Chapter 575: The Divine Artifact Blade Blank
Ironstone stood there at a loss, clearly unsure what to do next. Then his gaze fell on Marcus—the dark, imposing armor, the calm posture, the overwhelming presence that still lingered after the battle.
His eyes suddenly widened. "Ah!"
He slapped his forehead.
"Damn it! How could I forget about you, sir? You took down that serpent like it was nothing. You must be over Level 80!"
Ironstone shook his head at himself, muttering under his breath, "Stupid, stupid... I was so focused on retrieving that Divine Artifact from the pool myself and bringing it back to you as a token of our gratitude that I completely forgot to consider your level."
He looked back at Marcus, his expression brightening with renewed hope. "Sir, are you over Level 80? And how high is your Water Resistance?"
’Give it to me?’ Marcus had been wondering how he was going to get his hands on the sword without making things awkward. As it turned out, he didn’t have to come up with a plan at all. The soldiers were already willing to give it to him as thanks for saving their lives.
Ironstone had handled the matter rather smoothly, too. Technically, Marcus had killed the Iceflame Black Serpent Man, but the sword hidden beneath the pool had been Ironstone’s discovery. If the blacksmith hadn’t mentioned it, Marcus would have left the cave without ever knowing it existed.
’I suppose this is part of the quest reward system.’ Marcus considered the question for a moment before answering honestly.
"I’m nowhere near Level 80."
"Nowhere near...?"
Ironstone blinked, clearly wondering if he’d heard correctly.
Marcus simply nodded, and the blacksmith’s expression immediately fell.
If Marcus wasn’t even close to Level 80, then there was no way he could reach the bottom of the pool. The sword would have to remain buried until they could return with the proper equipment.
But then Ironstone seemed to realize something, and so did the other soldiers. Their expressions slowly changed as they looked at Marcus, their mouths falling open.
He had killed that monster, and he had done it while being nowhere near Level 80.
For a moment, nobody said a word, and the more they thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed.
Ironstone quickly turned back toward the pool, searching for another solution.
"Sir, I think we’ll have to return to Dragon’s Roar Town first. We can find the proper equipment there, then come back and retrieve the blade..."
"Heh."
Marcus smiled and looked over the enormous pool, which stretched for more than a hundred square meters. "Let me try something first. It might work."
"You have a way?"
Ironstone and the other soldiers immediately turned toward him.
Marcus reached into his inventory and took out a small blue jade bottle: the Jade Purification Vase.
He held it over the pool and focused his mind.
"Absorb!"
The moment he activated the vase’s water-storage ability, the entire pool began to move. The blue water spun violently, forming a massive whirlpool that twisted upward as though an invisible dragon were drinking the water into the heavens. A shimmering stream rose from the center of the pool and curved through the air before pouring directly into the mouth of the vase.
And it was fast; the water level began dropping at a rate of more than a meter per second.
"Whoa!"
The soldiers stared in disbelief, none of them able to find the words to describe what they were seeing. Unbelievable.
Marcus couldn’t help grinning. This was the first time he’d actually used the Jade Purification Vase’s water-storage ability on such a massive scale, and it worked even better than he’d expected. Watching an entire pool disappear into a small jade vase was strangely satisfying. For a moment, Marcus almost felt like some legendary hero commanding the elements themselves. ’This is awesome.’
Water continued seeping into the pool from the surrounding cave walls, but it couldn’t replenish the water nearly fast enough to keep up with the vase.
Three minutes later, the pool was completely drained.
What had once been a vast body of blue water was now a massive pit stretching roughly one hundred and fifty meters into the depths of the cave. Scattered chunks of black ice covered the bottom, and there, nestled among them exactly where Ironstone had said it would be, was the sword: a long blade surrounded by brilliant blue ice-flame, its glow flickering like fire that had somehow been frozen in place.
"Sir, there it is!"
"Go!"
The soldiers erupted with excitement.
Marcus nodded, stored the Jade Purification Vase, and summoned Blackie, who immediately carried him down into the enormous pit. Marcus reached the bottom in moments and stepped toward the blade.
He wrapped his hand around the hilt: cold. The moment he touched it, an intense chill surged through his body, followed by an enormous wave of pure Water energy that rushed through his hand and into his arm.
The sword was powerful; there was no question about that.
Marcus pulled it free and rode Blackie back toward the surface.
"Sir, is it a Divine Artifact?" Ironstone asked eagerly.
Marcus looked at the blade, his expression half pleased and half disappointed. Then he shook his head and handed it to the blacksmith. "It’s not a Divine Artifact."
Ironstone’s expression fell. "It’s a blade blank."
"A blade blank?"
Ironstone carefully accepted the weapon.
The blade was forged from a dark material that looked almost like black iron, yet brilliant blue light flowed across its surface. The blue radiance was dense enough to resemble burning flame, except that the energy carried the bone-deep chill of ice rather than heat.
