Star Forge Titan

Since they appeared here, these two guys had obviously completed their mission ahead of time, knocking down other people in the manor one by one to ensure that they would not be disturbed by the sudden appearance of the sheriff before the three of them achieved their goal.

To be honest, if Catherine and her colleagues from the Ninth Security Department caught him like this, Alvin would have to look down at the increasingly bright red Armor of Despair on his body with a speechless expression. It would have been very embarrassing.

By the way, the moment he chopped off Earl Jim's head, he heard heroic laughter and applause from somewhere in the sky, which was clearer than before.

As he thought about this, Ivan couldn't help but reveal a grimace of toothache. He'd noticed another mark on this pseudo-Despair Armor, crafted from ordinary steel. This time, it was engraved on the right shoulder armor, shaped like a demon's skull, right in the center of the skull, right between the eyebrows.

This gave Alvin an illusion, as if he saw a rich man with a dog's head of some unknown breed, happily throwing handfuls of gold coins at him as if they were not money. Even though he was completely disdainful to pick them up, the other party still enjoyed it.

If this continues, once all thirteen marks are collected, this set of pseudo-despair armor probably won't need to be prefixed with "pseudo". It can be directly called the "Thirteen-layer despair curse armor".

You should know that the full set of despair armor distributed to the genuine Hell Hunter Corps in the future Deep Hell Killing Heaven, in addition to the materials and forging methods, the most important thing is the thirteen blessings, or thirteen curses, from the Blood God Kongruiel.

The resulting powerful magic armor (or cursed armor) will make the wearer forever angry, forever fighting, forever bloodthirsty, forever fighting to the death, forever standing firm, and so on.

Ordinary people might be afraid of this, but in the eyes of the believers of Terror, these can be regarded as powerful blessings from Terror.

Furthermore, the mark of the evil god that exists in the material world can be quickly transformed into a powerful "blessing" as long as the corresponding ceremony is held.

Furthermore, the spirit of the lamb-like Karlbant had become even more solid than before, practically tucked into a ball like a plush toy, with almost no difference in feel. This rapid growth, or rather recovery, was probably due to it picking up all the money someone had dropped.

As a demon vanguard, his silly and cute appearance now cannot conceal his demonic nature. Seeing the little white sheep running back with a shrunken axe in its mouth and a spherical twisted soul in one hand, Ivan silently reminded himself in his heart.

"To sum up, the early goals have been basically achieved."

As he spoke, the tall warrior in red armor first looked at the key held high in Khayon's hand, and then looked at Earl Jim who died with his eyes open.

"By the way, where did you find this?" Alvin gestured at the silver key in Kayang's hand.

"Looking at the butler's body over there, it's clear he wasn't the loyal old servant you see in chivalric novels," Khayon shrugged and said jokingly.

"Is it the butler this time?" Alvin muttered, but he didn't feel too surprised.

The game's mission plots certainly have hidden elements. The plot where the butler is a cultist can be triggered every three or four times. At that time, the key to the count's private museum is probably in his possession.

As for how the key actually got to the butler, we have to ask what the master and servant are up to.

"You two, although this is in the suburbs, the house collapse is so loud that it's hard not to alert the others nearby, right? It's best to do anything as quickly as possible." The hairy druid in the form of a sled dog reminded them:

"That makes sense." Alvin nodded in affirmation.

So, several people immediately went to Earl Jim's private museum.

Before leaving, Khayon took only a few breaths to pull off all the valuable magic equipment and ornaments from the earl's body. His skillful and swift movements made his companions look at him sideways.

"It would be a waste if we don't take it." Ka Yang explained naturally.

"That's what I said, but you're too skilled." Ivan twitched his mouth and complained:

"Hey, hurry up, don't you still need to find materials for promotion?" Ka Yang laughed and let the matter go.

"In short, we only take what we need. After all, we are not real robbers." The black-haired boy said in a relatively pragmatic and bottom-line manner:

"Well said." Looking at the earl whose head was chopped off and the noble villa with an entire floor collapsed, Khayon nodded in agreement without hesitation.

