Chapter 452: Act 202 – The Ever-Increasing Spoils
“Really?!” Brendel asked incredulously.
“Of course it’s true,” Otales shot him a glare.
“What can I learn?” Brendel immediately asked, unable to contain his excitement. The era of the Saint’s War was one where Vaunte was the closest it had been to the ancients in the last one or two thousand years. After that, many ancient sword techniques and combat skills that had spread across the land were lost, with advanced skills completely disappearing; even intermediate skills became rare. Yet, a thousand years ago, among the Wind Elves, soldiers in second-tier legions like the Forest Guardians were still studying intermediate skills.
It was a time of immense power—a time in the game he would not see for another hundred years, when the tide of the Magic Moon reached its peak, and ancient skills were rediscovered from buried stone tablets. But right now, Vaunte was still a barren land, where even the White Crow Swordsmanship, which derived from the incomplete heritage of the Wind Elves, could still be considered a secret passed down only in royal households.
Before him, Otales had lived through that era. As a knight of the Queen Wind and the master of this ring, what kind of heritage she possessed was beyond Brendel’s imagination. But one thing was certain: this Sister, whose swordsmanship had been refined over a thousand years, was an absolute treasure trove for him—an extraordinarily wealthy one.
“In swordsmanship, if one cannot unify their heart and intention, it is difficult to achieve great mastery,” Otales looked at him seriously and answered somewhat sternly. “Therefore, while I know many techniques, I only plan to teach you one.”
“Queen Wind Nine Stars.”
“What?” Brendel almost thought he misheard.
“Queen Wind Nine Stars,” Otales repeated.
Like being struck by lightning, Brendel froze in place, staring at Otales with wide eyes. The legendary heritage of the Wind Elves had divided into three after the Saint’s War. King Kwenar of Summer inherited the Sword of the Sun and, together with his Sun Knights, seized the throne of the Elven King. To this day, the descendants of the knights were still the mainstream nobility in the Wind Elf Empire. The Knights of the Star Song, the royal guards of Queen Saint Ausoor, held the Sword of Star Chant. However, this lineage had long since perished in history; after the last royal guard died over four hundred years ago, the Sword of Star Chant was buried entirely beneath the river of time.
But aside from the stars and the sun, the Moon inheritance, once claimed to be the strongest and directly descended from Queen Saint Ausoor herself, seemed to have been forgotten by people. Even her original kin disappeared after the war, as if a past story sealed beneath dust and cobwebs, no one spoke of it again.
However—
What Otales clearly articulated was “Queen Wind Nine Stars,” which indeed came from the Moon inheritance of Queen Saint Ausoor. It was known as the strongest sword and one of the three great sword arts from the era of the Saint’s War—The Sword of the Hydra, and was also the origin of Queen Ausoor’s national emblem, the Queen Wind Holy Mark.
Brendel was momentarily stunned. He originally thought that, as a knight of the Queen Wind, Otales was supposed to be a descendant of the Sword of Star Chant. But unexpectedly, she began by bringing out the Moon inheritance directly. The Queen Wind Nine Stars struck nine blades. When one attacked, it was as if nine individuals were fighting alongside each other. If the Flash Blade had its own unique speed, then the Queen Wind Nine Stars was the ultimate in group attack techniques—or more simply put—the strongest AOE swordsmanship.
Moreover, regardless of whether it was an intermediate or advanced skill, this was one of the three great sword techniques that could match the Flash Blade of King Gilt and the Earthly Roar of the Saint Erlandta. Considering its fame and actual effect, it could indeed be regarded as an extraordinary skill.
“Can I… learn it?”
“Of course.”
“Now?” Brendel was a bit confused, as if he had been hit by a large pie.
“If you have time right now, then of course I can stop and teach you slowly,” Otales glanced around. “However, I suggest you finish up the matters at hand first; after all, swordsmanship cannot be learned in a day.”
After Otales’ reminder, Brendel came to his senses. Indeed, he could learn swordsmanship at any time, but there were more important things to address. The Druids were still struggling, and he needed to quickly find the original spark of fire left in the Loop of Trade Winds. Moreover, before that, he also needed to deal with the remaining laws of the Book of Mavikarte; otherwise, he would not be able to travel holding such an unstable energy.
“By the way,” Otales looked at the dark aura in his hand. “Young man, that seems to be a fragment of a divine artifact. How did you come by it?”
“It’s just a replica,” Brendel replied truthfully.
“A replica is still impressive. How do you plan to deal with it? This is purely the law of opposing order; you can absorb its power for your own use. This thing is a rare treasure for you, and you need to find a way to handle it properly,” Otales, as a spirit from the era of the Saint’s War, could immediately see through the true nature of the object.
“Yeah, I have experience handling these things. I just need to find an item with dimensional properties to contain it,” Brendel answered nonchalantly.
