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Path to Prosperity - B2 Chapter 56
🕑 Added 2024-10-04 10:00:07 +0000 UTCThe abomination moved before the royal librarian or the Old King could move. It engulfed the big pouch filled with gold and rapidly swallowed the coins before retracting again.
All that was left was an empty pouch.
[164x Gold Coins have been consumed. 1,804,000 Prosperity has been added.]
The Old King had been more generous than Percy had been hoping for, but the Prosperity added by consuming 164 gold coins was still not enough to push him to the next rank. That was unfortunate, yet it couldn’t be considered a major problem. Percy used [Consume] on Prosperity to invest into his Tier.
[805,242 Prosperity has been consumed.]
[Your Tier increased by one rank]
His Tier reached Elite-9, which was followed by a massive influx of mana. Percy’s pores opened to embrace the mana flood and annex as much as possible at once. Mana Shaping didn’t let Percy wait long, either. Under normal circumstances, he would be hungry and searching for highly nutritious meals at this moment, but he had been feasting on highly nutritious food for the last few days. He was already overflowing with enough nutrients to support the natural Mana Shaping process.
His mana reserves expanded, and he grew stronger at that moment. Both the Old King and the royal librarian noticed that right away.
“You…just ranked up,” The Old King murmured.
“That’s right.”
“Using gold. My gold,” His grandfather muttered, but Percy shook his head.
“It was your gold before. It was mine when I used it.”
“Bu–... Yes, of course. You told me to waive my right of possession. So that’s it? You can…Oh, that’s great!” The Old King’s smile widened as he realized what had just happened. The abomination caused his hair to stand up to its end due to various reasons, but he focused on Percy and his Ego instead, “What else can you do?”
That was when the last remnants of the Old King’s plan to kill Percy were thrown out of the window. There was no need to kill Percy anymore.
This was perfect!
***
The treasury was well-hidden, as expected. It was hidden deep underground behind several heavily guarded corridors, which were also engraved with hundreds of runic enchantments. The only time Percy saw more runic enchantments were the engravings on the palace walls. He had still no idea what the intricate carvings of the palace walls – the tens of thousands of connected runic enchantments – were used for.
Either way, the Old King had to guide everyone through the underground corridors and undergo various tests, even though it was obvious that he was the Old King and obliged to enter the royal treasury, where his personal collection was hidden alongside the kingdom’s other treasures. Percy quickly realized the Old King could have pushed him onto a pressure plate or a string connected to several runic enchantments…or just done something else to kill him in the heavily guarded corridor. It should have been easy for the Old King.
Fortunately, he didn’t do that. The Old King reached the massive gates to the entrance of the treasury and cut his palm to drench a particularly dim and gloomy runic enchantment with his blood.
“You can open the gates as well. I wouldn’t recommend you to come here alone, though. Not until you know every trap and runic enchantment installed in the underground corridors,” The Old King lectured, but Percy didn’t hear anything his grandfather said. His attention lingered on the blood-soaked runic enchantment and the click resounding through the corridor once the runic enchantment was filled with the Old King’s blood.
The gates to the treasury opened, unraveling the kingdom’s treasures.
The room was gloomily dark, but this was solved quickly as dozens of torches ignited simultaneously. Percy swallowed hard at that but tried to act unimpressed.
The vibrantly flickering torches cast light all over the large room, illuminating piles of glittering gold coins overflowing from wooden chests. Some gold coins scattered loosely across the floor in shining heaps. But that was only the beginning. There were ornate shelves and strong, carved tables displaying various treasures from across the Kainesh Kingdom and beyond – gilded crowd studded with jewels, gem-encrusted goblets engraved with various runic enchantments, fine silverware, and intricately designed armor – they weren’t enchanted.
In the corners, Percy found various tall racks wearing and carrying Artifacts. There were powerful Artifacts exuding far more mana than Percy could contain at a time, and ceremonial weapons, each adorned with precious gemstones. Precious gemstones – Moonstones, Sunrays, Sapphires, rubies, emeralds – were kept in smaller, finely engraved wooden boxes. He also found various rare fabrics neatly stacked, ancient scrolls, royal seals and a few relics of the kingdom’s history.
Each item was valuable and spoke highly of the king’s power, wealth, and reach. It was a clear testament to how the Kainish Kingdom made it across the mortal realm and what the kingdom had achieved since its founding.
Still, Percy was a little lost.
