Chapter 311: Act 78 – The King of the Underground (29) (Second Update, Stay Tuned)
Brendel understood that he could not continue to the next challenge. Although it was a pleasant surprise that he did not encounter the Mithril Sage in the fifth battle, this did not imply that the subsequent challenges would be equally simple.
The sixth battle would undoubtedly be a clash of elements, and for such battles, Brendel did not even need to think.
Here, Otales had already stated that she could not help him, and this time he had no Silver Elf Guardians beside him, nor a Young Female Dragon to share his burdens.
In a battle between elements, whether it was him or Medisa, or even if he summoned two Chars using his Eternal Requiem, the outcome would likely be the same. Even if Xi regained her strength and joined the fight, they would have no chance of winning.
The gap between the two levels was, frankly, too obvious. This was why Xi couldn’t even get a single strike in against the Earth God’s envoy.
Thus, Brendel did not deliberate for long; he immediately accepted the ‘system’s’ request—selecting a reward. The roulette wheel reappeared before him. He pointed with his hand, and the pointer quickly began to spin—but when it slowed down, it once again passed ‘The Bloodstained Altar’ and stopped at a card called ‘The All-Encompassing Cosmos.’
“d*mn.”
Brendel cursed under his breath; it seemed his luck was as dismal as ever. He couldn’t help but wish that Red-Handed Soft Sister were here. However, it was clearly not the right time to summon Flour, as there was already a myriad of issues waiting for them to deal with back in Firburh.
He held out his palm, allowing the gray, attribute-less card to fall into his hand, the text on the card reading:
The All-Encompassing Cosmos
(Unique Curiosities III)
30 Any
[Treasure—Sanctum/Fantasy]
Attach three equipment counters to target creature (Dwarves/Crusians).
‘The Dwarven Treasury, shining with gold—’
As the card fell, Otales clearly saw it too. The elf woman’s violet-blue eyes flickered, but after a moment of thought, she remained silent.
Brendel was completely focused on the card in his hand and did not notice the reaction of the Soul of the Holy Seal beside him. Instead, when he obtained the card, he asked the others in his mind:
“What does this equipment counter mean?”
“My lord, have you found something good again?” A somewhat relaxed tone came to him, it was Charles’ voice. Brendel was surprised; Charles was still in Firburh. He quickly replied, “Can you hear me?”
“Naturally.” The image of Charles shrugging emerged in Brendel’s thoughts: “I am the main card; Medisa, Husher, and the others should be able to hear too. You didn’t specify your question, so we all received the information.”
“Does this mean a connection between the Mage and the summoned creatures isn’t limited by distance?” Brendel thought this was good news. However, he still asked, “What’s happening over there?”
“Hehe, my lord, guess what?” Charles deliberately teased: “There’s someone here who is quite suspicious of your identity, waiting for you to come back and ‘educate’ him.”
Someone is waiting for him to return and teach him a lesson? Brendel felt curious about what Charles meant, but he was not one to let others lead the conversation. He ignored Charles’ teasing and asked instead:
“Then can someone explain what this thing is?” He gestured to the card in his hand.
“An equipment counter is something that boosts a card’s combat power. What’s the face value of that card you have, bronze or silver?” Charles seemed unfazed by Brendel shifting the topic, both of them sharing an unspoken understanding.
“Bronze,” Brendel replied.
“Bronze equipment counters can increase the summon creature’s level by about five natural levels.” It was Medisa’s voice. The Silver Elf girl had been moved to the sidelines after the previous rules and stood in a position opposite Kuran in the arena.
“What is a natural level?” Brendel countered.
“Natural level should refer to the level displayed on the summoned creature’s card,” Charles answered.
Displayed level on the card? Brendel’s mind raced as he recalled that it seemed the Fate cards were the only items in this world mentioning creature levels—with most people, whether in this era or the Dark Age, accustomed to using realms to classify a creature’s strength.
Golden realm, Silver tier, or elements of enlightenment; it never referred to someone as a certain level. That sounded more like game terminology.
Suddenly, Brendel came to a realization. He couldn’t help but look at the card in his hand, questioning whether this item was linked to his arrival in this world. After all, he had never encountered Fate cards in the game. Although Fate cards became rule-bound after being unlocked, visible only to the summoner, what about the cards that weren’t unlocked?
Yet he knew this wasn’t the time to ponder that. He suppressed his doubts and recalled his other card, the Golden Glory Battle Flag, which similarly increased creature levels. However, that card had never been used since he acquired it, as the Golden Glory Battle Flag could only elevate all summoned creatures on the field by one level, for which Brendel still had to pay five Light Elements.
