I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

"Stop fooling around, take it."

Helplessly, Little Black jumped off Duke's head, then her shadow shifted, quickly transforming her into a dark-skinned catgirl. Little Black was no longer the kitten who couldn't control her transformation ability; she had not only become accustomed to it, but after transforming, she casually used her shadow to weave herself a jet-black gothic Lolita dress.

She probably learned the skill of changing clothes from Monica, but as for where she learned this rapidly improving sense of aesthetics, Duke will leave that as a mystery for now.

She casually sat on Duke's neck, took the short bow, and examined it from all angles. At first, she wasn't too keen on transforming (mainly because she was off Duke's head), but she was quickly drawn to the short bow: "Duke, Duke, this bow looks like it's on fire, meow."

Little Black excitedly raised the short bow, and the shadow of the bow transformed into the shape of flames. The moment Little Black grasped the bow and tried to draw the string, it ignited her arms, but did not burn the Gothic Lolita dress made of shadows on her body. Instead, it climbed up her face and covered her with a thin veil of shadow.

Then, a scene that immediately put all the big shots present on alert appeared—a shadow suddenly emerged from behind Xiao Hei. Its posture was not fixed, sometimes taking on a human form, and sometimes transforming into a wild beast. But the only difference was that, apart from its main posture, there was a divine fire made of shadows flickering.

It was originally about the same size as Xiao Hei's black catgirl form, but it quickly swelled up, reaching three or four meters in height, and then rapidly expanded into a ten-meter-tall shadow giant. If Xiao Hei hadn't put away her shortbow and shadow veil at Duke's instruction, this monster formed from shadow divine fire would probably have continued to grow larger.

"What...what is this?" Rose swallowed hard, instinctively asking, "Why does it, like the previous Holy Light Cross, contain the element of divine fire?"

"This is a mythical weapon, and also my bargaining chip for cooperating with you all—" Duke smiled slightly and said to Rose, who was not the Thunder Witch, "If I could tailor-make a mythical weapon for anyone, what are your plans?"

"Huh?" Norton's eyes widened. He had personally witnessed the Holy Light Cross piercing through the floating city and had also faced the Divine Fire Shadow. He had a very intuitive understanding of the strength of mythical weapons, and that was why he didn't believe Duke's words at all: "This kind of thing can be mass-produced? And what about 'I can tailor-make mythical weapons for anyone'? What a joke!"

"I'm not kidding... Let me think about it."

Duke certainly wouldn't issue mythical weapons to just anyone. If he truly had that ability, why would he waste his breath talking to these people? But he now had the ability to perfect this deception. He looked at Zi Yuan, who hadn't spoken a word, coughed, and cleared his throat: "It's you I've decided on, Miss Zi Yuan, whom we met under unusual circumstances."

The first sheriff was stunned for a moment: "Huh? Me?"

“That’s right, come and prove it to me.” Duke said, taking out “Mythical Armament: Purple Iris” from his inventory and handing it to Purple Iris. “Try it out, this is a mythical weapon that is exclusively for you.”

Chapter 391 More Money Needed

Duke handed Ziyuan the mythical weapon, which looked like a pair of dancing shoes.

Zi Yuan took the ballet shoes Duke handed her with a somewhat bewildered look. After glancing down at them briefly, she realized that they fit her perfectly. She looked up hesitantly, first glancing at the other woman beside her. Seeing the latter nod slightly, she then realized that everyone present was watching her movements.

Zi Yuan had no choice but to take off her original boots and put on these dancing shoes.

Besides her title as First Sheriff, she also has a well-known nickname: "Dragon Fury Dancer." As the saying goes, there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names; someone called "Dancing Purple Iris" couldn't possibly be someone who can't dance. In fact, the Dragon Dance, a unique technique combining the various abilities of a bloodline sorcerer (including physical and spellcasting abilities), is Purple Iris's signature move. When she takes her first dance step, it's when she truly intends to fight with all her might, and it's also the channel through which Purple Iris attempts to cross the threshold of legendary status.

