Chapter 418

Chapter 418

"Sure, ask me anything. We're going to be business partners very soon, and if you have a craftsmanship skill of your own, I'm sure I could teach you a few things."

I nod, thinking about what exactly I'm going to ask her, but she responds before I do.

"And your ranked-up buff? It can help me craft better items? Is it some kind of team buffing skill or something?"

I respond.

"Kind of, but not exactly. I guess that's a good place to start."

I concentrate on my Rising Emperor's Domain buff, expecting to see a list of skills available to give Bri pop up above her head, but nothing shows up.

My gaze tightens and I raise an eyebrow as I try to concentrate more intensely. It looks as if I'm staring at Bri's forehead in the silence of the dungeon for no reason at all from an outside perspective.

After a few seconds pass, I stop trying as there's clearly something I'm missing.

"Maybe a hidden condition...?"

I activate my All-Seeing Eye and stare down at the buff's description to think harder.

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Rising Emperor's Domain [Hidden Ability]

Info:

This is a hidden passive ability for a spell caster with the traits of an Emperor in the making. The Rising Emperor's Domain allows the caster to share skills in their status with any party member who has sworn their loyalty. A copy of the exact skill shared will appear in the party member's status. If this member betrays the caster or leaves the Domain's range, the skills will be deleted from their status.

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The only two requirements so far that I can see necessary for this buff to take effect are swearing loyalty and joining my party. I've used this buff on Maria, Abby, and Ember.

However, it's not like I have a system status to show they're in my party or a checkbox where they can swear their loyalty...

I think harder, then shrug.

"Maybe you have to say it out loud."

Bri looks at me with an awkward stare.

"Say what out loud? What are you talking about?"

I reply quickly, realizing I've just been thinking and talking to myself this whole time without explaining at all what my buff does.

"One of the conditions to my ranked-up buff seems to be that you have to verbally accept me as your party leader. If you do that, I'll be able to share an upgraded version of your crafting skill."

I've come to this conclusion because Abby and Maria have often called me the team leader in conversation, and Ember refers to me as Master many times over. None of them have explicitly sworn loyalty to me, though, so I think this is a condition that is more action or feeling based rather than verbal.

Bri nods, still with a confused look on her face.

"Sure, we couldn't have gotten here to train today without you. You're the party leader."

The moment the final word leaves her lips, an assortment of blue text hovers over her head and I feel the Invisible Domain around me accept her as an ally instinctually. My gaze tracks down to my Mythic Grade Craftsmanship skill and I equip it on her status.

"Take a look at your skills, what you see is only temporary, but you'll be able to use it freely as long as you're near me."

Bri checks her status, wondering what my words mean until her gaze falls upon the blue glowing text of the new mythic grade skill in her grasp.

Her eyes widen, and she immediately takes miscellaneous items out from her item box.

Flashes of light cover her hands and her eyes dart back and forth across her status screens popping up one after another.

After almost a full minute passes, and half a dozen new high C-Grade and B-Grade items are produced in the blink of an eye, she turns to me.

"It's real... Mythic Grade Skills are real..."

As I nod and begin to explain how my buff works, making sure it's not to be confused with a skill upgrade buff, but a skill-sharing buff, Bri puts the pieces of the puzzle that is my time in the dark continent together very quickly.

"There are only two crafting materials for these items, really. One of them is just a large amount of mana crystals. The other is a rare ore called Luminite."

I raise an eyebrow and reply.

"That's it? Only two items are needed to craft these... Mana crystals are the easy part, but Luminite? Is it a rare dungeon drop? Or popular on the open market, or maybe the black market? I've never heard of it before... Where can I get my hands on it?"

I scratch my head, waiting for her response.

"It's not available on the open market, no. And incredibly rare on the black market. It's a highly regulated ore, only the Association has access to it. It is, after all, part of the power source used in transport magic for dungeons themselves."

Bri pauses as she lets me think it over for a moment, then continues.

"Every time you defeat a boss room, you're transported back to the same place in a dungeon. Even when a dungeon fully breaks, all foreign matter is teleported out if it hasn't fully dissolved into the dungeon yet. Luminite is the term the Association gave it because of its bright white glow. If enough mana is bonded with a large amount of this ore, an experienced craftsman with a high enough mana control base could create a teleport platform and become its owner."

"Its owner?"

"That's right. Just like your blood-bonded weapons, every teleport platform has an owner, and only they can make paired crystals to go with that platform. Making the crystals to go with the platform is an easy task. It really only takes trace amounts of Luminite, the platform is the hard part."

My mind races at this new discovery.

Having teleport platforms in places that I desire could limit my travel time even more and make it so I don't have to walk around in open cities. It'd be like setting dungeon walker points out here in the real world.

"I need to get my hands on some of this Luminite."

Bri laughs a bit.

"Yeah, don't we all. I've only seen it in private auctions 2 times in my whole life, and the price always skyrockets way out of my price range. It's farmed strictly from collapsing dungeons after all, and it's highly volatile. If left out of a special containment case for mere minutes and not crafted with material, it will evaporate into the atmosphere. There's a minuscule chance that small amounts of the Ore will fall from a dungeon portal when it disappears, but even given that chance, the Association has control over more than 90% of the dungeon portals in the world."

She sighs.

"Maybe your friend Lith back in Sector 1 could help you get your hands on some, but even then, It'd be difficult to not have the Association involved if you're looking to buy enough to craft platforms. Trust me, if it were easy, I'd have plenty myself."

I nod slowly, letting the gears shift in my head and acknowledge all of the new information Bri has shared with me.

"Well, I'll keep it on the back burner. Even so, I'm very happy with the information you've shared. It'll help a lot with my future crafts."

Bri nods and turns her head to a deeper region of the dungeon. It's been about an hour since she started sharing, and we've run into a few monsters on the way, but it's been more of a leisurely stroll.

She speaks up.

"How about you let me do some farming alone in here. My mana control and skill far surpass these creatures, I'd like to level up as fast as possible so my level matches my control. In the same vein, I can see that look in your eyes, you have somewhere you need to go to, don't you?"

I nod.

"I have to meet back up with my teammates in a few hours, but there's a few things I need to check on before I do that too... You're right."

She smiles.

"Well then, perfect, maybe I'll even check out the 29th Floor. How about you come back and get me in an hour."

She twirls her blades and points one in the direction of an approaching monster as I respond.

"Sounds good to me. I'll be back soon."

I dungeon walk away in the blink of an eye.

My teleport point brings me high above the clouds of the Great Plains.

In the same moment, I open my item storage and let Ember come out. We are soon both soaring through the sky, but I don't say a word as I'm still thinking.

With the new information about crafting, and the half-success of my cursed windstone test, there are a few new things racing through my mind. The reason I did the test was to see if I could collapse the Titan's domain without Ember present.

It didn't exactly show that it wasn't possible, it just showed that if it is, it would be incredibly dangerous.

While deep in thought, Ember opens our telepathy link and is the first to break the silence of the passing wind high above the clouds.

"Master, the Rift is closing."