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Path to Prosperity - B3 Chapter 50
🕑 Added 2024-12-21 11:00:04 +0000 UTCOnce everyone had washed up and changed into clean clothes, they met up in the dining hall of the royal palace. Percy didn’t loathe formal clothes, but he was so used to Dragonscale and the rest of his combat wear that he pulled on his tunic now and then, trying to fix it when there was nothing to fix in the first place.
“Tell me about the royal mission,” The Queen requested from Melissa Reeze when Percy entered the dining hall. He looked at her as if to say, ‘Don’t tell her about my injuries!’ but Melissa didn’t glance in his direction. It was almost like she didn’t notice him.
“I did not expect the royal mission to be this dangerous when we departed, but my early impression changed after our first encounter with a demon horde, Your Excellency,” Melissa started slowly. Percy listened quietly, squirming when he realized that Lady Reeze wouldn’t leave out any details.
A firm hand landed on Percy’s shoulder as Melissa’s story continued, “Don’t worry about it.”
King Phillip had gotten up from the table to give his son a bracelet. The bracelet didn’t look any special. It was silver in color, though it may not have been forged with silver, and looked like an oversized ring that fit perfectly around his wrist.
“If you don’t want to listen, you might as well take this little gift and get to work,” King Phillip winked, handing Percy the bracelet.
[Silverium Bracelet – Perfect Quality – 3.256.237 Prosperity]
[Spatial Storage], [Expanded Storage], [Perfect Preservation]
Percy already owned a spatial storage, but the bracelet was much better. It was worth a fortune. However, what impressed Percy even more was the series of interfacing popping up as if they jumped straight out of the Silverium Bracelet.
[Six Greater Demons – Demonic – 8,695,239 Prosperity]
[103 Elite Demons(Lifefeeder, Cursias, Pleacis, Hellhounds) – Demonic – 22,152,125 Prosperity]
[1581 Lesser Demons (Archyeas, Gnylds, Minos…) – Demonic – 23.721,185 Prosperity]
…
…
The first three interfaces were the most important. There was also an interface for the gold coins in the Silverium Bracelet, but Percy’s mind was racing. A smile blossomed on his face.
“The Kingsguard and Imperials collected as many corpses as possible without endangering their lives. We made sure they were aware of the condition – to forfeit their ownership of the demons they’d defeated – but we could not test if it worked. You are the only one who can tell us whether it worked or not,” Phillip explained, while Percy used [Consume] with the intention to consume all demon corpses stored in the Silverium Bracelet.
The Abomination oozed out of his palm, but it didn’t burst out like usual. Instead, it trickled out and created a small stream to pave the way to the Silverium Bracelet. Once the Abomination reached the Silverium Bracelet, it seeped inside and invaded the spatial storage.
Percy couldn’t sense anything, but he saw the interfaces changing slowly. The numbers changed and decreased as the Abomination consumed them slowly. It wasn’t a fast process, but that was to be expected. The Abomination didn’t burst out in full power to swallow hundreds of corpses in one go by splitting into countless human-sized – if not larger – streams of pitch-black darkness.
The darkness inside the Silverium Bracelet was nothing more than a thin stream that couldn’t have been thicker than a worm.
His Prosperity increased, albeit slowly, but that was okay. He retrieved the stack of Silverheart Hound Cards and checked them out.
[Silverheart Hound]
[Potential: Common ~⭐~]
[Augmentation]
[None]
Percy had to sit down for this one. His eyes narrowed, and his expression worsened progressively as he realized that all Monster Cards showed the same.
I have never seen a Monster Card with starless Potential. At least, I can enhance their Potential…but there is still no Augmentation.
Would Augmentations be added once the Silverheart Hound Cards’ Potential had been improved? Percy sure hoped so.
[5,000 Prosperity has been consumed.]
[Silverheart Hound Card’s Potential [Common] has been upgraded.
The first Card’s potential had been improved, but no sealed Augmentation popped up.
[15,000 Prosperity has been consumed.]
[Silverheart Hound Card’s Potential [Common⭐] has been upgraded.]
There was still no change.
[30,000 Prosperity has been consumed.]
[Silverheart Hound Card’s Potential [Common⭐⭐] has been upgraded.]
Percy’s brows furrowed deeply. He inwardly, blaming the Monster Card for being useless and wasting his precious Prosperity. Nonetheless, he continued investing more Prosperity in the first Silverheart Hound’s Card. He did so until something finally changed.
[Silverheart Hound Card’s Potential increased to [Elite ⭐], transcending its natural limit manifold.]
[Silverheart Hound advanced to Moonlight Wolf. A natural ability manifested within the Moonlight Wolf]
Upgrading the Monster Card until it changed into something useful, adding proper value to the Monster Card cost around 500,000 Prosperity. That was a decent bit, but it was worth it. The Silverheart Hound evolved into a Moonlight Wolf, and one Augmentation had already been unlocked as one of the Moonlight Wolf’s natural abilities.
