Quadruple split.

Chapter 2758 [Unsourced Matter]

"Four... artifact spirits?"

Xia Liya was immediately shocked and exclaimed, "Didn't they find that legendary-level agent from Tianzhu Mountain?!"

"That's not surprising."

Mo Tan, who had dealt with the agents of Tianzhu Mountain quite a bit, nodded and explained in a calm tone before Old Daglan could explain: "Whether they are legendary level experts or agents of Tianzhu Mountain, they may be very powerful in some aspects, but in areas where they are not good at, their eyesight and sense of smell may not be reliable."

Xia Liya turned her head and glanced at this unassuming but always surprising "leader," and asked curiously, "How do you know so much about Tianzhu Mountain?"

Mo Tan smiled without saying a word, offering no response. After all, Xia Liya was not Yu Chen. Although pretending to be stupid in front of the latter would make him feel sad and upset, Mo Tan didn't mind using the silent treatment on his restless adjutant.

Anyway, Xia Liya has never been easy to deal with, so Mo Tan wouldn't feel any guilt at all if he bullied her.

As for the information that Mo Tan just mentioned... there's really no need to explain it. Although 'Black Vane Priest' doesn't really have any connection with Tianzhu Mountain except for knowing Cordoba, Mo Tan has dealt with the people in the mountains quite a bit. In fact, he spends a certain amount of time in Tianzhu Mountain almost every day now.

In short, having become relatively familiar with agents like Cordova and Fimiguer, Mo Tan was well aware that these agents, who were essentially registered employees of Tianzhushan but not true 'locals,' had their limits despite their high level of fashion sense.

Take Cordoba for example. He can't even fly. Who has such a stylish and powerful figure who can't even fly?

Of course, Mo Tan's statement was entirely literal and only referred to the evaluation of the 'Agents' group, without involving other entities in Tianzhu Mountain.

Take the high-level observers for example. In Mo Tan's opinion, those tough guys (and maybe tough girls?) obviously don't apply to any 'common sense'. Take Lu Wei for example. This 'chief engineer of Tianzhu Mountain', who has the same status as a high-level observer, should theoretically be a weak and frail mental worker who can't lift a finger, but what is the reality?

Mo Tan could swear on his own head that, although Master Ruvi Fitzgerald had only shown his exceptional knowledge in engineering, alchemy, and potion-making, and had only demonstrated his skill in casually throwing spatial collapse detonators, if he were to engage in a melee combat with this old man, even if Ruvi was forbidden from using technology, he would probably be hacked to pieces.

This is not an exaggeration or baseless claim, but because Mo Tan witnessed it firsthand. When Lu Wei demonstrated how to use the space collapse detonator to Ji Xiaoge, the explosion center was less than five meters away from him, but the old man didn't even blink, let alone move his feet. Meanwhile, Mo Tan, who was at least twenty meters away from the explosion's epicenter, lost nearly 30% of his physical strength in just a few seconds in order to maintain his and Ji Xiaoge's stability.

This shows what?
This shows that even in terms of physical strength, Ruvi Fitzgerald, who looks short, thin, old, wrinkled, and malnourished, possesses a level far exceeding that of a regular epic-rank character!
There's no need to say anything more, because it really doesn't make any sense.

In conclusion, although the high-level observers were clearly acting strangely, at least the style of ordinary Tianzhu Mountain agents like Femigel was relatively normal. They were not so bad as to know more about blacksmithing and casting than the top craftsmen of the time.

and so--

"Just as Brother Black Brahma said, although that agent is exceptionally powerful, even able to wield a power that His Majesty Northeron, who is also a legendary figure, has never heard of or even understood, he is not a craftsman after all."

Daglan, a skilled craftsman, revealed a reserved and proud smile and said seriously, "So although His Majesty Northron discovered those remnants of weapon spirits inside the four weapons during the dismantling process, which were so faint as to be almost non-existent, the agent did not realize this."

"Alas, greed."

Jenny sighed and shook her head helplessly, saying, "Throughout history, there have been countless examples of people being blinded by personal desires and ultimately causing great disasters. As for that former Lord of Burning Furnace City, although I can understand him, I really can't sympathize with him. After all, in the end, he didn't bear all the consequences 'alone,' did he?"

“He tried to take it all on himself, but… well, let me start from the beginning and tell you the story.”

Old Dagland tried to argue weakly, but ultimately changed his mind and simply said, "Don't interrupt me this time."

And so, the gray dwarf, who was not young but had never returned to his so-called 'homeland', took a deep breath and continued telling the story. The others, including Jenny, tactfully refrained from interrupting and listened attentively.

The story is not complicated. In short, after discovering the remains of the four artifact spirits, the dwarf king named Northoron Blackrock was blinded by desire, just as Jenny said.

However, this desire is not the kind of worldly 'desire', but the purest, heartfelt 'desire' of an excellent craftsman to complete a great work.

As the ruler of the Dwarven Mountains and the lord of Burning Forge, His Majesty Northron Blackrock could obtain almost any material he desired, and he had indeed forged a large number of weapons that could be considered divine weapons, which were either epic or legendary in the eyes of players. However, this time, he had never seen the weapon brought by the agent before. He had never seen it before, neither in terms of the materials, the forging method, nor the weapon spirit inside, which had very special properties and was so absurd that even when it was extremely weak, it could still affect the outside world.

Furthermore, since the agent from Tianzhu Mountain explicitly stated that as long as these weapons are dismantled, the remaining materials can be freely disposed of by Northron, he will definitely want to use these unique materials to create something unique that can leave a lasting mark on his craftsmanship.

In fact, His Majesty Northeron Blackrock did not break his promise, because the agent never mentioned the 'spirit' from the beginning; he simply said that he wanted to get rid of the four weapons.

