"What?" Vlad blurted as he read the details of the artifacts.
"A Crown, A Long sword, and a set of Gauntlets."
"A crown, a longsword, and a set of gauntlets…" Vlad muttered, his voice laced with disbelief and shock.
"Not a staff?" Vlad questioned. As he read further, he thought maybe Oroxon had changed his mind and ended up creating the Beast Dominion staff.
Vlad also did not miss how the first description of the artifact mentioned its ability to control any creature of any race, not just the Demonkin race, as he remembered.
His knowledge about the artifact came from what the ruling powers revealed to the public, so it was not surprising that they would try to hide the truth.
Vlad began to read, and he did not have to read much longer to find out the starting plans of the three artifacts and the difficulties they faced trying to make them.
1:- Veystrath, Gauntlets of the Sovereign Will
2:- Drakos, Longsword of the Eternal Conqueror
3:- Nyxra, Crown of the Boundless Dominion
Veystrath, the set of gauntlets, used the runes of Evolution & Domination; Drakos, the blade, used the runes of Judgment & Annihilation; and lastly, the crown used the runes of Will & Sovereignty, each artifact with its own unique set of skills.
Oroxon's plans were possible but seemingly only on paper since not even legendary smiths could create a stable artifact to contain and channel the power of the primordial words.
It took some time, but the genius Oroxon found a way and successfully created the Gauntlets, and while suspicious of him, Arznith did not hold back on praising his work, calling the first of the three artifacts the greatest creation he had seen.
"COME ON," Vlad snapped, slamming his fist on the armrest, seeing that the follow-up page had records of three years later.
Vlad was now too interested in knowing what led to Arznith, the true demon king, missing from the pages of history and Oroxon taking his place, so he continued reading.
'178th Moon Year 21635'
'I can see the truth now. The world I saw before was just an illusion,'
'Power? Life? Death?'
'They are just boundaries for the mortal mind,'
'Now I know what everything truly is, now I know what is reality,'
'The world language is more than what I first believed, as it is not just the language of the law, it is the law itself,'
'I need to learn more,'
Vlad read the long rant about what Arznith believed was the truth and how learning it would make him ascend the mortal boundaries.
The following few pages had less about his experiments and study and more of his long rants about what he believed the primordial language to be.
"11th Moon Year 21638"
"I am the chosen,"
"The cosmos is talking to me, and it guides me in my dream,"
"But those bastards, who I protected all my life, think I am going insane,"
"INSANE THEY SAY"
"They just want my throne and the knowledge I spent decades learning, but they will not have it,"
'This is interesting,' Vlad thought, not jumping to conclusions and calling Arznith a madman, but all signs pointed to him slipping into madness.
The research papers began by exploring primordial language and its wonders, featuring detailed analyses and pages dedicated to the meaning and power of single words.
However, from the records of the past few years, Arznith was just ranting about him being the chosen, his promised Ascension, his dreams, and now how everyone was after his gifts.
Arznith, who wished for power but was sound and reasonable, studied something ancient but was also aware of its dangers and took precautions.
But now, it was clear he was no longer the same man.
The once consistent entries, which had gaps of only days or weeks, had stretched into months, and when he did write, his words had devolved into hysterical rants.
The research papers were turning more and more into a diary.
"314th Moon Year 21644"
"Ohh, this is about the three artifacts," Vlad said in delight as he read the first line on the new page.
"The Three Great Artifacts,"
"I was a fool."
"What?" Vlad blurted out, his eyes scanning the page. Those were the last lines, the following words either lost to time or never written at all.
The next page was the same, and the next one, each of the last eleven pages, was blank with no words.
'Why did he call himself a fool? Why mention the three artifacts first? Were they the reason he lost his sanity?' Vlad questioned, having no idea what truly happened.
{System Notification: Accursed Scholar (Epic) Title Acquired}
Name: Accursed Scholar
Grade: Epic
Effect: Increases Intelligence by 10%.
Description:
A title earned by those who delve into dangerous, hidden knowledge. One that could grant power, its whispers capable of leading to enlightenment but also to ruin.
'Not bad,' Vlad thought, though a lingering disappointment remained at Arznith's unknown fate.
'Now, let's see if I got lucky,' Vlad thought, placing the research notes in his inventory before he stood up and went to the alchemy room in the back.
Vlad had seen a pair of dark leather gloves hanging on the wall, but he paid them no attention since they appeared no different than regular long gloves.
"Yes," Vlad exclaimed, raising his fist as a wide grin spread across his face.
Name: Veystrath (1/3)
Type: Gauntlets
Quality: Legendary (???)
Condition: Pristine
Essence: 0/1000
Bound: None
Effect(s):
•Indestructible Authority- The gauntlets cannot be damaged or degraded by conventional means.
• Sovereign's Vitality- Enhances self-recovery, passively regenerating 5% of max health, stamina, and Mana per minute.
•Primordial Conduit- Increases Strength, Constitution, and Mana by 15%.
•Instinctive Supremacy- Lesser creatures instinctively fear or obey the wielder.
Skill(s):
•➊- Essence Extraction (Passive & Active): The gauntlets absorb the life essence of a creature, storing it as raw essence.
⚠ Only one type of essence can be stored at a time. Extracting a new essence will overwrite the previous one.
•➋- Essence Embodiment (Active) Utilize the stored essence to morph the gauntlets or absorb it into yourself, temporarily inheriting the defining traits of the extracted creature.
•➌- Forced Growth (Active): Infuse a marked creature with the stored essence, forcing rapid mutation and growth.
•➍- Sovereign's Mark (Active): Engraves a sigil onto a target, bending their will to the wielder.
Description: The Gauntlets of Sovereign Will, an artifact of dominance, forged by the first Demon King, Oroxon Breg'dron Durkin.
"Ho..." Vlad exhaled, feeling his stomach drop and his heartbeat quicken as he read through the wild details of gauntlets.
"I knew it was going to be good, but this is just... beyond anything I imagined," Vlad murmured, his eyes squinting as his smile twisted his expression.
'Now the question is... Did these gauntlets become the reason for Arznith's madness,' Vlad thought, knowing well that while immortal, he was not immune to the physical and spiritual diseases and curses of the world of Ascension.
Vlad shrugged as he picked the gauntlets; not like he would have left them even if he knew that they could lead to madness.
{Would you like to bind with Veystrath 'The Gauntlets of Sovereign Will'?}
{Yes / No}
All legendary items could be bound to players, not dropping even in death, and when bound, normal means of appraisal would reveal no information.
This was also why Swail had them hanging in his alchemy room without a care in the world.
Vlad selected yes, and in an instant, the gauntlets became his. As he slipped them on, they adjusted seamlessly, molding to his hands, appearing as sleek, black gloves that extended just below his elbows, a perfect fit as if crafted for him alone.
'The first step is done; now, on to the second step,' Vlad thought, flexing his fingers. The gauntlets felt so natural, it was as if he wasn't wearing anything at all.
There were three steps to Vlad'd plan: first, kill the alchemist and acquire the treasure; the second step, create the poison that he would use to kill the Troll; and, if everything went as planned, then the final step was to make his first Spirit contract.