Chapter 283: 283 ’Treasury
After floating unsteadily like an inorganic object that had lost its weight for quite a while, Reiger suddenly felt solid ground beneath his feet.
The mist around them dispersed as if completing its task, allowing Reiger to finally see his surroundings clearly.
However, to his surprise, he found himself in a valley, standing in front of a heavy stone door without knowing when he had arrived there.
"Where is this...?"
Reiger glanced around, then turned to look at King Hemulinp, who had also appeared by his side at some unknown time.
"This is the kingdom’s treasury."
King Hemulinp suddenly smiled at Reiger, his eyes seemingly profound.
The "Mist of Nothingness" not only obstructs probing and the five senses, making it impossible to see through the mist, but it also affects the mind and memory of creatures caught within it.
Those who fall into the "Mist of Nothingness" have their memories while in the mist blurred, making the entire process hazy, and even memories from before or after entering the mist are somewhat affected, making it impossible to recall how they entered the mist or what they did to get there.
This influence is very strong; even high-level magicians with high resistance and protective measures against interference-type magic cannot resist it.
For example, Yuri once was influenced by the "Mist of Nothingness" and completely forgot the process surrounding the incident, which is why she said she had indeed been brought to the treasury, but she was unclear what happened in between. Once she regained her senses, she found herself inside the treasury. The same was true when she left; she was outside before she even realized it.
Even a strategic-level magician would be affected by the "Mist of Nothingness", which clearly shows how powerful the mist is; it is undoubtedly a treasure, a magical substance that can be called a secret treasure.
The only people who can avoid being affected by the "Mist of Nothingness" are those who carry special items, namely the king.
However, seeing Reiger’s clear-eyed expression, King Hemulinp immediately understood that this excessively young Sword Saint had not been affected by the "Mist of Nothingness" at all.
"This Reiger Brillhaut indeed has a secret."
King Hemulinp could not help but pay a few degrees more attention to Reiger.
King Hemulinp did not know whether previous kings had encountered such a situation, but as far as he was concerned, this was the first time he had met someone unaffected by the "Mist of Nothingness".
He had also brought many people here, all of whom were of significant stature, either strategic-level magicians or Sword Saints, but none of them could avoid being affected by the "Mist of Nothingness".
Only Reiger seemed completely unaffected. This even made King Hemulinp a bit worried that he might be able to see through the "Mist of Nothingness," see outside the mist, and know exactly where he was. He wondered if Reiger knew the location of the kingdom’s most mysterious treasury.
Fortunately, there wasn’t just one layer of safeguard here.
As the kingdom’s treasury, the strongest foundation, this place naturally also had protective measures in case it was discovered.
Here there were the same prohibitions as in the royal palace, where no magic could be used nor magic power invoked.
Here there was the highest level of protective barrier, second only to the strategic-level defensive magic "Light of the Celestial Pillar," which, once activated, could withstand thousands of foes.
Here there was also a guardian, a terrifyingly powerful guardian.
King Hemulinp then bowed towards a cabin next to the stone door, drawing Reiger’s attention, who was observing his surroundings, to that cabin.
Upon looking at it, Reiger’s eyes narrowed slightly.
A flash of transparent luster passed through his eyes, causing Reiger’s expression to become solemn.
"Alright," King Hemulinp then turned to Reiger and said, "Let’s go inside."
With that, King Hemulinp stepped forward and knocked on the thick stone door with his sword.
"Rumble..."
The next second, the stone door began to slowly open, emitting a deep sound that echoed around the valley-like terrain, gradually reverberating.
Soon, the stone door was fully open, and lights suddenly lit up inside, dispelling the darkness.
Reiger followed King Hemulinp inside, disappearing into the valley.
The valley immediately returned to silence.
"Reiger Brillhaut..."
A muttering sound finally faintly emanated from the cabin next to the stone door, then completely faded away.
...
Reiger finally understood why, when mentioning the kingdom’s treasury, even Yuri exhibited a highly reverential attitude.
Because the treasures here really were too numerous.
This place resembled a chamber of hidden treasures, surrounded by walls polished to extreme smoothness, and inside, shelves and boxes were placed, almost completely filling the floor.
In those numerous boxes, there were countless, dazzling gold coins and various expensive jewels.
On those shelves, there were many items that emitted a strange aura.
Among those items, there were neatly arranged ancient books, sets of armor arranged like rows of knights, numerous swords and weapons, and items such as potions, minerals, crystals, rings, necklaces, and many others—it can be said they had everything one could think of.
