Chapter 127: Let’s Do It!

Niuniu nearly burst out laughing when she saw him.

Where was the dignity of a noble mage now?

Kent looked less like a respected spellcaster and more like an oppressed servant who had just been forced into doing something against his will.

Niuniu flew over and leaned close to his ear.

“The headquarters of the Church of Light. Inside, there’s a—”

“Nope.”

Kent did not even wait for her to finish.

“If you want to die, go ahead. Don’t drag me down with you. This is where we say goodbye.”

He turned around and immediately started walking away again.

What kind of joke was this?

In Kent’s eyes, the most terrifying organizations in this world were precisely those enormous religious churches.

They were even more frightening than the most notorious scam compounds back on Earth.

And the Church of Light was one of the largest religious powers in the entire world.

Its followers numbered in the hundreds of millions, perhaps even more.

No one knew how many ancient monsters—old fellows who had survived for thousands upon thousands of years—were hidden within its headquarters.

Even if someone had reached the Legendary Realm, even if they were a Level Ten mage, they still would not casually stroll into the headquarters of the Church of Light.

History had already provided more than enough examples of what happened to those foolish enough to try.

“Hey! Hey!”

Niuniu hurried after him, thoroughly exasperated.

“Can’t we at least sit down and make a proper plan?”

The truth was that Niuniu already had a complete plan in mind.

The problem was that carrying it out required someone she could trust absolutely.

And for that role, Kent was unquestionably the best choice.

Otherwise, there was no way she would have entrusted something this important to him.

Kent glanced over and noticed that Daphne had fainted yet again.

At this point, he felt that Daphne had probably lost consciousness more times today than she had during all the previous years of her life combined.

He waved dismissively at Niuniu.

“In the face of absolute power, so-called plans are nothing more than a thin sheet of paper.”

Niuniu immediately retorted,

“What if that sheet of paper has a Forbidden Spell written on it?”

Kent froze.

He lowered his head and thought for a long moment.

Then he raised his eyes and said,

“Fine. But before we discuss any of that... shouldn’t you return my ring first?”

He paused.

“And everything else that belongs to me.”

Niuniu nearly exploded on the spot.

Niuniu, however, simply tossed the ring toward Kent and said disdainfully,

“I can use Space magic. Carrying something like that would only be a burden. Everything you wanted is already inside.”

“Hahaha! Still pretending you don’t care, huh?”

Kent hurriedly caught the spatial ring and slipped it onto his finger.

“If it’s such a burden, why were you wearing it around your neck? What a liar.”

Without wasting another moment, he sent his mental power into the ring to see exactly what treasures were hidden inside.

“Now this is what I call a high-grade artifact!”

The instant Kent’s mental power entered the ring, the slightly oversized band automatically contracted until it fit his finger perfectly.

Clearly, the ring had already recognized Kent as its new owner.

He could not help marveling at it.

“Hahaha! The dragon blood is still here! And this... this is Magic Silver!”

The moment his consciousness fully entered the spatial ring, Kent sensed a storage space nearly a hundred cubic meters in size.

The interior was dim and misty, and while it was not completely packed with items, everything inside had been neatly divided into several categories.

Kent immediately swept his mental perception across the space.

The first thing he found was six remaining bottles of dragon blood.

Then his attention landed on something that nearly made his eyes light up.

Magic Silver.

It was the highest-grade magical metal Kent had ever encountered.

Magic Silver was one of the finest materials in existence for engraving magic arrays. It caused almost no loss of magical power during transmission and could significantly increase the operating speed of an array.

And the faster a magic array functioned, the greater its power became.

For that reason, Magic Silver was among the most expensive materials on the entire continent.

Unfortunately, it was also one of the rarest.

Then Kent noticed another pile.

High-level magic cores.

Most of them belonged to the Necromancy element.

The moment Kent saw them, he nearly burst into tears of joy.

Magic cores were precisely what he lacked most.

