"See it clearly, the first discovered artifact that can refine… Metal Essence,"
Rex nodded then looked at the pond filled with pitch-black liquid, the liquid was similar to raw oil used to refine diesel and petrol, but unlike them it was hot, it was so hot that a layer of thick steam was covering its surface.
Zakiya was satisfied with his shocked expression but then Rex thought of something, he turned to her and asked.
"I understand that teacher, but… What is Metal Essence?" He asked with an honest face, he knew about Fire Essence but Metal Essence was a different concept.
"…" (Zakiya)
Understand my foot! You know nothing, she thought.
Zakiya rubbed her temples in frustration as she saw him looking at her in expectation.
"Sigh… I will put it simply so that you can understand, the foundation of an element, its invariable nature is its very essence. Like the Fire Essence, you need to empower your flames, even if you didn't have flames and just Fire Elemental Qi, it will still benefit you, with the right quality and quantity the Flame Qi can mutate into something new.
Let's take my Ice Elemental Qi, for example, at first it was also normal like any other cultivator's Ice Qi, but I encountered a big fortune in an Ancient Tomb and found special Prison Ice Essence there, after absorbing it my normal Ice Qi mutated into Prison Ice Qi, you already know how superior it is compared to other Ice Qi.
Once my attacks hit my target, my Prison Ice grows by absorbing their Qi, not mine, it will keep growing until their Qi is depleted, this is the power of essence but the essence cannot be made, at most, it can be converted like you can extract the Flame Essence from monster flames, use it to refine pills or directly merge it into yours.
Metal Qi is a treasure for those who cultivate Metal Qi but in a way, it's more precious to someone who is a Metal-Type body cultivator, those two sisters now have a way to extract the meager amount of Metal Essence from those tools just like how Flame Wielders extracts Flame Essence from other flames.
As far as I knew, Flame Essence should have been the only thing that can be extracted so easily but with the Refiner-type artifact they have, things are completely different, think about it just how much Metal Essence they can extract, just how tough their bodies can become after absorbing it," Zakiya said.
Rex's eyelids flickered, he instantly understood why Ria took all the equipment from his inventory.
"Wait, the Flame Essence varied depending on where you extract it from, then the Metal Essence extracted from normal weapons, spirit weapons, and treasure artifacts should also be different," Rex asked doubtfully.
"Of course they are, their benefits differ greatly, but aren't you forgetting one more category," Zakiya said with a smile.
Rex's eyes widened, the last category was none other than… Ancient Artifact. Metal Essence from Ancient Artifact?
It was just like getting Flame Essence from top quality Heavenly Flames for him.
He turned and looked at the pond, the black liquid was now boiling, air bubbles were coming out of it. When he was thinking of what they were going to do with it, he saw both Ria and Mia transforming into snake forms and diving into the pond.
He was slightly surprised, even in their beast form, the boiling liquid was definitely going to hurt, and indeed, the glistering marble-like scales on their body started to look like corroded lusterless metal ores.
The snakes opened their mouth and hissed in pain but they didn't even try to step out of it.
Rex was still watching when Zakiya flickered her fingers and the projection changed.
This time there was no scenery or people, just a staff made of a golden and silver snake coiling around each other with their head also facing each other and their mouth wide open holding a fist-size purple crystal between them.
"I don't know how they got it but you should have a basic idea why those people were behind it. From the appearance of the artifact, there is a high chance that it's somehow related to Ancient Snake Clan, if the news goes out then there is no doubt that either these two snakes have to permanently submit to an organization or they will die without a corpse in less than a year.
Oh, come to think of it as long as your talent isn't exposed you are only slightly worse than them, the day your comprehension talent of understanding Ancient Technology goes out, I need to pack you up and throw you into a priso- safety chamber located 10,000 miles below the ground in my clan's secret realm," Zakiya said with a grin that she didn't try to hide.
[I swear she was about to say prison instead,]
Rex gulped down his saliva, it only firmed his resolve to make more fake identities and throw all the blame to Shadow Lord.
"I get it, but how do they know about her and she should be from the Snake Kingdom in the Middle Realm instead, how is it connected to a super force in Higher Realm?" He asked.
"The Snake Kingdom is not the only one, there are many other forces in the Middle Realm that are secretly connected to big forces above. I will tell you how it normally happens, you know that Ancient Clans raises their Heir Candidate in places like Middle Realm, there are also others come here to do mission, and it's inevitable to young brats like you to fall for opposite gender after experiencing some hardships and cultivating feelings.
In the heat of the moment, they often let their seed behind, in other words, kids. Most of them cannot take them above, because they can't survive the competition in their clan, or at other times they just don't want to take responsibility for their deeds.
But think about it even if those Heir Candidates fell in love here, it was only because they hadn't tasted the power of status and money before, after going back they can get anything they want, they would have thousands of capable servants and beautiful maid serving them, at that time how many of them would remember a single beauty from Middle Realm?
Whether they forget it or not, the deeds are already done, the children born from the bloodline of beings at Divine Beast level would definitely be born geniuses here, and the new generations of those born genius made the forces like the Snake Kingdom, Relion Family, Soul Clan, etc…"
"Eh... Soul Clan too? What bloodline they can have? They just have strong souls," Rex asked in confusion.
