Chapter 361: Act 120 – The Market of the Green Tower (Part 2)
Stone Key.
It is said to be used to open the passage between the elemental plane of Earth and the world of Vaunte.
In the Amber Sword, its other role is to act as a tool for establishing cities in the wilderness. This item is twin-born with the Fire Seed, which represents the rules of order, while the Stone Key is the foundation built upon elements.
This was the law established by Lady Martha at the dawn of the world, binding magical power with rules, and establishing the world based on elements.
In the game, this item is quite valuable, but even rarer is that it is priced but has no market. Because most high-level tasks related to the earth realm require it as a core item.
For example, Brendel’s upgrade task for the Earth Sword Halangyar. When the young man saw the shield-shaped stone fragment in this box, the corners of his eyes couldn’t help but twitch. There was only one voice echoing repeatedly in his heart:
“After trudging through iron shoes, I find it effortlessly.”
“Kid, you’re lucky—” Otales seemed to sense Brendel’s emotional fluctuations and awoke from his slumber.
Brendel nodded, but he maintained a calm exterior and asked, “What is this?”
“This is the Stone Key,” the centaur shopkeeper replied. “Legend has it that it can open the passage that connects our world to another world—”
Brendel feigned impatience and interrupted him, “Another world? What is in that world?”
“Uh…” The centaur shopkeeper was suddenly rendered speechless. He had only heard this from the witch he received it from, who had taken the best tree gem from him.
“I heard it seems to be an elemental plane of Earth?” he cautiously replied.
“Elemental plane of Earth?” Brendel was puzzled, his expression innocent. “What would I do there?”
“Kid,” Otales couldn’t help shaking his head internally. “Your ability to play dumb is just like that guy Erlandta—”
“She would surely like you if she saw you.”
“Erlandta, the Sage Lord?” Brendel wondered internally.
“Hmm, we…” Otales gently cleared his throat. “Among Gilt, Fanzan, Lord Saint Orsoto, and Erlandta, Erlandta is the oldest. When they adventured together back in their youth, she often dealt with employers and merchants.”
“Isn’t that the leader?”
“Pretty much.”
While Brendel was conversing with Otales, the centaur shopkeeper was clearly in a dilemma. It seemed that Brendel’s interest in this item wasn’t as high as it had been for the previous two rings, which left him somewhat dejected.
“Sir, that witch told me that this item is quite beneficial for elementalist users.”
Brendel thought that was an honest statement. Directly using the Stone Key to open the Earth elemental channel could increase an elementalist’s Earth elemental pool capacity by a hundred times within the short twenty seconds the channel was open, allowing them to simultaneously cast twenty or thirty Earth spells perfectly supported by the elemental channel.
In that state, as long as the magic power supported it, an elementalist would be superhuman.
However, using a core item worth over ten million Tor as a one-time consumable made Brendel wonder just how extravagant one must be—he certainly hadn’t seen it before.
He glanced at the centaur shopkeeper, thinking that this statement was bold enough. He inwardly chuckled while slightly feigning interest, “So how much is this worth?”
The centaur shopkeeper was pondering whether to ask for a high price, wanting to take Brendel’s fire-patterned agate in exchange. However, the value of a fire-patterned agate could almost buy half his store, and he worried that such a high price might send Brendel running away.
Just as he hesitated, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and grabbed the Stone Key.
“Boss, I want this.”
The owner of that voice tossed a piece of fire-patterned agate and spoke softly.
But Brendel wouldn’t let the duck he just caught fly away. The moment the owner’s hand barely touched that shield-shaped stone tablet, a flash of lightning shot out from Brendel’s hand, knocking the stone plate away from the box.
Then, he reached out his right hand, attempting to grab the Stone Key midair, but the owner of that voice clearly was no easy opponent. “Damn, elementalist!” the other party snorted lightly, suddenly drawing a sword and striking the Stone Key away.
The Stone Key was hit and flew towards the centaur shop, crashing into a wooden stand, then bouncing back toward the two. That person immediately tried to grab it back, but before she could act, the Stone Key suddenly paused in midair, as if crashing into a cloud, lifted by a gust of wind, and flew toward Brendel.
“Wind Bind, dual-element elementalist!” she stomped her foot, giving up on directly grabbing the Stone Key and instead thrusting her sword at Brendel.
However, when Brendel saw that she was turning to attack him, his surprise turned to joy because before she could execute her move, vines suddenly burst forth from all directions, binding her tightly.
