"You rebellious creature! I won't spare you!"
The bronze vault's guardian, a beast roughly equivalent to Grandmother Wolf in strength, proved no match for Ryan. Where it had once been a threat, Ryan subdued it effortlessly, forcing the white-furred hound to make the ultimate sacrifice.
As the guardian vanished, new knowledge flooded Ryan's mind:
Advanced Alchemical Puppetry:
A complex branch of alchemy that specializes in creating sentient constructs. More than mere golems, these puppets could develop true intelligence when crafted with...
Soul Fragment Crystal
A fist-sized orb materialized in Ryan's palm, pulsing with pure spiritual energy. This is the core ingredient for high-tier alchemical life and could imbue constructs with near-human cognition.
Quality matters.
Most soul crystals are unstable amalgamations of thousands of tortured spirits and are prone to madness. This one? Flawless. Its purity rivaled that of 100,000 conventionally refined souls.
Pushing open the second door revealed a blinding mountain of silver. Then, Ryan saw them—two massive mirrors reflecting the cosmos.
Except they weren't mirrors.
They were eyes.
A ten-meter-tall monstrosity peered down at him, exerting physical pressure with its gaze alone. Ryan's smirk faded.
"That's no dog. That's a damn kaiju."
Sacrificing the guardian was out of the question. The silver hoard, however...
Sacrifice.
The mountain of coins vanished, leaving behind the Silver Cornucopia.
Silver Cornucopia
- Infinite silver coins/artifacts
- Periodic generation of Sacred Silver (enhances anti-dark magic properties).
At the vault's rear, another passage awaited. It led to an armored figure kneeling before a floating suit of black plate mail radiating godlike permanence.
The knight stood up. Three meters tall. Horned helm. Scarlet eyes flared to life.
Undead.
Its greatsword moved faster than the eye could see.
BOOM!
Ryan crashed through the vault door with shattered ribs, a fractured spine, and blood filling his lungs. His werewolf regeneration kicked in, but the message was clear:
Not yet.
The pattern repeated itself: gold instead of silver and a guardian the size of an apartment building. Ryan barely blinked.
Sacrifice.
Golden Cornucopia Obtained
- Infinite gold production
- Generates Refined Gold:
- Weapon enhancement (magic-edge properties)
- Alchemical/potion catalyst (quality multiplier)
- Puppet crafting (unlocks higher evolution tiers)
The alchemist's holy grail.
Ryan pocketed the treasure. One day, he'd return for the armor and the undead knight's head.
---