"I understand!" Tiffany, having been scolded by her parents, nodded thoughtfully, picking up the short sword she had previously discarded, which was inlaid with various fake gems.
"I think the gifts brother brought back aren't so bad," Katia, who had inherited Titan blood, said as she tossed the small hammer in her hand. It was a short-handled square hammer, heavy enough to easily crush an ordinary human.
"I agree," Gladys added, pulling out the elf-inspired jade comb her brother had given her, examining it for a moment before putting it away.
Based on what her brother had told her, she suspected he had been tricked. Elves typically used various types of extraordinary wood to craft their daily items and weapons. Gems and jade, materials imbued with supernatural power, were usually only used as inlays by elves, rarely being physically worked into items.
Clearly, no proper elf would make a comb out of jade. Low-level elves might do so, but if it were a Silvermoon Elf, that would be impossible. Moreover, an artisan piece made by a royal Silvermoon Elf would be something her brother couldn't afford in his current status. Such items were highly coveted in human kingdoms, usually bought using elemental crystals.
"Brother doesn't seem very skilled at appraising treasures," Tiffany blurted out, unable to hold back. She really couldn't understand why her brother would be fooled by merchants selling fake goods.
"Every creature has limits to their knowledge. Our brother has been following the learning plan Father set for him since childhood, maintaining perfect scores in all subjects. That already requires an enormous amount of energy. Learning treasure appraisal is unnecessary for him, both now and in the future," Gladys, the most level-headed of the three triplets, calmly explained.
"There's no such thing as an omniscient being! Everyone has things they're good at and things they aren't," Muria chimed in, glancing at his third daughter. "You're good at appraising treasures because you've inherited the full knowledge of dragons, but your brother doesn't need that. I've sealed off that part of his learning as it's useless."
In Muria's view, treasure appraisal was an unnecessary field of study for Aeolos. Before he reached the legendary rank, all the training resources, weapons, and secret techniques he would need were already carefully arranged for him, ensuring no room for counterfeit items. However, he would need to fight for these treasures himself, earning them with his sword.
Once Aeolos reached the legendary rank, the seals on his bloodline and memories would break. All of his childhood memories, as well as the power of his bloodline that Muria had sealed, would return. At that point, he would inherit the empire and become the second emperor of Erathia. In such a role, he wouldn't need treasure appraisal skills; no one would dare to offer him fakes.
After a simple breakfast, Muria began attending to his responsibilities, and Mikaela disappeared. Having carried her daughters for three years, she now needed to stretch her legs—her sword hadn't tasted blood in three years.
"Hmm." As soon as their parents left, Tiffany stared at the luxurious-looking short sword in her hand, lost in thought. She had some ideas.
"What are you thinking?" Gladys asked, eyeing her mischievous sister. Of the three, Tiffany was the most restless, always looking for something to stir up.
"This sword carries brother's love for me, but its quality is too low. Using it would degrade my status, but not using it would be ungrateful to him."
"So?" Gladys and Katia both looked at their sister.
"So I'm thinking of taking it to the dwarves. I'll ask them to upgrade it with high-grade supernatural metals while keeping the design the same, and then I'll go to the elves to replace the gemstones."
"That's..." Gladys frowned but then relaxed, thinking it wasn't a bad idea.
"Katia, come with me. You can ask the dwarves to upgrade your hammer too. Otherwise, you won't be able to use it for much longer."
"Okay!" Katia looked at her short-handled war hammer and nodded. After just one night, there were already shallow handprints on the handle, left unconsciously. If the hammer wasn't reinforced soon, it would be crushed into scrap metal.
...
Time passed quietly. One day, as Muria was working on administrative duties, he looked up, noticing a golden streak flying boldly toward the palace without a care. Synapse's legendary figures did nothing to stop it.
"Some legendary Titans have already set out into the Void!" In the spacious, bright hall, the golden dragoness, Atris, casually sipped tea as she looked at Muria, sharing a piece of particularly noteworthy news.
Muria's eyes fell on his mother, signaling her to continue. She wouldn't have returned from the Void just to tell him something so normal.
"They're aiming to achieve an epic rank, using the secret technique that my mother brought back!" Atris added, and this finally piqued Muria's interest. He knew that one day, he too would venture into the Void. Choosing the right secret technique would be crucial, and the one brought back by his grandmother Yalista was by far the safest option. But its actual results were still untested.
"This is the first attempt by the Titans. If it's successful, when your time comes, you'll likely use the same secret technique to become an epic!" Atris continued, revealing more information she had likely obtained from Anselor. "And it's not just the Titans trying this. The Seraphs and Dragons have also sent legendary figures out. This is a joint experiment between the three races."
"While I don't fully understand the secret technique yet, from what I've been able to grasp, it's incredibly effective for achieving epic rank!" Muria remarked. With his increasing strength, he had begun to comprehend more of the Source Energy secret technique his grandmother had planted in him as a child. What he understood so far was enough to astonish him.
"Exactly. As long as they target a 'diseased' world, even if they're not very strong, they'll almost certainly reach epic rank. These legends will likely return as epics," Atris explained, sipping her tea.
"If they succeed, it will mark the beginning of a new era!" Muria's eyes gleamed. If this experiment succeeded, the number of epics in the Titan, Seraph, and Dragon races would multiply several times over.
However, using a secret technique stolen from the Abyssal Demons to achieve epic rank would also mean a decline in the quality of these epic beings. For the Titan race, this was inevitable.
Historically, Titan epics had always fought their way through the corpses of Void evil gods. By the time they returned, they were already at the third stage of epic rank, known as the Creator tier.
The Abyssal Demons' secret technique lowered the difficulty of achieving epic rank from "hell mode" to "easy mode." Any legendary creature with sufficient knowledge and experience could use this technique to complete the leap in life stages and become equal to the gods.
But lowering the difficulty came at a cost. Epics created using this method would have much weaker combat power, and the scenario of a Titan epic easily taking on three opponents of the same rank might now happen against them.
"Don't get too excited. The epics have already seen the flaws in this secret technique. If this first group successfully ascends to epic rank, your father and I will be part of the second group to venture into the Void. We've also received some restrictions. For the third tier of epic, this secret technique will be banned; all must switch to Titan techniques!" Atris explained.
"And for the second tier?"
"The second tier is still a phase of accumulation for epic rank, so it can be used."
"Got it!" Muria nodded. The Titan race was as strict as ever. Even before the results of the first group's mission were in, they had already issued corresponding restrictions.
From this ban, Muria deduced that the Titan race had a hard requirement for their third-tier epics: they had to fight and defeat evil gods. Muria could already imagine the thought process behind the ban: If you don't kill a few Void evil gods, do you even deserve to call yourself a Titan epic?
Muria didn't bother asking what would happen if a Titan broke the rule. There was no need. With a ban in place, the consequences were obvious.
"I just came to tell you this. There's nothing else." Atris, having shared the news, stood up, preparing to leave. "I mainly came to visit my darling granddaughters and pass on this message. Now, where are my granddaughters?"
"..."
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