"What is it?" asked Luciophel. He wanted to make use of the skull and was quite willing to provide a lot for it.
"The lack of the demonic energy would make a physically tough structure that would be hard for us to break, but it has no inscriptions on it and I believe it wont be able to conduct mana efficiently. So, it will not have any strong magical effects," explained Kade. "Any magical effects that we want must by added to through use of supplementary materials of high grade."
"Oh!" said Luciophel clearly disappointed by the words of forging master Kade.
"I am sorry. It is a lucky thing that we have such a sturdy bone from a minor demon, but it can't be used to produce any overly strong armament. Tough exterior and low magical conductivity. It would be considered a waste material by most master forgers. If not for its origins, I would have made it into a tier 2 armament at the most," said Kade.
Most of the higher officials and NPCs in a kingdom are tier 3 NPCs at the very least. So, a tier 2 armament is one meant for captains in the capital and isn't considered to by much valuable by the two NPCs discussing it.
"I am sorry," said Kade handing it back to Luciophel.
"True," said Luciophel nodding his head. "We can't expect something a minor demon to be made of something that powerful. We should be glad that it at least managed to give us this. I was just disillusioned on seeing the skull."
"It could still be experimented on," said Kade trying to comfort Luciophel. "It is an unexpected harvest, and most would be amazed to see it. We hold add it to the auction of the major powers. Many grandmasters forgers would be willing to experiment on the material and try to understand it better."
"That is a wise suggestion, Master Kade. I knew that I could count on you," said Luciophel. "This is the best option. The sale is bound to provide a lot of gold and would be a lot more useful."
"It is nothing," said Kade. "We probably need a plausible story for it, too. Most wouldn't believe that it came from a minor demon. Something, like finding it in an old run-down fort or cave is more believable for the lack of demonic energy."
"Yes, of course," said Luciophel. "Adventurer, I need to speak to Master Kade about something. Could you please leave us?" asked Luciophel. Though it was a request, it was obvious to Shadow that the NPC was kicking him out.
"Sure, great priest. Please let me know if there is anything else that I could do for the temple," said Shadow. With Kade introducing him as his apprentice, he hoped that the temple would also consider providing him forging quests from now on.
"Of course, I will find you if I require your assistance. In the meantime, you can consult captain Lorken. He can help you with anything you want," said Luciophel gesturing him to the teleportation array. As he stepped on it, he was sent to the main hall of the temple.
"Captain Lorken, I forgot that she would be the usual liason for the members of the temple," thought Balthazar as he remembered pretty paladin who provided missions. Luciophel being the great priest would only meet higher level adventurers or NPCs. The only reason, he came into contact with Luciophel was due to the letter of introduction that he received at the Blackrock Town.
He looked around for captain Lorken in the hall and one being informed that she went out of the hall with other NPCs after the sermon, he made his way out. Soon, he found the tall lady NPC wearing a bright mithril armor outside the hall, near the gates. She was talking to a few NPCs and bidding them off.
She led the guards of the temple and was the highest authority in the temple branch for all matters related to quests, making appointments with the NPCs of the temple like Luciophel and she could even bar most players from entering the premises.
Captain Lorken was about 7 feet tall with blonde hair that fell over her shoulders. She wore a feathered helmet, had a pair of longswords on her back and tight fitted mithril armor with a pair of small axes and a set of ten daggers hanging of her belt. She had an almost perfect body shape and couple with her tight armor and pretty face, she was one of the prettiest, hottest NPCs of the city.
She was the fearsome female bell of the temple whom most players adored in his past life. There were always players who came to the temple to ogle at her. It was the same this time too. He and Rudra had already posted pictures of the temple which caused quite a number of new players who entered to city to come to the temple.
He was sure that some of these players were definitely taking pictures of the paladin. "I hope that none of these guys try to talk stupidly to her," thought Balthazar. He had seen many new players try to play around with NPCs and get beaten up thoroughly. Lorken was one of the worser NPCs. She could even one hit kill level 50 players and would remain in a bad mood after one of those situations.
So, he decided to talk to her first quickly before some player gets the guts to try and hit on an NPC. He ran to the paladin and greeted her. "Greetings, Captain Lorken. I am Shadow Tyrant, a member of the temple. I was told by great priest, Luciophel that you have some errand that I could run for you."
"Ah! I heard one of the adventurers joined our ranks recently," she said turning to look at him. "I have a few thing that you could do," she said beckoning to follow him as she went towards the hall. She took him to a small guard post to the left of the prayer hall.
She checked few things in the guard post before she came back. "I have a few requests that you could help with," she said as a list of quest appeared on his dashboard in front of him. These were all mostly gathering quests. It was similar to quests provided by the merchants in the city. There were a couple of forging quests too, but none were the kind that would provide him temple reputation or contribution points. Still, the forging quest caught his eye the most as he found the armaments that were requested to be ones of high quality, even gold and dark gold level.
