(Book 2 Complete!) Tales of the Endless Empire [LitRPG Apocalypse]

Fusing all those crystals had been far more intense than Thalion had first thought. It took an enormous amount of time and power to merge them into three, but the finished result was worth it. The three blood crystals pulsed with raw energy, bathing the small room in a deep red glow. Each was prismatic in shape, about five centimeters wide, and in Thalion's eyes, absolutely perfect.

Now it was time to see how far Lucan had come with the runes, though Thalion guessed the smith had probably been blowing things up in the meantime.

So far, everything in the base was running smoothly. Kaldrek and Maike were in their element, making sure all the newcomers had a decent place to stay. More guards now patrolled the streets to keep order, since murder for credits and experience was still a grim reality. In fact, several serial killers had been roaming the city, but it had been nearly impossible to track them down while at war with the vampires. Now, with enough guards to be everywhere, their hunting ground had shrunk drastically, and three of them had already been caught and introduced to a certain black pillar. That was the standard punishment for murder or any form of sexual assault.

Maike had suggested this after they discovered a man whose class rewarded him with experience for assaulting young women. In Thalion's mind, that was probably the most insane and depraved thing he had seen in the tutorial so far. Well, now that man was dead, and Thalion's pillar was stronger than ever, which in his mind was an overall win.

The aura was now spiking so intensely it covered a full hundred meters around it.

The palace itself had proven to be a treasure trove of scrolls, crystals, weapons, and armor. Since most of these items didn't match the affinity or fighting style of whoever found them, a thriving trade had sprung up in Thalion's base. Another bonus for him: he was the only one using blood magic, so he got every blood crystal found. There weren't many, but Kaldrek had already brought him three. Trading in Thalion's name was easy because most people were happy to exchange their find for powerful new equipment.

Being the leader of such a massive base had its perks, especially when it came to commissioning smiths. Hunting and leveling had also taken off; several hunting groups were out all day, gaining experience. There were now even survivors at level eighty-seven who had evolved and kept pushing their levels higher. For Thalion, and especially for the Sanguis Impera, that meant something important: a steady flow of blood was coming in again. He was even considering activating his blood pond one last time before heading to New Earth.

Everything was under control, and Thalion could focus entirely on crafting. Judging from the loud detonations echoing up to him as he descended the stairs toward the testing chamber, Lucan had made even more progress than he'd expected.

When Thalion entered the chamber, he saw Lucan placing a suit of armor in the center of a formation meant to contain explosions. The smith activated some mechanism within the armor, and a sphere of blood formed above it, before detonating with enough force to completely destroy the armor.

…Okay, maybe the explosions meant something else.

Thalion smiled, but it turned into a puzzled look as he saw Lucan celebrating like he'd just succeeded. From where Thalion stood, the blast had been much bigger than it should have been for the amount of power in the blood.

"Hey, how's it going?" Thalion asked casually from behind, making Lucan whirl around in shock.

"Oh, I'm making great progress! I still haven't found a way to control the explosion, but that's not really important. Listen, I've managed to improve the runes so that if the explosion is uncontrolled, it's at least three times as strong as normal for the same amount of power! And the best part? I also improved the runes that stabilize and funnel mana into the blood, which means you can unleash serious explosions whenever you want!" Lucan's words tumbled out like a waterfall.

Thalion's eyes shifted skeptically toward the smoking remains of the armor. The chestplate had been shredded. This had been sturdy, heavily enchanted metal and yet it had been torn open like paper.

"Yeeesss, you certainly made great progress with the explosions. Do you have any idea how to… well… control them better? So they don't just go off randomly? That could be very important for me in the future," Thalion said slowly, glancing at the still-smoking chestplate. He definitely didn't want to be wearing that thing if it went off.

"Yes, actually. I've run into a few problems with the general design. If we leave the explosion runes out of it, you wearing the armor would mean that every blood skill you use would be strengthened by the crystals in the armor, which should push the lethality of your skills to a whole new level," Lucan summarized.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"But now… with the explosions, for example the arrows blow up on contact. I think that's what's ruining the design. Take the ball the test armor just formed: it was shaping into a solid mass, but when the enchanted blood particles solidified and collided, it detonated. I think if you want to use explosions in a fight, you'll need to form solid weapons, like a lance, spear, or arrow, that you then throw or shoot at the enemy. If anything touches the blood while you're still charging it, it could cause an instant explosion. Which… would be very bad." Lucan finished his theory with a serious nod.

For Thalion, it all made a lot of sense and also made using it a lot harder. On his sword, though? That could be perfect.

"So maybe don't use the explosion runes on the armor, and instead focus more on stability," Thalion suggested after a moment of thought.

"Haha, of course not! We just need to refine them so that the explosion part only activates right before you launch the attack. Then your enemy can't abuse it. And it would just be a single rune right under the three crystals. You don't have to use the explosion, but maybe there will come a situation where it's very useful and then you'll thank good old Lucan," Lucan said with a wide grin.

"I took the liberty of already applying the runes to your bow, which should make it far stronger than before. Want to give it a try?" Lucan added cheekily, handing Thalion the weapon.

Thalion hesitated. There was still the smoking armor lying in the middle of the formation, but…

"Okay, screw it," Thalion said, thinking at the same time that he'd probably regret it.

That feeling only grew stronger when Lucan hurried several steps away as soon as Thalion began charging his blood. The power he poured into it was ridiculous. After only a moment of charging, he released the arrow and it felt like holding a wild beast in his hands, one that might turn around and tear him apart at any second.

The arrow detonated on the far side of the chamber, slamming into a wall specially reinforced to withstand explosions. The wall was over fifty meters away, but the blast was so strong that Thalion had to lean forward and plant his feet to avoid being thrown back.

One thing was certain. Whoever got hit by one of those arrows was either going to die instantly or wish they had.

"Haha! Even better than I thought!" Lucan shouted. "Just a tip, don't charge the next arrow until the shockwave has passed. And I might add some stability runes… Actually, this gives me an idea. What if we make the arrows so stable that they take a lot to explode? The force from firing them should be enough to trigger the blast on impact, and you'd really need to take a hard hit to make one detonate in your hand."

A notepad appeared in Lucan's hand, and he immediately started sketching runes.

Thalion, still recovering from his near-death experience, said nothing, he just handed Lucan the bow so he could work on the design. While Lucan busied himself with the runes, Thalion turned to improving the enchantments on his mask and the long black coat attached to the back of his armor's hood. The mask still improved his vision and helped obscure him from enemies, just like the coat did. He wanted to enhance those effects even further.

If he was honest, the obscuring effect had never helped much, but that didn't mean he was going to give up on it.

Of course, life didn't give him much time to work before the next problem came up, in the form of a telepathic message from Maike.

"Uh, Thalion… we kinda have a weird situation here," Maike said, sounding uncertain.

"What is it? Did the troops get attacked in the palace?" Thalion asked, worried. That the elves might try to take the grand treasure of the palace wasn't surprising, given their arrogant nature.

"No. Everything at the palace is fine. It's about Jack and Josh. They just came back from a hunt with a lot of refugees… and the former leader of the elves, who apparently wants to become some sort of double agent. If I understood him correctly." Maike's voice carried a mix of doubt and confusion.

That was strange. An elf wanting to play double agent. It could also be some task given to him by the female elf who had taken his position because why else would he risk his life like that. Either way, the former elven leader might be able to help Thalion get the final bloodline in this tutorial. So… why not hear him out and see what he had to say?