!!!!! Pr Credits To Draconis Von BloodTrap & Dragonofsomesort Who Constantly Help With SR chapters, Please take the time to rep them for their work :)
Hello!, sorry for the late release my sleeping schedule is usually at 8pm due to me starting work again, so staying up at 12+am really makes me tired, its 2:25 am right now and after finishing a report i'm here now, better late then never ay? a few things first, the poll has spoken, il see what sort of artwork of Avrin i can have made, if anyone has any ideas or reasonable requests that don't include wanting me to add spoilers feel free to pm me or post a comment below.
Some people also suggested memorable scenes to be drawn, i don't mind this though i'm curious as to what scenes you would all like to be drawn? this would be a separate request from more pictures of Avrin of course, i'm not that stingy as to combine them both and treat it as one request.
Anyway with the sponsor queue cleared i can relax a bit, i also took the time to do a summary of last chapter like a few of you have requested, it was quite interesting to summarize a chapter a little troubling, that or i'm more tired then i thought
i felt like i haven't played well to Avrins tactical self, which is why i'm enjoying the pacing somewhat, he has learnt from his mistake on Seleria and is planning ahead and carefully.
P.S maybe a memorable scene would be Avrin battling Orphelium, would you guys like that? anyway goodnight and enjoy the chapter
Summary of Last Chapter.
Spoiler :
Last time on drago-.. i mean Spectral regalia!: The Anzazia mercenary group went on a hunting mission to defeat a blaze tortoise a creature they underestimated to be a peak master when it was at the early grand master level, of course after a few deaths, toomios the young man Avrin sold the sigil weapon to managed to kill it by going on top of it and cutting right through its shell to its innards using the sigil dark matter dagger he purchased from Avrin. This brought quite a bit of shock to his high ranking captains.
Avrin also decided to capture some bandits but not before using a dark frost mine to test on their leader, he hatched a plan to use the bandits to spread the use of his product in hope of giving his reputation a boost he feels it wouldn't hurt at all to try this and its a better use of the lives of these bandits then simply killing them, slave labor so to speak.
He gave them a deadline to return to him and even fabricated some lies to scare them from not doing what he wanted, Avrin then met a unique hulking creature in a barren desolate area during a sandstorm that tried to attack him, though this creature was easily overwhelmed, Avrin at first wanted to devour this creature but chose to convert it instead thanks to the strange lucent crystal formation on its back, Avrin had a feeling it was worth converting rather then killing.
After leaving the creature in a hole for the conversion process Avrin has slowly begun to put his plan into motion, of course only time will tell if he is successful.
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These ant things resembled their earthen counterparts. The only difference was these ants walked on two legs and looked more menacing with the height of an adult. The creatures rushed out of their burrows towards the worm’s corpse. Using their sharp mandibles that were just over one foot long with serrated edges, they began to tear at the worms two halves, cutting out parts to devour on the spot. A dozen seconds passed with Avrin staring fascinated at the scene. Over a hundred of these ant creatures had appeared, swarming over the corpse. It made Avrin feel disgusted, but also interested. He had read that there were a variety of ant races on this planet simply referred to as Antian tribes.
These tribes didn't communicate with the other species and kept to themselves, almost as if they were wild. Then again, it also spoke of their intelligence not being so great, which was also a high factor.
“That's my prey!...” Avrin's voice sounded out as his Divine Sense engulfed them and he activated his Phantom Pulse. The nearly two hundred ants all let out screeches as they were blown away from the corpse. Avrin felt that the strongest among them was at the Intermediate level. Because these were humanoids it would leave a sour feeling if he killed them, so he simply moved them away.
The Antians scattered and watched from a distance, hiding behind bones that had been ground by the sandstorm. Some even fled to their burrows with fear in their four beady eyes.
Avrin simply ‘hmphed’ before he floated down a few meters above the somewhat eaten right half of the worm creature. Nebula Mist flooded out of his index finger before engulfing the two halves in moments. Soon afterward, they began to rapidly shrink, forming into two clumps of Nebula Mist that fused together and shrunk even more until it rounded off into a pinky sized dark core.
Avrin snatched the core from the air and swallowed it. He eased up somewhat. Right now it was akin to feeling clogged and unable to move properly, but with the dark core taken it was as if the clogged parts were greased and were easier to move.
