Chapter 401 - I will come to see you (Patreon)

The door into the armory is extremely thick, and the entrance is an unassuming hallway that opens into a wide room.

Of course, I was smart enough not to power up this section, so there are no defenses other than the material the door and room are made from.

While I think of it, I add another evil mana orb so I don’t become lazy, and when I feel blood dripping from my nose, I send thermal energy through my body to deal with it.

Unsure how to deal with the door, I take thermal energy from my core and concentrate it into a thin laser stream that I point at the metal surface of the door. Gradually, I increase the quality of that stream as it turns brilliant golden and bites into the metal, the heat spreading through the surface. I absorb that released heat and redirect it back to the thin stream.

As it flows, I make the stream of thermal energy as thin as possible.

It takes a good minute, and I feel it shooting inside of the room, the resistance gone, so I start moving it to the side.

After a minute, I pause, an interesting thought flashing through my mind.

Is my laser cutting through the items inside?

Shouldn’t I have thought of it sooner?

Could I create another evil orb?

Liss is surely pissed off, right?

Whatever. I just float a bit into the air and start shooting at an angle, towards the ground.

After a few seconds, I stop again and sigh. The thin stream of thermal energy disappears, and I send my mana through the thin cut I made and place an anchor inside. Using that anchor, I teleport and recreate three evil orbs. The crown and my thermal orb, nicely filled, now teleport with me even at the higher cost of mana.

The armory lights up in the golden light of my orb, revealing rows of weapons hanging on the walls. Surprisingly, there aren't that many of them here, just ten or so.

When I send my senses further, I notice a few dozen more on the other side of the armory, but of lower quality. Rare at most for both weapons and armor. The ones surrounding me now are all epic grades.

First, I examine the one that seems to be damaged. A shield with a smooth line carved into it. Around that line, the metal of the shield is melted. Almost as if someone...

Oh.

Unlucky.

Frostguard Shield (mid Epic, damaged) - A shield imbued with the essence of eternal ice. When activated, it can project a barrier of freezing cold air that slows down incoming attacks and chills enemies upon contact. This shield can also create an icy terrain around the user.

Hehe, it’s a shame it wasn’t activated.

Damn it.

What catches my interest is the essence of eternal ice. I think I remember an item that had the essence of eternal wind. So is it something interesting? Maybe I will learn more about it in the future.

One after another, I examine these ten items. Three of them are of upper epic rarity, three of mid rarity, one of which is a mysteriously damaged shield, and four of low epic rarity. One after another, I also sell nine of them for close to 7 thousand shards. None of these items are attractive enough for me to take them to try to learn from. 

Another place I probably shouldn’t have reached. The system is really sloppy at times.

I spend thirty minutes going through the remaining items and examining their effects to see what’s possible and what kinds of weapons there are.

For example, in between epic items I sold, there was:

Basilisk Fang Whip (mid Epic) - A whip crafted from the fang of a basilisk, imbued with its petrifying venom. Strikes from the Basilisk Fang Whip can temporarily turn flesh to stone, immobilizing enemies. It can also be used to create stone barriers by striking the ground.

The item sounded cool. Not too fitting to my fighting style, but it was nice to learn that there are beings like the Basilisk, having venom that turns you into stone.

Another interesting thing was:

Void Lantern (upper Epic) - A lantern that contains a fragment of the void, emitting a light that can pierce through illusions and invisibility. The Void Lantern also has the ability to nullify weaker spells cast within its light, making it a powerful tool against magic users.

This one I was even thinking of keeping, but in the end, I decided against. I have my eyes and I have [Perception] and I wouldn’t want to rely on an item to do these kinds of stuff. I also have [Resonance] to disrupt mana.

Of course, I activated it a few times to check the effect, but in the end, I judged it to be incompatible with my skills and weaker overall. But now I know there is void primordial energy, and seeing this lantern, that energy might be good at disrupting and against magic users.

This is why I go through descriptions of all the items, even rare and uncommon ones. Because they might be useful to know and also because of my curiosity. It’s just something I like to do.

But in the end, I sell all common and uncommon items, which nets me another a bit over 4 thousand shards.

Maybe I really shouldn’t be able to reach this place. It can’t be that easy to make shards, right?

When I leave, my shards are at 153,488

I also have one item with me that I didn't sell.

Astral Projection Amulet (upper Epic) - This amulet allows the wearer to project their senses out of their body, exploring the world as an ethereal entity. The projected form is invisible and intangible, perfect for reconnaissance.

***

I jump from room to room and even visit a few workshops. While doing so, I sell anything I'm able to sell.

Some clothes for 1 shard? Sold.

A few mana stones for 5 shards? Sold.

The entire building? Impossible to sell, unfortunately.

My minion would be proud.

When I'm done, I examine a few workshops and pocket some mana stones with information and some experiments inscribed inside. Something I can play with when I have a bit more time and energy.

