Free Web NovelChapter 2001: Chapter 2001: Stigmata of the Stars
"Heart of the Undead!"
An envelope with a letter was enclosed in the ice block. With Shard’s permission, Miss Benanis took it out:
"The Peace Church obtained this item last summer during the Coldwater Port incident.
The young man living in the harbor lost his lover, and after coming into contact with the curse of the ’Song of the Mermaid,’ he dreamed of an indescribable thing deep in the sea. He then voluntarily sought out the [Crimson Sect], offering himself as a willing sacrificial victim. He endured torment and died, allowing the Sect of the Evil God to resurrect his deceased lover using Divine Arts."
She read the content of the letter and quickly skimmed the rest of it, then handed the letter regretfully to Ciris behind her:
"You read the rest, I don’t like this story."
The young Golden-haired Girl continued to read the story on the letter:
"The desecration and filthy ritual brought the deceased girl back to life as an ’undead,’ but the cost was the soul’s incompleteness, and she was transformed into a hideous merman. She became a member of the [Crimson Sect] and participated in the Battle of Coldwater Port, where she was injured and fled into the deep sea. However, last winter, she surfaced at night, trying to find the broken body of the sacrificed man, only to be discovered and defeated by the church patrols along the coast. Her heart is the Heart of the Undead."
Ciris understood why Miss Benanis did not want to finish this story herself:
"The church’s actions were certainly right, but this story is just too sad."
"The Heart of the Undead does not merely require the heart of one resurrected; it demands the most intense emotion and the saddest story. Every Heart of the Undead represents a tragedy. The Heart of Stone is one, and so is this."
Shard shook his head, sighing while closing the box again. There was a preservation ritual inside the box, allowing the heart to be conserved for a long time.
"Yet, during the Coldwater Port incident, such things happened?"
Miss Aphrola asked nearby, as the second person to know Shard, she experienced last summer’s major event in the coastal port city on the West Coast of the Old Continent together with Shard:
"It seems that even in the corners unknown to us, throughout major events we personally experienced, there are many stories happening that we are unaware of."
"This is the wonder of life and adventure."
Shard said, taking the letter from Ciris, which also outlined the specific preservation methods and precautions for the heart. However, it wouldn’t remain in Shard’s possession for long; it would soon be used.
Opening the second box, because of the weight-reducing runes inside, all three boxes weighed the same. It was impossible to guess what the second box contained.
"Oh, the design is truly ingenious." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
A slender silver chain connected the inside cover and the interior side of the box. The chain worked with layers of silver metal partitions. When Shard placed the box flat and opened it correctly, it revealed a box structure constructed of four layers of metal partitions forming a five-layer parallel structure.
On each layer’s left and right ends and middle, brown leather buckles traversed through the metal plate or the inner compartments of the box base, securing metal bars of different colors. Three leather buckles tightly locked five bars of varying sizes and thicknesses. Still, Shard immediately recognized what each was:
"The bottom layer contains mountain copper, large in volume and hefty; the layer above is mithril, oh, the church is quite generous, almost comparable to the piece I got from the Randall Valley; the third layer is mithril, still substantial."
He intentionally removed that piece of mithril; a month ago, during a team mission, Shard obtained a piece of mithril ore from the Circle Sorcerer who wielded an invisible Relic Longsword, but the extracted mithril from that ore was not this much.
"Shard, if you are not in a hurry to use it, how about selling me a third of the mithril?"
Miss Aphrola asked nearby.
"Of course, no problem, I’ll go get the Night Watchman shortly and use that sword to cut it apart. No need to sell it; just take it. Our relationship doesn’t require such formalities, and I will seek your help in the future."
The Grand Witch of "Light" nodded with a smile. Shard placed the metal back and looked at the fourth layer:
"This is..."
The metal on the fourth layer had a greenish hue but was not bronze. It was a very heavy hue, and the metal’s surface had distinct scale marks.
"Dragon Scale Metal."
Ciris recognized it:
"Back in the Order’s inventory, there was a piece; I saw my father use a small portion during my childhood, but the metal kept by the Order was not this large. Dragon Scale Metal, Demon Gold, and Angel Silver are well-known special alloys related to races. Dragon Scale Metal is said to originate from dragon scales, believed to possess strong incantations and physical defense powers. It was typically used to make sturdy armor, but that was in the ancient era. In today’s times, this metal is particularly rare."
Mithril, mithril-like metals have always been scarce, and "dragon scale metal" has become rare along with the dwindling number of dragons.
