A Delightful Time Looting the Spoils

Having defeated the Holy Legion, the next step was naturally to clear the battlefield.

As a streamer Pan Long had watched years ago would have put it, this was "the delightful time for looting the spoils."

Pan Long had no interest whatsoever in the ordinary Warriors' equipment. Even the guard knights' armor and weapons held no appeal for him.

That armor and those weapons would be useful to the villagers of Luna Village, and a timely gift of charcoal in the snow for any army the Moon Goddess Church might rebuild. But to him, they meant nothing.

The Nine Provinces World had sturdy armor and sharp weapons too. Even the Pan Lineage had its own.

Equipment that could resist magic had some value, but that was all.

Bringing things from this world back to the Nine Provinces World consumed the spiritual energy stored in the Classic of Mountains and Seas Fragment. The larger and more advanced an item was, the more energy it cost.

Unless a heavy suit of full-body armor had some precious, irreplaceable use, no matter how good it was, it would not be worth the energy needed to take it home.

Besides, the best spoils from this battle were bound to come from Seles, the Most Holy himself.

He was one of the Empire's four great generals, the high priest of the One God Religion, and the Demon God's contact in the mortal world. How could he not have a few treasures on him?

Even a little that slipped through his fingers would be enough to leave Pan Long spoiled for choice.

And sure enough, it was.

They found a whole pile of treasures on Seles.

First was a thumb-sized crystal vial. The viscous silver liquid inside looked a little like mercury, but it was countless times more precious.

[Panacea: The highest achievement of alchemy, a miracle made tangible. It can heal every injury and illness short of death, lift every curse, and work as a remedy for anything.]

This was the supreme healing potion that often appeared in fantasy games, with much the same effect wherever it appeared. It came down to one sentence: as long as you were not dead, it could instantly restore you to peak condition.

"This is coming with me, no question! With this, I've practically got an extra life!"

Holding the tiny crystal vial, Pan Long's breathing grew heavy for an instant.

Next was a soft red bead that gave off a sickening, bloody stench. Inside it seemed to be blood that had yet to clot.

[Demonblood: A bead of blood formed from the essence left in a demon's body after death. It can help those who wish to enter the demonic path acquire demon blood and set foot on the road to immortality.]

At the sight of it, Pan Long truly hesitated.

He remembered that, in the game, the protagonist had hunted down a demon who wanted to retire and swallowed its Demonblood. That was how he had become a demon himself.

In the game, becoming a demon had not offered much beyond a hidden class. But eternal life alone was enough to make people's eyes redden with envy, their hearts burn with longing, and drive them to sacrifice everything for it.

Who knew how many people in the Nine Provinces World had racked their brains, spent their fortunes, twisted their own natures... even abandoned everything, all to gain eternal life and become deathless immortals.

Now, if he swallowed this bead of Demonblood, perhaps he could gain eternal life too...

Pan Long's right hand trembled as he held the red blood bead.

"There's nothing good about being a demon! Looking like some kind of freak is bad enough, and then you have to devour lives and lose your humanity... Damn it, compared to living forever, none of those costs seem like much!"

He muttered to himself, wanting to put it in his mouth.

Just then, the Moon Tear Pendant hanging against his chest sent a wave of coolness through him, and his muddled mind instantly cleared.

"Shit! This thing is sinister!"

He hurriedly put down the Demonblood. A sheen of cold sweat had formed on his forehead.

Pan Long had thought his willpower was fairly strong. He had never expected the Demonblood to ensnare his mind without him noticing. If Lilina's necklace had not pulled him back at the critical moment, he would certainly have swallowed it.

If merely holding it could cloud his mind, what would happen after he swallowed it?

The thought sent a chill down his spine. He did not dare give the cursed thing another glance.

He also kept his distance from the Demon God Contract, which was used in the game to change class to Dark Apostle. He had no desire to pick up the heavy parchment scroll threaded with gold and unroll it to read, let alone look at it again.

The Sacrificial Dagger, Evil God Scepter, and Demon God's Fragment gave him the same creeping dread. In the end, he found a cloth bag, threw all the dangerous items inside, and put them out of sight and out of mind.

Fortunately, there were other things that were not quite so dangerous.

For instance, there was a black stone talisman from which he could faintly hear a roar.

[Demon Beast Talisman: An uncanny talisman that only those who command the power of darkness can wield. Its power can summon a mighty demon beast and direct its actions.]

It was not restricted to evil classes; any character with the dark attribute could use it. It could summon a fairly powerful demon beast that remained a decent shield of flesh even late in the game.

