Light-Absorbing Flaming Gladius
"The Azure Dragon inside it is of Mythical grade, and possibly beyond LV100. Ahem, there is also a kind of museum down there with some extremely suitable items for the progress of our beloved Azure Dragon Sub-Division!"
'Heh, he changed from Main City to Sub-Division. So?' Tilting his head with his lips slightly pouted without letting the city lord know, Tongqiu kept on listening to the rest of his words.
"As long as you can manage to bring us back news from our sacred beast protector and all those items from the museum, I'll reward you kindly in the name of the entire Azure Dragon Sub-Division, young hero! State your price, hahahaha!" With even the words of 'Young Hero' having lost their luster, the city lord even became impatient as he quickened up his own words to the final, real matter that made him actually care to talk about.
"Mn, so I need lots of money as well as levels, I do not need any items as I'm sure that the Azure Dragon Sub-Division needs them more than what a single little me can. So I'll prefer some direct gold coins and some progress for my future, if you know what I mean? Hehe, I hope 'City Lord' can give this little person some of his help?" Tongqiu's foolish and ignorant words came to the oh so gladdened ears of the city lord as he began seeing Tongqiu as his own son!
The city lord then responded in a rather good mood: "But of course!! Hahaha! How about 2 and a half million gold coins and 5 levels for this incredible young hero 'Journeyer'? Heh heh heh."
*PING*...new quest available: [Plunder the Sacred Underground]: Quest type: Main quest, Quest time limit: None, Quest reward: Gold coins+2,500,000, Level+5 and Fame+100,000.
Tongqiu then accepted the quest, this time with his indifferent usual self instead, which made the city lord stupidly think for a little: "Mn, I accept."
But of course, the city lord didn't really care, this was a good robbery done in less than more than just a few minutes! Was there anything better than this?!
*PING*... you've accepted the quest: [Plunder the Sacred Underground]: Quest type: Main quest, Quest time limit: None, Quest reward: Gold coins+2,500,000, Level+5 and Fame+100,000.
"HAHA!! Good, ahem, I'm sorry to be calling you out like this but, it appears that my next visit has come to show herself, heh heh." As the city lord said this ever so abruptly after looking at the door behind Tongqiu who he could also 'see' an almost indiscernible red light flash for a few moments, Tongqiu also understood that maybe it was more than just a 'visit'. If it wasn't any more obvious, the city lord even rubbed his crotch right in front of him, before commencing to head towards the huge, thick doors.
Once the city lord passed past Tongqiu, Tongqiu himself took a last and scrutinizing glance towards everywhere before also going towards the doors as he hear the city lord call out to those outside: "Come in, please. Don't make this kind lady wait for too much!"
Creak~!
They were being opened really slowly and by the time Tongqiu ended up reaching the doors to exit the room, they were about to show who this lady was.
While waiting for a few more seconds, Tongqiu nodded noncommittally towards the city lord who did the same in return, albeit in a rather impatient and disdainful manner.
'Tsk.' Thinking that one must at least try to show manliness instead of rashness in these kinds of moments, Tongqiu gave up trying to appear normal as the doors were finally opened by the sweaty hands of some really sweaty guards.
The moment it happened...
"Eh? It's you?!"
...Tornyllia's voice invaded Tongqiu's front.
"W-what the..." After giving the city lord a little show, Tongqiu shook his head as he then lowered his head and stepped forwards to exit the room at last.
Creak~...
Then, the sound of the two doors and that of the muffled sound of the city lord's energetic voice sounded out as he exited the room.
Step.
Calmly halting his steps, Tongqiu's face then went a change as they became cold, besides being cruelly indifferent.
"Sigh..."
Thud! Thud!
As the sweaty hands of the guards were relaxingly pulling on the metal-like 'ropes' of the door so as to close them both, a pair of fully suited hands suddenly slapped against them before forcibly pushing them out once again. Giving Tongqiu both, glares of exasperation and that of respect.
. . .
Meanwhile, inside the luxurious 'observatory', Tornyllia's face changed a little after having seen Tongqiu go out without even uttering a single word in response. As she heard the city lord inquire about their relationship and how they met, merely answering with some shakes of her head and with the ceaseless waving of her hands so as to calm him down and 'tell' him to not worry about; she felt her own surroundings turn colorless and small.