"Most of these forging quests, I don't have the designs for them. Does the temple provide them by any chance?" asked Balthazar. Forging quests for forging association were something that he did in his previous life and they always provided the common designs in exchange for resources or contribution points. But he had never heard of forging quests in other organizations or groups. The most he heard of was selling them new designs in exchange for contribution points.
"No, these we don't have designs, but we have next best thing. We have equipment and weapon moulds. You need to collect the resources and make them. We will also be taking a certain amount as deposit for the mould. It wouldn't be returned if you fail to create an armament of decent quality," explained Lorken.
Hearing her explanation, he checked the quest list again and noticed that these forging quests indeed had a small deposit required to take the quest. He realized that this was mostly the system trying to get some money from the players as most forging players would sure fail to make such armaments.
"Maybe the game removed these quests by the time I joined it," thought Balthazar as he realized not having seen such quests in his past life.
"Do you want to take any of them?" asked the paladin again. She looked a bit annoyed which Balthazar had notice. "Probably because I am browsing them slowly without responding," he thought.
"I will take a few of them," said Shadow selecting a few collection quests. He also checked a forging quest to try it out. Most of the ingredients it would require would be done during the collection quests. So, he didn't worry much and paid 5 silvers for the mould of the dark gold equipment that he received.
After that he decided to check and assign the free atrribute points that he had left pending. With the Void Dragon's Talons equipped, he would get another pair of free attribute points for every level up. So, a total of 8 free attribute points for every level up. He had leveled up three times since he equipped his unique weapon leaving 24 free attribute points to assign.
Character: Shadow Tyrant (Human)
Affiliated Village: Black Rock Village.
Affiliated City: White Hear City (Capital)
Title: Kade's apprentice, First Citizen of White Heart City.
Job: Assassin
Level: 14
Exp: 2450/10000
HP: 6000/6000; MP: 2800/2800; SP: 3000/3000
Physical Attack: 184;
Defense: 88; Attack Speed: 96; Movement Speed: 100; Willpower: 58 ; Balance: 63; Focus/Search: 84; Reflect Damage: 6; Magic Resist: 30; Luck: *; Charm: *;
Attributes: Strength 86, Agility 70, Endurance 50, Intelligence 50, Vitality 52, Perception 46.
No Special Racial Attributes or weakness.
Free Attributes Points: 24;
He put 2 points in each of the attributes consuming 12 points quickly and the remaining 12, he put 6 in agility and 6 in endurance. Endurance is essential for stamina and his techniques required him to have a high stamina and speed. So, Balthazar decided to invest a bit in these two attributes increasing his SP to 3500 and agility to 78.
He quickly made his way out of the temple and contacted Rudra and Merlin. He inquired about the situation of the guild and team in the Blackrock Town. It appeared that Crimson Realm had become quite famous in the city due to the shop that they set up and also due to the fort which was made into a new hub for the players in the forest. With Foedus Rex also giving them space and defeat of Boris, it became much easier for them to gather more influence in the White Heart City.
Merlin on the other hand decided to take the quests at the guard posts of the mass quest in Blackrock Town. They managed to complete the quests, but it wasn't without significant losses. Still Quite Fire looked quite happy with the new equipment she got from those quests.
Merlin wanted him to join them from the next day as he believed that with an assassin, the quests would become a bit easier. Moreover, Merlin considered him a strong asset with two unique armaments. So, adamantly requested him to join them from the next day and was quite irritated when he heard that Shadow wouldn't be able to join them for much time the next day as he had some work in his real life.
Balthazar and Robert had to go to another planet for their trial the next day. So, he informed Merlin and Rudra that he would be in some dangerous work the next and not to worry if he fails to join the game for an extended duration.
He had already neglected lunch during the day and lived of the nutrient solutions that were put in his pod. He had to be ready for the trial tomorrow and couldn't afford to be weak or tired. So, he decided to have a good meal and made way to the Ambrosia restaurant. It was past 4 p.m and close to evening. So, there weren't many people in the restaurant allowing him to get an isolated spot.
He ordered a few dishes and began to browse through the information about his trip sent to him by Winston on his wrist device. He needed to wear a combat suit to tolerate pressure of the planet and apart from that he is being given a knife, a crossbow and bunch of traps. Winston sent him a list of the various traps that could be used and list of various substances that could be used to attract or repel the beasts that would be present.
Apart from that, Winston also sent him information about the non-vertebrates that could be found on the planet and the waters of the planet. A number of safety instructions were also included. Balthazar spent an hour reading it while he ate.
He went back to the mansion and gathered up all the required supplies that Winston suggested along with the combat suit and the weapons he asked Elina. He also got his mail which had a new headgear which he planned to wear during his travel on the ship to the planet.
Once, he had all that he wanted, he refilled the nurtrient fluids in the pod and got back into the game. It was still night-time in the game and it was the best time for him to work on the designs that he had and try to create new equipment.