"Tsk, hypocritical." The lamb-shaped Calbant curled his lips, and then Ivan smiled and pinched him in his hand, squeezing him until his eyes almost popped out.

As for Bryant, now he just hopes that he can be as dumb as a sled dog.

The commotion didn't last long, and the pragmatic people immediately began looking for the entrance to the private museum.

Fortunately, although the building itself was severely damaged, the door to the Earl's Private Museum was still easy to find.

This door, clad in solid wood, resembled a single, integrated wall, save for the keyhole in the center. Beneath the wooden exterior, which was more decorative than practical, the interior was crafted entirely from a sturdy alloy, making it difficult to destroy with ordinary magic or physical means.

Fortunately, several people have found the key needed to open the door, and the magic fluctuations needed to open the door can also be fooled by the earl's soul.

Khayon inserted the key into the lock, and a beam of light shone from within. From the keyhole, the light spread upward, outlining the contours of the two doors. Then, Calbant brought the Earl's soul closer and squeezed it hard, extracting a stream of magic from it like squeezing a towel.

Magical energy isn't limited to the physical body; even after leaving the body, a significant amount remains within the soul. After reaching a higher level, the magic stored within the soul is even greater than that within the physical body. This is why Karbant was able to extract magic energy from the Earl's remaining soul after his death.

After detecting the magic fluctuations belonging to the Earl himself, the magic door finally opened completely, and white magic lights lit up inside.

"You guys do whatever you want. I'll go find the meteorite I need." Waving to the two of them, Alvin walked into the gate without hesitation.

Because he knew that after opening the door in the correct way, all the mechanisms inside would be in a closed state, so there was no need to worry about accidents such as a dozen arrows being shot out from the corner or a large iron cage being lowered from the ceiling.

Not caring about those colorful and expensive gems, as an avid mineral collector, Earl Jim not only collected many meteorites, but also a large number of rare minerals such as gems and crystals.

Following the route he remembered, the tall, black-haired boy arrived at a display case in the center of the museum without much detour.

The lower half of the prismatic display case is made of black marble, while the upper half is covered in completely transparent glass. The protective magic attached to it is no weaker than that of the door outside.

Obviously, the things placed inside are the Earl's favorites, so he protects them in such a strict manner.

At this moment, through the glass display case, Alvin squinted his eyes and looked carefully at the collectibles displayed inside.

It was an ordinary gray-brown rock, and at first glance it looked like an ordinary stone picked up from the roadside.

But under the bright light of the magic lamp, on the surface of the seemingly inconspicuous gray-brown stone, you can find many tiny bright surfaces that are shining with faint reflections like stars in the night sky.

Those were not gems or crystals embedded in it, but pieces of cold, hard and smooth metal minerals.

Looking at this strange meteorite that was completely different from its ordinary appearance, Alvin subconsciously held his breath and then slowly read out its name.

"The Falling Star—Luciferna."

Chapter 182: Gold Diamond Arrives

Looking at the meteorite that seemed plain but was actually extremely magnificent, Alvin, who had the key in his hand, naturally would not choose to use brutal means such as breaking the glass cover to obtain it.

Flip up a piece of the golden decoration on the edge of the black marble base. It is a keyhole hidden in the decoration, and it is usually difficult to distinguish it from the ordinary decorations around it.

Therefore, when faced with a display case with defensive magic attached, most door-kicking players would usually choose to directly summon up twelve layers of brute force to smash the outer cover with a hammer, and then, despite the counterattack of the powerful defensive magic, grab the meteorite and the evidence of the Minister of Agriculture's crime hidden in the secret box of the display case and run away.

After all, unless the craftsmanship of transparent glass is further improved, even if special materials are added to make it an enchanted and enhanced version, its absolute defense cannot be compared with metal or other stronger and more resilient materials.

Later, a technical player chose to enter the manor in stealth, intending to secretly obtain evidence and meteorites in a silent way.

