Chapter 90: Arcane Cards
Soren’s figure lightly descended along the balcony.
He quickly cast an invisibility spell on himself and proceeded to walk out of the noble district. The recent haul had been quite substantial; Gind had found over a hundred pieces of gold in the hidden compartments, not to mention the jewelry and rings. Altogether, these items could be exchanged for roughly three hundred Gind. This does not even account for the value of the energy ring, which could be worth around two thousand Gind by itself. The contents of the safe would be revealed only once he returned to open it.
As for the two unfortunate guys, Soren didn’t care much, since he would be leaving White Horse City tomorrow.
Calculating the time, it should be about right. The spread of the skinning incident would probably reach White Horse City soon. This incident was affecting the entire southern region, meaning that most cities had experienced skinning events. The primary intention was to spread fear, allowing the aura of fear to permeate and strengthen a particular Abyss Demon God. Soren wasn’t entirely clear on the specifics, as he hadn’t been able to access such high-end missions at that time.
The effect of the invisibility spell was quite powerful.
Soren swaggered out of the noble district, but as he passed a narrow alley, he suddenly spotted a shadowy figure skimming about. Soren immediately halted, hiding behind a wooden box to observe. The figure appeared very hazy; without night vision, it was impossible to see clearly. He cautiously glanced around and then opened the manhole cover leading to White Horse City’s sewers, quickly slipping inside. Soren refrained from following; that would be extremely dangerous. He had survived to the Legendary Domain precisely because he wasn’t overly curious and didn’t seek to uncover every mystery.
He retreated from the alley and headed back to where he was staying.
In the tumultuous years leading up to this point, numerous disputes occurred, among which the most active were the Godspawn, Shadow Masks, Druid Order, and a mysterious “Godslayer” organization. Many legendary individuals were among them. If he accidentally encountered one, he could easily d*e at their hand with just a flick of their finger, and Soren did not wish to see those individuals now.
When he returned to his place, Soren took out the safe and began to work at picking the lock.
After some effort, he still could not succeed, so he had to resort to more violent methods to smash the lock open from the gap. Fortunately, this wasn’t a magical lock; even the most complex ordinary locks could be opened by force. Upon opening the box, Soren couldn’t help but show a hint of disappointment, as it contained a property deed, something that could be reissued at the city hall and was worthless. However, when he flipped open the deed document, what he saw made him hold his breath. It wasn’t the Unpredictable Cards he had once obtained; instead, it was a more advanced Arcane Card.
“What!?”
Soren’s expression suddenly turned to one of great disappointment when he opened the card and found that an image had already materialized on its face, indicating that the card had been used by someone else. The magic within it had faded. The card featured a mechanical arm, resembling the arm of an Iron Golem, with six-pointed star runes on all sides, and a mysterious black vortex behind it. It appeared that this card had been maintained for a long time, as there were some slight scratches on it, which did not seem to be recent.
“A golem arm?”
Soren picked up the Arcane Card and studied it closely. He murmured, “Is it one of the combination set cards? That woman has no combat power, so how could she possess something like this?”
Arcane Cards were very mysterious.
Soren knew a bit more about the Unpredictable Cards but had limited understanding of Arcane Cards.
He merely knew that Arcane Cards could be combined to allow the user to summon certain powerful beings or temporarily gain some very powerful abilities.
For example, three different Wind Element cards could summon a Legendary-level Elder Air Elemental!
This was the only assembled Arcane Card at that time, which had shone brightly for a period; even Soren had been quite tempted to assassinate the individual who possessed it.
A series of data suddenly appeared before his eyes:
“Acquire Arcane Armor*Arm! … Would you like to proceed with repairs?! …”
Arcane Armor!?
Soren was taken aback for a moment and then attempted, “Proceed with repairs.”
A new line of data presented itself:
“Repairing Arcane Armor*Arm requires 8 points of Soul Energy! … Insufficient Killing Experience! Cannot be repaired! …”
Eighty thousand Killing Experience?
What a joke! That much Killing Experience would be enough to raise his Profession Level above the Third Tier!
Soren looked at the Arcane Card in his hand with some frustration, closely inspecting the scratches on it, which looked like sword marks. The card was very hard. Only extreme effort could leave marks on it. He had heard of Arcane Armor, a product from the Arcane Empire. It was one of the standard configurations in Floating Cities and the top-tier product of the Golem Domain. Golems were relatively common in this world and were standard configurations in Wizard Towers. If one were to go to the City of Wizards, they could see Golem patrol squads.
