After leaving Star River Mayfly, Richard wasted no time. He went straight to the Endless Dimensions and returned the unfinished World Hammer to the Great Elder.
"Ho, you finished using it so quickly? I thought you'd need at least seven or eight years."
Seeing Richard return the hammer so soon, the Great Elder's face immediately showed a trace of surprise.
Richard smiled. "The trial went very smoothly."
"Then that means you got the hammer?"
Richard nodded, then took the Creation Hammer from his pocket. The Great Elder stared intently at it for quite a while before saying in admiration, "This Civilization Treasure of yours is remarkable. Its quality is astonishingly good."
"Its quality?" A flicker of confusion crossed Richard's eyes. "Civilization Treasures have different grades?"
The Great Elder glanced at Richard, seemingly surprised that he would ask such a question.
"Of course they do. Could the Civilization Treasures of great civilizations and small civilizations possibly be the same?"
As he spoke, he pointed at the Creation Hammer in Richard's hand.
"I've seen quite a few Civilization Treasures. Broadly speaking, they can be divided into three grades. Inferior Civilization Treasures are about on par with the mask I gave you; some are even worse than that mask.
Such Civilization Treasures are essentially just blanks, lacking the tempering brought by collisions between civilizations.
Mid-grade Civilization Treasures, meanwhile, have been tempered in the fires of war and devoured the essence of other civilizations. Only treasures of this level truly begin to display abilities worthy of the name Civilization Treasure. Any one of them would be enough to transform a Sovereign from head to toe.
As for superior treasures... just look at that hammer of yours.
I thought you'd manage to obtain, at most, a mid-grade treasure. I never expected you to get your