To this end, he spent a lot of energy practicing relevant skills, such as silent footsteps, shadow cover, and finding and disabling mechanisms required to open hidden mechanisms.

However, after he finally sneaked into the Earl's private museum, he found that secretly opening the display case used to store meteorites was much more troublesome than he had expected. The corresponding skills were required, and only a transcendent of at least the second level could do it.

then……

He had no choice but to break the glass like those unskilled door-kickers, grab the mission props and rewards, and run away despite the counterattack of defensive magic and the guards who rushed over after hearing the alarm.

The only benefit of doing this is probably the successful discovery of the hidden keyhole on the base below the display case, which makes it easier for players to get the key and enter the museum later.

Thinking of this, Ivan couldn't help but look nostalgic. The Rogue player in their guild was a high school girl who was full of energy and active. She was usually very lively and had tried to crack the dungeon herself during the dungeon, but as for the result~

Of course, he pierced the glass with a hammer, then grabbed the meteorite and the evidence and ran away.

While recalling, his hands did not stop moving. Two palm-long silver keys were inserted into the keyhole, and the crisp sound of the springs perfectly engaging was immediately heard from inside.

Following the steps he remembered, Alvin first turned the silver key three times to the left and then two times to the right. Following the correct steps, the key immediately activated the magic lock in addition to the physical lock.

This caused complex magic circles outlined by magical light to appear out of thin air on all four sides of the display cabinet.

As Alvin continued to turn the key, the four pieces of the magic array with an overall structure similar to concentric circles began to rotate, and the inner and outer layers combined and changed with each other until they formed a complete circular pattern together like scattered mechanical parts, and the brightness of the magical light became stronger for a moment.

Then, the glass cover floated upwards under the effect of magic.

"Oh, so this is the effect if you unlock it normally without a hammer." Ivan muttered to himself.

He reached out and took the meteorite. It was clearly a cold block of iron with metal accounting for more than 70% of its content, but he felt a warmth from it, just like holding a piece of charcoal that was still warm.

Ivan's expression immediately became interesting.

Although identifying the grade of a material requires consideration of various factors, there is one that is the most straightforward hard threshold, and that is the strength of the internal magic reaction.

Aside from the special case of being wrapped in a material that abhors magic, most magical materials will emit a magical reaction proportional to their grade. Without the isolation of the enchanted glass cover, and holding the meteorite with the reputation of "Falling Star - Luciferna" in his own hands, he would be in awe.

What Alvin felt was a huge magical power that was like a volcano, suppressed by the outer shell but actually extremely surging and powerful.

"But judging by the reaction of magic power, this thing can be used as the main material for the promotion ceremony of the third-level extraordinary and as auxiliary materials for some fourth-level rituals... right!?!" The black-haired boy's mouth twitched, and at the same time, it couldn't help but curled to both sides.

Carefully taking out a storage box made of demon-averse metal, Alvin placed the meteorite, which had its own temperature, carefully inside.

Then, he looked at the small depression in the center of the open display case used to place the meteorite, raised his arm and punched it down!

click!

The seemingly solid marble base was immediately pierced by Ivan's punch. It turned out that the base was actually a hollow secret box. After unlocking the defensive magic, the marble material alone could not withstand the fist of a certain level of Northern Savage Titan.

After shaking off the gravel and powder, Alvin took out an account book and several letters from the secret box he had pierced.

These were letters and transaction records secretly hidden by the Minister of Agriculture, Earl Jim. They involved a wide range of transactions and numerous officials and nobles connected to him. Exposing them alone would be enough to implicate a whole group of people and would also be the best evidence of his political conspiracy.

As for why he wanted to keep this thing, it was of course because the Earl was considering his own future.

The political reasons for the mess are not something that Alvin needs to consider.

He simply needed it to justify his burglary, his execution of justice, not out of selfishness but out of righteousness. The collateral damage caused by the destruction of the century-old Caerleon Manor were minor details that didn't warrant excessive attention.

After Alvin finished his work, he found that this private museum seemed to be a lot more spacious than when he first came in?