“A dimensional property, huh? That’s a good idea. The stability of spatial laws can freeze many high-level elements, and fragments of laws are no problem at all… huh?” While Otales was speaking with the young man, she suddenly stopped and looked toward the side with an astonished expression.
“What’s wrong?” Brendel asked.
“Aren’t you looking for an item with dimensional properties…?” Otales asked.
“Hmm?” Brendel immediately looked in that direction, but where Otales was looking was clearly empty. There wasn’t a dimensional bag; nearby, even a larger stone was missing due to the effects of the annihilating black hole. However, Brendel knew that Otales was definitely not joking. After observing closely for a while, he suddenly felt a slight thrill.
“No way!” His initial surprise quickly turned into astonishment, which then transformed into delight—like finding money by the roadside. After repeated checks, Brendel discovered that amidst the swirling dust, there was a faintly shining silver thread. That silver thread was so fine that he never would have noticed it without Otales’ reminder.
Of course, it was not actually a silver thread. If Brendel guessed correctly, it should be something he was very familiar with. He immediately moved over to press his hand gently on the silver line, and then carefully pulled it apart—surrounding the silver thread, the dust surged, revealing an opening that seemed like a thin slice of space, brilliantly radiant and appearing to be as thick as a plane of light when viewed from the front.
A dimensional rift.
Brendel quickly checked what was inside. A strange expression rose on his face: “This…” He couldn’t help but take a deep breath and raised his hand to grasp a golden, cone-shaped object.
“A God Slayer’s Demon Golden Cone!” Otales gasped, this item was made from the wood of the Golden Tree, topped with a secret formation from the Temple. Its ability could suppress all elements and magical powers, and nearly all forces could be bound, except for the force of existence. Brendel also knew another name for this item—Nail Who’s Pain, because it could suppress all elements, magic, and supernatural abilities within a minute. It was simply an invaluable treasure for tricking others.
However, this item was one of the few test products crafted by High Priest Fanzan toward the end of his life to grasp the power of chaos. Only he, a unique individual who mastered both order and chaos, could create it. Afterward, the method of manufacturing it was lost. Moreover, it was a one-time consumable, with the few remaining physical items being worth a fortune. In games, Brendel had seen it used a few times when battling world bosses. As for actually using it to deceive someone—no one could afford to be so extravagant.
Suppressing elements, suppressing magic—this was as if there was a nuclear weapon, one fewer in the world of Vaunte.
But in this dimensional rift, there were actually seven of them!
Seven.
Brendel took out the God Slayer’s Demon Golden Cones one by one, and then he brought out many transparent test tubes and flasks. These were all holy waters, ranging from the early batch No. 7 and No. 5 to the more recent No. 13 and No. 19, totaling over a hundred bottles. Since holy water was a product after the era of the Saint’s War, Otales did not know its use, but upon learning from Brendel that these potions could be used to directly repair life, even this exceptionally knowledgeable knight couldn’t help but click her tongue in amazement.
Civilization, after all, is in development. Although the magical power of the Magic Moon had been declining since the latter part of the Saint’s War, there were still intelligent and talented individuals among the descendants, who invented many new things not seen before the war. For instances, magical technology, floating airships, and so on.
However, at this moment, Brendel’s expression suddenly changed again. His hand’s motion paused for a moment before he took out two bottles containing potions in crystal flasks from the dimensional rift. Otales recognized that these should still be holy water, but judging by Brendel’s appearance, it didn’t seem that way. Of course, she didn’t know that Brendel was currently shell-shocked. The potions he took out were indeed holy water—No. 1 Holy Water—this was the original of all holy waters. Back in the day, the temple developed it as a potion to heal the wounded, and it was the crystallization of countless manpower and resources. Furthermore, it had exceeded everyone’s expectations regarding its initial effectiveness.
As for holy water, No. 1 Holy Water was indeed the best. But in terms of a widely used potion, it had one significant flaw—it was too expensive.
Due to the lack of cost considerations, the effect of No. 1 Holy Water had almost reached the point where just a drop could bring the dead back to life, but its price made every force in this world tremble. Because of this reason, subsequent versions of holy water gradually moved toward mass production—of course, the effects would be increasingly diluted.
And the two bottles of No. 1 Holy Water that Brendel took out were not holy water to him but rather gold coins glinting with golden light—no, it should be said they were a dazzling mountain of gold.
He laid all these items in front of him, his gaze turning a bit blank as he took a deep breath. After checking once more inside the dimensional rift, Brendel found that it contained not only holy water but also mountains of gold and silver coins, along with a large number of magical materials and some high-grade magical armor—all of them standard temple armors and weapons.
“Oh, Martha…” After counting all the treasures, Brendel swallowed hard. He could already confirm that this dimensional rift was definitely Amann’s relic. Originally, he thought that what the High Priest carried would have been completely turned to ashes along with the disappearing black hole, but unexpectedly, fate had delivered him such a surprise at the last moment.
“Oh, Martha, praise the dimensional rift…” He couldn’t help but silently repeat in his mind.
…(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
