Chapter 182: Three Things
’So it’s more useful in the hands of someone from Radagan?’
Jason was impressed by the artefact. It was an S rank, so that meant it would last for a long time, and its special attributes were also pretty impressive. But Jason had a lot of other artifacts that could help boost his attack power, and he didn’t immediately need a fire-based artefact, so he decided to let Riyala have this one.
"Here you go. It’ll help with mana conservation."
Jason handed the artefact to Riyala, and Riyala’s eyes widened in surprise when she saw this! Was Jason really going to give her the artefact just like that? Riyala had sensed the amount of power within that artefact and she knew that it had to be at least an S Rank! Something like that would normally cost up to twenty gold coins!
Jason raised a brow as he urged her to take the artefact, and Riyala gently collected it and stared at it closely before she bowed her head in thanks. Jason waved the thanks away with a calm smile before he turned back to the other artefacts in front of him. It would be a pain in the ass to sort all of these out, and Jason wasn’t really in the mood to use [Appraisal] so many times.
[The system can utilize the skill [Appraisal] to read the properties of any artefact the user places within his Alternate Dimension.]
The system sent this message back once it sensed the problem Jason was facing and Jason hummed in surprise before he decided that he would just do that instead. The Suborindates were still bringing the other Artefacts close, so he would read all of them together when they were done.
For now, Jason decided he was going to get some information out of the leader of the Phantoms. Jason put his hand towards Alpha’s dead body and called out:
"Resurrect."
Doon!
Jason’s mana surged through the tent and latched onto Alpha’s soul before dragging it out easily! Jason used to have a slightly hard time resurrecting people with high intelligence due to how much willpower they would normally have, but that was no longer a problem since Jason had gotten so much practice. He was more than capable of overpowering the will of anyone weaker than him.
——
The user has gained [1] Rook Rank I subordinate
+800 MP
+3% Agility
+2% Stamina
+1% Strength
The skill [Wandering Shadow] has grown stronger
The user has inherited the dormant Attribute [Shadow Walker]
The user has gained 1/5 of the Arcane Art [Lord of Shadows].
——
In order to gain the full power of the Arcane Art [Lord of Shadows], the user must gain all [5] Attributes that make up that Aspect.
——
[Shadow Walker [Dormant]: This attribute marks the user as a true dweller of shadows and allows the user to travel unseen across any shadow. It is advised that the user exercises caution while using this Attribute due to the fact that other Attribute Wielders will look to steal this Attribute from the user and make it their own. It is a mark that the user is seeking to become a true practitioner of the Arcane Arts.
This Attribute is Dormant. In order to activate it, the user must gain all other parts of the skill [Wandering Shadow]]
——
’So the other Attributes are with other people? Will I get some sort of warning when I’m close to them? Alpha had the Attribute for a long time and she never ran into another Attribute Wielder, so that means she must’ve been actively avoiding them to make sure they didn’t kill her.’
The system immediately responded to Jason’s thoughts.
[Yes, the user will be able to sense when he is in close proximity to another Attribute Wielder. The Attributes were created to work as a single unit, but they were shattered and spread across the Primordial Expanse before being absorbed by various Magic wielders. When the attributes are in closer proximity, they call out to one another in order to try and combine back into a full Arcane Art.]
Jason hummed in understanding. That made it seem like the Attributes were actually alive, and from what Jason could feel inside him, Jason knew that he was right. The system said it created the [Wandering Shadow] skill to mimic the [Lord of Shadows] Attribute, and the [Wandering Shadow] skill had been taking mana from him all this time. Every time Jason or another one of his subordinates moved through the shadows, he felt a dip in his mana depending on how many he sent in there at the same time. It wasn’t that serious since Jason was gaining his mana back faster than he was losing it, but it was still a dip and it would have only been an issue if he left his subordinates in the shadows for a very long time. But now that he had gained the Attribute, Jason could feel that it was a lot more in sync with his magic. It was almost like Jason could feel the shadows around him and he could sense when there were any disturbances in the shadows even with his eyes closed. The shadows were speaking to Jason.
’But there’s still something missing. Is it because it’s dormant for now? I should be able to unlock it once I resurrect the other Phantoms and gain the skills from them.’
Jason hummed at that realization and he told his subordinates to begin gathering all the bodies of the dead phantoms together so that he could resurrect them. Riyala was still standing to one side while watching him very closely. Jason told her to take a seat while waiting, and he smiled when Riyala blushed once she realized she had been staring and she quickly tried to find a seat!
Jason turned to Alpha and saw she was still waiting on his orders. Alpha still looked like a member of the Raksha Race with her two horns and dark red skin, but now her eyes were a deep purple and there were deep purple lines travelling across her body. Jason felt that intense surge of anger that he always felt whenever he saw her face. It would be difficult for Jason to get used to having her as one of his subordinates but he would have to deal with it. She was an important asset and if Jason wanted to prevent another crisis like this, then he was going to need her for his next plan of action.
Jason was going to be gaining a lot of assassin-type subordinates soon, and since Alpha was the most experienced of them all, he was going to leave her in charge of his Stealth team. That way, he would be able to prevent another situation like this from ever happening by nipping it in the bud before it even got off the ground! But first, Jason needed to know more about who had hired Alpha. Jason asked Alpha this question and Alpha answered quickly.
’The Sovereign ruling Radagan hired us to capture the princess. They paid us one hundred gold coins with another one hundred promised after the work was finished.’
Jason wasn’t surprised by that knowledge. He knew that there had been a civil war on Radagan, so they were the most likely ones behind this. Jason asked if there were any other groups hired to come after the princess and Alpha shook her head and said there weren’t. The Phantoms had a very high success rate, so the Sovereign didn’t think he needed to hire anyone else.
Jason nodded and finally turned away. Now that Jason was sure that there wouldn’t be any other immediate attacks, he had to deal with three things. The first thing was figuring out exactly how to get the [Banshee’s Tears]. The tears were a necessary artefact for making the Elixir of Life, and Jason wanted to get those tears first since the system told him that the other component would be harder to acquire.
The second thing that Jason needed to get was the Magic Crystals in the Heart of the Lich. But this was going to be more difficult because the system told Jason that his current power level was too low to handle the Lich. If Jason had to guess, then he would say that the Lich was the boss of a Yellow Gate, and all its subordinates would be somewhere on the same level as Raya or Ragnar. That was not something that Jason would handle right now, especially if there were hundreds of Lich subordinates in the Gate.
Jason needed to get stronger. He needed more subordinates and he needed to increase his own base power level. The lich was also a necromancer like Jason, so it would be difficult for Jason to handle it without coming up with a reasonable plan of action first. But after Jason finally managed to get the Elixir of Life and resurrected Gina, then Jason was going to go and handle the third thing he needed to deal with. Jason was going to kill the Sovereign and everyone involved with him