Not to mention he was already low on Light Elements, and this item seemed impractical. What advantage was there to an extra level for summon creatures?
Of course, it might become significant in the future when he could maintain numerous summoned creatures on the field, but for now, ‘The All-Encompassing Cosmos’ seemed much more useful than the ‘Golden Glory Battle Flag.’
With that in mind, he flipped the card and asked, “Charles, can you use this card?” According to the card’s requirements, Medisa, being an elf, definitely could not, but Charles was human.
“I need to see the card first, my lord,” Charles replied.
Brendel then silently focused on the card, and after a few seconds, the young Wizard on the other side shook his head: “I can’t, my lord.”
“Why?” Brendel asked in surprise.
“I am a Highland Wizard, my lord; our lineage split from the Silver Alliance. Although we’ve intermingled with the Erluins over generations, we still descend from the Bud family in terms of the card’s rules.”
“I see.” Brendel let the card vanish from his hand, feeling a bit regretful: “Then I guess this card will have to wait.”
“No,” Medisa said instead: “My lord, someone in your card can use it.”
“Who?” The young man exclaimed.
“Husher and the others.”
“Wait,” Brendel paused in shock: “Flour and Diya are Wild Elves, not to mention the northern barbarians and mountain folk among Lubis’s mercenaries.”
“Medisa is right, my lord,” Charles’ voice chimed in: “Husher is the main card, and as a Lubis person, they are also part of the Crusians from the north.”
“So that means in a group summon card, as long as the main card meets the description, it works?” Brendel asked.
“Yes.”
Brendel felt relieved. Even if Charles leveled up another fifteen times, he would only reach the pinnacle of Gold, which was powerful, but if Lubis’s mercenaries leveled up fifteen times, that would be thirty—already entering the stage poised to break into the mid-level of Silver. The strength gap was considerable, meaning he suddenly had a group of commanders at his disposal.
That was still quite good.
He snapped back to reality, raising his head to see Otales gazing at him, unable to suppress a slight feeling of unease. Because of his little world, he often spaced out in front of others. A handful of times was fine, but if he frequently zoned out, others might mistakenly think he had a ‘natural disposition’—as a grown man, that was quite embarrassing.
Of course, perhaps there wasn’t such a term in this world.
But Brendel instinctively felt a bit self-conscious around Otales. Her demeanor was somewhat reminiscent of his senior. If she were here, Brendel thought she would have probably started teasing him good-naturedly about being a natural ditz.
“Sorry,” he explained: “I was thinking about something.”
The woman indicated her understanding and nodded with a smile.
At that moment, the massive voice above the arena finally resounded again: “Mortals, you have passed the test, and you shall receive your reward—”
Brendel looked up to see the great sword embedded in the stone monument suddenly ‘buzz’ and vibrate. It violently broke free and soared upward, then shot toward Brendel.
Everyone outside gasped, but Brendel raised his hand and firmly grasped the sword’s hilt.
The sword trembled wildly in his grasp.
Yet Brendel felt a tremendous power surge from deep within his being, connecting him to the earth, as if he would stand firm and unyielding as long as he remained on the ground.
The moment he seized the sword, the arena fell silent; the next instant, the audience of Runes Dwarves erupted in thunderous cheers:
“Z’roe! Z’roe!”
“Z’roe! Z’roe!”
“Z’roe! Z’roe!”
The immense sound wave impacted everyone in the arena, causing their ears to ring and their vision to blur. But both Kuran and Juliette, and even the youths, could clearly discern that the voices bore no hostility; rather, they surrounded something—
The sound progressively rose, leaving Brendel standing there, sword in hand, bathed in the roar of the crowd, feeling an involuntary sensation arise within him.
As if by wielding this sword, he were being crowned king.
But he shook his head, dismissing that notion, and turned to ask Medisa: “What are they saying?”
“Z’roe is an ancient Dwarven name, in fact a person’s name—the ancient emperor Z’roe of the Runes Dwarves. Later, this name came to represent all kings above the emperor.”
“Kings?”
Brendel raised the sword in his hand, and as expected, he saw a line of small characters engraved in ancient language on the blade—because in the game, the designer, to save effort, had replaced the limited instances of so-called ancient languages with words from the real world. What was inscribed on this sword was indeed English, and seeing those familiar letters felt extremely odd to Brendel.
…
(PS. I just needed to vent, feeling much better now. Continuing to ask for support. Apologies to the injured classmates.)(To be continued. To find out what happens next, please log in for more chapters and support the author by reading the official version!)