"Ehehe, then how about visiting my place later on? Ah, my family would be more than honored to see such an incredible and kind woman, let alone speaking with one, haha!" The city lord's meaningful wording came to be as soon as small talk was over.
"Eh, oh, sure..."
Seeing her answer ever so obediently, the city lord was becoming quite invigorated as he then said: "Then, would you like to drink something? I have this special wine that..."
Creak~~...
At this moment, the sound of the doors being opened up came to be. Both of them, for some reason however, decided to ignore it as they kept on conversing.
Tongqiu's ears then picked up some words as he finally stepped once more into the room.
"...we'll know each other better, heheahaha! Oh, about the mission, don't worry, bah! I've already let it be handled by some other peasant, you worry about being with me, eh?"
'...' With a face that was obviously not friendly, Tongqiu had many thought go across his head so many uncountable amount of times as he then looked towards his right where a mild and seemingly obedient Tornyllia was robotically agreeing to whatever she was hearing the city lord's words from.
Step, step, step...
With quick steps, he moved to take her hand, intertwining their fingers and somewhat even longingly joining both of their sweaty palms against one another which made the heat they felt at the palm of her left and his right hand to increment horrendously.
"Actually, she's with me. We'll be working together to do some uncovering and plundering at the sacred place that city lord has shown interest in... hmm, we'll be going now, bye~!" With that, he 'dragged' Tornyllia away with their hands still locked together.
"Ah, but..." Tornyllia glared back at the city lord who didn't wanted to let her go, but feeling and knowing the one who was holding her hand and getting her out of there, she completely gave up as she obediently allowed herself to be pulled away.
Once outside the room, they kept on walking forwards, somewhat even more quickly as Tongqiu changed the way the held each other. With his right arm now around her waist from her back and his left hand intertwining with her left hand as well, as they walked faster and faster away from the immensely large 'observatory'.
Tornyllia could hear Tongqiu's grunts and some 'argh' and 'mmrrghh' as they walked outside the core center of the Azure Dragon city.
"T-T... Tongqiu? What is it?"
After some time, she couldn't help herself any more as she asked him for whatever was happening. Right now, they were going under a tunnel after having gone around in circles for along time, a couple of hours have already gone by and Tongqiu was completely noncommittal.
Under the tunnel with barely some light coming into their eyes and some clean, natural water going through the soles of their feet, Tongqiu had his eyes closed as he remained silent for a long while. After some time, his shoulder relaxed and his eyes opened as he then turned to look towards Tornyllia who was seemingly no longer acting like a harsh and brutish strong, independent woman and instead acted like a mild kitten who was caught fucking thins badly up.
Tongqiu's act was more or less for nothing after having intervened in-between whatever the fuck this idiot and the city lord's future relationship would've been. He seemingly 'furiously' walked forwards to stand right in front of her before opening his mouth and uttering out in a sharp tone: "You. What were you doing? Don't you even know what was all that about?!"
"Eeeh!" Reacting rather weakly and as if being bullied, Tornyllia was silent for a few seconds before falling into a submissively consideration. After a good while of silence which she unknowingly made Tongqiu calm down with as he gazed at her in many ways, did she finally respond: "I do, of course I do. It's been hundreds of years, of being alone, not even things around me staying for long. I... Received an invitation and, people kept telling me how nice and gentle of a man as well as generous and kind the city lord of the Azure Dragon Sub-Division was so I... Thought it would be fine if it was that way. I don't know..."
'...Are you serious? Hundreds of years? Ayayay...' After having some of his own thoughts come out, Tongqiu himself fell into a heavy pondering as he kept on looking at her serenely.
It was truth that Tongqiu has been completely alone himself for some time and only had some allowance every now and then which would be equal to Tornyllia's payday from working for the Bright Sunset Region, but he's spent less than a tenth of a hundred years, let alone many hundred years. She also seemed to have come to a breaking point in her endurance and resilience where it seemed as if she could no longer tolerate such absurdity.
Tongqiu tilted his head forwards while still looking at her, still deep in contemplation as his chest suddenly puffed up a lot before heaving down completely.
