Chapter 48: Chapter48-Quest Settlement and a New Commission
John stared at him without speaking.
Shyron continued, "Relax. If I truly wanted to kill you, that sword strike just now would not have been aimed at your mask."
His tone was calm, and it did not exactly sound like a threat.
John stared at him in silence.
Because Shyron was telling the truth.
Level 299.
Only one step away from becoming a god.
If an existence of that level had truly intended to kill him, the attack just now would not have been a mere test.
Even though John now possessed spatial authority, he might not necessarily be able to retreat unscathed when facing an opponent only one step away from touching divinity.
But correspondingly, Shyron had also seen John’s value from that punch just now.
An adventurer who had only entered the main city not long ago had managed to dodge seven consecutive exchanges under his probing attack.
He had even stopped retreating, taken one sword strike head-on, and then struck back with a punch powerful enough to force Shyron back.
Such a performance could no longer be summarized by the word genius.
Shyron turned around and walked toward the depths of the inner courtyard.
"Follow me. It is time to settle the Northern Exclusion Zone quest."
John was silent for a moment before following him.
...
Shyron led John all the way into the inner hall.
After the earlier test ended, Shyron’s attitude toward John had clearly changed.
He no longer released the pressure of a superior to suppress him.
Instead, it was as if he were reassessing someone with the potential to speak to him as an equal.
Shyron sat down in the main seat and gestured for John to sit as well.
He looked at John and suddenly said, "You are very young."
John did not respond. He simply sat down in the chair opposite him.
Shyron continued, "Your physical age is definitely not over thirty.
"By adventurer standards, you are even still in the early stages of growth."
At this point, he paused slightly, his gaze becoming sharp.
"But your soul is strange. Too old.
"That is not the age that comes from the passage of years. It is a trace left behind only after experiencing too many life-and-death struggles, too many battles, and too much erosion by time."
John’s heart stirred slightly, but he did not speak.
He knew what Shyron was referring to.
His thousand years of game experience from his previous life might not be something players could see through, but an old monster like Shyron, who had lived for three hundred years, could notice that something was wrong at a glance.
Shyron did not continue questioning him.
He merely smiled and took a sip of tea.
"Everyone has their own secrets.
"You came out of the Trial of the First Seat alive. It is not strange for you to have something unusual about you."
He put down the teacup, then changed the subject to their earlier exchange.
"Your combat style is extremely unique.
"Your attributes are extremely high, your reactions are extremely fast, and your Constitution is absurdly strong. These are all things I can see with my own eyes.
"But your way of fighting does not resemble someone who has received complete systematic training."
He paused.
"Especially your movement ability.
"When a normal space-type awakener moves, they leave behind skill trajectories, casting traces, or fluctuations from their professional Law.
"Even the highest-ranking space mages cannot completely erase those traces."
"But your movement just now was different."
Shyron’s gaze sharpened.
"You were more like someone forcefully tearing open spatial rifts through brute force, then completing the transfer using a trace of an extremely high-level Law.
"Crude. Direct. Completely without technique.
"And yet, the effect was not poor."
He did not point out what that trace of "high-level Law" truly was. He merely continued, "You are very strong. But most of your current strength comes from your attributes and trump cards.
"True high-level combat is not only about being fast, nor is it only about having great strength."
"You lack a close-combat system capable of fully bringing out your power."
After saying this, Shyron took a sword from his waist and placed it on the table.
John’s gaze fell upon the sword.
Its appearance was not exaggerated.
The blade was long and slender, its entire body dark silver. Along the spine of the sword were extremely fine black patterns that seemed to flow faintly under the light.
[Unknown Longsword]
However, after John scanned it with True Sight, his brow lifted slightly.
He discovered that the sword was sealed.
And not with only one layer.
There were seven full layers.
Each layer of seal was like a sleeping lock, firmly suppressing the sword’s true power in its deepest depths.
Shyron pushed the sword in front of John.
"Right now, it is only an S-Rank sword, but there are still layers of seals on it.
"I have tried many methods, but I could not solve them. Perhaps you can give it a try."
"As for how much power it can ultimately display, that will depend on your own ability."
After saying that, he took out a pale cyan crystal and placed it on the table.
It was an S-Rank Sword Art Crystal, its surface flowing with a faint cyan radiance.
John scanned it with True Sight, and a line of information appeared before his eyes.
This set of sword arts was not an ordinary swordsman skill.
Its core did not lie in the moves themselves, but in integrating spatial pressure, cutting, and displacement into the sword wind.
In close combat, it could allow the sword edge to carry a void-rending effect.
At range, it could release sword wind imbued with spatial pressure.
Against a single target, it could break through defenses.
Against groups, it could tear apart formations.
Most importantly, it perfectly made up for John’s current lack of a close-combat system.
John put away the Sword Art Crystal and the sword, then raised his head and asked calmly, "What are the conditions?"
He knew very well that while these things were nominally quest rewards, it was impossible for Shyron to simply hand them over as a straightforward settlement.
Shyron froze for a moment, then burst into laughter.
"Smart."
After he finished laughing, he leaned forward slightly.
"I do indeed have something I need your help with."
He took out a fist-sized crystal from his robes and slapped it onto the table.
The crystal was pale gold, with countless tiny points of light slowly flowing inside it. It looked like compressed mist made of experience itself.
John recognized it with just one glance.
EXP Stone.
To players, this item was extremely valuable.
It could directly provide experience regardless of level restrictions, helping players skip over the most grueling accumulation period for beginners.
The earlier the stage of the game, the more valuable an EXP Stone became.
In the early days of the game in his previous life, a high-quality EXP Stone could be bid up to an astronomical price in the auction house, with major guilds fighting over it like mad.
But in the eyes of NPC forces, this item was not called an EXP Stone.
They called it an Origin Stone.
It was a strategic cultivation mineral.
It had little meaning for old monsters who had already reached high levels, but it could greatly accelerate the training speed of a main city’s new-generation combatants in a very short period of time.
Especially in an era when war was approaching, the borders were unstable, and adventurers had descended, the value of an Origin Stone vein became even more obvious.
"Recently, the Empire detected a high-quality Origin Stone vein," Shyron said.
"This kind of mineral vein is of little use to top-tier powerhouses, but it is extremely important for a main city to cultivate fresh blood.
"Whoever controls it will be able to raise the overall strength of their low-rank forces by a large margin over the next few years."
"So, several main cities have all set their sights on this vein."
"According to the rules of the Empire, strategic resources like this will not be directly assigned to any one side. Instead, each qualified main city will send out its new-generation prodigies to compete.
"Whoever wins obtains the mining rights.
"The Empire takes its share, while the winning main city is responsible for mining and guarding it."