Generally speaking, almost no one dares to appreciate this dragonborn's dance, let alone consider her a dancer. However... no matter how you look at it, Zi Yuan's dragon dance is quite excellent, and it's not impossible for her to step onto a big stage and become a national idol admired by millions.

Of course, Zi Yuan herself certainly wouldn't want to do something so ostentatious.

"I shouldn't be dancing, right?" Having changed into her dance shoes, Zi Yuan smiled somewhat awkwardly under everyone's gaze, then glared fiercely at Duke. "How am I supposed to use this?!"

Duke didn't know how to use the Mythical Armor either, since he had never used it before. Both Cecil and Little Black had learned to ignite the divine fire and find the set effect on their own.

He tilted his head, not thinking much of it, and casually said, "Shall I dance for everyone?"

"..."

Duke never expected that Ziyuan would actually tiptoe and take the first step of the Dragon Dance because of his casual remark.

Zi Yuan's dragon wings unfurled from her back, and the dragon horns on her forehead resembled a crown, making her appear unapproachable as she began to spin. The crystal-like dragon scales reflected a dazzling and brilliant light under the illumination, and with her powerful dance steps, they were presented to everyone present in a dreamlike and enchanting way.

This was not the delicate performance of an ordinary dancer, but a warrior's hymn to victory, and the last chance a hero seized as he greeted the dawn of triumph. Duke was captivated by the emotions contained in Zi Yuan's dance steps, and his gaze was involuntarily fixed on her interlacing, spinning, leaping, and landing movements.

And without realizing it.

The divine fire ignited the ground that Zi Yuan had just stepped on, and it was also ignited in her mirror-like surface, which resembled crystal dragon scales.

The dreamlike dragon dance came to an abrupt end.

Zi Yuan, who had stopped dancing at some point, frowned. She looked at Duke with some surprise, then at her own dragon scales adorned with divine fire, and murmured to herself:

"This is truly divine fire."

Zi Yuan's words caused the bigwigs of the three major forces present to show astonished expressions. They knew very well how skilled Zi Yuan was. She was a very promising dragon vein sorcerer. She had even touched the existence of legendary destiny. Like other top-level quasi-legendary beings, she could use the legendary destiny she was still building when she was risking her life.

However, she is also limited by her powerful dragon bloodline, making it difficult for her to become a true legend. Her legendary destiny is also fraught with difficulty, and she is unlikely to truly succeed in building it. Logically speaking, Zi Yuan has no chance of becoming a legend for at least a few years, let alone reaching the level of a god (not because gods are superior to legends, but simply because Zi Yuan has never been exposed to this aspect)... But the divine fire reflected in her scales is no fake!

Cecil is a legend, so it's not surprising that she ignited the divine fire with her own power.

Xiao Hei is the shadow that has recently caused a great stir in the floating city. She is also suspected to be a genuine legend (in reality, Xiao Hei is of course not a legend, but the floating city has not yet figured out that she and Monica are two different shadow creatures. The shadow suspected to be a legend is actually Monica). It is not impossible that she is a monster that can summon the shadow divine fire.

Moreover, both Cecil and Black are Duke's "own people," and they've concluded that their divine fire is related to him based solely on Duke's one-sided account.

The bigwigs present weren't that foolish.

But the significance of letting Ziyuan ignite the divine fire is completely different!

Could he really "tailor-make mythical weapons for anyone"?!

“I was right, wasn’t I?” Duke spread his hands helplessly, while Zi Yuan prematurely ended the duration of her Mythical Armor and carefully took off the pair of dancing shoes, intending to return them to Duke, but he refused. “Never mind, consider them a gift from me, Miss Zi Yuan. After all…”

He didn't finish his sentence, but winked at her, probably wanting to talk about the collaboration that had fallen through because Duke stood her up. This little gesture made her smile faintly.

But immediately, Zi Yuan was pushed aside by Rose, the impatient head of the Gauss family. The old lady showed a somewhat ingratiating expression and said anxiously, "Mr. Duke, what conditions do we need to exchange for a 'Mythical Armor'?"

