Chapter 237: The Treasure Chest Upgraded Herself
A moment later, Garron brought Damian to a private forging room. Before they even stepped inside, a familiar angry voice came from within.
"Damn it! Why is this metal so fucking stubborn?!"
Damian’s eyes immediately brightened. There was no mistaking that temper. That was definitely his disciple.
Garron pushed the door open.
Inside the forging room, Vulkara stood beside a roaring furnace with a heavy hammer gripped tightly in one hand.
Her short red hair was slightly messy, strands sticking to her forehead from sweat, while fiery Qi wrapped around her body like restless flames. Sparks occasionally jumped from the furnace beside her, illuminating her annoyed expression.
The moment she noticed Damian standing at the entrance, her entire body froze.
Her eyes widened. "Master? What the hell are you doing here again?"
Damian immediately put on a warm, shameless expression. "Of course, I came to see my precious disciple."
Vulkara’s face stiffened slightly. "Don’t say weird things."
Damian completely ignored her protest and continued as though he had heard nothing. "Also, I brought you a gift. I just came back from the Sword Tomb."
Vulkara’s expression instantly changed. She had already heard quite a bit about the Sword Tomb from Garron.
It was one of the most dangerous places in the Heavenly Sword Sect, a place where countless powerful weapons had been buried over the years.
Despite its name, the Sword Tomb did not only contain swords. Sabers, spears, hammers, and all kinds of other weapons could also be found within.
If Damian claimed that he had brought something back specifically for her from there, then there was no fucking way it was ordinary.
Vulkara’s grip around her hammer tightened slightly. "You... actually got something for me from there?"
Damian gave her a mysterious look before casually walking over and dropping himself into a nearby chair. "Come here first."
Vulkara frowned. "For what?"
Damian leaned back shamelessly and rolled his shoulders. "Massage me first. Your master almost died in there, you know?"
Vulkara’s temple visibly twitched. Her fingers tightened around the hammer.
For several breaths, she looked like she was seriously considering smashing it directly into his head.
In the end, however, she clicked her tongue, placed the hammer aside, and reluctantly walked over.
Damian’s gifts were never simple. That fact alone was enough to suppress her urge to beat him.
"Tch. Don’t misunderstand."
She stepped behind him and roughly placed both hands on his shoulders. "I’m only doing this because you look half-dead."
Damian relaxed comfortably into the chair. "Sure, sure."
Vulkara’s eyebrow twitched again, but she said nothing and began pressing down on his shoulders.
While enjoying his disciple’s reluctant massage, Damian secretly shifted his attention toward her status sheet.
A moment later, his eyes widened.
---
[Name: Vulkara]
[Cultivation Realm: Ninth Stage Foundation Establishment Realm]
[Qi: Flame Qi]
[Spiritual Root: Noble Grade Flame Spiritual Root]
[Physique: Mortal Physique]
[Bloodline: Human]
[Comprehension: Peerless]
[Talent 1: Royal Grade Blacksmith Talent]
[Talent 2: Royal Grade Hammer Talent]
[Tamed Beast: Low-Rank Noble Grade Metal Essence Devouring Drake]
[Multiplier: 150x]
[Favorability: 76/100]
---
Damian nearly jumped straight out of the chair. "What the hell?!"
Vulkara immediately stopped moving. Her brows pulled together as she looked down at him. "What?"
Damian twisted around in his seat and stared at her as though he had suddenly discovered a monster hiding behind him. "I just checked on you. How the hell did you grow this much already?"
Vulkara blinked once, and a second later, her confusion vanished, replaced by obvious pride.
She lifted her chin and puffed out her chest slightly. "Heh. Of course I grew. Who the hell do you think I am?"
Damian stared at her for another moment before slowly turning his head toward Garron. "Elder Garron..."
Garron raised an eyebrow.
Damian pointed toward Vulkara. "Did you secretly feed her some ridiculous pills or something?"
Garron crossed his thick arms over his chest and laughed roughly. "Hahaha!"
He shook his head, looking at Damian as though the younger man had just asked something incredibly stupid. "Brat, don’t underestimate your own disciple."
Damian still did not understand.
He stared at Vulkara’s status sheet again, then looked back at Garron with obvious disbelief. "No, seriously. Elder Garron, what the hell did you feed her?"
Vulkara’s brow twitched. "Hey! Why are you saying that like I’m some damn beast you raised by stuffing pills down my throat?"
Damian immediately pointed at her. "Because this kind of growth makes no fucking sense."
Garron let out another rough laugh and shook his head. "Hahaha! Honestly, I don’t know exactly what happened either."
Damian froze. "You don’t know?"
Garron crossed his thick arms over his chest. "Everything she accomplished here was done by herself. I gave her some guidance, pointed out her mistakes, and provided her with a proper place to forge. That’s it."
His gaze shifted toward Vulkara. "Her cultivation breakthroughs, improvements in forging, and everything else were all achieved through her own effort."
Damian slowly turned his head back toward Vulkara.
Vulkara still had her chin raised proudly, but the faint redness creeping across the tips of her ears completely betrayed her embarrassment. "Tch. Don’t look at me like that."
She folded her arms. "I worked my ass off, okay?"
Garron’s expression gradually became more serious. "Your disciple is basically a hidden genius, Damian."
Damian’s eyes moved back toward him. "She was buried before because nobody ever gave her the right environment."
Garron glanced toward the furnace and the half-finished metal Vulkara had been working on. "Now that she finally has resources, a safe place to train, proper guidance, and room to develop, that talent of hers is starting to wake up."
Damian fell silent.
Even if Vulkara truly was some hidden genius whose potential had been suppressed for years, this was still way too fucking ridiculous.
Her multiplier had basically jumped from 50x all the way to 150x. That alone showed just how massive her transformation had been.
A multiplier increase was not some small numerical change Damian could casually ignore.
It represented just how drastically her fate, potential, and value as one of his villainess targets had evolved.
Damian slowly looked Vulkara up and down again. At this point, he was no longer looking at his fiery, stubborn disciple.
He was looking at a treasure chest that had somehow opened itself, swallowed another treasure chest, evolved, and turned into a damn treasure mountain while he wasn’t paying attention.
His expression became strangely complicated.
"Just what the hell happened to her villainess destiny?"
Damian’s gaze lingered on the 150x multiplier.
"How much has her fate changed compared to before?"