Avrin glanced at the creatures that looked up at him. It seems despite being ants and numbering in the hundreds or thousands it didn't leave them with any advantage in this land. The creatures here all possessed overwhelming strength that would easily put these creatures down should they dare make a move, leaving them nearly on the bottom of the food chain. Avrin felt some pity for them.
He made a mental note of this location. He was sure they may become useful later on. He raised his hand and a large mass of Nebula Mist clumped together, spanning over twenty meters in a sphere before the mass smashed down onto the parched ground. When the Nebula Mist dispersed, a mass of piled meat of no real quality was revealed. It looked like a horrid scene with all sorts of raw meats. Avrin knew that only he could make use of a species such as this should the time call for it. He soon left with a Divine Step, crossing a major threshold in distance before appearing in several places every so often and staying for several moments before vanishing again. His intention was to map the layout in his mind. His Divine Sense was not in top condition right now and it would be great to keep areas of interest memorized until he was 100%. One of his stops was a small city that seemed like an iron fortress riddled with armored guards who all seemed to have seen their fair share of bloodshed. The strongest individual within this fortress was a mid level Grandmaster.
Avrin carefully analysed the location and could see this fortress-like city was built at the entrance of a large canyon that was filled with dense fog. Though to Avrin, who had Divine Sense, it was easy for him to scan it and see the many creatures and beasts within. He could see that the entrance from where the fog and fortress connected was heavily guarded and fighting was underway.
“-Could this fortress be used as a way to keep these creatures at bay? Interesting. It seems I have a potential buyer for my products when the time arises-” With another mental note made, Avrin’s body turned to ash before reappearing in another distant location. His other intention was to search for places that may prove as a good way to seek out buyers. He intended to sell products of war, so what other locations would be best than those where conflict arose.
If Avrin didn't want to repeat the mistakes he made on Seleria, he was going to do things more openly and establish connections. He knew this world was most likely in an open area within the universe where beings of immense power went through every so often.
Avrin had spent the remainder of the day exploring and killing the occasional creature to get dark cores that he quickly devoured. By the end of the day and start of the new at 6:00am he had gained a substantial amount of power. Unfortunately his body was like a connection of wires. He could have one-hundred wires with ninety-nine of them connected, but if that last wire wasn't, it would severely affect his strength. But when that one-hundredth wire was connected it would allow his peak with no issues.
The market bazaar was currently not as busy at 6:30am. This was because all the mid and lower section stores were in the process of restocking and opening their shops, thus all the customers who had certain needs would wait until 7:00am before appearing. These were usually the mercs who had to prepare in the morning and didn't have the time to come so early.
Of course, in the lower section of the of the market bazaar, the same dodgey merchants were chatting with each other while stuffing their bellies and putting out broken or fake goods. One would think it was a miracle that they were even allowed to set up shop here, but a golden rule was that if you buy it, then it’s your fault for not realising its quality.
Back in that spot Avrin was sitting, he had set up everything again, but this time instead of creature materials he had placed the Dark Frost mines neatly to look more appealing. He had also used Nebula Mist to create a more appealing red velvet and silk embroidered cloth on a flat mahogany board. This way even if he was a merchant of the lower section one would have to notice the quality look that he had set up, especially since he was sure velvet and silk was not something of this world.
Though his set up attracted the attention of one of the lower merchants. It was the dodgey merchant that caused him some trouble before with the round belly. “That's a nice looking cloth there, how about you sell it to me friend? I'll give you one Haze crys-”
“Piss off…” Avrin interrupted. The merchant’s body shook with fear as he could feel a heavy pressure emanating from Avrin. He quickly scampered away back to his own stall. Avrin was in no mood to deal with these buffoons. He had planned to be gone from this section as quickly as he could.
A light brown cloaked figure entered the market bazaar. This figure stopped moments after entering and looked around. Anyone who had seen him before would recognize him as the man with the silver winged helmet that led an Anzazia group to kill a Blaze Tortoise. “-Tomios said he would be near an alley…-” Glancing around, he spotted Avrin’s black cloaked figure sitting cross-legged behind the neatly displayed Dark Frost mines.
As the man approached, the skinny merchant that resemble a snake thought he was heading towards him due to being close to Avrin. “Welcome, welcome to my humble Red Dune stall, how can I-”
He stopped talking as he saw the man ignore him and walk past his stall towards Avrin. Seeing this infuriated him. “-I knew he would take customers. Damnit, Damniiiit!!-” Clenching his fists in anger, he didn't dare to go chase Avrin away due to the guards as well as fear of him.