"Rose, aren't you being a bit too hasty? Can't you maintain your composure?" The council president seemed to be an old acquaintance of Rose's. He rolled his eyes in annoyance and also came to Duke's side, pushing Rose aside. "Mr. Duke, I'd like to know what your fastest speed is at creating a Mythical Weapon? Is it like just now, where you can pick one out at random? Also, how many materials are needed to create a Mythical Weapon?"

Not only the council president and the head of the Rose family, but even Norton, who already had little face left, seemed to be considering whether he should swallow his pride and curry favor with Duke. The woman behind Ziyuan also frowned, patted Ziyuan's shoulder, and seemed to be trying to persuade her to allocate more resources to the sheriff through Ziyuan, with whom she had a good relationship.

Even now, these three major powers are still thinking about their own interests.

But at the same time, just how dire is the situation for the floating city now?

Why have these three major powers shown such a strong desire for the Mythical Armament?

Although divine fire is a power at the level of a god, don't legends and legendary destiny possess the same status? Whether it's the four major families, the sheriff, or the council, there should be no shortage of legends, right?

Duke frowned. He suddenly remembered Ida's words, but he quickly shook his head, trying to focus on the present and begin to think about how he should answer their questions.

He soon arrived at the answer:

"I'm not pretending anymore, I'm laying my cards on the table. If you want the Mythical Armor, you'll have to pay more."

Chapter 392 Life may deceive you, but mathematics will not.

Duke certainly didn't have the ability to mass-produce mythical weapons for the three major forces in the floating city. Every mythical weapon was obtained by him through a lottery. Although the limited gacha machine has been able to produce a mythical weapon with every single draw so far, which seems a bit unscientific, even if he were to get a mythical weapon every time he draws from the gacha machine, just like playing a hacked version of a pay-to-win mobile game, he still couldn't possibly give everyone here a mythical weapon, right?

Such a good thing should naturally be given to one's own partners first.

In other words, although Duke kept saying "we need to pay more," he was actually just making empty promises to everyone present.

When bosses make promises to their employees, do they ever consider whether those promises can actually be fulfilled?

The only problem is... these people might not see themselves as employees being given empty promises, but rather as clients paying for services.

"Whatever, I'm not from this world anyway. I can just pack up and leave when the time comes..."

"Huh? Duke, what are you talking about?"

Amber looked at him strangely, not having heard what he had just muttered. Duke glanced at Purple Iris, who was still fiddling with her ballet shoes, the president, who was stroking his beard as if deep in thought, and Norton, who looked displeased, and said without batting an eye, "I didn't say anything."

Duke does indeed have two Mythical Armor "stockpiles" at the moment, but they are exclusive to Monica and Amber respectively, and Duke is unlikely to sell them to the three major powers—and even if they bought them, they wouldn't be able to use them.

It was also thanks to the fact that the first mythical weapon he drew was Zi Yuan's, and Zi Yuan was among the first group of people who came to contact them, otherwise Duke would not have been able to fool the big shots of the floating city so easily.

In reality, they are probably just thinking "if you believe it, it exists; if you don't believe it, it doesn't." If what Duke said is true, that would be great, but if Duke is just fooling people... there's nothing they can do about it.

Mythical Armor might be the last straw they can grasp.

Incidentally, the reason Monica's mythical weapon survived is that she couldn't give it away because she couldn't find the former lord of the floating city, while Duke didn't want to hand over Amber's weapon to her so soon.

Although she might need the Mythic Armor more than Cecil and Blackie, Duke still didn't want to give it to her because... he had watched the video that came with the "Mythic Armor: Amber".

Thinking of this, Duke subconsciously glanced at Amber beside him. Her attention seemed to be fixed on Duke. As soon as Duke glanced at her, the lewd elf immediately realized it, winked at him, and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"No...nothing at all."

Duke shook his head somewhat guiltily, then quickly shifted his gaze to the three people left behind by each of the three factions in the floating city. Amber, observing his suspicious behavior, raised an eyebrow with some suspicion, but ultimately said nothing.

After leaving the Pandora family's territory, each of the three factions in the floating city left one person with Duke. The sheriff's side left Zi Yuan because she seemed to have a good relationship with Duke. The council's side left the elder himself, showing him great respect. The family's side unexpectedly left Norton.

