Surprisingly, the warehouse they were headed to was not located within the royal's section but rather the Merchant Department. With the tribe leader as the guide, they were able to quickly arrive at the gargantuan warehouse that was surrounded by its own barrier and guarded by at least 2 Elders at all times alongside some disciples. As for the warehouse itself, it was oddly enough built like a dome and the barriers shimmered as various glyphs and sigils swam across the surface.
Greeting the Elders, Flint led the two youths into the warehouse entrance. With it being Noxtis' first time visiting such a large warehouse, he was stunned when the actual space inside the domed building was not at all the same as what the outside had shown. While he had expected the warehouse to be well protected and he knew of spatial containers before, the disparity in the appearance of the outside to the inside. If the large dome was roughly the size of the Tribe Leader's home, then the inside of the warehouse was the size of the entire royal's section.
"Wha..."
Ember giggled as she had the exact same reaction when she was shown the warehouse for the first time. "This is one of the most guarded places in the entire Crimson Scale tribe. It not only holds many powerful and dangerous items but also a myriad of rare and unknown substances and materials."
Flint took the time to also add. "While there are many items here that will many any cultivator incredibly powerful, there are also just as many cursed items and beasts that are a danger if ever unsealed. But you shouldn't be too worried about those ones, they are sealed in a secret location here and even then it would take someone of my level a few days to break the seals with force."
Leading them to a section filled with rows of various metals, earth, and ores, Noxtis and Ember looked around in renewed awe.
Hearing a voice pop up that they hadn't heard from in quite a while, the featureless swordsman snorted. 'It is okay for a collection, but for a sect of this level, I had expected a bit more. Then again, my impression of this tribe leader makes me believe that this is more of their surface-level items and not all of their true treasures. Anyway, I'll tell you what you need to look for to forge your sword spirit.
There are a couple of minor ingredients, but the main part is to find a metal or ore that is full of Qi that suits your bloodline and your cultivation technique. For the lass, it will be a draconic fire origin, the purer the better. As for Noxtis, you need a shadow attribute material, if you can find one with a slight wind element that would be perfect.'
Relaying the information to Flint, he stroked his beard lightly while thinking. "Hmmm, I believe we do have a Draco-Gold chunk that we had found recently that has yet to be touched for anything. As for the shadow attribute, there are no metals or ore that I know of. Let me ask Elder Nancy, she would know better than I would."
Curbing his desire to explore more of the warehouse, Noxtis and Ember followed Flint towards the entrance of the warehouse to meet a youthful Elder who looked more like she would be attending a library than a warehouse full of the most powerful and rare items. Although now that he was thinking about it, Noxtis wasn't really sure what sort of person should look like.
"Hello Elder Nancy, how are you doing?"
Pushing up her red-framed glasses, Elder Nancy looked curiously at her Tribe Leader and the two young beastkin following behind him. "What do you need Tribe Leader? You only come by here when you need something you can't find yourself."
*sigh* "You don't need to be so cold all the time, I'll treat you to dinner at 4 Seasons next time you're free. But you are right, I need some help to find certain resources for my granddaughter and her lover."
Handing over the small list of materials as well as the two main attributed metal/ores, Elder Nancy looked over the list and nodded a few times. Scrunching her eyebrows together, Elder Nancy paused for a bit but just placed the list in one of her coat pockets.
"Very well, I can get most everything on this list as well as the Draco-Gold. However, there are a few items here that I haven't heard of but the descriptions of their properties does make me think of a few substitues.
You'll have to talk to Disciple Youri since he had been eyeing that specific piece of metal to craft a new shield. As for the Shadow attributed metal, I am sorry to say that we do not have any high-quality unrefined metals or ore of just the shadow attribute and certainly none with shadow and wind either. I did hear that one of our expedition groups had found a cave recently with a lot of shadow savage spiders though, so you might find what you're looking for there."
"Hmmm, that is quite fortunate. Well Elder Nancy, if you don't mind gathering as many items in the list, I am needed elsewhere. As much as I groan at the thought of more paperwork, this place requires my presence to make some key decisions concerning all the events coming soon. As for you two, the Auction comes in the next 3 days so you best decide to either wait till after or search for the cave yourselves. I know not how long it may take to forge your sword spirit, but do take care not to miss the auction." Leaving much faster than Noxtis thought possible, Flint waved goodbye to the three of them.
Noxtis waved back at the departing tribe leader and looked over to Ember. "Ember, do we have enough time to go check out the cave before the auction? It may be quite worthwhile if we manage to find the material before the auction. We also need to find out how to put the cultivation technique that I wrote down for the auction."
