Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1540. Pearly Whites

“Oh, because of circumstances, I don’t carry that much on me, but maybe you are up for a trade?”

She proposed and brought out a couple of teeth from among the clutter in her inventory. There were the teeth of a lv.115 Dune Lion, their party had killed in the Abyss at some point in the past.

Although Dune Lions were a kind of sand worm, their needle-like teeth were nice and pearly white. She had kept them to ask Seth to make something out of them, but forgot about them at some point. She was sure they were at least epic grade, or earth grade, in the tongue of the Cloud Continent.

Fin placed two teeth on the desk and observed the other’s reaction. Crooked Staff glanced at the two earth-grade materials and squinted for a moment. The fairy added a third one. The old man closed his eyes for a moment and nodded.

As if moved by telekinesis, the stacks of paper and ragged books started shaking as several sheets of paper and thin folders started flying toward the desk. They shaped into an almost neat heap of information right before the old man.

“These are information and rumors of ores found around this region. Many of the confirmed info pertains to old mining sites. The rest are mostly rumors or unconfirmed reports, but you can’t expect much more when asking for info on heaven and Earth-grade materials. Not like anyone would readily expose a jackpot,” the old man mumbled, hardly audible.

“Whipped Dog, copy these for the customer,” he ended and handed the stag over to the servile bum. The Golden Core Expert readily received the papers.

“I will be back in a moment,” he said with a bow and vanished through a curtain hanging in a doorway to the left. Now Fin and the codger were left alone in this cheap imitation of a library. Finʼs eyes wandered over the paper strewn around.

“You didn’t originally come to get information, did you?” the old man suddenly asked, his voice clear. It seemed like the jig was up. The chosen of Bes wasn’t one for big mind games, so she decided to just roll with it.

“Yup, I’m on an errand to crush your sect,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders, still acting like she was observing the disorderly stacks. “How did you know?” she asked, unworried. However, the old man had fallen silent. When Fin looked at him, she found him staring at her in shock.

“Y-You want to crush our sect? THAT was your objective? Why?” he asked, slightly shocked. Whoops, maybe Fin was the one jumping to conclusions… Well, now the jig was definitely up. No need to keep pretending.

“Eh, it’s really more of a side quest than an objective. I’m from Minas Mar, and I’m here to make you pay for the crimes you committed on the people of Urth,” she added the practiced line. Not that it was worth it. The old man was not going to get away with spreading the info.

“Urth? Minas Mar? So, you are from the Verdant Twilight Province!“ he exclaimed, recognizing the names. As expected from an informant.

“At least you are leaving in a bright moment. How good for you, bye,” Fin added, before crushing his skull with the . They were roughly the same level, but even when cultivators had the stats of elite mobs, he had no chance against Fin, who was covered in relics and legendary items.

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She felt almost bad when she gifted Whipped Dog the same fate, the moment he wandered back into the room, a stack of freshly copied papers in his hands. Almost. After getting rid of the witnesses, Fin punched a hole in the floor.

She would have liked to be closer to the center, but she decided this was okay. Into the ground beneath the crushed floorboards, she planted the seed of the guardian tree. Even if they were a little off-center, it wasn’t like this place was big.

Even a small sapling would easily cover the whole shanty town with miles to spare in every direction. Nobody would escape, at least not by luck. Usually, Fin’s fist would be itching for a fight, but she kind of got the scraps of the party.

The chosen of Bes had no interest in crushing people that could barely defend themselves against her. There was no excitement in a fight like that. This was why she decided to make it quick and leave the work to the guardian sapling.

While the burl glowing in a green light began to grow and burrow itself in the ground, Fin went over to stash the information they compiled for her. She spent a couple of minutes reading it before looking around the room.

Maybe this stuff could come in handy later on…

With a swipe of her hand, a big shipping crate appeared. This was the inventory cheat, built by people with the carpenter class. The fairy couldn’t possibly store all of these papers in 100 stacks of 99 sheets.

What she could store were 99 empty crates; she would now turn in crates full of papers and then store them in her inventory. Using containers made by system professions was the best way to max out inventory capacity. One just needed a high-grade carpenter.

Meanwhile, the sapling started sprouting, as she was still busy shoving paper into crates. Time was up. This place would probably become really chaotic once the sapling shot to the sky and spread its crown.

Fin had stashed away roughly two-thirds of the paper storage. She looked at the remaining papers and decided that it was good enough for a side hustle during a side-quest. Little Peacock left the library behind, openly only showing the stack of paper she purchased.

With unhurried steps, she followed the to leave the shanty town. She made it about halfway before she heard the crushing of wood behind her, like an explosion. Parts of the wooden building were flying through the air as the tree burst out from the library.

She felt instantly reminded of the scene that happened during the battle of Delta, when the guardian Tree rose from the depths of Minas Mar up to cover the whole of Delta. Of course, this sapling was much smaller, not even comparable to their tree Stations, but it was still growing.

As expected, chaos erupted among the bums, who suddenly turned into warriors. Men were commanding the slouches like elite soldiers as they quickly reacted to the rising threat. Vines and Roots grasped for the necks and ankles, but they stayed to fight.

Good, the fewer ran, the less work for her. Fin only stopped walking when she reached the edge of the camp without obstructions. The only thing left for her to do was to make sure, nobody above the Golden Core Realm managed to escape.

She was simply standing guard outside when she heard the sound of steps behind her. A middle-aged man had appeared out of nowhere, standing on the dirt trail leading into the woods. He was staring at her intently.

He wore the same rags as the rest; however, on his head he had a wide hat that threw shadows on his face, and on his shoulder, he wore a long staff. Even was only able to give her a name, but the name rang a bell.

“I leave for a day, and this is what happens. Are you responsible for this chaos?” he asked her. His voice was calm, but there was a certain undertone that was hard to make out. This guy was the current leader of the Stony Road Sect, estimated to be at the peak of the Soul Severing Realm.

“No, I was just passing by when I saw this~” Fin denied his accusation calmly. It would have been a lie to say she didnʼt itch for a fight, but she also wanted to go look for Seth soon. It was best to sneak away and let this guy fight the tree.

“You smell of Whipped Dog and Crooked Staff,” he insisted.

“Sounds kinky, but I have no idea what you are talking about,” she answered with a shrug. Why was this guy so perceptive? Was he a dog or something?

“If you were going to play dumb, you should have at least washed off the smell of their blood!” he exclaimed and attacked with the cudgel.