Lastly, I lock myself in the safest-looking place. Something akin to a panic room with thick walls made of multi-materials and multiple layers. Surprisingly, there is still some food that is made to last for a long time. It’s a bit weird tasting, some calorie-dense bars that I eat anyway, using plenty of water to wash them down. I even store some for later.

Then, locked inside, I pull out the amulet and activate it.

My mind separates from my body into some invisible ghost-like form. The world loses some of its colors, and I can feel how my senses are restricted now. I can only see and hear. Even so, it’s amazing, and I look at the body of the man resting against the wall with crumbs from food on his shirt.

Damn, the guy might need some sleep.

I move closer and try to slap him, but my hand passes through, so instead, I fly through the walls. It’s an unnerving feeling, but something I will get used to.

Firstly, I start moving in one direction, the exact center of the pyramid. A place whose location I found in the core of the living quarters.

My movement is quick, and no heat or monster stops me, and I just fly directly through the walls.

When I reach it, it’s a huge room supported by dozens of pillars. Even though there are so many of them, they seem so small as there is a lot of space in between them. Most of the floor is covered in melted metal that continues to bubble and shines like lava.

There is no center of it. No special location. The entire place is something akin to the core with pillars and walls covered in metal melted inside, creating simple inscriptions.

All of the heat is directed and absorbed here. To the place that stands on a now-dead volcano whose heat used to be turned to mana by the Champion.

And there is something else.

A being swimming in the molten metal and sending ripples through as it passes by. 

I can't sense more in this state, but I already have a suspicion about what awaits there other than that being. Somewhere deep below the surface.

Sending the projection away, I head straight towards the top of the pyramid, moving at the highest speed possible.

Let's see what cockroach is doing. She is surprisingly quiet lately. Part of me expected her to pull me out of the pyramid by my ear.

As I exit the pyramid, the projection becomes weaker, and the quality of the image I'm getting worsens a bit, but not much later, I locate the top.

The tip of the pyramid is hollow, something akin to a building. There are even trees planted around in the dirt that had to be brought there and constantly watered. Flying in, I find luxurious rooms with vibrant carpets on the floors, paintings on the walls, and a lot of gold.

It’s so unfitting, it’s crazy.

I also find a man who tried to declare himself a Champion, Zey was his name. Near him lie five more bodies, most likely his disciples. All of them are fairly dead.

A bit further, I find Lissandra and Myrra. Both of them are in a small room that seems to be exactly in the middle of the hollow tip of the Veil Ignition Station called Cinder.

On a small stand is the head of a man. It doesn’t seem to be from any of the natives killed outside.

The head’s eyes are wide open, both of them orange in color, while his hair is red and curly.

“It’s the Champion with whom they built this station. They build it here, right over the biggest active volcano. I don’t know the Champion´s name, but he used to be second in rank after their Absolute.”

“Lady Lissandra?” Myrra asks, confused.

“I’m not talking to you, little kitten. The head is what I wanted from here, a lot of it can be used. I have no need for his body, so play with whatever remains of it. Well, if you can.”

Lissandra then turns around, looking directly into my eyes, “You made your decision, and I will respect it but after I deal with the thing up here, I will come to see you.”

The meaning of that message is loud and clear.

After that, the connection cuts off abruptly, and I find myself back in my body with a pulsating pain in my head.

There is a long crack across the entire surface of the amulet, and its description now shows another word, “damaged.”

Do you really want to sell the following item for 390 shards?

Astral Projection Amulet (upper epic, damaged)

Yes/No

I confirm and then stand up. When the door opens from inside, I exit the panic room. As I'm heading towards the core, not having to deal with all the heat I subconsciously try to create a fourth evil orb, and finally, a notification rings.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 49 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 50]

Disappointingly, there is no additional notification. No change. No boost, unlock, or addition to the skill. It just levels up. A system judging I have passed the threshold required.

For me, it feels weird for such a breakthrough to happen out of combat and a life-and-death situation. But in the end, it’s one of the things Lissandra said that I agree with, even though it seems more boring that way.

When I reach the core, I take all of the mana out of it, the lights dying off one after another until the place is dark. Only my thermal orb that I'm still filling lights up the area.

I use [Tether] and place an anchor that should be able to stay here for a week at least.

Then I grab the ax, the voidsteel blade, and a bag with a bit of food and water, and leave the rest here.

I reach the tunnel serving as an exit from the living quarters and unlock it after a while.

Passing by and closing the door, the living quarters disappear from my view, and the harsh heat of the pyramid attacks me once again. Together with a few presences of the monsters sneaking closer.

In my memory, I recall the layout of the place and then head towards where the center of the pyramid is. The place with molten metal pool and being just under the surface.

There are preparations I need to make to welcome someone very hard to kill.

***

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