Chapter 370 - Sky-breaker
The mineral veins were situated in a barren hill where the surrounding soil was so dry and hard that not even weeds could grow. Beneath the hill, there was a mine shaft about the height of a person, and Lin Li could feel the scalding heat coming from the opening even from far away.
From a distance, he could even see a glowing red light from the opening of the mine shaft, and there was a pile of messy discarded mining equipment next to it. Due to the extremely high heat, the miners have stopped working for a while, and most of them had already left, leaving the bold ones to stare inside the opening…
“The redhead is called Duncan, he’s the leader of my miners. He has been in charge of most of the mining of the Rosen Union.” As they walked, Kaman introduced Lin Li to the red-haired youth looking into the mine shaft. He looked to be in his twenties, and was extra eye-catching with his red hair. After the introduction, Kaman shouted from afar, “Hey Duncan, come over for a bit.”
“How come you’re here, Boss?” Duncan stopped moving when he heard Kaman’s voice from afar before he brought the two miners beside him over. “Boss, it’s really dangerous there now, you shouldn’t go too close.”
“I brought Mage Felic over to take a look…” Kaman said while looking over to the glowing mine shaft opening. “Say, Duncan, what’s going on now? Can you continue mining? Why do I feel like the temperature has increased?”
“The temperature is indeed much higher now. I went to take a look, and it’s hotter than a volcano crater at this point. If we go in, we’ll be cooked in a matter of seconds. I’m afraid this mineral vein cannot be mined anymore, Boss…” The young miner shook his head helplessly.
“You went in?” Lin Li was a little shocked. While this red-haired teen looked strong, he did not look to be well-versed in martial arts, much less be at level-10 with Combat Energy. Given the temperature now, only a Warrior of at least level-10 could go in using their Combat Energy to protect themselves, or else they would be scalded.
“It’s true…”
“Nonsense, you little bastard, nothing true ever comes from that mouth of yours…” Apophis scolded angrily before he started smiling deviously. “Say, kid, why don’t we make a deal?”
“What deal?” Lin Li looked at the old man’s smile, and suddenly became wary of him. He spread out his hands, and shielded the Lava adamantine behind him like a hen guarding her chicks. “Anything but this, you hear me, definitely not this!”
“Damn it, you little bastard, why are you stingy? You’re exactly like that bastard of a teacher you have. I am a Sanctuary Master, will I ask you for something without giving anything in return? Moreover, I only want a bit of it, at most the size of a fist…” The old man broke into a rage suddenly, and after complaining furiously, he sulkily said, “How about this: you give me a piece of that Lava adamantine, and I’ll give you a blueprint so that you can make good use of this stuff unlike the morons who use such precious magical metal to make weapons and armor. What an utter waste!”
“I don’t need blueprints…” Lin Li rejected the offer without even considering it as he thought, I have plenty of blueprints, and each of them is at least of a divine level, why would I need your blueprint?
“Don’t regret this, kid, I have the blueprint of the Sky-breaker. Only I have it in the whole of Anril!”
“Not even for the Sky-breaker’s blueprint…” Lin Li finished his sentence, but he found it strange. Wait… Sky-breaker? Could this old man be talking about the Sky-breaker that was more powerful than the magical crystal cannons and had blown down a Sky Castle during the war back in the Dark Ages? Damn it, this was going too far—the Sky-breaker was a closely guarded secret of the Dwarf Kingdom! Back then, during the war, six Sky Castles had been blown down by the allies, and one of them was blown down by the Dwarf Kingdom using the miracle that was the Sky-breaker.
There was no blinding magic light, nor the Wyvern Army that covered the sky and land—only a hundred Sky-breakers firing at once. Then, the purportedly infallible Sky Castle fell just like that…
However…
The skill of crafting the Sky-breaker had been lost after the war. Even the Dwarf Kingdom did not have the blueprint, so where did this old fellow get it from?
“How come you have the blueprint for the Sky-breaker?”
“Of course it’s from the dwarves…” The old man did not seem keen on telling him where he got it from, and only briefly explained, “Don’t bother about where it came from. I’m just asking whether you want to exchange for it. If you do, I’ll give you another gift…”
The old man then retrieved a ring from an inner pocket. The ring looked nothing out of the ordinary, and was made from common silver. There was no magical wave coming from it, either. Besides being a little old, it looked just like rings that cost a few silver coins sold on the street. If he did not see it for himself, Lin Li would never believe that a common silver ring would be kept so carefully by the Sanctuary Master.
“Take this ring to a dwarf named Gern, and pass him the blueprint. Tell him an old friend is asking a favor, and he will help you turn this Lava adamantine into a Sky-breaker…” After finishing, the old man did not care whether Lin Li agreed to it before shoving the ring in his hand. “I’ve held onto the blueprint for more than 1,300 years. It’s time to return it to the dwarves. You’re in luck kid, I’m taking a piece of Lava adamantine from you, but I’m doing you a huge favor…”
“Heheh…” Lin Li knew that the favor the old man was referring to was the blueprint—it was more important compared to the Sky-breaker as it was something that the Dwarf Kingdom had lost for over 1,300 years. If he brought it back to them, they would probably agree to any of his requests given their straightforward attitude.