His mental power had always remained far ahead of his actual magical rank. The problem was that every advancement required him to accumulate several times—perhaps even many times—the mana needed by an ordinary mage.

If he relied solely on absorbing elemental energy from the surroundings, advancing would take an eternity.

But now?

With so many high-level magic cores available, Kent was confident that he could reach the rank of an intermediate mage within a relatively short period of time.

Suppressing his excitement, he continued searching.

“High-level magical beast hides... bones... refined blood... blank magic scrolls...”

Another section of the storage space was piled with magical beast materials.

There were pelts, bones, refined blood, and even several long fangs taken from creatures Kent could not identify.

Such fangs were exceptional materials for forging weapons, especially magical weapons.

The magical conductivity of a powerful beast’s fang was nearly comparable to mithril, yet unlike mithril, which was relatively soft, beast fangs possessed extraordinary hardness.

In fact, nearly thirty percent of the most famous magical weapons recorded in history had been forged using the teeth or fangs of magical beasts.

“Damn... that old monster really was an accomplished alchemist.”

Kent stared greedily at another pile.

“So many blank magic scrolls—and they’re all high-grade.”

He carefully examined several of them.

“These few... they might even have been made from the hides of Saint-level magical beasts. No wonder I can feel such pressure coming from them.”

At first, Kent was delighted.

Then his expression suddenly changed.

“What a stingy bastard. He didn’t even leave behind a few completed magic scrolls.”

He sighed regretfully.

“It would’ve been perfect if there were a couple of Forbidden Spell scrolls in here.”

Of course, Kent conveniently forgot one important fact.

The mask-faced creature had fallen in battle.

If it had possessed powerful magic scrolls at the time, there was no reason it would have died without using them first.

Finally, Kent discovered several weapons.

Judging by the intense magical radiance surrounding them, every one of them was clearly a powerful magical weapon.

Unfortunately, Kent had never been particularly interested in cold weapons.

As he looked over the swords and other equipment, a stray thought suddenly entered his mind.

“If I had a Barrett rifle from Earth...”

Kent rubbed his chin.

“And paired it with a close-in weapon system...”

A grin slowly appeared on his face.

“Even a Saint-level expert would probably think twice before coming after me.”

Kent’s reasoning was not entirely without merit.

Although he had never personally witnessed a Forbidden Spell, the legends surrounding such magic suggested that even the most devastating ones still fell short of the destructive power of a nuclear weapon.

More importantly, casting a Forbidden Spell required an extremely long preparation time, and the conditions were incredibly demanding.

During the incantation, a single mispronounced syllable could cause the entire spell to fail.

Even worse, while casting it, the mage could not use any defensive magic on himself.

Of course, a Forbidden Spell generated an overwhelming pressure while being invoked. For weaker enemies, that pressure alone could be terrifying.

But opponents of the same level were another matter entirely.

Such pressure had little effect on them.

That was why, throughout history, most Forbidden Spells had been cast either as surprise attacks or only after victory was already virtually guaranteed.

Only under such circumstances could the mage’s safety be assured during the lengthy casting process.

Otherwise, something as simple as a single well-placed arrow could kill the caster before the spell was completed.

And if the spell suffered magical backlash...

the resulting force would be only slightly less terrifying than the Forbidden Spell itself.

In that sense, Forbidden Spells were truly double-edged swords.

Compared with them, nuclear weapons from Earth were far safer and more reliable.

Having grown up in a world dominated by firearms and modern weapons, how could Kent possibly feel much enthusiasm for cold steel?

The very idea of two people hacking at one another with blades seemed ridiculous to him.

You slash me once with your sword, and I shoot you twice with a gun.

What kind of idiotic fighting style was that?

That did not mean Kent intended to throw away the magical weapons in his spatial ring, of course.

Absolutely not.

Those things could be exchanged for glittering gold coins.

And not ordinary gold coins, either.

Adamantine coins.

