harleyscars Chapter 74 Sealed Artifacts
Chapter 74 Sealed Artifacts
Altair thought for a moment and said, "I'm sorry, I can't help you with this."
"You should know that I would never risk selling a weapon that has already been replicated at the Twilight Hermits' Gathering."
"So to help with this, I need to reopen the factory. But as you know, there are industry standards for firearms manufacturing."
"More importantly, it's impossible for me to build a brand new factory, hire people, manufacture products, and then sell them to hostile countries right under the noses of the Augustus family."
"So I'm really sorry. If you only need a small number of weapons, I can try to ship some out of the factory and give them to you for free."
"But I can't help you build new factories and sell them to hostile forces to start a war."
After explaining his difficulties, Altair asked curiously, "Hmm, why don't you support a special 'craftsman' to make these weapons?"
Looking at the wine glass in his hand, Adam slowly explained, "As I answered before, the expenditure is not proportional to the gain. My need has been singular from beginning to end: the pursuit of higher, extraordinary power. Developing technology is too slow."
"There's also the issue of 'technological blockade.' Excessive technological development can alter social structures and the collective unconscious. All of 'He' believes that the current era is just right, and there's no need for further progress in the short term."
Altair nodded in agreement: "I understand."
Adam put down his wine glass and, from who knows where, produced two items: an ornately decorated box and a translucent crystal the size of an egg.
He then said, "If you accept this commission, I can give you these two 'sealed artifacts' as payment."
Since Adam took out the two 'sealed items' and placed them on the table, Altair has been staring at them intently.
But when Adam said that he could give it to her as a reward, she instantly regained her senses.
At this moment, she longed to obtain the 'sealed artifact,' but she didn't really want to get involved in this matter.
After a quarter of an hour of silence, the greedy Altair finally reached for the two 'sealed artifacts'. He then said, "Fine. But I don't think such a small price is enough for me to obtain these two sealed artifacts."
"Tell me if you have any other requests."
Adam paused for a few seconds, then said:
"Not at the moment."
"Let's do it the same way as last time. Once you've fully matured, do me a small favor."
Altair's face was ashen, and he said with a mix of resignation and self-mockery, "Isn't it just because they think my sequence level is too low and I can't handle high-level games?"
Adam smiled at Altair but didn't answer the question. Silence, in fact, became the best response.
Altair was in a particularly bad mood at this moment and said to Adam, "Is there anything else? If not, I need to rest."
"That's all." But after saying that, Adam added, "Be careful not to climb the tech tree anymore."
After he finished speaking, Adam's figure in front of Altair began to gradually fade away.
After Adam left, Altair looked with delight at her sealed artifact.
A gold-plated 'jewelry box', approximately 20 centimeters long, 15 centimeters wide, and 10 centimeters high, in the style of a Ruen noble family.
Its surface is covered with exquisite and intricate openwork patterns, and inlaid with rubies, emeralds, sapphires and tiny diamonds.
However, deep within the pattern, one can vaguely see dark lines resembling star trails and doorways, which seem to flow slowly under the light.
In contrast, the other "sealed item" was rather unremarkable. It was about the size of an egg, mostly transparent, but with a faint yellow tint, and was an oval-shaped crystal.
What makes the crystal special is that countless tiny gear phantoms are suspended inside.
The reason Altair was greedy was that, despite using her "Appraiser" ability, she was unable to know the full extent of the "Sealed Artifact's" abilities; she could only sense that one was related to space and the other to herself.
The only items she can't identify now are 'sealed artifacts' of sequence six or higher.
After setting down the two 'sealed artifacts', Altair stood up, turned around, and closed the carriage door. He then entered the Spirit World, intending to use the 'Library's' 'ability' to appraise the two 'sealed artifacts'.
Jewelry box:
Ability 1: The box contains an independent space that can be used alone or swapped with reality.
Ability 2: "Can distort and hide a spatial region. The only way to exit the hidden space is through a specific door or by unhiding it."
Side effect 1: The holder will be cursed by the Abraham family and will hear delirium during the full moon, leading to a gradual mental breakdown.
Side effect 2: "Prolonged coverage of an area will cause spatial distortion in that area, generating spatial fragments that can attack the holder."
Altair wasn't worried about the jewelry box's first side effect; Abraham's curse was probably rapping by "Mr. Door".
The second side effect made her twitch at the corner of her mouth. She couldn't help but wonder how tragically this guy died, since he directly attacked the holder. Shouldn't it usually be a "spatial collapse"?
Regardless, Altair was quite satisfied with this sealed artifact. At worst, she could keep it in the 'library' from now on; there was no need to bring it into the real world and cover an area.
It has a pale yellow transparent crystal.
Ability 1: Can manipulate mechanical creations, such as mechanical dolls, machine tools, stamping presses, etc.
Ability 2: "Infuse with spirituality to summon steam elemental warriors"
Capability 3: Briefly enhances mechanical output, allowing ordinary steam engines to exceed their power limits.
Side effect 1: "Prolonged use may cause the skin to display a phantom image of rotating gears, and may lead to rigid and inflexible thinking."
Side effect 2: Disregard for life and emotions, even resorting to physical modifications, such as replacing flesh with mechanical parts.
The side effects of this sealing artifact are not too bad; as long as it is not used for more than three hours a day, there shouldn't be any major problems.
I wonder if it's possible to extend the usage time by using 'high-level grid' suppression; we can try that later.
After leaving the two sealed items in the "Library", Altair returned directly to the real world.
Having such a special 'treasure vault' is convenient, as it eliminates the need to find a dedicated storage room for the 'sealed items' to 'seal and store them'.
Back in the real world, Altair, disregarding his image, lay back in his chair and rubbed his temples with his thumb.
Having just transcended her cultivation level, her act of using the 'Library' to appraise two sealed artifacts caused her spiritual energy to be rapidly depleted. Now, her spiritual energy is basically exhausted.
At this moment, Altair recalled that the last time he had this feeling was when he had just become an Extraordinary. He never expected that so much time had passed.