The next day, the two were much more intimate, arriving at the Rhine Clan's treasury arm in arm.
Jason had originally wanted to look for materials in a special treasury at the imperial palace, but after asking around, he learned that it held things like cultural relics, works of art, and collectibles. For forging materials, he would have to visit the Rhine Clan's shared treasury.
The Rhine Clan's treasury was set up specifically for clan members and operated on a barter system. If clan members collected good materials during their travels but had no use for them, they could exchange them here for things they needed.
Only after arriving did Jason learn that the treasury had a minimum grade requirement for materials. Only level-seven magic crystals and above, or items of equivalent value, qualified for exchanges here. Almost all Rhine Clan members were at least level seven, and the few whose aptitude was simply too low had no need to look for materials here.
Fortunately, Jason had prepared quite a few valuable things before and took them straight out of his Interspatial Ring. Now that he was back at the imperial palace, there was no need to hide it. His strength was already enough to befit an item of that level; he had only kept it hidden before to avoid trouble.
A Seventh-level Warrior in charge of receiving visitors froze for a moment when he saw Jason's Interspatial Ring. "Your Highness, my knowledge is limited. Please wait a moment while I find someone else to assist you."
A Ninth-level Magus was sent to take his place.
"Four level-seven Velociraptor corpses, with their magic cores untouched. Good. Two Flame Dragon corpses, with their magic cores still in them. Valuable. An eighth-level magical beast, a Saber-toothed Tiger corpse. Very good. A Level Nine Magical Beast, an Iron-armored Blade Mantis corpse. Rare. A Level Nine Magical Beast, a Green-eyed Toad corpse. Not even the treasury has one of those."
The two had kept a relatively low profile in Mist Valley over the years, but whenever they made a breakthrough, they would go outside the valley to test their skills against magical beasts. That was how they had accumulated the corpses of several relatively powerful beasts. As for the two Flame Dragon corpses, two Flame Dragons that had failed to recognize their strength had chased them down when they left the valley, and they had killed them along the way.
The Ninth-level Magus had also encountered knowledge concerning "force" and "profound mysteries." After glancing at Linda in Veronica's arms, he had a rough idea of Jason's level of strength.
"What would Your Highness like to exchange them for?"
"I'd like materials for forging weapons, related to water, fire, lightning, destruction, and death. Preferably ones we can use all the way to the Saint level. Oh, I also have some magic crystals and magical beast pelts here."
The two had not deliberately kept the corpses of the magical beasts they had hunted for an occasional good meal. As for the things originally in the Interspatial Ring, Jason had not touched them. They belonged to the Baruch Clan, and he did not want to use them unless necessary.
"I've long heard that Your Highness Jason is exceptionally gifted. It seems you're very confident about breaking through to the Saint level."
"Yes." Jason made no pretense of modesty.
And so, the level-seven and higher magic cores and assorted materials the two had accumulated over the past five years were exchanged for a small pile of other materials.
"A Saint-level Red Dragon's horn, a treasure from the treasury's collection. One of those. Hematite that's been fired in deep-sea lava for over a thousand years, something you can only come across by chance. Some of that. Mithril, a magic-conducting metal commonly used in forging. More of that.
"One tail feather from a Saint-level Purple Thunder Flowing Lightning Phoenix. A piece of refined copper unexpectedly dug out of a lightning-attribute magic crystal mine. A piece of heartwood from a lightning-attribute Thunderclap Fruit Tree."
In the end, they discovered that the materials they had accumulated could hardly withstand such an exchange. They had only enough for one weapon each.
(In the original story, the Slaughterer only cost tens of thousands of gold coins, while a single Level Nine Magic Core cost five million. The difference was too great, so I've raised the price of materials for Saint-level weapons here. Otherwise, the gap would be far too large, and the monetary system would collapse.)
Veronica cultivated fire-attribute magic and had no idea how to approach the Edicts of Destruction, so she decided to have a longsword favoring the fire attribute forged first and add other weapons once she reached the Saint level. Jason's Battle-qi was lightning-attribute, so he would have a long saber favoring the lightning attribute forged to use for now.
Next, they had to find craftsmen.
The materials the two had exchanged for were not particularly heavy. After adding some other materials, they each chose a design suited to their circumstances. For a labor fee of twenty thousand gold coins, several craftsmen finished the weapons in a day.
