The Nazarick warehouse was filled with gold coins scattered freely across the floor. Among them, countless precious items and weapons emitted faint glimmers of light.
Any single piece of equipment here would be a priceless treasure to an ordinary player, yet in Nazarick, they were casually tossed aside like clutter.
For Nazarick's group of heavy spenders and hardcore grinders, everyone's equipment was at least divine-class. Even the NPCs were armed with legendary-grade weapons, and some were equipped with divine-class items as well.
"With this much gold, I could probably revive Shalltear more than ten times over."
Staring at the mountain of coins, Naohara thought to himself in amusement.
"Let me see what your limit is. Don't let me down."
He tapped open the system panel, and bursts of light flashed one after another. In an instant, all kinds of precious materials appeared before Naohara. Bones, hearts, dragon horns, and more floated quietly in the air.
Like a bottomless pit, valuable dragon materials poured out of the void as if they cost nothing at all.
Naohara raised the Dragon Destruction Sword in his hand. Immediately, a powerful suction force emerged from the blade. The drifting materials seemed to find their destination and surged toward the sword, being rapidly absorbed into it.
The massive quantity of materials disappeared before Naohara's eyes at a visible pace, while even more continued to emerge from the void, forming an endless cycle.
One minute.
Three minutes.
Ten minutes.
Time flew by. Holding the sword aloft, Naohara idly browsed the descriptions of other legendary-class weapons in the warehouse to pass the time.
At the same time, a faint sense of unease crept into his mind. What if even absorbing everything in the warehouse still wasn't enough?
"Whatever. Momonga's still around. Worst case, I'll dig through his private stash later."
As a devoted collector, Naohara had kept the most valuable dragon materials for himself, and Momonga, who shared the same hobby, also had a sizable collection of his own.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations. You have obtained the divine-class item: Dragon Destruction Sword.]
The system notification snapped Naohara out of his thoughts about how to "borrow" Momonga's collection.
[Weapon: Dragon Destruction Sword]
[Class: Dragon-type exclusive]
[Evaluation: A dragon-slaying sword evolved through the blood and flesh of countless dragons. Its blade possesses unparalleled power, capable of cleaving through anything that stands in its way.]
(Slaughter more dragons and obtain their bodies, and unknown changes may yet occur.)
[Dragonbane: The sharp blade inflicts wounds that cannot heal, placing the target into a bleeding state. The longer the bleeding persists, the higher the damage dealt.]
[Scale Piercer: A powerful armor-piercing effect that ignores the target's defense, dealing true damage.]
[Destruction: Destroys all weapons and items of lower grade. Against items of equal quality, repeated attacks can force them into a damaged state.]
[Blood Drinker: Restores the user's health when dealing damage. The effect is enhanced if the target is bleeding.]
[Knockback: Attacks forcibly inflict a stagger effect on the enemy.]
The once unremarkable blade was gone. After a dazzling flash of light, a completely different, massive sword appeared before Naohara.
The enormous blade was set with several dark red gems, each one representing a powerful special effect. Starting from the hilt, five gems were embedded in sequence, yet at the end of the sword, a single empty socket remained, as if something was still missing.
The blade itself resembled a dragon's fangs. Just looking at it, one could feel its terrifying sharpness. There was no doubt that even a casual swing would be enough to cut a person clean in half.
"So strong!"
Holding the weapon that had undergone a drastic transformation, Naohara stared at the attribute panel in amazement.
He knew very well how powerful divine-class items were. After all, he owned several himself. But when compared to his Dragon Blood Sword, the difference was like heaven and earth.
Scale Piercer paired perfectly with Dragonbane, allowing the enemy to be forced directly into a bleeding state. Blood Drinker greatly improved his sustain, removing any concern over HP consumption. Knockback could lock an opponent in place at critical moments, preventing them from dodging, while Destruction could damage or outright ruin enemy weapons, drastically weakening their combat power.
The overwhelming attributes, combined with flawlessly synergized effects, had pushed the Dragon Destruction Sword to the absolute limit of what a divine-class item could reach.
In comparison, the Dragon Blood Sword he once treasured now felt painfully underwhelming. How could two divine-class items differ this much?
"Wait… I remember the Dragon Blood Sword was made from dragon bones and dragon horns."