So at most, this was just Northron playing a trick, but this trick led to the annihilation of him and all his kin in Burning Furnace and even the entire Dwarven Mountains.

The disaster didn't happen quickly, but by the time Northron realized something was wrong, he had already been unknowingly pushed to the edge of a cliff and had no way out.

This process was surprisingly easy to explain...

First, after the agent left, Northron organized a grand celebration in the dungeon to thank all the craftsmen who had been involved in this 'great project' and to give all participants a generous reward. Then he announced that everyone could return to their lives.

Northeron, who had also returned to his life, devoted almost all his energy, aside from spending five hours each day handling the affairs of Burning Furnace City and the numerous dungeons in the Dwarven Mountains, to the materials left after the four weapons had been dismantled. In the center of Burning Furnace City, directly above the 'Heart of Melting Mountain,' which provided heat and energy to this largest dungeon, he built a massive furnace and immediately began preparations for 'smelting.'

It's worth mentioning that this isn't a secret; in fact, many people know that His Majesty Northron is preparing to forge something amazing, and what's truly unique is the quality of the materials he's using—they're incredibly powerful, exceptionally powerful, and absolutely super powerful.

As for exactly how amazing it is, no one really knows, but that doesn't stop them from looking forward to His Majesty Northron's masterpiece.

After all, being a dwarf king who is skilled in blacksmithing and crafting equipment is a huge plus, directly increasing his leadership charisma.

As for the negative comments about why the Dwarf King was enjoying such dream materials all to himself, there is absolutely no such thing. After all, the agent commissioned Northron himself, and the craftsmen he summoned to Burning Furnace City were all paid and had unlimited supply of strong liquor every day. All of this was provided by Northron out of his own pocket, so it was only natural that he enjoyed the reward all to himself.

In short, after two months of tireless, day-and-night work, Northron finally completely melted the remains of the four weapons into a material he named [Unsourced Matter α]. Given that [Unsourced Matter α] was too large, he divided it into two pieces, one called [Unsourced Matter α-1] and the other called [Unsourced Matter α-2].

Then, he first put away the larger [α-1], and then focused on forging [α-2].

At first, everything went smoothly. Although it was difficult to shape the material with conventional forging tools, the problem was solved after Northeron made a 'hammerhead' from a small portion of it.

He planned to make a one-handed longsword, a versatile longsword whose charm could be appreciated by the vast majority of people, and a mainstream and trendy one.

It is evident that Northron did not even use this yet-to-be-released divine weapon himself, because for dwarves, the most suitable weapons are nothing more than one-handed hammers, two-handed hammers, one-handed axes, two-handed axes, and heavy shields. Even if there are some oddballs who like to wield swords, they would use two-handed heavy swords, which are more suitable for the physique of dwarf babies, rather than light one-handed swords.

The completion of the 'sword blank' went smoothly. In the hands of the skilled craftsman Northron, and with forging tools made of the same [unsourced substance α], a sword blank that was perfect in every way was forged. If things had gone according to plan, this sword would have been destined to go down in history and become the most sought-after material in the bards' stories.

Unfortunately, things were destined not to develop in such a cliché way, or rather, it was precisely because things developed in such a cliché way that they did not follow the so-called 'normal route'.

Just as the sword blank was nearing completion and about to enter the tempering stage, Northron Blackrock suddenly paused the forging process and shifted his focus from the sword blank to the four gems.

Those are gems that each contain a broken artifact spirit, the only secret that Northron has never revealed to the public.

Although he had perfectly fulfilled all the terms of that deal;

Even if he were to publicize this, it wouldn't be a big deal;

But Northron, for some inexplicable reason, remained silent, not even telling his closest confidants.

Perhaps he sensed a hint of danger, but unfortunately, his intuition wasn't strong enough to save him from disaster; in fact, the outcome might have been quite the opposite...

Those spirits stored in the gems were the most special spirits Northron had ever seen in his life, for one reason only—they possessed the ability to influence the outside world.

It's important to understand that the spirits of weapons are not the same as the spirits of mage towers. Although they both have some mystical aspects, the spirits residing in weapons are generally much simpler in function than those helpful allies that can help annihilate intruders even when the caster is not around.

At best, they can only communicate and allow the weapon holder to connect with the weapon itself, greatly increasing their compatibility.

In terms that players can easily understand, it means improving weapon specialization.

Simply put, assuming the one-handed sword mastery of the Morning Glory is 35, then when he possesses a Bull's Lean one-handed sword with a spirit, his mastery will increase the spirit's level, by at least 5 levels.

Although it may seem ordinary at first glance, the improvement of the artifact spirit in this aspect has a particularly domineering, sharp and abnormal point, which is 'ignoring the mastery limit'.

As we all know, the weapon mastery cap for high-level physical classes is generally 45. So, if a skill or effect can increase the corresponding mastery level normally, it will be useless after the player's mastery level reaches 45. But if it is a weapon spirit... the player's character panel will show words like "[XX Mastery Level: 45+5]" or "[XX Mastery Level 45+10]".

After all, almost all veteran players of [Innocent Realm] know that although the improvement of the specialization level to the player may seem insignificant, it is actually very, very, very huge.

This amplification has the same effect on NPCs, since the panel that players can see is a logical 'quantitative mapping' and naturally will not deviate from the actual situation.

But the four artifact spirits that Northron possessed at the time were different...

Although it was already very faint, the perceptive dwarf king immediately realized that these 'weapon spirits' had a very high probability of influencing the outside world once they were incorporated into weapons, something that had almost never happened in history.

The good news is that Northeron was right; his final results did indeed have an impact on the outside world.

The bad news is that he was the first person affected.

Chapter 2749: The End

(End of this chapter)