Doomsday Pillars

2 days before the meeting.

After deciding on the entourage lineup and seeing the results of yesterday's training, Alex realized the primary need of tier 3 artifacts for the members. Of the 10 chosen members, only Sergei, Theo, Aria, Jerry, Rama, and Makali had tier 3 weapon artifacts while Tommy, Daisy, and Arief didn't have any. Alex immediately fell into deep thought as he reviewed each of the tier 3 weapons the team members had in mind. 

Sergei was already very happy with the giant hammer artifact he had, which he had used to wreak havoc among the zombie hordes last time, smashing and knocking them into bits and pieces.

[Earth Cracker] [Hammer - Tier 3 Weapon]

[Length : 80 centimeters, weight : 32 kilogram]

[Special Effect - Enhanced Power]

[Special Skill - Earth Smash]

Theo had one of the most interesting if not the most unique tier 3 weapon artifact, a set of short swords he could wield with flexibility and versatility, wiping out the low stage zombies swiftly, effortlessly and mercilessly.

[Rainbow Sword] [Short Sword Set - Tier 3 Weapon] 

[5 Pieces Swordset]

[Length: 50 centimeter; weight: 1.5 kilogram]

[Special Skill - Sword Formation]

Aria had the three tier 3 knives Alex gave her in the Abyss pit. Unfortunately for these knives, she rarely used them because they were not as efficient as the tier 3 spells she had when it came to mass slaughter..

[Radiance Dagger] [Dagger - Tier 3 Weapon]

[Length : 25 centimeters, weight : 0.7 kilogram]

[Special Skill - Light Pulse]

Rama had his own tier 3 weapon which he received as the first prize in the second challenge on Bali Island.

[Blaze Spear] [Spear - Tier 3 Weapon]

[Length : 1.9 meter, weight : 7 kilogram]

[Special Effect - Enhanced Strength]

[Special skill - ]

While Makali got his double-edged halberd from one of the artifact caves in Papua.

[Tempest Halberd]

[Spear - tier 3 Weapon]

[2.2 meter long weight 10 kilogram]

[Special Effect - Enhanced Speed]

[Special skill - ] 

Alex nodded his head as he thought of the astonishing tier 3 artifacts that his people possessed. However, Alex suddenly frowned as he thought of those who didn't have any tier 3 artifacts yet, either because they were incompatible or unlucky with their artifacts.

Tier 3 artifacts were very rare, especially tier 3 weapons that matched the type and element of the fighter's affinity. Therefore, this time Alex decided to continue his experiment about artifacts engraving he had previously shelved due to lack of raw materials and time constraint. For the past 40 days, practicing engraving has been Alex's top priority.

With the headquarters' current situation and status where it was basically being flooded by an enormous amount of spirit stones, Alex managed to practice his engraving without any obstruction on the way. Gone were the days when he complained that he didn't have enough spirit stones, because now he was never short of spirit stones to charge Strokes.

At first, Alex was hesitant to use the spirit stone that his wife and friends had so painstakingly collected for his own advantage. Tens of thousands of people had worked to cultivate magic raisins and forge weapons to obtain these spirit stones. There was no way Alex could do something like that to his people.

However, once his wife Devita knew about the function of the special tier 5 sword artifact Alex had, she was very supportive of this engraving matter. "No matter how much spirit stones you need, we will do our best to provide." she said.

Devita's words really touched Alex's heart. Hence, without the slightest hesitation he immediately put forth all his efforts and energy into practicing his engraving. But it turned out that every day he did engraving, his wife would always audit the number of spirit stones used and also the success rate of the engraving. Sometimes, his wife would talk to him about this engraving matter.

"Your success rate has not increased much. You have to try harder, Alex."

"You know that these spirit stones are not easy to get, right? Do not fail."

It seemed to his wife that, despite the support of the many spirit stones he had used and the willingness to sacrifice how many spirit stones he needed, there was also great hope for success which both weighed on him and gave Alex the push he needed to work harder. Just like the words of wisdom say, "Behind every great man there is always a great woman."

The two of them had realized that tier 2 weapons would soon become the new norm while tier 1 weapons would be completely obsolete. They both believed that this engraving skill would become the new money-making machine for the island due to its ability to create tier 3 artifacts and magic scrolls.

Thinking about the amount of spirit stones they could get from these two new products and seeing how supportive his wife was towards it, Alex had new worries for the future, not just the threats of tribulation to come. 

However, the fact that he was the only one who could wield the tier 5 Strokes, made Alex wonder if in the future he would only work on engraving weapons and magic scrolls every day like a labor slave.

Shaking his head, Alex immediately pushed aside the strange imagination about his future and focused on his current thoughts again. As the wise say: 'Future troubles should not interfere with the joy of the moment.'

In the past 9 months, the iron craftsmen legalized on the Bali Island have been able to make weapons other than swords; namely shields and spears, which were the basic equipment and necessities of the military. 

Tier 1 hardened metal could be obtained from melting tier 1 weapons that could be purchased from the pillar store. The melted weapons will then be added with mutated animals blood and subjected to a certain temperature which then produced a tier 1 raw material that was much better than that of tier 1 normal weapons, almost equal to tier 2 weapons.

Fortunately, the tier 1 hardened metal that he used could still be enhanced by Strokes. This hardened metal had the same defense and strength as tier 2 weapons, the only problem it had was its durability.

Every time Alex tried to enhance it, the metal would break down twice as fast when compared to an actual tier 2 weapon. Meanwhile, if he was successful, the end result will also have less durability. However, given the rarity of tier 3 artifact, this solution could still mean a fortune.

Alex then tried to make the tier 2 protective armor, which was much more difficult to make than a weapon, using the hardened metal. Different from the weapon, tier 2 protective artifacts already had their own magical qualities, the energy barrier. In his previous life, no one was able to create the tier 2 armor, but now with his engraving skill, anything was possible. 

The reason Alex insisted on making these protective armor was because saving the lives of his men was the utmost priority. Weapons and equipment could be made again when they run out, but human lives would no longer be recovered when lost.

In the last 40 days, Alex had engraved thousands of items which consumed nearly two million spirit stones. But in the end, he managed to make 300 tier 3 weapons, 200 tier 3 shield, and 300 tier 2 protective armor, spending all of the energy he had until there was almost nothing left.

For the weapons, Alex had created 20 pieces for each element: fire, water, lightning, ice, plant, earth, metal, wind, darkness and light. All engraved with each element's basic offensive spells. As for the shield and armor enhancements, he chose to engrave metal element spells due to their defensive capabilities, which gave the most protection.

[Protective Vest - Tier 2 hardened]

[Medium Armor]

[Weight: 3.8 kilogram]

[Protective Energy : 200]

The tier 2 hardened armor that was successfully created had 2 times the protective energy compared to the tier 2 armor that could be bought in the pillar. With this increased protection, Alex felt much safer when traveling down the Abyss pit.

Looking at all these already finished tier 3 artifacts, Alex still seemed unable to find the right weapon for his four chosen top 10 fighters who had not yet had their own tier 3 weapon. Therefore, using the last few days before the gathering began, Alex would personally create a tier 3 weapon that matched Arief, Daisy, Tommy and Cindy's ability.

Finally just a day before the meeting Alex had finished the custom weapons. He called out the 4 who did not yet have the tier 3 weapons. Surprisingly among them he also called Aria.

"I already have a tier 3 weapon, are you making me another one?" said Aria.

"Yes, in fact yours was the one hardest to make"

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