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Chapter 129: Masterpieces
🕑 Added 2025-01-11 04:50:13 +0000 UTCFloating Blossoms was an extraordinary garland of flowers, vibrant with a wild charm, featuring five colors competing in brilliance. Though not lavish, it was far more striking than ordinary flower crowns.
When worn, the crown would cause an array of five-colored flowers to swirl in the air and slowly ascend, enabling its wearer to ride the flowers in flight. The speed and endurance of this flight depended on the wearer’s level of cultivation, as the power to ascend came from these exotic blooms.
Crafted by the Saint Alchemy Master Stardust, the Floating Blossoms could accommodate any form of energy, whether it be combat energy, blood energy, magic, or psychic energy, making it a versatile artifact of transcendent craftsmanship.
Charlot examined the crown briefly but decided not to keep it with him. Instead, he returned it to its elaborate case.
Although these exotic flowers from distant realms could remain unfading for years, they were extremely fragile and susceptible to damage—no tougher than ordinary flowers. Their delicate nature meant that very few people dared to use them recklessly. The seeds and roots of the blooms were sealed inside the artifact, allowing the flowers to regrow slowly as long as the core structure was not damaged. Even so, Charlot thought it might be better to sell the crown. Despite its rarity and value, it seemed rather impractical.
Beyond this crown and Dark Luxury, Baron Feller’s collection mostly consisted of mid-tier transcendent items. However, there were two low-tier transcendent artifacts: a pair of pistols called Masterpieces.
These pistols were not weapons in the conventional sense. When one pistol was fired at a person, the target would remain completely unaware. But firing the second pistol at a wall or canvas would produce a lifelike portrait of the person targeted.
The portraits had limited interactivity—they could sing, dance, smile, show anger, or flirt, though their reactions were as mechanical as puppets, lacking real intelligence.
The Masterpieces could create up to five magical portraits at a time. If a sixth was made, the first would vanish, maintaining the cap of five.
Charlot’s first instinct upon acquiring the pistols was to sell them.
“These things are utterly indulgent and completely useless. If someone can afford this, wouldn’t they be better off going on a real date with an actual beautiful girl?”
He then thought of Annie Bretagne and muttered to himself:
“If I hang Annie’s magical portrait in the garden at 58 Elysée Avenue...”
“Bah!”
“I should give these pistols to Annie and let her make a magical portrait of herself for me.”
Charlot suddenly felt quite clever.
He examined the five magical portraits the baron had secretly stashed away, curious to see which beauties had caught the baron’s fancy.
Clearly, these portraits could not be displayed publicly—certainly not where Baroness Feller might see them. Instead, they were hidden away.
Charlot opened the first portrait and found the image familiar. He was certain he had never met the woman, yet her seductive charm and mature elegance felt strikingly vivid. Her beauty, though tinged with age, was enchanting.
After a moment of contemplation, cold sweat broke out across Charlot’s body as memories he did not want to recall began surfacing—memories involving “himself” and this woman in intimate, indescribable scenarios.
Shocked, Charlot exclaimed inwardly:
“What the hell? Did Charlot Mecklenburg dabble in such high-class escapades in his youth?”
The magical portrait seemed like a vivid “video,” her gaze liquid and tender. Charlot dared not linger on it and hastily closed the image.
The woman, though unfamiliar to him personally, was the wife of another baron in the Behemoth Principality.
Of course, the baron himself did not know about these “memories,” nor did anyone else. Otherwise, Charlot would never have survived his days at Strasbourg University—he would have been hanged long ago.
Opening the second portrait, Charlot once again found the image familiar. This time, it was a youthful, lively girl with a touch of mischief in her gaze. She bore a resemblance to the first woman, about six or seven parts similar. He quickly shut the portrait, unwilling to look further.
In his memory, this girl was the daughter of the first woman.
Though Charlot’s memory had become unnaturally sharp since staring into the gaze of the Labyrinth God, many things lay buried unless actively recalled. These forgotten memories were like hidden books in a library—untouched, yet not lost.
“Damn it! Charlot Mecklenburg, how did you even survive Behemoth without getting killed?”
“Perhaps Karnstein killed you because even he couldn’t tolerate the chaos of your life!”
Charlot was unsure if this was self-deprecation or genuine criticism.
After much hesitation, he reviewed the remaining three portraits. To his relief, these women were strangers, with no salacious memories attached. Though beautiful, they did not evoke the same visceral reaction as the first two.
He suppressed the flood of past memories that threatened to overwhelm his mind, deciding to burn the three portraits later to avoid any spiritual contamination.
Among Baron Feller’s twenty-six mid-tier transcendent items, nineteen were not weapons. Like Dark Luxury, Floating Blossoms, and Masterpieces, they were valuable and ingenious but ultimately unsuited for combat.
Charlot found these items uninteresting and shifted his focus to the seven transcendent weapons in the collection.
Baron Feller’s weaponry did not include any vampiric weapons or advanced alchemical creations. His preference leaned toward Classical Alchemy, with all seven weapons reflecting this ancient craft.
Charlot had recently distributed six transcendent items as gifts: two magical pistols to two women, a magical rapier to Dubin Alger, a battle axe to Yellow Bear, and two Knight’s Lances to his newly recruited retainers, Lugwin and Gale Wolf Bancroft.
Of the remaining seven, five were magical rapiers, which held little interest for Charlot, especially now that he wielded Blood Rose, a superior weapon. The final two were magical gun holsters, perfectly suited to Charlot’s needs.
Classical Alchemy lacked the reverse-space technology of modern alchemy, which allowed items to be stored invisibly and conveniently. Instead, it relied on ancient magical pouch techniques. These pouches required high-end magical materials and constant energy input to sustain their functionality.
Charlot had once considered purchasing spatial equipment, but the price was astronomical. Even a simple spatial artifact could easily exceed a thousand gold écus, far beyond what Charlot could justify spending at the time.
These two magical gun holsters could hold two long guns, five pistols, and up to a thousand rounds of ammunition each. However, due to spatial repulsion, they could not accommodate reverse-space alchemical firearms. Even so, they were far superior to the spatial bullet pouch once owned by Warden Magru Trell, which had been fused with his Cursed Armament.
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