Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

Listening to the tumultuous shouts on Ecter Marketplace, Su Li only then understood the weight behind the introduction she once heard.

In the Mortal Realms, magical artifacts are commonplace; apart from the humblest of vendors, nearly every merchant sells some kind of magical accessory or arcane equipment at a steep price.

Su Li heard about many wondrous things from these people, like the dung beetle that could quickly decompose feces, or Shar's Tree Bark Technique that could transform feces into something resembling tree bark.

Su Li even heard the name of the Great Feces God, capable of turning dung into something like horse manure.

One must know that within the Empire, only those connected serfs could enter the castles to clean up cow and horse manure for the Lords, and one cart of horse manure could fetch as much as 1 Copper Coin.

Even the lowest-ranking horse manure worker in a castle earns more in a year than a farmer with land.

Because horse manure is a natural fuel, economical and sanitary, it could even replace much charcoal. Even the ash left after burning is lethal to rats, bats, and wolves; many adventurers carry a bag of ash when confronting rat infestations and snakes outdoors.

Yet, among all those voices, there was one voice that attracted the attention of many knights.

"My Lord, I have an ancient relic here! Volcatricks' Scale!"

Su Li looked in astonishment toward the place where the voice came from and immediately said, "Volcatricks' Scale? Did I hear that right? Did he just shout one of the most famous Divine Artifacts in this world, Volcatricks' Scale? Somebody, bring him over here!"

That voice also made countless knights feverish; over a dozen robust and brawny Hesse Forbidden Guard Knights stormed into the crowd, furiously charging toward the direction of the voice. Everyone hurriedly made way, frightened that if struck by these knights, they'd immediately be black and blue all over.

Very quickly, the knights found the owner of the sharp voice from earlier, a middle-aged halfling woman.

Halflings are a matriarchal society, so women generally are wealthier. This middle-aged halfling woman was particularly affluent, her waistline almost rivaling that of their far-distant relatives, the Dwarfs.

Tiberus grabbed her by the neck, lifting her up, his face nearly touching her high-bridged nose, his eyes like a vicious wolf fiercely staring at her, asking: "Do you know what you're saying? You have the Divine Artifact Volcatricks' Scale?"

The Divine Artifact Volcatricks' Scale was so renowned that even Su Li, a Pioneer Lord who had just crossed over here less than a year ago, had heard of its great name several times.

This is one of the most powerful ancient relics of the Dwarfs. It is said that during the mythical era, one of the Dwarf ancestors, Grimnir, once battled the Divine Beast Volcatricks, resulting in mutual destruction. That grand battle left almost no relics, and the location remains unknown, but the Blazing Butcher insisted that after the battle ended, the Dwarfs braved the scorching heat, crossed the Lava River, and ventured to the site, seeking traces of their divine spirit.

Of course, the Dwarfs found nothing of Grimnir, his soul was shattered. But Volcatricks' corpse remnants were scattered across this land. To avenge their deceased Main God, Grimnir's followers gathered these remnants, turning the scales into shields, and crafted broken claws into spearheads. With these new weapons, they turned their wrath against Volcatricks' offspring, eradicating many deadly dragons in the mountains.

It is said that before the chaos era, there was also a group of Blazing Butchers who, wielding weapons and shields forged from Volcatricks' remnants, chased giant monsters deep into the most desolate lands of the realms. However, when chaos descended, they all perished as well. Only one shield survived the Age of Chaos. It is currently in the hands of the Witchcraft Prophet Gorit Broken Tooth, leading a nomadic Bone-breaking Orcs tribe — the Thousand Teeth Tribe.

For the orcs, Volcatricks' Scale is a powerful magic item, said to be imbued with the Mother of Fire Salamanders' furious energy. This energy propelled the Thousand Teeth Tribe to infamy throughout the entire Green Skin world. The scale is also an ancient relic craved by the Blazing Butcher to retrieve, as it is their connection to the Divine Spirit and those ancestors who wore it for thousands of years before the chaos arrived.

Volcatricks' Scale is said to be diamond-shaped, with a diameter of more than half a meter. Deep red in color, its edges are tinged with black, as if exposed to high heat. The surface bears numerous cracks, with the inner material glowing like hot coals. Anyone who picks up Volcatricks' Scale would feel fiery currents coursing through their veins, as a layer of volcanic rock and lava adheres to their skin, protecting them from harm.

A shield with a diameter of more than half a meter could cover most of the body of even a one and a half meters tall dwarf; this little halfling woman is only about one meter two or three in height, if she indeed possessed Volcatricks' Scale, she couldn't possibly hide it.

So Su Li inspected her surroundings and asked, "Where is the Divine Artifact? You know the price of deceiving a Lord."

She hurriedly pulled out a palm-sized, deep red stone from a cloth pouch around her neck, its surface inscribed with lava-like patterns, with the sunken lines radiating a fiery red glow like blood.

This left the surrounding knights gladdened as they looked around, seeing that this glow indeed possessed the majesty of a Divine Artifact.