This was the Druid’s barrier spell—
With a clattering sound, even that young lady’s sword fell to the ground.
“Ouch, that hurts…” She squinted her eyes.
Brendel then had time to assess this opponent that had emerged unexpectedly. He was momentarily stunned because the other party was neither a Tania nor a Treant, but a genuine Cruzian.
Just one look at her golden long hair, and emerald-like cold green eyes, such obvious features allowed the young lord to identify her as undoubtedly a noble of the Cruz Empire—the offspring of the first followers of the Flame King and descendants of the Eagle Knights.
However, this girl, wearing a white princess dress with long black leather boots, and with her long wavy hair styled into two exceptionally extravagant pigtails, was thrashing around in the vines while glaring fiercely at Brendel—only one phrase remained in Brendel’s mind.
Golden-haired twin pigtails!
Yet she dared to act in the Druid’s territory—what courage!
“You, you shameless!” The girl raised her eyebrows sharply, glaring at Brendel. “How can you snatch something from a lady!”
“Wait,” Brendel quickly interrupted her. “When did this thing become yours?”
“I, I clearly paid for it!” The girl paused but immediately became emboldened, “Quickly return it to me, you despicable bumpkin!”
Brendel glanced at the fire-patterned agate and replied, “Miss, you paid, but did the boss accept it? Forcing a buy and a sell is quite an ignoble act.”
“You—!”
The girl, fuming, panted as her chest heaved, but now her hands and feet were trapped, so she couldn’t retaliate either. Moreover, her companions hadn’t come over yet, and she couldn’t help but turn back, but her emerald-like eyes brightened immediately.
“Faina, what’s wrong?” The first to run over was a black-haired youth, wearing the unique black cloak of a royal Cruz alchemist, startling Brendel—did this guy really have to be at least level ten in alchemy to join the royal alchemists? How old is this guy?
Brendel couldn’t tell that this kid looked to be no older than fifteen—was he even a genius in this regard?
However, he hadn’t expected that after the young man checked his companion’s condition, he immediately raised his head and said to Brendel, “You’ve hurt my companion, I want to duel with you!”
Then the boy looked up at the ancient tree above and shouted loudly, “Spirits above, I promise not to harm this gentleman’s life, just to teach him a lesson. This is our dispute; I hope others will not interfere!”
As soon as he finished speaking, a green light flickered in the treetop.
“Agreement established.”
Brendel saw that light and knew it meant the Druid’s peace barrier had been lifted. He silently lamented his misfortune, unexpectedly encountering an old hand. Moreover, the key point was that this old hand was still a child.
However, before he could respond, Xi had already leveled her Thunder Spear in front of Brendel with a whoosh, the red-haired girl with long pigtails coldly staring at the two before her, saying, “Sir, let me take your place.”
“Mountain folk?” The boy, seeing Xi’s red hair, hesitated slightly, “You’re not locals?”
“They are Elruins!” The noble girl, named Faina, immediately scoffed, “A bunch of despicable bumpkins!” However, she struggled a bit, trying to loosen the vines, but the more she resisted, the tighter they held.
“Ow, that hurts—”
“Faina, don’t move; it’s useless; it will be fine after a while!” The boy glanced at his companion and couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed this lady’s impulsiveness put him in a tough spot. “This is the effect of the Druid’s peace barrier; who told you to be so impulsive!”
“Damn it, it’s all those bumpkins’ fault!” The noble girl teared up and said, “Rono, help me teach them a lesson and let them know the Cruz Empire’s majesty is inviolable!”
Antinna furrowed her brow upon hearing this.
Brendel couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed as these two kept calling him bumpkin. Furthermore, he wasn’t particularly fond of that Cruz Empire, and hearing that last remark finally made him raise an eyebrow: “Well said.”
The young lord coldly smiled, “So much for the Cruz Empire’s inviolability.”
The boy looked up again, casting a disdainful glance at Xi blocking Brendel and said, “A man who needs a woman to shield him has no right to speak such words to me!”
Brendel felt a muscle in his scalp twitch. He said to the red-haired girl, “Xi, step aside this time. Let me see just how invincible this so-called Cruz Empire is.”
He looked up and saw more knights in attire rushing towards them.
All of them were Cruzian.
However, strangely, how did they end up here?
…(To be continued. To know what happens next, please log in for more chapters and support the author and original reading!)
