The staff Lefiya used, the [Forest Teardrop], was a considerably expensive Tier 2 Armament. Its market price exceeded thirty million Valis—according to Cecil's appraisal.
The reason for this lay primarily in the "Magic Gem" embedded at the tip of the staff.
At this moment, atop the pure white staff, the crystal-clear diamond, seemingly wrapped in golden branches and leaves, emitted a faint, tender green glow at all times.
However, considering that the most expensive Magic Gems are formed by watering them with sap flowing from the Great Spirit Tree in the [Wishe Forest], this could be considered "sourcing materials locally," so perhaps it was acceptable?
As the [True Miracle of No Light] slowly fused with the staff, black lines began to entwine around the originally pristine shaft.
"It is done, adventurer. The blessing is complete."
The giant Mimic... ah, no, the massive female figure formed by countless points of light who called herself the "Azure Princess," sat gently amidst the grass as before. The pair of deep blue wings behind her rose and fell slightly.
She handed the staff over.
Isagi leaned in at the same time, giving it a touch while activating his magic, [Fragmented Narrative], to quickly ascertain the "panel" of this weapon.
[Lightless Elf Teardrop]
An excellent Tier 2 Armament capable of enhancing the power of Elven Magic. Its performance as a striking weapon is very low.
Fragile.
A weapon "blessed by the Dungeon's dark miracle."
The Elven girl embraced a lofty ambition, leaving her hometown for a broader world, causing the Holy Tree to reluctantly shed tears of blessing for her.
After fusing with the Miracle of No Light, it acquired new characteristics:
· Can generate a "No Light" zone around the user;
· When located within "No Light," one can only see the existence of oneself and other living organisms; any attack will only touch visible living organisms; can wield the Lightless Greatsword;
Combat Art: Elf Anthem
· Usable only by Elves...
"Alright, no need to look at the Combat Art. I didn't expect this thing to be an Elf-exclusive weapon. Tsk."
As for what the new characteristics were specifically like!
As Lefiya took back the staff and began to test it, the originally pale green Magic Gem suddenly emitted a pitch-black light. Subsequently, taking the Elven girl as the center, the grass for about two meters around was dyed pitch black.
"Eh?"
In Lefiya's vision, the entire world had gone "dark." The grass, the forest, the fluorescence... everything was gone.
The only things that existed were little stick figures before her eyes, looking like "matches" with an "O" for a head and a "1" or "I" for a body. This included the "Azure Princess" located nearby; she had simply turned into a giant stick figure.
"Lefiya, cast magic at me."
"Oh... okay."
Isagi naturally wanted to test the Elven girl's new performance. Thus, he quickly ran behind a large tree not far away.
Immediately after, Lefiya released a short-chant attack magic with relatively lower power, [Dio Thyrsos].
Golden electric currents instantly pierced through the thick tree trunk, arriving right in front of him just like that.
Holy crap!
Sure enough, standing in that black "No Light Zone," Lefiya obtained the cheats of [X-Ray Vision] and [Wall-Hack]! As for [Aimbot]... this guy's magic already came with an auto-lock! Now she could use her mental power to control it, curving the shots to lock on from different angles!!
What was this? "Domain Expansion" or "Dark Magic Markings"?
Not only that. Lefiya waved the staff in her hand, and in an instant, a massive pitch-black blade edge condensed!
"Eh?"
Even the Elven girl startled herself. She hadn't expected it to be like this; holding the staff now, she felt like a warrior wielding some dragon-slaying greatsword.
And because she was facing directly towards Isagi, the blade naturally and effortlessly passed through the dense woodland, falling towards the boy.
But it didn't matter. Because...
Ching!
A dazzling golden flash passed by. The lightning magic that arrived first was blocked by the pitch-black long blade in Isagi's hand—he didn't use [Lightning Counter].
What Isagi was using now was the [Blade of Ten Thousand Skeletons] that the Azure Princess had given him before, which could continuously level up by killing monsters. After over twenty days of farming in the arena, it had risen from Lv1 to Lv2 and gained a new characteristic.
[Cursed Blade · Skill Eater]:
· Can parry any attack.
· By accumulating the number of parries, a powerful strike can be unleashed.
An expert skill. "Parry" was not just blocking; it wasn't enough to just defend. One had to swing the blade to slash at the tiny moment the attack was about to hit oneself for it to count as a success.
Even Isagi couldn't say he had totally mastered it. If the opponent's attacks were swift and rabid, wanting to successfully parry every time was a very difficult task.
And like all skills, its fundamental strength fluctuated based on one's own "Level." Simply put, facing an opponent whose level and stats exceeded one's own by too much rendered it meaningless; one simply couldn't "Parry."
But dealing with Lefiya was enough. The girl was the same level as him and lacked melee experience. The slashes caused by her wild waving of the staff, in his eyes, were truly like playing house.
Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz!
Even though it was invisible magic, the collisions still struck out golden flashes and very crisp sounds, until the pitch-black long blade in his hand was also filled with light.
Lefiya stopped her attack.
Subsequently, Isagi sheathed his blade—actually hiding it back inside his cloak—and then suddenly slashed out toward the forest to the side.
A brilliant golden slash rushed out like a crescent moon. Accompanied by the fading golden glow, a deep gully stretching several meters long was left in the ground beside him.
Not bad, whether it was him or Lefiya—although that girl's new characteristic required her to stand inside that black "No Light Zone" to activate, which restricted her mobility again. The Elven girl was marching down the path of a "Stationary Turret" with no return.