The moment Kent imagined piles upon piles of shining currency, he nearly started drooling.

Niuniu had been watching him nervously the entire time.

After all, most of the truly valuable treasures had already found their way into her own possession.

Only when she saw Kent staring dreamily into space, saliva practically forming at the corner of his mouth and wearing an unbearably foolish grin, did Niuniu finally relax.

It seemed she had managed to fool him after all.

“I’m rich! I’m rich...”

The thought that everything inside his spatial ring could be exchanged for mountains of coins filled Kent with such joy that he actually began to sing.

Unfortunately, his singing voice was so dreadful that it was nearly painful to hear.

Kent himself, however, seemed convinced that he sounded wonderful.

“Now that I’ve returned your things, shouldn’t we discuss the plan?”

Niuniu could no longer bear watching his money-obsessed expression and finally spoke up.

“No. Absolutely not. I refuse.”

The instant Kent heard the word “plan,” he hurriedly covered the spatial ring with one hand and shook his head firmly.

Niuniu stared at him.

“You haven’t even heard the plan yet.”

“No, no, no.”

Kent shook his head even harder.

“I don’t care what your plan is. Whatever it is, I’m not agreeing to it. End of discussion.”

His tone was utterly decisive.

Having said that, Kent immediately turned away and went to bother Big Nose instead.

After all, Big Nose was round, plump, and wonderfully soft.

There was something deeply satisfying about squeezing and petting him.

“Didn’t you just say that if I gave you the spatial ring, you would—”

Niuniu finally lost her temper and shouted at Kent.

Kent cut her off before she could finish.

“I said I’d discuss it with you. I never said I’d agree to anything. And now I’ve decided I’m not agreeing to any of it, no matter what you say. Silly little fool.”

“You... You’re absolutely horrible! Too cunning! Too shameless! Too despicable...!”

Niuniu was so furious that she rattled off one accusation after another.

One could easily imagine just how angry she was.

“Hmph. Bite me.”

Kent snorted.

“You want me to walk straight into my own grave? Not a chance. If you’re determined to get yourself killed, don’t drag me along with you.”

There was absolutely no way Kent intended to casually wander into the headquarters of the Church of Light.

That place was one of the most dangerous locations in the entire world.

Niuniu angrily punched him several times in succession.

Unfortunately, Kent did not seem to feel any pain at all.

In fact, judging by the expression on his face, he looked almost as though he were enjoying it.

That only made Niuniu even more frustrated.

Hitting him did nothing.

And when it came to cursing people, she simply was not very good at it.

For once, she had absolutely no way to deal with this stubborn bastard.

So Niuniu could only sit off to one side and sulk while trying to think of some method to handle him.

Big Nose, unfortunately, became the innocent victim of her frustration.

Niuniu grabbed his already tiny ears and twisted them back and forth until it looked as though she might pull all the fur off them.

“Heh, heh. I’ve got it.”

Niuniu’s eyes suddenly moved toward Kent.

He was currently studying the soul creature trapped inside his staff.

The instant she noticed what he was doing, an idea flashed through her mind.

Kent, meanwhile, was trying to figure out how to properly use the staff.

More specifically, he wanted to obtain the alchemical knowledge buried within the mask-faced creature’s memories.

In theory, he should have been able to communicate with the soul sealed inside the staff.

The problem was that Kent had little experience with such things and was still trying to work out exactly how it should be done.

Just then, Niuniu leaned close to his ear.

“What are you doing?”

“That guy was an alchemist,” Kent replied without bothering to hide his intentions. “I’m trying to squeeze some useful knowledge out of him.”

“I know how.”

Niuniu’s eyes lit up.

She leaned closer and whispered into Kent’s ear for a while.

Kent had originally been sitting on the ground.

But the moment he finished listening to her idea, he sprang to his feet in excitement.

“Do it!”

He stared at Niuniu with shining eyes.

“Do it! Do it! Let’s get him!”