Pan Long did not have the dark attribute himself, but he could always give it to someone else.

[Holy Water X: The highest-grade holy water, produced only through the prayers of more than ten thousand people. It can heal any injury and lift any curse.]

Using it on just one person would be something of a waste. Players had generally used it to lift the curse on an object or an entire region, getting the most out of it.

...Of course, plenty of hoarders chose to work themselves ragged solving those problems instead, preserving the only bottle of Holy Water X in the entire game.

Pan Long was one of them.

Then there was the Three-Piece Imperial Mage Set Seles wore: the Crown of Law, the Supreme Mage Robe, and the Most Holy Boots.

All three were top-tier equipment for spellcasters. Unfortunately, Sword and Lament had no concept of equipment sets, so wearing them together provided no set bonus.

Thinking of all the strange and marvelous equipment in that game made Pan Long itch to see it.

Then he remembered just how dangerous that game was...

"That world's way too dangerous. I'm not going!"

Of the Three-Piece Imperial Mage Set, the Crown of Law came with the wide-area healing spell Rain of Grace; the Supreme Mage Robe granted outrageously high stat bonuses; and the Most Holy Boots made the wearer immune to all curses and terrain damage.

If he could, Pan Long truly wanted to take all three. Even if he had no use for them now, once he grew stronger, he could trade them with practitioners of the mystical arts for something he needed.

But... he did not need to think hard to know that was impossible.

Who knew how much spiritual energy it would take to bring all of them back to reality? Even if the Classic of Mountains and Seas Fragment could draw on energy it had yet to accumulate, how many years would it take to recover from that?

It was not worth it. Not worth it at all!

For him, visiting more worlds meant he could obtain more treasures and perhaps learn more skills.

Compared with equipment, skills and classes were the real prizes.

Leaving the Classic of Mountains and Seas Fragment unable to open another world for years over a few treasures would be like picking up a sesame seed while throwing away a giant watermelon!

After agonizing over it, he finally decided to take the Panacea, the Little Luna Statue, and the Most Holy Boots.

The Panacea needed no explanation. Whenever he had the chance to get something that gave him an extra life, he had to take it. Who knew when it might save him?

The Little Luna Statue could double cultivation speed. Would it work for other people? If so, perhaps someone else in the Lineage could use it and strengthen their foundations. If not, he could use it himself to improve his cultivation.

The stat bonuses from the Most Holy Boots meant little to him, but their immunity to curses and terrain damage was powerful. The Nine Provinces World held many uncanny things, and tales of experts dying from curses surfaced from time to time. A treasure that granted immunity to curses would give him considerable peace of mind.

As for immunity to terrain damage... in the game, it protected against poisonous swamps, quicksand, traps, fire, lava, and even injuries from falling between elevations. In reality, being immune to fall damage alone would be useful.

Was that not the legendary "Leap of Faith"?

Having decided what to take, Pan Long faced one last problem.

What should he do with those dangerous things he had taken from Seles?

He did not intend to bring them home, which meant leaving them in this world. But who knew what new trouble they might cause here?

The Demonblood and Demon God Contract alone were obviously trouble waiting to happen!

If someone obtained them and swallowed the Demonblood to become a new demon, or opened the Demon God Contract and entered into a pact with the Demon God... would that not make them the next Seles?

The best option was to destroy the dangerous items. But how was he supposed to do that?

Pan Long thought it over from every angle and finally came up with a rough plan.

He directed the villagers to build a straight-sided furnace, fitted a blower beneath it, packed it with plenty of fuel, then lit it and pumped in air.

Before long, a column of fire rose from the furnace.

As the flames gradually shifted from red to orange, from orange to gold, and from gold to white, he tried throwing the Demon God Contract inside.

The gold-patterned parchment fell into the furnace and released thick black smoke. The fierce flames gradually burned most of it away, but the final layer proved extraordinarily stubborn. No matter how fiercely the fire burned, it would not disperse.

It was the same with the Demonblood, Sacrificial Dagger, Evil God Scepter, and Demon God's Fragment. The fire burned away most of their black smoke, but it could never penetrate that final layer, so it could not destroy them.

The great furnace burned for half a day. By the time the sun set and two weary travelers arrived at Luna Village seeking lodging, it still had not destroyed a single one.

Pan Long sighed and turned his gaze toward the two young travelers.

Perhaps... I can ask them for ideas.

The two young men he was watching were Allen, the protagonist of Heroes' Tale: Sword and Lament, and Sura, Allen's close friend and sworn brother.

(The End)