Golems ranged from Clay Golems, Stone Golems, Iron Golems, to Steel Golems. Although their combat power wasn’t weak, they did have a limit to their strength. Even the top-tier Diamond Golems have combat power only around Tier Four. The only discovered Golem structure from the Arcane Empire that reached the Legendary Domain was the Arcane Armor in front of him, or more fully termed, the External Armor with Arcane Energy Power Bones. Such items could be found in underwater ruins and nearly exterminated the Legendary team Soren joined.
“What good is just one arm?”
Soren reluctantly set the card down, continuing to rummage through the safe for more items. Inside, he found some jewelry, which at least provided him a little solace. He tossed the Arcane Card into the Dimensional Bag since it was of no use to him in the short term. Soren certainly couldn’t spend that much Killing Experience to repair it, and besides, what good was just a single arm?
Was he expected to hope that a single arm would help him in battles?
A complete set of Arcane Cards would at least require heads, limbs, and a power device. Even if Arcane Armor was powerful, it wasn’t worth him wasting precious Killing Experience on it.
The sky was starting to brighten.
Soren was in good spirits as he played with the energy ring in his hand, observing its attributes. It was one of the most common extraordinary items and was paired with a protective ring. The energy ring could emit a ray, while the protective ring could create a 1-point strength protective field. It was one of the best life-saving equipment that could be obtained in the early stages.
“Item Type: Energy Ring +1.
Item Level:
Item Description: A ring crafted using Alchemical techniques, it can sh**t out a 36-point spell power energy ray when activated, and can be charged using alchemy after use.
Equipment Requirements: None.
Equipment Effect: Energy Ray.”
The ring was very easy to charge; one could set up an alchemy magic circle and use equivalent alchemy to convert a gem into energy. Soren had previously worn a +3 energy ring and a +3 protective ring, making them his second-best items next to Legendary-grade items. Especially the protective ring, which had saved his life several times.
After dawn broke.
Soren casually made his way to the merchant caravan’s base, having left no traces from the night before. The two individuals had hardly even caught a glimpse of his appearance, so he wasn’t worried about being discovered. However, the guards in White Horse City seemed much stricter than the day before. He didn’t know if they had notified the security team; getting robbed during a midnight rendezvous probably wasn’t something that could be considered dignified.
When Soren arrived at the merchant caravan’s base, he was unexpectedly met with heightened security there too.
As he walked into the room, before he could say a word, the Merchant Caravan Mistress spoke with a serious expression: “Someone was skinned last night!”
What!?
Soren’s expression shifted slightly, and he almost immediately stated without hesitation: “Where is Vivian? I need to take her away from here!”
The Merchant Caravan Mistress gazed deeply at him, slowly saying: “You really do know something, don’t you? No wonder you left White Horse City with me that day! Did you already know that a disaster would occur in White Horse City?”
The skinning incident.
The most impactful chain incident in the southern region.
Soren paused for a moment, then slowly replied: “I don’t know much, just that it’s some sort of sacrificial ritual by an Evil God. It could affect many places, and those fallen will bring much slaughter and d*ath; fear will spread everywhere.”
“Indeed!” The Merchant Caravan Mistress revealed a knowing expression and said seriously: “So you want to take Vivian away? To the land of elves? That is the territory of the Forest Goddess. It is hard for the fallen to infiltrate there?”
Soren didn’t know how to respond, only giving a slight nod.
He couldn’t say that the coming tumultuous years would make the skinning incident a viable answer. After all, this was just the beginning.
The Merchant Caravan Mistress hesitated for a moment and then conjured a document from thin air, handing it to Soren earnestly: “How much do you really know? This is a message sent to me by the Witch Council; a mass s*icide incident occurred in Saint Chant City! Over a thousand people watched a Bard’s performance, and on that same night, hundreds of them committed s*icide, including several high-ranking Clerics.”
“Is there any relation between this incident and the skinning incident?”
Hell Poet!?
Soren took the document with a serious expression, feeling very complex. He murmured: “There shouldn’t be any connection. That Bard could be one of the legendary figures. I wonder if you have heard of him?”
The Merchant Caravan Mistress shuddered slightly, muttering: “Hell Poet!? … Didn’t he fall hundreds of years ago?…”
Soren glanced at her and ultimately decided to share what he knew, saying in a deep voice: “What died was just his body. At the moment of his d*ath, he made a deal with the devils in hell.”
Hell Poet.
One of the only three Legendary-level Bards in this world!
