Elven cultivators

"This is the true killing move of the Xuanqi Sword Pellet."

Anton sighed inwardly.

Unfortunately, this move consumes a great deal of spiritual energy and true essence, so it can only be used as a trump card in battle, to be used at crucial moments.

On ordinary days, the main focus should still be on differentiating the sword light.

Regardless, after acquiring this mysterious artifact, his combat power has leaped to a whole new level.

If he was considered top-tier among the Gold Peak members in the past, he can now stand proudly at that level.

Even without using the Netherworld Heavy Water, he is confident that he can deal with seven or eight peak Gold Saints at the same time and win.

If he had enough Yin-Yang Heavy Water, he might even be able to fight against a legendary-level opponent.

"good."

Anton nodded in satisfaction, raised his hand, and the long sword formed from the mysterious light suddenly retracted, transforming back into a dark golden pill that silently entered his chest and returned to the depths of his dantian.

Breaking through to the Xuanqi realm is just the beginning.

Leaving aside the still distant spiritual artifacts, even the mystical artifacts themselves have different quality grades.

The lowest grade is the inferior-grade Xuan artifact.

The light was as thin as a cicada's wing, like the first rays of dawn, barely perceptible.

Spirituality is only in its infancy, and consciousness is extremely weak.

The sword pellet, which has just broken through, is currently at this level.

Above that are mid-grade Xuan artifacts.

The mysterious light overflowed, thickening as the spiritual energy of the artifact deepened, and its power grew even stronger.

The highest grade is naturally the superior-grade Xuan weapon.

The mysterious light was like a flame, intense yet solid, and its spirituality was highly mature.

This level of mystical artifact has condensed its mystical light to the extreme, and has sprouted the bud of "self". It is only one last opportunity away from transforming into an artifact spirit.

Once successful, the mystical artifact will break through to become a spiritual artifact, thus transcending the realm of objects and stepping into the realm of living beings.

"Next, we need to continue absorbing dragonborn and sub-dragons to continuously improve the quality of the sword pellet."

Anton looked out the window toward the hills and crags.

"The artifact is complete, and the technique of splitting into sixteen has been mastered. Next, we just need to condense enough Netherworld Heavy Water again before we can start cleaning up the Sighing Crystal Cluster."

The thought of soon acquiring a spiritual vein filled Anton with excitement.

Without delay, he immediately sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes and concentrated, and began to condense the Yin Heavy Water.

With his cultivation breaking through to the eighth level of Foundation Establishment and the significant increase in spiritual energy concentration after the activation of the Great Evolution Azure Profound Array, the time he needs to condense a drop of Nether Yin Heavy Water has been greatly shortened.

Careful estimation suggests that it takes about twenty days to condense one drop.

However, the Fire Cover has not yet been properly nurtured.

Last time, when I withstood the combined attack of dozens of Sighing Crystal Clusters in the Dark Region, my protective artifact suffered considerable damage. At the current rate of recovery, it will take at least two years to fully recover.

Previously, when he risked hunting the Sighing Crystal Cluster, he almost suffered a great loss if it weren't for the protection of the Fire Shield. This time, Anton is not prepared to take the risk again, but plans to make full preparations before heading to the city-state.

Better safe than sorry.

He can afford to wait a mere two years.

I'll take advantage of this time to familiarize myself with the Xuanqi Sword Pill that I just broke through to.

……

For this sword pellet refining, Anton secluded himself for more than a year.

Therefore, as soon as the news of his release spread, many people came to his door.

Roman was naturally the fastest to act.

The girl came to his door early in the morning and pulled him out of the quiet room.

"Anton, you've been in seclusion for far too long this time. We haven't seen you for over a year. What have you been up to?"

Anton poured Roman a glass of honey fruit wine, had her sit down at the table, and then slowly explained, "I'm refining a magical artifact."

Roman had chatted with Eleanor about the cultivation system quite a bit over the past two years, and knew that so-called magic weapons were actually objects with extraordinary power, very similar to magical items.

Hearing Anton's words, she couldn't help but ask curiously, "What level of magic weapon is it? Is it as powerful as an ancient-level one?"

Ancient-grade items are magical items that are one level higher than extraordinary-grade items.

These magical items are extremely rare, and their power can alter the balance of power to a certain extent.

A silver-rank warrior with legendary magical equipment might even be able to kill a gold-rank opponent, despite being of a higher rank.

Of course, this is on the premise that the user can truly control the power of that item.

Roman knew that Anton had crafted extraordinary magical items before, but it hadn't taken this long.

Now that he has been in seclusion for over a year, the magical artifacts he has refined must be far more precious and powerful than those of the extraordinary level.

"More or less," Anton smiled and nodded.

The power of mystical artifacts is no less than that of legendary magical items.

Roman clicked his tongue in admiration upon hearing this.

Although she has a carefree personality, she is not completely ignorant.

She already thought the extraordinary-grade magical items were impressive enough, but she never expected that the thing Anton concocted this time would be a whole grade higher than the extraordinary grade.

It's legendary!

Even in the city of Kresol, there might not be any magical items of this caliber.

At least she had never heard any related rumors.

And Anton actually crafted one himself!

"Can I take a look?" Roman's eyes were practically overflowing with anticipation.

Anton paused for a moment, but finally decided to grant Roman's wish.

A beam of dark golden light leaped from his chest, hovering above the table between the two of them, and slowly rotated.

Looking at the dark gold sword pellet that was only the size of a fist, Roman inexplicably felt an invisible pressure.

"This is the magic weapon you were talking about?"