"The church is really generous; just the value of these four pieces of metal far exceeds five-digit Gold Pounds, right?"
"And even if you had money, you couldn’t buy these."
Miss Benanis remarked.
As for the topmost metal, it was a block of silver carved with patterns of leaves, vines, and tree roots. Although the silver block itself had a faint miracle element, it was just ordinary silver that had been blessed. The key was the small red "stone" embedded in the center of the metal strip.
The stone was only about half the size of a fingernail, with a bright crimson hue. Shard’s breathing became heavy at a glance; he carefully removed the "stone," placed it in his palm, and viewed it against the sunlight outside the window:
"Philosopher’s Stone!"
The Philosopher’s Stone has no gradations in purity; it either is or isn’t, so its amount is estimated by volume.
"But why is it not as big as my original piece? It’s about two-thirds the size of the original."
"Shard, did you think the Philosopher’s Stone is easy to come by?"
Miss Aphrola reminded with a smile beside him:
"In my experience, the piece in your hand is already quite large."
"There’s also a letter here, oh, it’s handwritten."
Miss Benanis said. As for this letter, it was handwritten by that Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer of the Church of Nature, Sister Delphine’s friend, "Nightmare Witch" Miss Maria. In the letter, she stated that the metals in this chest, aside from the Philosopher’s Stone, were all gifts from the Church of the Five Gods. But that Philosopher’s Stone was a separate gift from the Church of Nature to the ’God Summoner’.
The Church of Nature was extending goodwill to the ’God Summoner’ through this gesture. As for why, among the gifts sent together by the Church of the Five Gods, the Church of Nature was allowed to prepare a separate one, that was a matter for the Church of the Five Gods. Although the Church of the Five Great Deities stood on the same side, there were inevitably conflicts of interest and tensions between heathens and heathens.
Since the items in the first two chests were what Shard had requested, the last chest should contain the things the church intended to give Shard beyond those metals.
With immense curiosity, he opened it and found the chest filled with straw. Among the straw lay items wrapped in soft red silk. Taking it out, Shard discovered inside the silk was a rather heavy silver crescent-shaped...
"Jade? Or metal?"
Only upon touching it did he realize the crescent was metal, larger than his palm, and felt extremely cold. Originally without light, once Shard touched it, the crescent began to emit a faint silver light. This was a relic with a high concentration of Whisper elements, and regardless of its function, it had one of the most exquisite appearances among relics Shard had seen.
There was also a letter in the box, this time opened by Ciris:
"Shard, try directing your spirit flow into it, slowly, several times. Oh, don’t forget to hold it horizontally in front of you. We should all step back a bit."
Shard tried it, and because he had a strong perception himself, he was quite adept at spirit control, successfully guiding his spirit flow into the "crescent" in his hand in one try.
The relic absorbed a small portion of Shard’s spirit, and soon the crescent’s glow became more vivid, but not blinding. The two ends of the crescent extended outward in the glow, and as the stretching concluded, a silver string connected the curved ends. Ultimately, in Shard’s hand appeared a silver longbow.
This longbow was exceptionally splendid, entirely silver and white, with intricate star map patterns carved on the bow’s body, adorned with crystal-like clusters. The grip part symbolized "starry sky" and "moonlight" with ancient runes, with discernible phrases being—
[Stigmata of the Stars, Mark of the Sky.]
The bowstring looked like a phantom, emitting a faint silver glimmer like the bow itself. Even in darkness, the glow of this longbow was illuminating. To Shard, it seemed like a weapon out of a fairy tale.
"Is this the Sage-Level Relic [Stigmata of the Stars]?"
Miss Benanis recognized what it was, and seeing Ciris holding the letter nod, she introduced to Shard: fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
"This is a very famous relic, quite renowned. This bow comes from the Second Era, or even the First Era. Legend has it that the Sage Form of the Ancient God [Sage of Silvermoon] personally used this weapon."
It should be from the Second Era because Shard’s Arcane Technique [Ancient Sound] did not trigger with his contact with the item. As for whether it was indeed used by that Ancient God, that was beyond Shard’s knowledge.
"This bow can be used without arrows; it forms arrows by concentrating its spirit when drawn, possessing strong powers of exorcism, magic-breaking, and penetration. It can even easily pierce through armor forged with mithril and dragon scale metal that has strong spellcraft resistance. When used under moonlight, the effect of the arrows is even more outstanding."