Avrin’s Divine Sense was at a constant ten meters in all directions. He had his eyes shut to contemplate his thoughts before he detected the man. Avrin slowly raised his head, the plain white mask made from steel reflecting some light. But the faintly glowing blue eyes behind the mask would give anyone a sense of caution.
“Good morning, friend. One of my men yesterday purchased a Sigil weapon from here at a reasonable price. Matters like this are always considered serious to the group I belong to, which is why I'm here alone to avoid issues and to see with my own eyes if he was telling the truth or not.”
Avrin carefully examined the man. It would do him no good to be antisocial. In fact he gave a sly smirk as he had already expected something like this to happen. “Of course. The method I use to create Sigil weapons is quite unique. That being said, I can guarantee that it will not lose out to any you buy on the same level. I’m also willing to negotiate prices.”
The man felt his heart tremble slightly with anticipation but he held himself back as he hadn't seen anything just yet. “Do you have any on hand? I would prefer to look at what I buy first.”
Avrin didn't feel this was unnecessary. After all, they hadn't met and convincing him would be easy.
He extended his hand and smiled. “Would you happen to have a Haze crystal for me to use? One will do.” The man felt his face twitch slightly. He remained quiet for a moment before clearing his throat. It was only a Haze crystal. He would get three every month as pay. “Of course, as long as you intend to pay it back.”
He reached into a small enchanted sack that had a brown look but gave off a metallic, dark glow. He pulled out one Haze crystal and passed it to Avrin. Avrin didn't mind if others watched, in fact it would do him some good to spread his reputation, so he didn't need to hide it.
“Watch carefully.” Avrin held the Haze crystal in his left hand and moved his right index finger to touch the center of it. Nebula Mist swirled around his finger before moving around the Haze crystal. It began to form the Sigil’s shape at a fair pace.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The man was stunned at what he was seeing. He had never heard of such a strange magic before. He had yet to view results so he continued to keep composed. It was only until ten seconds passed did the Nebula Mist stop flowing out from Avrin’s finger, leaving the completed Sigil made of dark matter in Avrin’s hand. It looked identical to the one he sold to Tomios in all aspects, including the crystal encrusted in the center of it with thin purple veins wrapped around it.
Avrin tossed the Sigil to the man, who caught it with both hands before gazing at it. The man’s eyes narrowed for a moment before he began to regulate some mana from his body to surge into it. Strangely enough, his brows creased as he found that it held no reaction apart from the Sigil absorbing his mana and storing it within the Haze crystal.
“This doesn't seem to work….are you trying to sell-” Avrin smiled and spoke “Trigger Gladius.” The Sigil in the man’s hand began to reform in front of his eyes. On reflex he let it go and it dropped to the ground. The moment it hit it had already reformed into a roman gladius, except the blade and hilt were glowing metallic purple. “This…” The man wasn't sure what to think.
“My Sigils are special. I understand that Sigil weapons usually require those with mana to use them which could be considered an issue in the aspect that only people who are able to regulate their mana smoothly to be able to use them. My Sigils not only boast the same level of durability, but they also do not require those with smooth mana regulation to activate them. That isn't to say there is no positive. By feeding the Sigil mana of any sort you're able to evolve it and make it stronger. As for how strong, not even I know.”
Avrin’s words flew out smoothly as he began to speak of the perks of buying one of his Sigil weapons. “Incredible…. If what you say is true…” The man carefully picked up the gladius before raising his right hand. He regulated his mana over that hand, forming a simple field. He then carefully slid the gladius’s blade edge across the hand protected by this sheet of mana. To his surprise it effortlessly sliced through, as if the sheet of mana were paper, and even gave his hand a smooth, perfect cut. Of course, he was careful and the cut was not too large.
“My name is Sullivan, I'm a commander of the Anzazia mercenary group. I am interested in purchasing Sigil weapons, though I am not sure if you can still be trusted as I have never heard of you before. I hope you can forgive me for this. That being said, a trial purchase wouldn't be off the table, correct?”
