Chapter 312: Act 79 – The King of the Underground (Finished) (Third update, stay tuned)
“This is what language?” This time it was Medisa who asked.
“Ancient language, ‘He who wields this sword is the innate master of the earth’—” Brendel answered bizarrely in his heart.
“Lord, you know ancient language?” The young Silver Elf girl was astonished, and not just her; even Otales was taken aback.
The ancient language is said to be the language from before the primordial era, even older than the history of the Duskgazer Dragon— in other words, its background was meaningless in previous games — like the distant mountains, it could only be viewed from afar and was unrelated to the era in which players lived.
Brendel coughed, realizing his slip-up, and hurriedly replied, “I’ve seen a bit of it in the ancient tomes of the Black Tower Wizard, but I think Bud’s craftsman wizard should have more records.”
Medisa nodded, but Otales looked at him skeptically.
Brendel, feeling guilty, avoided looking at the two of them and was eager to check the attributes of the Sword of the Earth. Although he had heard of the sword’s reputation before, he could never have had the chance to hold something like this — as a level forty-five fantasy-grade long sword, its price during its release period was astronomical, something Brendel never dared to consider.
However, even though he was mentally prepared, he still couldn’t help but be startled when he opened the attributes:
Sword of the Earth, Harangaya
【Gold】
34-42 (Hardness/Sharpness)
+22 Strength, +17 Agility, +20 Constitution
Additional Skills:
Earthquake: Automatically performs a Rock Spike thrust in the direction of the sword holder’s attack (strength depends on the holder’s strength).
Elemental Lord: The sword holder can summon six Obsidian Leopards to fight for them.
Stone Nest: Consumes (Gray Crystal), generating a Rock Leopard at a rate of 1/day (capacity 10/300, can turn this ability on/off at will).
(Nest Upgrade—Obsidian Leopard, requires materials: Magic Black Crystal, Stone Key, Sage’s Tablet, Amber Rough X6)
Brendel couldn’t help but curse inwardly three times upon seeing this thing; first, the damage of 34-42 points instantly outclassed other weapons of the same level by three streets. It seemed the Sword of the Earth had attacking bonuses because even other fantasy long swords of the same level were at least one-third weaker in damage.
Secondly, while he already knew the skills of Earthquake and Elemental Lord, the attributes of the Stone Nest shocked the young man—at that moment, his mind was filled with a single term:
Mobile Nest.
It is well-known that in the world of Vaunte, there are various nests, some equipment can even periodically generate magical creatures. This thing is known among players as a mobile nest — Brendel had seen similar things; at this moment, the ring he was wearing was a similar item.
However, the Wind Queen ring was clearly much more powerful. Injecting nest rules into magical equipment to give it sanctuary attributes was clearly much more difficult. But what truly shocked Brendel was that — this nest could be upgraded!
Generally speaking, a primitive nest could initially be upgraded twice, and even though this Stone Nest had been upgraded once, the next-level Obsidian Leopard would at least possess the strength of Black Iron Peak. If he could harness this thing for a year, didn’t that mean he could command at least three hundred creatures of Black Iron Peak?
What if this nest was still in its primitive state?
What if this nest was a special nest that could be upgraded more than twice?
The thought excited Brendel immensely, and he even unconsciously moved the corners of his mouth. However, he soon faced new troubles; upgrading this thing wasn’t simple. The Magic Black Crystal was manageable, as with Alchemy Master Tam around, Brendel wasn’t worried about not being able to create it.
The raw materials for this thing were just Black Crystals and Magic Essence, both of which were not hard to obtain.
However, the Sage’s Tablet made Brendel’s head ache whenever he saw it; the adventures in Shubli had already left him psychologically scarred. Fortunately, this was an item that could at least be bought in the market. He might have to head to Ampere Seale; in that bustling free trade port, getting a Sage’s Tablet wouldn’t be too difficult.
But the last two posed a problem.
Amber Rough was regulated in every country, as it was the energy source for magical power; this thing actually had two names. The lesser one was called Somir Ore, while the purest ore was referred to as Amber Rough. Brendel thought he could only find a way to secretly procure some Somir Ore to prepare a magical workshop for Antinna, and even that was challenging, so where would he go to acquire these Amber Roughs?
Brendel thought hard and could only come up with the idea of mining himself. There were still many undiscovered mining areas in this era, but they all lay in wild regions, and for the time being, he seemed to have no capability for that.
As for the last item, the Stone Key, that was even more complex. Elemental realms had plenty, but mortals couldn’t enter the elemental realm—such things were extremely rare in the material plane.
Brendel felt it might be better to use game terminology to explain how rare this thing was. This item was essential for player guilds to independently build cities and become lords.
He slapped his forehead, feeling a headache coming.
But just then, that enormous voice rang out once more:
“Mortal, are you ready to face the challenges below?”
