Chapter 461: Act 211 – Leaving the Loop of Trade Winds
After igniting the spark and confirming that the central crystal of the entire underground city had completely lost its function, the group began to scour the city for any remaining benefits. The essence of exploration is to not return empty-handed. Moreover, since the fall of Erluin in the game, Brendel had never delved into an underground city so leisurely.
In the past, when teaming up with others, there was always a level of wariness about teammates potentially striking from behind; this was not uncommon. The world of Vaunte was vast, and often when one hid in a certain country, they would vanish without a trace. Therefore, many acted recklessly, causing unease among people. However, exploring the underground city with Veronika and Gray Saint Mephistopheles made Brendel feel much lighter. Veronika was trustworthy and had a high perspective; what she valued might not align with his interests, and what she found valuable, he might not recognize, which meant Brendel was confident in relying on this female crusader from Cruz. As for Gray Saint Mephistopheles, he was not materialistic; to put it simply, he was a training fanatic. If it weren’t for the troubles from his own country, he would probably have reached the same level as Andisha by now. Given that he needed Brendel’s help to restore his nation, it was unlikely he would do anything detrimental to Brendel.
Thus, Brendel effectively had two powerful bodyguards for this exploration. The underground ruins of the People of Silver should certainly contain one or two artifacts from their heritage. Brendel was full of confidence, but to his surprise, after wandering around the underground city for several hours, he did not find even a single magical item.
It seemed as if all the magical power within the Valhalla ruins had been decomposed. Even items that should possess magic had lost their power at this moment. They had passed through a corridor where signs of fierce battles were evident, with a large number of abandoned broken weapons and armor left on the ground. These were clearly magical equipment, with mystical runes and inscription lines visible, but not a trace of magic could be sensed. This was the case throughout the entire underground city; Brendel even found some everyday magical items, like illuminating crystals and enchanted stoves, but unfortunately, they had lost their magic and could no longer be used.
This clearly indicated the influence of some powerful anti-magic spell. What level of magic could sweep across an entire city, akin to the aftermath of a storm? Brendel, Veronika, and Mephistopheles were all somewhat uncertain. According to their understanding, the largest historical war occurred over a thousand years ago at the end of the Dark Years, during the war between the Four Saints and the Dark Dragon.
However, the highest level of magic employed in that war was only14th-level forbidden spells, certainly not enough to achieve such an extent. The war that once happened in Valhalla must have been preceding even that era. In other words, it was highly likely that the People of Silver were from the age of Chaos, and their wars occurred long before ancient times, when the greatest enemies of civilization were strong magical beasts from the void.
Although they couldn’t find magical items, Brendel did not overlook those broken weapons and armor. He still used a dimensional pocket to collect them all. There were no iron mines within Duke Toniger’s domain, and these armors and weapons could still be remelted and reused. Especially since the materials used by the People of Silver for these equipments were very high-end—some even forged with star metal, which made Brendel involuntarily exclaim about extravagance upon seeing it. Star metal was one of the best materials for resisting magic, and it had a very low yield because it was a precious by-product of refined ore.
Seeing Brendel collecting these scraps, Veronika couldn’t help but chuckle quietly. In her eyes, the young man always acted thoughtlessly. Other noble youths would hesitate to do such things openly, even if they were conscious of their image. Of course, this noble lady would never admit that she was saying this because she didn’t want Brendel to appear so embarrassing in front of her.
“You… are so foolish!”
Brendel’s thick skin infuriated the young lady from the Empire’s Flowerleaf Territory. She couldn’t understand how he could do such an embarrassing thing, especially since she had thoughtfully reminded him, only to be ignored.
Within the Valhalla ruins, they encountered many such battlefields. The guardians of the People of Silver seemed to have resisted street by street, ultimately leading to their defeat. Every time Brendel passed a location, he would collect these weapons and armor, and eventually, the dimensional pocket was filled to the brim, accumulating at least tens of thousands of pieces. Fortunately, the space within a dimensional pocket is tied to the creator’s strength; Amann’s dimensional pocket was nearly the size of a cave. Brendel estimated that the creator of this dimensional pocket was at least a level seventy spellcaster. Putting aside the original items within the pocket, just the pocket itself was a great find; it could be said that Amann was truly buried without closure.