Avrin didn't expect to get anywhere quickly, all he could do was try his best to boost himself. “I understand. This is fine, in fact I'll give you a good deal. I understand that the lowest rank Sigil starts off at the Uncommon level, and even then those are five Haze crystals each, mainly because of their durability and magical properties. That being said, I'll sell the same level of item for three Haze crystals each. My Sigil weapons are also capable of easy transportation, able to turn into rings, necklaces, anklets, and such. If you purchase ten today, I will throw in a few new trap devices I created that is able to injure creatures up to the peak Master level.
Sullivan thought for a moment. If what Avrin said was true then he would be in for a good deal. In fact he had already gotten permission from the higher ups to take some funds with him just in case he did encounter something good. Despite that, they didn't treat the matter seriously and simply felt it was a passing whim. Sullivan would have to return the funds if he didn't find anything.
“Thirty Haze crystals is it….but where do you store them? I don't see them around?” Avrin smiled at Sullivan’s question. “You should know that the Haze crystal Sigils, although great, can only come in various forms, such as daggers, short swords, and bows.” It is possible to have them form into larger weapons such as great swords and warhammers, but I only recommend this after the Haze crystal is fed with enough mana, at which point it should be just a tiny bit off the Rare quality. As for where I have them, I prefer to make them on the spot. I'm a bit low on Haze crystals as you have seen. Consider the gladius as payment for the one I borrowed. As for the orders you made, I will be using the payment you give me to create them.”
Avrin tried to sugar coat his words well, trying to make negatives seem like positives. It would be a good thing if he was able to convince Sullivan to buy more, but he doubted this man would so easily give in. “You must have encountered some bad luck. Your skill seems amazing, are you able to make stronger Sigils?“
Avrin looked carefully at Sullivan and smiled. “My dear friend, if there is one downside to me making Sigils, it's that every level requires a higher grade crystal to make. If you want a Rare level weapon without waiting for your Sigil made from a Haze crystal to grow enough to reach that stage, I would need an Unclouded crystal. I'm sure you know Sigil weapons of that level are usually the mainly sought after rarity. But between me and you, I'm confident that if you can provide me a Luminous and a Cored crystal, I could turn them into Unique and Legendary level Sigil weapons.”
Sullivan let out a laugh as he felt this was truly something. “Hahaha, forgive me for not getting your name?” Avrin also let out a soft chuckle. He could tell Sullivan didn't take him seriously, but that would be his problem. “Avrin. My name is Avrin.”
Sullivan reached into his enchanted sack and pulled out another sack from within that contained over fifty Haze crystals. He sorted through them and handed thirty to Avrin. “Well, Mister Avrin, here. We see to believe. Those level of Lucent crystals are quite hard to come by. I don't think in my lifetime I will own one Luminous crystal. Even if you were telling the truth, you wouldn't be selling in this place. You would definitely be sought after by empires.”
Avrin didn't reply quickly as he began to from Sigil weapons from the crystals. Of course, what he said was somewhat of a lie before. A higher grade Lucent crystal didn't mean a stronger Sigil. In fact, if he wanted to, he was certain at this current strength he could create a Legendary weapon, and at his peak strength he would be capable of making Sigil weapons as strong as Septim’s. After all, who could match him when it came to creation. Dark matter is a progenitor of creation, it would be laughable to say that he wouldn't be able to surpass anyone in a craft or anything that required creation.
“Then I look forward to the day I can show you,“ He replied after finishing the second Sigil. Time passed, and occasionally the merchants would look over curiously. They could only see faint glowing lights coming from Avrin’s area. They weren't sure what was going on. Every time Avrin completed a Sigil, Sullivan would use the command “”trigger ring”” that Avrin had taught him and then store it in the enchanted sack.
After the tenth sigil weapon, Avrin handed Sullivan all the Dark Frost mines and explained how to use them. It was only after several minutes of explaining did Sullivan’s calm look turn serious. His face paled somewhat as he heard of what these could do. “Do not forget. Bury it and place your finger ten inches or so above the mine. Feed it some mana, then say ‘trigger mine, on’, to activate it or ‘trigger mine, off’ to deactivate it. These are dangerous and meant to be used on large creatures.”
It had been a half hour since Sullivan entered the market bazaar. He had sat down cross legged like Avrin at the twenty minute mark and was laughing with excitement whenever Avrin spoke about the positives. He felt if Avrin’s products were as good as he said, then they would get along nicely.