But all in all, these weapons blessed by the "True Miracle" were quite easy to use.
Tiona in the distance truly had a face full of anticipation. As a fixed teammate, Isagi had naturally already decided that the next True Miracle would be used to enhance her weapon. But the girl insisted on waiting until she reached Lv5 and obtained a Tier 1 Armament before doing it...
He could only talk about it then. Because looking at it now, whether it was that "King's Strongest Knight" in the [Circular Colosseum] or the "Infant Dragon" guarding the city gate below, they were both guys who possessed a "True Miracle"—he just didn't know if the [Pale King] had one.
Isagi felt that they probably wouldn't need to wait until reaching Lv5 to successfully capture them. Actually, they were about ready now, right?
Isagi planned that after this adventure ended, he would either go mess up that [Infant Dragon] blocking the bridge, or simply try to clear the [Circular Colosseum]. Although the latter could still be used to farm ability scores, clearing it just like that felt a bit of a pity.
At this point, Alicia, standing to the side, was completely messy in the wind.
Is this still the Dungeon? How can there be monsters helping to enhance weapons and equipment? And they became so powerful after the enhancement?!
Did I really come to an Isekai?!
By the way, why did Tiona accept it so quickly? Is it because she's an idiot? Or did she read too many fairy tales?
But the boy looked so handsome just now. Points added.
She still hadn't forgotten her most important mission! It was to judge whether the boy could correctly guide Miss Ais!!
Alicia strove to maintain a calm exterior. In reality, as long as she wasn't in a serious combat state, her eyes would always involuntarily drift toward Isagi...
...
Returning to the [Management Layer].
With a loud bang, the Goblin Pal, always wrapped in a dirty cloak and revealing only one bloodshot eye, had blasted open the secret passage leading to the [Kingdom Core].
Isagi's previous judgment was correct; they had to finish this guy's "Quest Line" to avoid the city gate and large bridge guarded by the Infant Dragon and sneak inside. As for rushing directly across the bridge...
Isagi felt that was unlikely. After all, a game is a game, and reality is reality. No matter how stupid that Infant Dragon was, it wouldn't just fly onto the bridge and stand there foolishly after being shot by a bow, watching him and the girls slip past its feet, right?!
Anyway, doing the story adventure was indeed relatively easier. If they didn't do it, they would only be able to force their way through the [Circular Colosseum], or rush the Kingdom's main gate located on the 9th Floor, which was guarded by an elite Goblin army.
Akshi, wearing golden armor, was also there. However, he seemed quite afraid of Pal, always hiding from him. After Pal blasted open the secret passage, he had a look of complete disbelief.
"Se... Secret passage?! The King forbids the existence of such things in the Kingdom!! This is a sinister and treacherous hab... habit!!"
Regarding this, Pal only sneered with a "Heh-heh," obviously very disdainful.
Aside from that, when Isagi and the girls first came over earlier, they saw this guy leisurely lying on the sofa, hoodwinking Pal into going to the [Hybrid Zone] to catch bugs for him to eat.
After hearing that the Governor's Castle above had been blown down, this guy actually stated that he could help repair the shortcut that had issues—the shortcut from the [Border Fortress] previously led straight to the Governor's Castle, and from there one could continue all the way down to the [Management Layer] and so on.
But the castle was blown down. Since problems naturally arose, the old Goblin indicated he could fix it. The price was to go to the [Hybrid Zone] again to gather "delicacies" for him.
Isagi naturally agreed to this immediately. Since they were going to the [Hybrid Zone] to find the Azure Princess for enchanting anyway, they could just grab some for him on the way.
Speaking of which, Cecil had also specially crafted a one-handed pitchfork for forking dung pellets and a leather bag to hold them, so he could hang them on his backpack at any time. As for the device to launch the dung pellets, the girl was still researching it, so it wasn't ready yet.
Thus, after returning from upgrading the weapon and resting for a bit, Isagi and the girls finally began to pass through the "ancient secret passage" Pal had blasted open, heading toward the [Kingdom Core].
That annoying, treacherous fellow had run off long ago. In the [Management Layer], there were tiny caves everywhere that only Goblins could crawl into; from beginning to end, Pal didn't give him and the girls a chance to catch him.
He didn't know if the Dungeon had gotten smarter, or if it was just like that. Otherwise, Tiona was even thinking about tying Pal up with a rope and kicking this cunning Goblin's butt hard!
The secret passage wasn't very long. And it looked as if it had been excavated specifically for his group of adventurers to walk through. Although it couldn't be called tall or spacious, it was more than enough for his group.
After walking forward for a while, they could see a new elevator. Immediately after, they went all the way down, continued forward a few steps, and took another elevator down...
Fortunately, there were no monsters or traps here, so the process was fairly smooth. Until, by the light of the Magic Stone lamp in hand, they saw a magnificent door appear in the distance. Because it was too abrupt, everyone failed to react for a moment.
Pushing it open, behind the door was a luxurious room. Charcoal fire burned in the fireplace; there were paintings inlaid with exquisite moonstones, beautifully styled full plate armor, and longswords interlaced with gold and diamonds—behind the wide mahogany long table, amidst the soft velvet armchair, a Goblin wearing fine clothes and gold-rimmed glasses slowly raised his head.
"Pal notified me not long ago that you all would be arriving."
"Thank you for your contributions to the Kingdom, adventurers. Please allow me to introduce myself. Malvi Deminix, one of the Empire's Three Great Nobles, Patriarch of the Deminix family."
___
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