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Blue lightning appeared in the air like a coiling, winding snake. Bai En looked at the smiling blond boy who appeared before him and recognized him instantly.
Luck Voltia, a member of the Black Bulls, enjoys sparring with others, and is known as 'Joyful Luck' due to his constant smile. He possesses combat prowess and magical sensory abilities comparable to nobles.
His boots and gloves, armored with lightning, hissed and crackled, seemingly eager to meet an opponent. This guy seemed to have sought him out because of the magical fluctuations just now.
"I refuse," Bai En declined Luck's request without much thought. There was no need to waste magic here, and besides... he preferred to be a quiet chef rather than fight.
"Eh? Why? Let's fight! It'll definitely be fun!" Luck continued to extend his invitation.
Bai En no longer responded, turning and walking towards the door of the treasure vault.
Seeing that the other party had lost interest, Luck turned to Yuno. The aloof, handsome man, who always maintained a poker face, rejected his request almost as quickly as Bai En had.
A short while later, Asta and Noelle also arrived, panting heavily.
After catching their breath, Asta saw Klaus and Yuno still there. He flapped the greatsword in his hand, a smile appearing on his face: "Haha, we finally caught up to you! Now we're back on the same starting line!"
"Don't lump us all together. If we hadn't been dealing with the Diamond Kingdom's Mages just now, the Magic Palace mission would have already been conquered by our Golden Dawn," Klaus argued with Asta, his disheveled appearance from the earlier battle gone, as he adjusted his glasses.
How could the barbaric Magic Knights, ranked last, compare to his Golden Dawn... and what's more, they were mere commoners from the Hui Wai Realm. It was utterly preposterous.
"But we also dealt with a general from the Diamond Kingdom on our way here, so it should be a draw, right?"
"A draw?" Klaus said coldly, "Don't be ridiculous. With your meager strength, you think you can defeat a general from the Diamond Kingdom?"
"I can't sense any magic from you at all!"
Asta scratched his head: "I really don't have any magic."
"Eh? No magic?"
"But even without magic, you can still defeat powerful enemies, right?" Asta gestured with his greatsword.
"Again with this nonsense," Klaus felt Asta was talking rubbish. "Without magic, let alone defeating a Mage, you wouldn't even last a single move against one, would you?"
While the two argued, Bai En had already reached the door of the treasure vault. He lightly touched the door with his hand. 'It's very rough and hard, I can't push it open. It's emanating magical fluctuations, it was created with magic.'
'Asta's demon-slayer sword should be able to cut it easily, but...' Bai En touched the carved patterns on the door, 'I feel like if it's only this strong, I should be able to cut it too.'
The character for 'release' spread across the blade of his sword, and he swung it.
It was incredibly smooth, like a knife slicing through tofu. A silvery-white line lit up on the door, and with a 'boom,' the door collapsed.
The eruption and surge of golden light drew everyone's attention. Klaus and Asta, in the middle of their argument, stopped and looked towards the door. Shimmering magical energy flowed out from within like a tide.
Within the continuously flashing light, everyone walked to Bai En's side, somewhat entranced, and gazed into the treasure vault.
Several thick, brown tree trunks grew upwards from within the walls, with clusters of green leaves resting on the branches. Beside the trees were piles of accumulated treasures.
Gleaming gold, colorful jewels... greatswords embedded with jade plunged into the ground, and countless magical tools of unknown purpose lay quietly on the piles of gold.
Throats moved, swallowing slightly. The next moment, the Magic Knights, unable to contain their excitement, rushed into the treasure vault, rummaging through the gold and magical tools on the ground.
Bai En also strolled through the piles of treasure, his gaze sweeping around. Nancy picked up a pair of moon-white gloves, seemingly a special magical tool. Noelle held a strange spherical object. Mimosa was staring at a cloak covered in star patterns... Asta opened a disc-shaped magical tool, "Ah ah ah! Luck appeared! So amazing!"
Four-eyed Klaus adjusted his glasses, excitedly shouting a warning to everyone: "You scoundrels, don't just touch things indiscriminately! Those could all be national treasure-level magical tools!"
But it was no use. Everyone was exploring freely amidst the treasures that filled the entire palace.
'According to the original work, the most precious treasures in the entire treasure vault are, firstly, Sylph, one of the four great spirits of wind.' Bai En glanced at Yuno, who was following the faintly visible wind wisps in the air towards the scroll that sealed the Wind Spirit.
'Secondly, the demon-dweller sword, formed from the Elf Tribe leader's sword magic.'
An Anzhi Bird pecked Asta's head, then flew like a black arc to a corner of the treasure vault, where a special magical tool protruded.
"The demon-dweller sword?" Bai En murmured. Among his seven cooking utensils, there was a sword with very similar characteristics, a power that had been set long ago.
While Asta was still bewildered, Bai En slowly walked towards the hidden location of the demon-dweller sword. But suddenly, the grimoire at his waist flew out, and a shimmering white light began to flash.
"Huh?"
With a soft murmur, Bai En changed direction. Guided by the grimoire, he walked to the base of a large, thick tree, where a large stone lay quietly beside the brown trunk.
The initially ordinary gray-black stone began to change color the moment Bai En's grimoire flew over it, becoming multicolored... or rather, predominantly purple, like oil blending into water.
After the colors appeared, the stone revealed a strange magical quality. The colors slowly faded from Bai En's vision, leaving only endless darkness. Just as he found it strange, Bai En reached out to touch it, but found nothing around him... and it was eerily quiet, not a single sound remained.
"Is this a Bewitching Stone?"
Bai En did not panic. He calmly thought. He had once looked up information about the Bewitching Stone in the Royal Library. It could dull a person's five senses and weaken their body and abilities... This was one of the materials that could temper cooking utensils.
Because he hadn't observed the Bewitching Stone for long, Bai En could still feel the magic within him. The grimoire, bound to his soul, began to turn pages, and a sword flew out, quietly hovering beside Bai En.
Under the activation of the sword and magic, the Bewitching Stone transformed into a colorful liquid, coiling around the long sword's blade like water, slowly merging into it.
This sword was considerably longer than a general's, with a thinner blade. It matched the color of the Bewitching Stone, displaying a predominantly purple, colorful hue.
The third cooking utensil, 'Nine Lights,' began to be tempered. As the stone block under the brown trunk grew smaller, the colors on Nine Lights became more brilliant, and its growth rate continuously increased...
The third cooking utensil, 'Nine Lights,' began to be tempered. As the stone block under the brown trunk grew smaller, the colors on Nine Lights became more brilliant, and its growth rate continuously increased...