Slap!
Suddenly, he came in and gave her a resounding slap to her face, her left cheek taking in all that ardor on her skin and numbness in her mind.
"W-what?!" Some desperation started filling her entire being, seeing this, Tongqiu immediately acted.
"I don't care what kind of... silly, thought were you having but. For you to behave like a good dog for just some nice words from random people whom you don't even fucking now and from a fatso bastard who only wants to deflower you until your death; I'll nev-... for someone that Yao Yao has acknowledged, I won't allow you to fall in depravity like this!"
His words turned trembling and nervous as well as panicky whenever he was about to mention his own personal thoughts before either softening them or changing them for another purpose like the one where he was supposedly doing so for Yao Yao's sake.
"A-ah? Ah?!" Confused and lost, Tornyllia didn't know what to do. She still didn't know what came to be for her to receive such a hate-related action but, she then heard him rebuke her as if he himself cared about her a lot, yet he still tried to put that aside with the mention of a few words.
She then fell into a deathly silence after hearing all of his words come out from the devilish face in front of herself that held some inviting lips and extremely ferocious furrowed eyebrows with those extremely calm eyes.
"T-then..." Interrupting her words, Tongqiu grabbed her wrist and moved it atop his head.
Tshin~!
In the White Space, Tonkia and Irllytia finally back in her human form were having some girls' time as they talked to each other dangerously close with their bare bodies on top of the bed.
They suddenly felt the fluctuations in the space surrounding them completely as they became incredibly expectant, after a moment or two, Tongqiu appeared with what seemed to be... a new sister!
"Ah! Where-"
"Stop, this is..." After an interruption, Tongqiu then made an accurate yet brief explanation on the matter before telling her how to use it as well as having her in her 'white list' for entering this place however she wanted, just like Tonkia and Irllytia and the like can do.
After the explanation, Tongqiu guided her to the bed who now had a tempting dark-red pair of blankets instead of the snowy, perfect white ones as he also gave his women a meaningful glare.
"Ahem, were you seeing?" Asking towards Tonkia, Tongqiu only gave both her and Irllytia a cute little kiss on their foreheads and a hard, affectionate grip on their hands before leaving. Allowing them both to 'scold' her entirely.
"Hmm... how does she smell, Irllytia?"
"Oh... she smells funny! Haha..."
Tornyllia: "...?"
What happened, however, was a bit different from what he had imagined instead.
***
Azure Dragon Main City, on the west side of the city.
"SIGH~~..." Tongqiu shook his head while moving around the city, sure enough, there were many guards who looked and became rather alert whenever he was around them or spotted by them. Their difference in treating with him was also different to that of players, but not for the better, like before. He even went to the guards whom he previously spoke with at the northern gates, they were just as bad.
As he was walking, he received a notification from the system.
*PING*...you've received a message from "Zyv".
Opening that up with but nothing else to do, Tongqiu read through her little message as he walked towards a desolate zone to once again appear in his White Space.
Zyv: "Big Brother, I've arrived but I'm a bit tired~. I've been travelling for 20 hours daily and I'm now truly tired, also hungry~~! I'm also needing to hide so that I'm not detected 'officially' by the system thanks to a powerful NPC or the overlooking lord of the Region and it's been reaaaaaaaally tiresome!! So, I'm gonna take a day to recuperate, I don't want my Big Bro to see me all ugly! Tomorrow, we depart! xx-xxxx-xxxx."
Zyv's last few numbers were coordinates that Tongqiu had somewhat a familiar sense to them, he then sent a few words that expressed his understanding and told her to rest before receiving a message with a dumb face and its tongue out.
Tongqiu closed the message's interface before doing a quick scan around, he then entered his White Space after 15 minutes.
***
Having ignored the now dressed Tonkia and Irllytia as well as the completely joyful Tornyllia, Tongqiu moved away from them as he teleported his Prominent Magical Forge, Prominent Magical Mobile Pool, Prominent Hammer and Prominent Gloves among all the other Prominent type sub-class items for a blacksmith.
