NOVEL NEXT Chapter 320: A Golden Ticket
We have eighty-three elves captured. The rest either fled or died in battle. What do you want us to do with them?" Kaldrek reported once the fighting was over and another base had been added to Thalion's growing list of residences.
As for what he wanted to do with the elves. Wasn't it obvious?
"Well, I might have been merciful, but after they killed the human slaves they had captured in the most gruesome way possible, I say we use them to charge the pillar. Letting them go just so they can regroup and prey on humans again doesn't sound like a good alternative," Thalion said in a cold voice. He truly didn't care about the fate of these elves. They had checked all the boxes to be classified as fertilizer for his path, and Thalion wouldn't blink an eye at torturing these creatures to death if it made him stronger.
"Okay, I'll get them in line. The orcs are almost all dead anyway. Just a question: how long do you want to keep this torture business with the black pillar going? Because… well, people are really starting to get afraid of it. If the orc casualties hadn't been so high, we wouldn't even have people volunteering to electrocute them," Kaldrek asked, unsure how to phrase the concern.
"Hmm… I don't know yet. Maybe until the middle or end of next week. I really need it as powerful as possible," Thalion said after thinking it over. He had no idea how long it would take to absorb the black pillar after shrinking it, but he didn't want to risk doing it on the last day, just in case he messed something up and arrived half-dead on New Earth.
"Alright, that will upset a lot of people, but we've got plenty of space now with the extra bases. Also, I think a lot of our fighters harbor some real hatred for the arrogant elves, especially the slaves we managed to free," Kaldrek said. It was obvious he didn't like the fear pillar, but that was understandable.
"I guess you'll go back to crafting until the grand treasure becomes accessible," Kaldrek guessed. Thalion nodded, but then something caught his attention.
"What do you mean, 'accessible'? Is it already visible?" Thalion asked curiously. He had thought it would teleport in, or that some secret passage would open when the timer hit zero.
"Yes. It's a shining golden orb hanging under the ceiling of a massive chamber. Right now, it's protected by an invisible shield that will probably vanish once the timer runs out," Kaldrek explained, a little caught off guard. "I thought you already knew. It was discovered a while ago."
"No, I hadn't heard about it. But I'll take a look when it's ready. Until then, I'm off to craft," Thalion said with a wink before making his way to the skyship with the portal that led home.
The others were still busy distributing the loot from the elves, but Thalion wasn't interested. He already had everything he needed.
The days until the treasure's release passed quickly. Thalion made great progress on both armor and sword. The runes were complete, and he only needed to get new materials from the system shop for the final process. After that, he'd just add the crystals for power, and everything should work—assuming it didn't explode. There would still be plenty of testing with blood control to do, but that could wait. He didn't have time to redo it anyway.
This wasn't his only progress. He had also learned ten new runes from the Leviathan's tentacles. Over twenty alchemists had worked day and night in multiple shifts to uncover that knowledge. A few runes were still missing, but Thalion was confident they would figure them out. The current ones all revolved around controlling the flow of water and enhancing water-based skills.
Thalion wasn't yet sure how to align them around the Tidecaller Serpent's body for maximum effect. For now, he leaned toward adding runes that drew from environmental mana and directed the water around him. In theory, that would give him a constant buff. He just needed to find a way to charge them. Until now, all his runes had been crystal-powered, but as the Tidecaller Serpent, he had no such crystal and he couldn't exactly craft armor for that form.
There was also no water elemental he could fuse with, and he doubted one would even synergize that well. He was already a water mage, and his form wasn't that complex, so an elemental wouldn't add much. Maybe a coral elemental, like the ones crabs sometimes had growing on their shells? No, that probably wouldn't look good, and it wasn't practical anyway.
He was more of a mage in the Tidecaller Serpent form than anything else. If he wanted it to matter, he'd need to find a way to upgrade it, big time.
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And that was far from the only thing on Thalion's mind.
He still had Kael's item that would add one additional affinity to the Sanguis Impera. That wasn't the most impressive part, anyone could start body-tempering with almost any affinity, but the ability to consume that affinity and grow stronger, just as the Sanguis Impera did with blood, was very powerful.
Thalion was still torn between light and fire affinity. They were the best choices because both required vast amounts of available energy to cultivate: light was present for half the day, and fire was always linked to his bloodline. A plant that could snack endlessly on fire should grow rapidly. At least, that was Thalion's current reasoning.
Before the tutorial ended, he would have to make a choice. For now, his focus was on the massive treasure waiting for him and perhaps later, a discussion with the system's voice about its workings and future events.
Thalion quickly made his way through the city toward the portal that led to the skyship hovering before the palace. The palace loomed like a mountain in the desert, shimmering as though made entirely of gold or at least something that looked like it. Whatever the material was, it was surely far more durable than Earth's gold.
"Took you long enough. Jakob, Jack, and Josh can't stand guard forever," Annie said the moment he stepped out of the portal.
"Wait, why do they need to stand guard?" Thalion asked, a little confused. Would anyone really try to steal the treasure? His men were everywhere. How could a thief even get close? Oh… right. The escape tokens. It was, in fact, a very wise decision to keep others away.
"Just to be safe. Also, Jack always says that trust is good, but control enforced by threats of death works best," Annie said with amusement.
Both of them jumped off the skyship and headed toward the entrance gate. The gate alone towered fifty meters high, and the entire palace rose several kilometers into the sky. It was almost certainly reinforced with spatial manipulation. The inside was bound to be far larger than the outside.
Annie surfed forward on a river of water she had summoned, while Thalion used his telekinetic dash. He had trouble maintaining a normal pace, shooting ahead far too quickly. Unable to control the skill properly, he was forced to stop and wait for Annie to catch up. She gave him a strange look as she approached.
"What's with your skills? I noticed the same thing in the recording of your fight against the elven leader. You look completely uncoordinated, like you can't control them," Annie asked, looking worried and a little perplexed.
"No, that was all part of the plan. I was feinting weakness so I could cut off her hand with the spatial ring and take the escape token. And I wasn't that clumsy. The elf was just extremely skilled and graceful," Thalion replied quickly, trying to cover himself. He didn't want the workers hauling treasure behind him to know anything about his true strength or worse, his current limitations. Annie still looked skeptical but let the matter drop.
Together they passed through countless corridors and stairways until they reached a massive chamber at least five hundred meters wide. Thalion's eyes immediately locked onto the golden orb floating in the center, just four meters above the ground.
Josh, Jack, and Jakob—the three Js—stood around it, looking bored. No other survivors from his base were anywhere near.
"Took you some time. Can you tell us what this golden orb does? It doesn't look solid to me," Jakob exclaimed excitedly.
He wasn't wrong. The orb didn't look like solid matter at all. It resembled a miniature sun, radiating light but no heat. It wasn't painful to look at, either. Thalion couldn't sense its aura, though it weighed on him in some intangible way.
Greed overcame him. He shot forward and touched the orb.
The instant he did, it vanished and a notification appeared on his status screen.
"Did you put it in your spatial ring, or did it just teleport away?" Jack asked, eyes wide.
"No… it seems to have activated. I got the bonus…" Thalion said while scanning his status.
You have earned a ticket for the System Shop, granting access to the Faithchanging Section
One item is included with this entrance
If you die, the ticket will pass to your killer
"Hah, looks like I'll have to wait for the System Shop to claim my reward. Thank you all for keeping watch, it's much appreciated," Thalion said.
The Faithchanging Section sounded promising, and he couldn't help but wonder what kind of items awaited.