“Are there no Monster Cards, proper Relics, or something like that?” Percy looked judgemental at the Old King as if to say That’s your personal collection? Are you serious right now?
“My collection is here. You just have to find it,” the Old King replied with a smile. You can pick anything you want.”
Percy had no idea what his grandfather was thinking, but his Ego responded to the words he spoke or the intention hidden within them. More than a dozen Interfaces popped up all across the treasury.
You exposed your collection just now. Thanks, I guess!
His head flicked left and right to find all interfaces and inspect them.
[Leviathan Scroll – Marvelous/Ancient – 13,326,023 Prosperity]
[Titan Shield – Perfect Quality – 19,393,911 Prosperity.]
[Perfect Shield], [Titan Body], [Shield Expertise], [Superior Earthen Wall]
[Monster Card – Vermillion Bird(Overlord) – [Undying Body⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐], [Pyromancy ⭐⭐⭐⭐] – 139,532,632 Prosperity.]
[Monster Card – Black Wyvern(Guardian) – [Greater Agility Boost⭐⭐⭐], [Dragonic Wrath⭐⭐⭐⭐], [Transformation: Wings⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐] – 75,035,822 Prosperity]
…
…
“Oh shit,” Percy blurted aloud. He trembled violently and turned back to the Old King, who smiled back, “Looks like it works. Your Ego shows you everything in your possession as an interface, doesn’t it? That’s very interesting.”
“But you should only be able to see a dozen or so interfaces. The rest no longer belong to my collection and is thus part of the royal treasury. The King is the current owner of everything else.”
Percy squinted his eyes, “Please don’t tell me you’re planning to kill my father to put me on the throne to inherit everything…”
He said it half-jokingly but was still worried that the Old King might be serious. However, his grandfather only laughed, whereas the royal librarian paled.
“I don’t plan to kill my child. I think it was troublesome enough to assassinate you,” The Old King responded, “You can pick whatever. Two treasures of my personal collection. As for birthday gifts…Your father will have to give them to you. Your Ego doesn’t consider me as the rightful owner of the treasures in here anymore if it shows you only the most valuable objects.”
“That makes sense. My Ego is a little unique, but it would consider something I’ve stolen as my property if I keep it with me long enough,” He glanced at the royal librarian and quickly added, “Not that something like that happened before…”
The librarian smiled smugly at him, and Percy cleared his throat and turned in a hurry, “I can pick whatever, right?”
“Go for it. Your Ego knows what I own.”
Percy nodded and moved right away. He had already decided his first item and walked through the treasury. He passed by the sealed box where the Monster Card of the Vermillion Bird was hidden and rummaged through a heap of gold coins. He found some Imperial Coins within the heaps of gold coins and considered taking them with him for a moment but decided against it.
His attention lingered on a lengthy object that looked like a stick. It was hidden underneath heaps of gold and must have been there for a while, but Percy freed It. He picked up the ordinary-looking black sheath of the weapon he’d discovered through the Ego’s interface and smiled vibrantly at it.
[Dragon Fang(Syreablade) – Perfect/Soulbound(None) – 219,536,923 Prosperity.]
Everything about the weapon screamed ‘Perfection’ because that was exactly what it was. He reached for the lengthy handle and felt it adjust perfectly to his grip. It was almost like the object in his hands was alive and trying to adapt to its user.
The sounds around Percy were swallowed as he reached for the pitch-black sheath. It took him only a quarter of a second to pull the blade from the sheath, but it felt like an eternity to Percy.
He held his breath and stared at the incarnation of perfection with wide eyes.
The blade was black, just like the sheath had been, but it seemed to swallow the light in its surroundings. However, Percy didn’t even notice that.
All he could do was stare at the curved, single-edge blade in utter excitement. The grip was long enough to accommodate two hands, but the Syreablade was not that heavy. He could carry it with one hand.
Suddenly, Percy’s ears perked up. Something whispered into his ears.
He looked around but couldn’t see anything odd. Other than the Old King and the royal librarian approaching him with surprise…no… With terror in their eyes.
[Feed–...]
The whisper returned.
[Feed me!!]
Percy looked down at the weapon but wasn’t sure if the whisper came from the Syreablade or his Ego.
His Ego trembled violently. It wanted to consume the Syreablade, yet the weapon in his hands didn’t remain silent. It responded to his Ego’s call.
[Bind me!!]
It called for him.