After checking everything up and having taken out some items that he'd be using as core items for the forge, or rather, upgrade this time; Tongqiu then began planning his next few moves for his soon-to-be-upgraded Sunfacing Brilliant Gladiuses!
x1 [Purple Sun Silver Crystal]: Type: Mineral, Grade: Formidable(Silver), Effect: A crystal that can be forged into harder than even the strongest of ordinary metals for weapons or tools, if used in the correct hands.
x2 [Glassy Sun-Absorbing Rock]: Type: Mineral, Grade: Formidable(Silver), Effect: 1,5 kilogram of the rarest type of common rocks found around all of Main Kingdom. Though it is extremely difficult to find unless one is in the right place, it is only useful for certain purposes, making it somewhat undesirable by many at the time of choosing the materials for either weapons or equipment.
[Light-defying Paper Sheet]: Type: Material, Grade: Formidable(Silver), Effect: Quite the useful materials from when forging into a weapon or accessory. If successful, the created item will be granted an extremely unique effect pertaining the dimension of Light.
As for the planning of the upgrading of his two old pals, it wasn't as simple as 'how to properly incorporate all these items in two different but identical blades', nope, it was more the problematic nature that the actual Sunfacing Brilliant Gladiuses have already and whether or not was he able to mold that according to his own class.
"Hmm..."
With his arms and elbows resting atop the workbench bought at a simple shop by Irllytia, Tongqiu spent easily 4 hours in just thinking alone. He had to go and get lunch for a little while as he also made sure to tell Diana to meet up after dinner in the living room for a certain matter which she knowingly and obediently accepted in response.
Once having spent some time in this matte, Tongqiu then made his first moves.
He put the Light-Defying Paper Sheet in the mobile pool for 15 minutes or so, and while he was doing so, he put both the Glassy Sun-Absorbing Rock and the Purple Sun Silver Crystal in the very deep ends of the furnace.
The prominent tools weren't that incredibly different than those that Tongqiu had already seen, merely having some 'magical' mark or two plastered onto their bodies who will shine up constantly with a pale yet dark blue sheen. There were also some kind of dull blue colored little and small crystals encrusted into such tools, but nothing else was remarkable from it all except the fact that thy gleamed a little when he touched them and slightly less shined when working with them.
As the Light-Defying Paper Sheet became a still flexible material yet of utter coldness, Tongqiu put it inside the forge with the others, when it was heating like crazy with a whitish brilliance he took it out and just as he did so, it became a miserable amount of melted material. It also was one that had an incredible-looking milky touch to it yet it still emitted a scorching flaming heat that not only deformed but also created a kind of aura that surrounded everywhere the liquid went.
He quickly caught it in a recipient before moving it to the already shaped mold.
After waiting for some more time, the pair of Glassy Sun-Absorbing Rock were both taken out as they were already heated to an incredible degree, about to melt into sweet lava-like substance. After handling it for a little, he hammered once both of them at the same time with a rather large hammer as they both instantly cracked and allowed a little of melted mineral to come out, afterwards Tongqiu once again put them back into the forge along with a recipient ready to receive it as soon as it melts down with the configuration of the magical forge set to separate liquids properly.
He then turned his attention to the Purple Sun Silver Crystal as it was about to melt completely into a purple yet hot liquid that wasn't like anything that he has had handled before, he placed a recipient below the furnace as he configured it as well. This time he had a to use a heat-resistant focused one as this one melted mineral was on a level and manner that he himself thought was not known to the real world, or at lest so for common knowledge. Thanks to the Prominent Fundamental Tool Box, he could take out anything that would be needed and it was truth, this recipient alone not only could hold the melted mineral alone but it could even do so in the most efficient manner.
While these two last minerals melted completely, Tongqiu was forging the core characteristics of his soon-to-be-upgraded gladiuses, he had already taken down the pair of Sunfacing Brilliant Gladiuses as he put them in the magical mobile pool entirely and let it freeze completely in less than 12 seconds.
After taking them out, he hammered down on them, harshly, heavily and even forcefully as they broke into little tiny pieces where not even the handle was spared. The instructions of both, normal forging and that of the Forge and Create branch explicitly advised players to use the disassembler to upgrade the required item. But to Tongqiu... that was too old fashioned!
...
V2: #2 4/10