Despite its intimidating appearance, the sword was surprisingly light. Its edge was razor-sharp, and its design was unlike anything Ironstone had seen before. The hilt resembled the stem of a flower, while the guard opened outward like a cluster of petals.
The entire weapon looked like a black flower blooming within a halo of blue frost.
It was clearly no ordinary weapon, and Ironstone immediately checked its properties.
—
Blackflame Ice Flower Sword: Formed blade blank.
A thousand years ago, the Black Ice Serpent King devoured a thousand-year-old Blackflame Ice Flower and evolved into a Level 70 Golden Iceflame Black Serpent Man. Afterward, it went on a rampage, but was defeated within a single day and sealed inside the Black Serpent Cave.
The serpent refused to accept its fate. It spat out its core and combined it with the flower and petals of the thousand-year-old Blackflame Ice Flower. It also added three pieces of ten-thousand-year Black Crystal left behind by Demon Clan monsters within the cave, intending to forge a peerless sword that could further increase its power.
Unfortunately, the three materials were far too powerful for the serpent’s forging abilities. The result was a formed blade blank, the Blackflame Ice Flower Sword, but because the forging process had never been completed, the weapon possessed no stats or skills.
The serpent placed the blade blank inside its frozen training pool and used the pool’s icy energy, combined with its own cultivation methods, to temper the blade day after day.
After a thousand years, both the serpent and the blade blank had grown together. The Level 70 Golden Iceflame Black Serpent Man had evolved into a Level 80 Silver-tier monster, while the blade blank required only ten more days of tempering before it could be fully unsealed and awakened.
Future Outcomes:
40% chance: Divine Artifact.
40% chance: Mythic Artifact.
20% chance: Failure.
The blade blank must be tempered every day. Missing one day increases the failure rate by 1%. The failure rate will continue increasing until the blade blank is destroyed.
—
Ironstone stared at the information in silence. After a long moment, he slowly exhaled.
"What a treasure..."
His voice was almost reverent. "I never thought I’d live long enough to see a legendary Divine Artifact blade blank with my own eyes."
He carefully ran his fingers along the weapon before collecting himself and looking toward Marcus.
"As I said, sir, this blade blank belongs to you. It’s our gift for saving us and everyone in Dragon’s Roar Town."
Ironstone hesitated, then his eyes began to shine with barely contained excitement. "But if you’ll permit me..." He held the blade blank a little tighter.
"Let me take it back home."
Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Let me take it back home," Ironstone continued. "My father and I can study it together. We have our family’s secret forging recipes and several ancient scrolls that may help us understand its construction. We can also borrow some special materials from the village chief."
Ironstone’s excitement grew as he spoke. "Give us five days. Maybe less. I can guarantee a 100% success rate. We’ll forge this blade blank into a true Divine Artifact."
He looked Marcus directly in the eye. "Once it’s finished, we’ll present the completed sword to you as our true reward. What do you say?"
Marcus stared at him. For a moment, he genuinely couldn’t believe his luck.
Players could only forge their own equipment or hire other players to do it for them. But a weapon of this level was completely different. Forging a Divine Artifact required at least Grandmaster-level Forging, and finding a player who had reached that level at this stage of the game was practically impossible.
Worse, if Marcus simply kept the blade blank in his inventory, it would continue losing its potential as the days passed. Ten days was all it had left. Once the failure rate climbed high enough, the blade blank would eventually be destroyed.
Ironstone wasn’t merely offering to forge it; he was offering to save it.
Marcus didn’t need to think twice. "Absolutely," he said, smiling and handing the blade back. "Take it. Forge it."
’Heh. Being likable really does have its perks.’ Marcus couldn’t help feeling pleased with himself.
It was a shame Ironstone was relying on his family’s secret techniques; otherwise, Marcus might have been able to learn a thing or two about forging while they worked on the weapon.
Still, once the Divine Artifact was successfully forged, the experience gained from completing such a high-level piece of equipment would undoubtedly be enormous.
If Marcus’s own Forging skill wasn’t currently terrible, and if the blade blank didn’t have such a strict time limit, he probably wouldn’t have handed it over so readily. But there were some things you simply couldn’t have everything at once.
For now, this was the best arrangement he could hope for.
Marcus swept his eyes across the cave one final time, seeing nothing else.
"All right. Let’s go home!"
He summoned all of his pets at once, and the reaction was immediate. The soldiers’ jaws practically dropped to the floor.
"S-Sir... is that..."
Marcus turned around, then froze.
’Oh.’ In his excitement over the forging deal, he had summoned everyone without thinking.
All of his pets were now standing in front of the soldiers, including Lyanna, . The same Lyanna who had been carved into the walls of the Twin Wing Temple itself, now standing before them in person, an obedient companion at Marcus’s side.
Marcus looked at the stunned soldiers, then at Lyanna, then back at the soldiers. ’Yeah. No wonder they were speechless.’