After checking approximately two-thirds of the underground city area, Brendel, Xi, Veronika, and Mephistopheles finally stopped. There was no need to go any further; they could confirm that Valhalla had been utterly destroyed, with not even a trace of magical items left inside. Upon confirming this, Veronika and Mephistopheles lost interest in being there. Especially Veronika, as this journey did not yield even a hint of anything desirable; instead, they had lost several promising young lives. Although this blow wasn’t enough to shake her standing in the Empire, she was, more or less, unwilling to linger any longer for that reason.
She quickly expressed her intention to leave to Brendel. This female warrior of the Empire didn’t even plan to return to the Green Tower—since, aside from a few lucky survivors left behind at the Saintly White Rock, almost no one else survived. Therefore, she planned to take the remaining personnel back to the Empire through the Wolf’s Pass, unwilling to deal with the Druids.
Brendel somewhat understood Veronika’s mentality. They had previously had conflicts with the Druids at the Green Tower, and Veronika’s pride wouldn’t allow her enemies to see her in such a vulnerable state. However, Brendel thought that the Druids couldn’t be much better off either; or rather, any faction that remained in this region before the battle probably wouldn’t be faring well.
The Cruz Empire was among the better off, as at least some accompanying personnel had survived. On the other hand, when the war began, Brendel’s forces from Duke Toniger were the weakest, yet unexpectedly, they emerged as the side with the least losses after the battle. Even the nearly seasoned youths did not incur many casualties. Though this was all thanks to his foresight, Veronika found it rather ironic.
But Brendel also didn’t plan to stay any longer. The current Valhalla could be called a dead city, utterly meaningless to him. Moreover, during the earlier exploration, he had found the second central crystal. This crystal looked entirely different from the previous one; it was grayish and resembled a walnut. If he hadn’t received a hint from the information in the first crystal, he might not have recognized it at all.
Brendel almost failed to recognize it, and Veronika and Gray Saint Mephistopheles were even less likely to. But he surreptitiously took this item without anyone realizing. However, upon acquiring this item, he realized that rebuilding Valhalla was not a simple task.
This crystal was of the highest standard for city central crystals, with a first-level extension range of three kilometers. It could simultaneously supply magical power to twenty building sites. It didn’t seem like much, but the buildings requiring magical power were also limited—mage towers, magic arrays, forges, and nests, among others. These buildings were quite costly to construct. Even Brendel might not be able to build half of twenty right away; his current goal was merely to arrange for a Hydra nest and a magic forge.
In the future, he might add a magic laboratory for Antinna, allowing the gentle girl to comfortably research her magic transmission device. Brendel’s original intention for inviting Antinna was not only out of sympathy but also for this future treasure. Although Antinna willingly became his aide, and indeed had outstanding abilities, she still hadn’t realized her true value. Brendel was also unwilling to let such a talent go to waste under his guidance.
But all of this was for the future, as Brendel learned after obtaining the central crystal that the core of Valhalla was a grand central hall called the World Tree Sanctuary. First, he had to establish this hall and activate the central crystal in hand; only then could the core of his future territory spread outwards from this center.
However, the construction method for this so-called ‘World Tree Sanctuary’ turned out to involve planting the central crystal in the ground, as if planting a tree, and the entire process would take nearly two weeks. Although Brendel didn’t quite understand why constructing a sanctuary would require such a peculiar method, he certainly couldn’t stay in this dreadful place for two weeks. Ever since entering the central region of the Loop of Trade Winds, he had lost all contact with the outside world. Although it had been less than a day, his territory was surrounded by powerful enemies, and danger could arise at any moment. He needed to systematically sort everything out here and return with the benefits of this adventure to face potential enemies.
As for the reconstruction of the World Tree Sanctuary, that could be entrusted to Antinna after they exited, and he could also seek help from the Druids, which should pose no problem.
Thus, after Veronika expressed her intention to leave, Brendel straightforwardly stated his desire to leave together. Veronika was a bit surprised but was pleased by it; she admired Brendel and did not mind showing such admiration. Once Brendel chose to leave, Mephistopheles naturally had no reason to stay; he had originally come alone to cause trouble for Veronika, but unexpectedly formed a temporary alliance with Veronika and Brendel.
However, now, this temporary little alliance was about to take root and grow beyond the wilds at the edge of Erluin.
……(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please feel free to vote with your recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
