Mixed Blessing System

[Diamond Necklace] [Rank: quasi-Gold]

[Features: amplifies the wearer's Soul power between 40% and 80% for 3 minutes, depending on the wearer's level.]

[Detail: the artifact needs to be charged with spiritual energy to demonstrate its best attributes and only works on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th stage cultivators.]

[Reminder: if the user does not have a strong enough Soul attribute, the increase in power promoted by the artifact may be too high for that being and kill him.]

'Interesting...'

...

Lothur saw more than 15 artifacts in the central area of that labyrinth until he arrived in front of the tomb of the founder of the Frost family, where there was only a wooden staff.

There were more items in the Frost family treasury. But as they were scattered throughout the labyrinth and Lothur did not have much time left, he decided to look only at those older artifacts.

Most of the unknown items were there in this area. So Lothur took the opportunity to look for the more notable items that the people from Viktoria's family were ignoring.

Since he still had another 15 minutes left, Lothur did not want to waste the trip and touched the staff in question, curious as to what that item was, which due to the wear and tear, looked like just a stick of a broom.

[Elemental Staff] [Rank: Gold]

[Features: such an item can only manipulate the elements in a repellent way, with no possibility for the user to change its functionality.]

[Detail: useful only when the power difference between the user and the opponent/laws is below 50%.]

[Reminder: the artifact is partially damaged. Its original properties are temporarily blocked.]

'Gold?' Lothur exclaimed in his mind, not believing that an artifact of this quality was hidden in this place.

But thinking about it, Saints were 4th stage cultivators, and Gold-grade items were 4th stage items. So, it was not that shocking to find it in this place.

In fact, it was strange that there were not more items of this quality in the graves of Saints!

Lothur was momentarily silent and then looked at Viktoria. "Why aren't there more Gold-grade items in this place?"

"More items? Are you telling me there are Gold-grade items here?" She asked as she looked at him in surprise.

"Hmmm." Lothur waved the staff that looked like a stick of a broom to his wife. "This is an item of such quality. It's just a shame that it is weakened due to the damage to its structure."

Viktoria was shocked to hear such a thing, hardly able to believe that an item that seemed so useless was actually something so valuable.

An average Gold-grade item costs a few million gold coins!

That would make hundreds of millions of bronze coins!

'Is that piece of wood something so valuable?' She wondered as she looked but saw nothing in that item.

Artifacts like that were not necessarily easy to notice the quality of. Even if they had spiritual energy circulating within them like living things, it could be tricky for someone of Viktoria's level to distinguish that from something much simpler.

At the same time, because that item was damaged, some of its magnificence had been lost, which made its evaluation much more difficult.

"Are you sure about that? I don't sense any spiritual energy inside that piece of wood, Lothur." She said to him.

"Oh?" He looked at that thing, but the system still gave him the same information as before. 'It has no energy? So how does it work?'

'But if the system said it can be used to repel elements, that must be true.' He pondered, not understanding the situation for sure.

Lothur was not a blacksmith, an area he lacked in understanding how artifacts worked. So, he could not speculate on why that item was the way it was.

But since he trusted the system, he said. "Why don't you attack me with that water-jet blow of yours? Such a thing is supposed to repel the elements, so we'll find out if it works."

Viktoria listened to her husband and was surprised that he even understood how such an item was supposed to work. But then she remembered the rules of this place and said. "Even if it works as you say, it won't function. You first need to choose this artifact and then leave the family treasure for it to become your property."

"As long as we are in this place, the artifacts here are from the Memory Crystal, and no one will be able to control them."

"Even my mother has already failed to control one of these items here." She finished saying that, thwarting Lothur's test attempt.

"Sigh..."

He sighed upon hearing that.

Viktoria then put aside the question of whether or not that item was a Gold-grade one since Lothur had already said that such a thing was damaged. She then answered his other question. "About Gold-grade items, there may have been more in the past. But they were probably chosen by my ancestors and eventually lost in battles."

The current generation of the Frost family knew little about the older artifacts in their treasury. But this had not always been so!

At some point in the past, Viktoria's ancestors knew about every item in this place and definitely strove to earn the right to enter there and take possession of such things.

Eventually, they would fight in this great world, die and lose their items to enemies, or sometimes push such artifacts to the limit.

But, of course, many years had passed. So, various items may have passed through the hands of various cultivators and, at some point, lose their attributes.

"So that's it..." Lothur understood the situation and put such a thing aside to make his decision regarding the two artifacts he had to choose.

'Well, this item looks pretty impressive. So I won't leave it here in this dark place.' He looked at the staff in his right hand, confident in the system that such a thing would work even without having an energy signal in its structure.

He then looked at the other items in the surroundings and found two of them to be a match for Viktoria and Annaliese.

"Dear, I want you to use your two options to get that necklace and that eye patch." He indicated each of those artifacts.

"Oh? Why is that?" She asked, curious as to why he wanted those things.

"The eye patch can raise the speed of its wearer's soul cultivation. So I want you to give that to Annaliese." He explained. "On the other hand, the necklace is an emergency item that, if charged with energy, can temporarily increase much of your soul strength."

"You should stay with it."

"What? Is that really true?" She looked at the two items she previously thought were high-value decorative artifacts from her ancestors.

They were even in good condition, indicating that few people had used them in the past.

Each time someone who had one of this family's treasured items died and such an artifact was recovered, it was not buried with its most recent owner. Instead, it would be returned to the grave of its original owner.

So every item that Lothur touched in this place had already passed through many hands, which contributed to Viktoria's surprise.

As she looked at those two things with uncertainty, he made up his mind about his last artifact.

...