[Moonlight Wolf]
[Potential: Elite⭐~⭐~]
[Augmentation]
[Reaping Moon⭐]
~[Basic Agility Boost⭐⭐]~
~[Lunar Manifestation⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]~
~[Moonlight Storage⭐⭐⭐⭐]~
[Reaping Moon] sounded impressive, but Percy had no idea what Augmentation, the naturally formed ability, could do. In the first place, the Moonlight Wolf wasn’t something he’d heard about. It had to resemble the Lunar Wolf, maybe a mutation that had formed after humans domesticated the inferior Silverheart Hound.
“Take a look at this. The Silverheart Hound is probably too fragile to form any Augmentations. Still, it evolved once I upgraded its potential to Elite, which cost slightly above 45 gold coins, or the equivalent…three and a half Elite Demons or 34 Lesser Demons,” Percy handed his father the Moonlight Wolf Card before adding.
“I can also unlock several Augmentations, such as [Basic Agility Boost] at two stars, [Lunar Manifestation] at five stars, and [Moonlight Storage] at four stars. I think the Moon-, Moonlight-, and Lunar Augmentations could work well together, but I’m not sure how well they would work together or how much I’d have to invest into unsealing the Augmentations. If Reaping Moon is powerful, upgrading the naturally formed ability might be best. It might be more cost-efficient to do so rather than trying to unlock [Moonlight Storage] and the like.”
King Phillip was silent. He’d sat beside his son and nibbled on his lower lip. Countless thoughts flashed through his mind.
“I will call some Imperials back. Some stayed back in the barracks to finish their final preparations,” he said slowly, more ideas forming in his mind. Please create a variety of Moonlight Wolf Cards and note the upgrade cost.”
Percy nodded and started the process right away.
The first Card he created was a fully empowered Moonlight Wolf.
[Moonlight Wolf Card’s Augmentation [Basic Agility Boost⭐⭐] has been unsealed. 300,000 Prosperity has been consumed.]
That wasn’t too expensive and worth the investment. Percy made a note on a noteboard his father had left behind before giving orders to several servants. The servants bowed to the King and rushed out the dining hall with hastened steps.
[Moonlight Wolf Card’s Augmentation [Lunar Manifestation⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐] has been unsealed. 2,000,000 Prosperity has been consumed.]
[Moonlight Wolf Card’s Augmentation [Moonlight Storage⭐⭐⭐⭐] has been unsealed. 1,000,000 Prosperity has been consumed.]
[Moonlight Wolf Card’s Augmentation [Reaping Moon⭐] has been enhanced. 300,000 Prosperity has been consumed.]
Unsealing all Augmentations and upgrading [Reaping Moon] once pushed the total cost of transforming the Silverheart Hound Card into something valuable close to 4,100,000 Prosperity. It cost slightly more than 370 gold coins, which would have been terrifying if not for the fortune earned by consuming the demons the kingdom’s forces had killed and collected.
In fact, even then, it was rather expensive. Still…it might have been worth it. Percy had no idea. Instead of thinking about the cost, worrying whether the Minister of Finances would be after his head in the near future, Percy proceeded with the given task.
He noticed his mother glaring at him – Melissa probably reached the fight with the Thousand-eyed Hellhounds in the story, where they may…or may not…left out how many times Percy had been injured – but Percy ignored the Queen with his utmost capabilities.
Instead, he created a Moonlight Wolf Card with [Reaping Moon] at five stars without unsealing any other Augmentations. Then, Percy formed a Moonlight Wolf Card without enhancing [Reaping Moon], but he unlocked [Lunar Manifestation]. Third, he created a Card with [Moonlight Storage] as the only additional unsealed Augmentation.
Last but not least, he unsealed all but [Basic Agility Boost] without enhancing [Reaping Moon].
Percy couldn’t be certain about it, yet his best guess was that [Reaping Moon] was a passive ability. Lunar motes, whatever they may be, were gathering in the Silverheart Hounds’ heart according to his mother’s tale. His theory was that this unique function of the Silverheart Hound had transformed into a natural ability after evolving into a Moonlight Wolf. A passive Augmentation that may or may not empower the other Augmentations.
Percy finished his notes right before a handful of Imperials entered the dining hall.
They greeted everyone present with a formal salute, but the King ushered them to move to the side. He reached for the Monster Cards that had already been Ego-enhanced and handed them to the Imperials.
“Bind to the Cards and test the Augmentations one by one,” The King ordered. When you’re done, remove the Monster Card and give it to your comrade. I want everyone to feel the difference of each Augmentation and to tell me which combination is the best and how much they differ from each other.”
“Yes, Your Highness!” The Imperials shouted and went to work, albeit confused about what was happening.
