Midren

Seeing the dozens upon dozens of runes within those chests, even the two other legends in Rakis’s company went wide-eyed, while the elders present grew more animated. The mage picked one up and inspected it closely for a few minutes before grinning with delight, “Meticulous from the materials to the make. The Archerons truly live up to their prestige.”

This evaluation was really important. The two other legends immediately showed their own regrets; they had hesitated to buy any runes on the assumption that the Archerons might use some inferior goods to deceive them, which gave Rakis the chance to snatch up most of these sets.

A well-groomed elder walked up from the side, barely able to suppress his excitement, “Your Excellency, these are…”

“Rune sets from the Savage series, a total of fifteen. Take these with you and equip our most loyal knights. Remember, I would rather pick nothing than a lousy option; I fought for these things with my life on the line.”

The elder immediately grew so excited that his hands started to shiver. Walking forward to feel the runes in his own hands, he spoke in a trembling voice, “We’ll have two more viscounts in the family!”

Rakis waved his hand calmly, “Alright, there will be more opportunities like this one in the future. As long as I can still fight, our family will stand strong. Head back soon, it will take time to pick the right person.

At this point, the lead knight spoke up, “Your Excellency, each of these sets comes with two magic mounts, for a total of thirty. You can pick them up from the stables when ready.”

Magic mounts, and two of them to boot! Rakis was so happy that he had almost forgotten about them. The special mounts from the Archeron Family were famous, now employed by the Sacred Alliance’s forces. These ferocious beasts could crush the best bred warhorses easily, and a rune knight with them effectively went up half a level.

Once the rune knights left, the two visiting legends decided to head out as well. Both of them wanted to return to their homes and practice a little, intending to put up a good fight in the next attack. However, the sound of hooves rang in the distance once more and a shadowspear appeared at the door. Once allowed in, he quickly handed over a piece of paper to each of the three and said expressionlessly, “Your Excellencies, this is the latest redemption list.”

Having said this, the knight turned to leave. Although the lack of any physical respect was a little jarring to some of those present, the legends themselves didn’t mind. They had all seen that these knights treated Richard himself no differently, so they had concluded that they were just bred that way. Servants had to be loyal and reliable, not necessarily expressibe.

This latest list was something they had awaited for a while. Rakis had an accumulated value of nearly 2,000 points, but with most of those used he only had 700 with three others close by. He feared there would be a fierce competition this time.

As the three legends scanned through the list, however, they cried out in surprise, “Midren?!”

The trio looked at each other with complicated expressions, the temperature of the courtyard seemingly dropping. They calmed their minds and studied each word of the list carefully, verifying that they had indeed read correctly.

The list detailed that Midren was a complete set made of ten parts. One of those would be up for exchange this round, possessing the power of a grade 4 rune. The set effect would activate when equipped with two parts, growing stronger with each one. When all ten were gathered, they would form the true battle edition of Midren that Richard had used to dispatch dragons!

There wasn’t a clear explanation of Midren’s abilities, only stating that it could greatly boost strength, speed, and defence while amplifying one’s mana and aura. There was also a line about being able to draw on the power of crimson divine flames, but just like with the rest there wasn’t any actual measurement.

However, everyone here had seen the way Richard crushed enemies with tremendous might. What more proof did they need than that? Numbers were pointless when there was a physical example to look at.

The courtyard went quiet as the three legends stared dumbfoundedly at the thin sheets of paper. Rakis’s family didn’t understand what was happening, but they just stood still without making a peep. A long while later, the legendary mage heaved a deep sigh, “Surpassing grade 5… This sort of rune can be considered divine, right?”

“Indeed,” Ironshield nodded in agreement.

“But the capacity requirements…” the other mage in the room hesitated.

“It’s a divine rune set, how could the requirements be low? That being said, I don’t think this rune set is meant for mages. Look at how Richard fights; even if one has the capacity, which most don’t, they might not be able to withstand the drain.”

The mage was obviously angered, but he couldn’t refute the point that the capacity requirements were beyond his limits. Rakis spoke up instead, “Don’t be so certain, you forget that Richard himself is a mage and not a warrior. Midren should be usable by anyone, and as for capacity… let’s just say we mages have our means to raise it.”

Rakis had thought of the abnormal physiques the Deepblue’s mages were known to have, but he didn’t really mind either. His own strength far surpassed the average mage, and the allure of this rune set was far too great. The other mage’s eyes gleamed as well, “Looks like I’ll have to work out a little, my capacity isn’t far from the requirements anyway.”

Ironshield snorted, but he didn’t speak further. The trio soon went their own ways.

……

Cries of surprise rang through the residential district, disturbing the prior calm. Those who weren’t even saints grew restless as they calculated their accumulated points, and the killing intent in the entire section rose to frightening levels. Many were unable to fall asleep, polishing their weapons and armour as though they would be fighting to the death the next day.

And it just so happened that the low horn warning of the dragons’ arrival sounded just before dawn. Many powerhouses who had polished their weapons all knight stood up and armed themselves, a similar thought filling their minds.

It was time.

The absolute silence of Dragon Valley was disrupted by the sound of wings crushing the air, dragon after dragon flying out of the portal and soaring into the sky. The attacking troop felt like their timing had paid off; there were no humans waiting for them in the sky this time.

By the time the torches were lit, more than a dozen dragons were already prepared for attack, with even more flying out constantly. They felt like something was wrong, but they couldn’t pinpoint it exactly.

Several dim lights suddenly lit up the valley, looking like the auras of magic beasts. However, those lights quickly grew brighter even as heavy footsteps rocked the earth. The humans didn’t soar to the skies this time, but as they put one foot ahead of the other their auras soared nevertheless. The dragons shivered at the amalgamated bloodlust, starting to hesitate.

The enemies were still the same, their numbers not having increased at all, but the attackers felt like there was a subtle change this day. In previous battles, the humans had acted prudently as though they were facing a formidable enemy. Tonight? Their eyes were gleaming like those of hunters looking at prized prey!

Just before the battle, the entire valley went extraordinarily quiet. Only the footsteps, heavy breaths, and flapping wings could be heard.

Eventually, a scream lit the fuse, “GET RID OF THEM!”

“FUCK THESE LIZARDS!”

“THE POINTS ARE MINE, DON’T SNATCH THEM!”

“I’LL GET INTO THE TOP TEN TONIGHT!”

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