Zakiya shook her head.
"You know nothing, the True Soul Clan isn't made of humans but Soul Beast, their appearance is mostly same as humans but their control over souls is otherworldly, the people in Soul Clan here are human but it's because they have only inherited their soul, their genes never awakened, Soul Clan is strong but they have a fatal weakness that is low fertility, the population of Soul Clan is very less, they are the second Ancient Clan with the least population," Zakiya said.
Rex was surprised but nodded, he said it because he never discovered Luo Ru's bloodline now he realized that her gene never awakened just like her mother.
"I see, but you just said that they can't survive the competition in Higher Realm and the Heir Candidates forgot about them or something, then how do they know about Ria gaining the artifact?" He asked.
"The clans, of course, didn't care about their scattered bloodline in middle Realm at first but then several years later after it started happening, the number of geniuses ascending from Middle Realm to Higher Realm increased, they realized that some of those genius people contained their bloodline. The people from Ancient Clan have indisputable pride thinking they are the only supreme, they approached those geniuses from their bloodline and told them that they are qualified to join their clan, it's their honour.
But do those geniuses don't have their pride? Are they brain dead? After living in Higher Ream for a while they understood how their ancestors were abandoned by people from these clans so they refused the offer, but can Ancient Clans back off that easily?
They applied force saying that you are using our bloodline, they thought that how could these lone cultivators stand against them, as if something like that would work, their actions backfired and those geniuses started to join their rival clans and enemy sect which was not only a slap in their face but also a loss for the clan.
By that time they had realized that their thinner bloodline in Middle Realm can also give birth to a top genius like figure, that's why, they used some gifts to entices the forces in Middle Realm with their bloodline, their words were simple, they would send a messenger in a fixed period who would come to check on the new generation and if there is a genius among them then his/her parents would be brought to the upper realm with them and the rest of the force would receive big gifts from their clan.
This way, they can get those geniuses that haven't become strong enough to develop the pride of a powerhouse in advance and cultivate their loyalty. But the problem wasn't over, many forces are corrupted and can kill their own geniuses, let's take an example if the son of the patriarch in a clan is a genius but someone else with low status in the clan is a bigger genius then there is a chance that patriarch's son wouldn't be taken, after all, only 1st matters the 2nd cannot be compared, so maybe the patriarch will use some shady method to kill the competitor.
There is also an issue if other forces from the Higher Realm interfere to kill their genius before they are taken, that's why those clans hide some agents in the forces of the Middle Realm.
It's no doubt that one such agent recognized the Ancient Artifact used by the snake sisters and leaked the news to Higher Realm, these sisters might not be geniuses but once they had been connected to an Ancient Artifact their value is not less than any genius. That Shaun has been likely sent to bring them up, it won't be that hard to find them after using the methods from an Ancient Clan, but you don't need to worry about them.
Once they are brought up they might experience some discrimination but the treatment they would get would be of a VIP moreover that a snake girl is very cunning, there was a time when I thought about taking her as a disciple but then again, her personality doesn't suit mine and I had the poison to take care off.
Moreover, the artifact is also dual-type, both sisters had refined one part, their lives are now connected, the connection would only increase in the future, so if I want to take one in then I have to take the other one too," She explained.
'To think there are so many types of Ancient Artifact,' Rex thought.
"Hmm… They won't just directly trust them, would they? Eh... Wait do they have to sign some marriage contract or something to connect to the clan," Rex asked with a frown.
"I don't know what kind of books you are reading these days but stop reading them from now on. If they really force her into a marriage regardless of her wishes then do you think she cannot take revenge in the future? Only idiots do that, marriage is not an oath that would prevent her from killing her husband and harming the clan, if I'm right, she would have to sign a contract at most, as for the least, they will just give her benefits without a question to gain her loyalty," Zakiya said with a chuckle.
Rex nodded.
"Teacher, there is one more thing, I heard that Blood Clan is an Ancient Clan and you have seen Ria doing these things before me then going by the logic shouldn't you have tried to… You know, decrease future trouble, especially when they are moving in the forest and can show your tracks to people chasing them?" Rex asked.
"Ancient Snake Clan and Ancient Blood Clan have good relations," Zakiya said.
Rex gave her a suspicious look, he didn't believe that the relations can be so good as to leave alive a threat for the future. Especially, when he remembered how much she wanted to sent Ria and Mia away after knowing that Shaun might come searching for them and discover her tracks.
"And you know they are going to keep the fact that the sisters have Ancient Artifact a secret so if I help then keep it a secret then… They would send me some gifts, wouldn't they?" Zakiya added while drinking the last bit of wine in her glass.
Rex was speechless.
It was blackmailing! Blunt blackmailing.
[As I thought, foxes really have a thick face,]
'Sigh… There are no honest people like me left in this world anymore,' Rex shook his head.
[The disciple will surpass the master,]
'I will take it as a compliment,' Rex said.
[Being optimistic is a good thing,]
Rex held back his urge to curse, he looked at Zakiya for a second thinking of something then took out a juicy golden fruit from his Inventory.
"Teacher, I brought you a souvenir," He said while giving it to her.
Zakiya has just finished the wine in her glass when her eyes landed on the Enlightenment Bodhi Fruit and she choked.