RBCT Chapter 94 [This reward came just in time!]
Chapter 94 [This reward came just in time!]
Their eyes widened as they craned their necks to look at the round hole, its edges as smooth as a mirror, made by the stone spear.
A cold wind rushed up from the bottomless cave, making the dwarf master craftsman's beard flutter.
"Um... well... it was pretty sudden."
Wang Xuan scratched his head, trying to break the awkward atmosphere with a witty remark.
Chen Kai's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
Before the new weapon could even be properly used, the "Absolutely Resilient Spear," which was theoretically capable of piercing through everything, was gone.
Even the echo of it falling couldn't be heard.
Aijia began to review the situation.
"Our conceptual definition is flawed."
"We only required it to be tough, but we didn't limit its weight, or rather, its 'density'."
"Thus, the Rune Workshop and the Seed of Chaos worked together to find the only way to achieve 'absolute toughness' without changing the material of the stone spear."
She gestured with her fingers.
"Its density was increased to a value that is infinitely close to the theoretical limit."
"So it still looks like a stone spear, but its weight... is probably unimaginable."
This was overheard by a nearby dwarf master craftsman, who shuddered and nearly fell his beard into the hole.
"Cough cough!" Commander Brenner finally snapped out of his shock.
Looking at that bottomless pit, I felt my heart sinking along with the stone spear.
But he forced a smile that looked worse than a grimace.
"A...very successful...strength test?"
Looking around, he forced an explanation at the ashen-faced master craftsmen.
"It turns out that our foundation still has a lot of room for improvement."
"The divine messengers simply discovered the problem for us in a way we can't understand! That's a good thing!"
"What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and thank the divine messenger!"
The dwarf masters exchanged bewildered glances, and finally, under Brenner's murderous glare, managed to squeeze out a few words of "thank you" to the four-person team.
Wang Xuan's lips twitched.
He could tell that the dwarf commander was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Under Brenner's "enthusiastic" arrangements, the four-person team was temporarily "invited" out of Workshop No. 3, which had been designated as a dangerous building.
Mason was left behind to work with a group of dwarf engineers, studying how to carry out emergency repairs on the hole.
In a guest room built of huge stone blocks, Chen Kai silently wiped a spare battle axe he had borrowed from a dwarf guard.
He still prefers to use a spear.
Wang Xuan stared at the list of legendary missions that had been brought up again, feeling utterly overwhelmed.
[Rune-bound container].
That page-long legendary material, every name conveyed the message, "We are not something you can obtain right now."
Obsidian from the Heart of the Abyss.
【Crystalized Breath of the Star Dragon】.
Pollen from the everlasting flower.
"It feels like playing a game where you're already at level 100. We've just left the starting village, and the system has given us a blueprint for the best gear that we need to collect by playing through 100 servers."
Wang Xuan slumped in the chair, feeling completely drained.
"In theory, we can use the Seed of Chaos to conceptually modify existing materials and forcibly 'create' these legendary materials," Ai Jia analyzed.
"But our understanding of it is still too shallow, just like that stone spear from earlier."
"If you want an obsidian, it might give you a miniature black hole that can devour light."
"This is too risky." Li Yao nodded, still shaken by the loss of control earlier.
"The most urgent task is to find a stable method that can safely utilize the power of chaos," Aija concluded.
"We need at least a 'safe' to lock it up."
This brings us back to square one.
To get a safe, you need to gather the necessary materials.
To gather the materials, you need the strength to face the monsters that are located in the areas where those legendary materials are found.
To gain power, one must make good use of the Seed of Chaos.
A perfect vicious cycle.
Just as the four were at their wits' end, the stone door to the guest room was violently pushed open from the outside with a loud "bang".
Commander Brenner rushed in, his forced smile gone.
Instead, it was anxiety and a hint of... panic.
"My Lord, Divine Messenger!" He disregarded the dwarfs' elaborate etiquette and went straight to the point.
"Something's happened at the fortress."
Wang Xuan raised an eyebrow, knowing that the real show was about to begin.
"Don't rush, Commander, sit down, have some water, and tell me slowly."
"There's no time!"
"The fortress's [Number One Earth Fire] has been contaminated!"
"It's... going out," Brenner said with difficulty, uttering a word that none of the dwarves could understand.
"Isn't your subterranean fire a semi-permanent heat source that ignites underground lava? How could it have gone out?" Ai Jia grasped the crux of the problem.
"I don't know!" Brenner said agitatedly, clutching his braids and beard.
"The flames in the furnace are turning...cold."
"It no longer emits heat, and a layer of black frost has condensed on the outer walls of all the pipes near it, a layer that we cannot melt no matter what we try!"
"The craftsman on guard was only swept by that chill, and half of his body went numb!"
He looked at Wang Xuan and Ai Jia, his eyes filled with hope.
"Just like how you deal with living corrosion, this is also a force we cannot understand."
"The entire Blackrock Fortress's defensive runes and power gates rely on its energy supply! Once it's completely shut down, this seemingly impregnable fortress will become a cold, steel coffin!"
This is yet another case of "concept pollution".
"We can take action," Wang Xuan said, feigning a thoughtful expression. "But you must understand that wielding this power comes at a price."
He was prepared to make a good profit.
Brenner's next words made him swallow all his bargaining words.
"I understand!" Brenner said decisively. "As long as you can purify the energy core, I will make an exception and grant you access to the fortress's highest-level [Ancient Archives]!"
"The archives contain all the secret records of the Blackrock Dwarves about this continent over the past three thousand years."
He took a breath and dropped a bombshell.
"Including... battle reports of the [Obsidian Behemoth] encountered by our ancestors in the northern abyss mining area, and... the only video record of what appears to be a [Star Dragon] flying over the fortress, observed by the lookout hundreds of years ago!"
Obsidian... Star Dragon...
These two words were like two heavy hammers, striking the four-person team squarely in the heart.
Just when you're feeling sleepy, here's a pillow for you!
Wang Xuan stood up, his face righteous and awe-inspiring, as if he wasn't the one who had tried to bully him.
He patted Brenner on the shoulder and said in a deep voice, "Maintaining world order and balance is our mission."
"Compensation is secondary."
"There's no time to lose, Commander, lead the way."