Before Ember could respond, Elder Nancy spoke up to their surprise. "If you are visiting the shadow cave, I know the location, and if we leave soon then we can make it there by tonight. As for the cultivation technique, I am one of the event planners so if you would like me to decide if it is worth putting up for auction."
Not knowing the Elder personally, Noxtis questioned Ember who just shrugged and shook her head as she didn't know the Elder much either. "I don't wish to sound rude, but why would you want to come with us to the shadow cave?"
Elder Nancy only adjusted the glasses on the bridge of her nose and said plainly. "Well, I had been planning on doing so since it was discovered but had been busy dealing with tribe and auction affairs and this would be a perfect time to do so. Plus, I would need to check out a few things at the Red Drake anyway, entering another item if worthwhile is no issue. Besides, I am not that great with fighting skills myself, and hiring a bodyguard team in time before the auction will be annoying."
Noxtis smiled and bowed to the Elder. "We would be glad to have you guide us, and here." After asking Ember to retrieve the cultivation technique and handing it to Elder Nancy.
Taking the technique, Elder Nancy looked over the paper with little interest since she hadn't expected much from an unimpressive-looking beastkin youth. However; as she kept reading over the technique, Elder Nancy couldn't hold in her shock as she had never seen such a technique before. While the Crimson Dragon tribe had a variety of different cultivation techniques, generally most of the noble families kept their own specialties that suited their families the best.
However; this technique was unlike any she had seen before. It dealt with those with dragon blood in their veins, but it seemed to be for those that transformed their body by ingesting a draconic blood pill to transform them into a half-dragon and then boost their affinity with the foreign blood and fuse it with their bodies. This may seem quite useless to their tribe as they were already of draconic origin, but Elder Nancy was drawn to the fact that this technique would allow for dragonkin to purify their bloodline.
There were thousands of cultivation techniques and skills for all manner of different things like boosting the strength of their body, the most lethal attacks, to the most invulnerable of defenses, but never had Elder Nancy only heard of rumors but never seen any technique, skill, alchemy product, or inscription that would be able to purify a beastkin's bloodline. It was one of the most basic pieces of knowledge every single beastkin knew from birth, the purity of one's bloodline would largely equate to their potential.
If the Mirko fragment knew of her thoughts, he would be rolling laughing. While the purification of a bloodline was indeed rare, there were certainly multiple ways to do such a thing even in his world where cultivating a bloodline was less common. Of course, his world was much older than that of the beastworld and despite its abundance and focus on the beastkin living here, they had yet to come across a means to purify bloodlines, at least on this continent.
Rushing up and shaking the black-eared beastkin, Elder Nancy stared at the now extremely mysterious beastkin. "Where did you get this!?"
Looking at the conflicted beastkin, Elder Nancy cursed her outburst and bowed in apology to the two beastkin. "I am deeply sorry for my unprofessional attitude just then. That type of action was unbecoming of an Elder of the Crimson Scale tribe. Your cultivation technique is very much so worth selling at the auction but I shall make you a tempting offer now on behalf of the entire Merchant Department.
For your technique I can offer you almost any single you wish for as well as a hefty sum to spend at your leisure, I am sure there are a couple of things you might use the money for if you are planning on attending the upcoming Red Dragon Auction. Of course, the materials needed on this list will be free of charge as well."
While Noxtis was thinking of what he could possibly need, Ember remembered the state of Noxtis after fighting the ratkin and suggested. "In that case, do you have any armor that would be suitable for Noxtis?"
"Armor huh? Hmmm...now that you mention it, I do believe we have something that fits well for you. I had almost forgotten that we even had it." Guiding the two towards one of the many shelves in the warehouse, they came across a small section of various armor and weapons.
"This Savage Leather armor set came from one of the most notorious thieves guilds in the past. They were called the Laughing Skulls and this particular set came from one of their vice-captains who I forget the name of. When a couple of grand tribes decided to band together and stamp out the eyesore of the guild, this was one of the spoils that went to our Crimson Scale tribe.
It is crafted from the Nightstalker Savage Gorilla hide which boosts not only very silent and flexible leather but also shockingly tough defense. It has been stored here as more of a trophy since there isn't anyone from the tribe that would use shadow-attributed leather armor. As a bonus, it looks SUPER cool and has these fur trimmings that make it very cozy."
Finding it a bit odd that this Elder who was clearly important enough to catalog the entire tribe's warehouse but also speaks on behalf of the merchant department would be so excited about clothing, but thinking nothing of it and accepting the armor.