Chapter 4478: Improved Design (Part 2)

"Of the sixteen sets left, six were of high-grade purified Orichalcum and only ten of purified Adamant. The Royals got eight sets, and we have eight left to split between us."

"So, I get one set of Orichalcum equipment and one and one-third Adamant sets?" Tista asked, and Lith nodded in reply. "How is that not enough to cover my debt?"

"Because they are not made of pure metal." Lith sighed. "They are made of Isharas’ chitinous shell coated in metal."

"Fuck!" Tista snarled. "Those stingy bastards!"

"Put yourself in their shoes." Solus replied. "They have huge bodies and a collection of limbs. An armor made entirely of metal would waste too many resources. Also, the shell of their kin works as an amplifier, and all Isharas have Life Maelstrom.

"One spark of silver lightning and their equipment becomes ten times better. It’s the perfect design for them."

"And a damn rip-off for their enemies! I bet the eight armor that Warped were made of solid metal." Tista grunted.

"You’re probably right, but what are you going to do?" Lith shrugged.

"More like, what are you going to do, Lith?" Quylla asked. "I doubt even your pocket dimension can host so many corpses of that size, and the Crucible can’t hold so much metal."

"You’re right on all accounts." Solus nodded. "We had to make multiple trips to deliver everything and leave Tista and Faluel behind to watch the loot. After that, even more trips to bring our share to Lutia."

"I plan to swap the normal Orichalcum stored in the Crucible with the high-grade purified Orichalcum." Lith said. "It should turn into Adamant quickly and help Tista pay off her debt."

"Thanks, lil bro!" She hugged him tight.

"Also, we’ve put one of the Isharas’ armor and weapons in the Thievery to study them." Solus added. "The rest we’re about to move to the Desert to get Grandma’s help in dismantling everything and learn how to use the corpses."

"That sounds nice." Friya said. "Do you mind if we come along? I’m bored."

"No problem, but we’re leaving the tower here." Lith replied. "We’re using the Warp Gate to reach Grandma’s palace and the pocket dimension to move the loot."

"How?" Quylla asked.

"You’ll see." Solus said with an impish smile.

Once they reached the Desert and Salaark prepared a space wide enough to contain eight Ishara corpses and seven sets of equipment in her palace, Solus emptied the pocket dimension before the Overlord.

At the same time, in the Mansion, Lith filled the now-empty dimensional storage with the second cargo that Solus took out in the Desert a second later.

"Great Mother almighty!" Friya said in awe. "This is like conjuring a massive long-distance gate! By sharing the same pocket dimension and activating it in turns, there is no limit to the mass of inorganic matter you can transport. I envy you guys so much!"

"It’s called cheating." Solus chuckled. "Deal with it."

"I envy you too." Salaark frowned at the colossal pile of metal and bodies. "Even I would need a squadron of Phoenixes or the help of another Guardian to bring so much stuff from the Kingdom to the Desert.

"I’m so proud of you, Featherlings!" The Overlord buried Solus’ head in her ample bosom with a hug and then did the same to Lith when he arrived.

"Thanks, Grandma." He cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Can you start with the equipment, please? The sooner I store the Orichalcum, the faster it evolves."

"Sure thing." A snap of Salaark’s fingers and the tier one Creation Magic Spell, Dismantle, turned the equipment into a hill of enchanted metal and hardened shell plates.

"What can you tell us about the corpses, Grandma?" Solus asked. "Do they have any value for research or as materials?"

"If you were an Ishara, maybe you could learn something. Since you are not, they are useless. As for the materials, flesh and organs are too squishy and frail to be preserved properly. Even worse, they have limited magical properties.

"The real prize here is the Isharas’ chitinous shell. It’s harder than any Divine Beast’s bones and can be shaped however you like with Second Life. The Isharas’ lack of a skeleton and body fat makes their exoskeleton their only means of natural defense.

"It is not only very tough, but it also offers a partial resistance to the elements."

"Are you serious?" Quylla was flabbergasted.

"Of course." Salaark nodded. "Look at this from the Ishara’s perspective. Once their shell is punctured, they have no defense. There’s nothing to stop or slow down a blade or spell that’s carving their insides."

"I see." Quylla swallowed hard at the idea, glad to be a vertebrate.

"Also, if I can offer you an unsolicited piece of advice, I think you got lucky here, Lith." The Overlord said.

"Lucky how?" He tilted his head in confusion. "I just discovered I’ve got a bunch of psychos as neighbors in Distar, and they probably hate my guts now."

"That’s all true, but are you really not seeing it?" Salaark asked. "What about you, Solus?"

"Seeing what?" She looked around and noticed Quylla and Friya were just as stumped.

"Fine. Consider this part of your birthday gift, Solus." Salaark conjured a hologram of an Ishara conjuring a spell in the space between his pincers and then shooting it in a compressed and amplified form. "Seriously?"

Everyone kept staring at the Overlord as she had gone insane.

"Fine! I’ll dumb it down again." She grunted as she conjured a hologram of Thundercrash.

In the image, however, the tuning fork at the end of the railgun was replaced by the inner edges of an Ishara’s pincer.

"You’re right!" Lith’s eyes widened in understanding. "The pincer is a natural focus for all kinds of magical energies. It should improve Thundercrash’s overall performance and shorten the charging time between shots."

"Indeed." Solus nodded. "Also, the biological component coming from a bright violet core means no impurities, and that Thundercrash can be stored in the Spark to be further refined."

"Better late than never." Salaark sighed. "Do you want me to butcher them for you?"

"Yes, please. And spare us the gory part, thank you." Lith nodded.

A wave of the Overlord’s hand removed every bit of flesh, blood, and organs from the corpses, giving the impression they were balloons and she had just deflated them. The black exoskeletons shone like polished stone, ready to be Forgemastered.

"Out of curiosity, what will you do with the flesh of the Isharas?" Quylla asked.

"I didn’t lie when I told you the insides have no magical value. They have no use for my research." Salaark replied. "Yet they will do wonders for my kitchens. Here in the Desert, we eat several species of insects and arachnids as you eat crustaceans.

"Finding a scorpion that big is hard, but usually their meat is a rare delicacy."

"Oh, gods!" Friya turned green. "Why did you ask, Quylla?"

"How can you do that?" Quylla was flabbergasted. "Aren’t Isharas also Divine Beasts just like you?"

"They sure are, and you can bet they’d eat my kind if given the chance." Salaark snorted. "I don’t see why you act like that. All Divine Beasts gladly eat humans if they are so kind as to deliver themselves to the doorstep."