Reiger even saw an egg as large as a dinosaur’s, saw magic wands and staffs hanging on the walls, saw robes that only magicians would wear, saw a huge feather, and even saw several alchemical dolls, making him feel dizzy from the dazzling array, almost unable to keep his expression of astonishment from showing.
So many treasures together not only created a scene that was extremely shocking but also caused the magic contained in the numerous magical items to mingle together, spreading around like an invisible pressure. If one’s mental fortitude wasn’t strong enough, their legs might even give out, let alone maintain calm.
"How is it?"
King Hemulinp had been observing Reiger, and seeing him unable to hide a look of surprise, felt somewhat proud.
"This is the treasure of the Kingdom of Genas, accumulated over hundreds of years, through generations of kings, accumulated from various eras and places."
"Aside from the gold and jewels, any single item here, once brought outside, would cause a sensation—a secret treasure."
"Ordinary magical items can’t even be stored here; only those that even our royal family considers extremely precious are kept here."
Reiger believed this.
Not to mention others, just from the magic he felt from the neatly arranged shelf of swords, Reiger could confirm those weapons, each one was rated as a first-class special armament in the Earth Mistake World, and even among the first-class armaments, they were considered extremely powerful.
The sword that Albert Bolei had drawn once in front of Reiger, if placed here, might rank last; there were many stronger weapons here.
Even Reiger’s Hermit and The Fool, if placed here, might not be considered very strong weapons, unable to rank in the forefront.
Reiger couldn’t help but reach out and touch one of the nearby alchemical dolls.
The performance of this alchemical doll was probably far superior to his own combat mechanized puppet Type-I, and it might be comparable to a real Swordsman of level 5, or even better.
The only item on Reiger’s person that could compare with the treasures in this treasury and rank high among them was probably only the revival potion given by Tamayo from the Demon Slayer World.
This shows how many and how precious the treasures here are.
"What is this egg?"
Reiger had become a bit interested in the egg as large as a dinosaur’s.
"That is an Earth Dragon Egg,"
King Hemulinp, taking on the role of a guide, introduced it to Reiger.
"This egg was brought back two hundred years ago by a Sword Saint of our kingdom who was tasked to go to a territory of the kingdom suffering from demon invasion, to carry out a subjugation task. There, he killed an Earth Dragon, then discovered this egg inside the dragon’s stomach, and brought it back."
Earth Dragons are a type of low-tier dragon and, together with flying dragons, are considered subspecies.
Although flying dragons have wings and the appearance of a dragon, their size is not as large as that of dragons, and their power is also significantly less. Additionally, since they are born from the mating of dragons with other demons, they are not considered pure-blooded dragons and are thus regarded as subspecies.
On the other hand, Earth Dragons, unlike flying dragons, do not have wings and cannot fly, yet they possess a huge size comparable to that of giant dragons. They are also born from the mating of dragons with other demons, and thus, like flying dragons, are considered subspecies.
Although subspecies, creatures with any connection to dragons, such as Earth Dragons, are considered to be at the top of the food chain among demons.
For example, adult Earth Dragons are said to be difficult to subdue even by Sword Saints. Most Sword Saints, when encountering an adult Earth Dragon, choose to drive it away rather than kill it directly.
Unfortunately, an Earth Dragon’s size is immense, its vitality extremely tenacious, and its scales as hard as steel. Even Sword Saints struggle to cause much damage. Some Sword Saints, who practice sword techniques not focused on lethal force, might not even be able to breach an Earth Dragon’s defenses; thus, subduing one is out of the question.
Of course, being only a subspecies, not a true dragon, means that despite being unable to subdue it, a Sword Saint can still drive it away.
If it were a true dragon, that would pose a serious problem.
A true dragon, King of Demons, is formidable, beyond the reach of even a Sword Saint. The number of Sword Saints who have perished in the jaws of dragons throughout history is countless; that is the truly terrifying existence.
"We have smeared the surface of this Earth Dragon Egg with a special magical potion to delay its hatching. If the layer of potion on the surface were washed off, given the vitality of dragon species, this egg should hatch very soon,"
King Hemulinp said to Reiger with a smile.
"An Earth Dragon is undoubtedly a very high-tier summoning creature, extremely suitable for a control-type Mage whose main means of combat is summoning magic. If Lord Brilliant feels inclined, you may take it with you."