chuckling, realizing that her Lord was in a particularly good mood. However, looking at the crystal, she wondered if it was really that important.
“Is this the Phantom Knight Crystal?”
As these thoughts crossed her mind, she couldn’t help but voice her question. Not just her, the others were not fools either, especially Husher, who all awaited Brendel to tell them what this crystal was actually used for.
In their minds, Brendel’s extensive knowledge had long become common knowledge, and they were used to it.
Upon hearing the noble lady’s question, Brendel paused. He nodded and replied, “Yes, that is the Phantom Knight Crystal.” Then he couldn’t help but smile: “Looks like I’m being prophetic; Ampere Seale won’t be able to escape a day trip now.”
Compared to the crystal’s intrinsic value, the mercenaries were clearly more interested in this remark. They didn’t understand the meaning of being prophetic, but “Ampere Seale Day Trip” was straightforward, causing them to cheer in unison.
Although summoned creatures were merely card entities, they nonetheless had their own memories and emotions.
However, Antinna didn’t care about that. As Ampere Seale was the largest city of Erluin, she had been once with her father when she was very young, but aside from its prosperity, it didn’t leave a deep impression. Reflecting on her irresponsible father, she purposely avoided that thought, asking, “Is this crystal really that important?”
“Of course.” Brendel replied as if it was a matter of fact, his tone so assertive. In ‘Amber Sword’, as an item that appeared in earlier versions, it could still sell for three hundred million Tor at the end of the game. On trading sites, even when converted to Renminbi, it was worth about three to four thousand.
To know that this was merely a virtual enhancement gem illustrates its value.
Enhancement crystals are implants; a level 20 character can have three enhancement slots: arm, head, and torso. In past games, enhancement crystals were items that wouldn’t be lost upon death, making them generally more valuable than regular equipment. Although this advantage lost value in this world, it still did not change the fact that they were precious.
At the very least, based on the lessons from the Baoguang’s Stabbing Tip, enhancement crystals wouldn’t be lost.
And output power means burst power; a 10% increase in burst power equates to an equal increase in offensive power. Since Brendel already had enough skill experience to push his Burst Power skill to level 10 when he leveled up earlier, opening this skill now would allow him a burst power level reaching 30, with this crystal providing him a 10% or 3-level power boost.
At over level 20, 3 levels of power were already akin to relic-quality equipment. Not to mention, at later stages, when he had hundreds of levels of strength, what a sight that would be!
Brendel could easily imagine how much benefit this thing would bring him.
“If this were to be priced,” Brendel smiled, lifting the crystal and replied, “Then it’s worth three hundred million.”
Three hundred million!
The mercenaries turned pale. If Brendel had said the item was worth three million, they might have felt a little breathless. But three hundred million, the total financial revenue and expenditure for a prosperous duchy in a year was just about that; for this number, these mercenaries from commoner backgrounds truly did not know how to react.
They could only assume Brendel was joking.
Not just them; even Romaine expressed disbelief. The Merchant Miss let out a light hum, glaring at Brendel. Antinna furrowed her brow further, thinking he was boasting again.
But Brendel didn’t care whether they believed him. He happily implanted the thing into his right hand, a continuous stream of power immediately flowed into his body from the crystal. Having been accustomed to this sensation in games, he casually picked up the iron greaves.
However, as soon as he grabbed them, he almost cried out and threw them away.
Fleshy Greaves, [Brass], +10.5% movement speed, +5 constitution, required level: 20; equipment level (20 Oz).
Brendel suddenly felt the world become a bit unreal; although this world had already felt quite surreal to him. But could this be a sign of the apocalypse? He absolutely could not believe he would one day rise to become the legendary face warrior.
A Phantom Knight crystal and a bonus [Brass] equipment—after all, a task BOSS elite wasn’t even a true BOSS.
He was momentarily dazed, but then recalled something: “Who touched the body earlier?” He asked hurriedly.
Touched the body?
Everyone froze, not understanding what he meant.
However, seeing the expressions of his subordinates made Brendel realize he had misspoken; in a moment of urgency, he even blurted out something about “opening a body.” He quickly coughed and corrected himself: “I meant, who cleaned up the battlefield?”
This question was a bit complex; did they need to pay special attention to cleaning up the battlefield? The mercenaries looked at one another in silence. But finally, a voice spoke up: “It was me, my Lord. Is there something wrong?”
The voice was somewhat indifferent. Brendel turned around to see it was the older sister of the Elementalist twins. She looked up at him, but the slight tension in her eyes could not be hidden; Brendel’s urgency made one wonder if she had done something wrong.
“It’s nothing,” Brendel nodded. “You will take care of battlefield cleaning from now on.”
“Me?” The elf lady was taken aback, struggling to suppress her instinct to press her hand to her chest and ask again. Anyone could tell this was a rare honor, but she didn’t understand what she had done to earn the lord’s favor. After thinking for a long time, she could only think of some of the noble’s bad habits, which made her gaze at Brendel a bit suspicious.
However, Brendel didn’t have time to explain. He only felt secretly pleased, thinking that in the past, he had been surrounded by a group of schemers, and now he finally had a competent hand, and to top it off, she was a soft girl. Just looking at her was delightful.
…
Fleshy greaves were standard meat shield gear in past games. Brendel had the intention of building the most experienced mercenary captain Husher into a meat shield, but creatures summoned by cards could not use any items outside of the rules. Although these mercenaries could wield swords and shoot longbows, they could not enjoy the enhancements from magical items.
To truly equip an item, card creatures could only do so through attachment. For example, if Brendel attached the Holy Sword relic card to the Rubis mercenary card, it would mean he could designate one of the mercenaries to fully wield the Holy Sword card’s effects.
Of course, he still had to bear the costs himself.
On the other hand, Romaine and Antinna were not combat members to begin with, so they naturally didn’t need the greaves. Reluctantly, Brendel had to wear them himself. Honestly, he couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty—if he did this in a game, he’d probably see a post on the forums by the next morning.
‘What I know about the Hairy Ball Team—Brendel’s few facts.’
But just then, the two mercenaries he had sent out to scout the shrine came running back.
…(To be continued. For details on what happens next, please log in to read more chapters, support the author, and support copyright reading!)