The voice was deafening, drowning out all other sounds in the scene. Everyone fell silent, shifting their attention back from Brendel’s sword, and they finally remembered they were still in this mysterious arena.
Of course, he wasn’t prepared! Brendel was about to answer, but just then a voice interrupted him.
“Sir!”
He recognized the voice; it was that of the skinny boy named Kewen. He turned to see that those boys were still locked in the cage; although Kuran had saved some of them, at least half were still trapped inside.
Brendel looked at the frail boy, roughly guessing what he wanted. However, he had no intention of agreeing right now—first, he was clear about his own strength; it was impossible for him to pass the sixth challenge; recklessly accepting it could only lead to failure.
Secondly, he vaguely estimated that the emergence of this sanctuary was probably related to these boys. He had to admit these guys were quite bold; knowing there was something strange below this mine, they still dared to come and meddle. But since they chose to, they had to take responsibility for their actions, and their behavior even had consequences for others—let alone how many miners perished during this landslide; if it weren’t for his strength being sufficient, he, Juliette, Xi, and Medisa could have ended up trapped here.
While Brendel didn’t think it was wrong for a person to have compassion, he also had his principles; sentimentality did not equate to true kindness. Therefore, he shook his head and refused the boy’s proposal before he could say anything further.
He waved to Otales and Medisa, leading them toward the exit of the arena.
“Wait,” Kewen called out to him again, “Sir, I’m not asking for your sympathy!” The boy shouted from the cage.
This time Brendel was taken aback and stopped.
“I want to make a deal with you,” the boy said, “You can choose to agree or not; the choice lies in your hands, but please let me state the terms first, okay?”
Brendel lifted his head to look at the sky. The Destiny Arena was very humane, and the host seemed to have seen everything below; the urging voice from above didn’t appear again.
“You speak.” The young man thought for a moment and nodded. He was a bit curious as to what these seemingly destitute boys could possibly offer him in a deal.
Even if they were willing to serve him, what could they do? These boys had no strength; they were mere miners. Brendel wouldn’t mind taking in some followers, but he had to consider if the cost was too great.
He regarded the boy and suddenly remembered eavesdropping on their conversation on the way here. That Mahler seemed to mention something worthless yet strange about this frail boy; could it be that?
Brendel frowned, and to be honest, he wasn’t optimistic about this deal. He knew some NPCs liked to collect peculiar trinkets, just like Little Romain; but those items were rarely valuable, and he had fallen for that trick several times in the game.
However, he still had this much patience; he stood there quietly waiting for the other party to produce something.
But Kewen fumbled in his arms for a while and then took out something Brendel would never have expected — a fate card — Brendel’s expression suddenly turned peculiar; he could never have anticipated that Kewen actually had this item, and it struck a vital point with him.
This was just right.
Having constantly received surprises and benefits from the Mage profession, Brendel could be said to have a passionate interest in fate cards — even knowing the sixth challenge had no hope, he couldn’t help but instinctively feel moved when he saw that card.
Just like a collector who saw something that thrilled them.
He saw that it was a fire-based card, and what was on the card made the young man feel a rush of excitement again:
Fireclaw Lord
(Flame Tribe I)
20 Fire
【Creature—Fireclaw Lizard/Warrior, Level 33 Elite】
Belligerent.
While the Fireclaw Lord is on the field, all Fireclaw Tribe creatures gain 1 combat marker.
Pay 1 Fire; all Fireclaw Spearmen gain the ‘Charge’ ability.
While the Fireclaw Lord is on the field, pay 1 wealth, 1 reputation daily.
‘The Lord is the best commander of the Infernal Legion—’
Brendel didn’t know what the so-called combat marker was, but after experiencing the equipment markers, he at least knew this thing must provide bonuses for summoning creatures. Moreover, this card itself was a Level 33 Elite, which meant it was a Gold-junior summon—
Not to mention it also had the ability to confer the Charge ability to Fireclaw Spearmen; this truly struck right at Brendel’s core; he knew he just happened to have a card for Fireclaw Spearmen, and according to Charles, this kind of deck was rare, and he certainly understood what the boy meant— but should he choose to continue the challenge or not?
The sixth challenge had almost no chance of winning, yet Brendel was momentarily unwilling to give up, feeling caught in a dilemma.
“Lord,” Medisa said, “That’s a Silver card; note its number; it should be a core card of the Flame Tribe!”
Brendel was startled and only then noticed that the Flame Lord had the number I in this deck, and most cards with the number I were typically core cards of a deck, a point that both Charles and Medisa had previously mentioned to him.
This made him feel even more torn.
……
(PS. Third update is here, continue to support. For those writing fanfiction, please send your works over; the fanfiction section feels very empty.) (To be continued. For more chapters, please log in, support the author, and support legitimate reading!)