She originally thought the magic weapon would be something like a sword or armor, but it turned out to be a small round bead.

"This is a sword pellet," Anton said briefly, without elaborating further.

After all, unless one is a cultivator, it is difficult to understand the profound mystery of the sword pellet.

Roman's gaze fell on the sword pellet, and he curiously reached out a finger, wanting to touch it.

Just as her fingertips were about to touch the pill, the surface of the sword pill suddenly lit up, and a thin layer of dark golden light, as thin as a cicada's wing, surged out from the pill, gently repelling her fingers.

Roman paused, then looked up at Anton.

Anton smiled and said, "Kenmaru has already developed a sliver of self-awareness and will be wary of being touched by strangers."

"The id?"

Roman was increasingly surprised.

She had never heard of magical objects possessing self-awareness, which completely overturned her understanding of magical objects.

Roman withdrew his finger, no longer attempting to touch it, but instead stared wide-eyed at the sword pellet, marveling at it.

"What's the use of this magical artifact?"

Anton didn't speak, but his gaze was fixed on the sword pellet.

The next instant, the dark golden sword light suddenly shone brightly, flying and galloping within the treehouse, leaving dozens of crisscrossing sword lights in the void.

Roman instinctively held his breath.

As the dark golden sword light swept past her side, she felt an invisible sharpness glide across her skin, as if an invisible blade had brushed against her skin, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

That was a sense of crisis stemming from instinct.

The sword light didn't even touch her, but her body was already frantically warning her.

It was as if the sword light could tear her entire defense to shreds with just a gentle sweep.

Her powerful physique, honed through years of cultivating the Eight Desolations Suppressing Prison Scripture, seemed as fragile as paper before that dark golden sword light.

The sword light flashed through the room for a moment, then suddenly receded, transforming back into a pill that disappeared into Anton's chest.

Everything returned to calm, as if the strange phenomenon just now was just an illusion.

Roman sat there blankly for a moment before he came to his senses. He took a deep breath, raised his hand to touch the back of his neck, and found that a fine layer of cold sweat had appeared there.

The slight stinging sensation from the sharp aura of the sword light still lingered on my skin.

"Wow, that's amazing..."

She murmured, her eyes still lingering with shock.

She suddenly understood why Anton had spent more than a year refining this magical artifact.

Such strength is indeed worth such sacrifice.

After a moment of reflection, Roman quickly composed himself.

She suddenly remembered something, and a smug look appeared on her face: "I almost forgot to tell you, I've already broken through to the middle of the Gold rank."

Anton looked strange.

After deciding to display the sword light, he was mentally prepared for Roman to guess Cang Lan's identity.

After all, as Canglan's signature fighting style, the sword light is simply too conspicuous.

Who would have thought that Roman hadn't considered that possibility at all, and that he was just being delusional.

Anton coughed lightly and scanned Roman's body with his divine sense. Sure enough, he sensed that her blood and qi were more viscous and abundant than when they last met.

Like a dormant volcano, it appears calm, but in reality, it harbors a terrifying power that could erupt at any moment.

"Congratulations," Anton said sincerely.

From Roman's breakthrough to the fall of the Golden Age, only twelve years have passed.

To be able to advance another level in twelve years is an exceptional speed even among cultivators specializing in strength cultivation.

Of course, the availability of resources also plays a role.

The Silver Moon Clan has developed rapidly in recent years, with abundant wealth and a large number of rare resources. This has enabled them to support several Gold-rank and a large number of Silver and Black Iron warriors to cultivate the Eight Desolate Prison Suppression Scripture.

At this rate, perhaps in a few decades, Roman will reach the pinnacle of his career.

A thought suddenly flashed through Anton's mind.

Should we craft a magical artifact for Roman?

Not only Roman, but other Gold-ranked members of the clan who cultivate the Eight Desolations Suppressing Prison Scripture can also help them refine magical artifacts to enhance their combat power.

After all, once we conquer the city-state, we can continue to explore other areas of the Underdark.

That vast underground world is richer in resources than we can imagine; we certainly can't give it up.

However, relying on him to explore alone would be too inefficient; the clan would definitely need to get involved as well.

Let's strengthen Roman and the others now so that things will be easier later.

Previously, Anton had never considered such a thing because the materials for crafting magical artifacts were scarce.

The clan's treasury now contains a large number of rare materials, and he also has a considerable amount of materials from the dismantling of the extraordinary magical equipment obtained from the Dragonborn governor, which is more than enough to craft several magical artifacts.

With that thought in mind, Anton made up his mind and looked up, saying, "I happen to have some free time recently, so I'll just forge you a magical artifact, something roughly equivalent to a transcendent-level magical equipment. What kind of style do you want? A weapon or armor?"

Roman's eyes lit up immediately, and he rushed over to hug Anton.

"Haha, Anton, you're so great!"

The girl's voice was filled with barely suppressed joy.

Although she was already a mid-level Gold Warrior and one of the strongest in the clan, extraordinary magical equipment was not something that everyone could possess.

Apart from the few pieces that Anton himself crafted, the entire Silvermoon Clan possesses no other extraordinary magical equipment.

Anton instinctively hugged Roman, feeling the warmth emanating from the girl, and shook his head with a smile.

Once Roman calmed down from his excitement, he repeated the question.

Without hesitation, Roman answered, "Of course, the battle axe!"

Anton was not surprised by this answer. He then asked Roman about his specific requirements before finally smiling and saying, "I will let you know as soon as the magic artifact is finished."

The two chatted for a while longer before Roman left, satisfied.

No sooner had she left than Eleanor showed up at her door.