Chapter 509: Dark Crystal Rod
Sein and Leena did not attempt to change Angreas’ mind. After seeing him off, they resumed their journey northward.
They chose this direction because the consensus among the knights and mages participating in the trial was that the heart of this trial zone lay to the north.
Despite having spent three years in this trial zone, Sein and Leena had yet to explore its central region.
With the Knight Continent recently opened, the exact number of trial zones within it remained a mystery.
For Sein and other Rank One beings, exploring the entirety of the Knight Continent was unrealistic—navigating the trial zone they were in was challenging enough.
Therefore, successfully completing the exploration of their assigned trial zone before departing the Knight Continent would be considered a significant achievement.
***
Undisturbed by outsiders, Sein and Leena continued their travels while delving into the mysteries of elements and truths.
The Knight Continent’s trial zone boasted numerous secret realms similar to the manor in the subspace.
Some of these were accessible to all knights and mages nearby, with the benefits they could reap depending entirely on their skills.
Others, hidden in rare and inconspicuous locations, required specific methods to be activated.
These particularly secretive trials and legacy sites were often intended for just one or two specific individuals.
Ghur Jobbs, a knight that Sein had met early on, was likely searching for such legacy sites.
Sein’s days were filled with experimentation, research, and exploration.
Apart from sharing intimate moments with Leena in their tent, most of Sein’s efforts were focused on crafting a new magic rod for her.
Two years later, at the base of an unremarkable mountain within the secret realm, Sein dug a ten-meter-deep cave to serve as his temporary laboratory.
Although he could have chosen a more scenic location, the nature of magic experiments demanded a less distracting setting—a minor mishap could ruin an experiment.
Here, Sein would begin the meticulous process of creating the Dark Crystal Rod.
“The Dark Crystal Rod will rival the Verdant Flame Heart Rod in quality. I plan to top it with the black crystal we extracted from the skeletal dragon’s eye socket,” Sein explained to Leena.
“I’ve spent the past two years studying this black crystal’s properties and composition. It can amplify umbra elemental energy and enhance the effects of necromancy and summoning arts better than any material I've encountered so far. Therefore, I’m naming it the Dark Crystal. The success rate of this project is roughly 78%,” he continued enthusiastically.
Sein had been working on the finer details of this experiment over these two years.
Having crafted the Verdant Flame Heart Rod before, which required significantly more effort and energy, Sein found this project more manageable by comparison.
Throughout this period, Sein also made time to share quality moments with Leena.
“You’ll definitely succeed!” Leena assured Sein confidently.
Everyone has limited energy. Beyond her expertise in umbra and pyro elemental magic, Leena had primarily focused on necromancy and summoning arts.
Although she lacked expertise in alchemy and apothecary, Leena had achieved remarkable success in synthesizing undead chimeras.
While Sein worked on the Dark Crystal Rod, Leena was thinking of a suitable gift for him.
It was a thought that had been brewing in her mind; she planned to start on it after Sein’s alchemy experiment concluded.
***
The creation of the Dark Crystal Rod spanned a total of six months.
Thanks to the high-quality materials in Sein's possession and his nearly complete suite of experimental equipment, the project was successfully completed.
However, the process was fraught with challenges.
For instance, an elemental explosion occurred during the engraving of a magic array on Leena’s Dark Crystal Rod, causing a landslide on the mountain where his temporary laboratory was located.
Engraving a magic array on a rod was a meticulous task that tested the alchemist’s craftsmanship and required high-precision experimental equipment.
Previously, while crafting the Verdant Flame Heart Rod at the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, Sein had access to some of Master Lorianne’s experimental equipment.
Unfortunately, the bulkier pieces could not be stored inside his spatial storage equipment.
Thus, relying on less sophisticated, Grade One experimental equipment made some accidents inevitable.
The explosion destroyed one-third of the magic rod.
Fortunately, neither Sein nor Leena, who was also in the laboratory, were severely injured.
When Sein resumed his work, he discovered a dark green underwater bamboo in his spatial storage.
What was even more astonishing was that this emerald bamboo seemed to defy the basic laws of the elemental environment, showing excellent conductivity for both umbra and pyro elemental energies.
Sein was initially puzzled about the bamboo’s origin.
After some reflection, he recalled it was an unremarkable piece among the items given to him by Tourmaline upon his arrival at Sea God Bay.
He had first marveled at the space conch’s massive storage volume, and now this emerald bamboo with its extraordinary properties.
“I better take some time to properly sort out the gifts from Tourmaline and evaluate them,” he told himself.
With the emerald bamboo as a backup material, Sein finally completed the Dark Crystal Rod for Leena.
This magic rod, which had demanded considerable effort and resources, was undoubtedly a masterpiece for Rank One mages.
Based on the performance of both the Verdant Flame Heart Rod and the Dark Crystal Rod, these weapons would likely serve Sein and Leena well until they reached Rank Two and Three.
As of now, neither had fully unleashed the potential of their weapons.
The Verdant Flame Heart Rod was an irreplaceable weapon for Sein primarily due to its abundant verdant flame energy and its enhancement effect on his tempered body.
Leena had yet to fully unlock the potential of the umbra, necromantic, and spatial energies in the Dark Crystal.
Beyond those energy enhancements, the Dark Crystal’s ability to summon a powerful skeletal dragon and command legions of undead could make any Rank Two or Three mage envious!
“The magic rod is merely a tool in our hands; knowledge is our true foundation. The Verdant Flame Heart Rod and the Dark Magic Rod are works in progress. I’ll continue to refine them in the future,” Sein said to Leena.