Chapter 355: Act 117 – From the Nest (Part 2)
As the young people descended one by one down the rope to the bottom of the cave, they immediately let out a series of strange cries:
“Ah, that smell…”
“I’m going to die!”
“God, this is like toxic gas!”
“Quiet!” The long-haired red-haired girl with a ponytail shouted coldly, forcing the young people to close their mouths. However, even she couldn’t help but scrunch her brows; the odor was indeed quite strong here.
If one were to compare the five-headed lizard to a person, it would undoubtedly be the most untidy one. The lair of this creature was filled with a nauseating and pungent stench, as if it were a giant cesspool.
It could even be described as toxic gas; the frailest noble maiden had already vomited several times. If not for Meria casting a purification spell on her, Antinna might have fainted by now.
Kuran was the last to reach the bottom of the cave. He immediately spotted the silver-gray object in Brendel’s hand, which was adorned with spiny scales around the arm, and on the back was a luxurious metallic gauntlet inlaid with fiery agate.
This old swordsman was well-experienced, and after a brief moment of surprise, he immediately recognized the item: “This can’t be the Crimson Blessing, can it…?”
Brendel smiled mysteriously, looking quite pleased. “You guessed right, Master Kuran.”
“This is the legendary gauntlet that the hero Satherlan used?” The old swordsman fixated on the gloves, as if all his attention was drawn to it. “It wouldn’t be a fake, would it?”
Brendel knew that the hero Kuran referred to was one of the most renowned alchemists in history, famous not only for being a master of alchemy but also a dragon knight.
Satherlan was the favored of Bahamut, the Dragon King of Fire, and his travels with his golden fire dragon are still sung widely by poets today.
However, Satherlan was most well-known for this gauntlet.
This gauntlet was blessed by Bahamut and given to the hero as a symbol of his favor; it was named the Crimson Blessing for this very reason.
“Of course not.” Brendel moved his right hand, producing a rustling sound as the metal fingers rubbed against each other.
“How do you know it’s not?” Kuran looked at it skeptically, unable to believe that Brendel could have such luck to casually find legendary equipment in a random cave.
The legend of Satherlan was nearly three centuries old; afterwards, this gauntlet was lost to the earth. Whether it disappeared along with the hero as legend says, or changed hands numerous times, no one knew.
How it appeared here was even more of a mystery.
When Brendel heard the old swordsman’s suspicion, he said no more. He clenched the gauntlet around the hilt of the Sword of the Earth and drew it out.
Everyone saw a flame burst forth from Brendel’s gauntlet. The fire spread upward, quickly enveloping Brendel’s entire arm and the Sword of the Earth.
The young lord raised the Sword of the Earth—Harangaya—and the firelight illuminated the entire cave, resembling a blazing sword of flames.
The surrounding young people were stunned, their mouths agape at the scene. Even Kuran couldn’t help but widen his eyes, though after a brief moment of distraction, he stubbornly held to his viewpoint:
“It looks similar, but many magical enhancements can create a fire effect…” The elder, being experienced, said, “For example, Flame Grip, Fire Blade, Flame Blessing; it doesn’t necessarily have to be the Dragon Fire of the Crimson Blessing.”
Brendel smiled faintly.
He casually swung the sword towards the cave wall, and flames erupted in a burst, creating something that resembled the roar of a dragon in the air. Finally, a dragon-shaped flame shot from the sword, crashing into the cave wall with a deafening sound, causing rocks and dust to fall.
Seeing this, Kuran was completely convinced that this was indeed the Crimson Blessing. Only Dragon Fire could possess such immense power and such a unique form of attack.
However, Brendel’s demonstration wasn’t over yet. He extinguished the flames on his gauntlet, sheathed the Sword of the Earth, and replied, “Actually, Dragon Fire isn’t even the strongest effect of the Crimson Blessing. Do you know Satherlan’s other identity, Master Kuran?”
“Of course,” Kuran replied, still recovering from the shock. The Crimson Blessing was indeed too famous. He blinked and took a breath, “An alchemist, right?”
“Yes, but the Crimson Blessing is a token given to him by Bahamut, which can be said to be tailored for Satherlan. Therefore, the gauntlet’s greatest power actually lies in another aspect—” As Brendel spoke, he took out a ‘Blessed Scale of Shudera’ and flipped the gauntlet over, illuminating a magic circle on the gauntlet’s palm.
Not only that, the old swordsman also saw that the fire agates embedded in the Crimson Blessing began to shine brightly one by one, and then the scale in Brendel’s hand flew into the air. This azure scale seemed to instantly withstand thousands of degrees of high temperature. It quickly softened in mid-air before liquefying into a multitude of azure-red droplets.