Looking at the "Dragon Destruction Sword" in his left hand, then the "Dragon Blood Sword" in his right, Naohara let out a helpless sigh.
Then a spark of insight flashed through his mind. Recalling the Dragon Blood Sword's description, Naohara narrowed his eyes.
A weapon forged entirely from dragon materials should fall within the absorption range, right?
"Instead of gathering dust in some shrine, you'd be better off becoming my new power. I'm sure you wouldn't mind… right?"
After delivering this oddly heartfelt monologue, Naohara placed the Dragon Blood Sword onto the Dragon Destruction Sword without hesitation.
Just as he expected, crimson light flared from the blade. The Dragon Blood Sword visibly dimmed, its once vivid blood-red glow fading into a lifeless gray-white. Faint dragon roars echoed intermittently, as if it were letting out a final lament.
Several dozen seconds later, cracks appeared on the blade. Like a chain reaction, countless fissures spread rapidly. After one last dragon's cry, the former divine-class weapon vanished completely, leaving behind only a pile of fragments as proof it had ever existed.
"So it really works. Still, it feels like it's not quite enough. Too bad weapons made entirely from dragon materials are so rare. Looks like I'll need to borrow more from Momonga's collection."
Ignoring the fragments on the floor, Naohara excitedly raised the Dragon Destruction Sword. On its attribute panel, a progress bar stood out clearly, already filled to one quarter.
"My Guildmaster, everything from here on out depends on you."
Letting out a strange laugh, Naohara raised his left hand. One of the rings on his finger flashed red, and his figure vanished from the warehouse.
The pile of fragments lay quietly on the floor, waiting for a cleaning NPC to arrive and dispose of them as trash.
...
The Throne Hall.
When Naohara teleported in, he immediately spotted Momonga standing in front of the NPC Albedo, busily clicking through a system panel. The furtive way he was acting made it obvious something was going on.
Without making a sound, Naohara slipped up behind him and slapped his back hard.
"What are you sneaking around for, Guildmaster? Don't tell me you're doing something weird."
Naohara shouted loudly. Of course, he knew exactly what Momonga was doing. There was only one possibility. Changing Albedo's settings to add "loves Momonga."
But that didn't stop him from giving Momonga a good scare. Besides, it would help make his plan to tap into Momonga's private stash go more smoothly.
"Ah! Naohara, when did you get here?! Ahem, I was just looking at Tabula Smaragdina's settings."
Hearing Naohara's voice behind him, Momonga panicked for an instant. But his solid mental composure kicked in immediately, and he calmly explained himself. Combined with his skeletal appearance, there wasn't the slightest hint of dishonesty on his face.
"Oh, is that so? As a fellow setting enthusiast, I'm pretty curious about Tabula Smaragdina's work too. Let me take a look."
Naohara instantly put on an interested expression, his gaze slipping past Momonga toward Albedo's setting panel behind him.
"Ahem, there's really nothing worth seeing. The settings are way too long and boring to read. By the way, weren't you upgrading that weapon? How did it go?"
Momonga shuffled sideways to block Naohara's line of sight while hurriedly changing the subject.
"I absolutely can't let Naohara see this. Otherwise, he'll laugh at me forever."
Momonga thought firmly.
"Alright then. Actually, I'm still a bit short on materials. I was just about to ask you for some."
Seeing Momonga's resistance, Naohara didn't push the issue. His goal had already been achieved. Asking for materials now was practically guaranteed to succeed.
"Oh? In that case, here. This is all of my dragon-type materials, including what we got from the boss earlier. Take it."
Momonga rubbed his chin, then reached into the void and pulled out a bag, handing it to Naohara.
As a true hoarder, Momonga kept all his materials neatly categorized. The pouch looked small, but its interior space was enormous. It was a special premium storage item.
"As expected of the Guildmaster. That's quite the collection."
Naohara peeked inside the bag and couldn't help but marvel. Momonga was even richer than he'd imagined.
Combined with his own private stash, this should be just about enough.
After saying goodbye, Naohara prepared to return to his room to finish the final upgrade. If he stayed any longer, Momonga might come to his senses and start feeling heartache over the materials, so it was best to leave quickly. Someone as considerate of their friends as him was truly rare.
"Don't forget tomorrow night!"
"...Got it."
Hearing the voice behind him, Naohara paused for a moment, then quickened his pace and left the hall.