Sullivan soon left, leaving Avrin with a nice profit of twenty Haze crystals. Avrin greedily picked them up and was about to put them away before he remembered that Orphelium had stolen the enchanted sack. This made Avrin’s heart surge with anger. “Take my things, will you. You're going to make a good dark core once I'm done with you…” Avrin took a deep breath before forming a leather sack that he placed the Haze crystals in.
The merchants saw the small pile and looked with envy and greed. They could tell that the man Avrin had been talking to had closed a deal with him. “Just what did he sell to make so many Haze crystals….that's quite an amount….shit, why did we have to piss him off. We could have maybe gotten one or two things from him…” The round-bellied merchant uttered with dissatisfaction to the skinny counterpart who was clutching onto his cap with fury. “Just my damn luck…”
Avrin stood up and headed off. His first destination was the book shop in the midsection. With his Divine Sense he could tell they had a fair assortment of books and what he lacked most was not a way to make Haze crystals fall into his hands, it was knowledge. Blending into the bustling crowd in the middle section anyone could tell what a day it was. Merchants shouting over one another to sell and promote their goods, trinkets and jewelry or fresh ingredients that emitted some mana as well as rare tomes that were being auctioned in public, the lowest of which had sold for twelve Unclouded crystals.
The potential and profit were enough to make a common man's heart ache with jealousy, but to Avrin it was inevitable that he would reach that stage and higher. The book shop building was quite small, then again a majority of the middle section shops were. Books couldn't be replicated easily with magic and only those high tier individuals at the Sage or Mythical level would be able to write at a fast pace, but those individuals had better things to do and wouldn't write only to have their books sold in such shops. This made books a rare commodity, from farming techniques to history and even skills such as Sigil crafting or blacksmithing, it was all worth its weight in gold so to speak.
Avrin looked around curiously. The store itself had an aged pine scent, and everything was neatly stacked. Because of his attire, he attracted a bit of attention from the few customers and even the young lady who kept an eye on him.
Avrin didn't need anything too fancy. The prices were marked on the store shelves. Finding a copy of a book was incredibly rare, as no one would be so patient as to take the time to write another unless they made quite a profit.
Avrin had decided with a simple assortment of books, The Province of Lav’Faliva, Sordjians Glossary of Creatures 1 & 2, Garphelt Reij’s Adventures Around the world of Tya’shara. Avrin understood that many of the authors would come up with titles that were either long or promoted themselves as if they had a complex with not wanting to be forgotten. That being said it was more useful for him because it explained the contents of the book better.
In the end, Avrin decided to purchase those as well as three others which were simply recollections of individuals who wanted to sell all that they knew. Avrin didn't doubt that it would be worth something. No one would dare write a book of shit and try to sell it, it would waste their time and even show they were fools.
“Hmmm?” the young lady saw Avrin come over with a small stack of books. She was a little surprised but also skeptical. She would, at most, sell one book every two weeks, but it was enough to keep the store running. She wondered if Avrin really wanted to buy these. After all, many people would simply treat this as a library and she would chase those freeloaders out.
“I would like to buy these.“ The lady was stunned. She was immediately filled with skepticism, but as soon as Avrin reached into the small leather sack and pull out six Haze crystals her heart clenched. This was simply astounding, three months of profit in one day. She had never experienced this before. She quickly gave a warm smile as she laughed and tried to sound cute. “Dear customer, of course you can buy these. Please wait a moment and I will wrap these up. You must be quite rich, I'm sure these are a gift for someone. The books that I sell are of the highest quality.”
The lady had gone on and on, bragging and trying to chat up Avrin as if she hoped he would buy more, though Avrin would receive the occasional glare from some male onlookers as another reason they would come here would be to look at the young lady and try to hit on her. But here she was, speaking to Avrin as if she had a crush.
Avrin had no real reaction, this was expected of money. But it made him smile slightly. The only person who had made an effort to flirt with him over a long span was Izanami. A strange feeling rose up in his mind. He had a slight urge to see her and Ayame again. He wondered if they had gone with what he said before he converted all of Seleria. He also remembered his promise to Syrana. He had another odd feeling that he would be seeing her and the others again quite soon.
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Avrin's Inner Workings Status
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Dark Stage Control ParticlesType 12100%Dark Stage ParticlesType 12100%God Essence WeaponsAstaroth-ScytheLimos-VajraGod Essence EquipmentSarcanus-Armor