Then, he saw the breathless Khayang and Bryant squatting by the entrance, leaning against a few bulging bags to rest. When they saw him coming out, they weakly raised their hands to greet him.

"Isn't this a bit too much?" Alvin's eyelids twitched, and he began to seriously doubt whether the thing he had just obtained was enough to offset the collateral damage caused by this trip, probably including the twisted soul of the cultist.

"There's no other way. If I only take the materials I need, people might guess my true occupation. So I just take a little bit of everything. That way, those who come to investigate won't be able to easily guess our relevant information." Ka Yang shrugged and explained with a smile:

"That sounds reasonable, but aren't you just a wild mage?" Bryant asked in confusion:

"Are you sure?" Khayon glanced sideways at the hairy druid who was sometimes slow to react.

"Uh..." Bryant thought for a moment, and gradually noticed some details revealed by Khayon during the battle.

Then, his expression immediately became interesting.

"Brother." Khayon raised his hand and placed it on the shoulder of the druid beside him.

"I guess you don't want to break up now?"

"Ahahaha." Bryant laughed dryly with a twitching mouth.

Dry!

This guy is a real necromancer, and he might be an Elrond!

A necromancer of Elrond arrives in the Middle Empire of Lind...

Even a northern sled dog with a bad cold can smell a conspiracy in this matter!!!

"Of course not! We are companions in the same boat!" Feeling the increasing pressure in Kayang's sharp gaze, Bryant immediately shouted out righteously.

Watching these two comedians perform their crosstalk before him, Ivan couldn't help but feel a surge of joy. This joy didn't fade even after they carefully cleaned up the traces and returned to the workshop.

However, before daybreak, the door of the alchemy workshop was slammed loudly by someone from outside.

"Open the door! Sheriff Lind!"

Chapter 183 Knight-errant

"Tell me, what did you do last night?"

Catherine, dressed in the black uniform of Section Nine, sat on a chair with her legs crossed, looking coldly at the tall boy in front of her who was fiddling with experimental equipment.

Although the Duchess was the only one who entered the door, Alvin's keen perception showed that there were at least seven extraordinary people squatting outside the door, and there might even be magic steam guns aimed inside.

But he doesn't care.

"Last night? Last night I temporarily acted as a knight-errant." As Alvin spoke, he slowly put a piece of meteorite material that looked particularly familiar to Catherine into the potion prepared in advance and soaked it.

By the way, when Catherine entered the door, she saw an elegant and simple hand axe placed casually in the courtyard.

It was clearly an inconspicuous little hatchet, but she keenly sensed that there seemed to be something else hidden on it. At the same time, she remembered the main person whose head was chopped off at the crime scene last night.

Catherine vaguely felt that it was not a dead object like a tool, but a living thing that was staring at her.

But when she looked closely, she found that it was still just a small hand axe stuck on a wooden stake. Although compared to ordinary hand axes, the shape of this axe was more artistic, more like a decoration than a practical tool.

Shaking her head to get rid of the strange thoughts, Catherine heard what Ivan had just said and immediately laughed out of anger.

"Knight Errant? Ha, when I was a kid, I never heard of any knight Errant who would rush into other people's manors and chop off their heads!" Catherine became more and more angry as she spoke. If she hadn't had a beard, it would have been blown up to the sky by now.

The so-called knight-errant is a term often seen in the legendary stories told by bards. It is generally a contradictory character that combines gentlemanliness and barbarism, full of chivalry and the rebelliousness unique to a prodigal son.

However, the knights-errant in the story would mostly defeat their opponents instead of taking their lives, and then politely hand them over to the local sheriff, just like the comic book heroes that Alvin had read in his previous life.

Anyway, Catherine had never heard of any knight-errant who chopped off people's heads in the stories of bards since she was a child.

"Oh, that's probably because the bards you've met are too cautious. Considering that bold bards usually prefer to tell stories to mature ladies rather than immature girls, this doesn't seem so difficult to understand." Ivan complained without even turning his head.