Veronica named her longsword Flame Scale because its blade bore many neat fish-scale patterns. Jason's long saber was called Leiming. It was a Tang-style saber that made a piercing sound as it cut through the air when swung at high speed.
"I don't want to get married, and I don't want to have children," Veronica said willfully as she lay in Jason's arms.
Jason had wanted to talk to his girlfriend about getting married. They had a rare stretch of free time, and his parents were both there. They could get married and then go on a honeymoon. It would be wonderful.
But since Veronica was so firm about it, Jason thought there was nothing wrong with waiting a little longer.
Veronica was only nineteen, and after living isolated from the world these past few years, she was going through a bit of a rebellious phase. They still had plenty of time together, so there was no rush. Jason decided to try breaking through his level-nine bottleneck first.
Breaking through a bottleneck couldn't be done by entering life-or-death seclusion, at least not for Jason.
Some people liked to seek breakthroughs between life and death through mortal combat. Jason thought it was pointless. How could the bottleneck of an Eighth-level Warrior be worth risking his life over?
Jason chose to visit relatives.
Jason's older sister Yunika had married into an earl's family in the north of the kingdom.
Jason brought Veronica to visit her, which made Yunika very happy.
Yunika already had two children. She and her husband had been childhood sweethearts, and she did not place much importance on birth. In her view, it was enough for two people to love each other.
Apart from Emperor Maisiji and a few intelligence personnel, no one in the Rhine Empire knew that Veronica came from the Baruch Clan. Veronica had not fought in her dragon transformation form again, either.
After they had stayed at Yunika's home for seven or eight days, they suddenly heard that Emperor Maisiji's birthday celebration was approaching. Yunika immediately brought her whole family along with Jason and Veronica to celebrate her father's birthday.
As an aside, Yunika's husband was also devoted to cultivation. He was already an Eighth-level Magus and was very talented.
The group happily bought a great pile of gifts.
Jason took the opportunity to sell off all the magic cores and materials below level seven that the Rhine Clan's treasury did not want, using the proceeds to buy a gift for Emperor Maisiji.
Thus, at the birthday banquet, Jason saw his older brother Barek and younger sister Lucy for the first time since returning home.
Bakulei had not changed much. Although he had not appeared on the front lines again in recent years, his prestige in the army had not diminished. Lucy was already twenty-four and had grown into a pretty young woman, with an air of authority and shrewdness about her.
"His Majesty wishes to bring this contest for the throne to an early end," a trusted aide at Maisiji's side came over to inform Jason and Yunika.
Naturally, Emperor Maisiji had instructed him to do so.
Jason found it strange. Why was Maisiji meddling in the contest for the throne when he had nothing better to do?
A royal succession struggle was normal and reasonable. If they didn't fight it out, how would the ministers know who was better suited to be emperor?
The Rhein Imperial Family had few members, and only Barek and Lucy were currently contending for the throne. In countries with numerous princes and princesses, an emperor couldn't even pass on the throne without losing a few children.
Besides, if he named an heir early and the crown prince suddenly took it into his head to force his way into the palace and become emperor himself, what was the old emperor supposed to do?
Maisiji was no founding emperor with a blade sharp enough that, no matter what his subordinates got up to, he could wipe out their entire families the moment they displeased him.
"Why end it when it's only just begun?" Jason asked the attendant beside him.
"Our Rhine Clan will undergo some major changes within the next two hundred years. The clan leader hopes the country will remain absolutely stable during that time so we can build up our strength." The attendant was also a member of the Rhine Clan, and he spoke as one.
"Changes? Within two hundred years?" Jason thought back, but there had been no relevant information in the original story, and he couldn't think of anything himself. The only possibility was that the Rhine Clan's top experts were planning something.
Jason asked Yunika, but she couldn't think of anything either.
The birthday banquet began, with toast after toast. Jason and Yunika presented their respective gifts, and Jason also took the opportunity to introduce Veronica to the people around them.
The final highlight was the end of the contest for the throne, which had lasted five years.
Maisiji's method was simple-he married Lucy off.
Lucy had many admirers, including quite a few from excellent families who were outstanding in their own right. Maisiji chose a suitor from among them who had known Lucy since childhood and set a wedding date.
The contest for the throne was declared over-