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While the Versoa team’s crisis worsened, Lucas was back at his store with his attention on his favourite occupation. During the past couple of days, he had been roleplaying as a businessman, but Lucas wasn’t a fan of that nor was he very experienced with it. Instead, the hands-on lifestyle surrounded by metals, machines, magic runes and technology was what Lucas preferred. It was also the system’s main goal for him.
Luckily for him, after the meeting, Lucas had some time to return to his favourite hobby. Coincidentally, Lucas received a new mission during this period.
[[ Mission Overview: A good vestige-smith deserves the best resources to make the best work. As such, resource collection is an important skill of a master craftsman, and even more so for the one meant to be the Crafts-God. Even though these can be provided by the system, this would be detrimental to your growth.
Mission Description: A ’Heart of Silver’ is forming in a hidden mine close by, and would be completed after two weeks. Retrieve the Heart of Silver.
Reward: Bronze grade card x1, Ten system coins.
Penalty: None.
]]
"A mission I can refuse without any penalties? System, is this a mistake?"
Lucas stared surprised at the notification that appeared before him.
The system had always been excessive with its penalties, and even though they lessened over time, it was still enough to hold Lucas back. But this was the very first time a mission without a penalty appeared before him.
"Unfortunately, it is not." The system replied.
"...what do you mean by ’unfortunately’?" Lucas questioned.
As usual, the system didn’t answer him. Even so, Lucas wasn’t affected by its comments. He read the mission again, but this time, focusing on the key points.
’A heart of Silver?’ Lucas furrowed his brows.
It was an unfamiliar material, but for some reason, he felt as if he had heard of it before. After a bit of thinking, Lucas realised why that was so. He had indeed never seen or heard of this material, but that was until Lucas got exposed to the system’s crafting tomes and manuals.
Whether it was the ’An Adventurer’s Manual’, ’Introduction to Vestige-smithing’ or the recent ’Basic Inscription Knowledge’ tome, they had all, at least, briefly mentioned this item. But the ’An Adventurer’s Manual’ was different. Although it was only a paragraph of three sentences dedicated to it, those sentences showcased the value of the ’Heart of Silver’.
The Heart of Silver was a legendary material that had the ability to increase the durability and strength of any item. This was a simple description, but the takeaway point was to what extent. To understand why this was a legendary material, one needed to know the degree of improvement the Heart of Silver made.
If a bamboo sword was remade with the Heart of Silver mixed into it in the right ratio and manner, it would become as strong as a titanium alloy, yet maintaining an appropriate flexibility for a sword without losing its edge easily.
If mixed with more suitable metals like 5160 spring steel, the product would be even more lasting, stronger and better. However in Eretre, there was no 5160 spring steel, but there were even more better metal options. When mixed with the Heart of Silver to produce an alloy, the resulting metal would be incredibly powerful even in the wrong hands. In the right hands, it could become the most powerful vestige in the world.
’A legendary material is taking shape here?’ Lucas sucked in a cold breath of air. He was both surprised and confused at the same time.
Even though the Heart of Silver wasn’t one of those exceptional or universe-defying legendary materials and was more likely a ’basic grade’s legendary material, it was still one at the top of a planet’s scale. Usually, it was best used for making vestiges at the level above the Apertures Opening stage. In other words, it was a resource that powerhouses above a planet craved for. Powerhouses like the Oklo Dynasty, the Lin family and the Lester family wouldn’t mind spending lavishly just to get their hands on it. Only such forces could afford the services of a vestige-smith capable of working with the Heart of Silver.
That’s right. The Heart of Silver was material that would be termed as a waste in the hands of a Tier 1 Apex vestige-smith. That was a rank above Tier 1 Grandmaster, and there was no one on that level in the entirety of Eretre. Even on the Kellan solar system, there were only a couple of them all situated in the solar system’s capital.
A Tier 1 Apex vestige-smith was at the peak of the twelfth level of the Apertures Opening stage, or even the first level of the Guardian stage —the next stage after the Apertures Opening stage. Someone at that level was allowed to own a planet, as long as they could afford it.
Back to the point...because of the rank of the Heart of Silver, it wasn’t easy for it to form. Usually, only resource rich planets with a large amount of world source and a sizable amount of planetary fate [1] could produce such legendary materials. But from what Lucas could sense, Eretre didn’t seem like a planet fulfilling these conditions.
"System, what exactly is going on?" Lucas asked.
Although the system usually wouldn’t answer all his questions, as long as it wasn’t ’sensitive’, it would reply to him. Also, it was Lucas’ best shot for an explanation.
"As long as the host finds the Heart of Silver, the answers would be revealed. But if you can’t find it, there’s no reason to know this." The system replied.
Once again, it didn’t answer his question, but Lucas wasn’t dissatisfied either. From what the system said, it seemed like there was something strange about the formation of the Heart of Silver, and it was possibly related to a certain secret.
"Two weeks, huh. I should wrap up everything I’m doing." Lucas glanced at his workbench that was crowded with equipment and materials.
. . .
If Case Lego province was an economical province and Bailin province was a border province, Neon Summer Province was the combination of both. Facing the direction of Belfargos City, Neon Summer province was the last province before one would reach Belfargos City, if departing from Trundel City. Due to this, there were a ton of trade networks here and some companies even had a regional headquarters located here.
Also, there was still a large expanse of wilderness between the two cities, which constituted a desolate beast domain. Since the Neon Summer province faced this region, it was equipped with various security measures, including a military camp.
Neon Summer was both wealthy and safe to live in despite how it looked. One of the most popular sites in the province was the Blue Ivory street, which was named as such because it was home to a lot of company headquarters and regionals headquarters. Blue Ivory street was sort of like the Wallstreet of Neon Summer province.
Inside a thirty-three storey building, a secret meeting was taking place within the dark.
"What’s the problem?"
An individual sat on a large rotating executive chair with his back turned towards a shadowy figure that had just appeared.
"We’ve managed to track the agglomeration of the world source but it’s under incubation at the moment." The shadow said.
It had a raspy voice that was almost like the voice of a demon from the underworld. If anyone heard this sound late in the night while walking on the street, they would no doubt run like their life depended on their speed. That was just how horrific its voice was.
"Incubation? So it’s forming something. Interesting." The individual in the seat replied.
Because of how they were positioned, it was impossible to see their face. Even their voice was a genderless one that belonged neither to a man or a woman, but at the same time, sounded like both.
"How long did you estimate this incubation?"
"Around two weeks but not more than three." The demonic voice sounded again.
"After two weeks, head over and confirm. It’s best we get our hands on whatever takes shape before anyone else does. Since it’s associated with the world source, who knows what kind of phenomenon might occur after it has completed its incubation." The individual ordered.
"Alright." The shadow nodded.
"Does anyone else know about this?" The individual asked.
"We’ve been monitoring site 92B-Delta lode for a month while trying to track the world source’s movements. During this month, no one has found or reached the lode. But we can’t say for sure whether it’s been devoid of visitors in the past."
"Indeed. A month isn’t enough time to judge." The individual seemed to frown based on their tone.
"Create another havoc. Cause some mayhem in the opposite direction and keep the city distracted. We already cooperated with the remnants of the Sunil civilisation, so we can be termed as allies. Ask them for assistance if you can’t do it alone. No matter what, ensure that the city is too preoccupied with the trouble you make that they fail to notice the formation of whatever is going on down there."
"Understood."
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