This Norton wasn't as strong as the Norton Duke and the others knew. His personality seemed slightly different. If the Norton of the other world was a devout believer who only recognized the mute, with extremely strong action and an unpredictable and strange personality, then this Norton of the parallel world was obviously much more normal than the "Cavendish monster," otherwise he wouldn't have become a member of the Cavendish family.

However, the price of a more normal personality might be becoming "brainless" and "unhappy." While another Norton's thought process is unpredictable, this Norton's thinking is easily understood. It's hard to say whether this personality change is a good thing or a bad thing... but at least for Norton's own development, it's certainly not a good thing.

Well, I've gone off on a tangent.

Duke maliciously speculated that the reason the four families kept Norton instead of Rose was because Norton went back to the meeting and couldn't explain the situation, so they had to send Rose back with the intelligence. They were forced to leave Norton behind because he was still a near-legendary who had just touched the threshold of legend, and he was no pushover when it came to fighting.

Incidentally, Eve Pandora did not appear this time because she was seriously injured in the major events of the past few days.

“Mr. Duke.” The elder seemed to notice Duke’s gaze on them. He stroked his white beard and approached him to speak. “We learned about your backgrounds through intelligence sharing within the sheriff system… To be honest, the identity of being a visitor from a parallel world is a bit sensitive at this time.”

“Parallel worlds and the alternate dimensions connected to the floating city have nothing to do with each other,” Duke said with a smile. “Our floating city is a city ruled by spellcasters. Although it is also troubled by these alternate dimensions, the situation is much better than yours.”

The guild leader nodded, seemingly showing little dislike for the spellcaster: "That's really good."

Duke observed his expression and suddenly said:

"However, I'm also quite curious as to why the parliament can be so certain that this concentrated outbreak of links will continue to worsen?"

During the ten days that Duke and the others were trapped in Pandora's Box, the once peaceful and prosperous floating city suddenly experienced a series of interdimensional linking events. A large number of crown-level interdimensional spaces that directly affected the real world descended upon the city, and the numerous and complex world rules caught almost everyone in the floating city off guard.

In just ten days, the floating city suffered massive losses, and the destruction of the Pandora family's territory was just one small incident among many.

More importantly, according to the parliament's predictions, this concentrated outbreak of interdimensional links will continue to intensify in the future.

If this were in the floating city where Duke and his companions lived, such a prediction would certainly be credible—the legendary Great Witch's prophecies were not to be taken lightly, and no one dared to deny or ignore them. However, as far as Duke knew, there were no spellcasters in this floating city, at most only half-baked bloodline sorcerers like Zi Yuan.

“Our deductions are all derived from precise calculations.” The elder sighed, then forced a smile: “Life may deceive you, magic may betray you, but mathematics and calculation will not; they are eternal truths.”

Duke was slightly taken aback by the president's words.

He was naturally familiar with scientific thinking, but hearing such words in a world of swords and magic still surprised him a little. However, one sentence from the president's words caught his attention even more.

"'Magic might betray you'?" Duke raised an eyebrow and asked a question he had been pondering for a long time: "Speaking of which, why are there no spellcasters in this floating city, Master?"

"Because the spellcaster will bring disaster."

The president calmly said:

"This conclusion was reached through precise calculations."

Chapter 393 Different Beginnings, Same Fate

"Do you know the origin of this floating city?" The guild leader did not directly explain where the "precise calculations" he mentioned came from, but changed the subject to another seemingly unrelated question, "I wonder if the origins of the floating cities in the two parallel worlds are the same."

“As far as I know, there should be differences; at least the founders of the floating city that have been passed down are completely different.” Duke didn’t know why he suddenly brought this up, but since his purpose in coming to this world was to find the Little Prince, who was said to be the founder of the city, Duke answered with great interest, “But I don’t know the specifics.”

"It seems you also know that this floating city was built by a visitor from another dimension." The guild leader glanced at Duke and gave a faint wry smile. "That's right, the girl who called herself the Little Prince was the founder of the floating city. This city was not a miracle that this world could produce."