Yi Qiang was sure that she wouldn't dare attack him in the royal palace, but he didn't want to stake his life on that. As such, he watched Maria vigilantly, prepared to defend himself at a moment's notice.

His worries were all but allayed, however, when the warrior bowed towards him, speaking up calmly. She was one of the few Yi Qiang had met that were capable of bowing to indicate respect while still broadcasting that they put themselves on the same level as the person to whom they were speaking.

Her voice was calm but not emotionless or disdainful, just placid. Her tone made her much more agreeable than most other "strong, cold woman" types, something Yi Qiang welcomed. He had met plenty of those, too, and they were irritating, though Yi Qiang had suppressed that at the time.

"I'm interested in a mutually beneficial trade."

Yi Qiang couldn't help but perk up an eyebrow. Why me?

"Continue, please."

"As you know, I received the Divine Reformation elixir as the prize for winning first place in the tournament. However, that item is all but useless to me - I have reached the peak of my strength, and no amount of talent will change that. I have dug out too much of my potential already. Though the potion would be useful, it would serve as a waste. However, you are Chosen. While I don't know exactly how that impacts your growth rate and potential, I know that the Divine Reformation elixir will be just as effective on you, if not more so. As such, I want to make a trade. My katana is unique, a legendary weapon. I acquired it by chance. However, it is not yet at its peak, as it was damaged and needs to recover. To do so, I need to feed it high-quality weapons, nursing it back to health.

"I'm not sure if you're aware of the quality of the items inside the royal armory. I am, however, and I am sure that a weapon high-quality enough to be devoured by my Sanguine will be present in that place. As such, I am willing to trade you the Divine Reformation elixir for a high-quality katana you find in the armory."

Hearing her words, the archer was shocked. I might still get the elixir after all, then? Convenient, and there's no reason for me to refuse - I have almost no need for items, especially weapons. Those are useless to me with Qi, and there's no risk for me - if I find something I lie, I can keep it, while if I don't, I can exchange it for what I wanted in the first place.

  Yi Qiang was decisive, nodding his head immediately.

  "I accept. However, don't be too confident that I'll bring something for your katana."

  Without delaying further, Yi Qiang entered the vault. His thoughts flitted to Shenyu. The archer had left him in the inn room, recognizing that the young dragon needed space. He could only provide that by weakening their telepathic connection with distance - it wouldn't fully go away, but something Yi Qiang had already discovered was that the greater the distance between the dragon and the marksman, the weaker their link was. That would usually be a weakness, but there were times when minds just needed space, and the ability to partly block that involuntary communication was crucial for that.

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  His eyes sharpened, and Yi Qiang surveyed his surroundings.

 The armory was larger than he expected, considering it was full of valuable items, spanning what looked like a few hundred meters long and a few dozen across. It was neatly organized, with each item displayed in an orderly and dignified fashion. 

  All in all, it was obvious the royal family took good care of their treasures.

 Yi Qiang began by determining what kind of item would be more valuable than the Divine Reformation elixir. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, it seemed that the armory just contained gear, and not any consumables or unique items that could enhance his power without needing to be equipped. That meant there was no chance of finding some sort of hidden gem or anything of the like.

  The archer supposed a ring or other accessory with stats that suited him well would be useful. Typically, weapons were the most valuable type of equipment on an individual basis, followed by accessories and then armor. Since Yi Qiang's Qi Control made it so that he didn't need weapons, accessories were what he needed the most.

  The hard part, however, was finding an accessory with good stats that suited him.

  At his level of power, he didn't want any flat bonuses, unless they were absolutely ridiculous. Instead, he would receive a greater boon from percentage-based increases, which would become more and more useful to him even as he progressed.

  Not delaying any longer, Yi Qiang wandered the armory, searching for any ring, necklace or trinket that happened to be displayed.

 It seemed they were less common than armor and weapons, for good reason - they were harder and more expensive to make than armor by far, and weapons were much more important than they were. Hence, accessories were in a strange limbo of supply and demand.  

  Regardless, he was still able to find quite a few interesting items in the huge armory. Yi Qiang reviewed all of his interesting discoveries in his mind once more, pondering whether or not it would be worth more to him than a Divine Reformation elixir.

Wind's Grace

Epic

+10% Agility

+5% Strength

+5% Dexterity

Profound Ring

Epic

+5% to all resource pools

+5% to all resource regeneration

Ring of Marksmanship

Epic

+5% to damage with bow

-5% to cost of bow skills

  Yi Qiang carefully considered it. It was true that any one of those rings would serve as an incredible boost to his combat power, and would likely accompany him for the rest of his journey. However, despite the fact that they were Epic rated, the highest rating Yi Qiang had seen as of yet, their effects seemed lacking compared to what the Divine Reformation elixir seemed to be able to do.

  It wasn't as if Yi Qiang could ignore the obvious fact that whoever organized the tournament put the value of the Divine Reformation elixir above that of anything in the armory, either, so his choice was clear.

  Yi Qiang walked around the armory, his eye immediately caught by a brightly-glowing katana. Exactly what I needed. 

  He took a walk around the room one more time, Analyzing every katana to find the best one.

  However, the shining sword he first found was the best yet, with incredible stats that made even Yi Qiang somewhat astonished. The difference between an accessory and weapon is huge, everything in this room is Epic rated but there's such a disparity between stats.

Nova's Glare

Epic

Base Damage: 3000

- Strength +30

- Agility +20

-Dexterity +10

-15% to blind opponent upon successful attack

  Nodding approvingly, Yi Qiang exited the armory to meet with Maria.