City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Endless Energy Core

The news of the Azure Roar shocked everyone in Norland, resounding just as much as when Emperor Charles had slain Daramore or Philip had attacked the Fort of Dawn. This was a grand occasion for the entire plane; most people didn’t even know just what a grade 6 rune signified, but they had seen the power of Richard’s saint runes and Midren and had an inkling of what more powerful meant.

The reward point system of the Archerons had always been fair, the pricing accurate to the total value. Considering that, the Azure Roar at 50,000 points had to be at least five times as powerful as Midren’s battle edition. While the description was rather simplistic— it provided an increase to all attributes and added the flames of destruction to one’s attacks— the power of Richard’s blue flames that originated from the star of destruction were obvious to everyone.

At the same time, being worth the price didn’t mean there was anyone that could actually pay it. 50,000 points was far beyond the reach of even most epic beings, and no one had even accumulated that much spent since the system first sprang up. Of course, that wouldn’t stop the renewed spirit of the powerhouses in the system; as long as this existed, there would come a day when someone had enough points to buy it. The abyss wasn’t going away anytime soon, and there would always be demons to kill and points to earn.

Richard himself was unaware of this reaction. Standing before his window, he’d recalled the entire process of crafting the Azure Roar a hundred times over now down to the tiniest of details. This rune was a milestone for Norland and a highlight of his life; with its appearance, the entire plane’s destiny had been changed and it would rise to new peaks. It had used a demon archlord as the core ingredient, and had taken an enormous amount of activated ember essence to power. In tandem, they managed to perfectly reproduce the power of his truename, and the entire process had allowed him to consolidate his experience with the laws of destruction.

That being said, even this rune hadn’t allowed him to express himself completely. His understanding of Issa was nearing completion as well, and with it another grade 6 rune that he called the Final Redemption had already been designed. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the right kind of materials at the moment to craft it, forcing him to shelve the idea. It was slightly disappointing, but he didn’t really care too much; he hadn’t made the Azure Roar for anything but the feeling of making a true grade 6 rune, so that goal had already been achieved.

Now, he was recalling the entire production process for one simple reason; with this experience, he was that much more confident in being able to repair the Deepblue Aria. Thoughts of Sharon still brought a twinge of pain for now, but he consoled himself with the fact that he would make his next attempt soon.

After sorting through the power of his truenames from head to toe, Richard exited his lab and headed to the underground warehouse to pick up the offerings within. This next sacrifice would be extremely important; he needed something to deal with that terrifying man in Arbidis. With the complete skeleton of a devil archlord on hand, he would be able to get a rank 1 blessing.

……

No matter how many times Richard had been there, the Church of the Eternal Dragon never changed. The ruined altar in the current of time was the same as ever, and as he thought of its value he wondered just how much it was worth in itself. Could one even sacrifice that thing? However, that was just a thought. His night elf warriors brought in chest after chest of offerings, placing them on the ground. The family had earnt a grand total of fifty top-tier offerings during his absence, and he had brought them all in the hopes of earning combat potential.

Once everything was prepared, Richard walked up the altar and activated his spatial bracelet, adding the devil lord’s skeleton on top. The curtain of timeforce quickly hid him from a gaping Noelene, and for the first time in a long while he was the first one to speak, “I hope this will satisfy you.”

The devil lord’s skeleton gradually dissipated into timeforce on the altar, converging into the current of time. The Eternal Dragon’s voice rang out in Richard’s mind, “A grand harvest, you do not disappoint. Place your offerings atop the altar and state your desire.”

Richard didn’t hesitate, putting all fifty top-tier offerings on the altar. Once they had been transformed into timeforce, he continued, “I met an insurmountable enemy in the depths of Arbidis. I want to know who he is, where his strength comes from, and how to defeat him.”

Within this altar space, the Eternal Dragon was omniscient. As Richard thought back to the course of events on that fateful day, the dragon learnt of everything as well. As he went through the memory of that fearsome attack, its voice rang out once more, “The depths of the world are a special place, a passage that links light and dark. Even my radiance cannot illuminate Arbidis, and the information I can provide will not help.”

Timeforce converged into a ball of light in front of Richard, floating there lightly. A touch told him just what it was: Divine Omniscience— Arbidis. This information even contained a small hint of the laws that Arbidis followed, and for that reason it was also very expensive at a rank 2 blessing. It was certainly worth the cost, but as someone whose strength lay in the analysis of laws his understanding of Arbidis in that sense was already beyond what this blessing would provide. The dragon was correct in stating that this wasn’t what he needed.

However, he wasn’t even given a chance to reject it before the old dragon recalled the blessing on its own, instead offering a few more balls of light that were his true options. They formed quite slowly, and there were only three of them of which he had one choice, but these orbs were different from those he had seen before. Their glow was more platinum than gold, and liquid energy seemed to be flowing within. Reaching out to touch them, he found that all three were rank 1 blessings!

The first orb contained a beastbone shield with a layer of hide. It was an ancient product of chaos, and the crude workmanship was a bad representative for its true ability. This shield was known as the Everlasting Rampart, and could withstand the impact from the fundamental law of a plane of existence. Even the cannons of the reapers’ mothership could not break through this shield’s defence, and hiding behind it someone could block the combined attacks of all of Norland’s epic beings.

However, could even an extradivine shield like this withstand that apocalyptic sword strike? Richard thought about it and shook his head, withdrawing his consciousness from the first orb and moving onto the second.

The second blessing was known as the endless energy core. It seemed similar to the energy cores of the reapers, but even having solved the laws governing them Richard couldn’t see its uses. Reading into the description, he found that it could transform the energy of the void into a usable form. It was also indestructible, but these factors alone weren’t enough to make it worth a rank 1 blessing. He continued to find something truly shocking— this core had come from a powerful ancient race, and had been acquired when an airborne fortress had drifted into the domain of the Eternal Dragon. Its difference from the reapers was that its energy output was practically boundless, capable of moving an entire continent through the void! This was the only such piece in the Eternal Dragon’s domain!

What moved Richard the most was that the output of this core could actually be used by living beings. If he chose to enlarge his body, he could implant it within himself and reach a level of energy output that far surpassed the Archeron archlord’s heart.

The last blessing on offer shocked him again, but for a different reason this time. It actually contained a few energy absorbing tree saplings, but only seven were actually worth a rank 1 blessing! It was only now that he could put a monetary value to the wealth that Sharon had given him.