Chapter 230: Stonerend’s use.

Chapter 230: Stonerend’s use."It’s been said that several hundred years ago Lucien Duvant arrived from another world. He didn’t have the last name at the time, though." Daniel began his story, "He became the guest of the Duvant family, one of the nobles in the city. Back then it was called Droskar."

Daniel took a long pause, but during his time here Lee had gotten used to it. He knew the man got lost in thoughts, but soon would speak again.

"It was then his conquest began. One after another the heads of the noble families began to disappear. Droskar was thrown into chaos, but the ruler at the time, probably not a very powerful man, couldn’t do anything about it. In few short months only few elemental lords were left and unsurprisingly all of them were from Duvant family."

"So basically he killed everyone and took over, right?" Lee asked.

"Right." Daniel agreed, surprised his story turned out to be so short, "He killed his allies in the end. Droskar Dominion became his. He renamed the city, giving the stupid Freeheaven name, I don’t know why. And from then on controlled every talented individual in the world. If someone showed any signs of revolt, they disappeared."

"So that’s the reason the elemental lords around him are weak, right?" Lee asked, "He keeps only those he can easily take care of?"

"Correct. The world is wast and everyone would have a place to live peacefully, but he ..." Daniel became philosophical, but Lee interrupted.

"Is there a spatial elemental master among them?"

"How did you know?" Daniel was surprised, "But he’s also very weak. Duvant always takes a good care of him too."



"... so that’s where they get the resources." Lee realized, "They sell the artifacts you guys craft in other worlds in exchange for raw materials. They aren’t collectors, they’re slavers! Alright! What about the leader of the resistance? And how strong is the resistance?"

"He’s a strong elemental lord, but not strong enough to go against Duvant. The guy has a peculiar artifact, one that prevents a cultivator within a certain radius to use elemental energy." Daniel said, "At the same time he’s stacked with artifacts from head to toe in addition to having the earth affinity. It’s basically impossible to penetrate his defenses."

"Huh! Then it’s not so bad." Lee said in surprise.

"Didn’t you hear me, boy?" Daniel almost grew angry, "I said it’s impossible!"

"Tell me, what if Duvant died?" Lee asked, "How could one get out of the throne room?"

"I ... I could help you with that." Daniel said without hiding the disbelief in his voice, "But how are you going to do that? The moment you act, he’ll ..."

"I have to be fast." Lee said, "And precise. I have an idea. Let me think about it!"

It was much better to try to attempt an assassination on the world’s leader than rot in the cell till he died. In fact, if he died, technically he would be free again and start over, so it wasn’t a big deal. At least in that case he could try to find out what Lisa meant with the two thumbs up.

On the other hand, if he succeeded, he already knew where the overlord was. She was the only one who could help with his condition. The only problem was, from the looks of it, it was about to become much worse.

***

"Lord Bastil!" When the man arrived next time, Lee addressed him full of energy and passion, "I had an inspiration! I’d like to create a really good weapon for my Master!"

Seeing Bastil furrow his brows, Lee continued, "I understood your displeasure with me the last time! Master isn’t a fire user, is he?"

"No, he’s not ..." Bastil said, not sure where this was going. In all his years he hasn’t seen a prisoner like Lee.

"Great! What is it?" Lee asked, clenching his fists, "Wind, water? Or earth? Please let it not be space ..."

"It’s earth." Bastil said.

"Amazing!" Lee exclaimed, "Could you give me a couple of days? I’ll draft a sketch."

Bastil gave him a long and hard stare, and left without saying a word. But when he returned two days later, Lee presented a long list of materials that included a surprising amount of gold.

If not for Lee’s previous success, Bastil would’ve punished him straight away. Fortunately, Lee got everything he asked for. Obviously it was Daniel who compiled the list, thus there were no questions about its legitimacy.

Bastil came to take a look at Lee’s work only once. His arrival caused the unlucky incident on Lee hammering his own finger and from that day on he was left in peace. Lee was ordered to hurry up and inform the guards as soon as he was done, but from then on he could calmly return to the practice of one particular combat technique, something he had not done for years.

In theory the Assassination Thrust was the same move he and Xiao Lian purchased in the Nethermoon sect’s library, except it added a footwork part for the attacker to retreat.

For the next two months Lee continued to practice the stabbing move for the most part of the day, using the simple rod he forged himself. He relentlessly kept poking an imaginary dot in front of him, taking a long step forward, and immediately retreating afterwards.

He never expected the technique to be so taxing, not during the training process. But he knew this was only the beginning. After all, he had to surprise an elemental lord ... surprise him so much the man would die.



***

Lee’s latest creation became the new sensation in the castle. Elder Ardent wasn’t mistaken, Stonerend was indeed the perfect weapon for an earth elemental lord, and it was clear Lucien Duvant was going to keep it for himself.

It was humorous to imagine how the dwarf-like human would look walking with the sword around, but Lee knew the man had at least one spatial treasure – his ring, and probably hid it there.

This was the first stage of Lee’s plan – he had to force Duvant to think that he was capable of creating wondrous items specifically for him, despite still being an elemental master. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t repeat the feat, he only needed one proof.

The second stage was the problematic one. He had to persuade Bastil to provide him with plausible crafting resources in addition to food supplies that would last him for three months.

"Why would you need two sparks from behemot level beasts for one item? Do you think it’ll give you another chance if you fail the first time? Are you setting up for a failure from the start?" Bastil barked at Lee, holding the list of materials in his hand.

"Your Lordship!" Lee tried to make his face look as innocent as possible, "Master has two legs! If I want to craft an artifact that allows him to become the fastest man alive, I need two sparks!"

"But you’re requesting sparks from behemot level beasts! Do you think they’re apples you can go and pluck whenever you want to?"

Lee’s guess was that Duvant didn’t have the sparks in his treasury and Bastil was upset they will have to trade with another world again. But Lee was positive that after getting Stonerend the greed will win.

In the end he was right. Five days later he got everything he asked for, his doors were locked from the other side, and he prepared for the worst experience of his life. Again.