Brendel’s hand gently moved, causing these droplets to gather, slowly changing shape until they transformed into a fire-red dagger.
Next, the surface of the dagger began to cool at a visible speed, transitioning from rippling waves to solidification. But it wasn’t a direct cooling; it undulated layer by layer, as if someone was hammering its surface.
Finally, the dagger cooled completely, looking like a piece of red-hot metal, but that red was gradually darkening, turning into a deep cyan tinged with black.
Brendel gripped his hand, and the dagger fell into his palm.
“Did you see that?” the young man asked with a smile.
Kuran gasped in awe. He knew this was alchemy. However, alchemy clearly wasn’t this magical. In Vaunte, alchemy was a clandestine skill passed among the upper nobility, witches, and mystical professions. To ordinary people, it seemed both mystifying and omnipotent.
But in fact, alchemy was a serious skill that combined enchantment and potion-making. Perhaps witches used it to concoct various potions in cauldrons filled with green bubbles, and Bud’s craftsman wizards used it to inscribe mysterious patterns on armor and weapons, thus granting them great power.
However, completing a piece of work required long-term detailed efforts; aside from the very simple material extractions that could be done directly with certain secret methods, most of the alchemical work needed to be conducted in a quiet environment with complete tools.
What Brendel demonstrated completely overturned all of that. He skipped the smithing process entirely and directly produced a dagger from materials.
“What… What is this?” Kuran stared blankly at the dagger.
“An advanced alchemical magic circle. In fact, the Blood Refinement Forbidden Technique is a skill developed based on studying this alchemical magic circle,” Brendel replied. “The wizards of Bud possess more comprehensive materials, but their replicas are much simpler.”
“Moreover, after being empowered by divine power, this magic circle’s strength far exceeds its indicated level.” The young lord considered for a moment. “Generally, advanced magic circles can only produce items below level 10 alchemy. Besides basic alchemy, if it involves making magical items, it can only enchant the finished products.”
“But this gauntlet doesn’t have so many restrictions. As you’ve seen, it can even produce items below level 13 alchemy.”
Kuran didn’t understand what level 10 and level 13 alchemy meant, but he grasped the principle behind it. After understanding, the gauntlet’s mystery seemed significantly diminished—he’d at least heard of advanced alchemical magic circles.
The old swordsman shook his head, pondering, “I think I understand now, but do you believe the most important function of this gauntlet is this?”
He shook his head again, “I actually think the Dragon Fire is more useful.”
Brendel was taken aback, suddenly realizing that an NPC’s thoughts couldn’t align with those of players. Few players were accustomed to spending all day in alchemy labs, so such a convenient artifact would naturally seem like a divine item to them.
Seeing Kuran’s somewhat dismissive gaze, Brendel couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the gauntlet, thinking he had encountered someone who didn’t recognize its value.
He maliciously pondered—if Kuran knew that this item’s market value in the past within the Amber Sword converted into Erluin’s currency was around seventy billion Tor, about half of the total wealth produced by this ancient kingdom in a year—he wondered what expression he would make.
He patted the gauntlet, just about to say something, when suddenly a young person shouted, “My lord, are those really the eggs of that big guy?”
The eggs of the five-headed lizard?
Kuran, who had already been shocked by the Crimson Blessing, thought he would remain calm no matter what he saw today. However, upon hearing this, he couldn’t help but feel completely stunned inside and out.
What did the eggs of the poisonous lizard beast mean? A whole batch of future top-tier war beasts?
One should know that the nine-headed lizard was regarded as a top-tier beast by both the Dark Elves and the barbarians. Though the five-headed lizard was somewhat inferior, it could still be considered a powerhouse with the combat strength of a gold-ranked after reaching maturity!
The elder immediately turned around, “Eggs? Where?” he asked, but he instantly froze.
He saw over a hundred white eggs nestled among the branches. Kuran rubbed his forehead, seemingly trying to convince himself that he wasn’t dreaming.
“This…” he swallowed hard. “Are these the eggs of five-headed lizards?” He tentatively asked Brendel.
Brendel nodded. In fact, he didn’t react much better than the old swordsman when he saw the eggs.
By Meria, these eggs were worth far more than the gauntlet in his hand. Of course, this wasn’t in terms of game value, but rather their significance to him at that moment.
“How do you… plan to handle these eggs?” Kuran stiffly turned back and asked.
……(To be continued. For more details, please log in. Support the author, support legitimate reading!)
