Chapter 203: The Troublesome, Damaged Armor with the Highest-Tier Script
Tang Zheng put away the magic gun and looked again at the pile of damaged weapons and equipment. According to the Forging Minister, these items, which seemed to have little value, were more of a testament to the Gray Dwarf Kingdom's former power. Their commemorative significance far outweighed their practical use, which was why they had been brought out.
As Tang Zheng inspected them, he would occasionally cast [Item Appraisal]. Unfortunately, after looking through everything, he didn't find any magic items similar to the magic gun.
Finally!
Tang Zheng's gaze came to rest on a suit of armor hanging above all the other damaged equipment. It was riddled with holes and severely damaged.
The surface of this armor was remarkably clean, a stark contrast to the surrounding dust-covered, broken weapons. It was clearly polished often.
It seemed to hold a special significance!
"What is this armor?" A curious look appeared in Tang Zheng's eyes.
The Forging Minister took a step forward, his dull gaze fixed on the armor. Even while under the effects of [Charm Species], his face unexpectedly showed a flicker of excitement.
"This is the greatest masterpiece ever created by our Gray Dwarf Race!"
A trace of fervor entered the Forging Minister's otherwise emotionless voice.
"It is an armor forged by all the rune craftsmen of our Gray Dwarf Race during our most prosperous era, possessing four Highest-Tier Rune Characters."
Tang Zheng looked at the tattered armor, a clear expression of surprise on his face.
Four High-tier Rune Characters?
Although he didn't know much about Rune Script, he knew that aside from the legendary and possibly non-existent Anti-Script and God-Tier Script, there were a total of 90 normal rune characters. Fifty were Low-Tier, twenty-five were Mid-tier, ten were High-tier, and five were Highest-Tier.
In other words, of the five Highest-Tier characters that existed, four were inscribed on this armor.
Tang Zheng recalled that the hammer wielded by the last king of the dwarves living in the Angelicisia Mountain Range, which was also a national treasure of the Dwarf Race, possessed six rune characters.
But it was obvious!
The six rune characters inscribed on the national treasure hammer of the Dwarf Race were most likely all Low-Tier or Mid-tier.
"Although this armor has lost all of its abilities, the four Highest-Tier Rune Characters have been preserved relatively intact."
"This is the treasure of our Gray Dwarf Race. As long as this armor exists, those four Highest-Tier Rune Characters will not be lost to time."
The Forging Minister spoke with an excited voice.
"What abilities did this armor possess?" A sharp glint flashed in Tang Zheng's eyes as he asked.
"It was said to possess an impenetrable defense, as well as the ability to devour ores to continuously repair and strengthen itself…"
The Forging Minister's answer this time was hesitant, as if he didn't know much either. "Among us rune craftsmen, there has always been a ballad passed down about this armor."
"A ballad?" Tang Zheng prompted.
"The furnace fire in the ashes shines with honor.
The blood of the Grey Dwarves intertwines with the flames.
From the depths of the rock, a whispered blessing from a god.
The ore-devouring armor is bound to the soul of the Grey Dwarf.
A greatness that even a dragon of old would behold!" the Forging Minister softly chanted.
Tang Zheng didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he stared seriously at the damaged armor, his eyes flickering with contemplation.
The content of the ballad was not complex.
Aside from a simple description of the armor's abilities, the rest of the ballad was mostly self-aggrandizing rhetoric.
"Rune Script," Tang Zheng muttered to himself.
Rune technology was a craft unique to this otherworld. However, in the game YGGDRASIL, rune characters also existed, though they were mostly used as decorations.
YGGDRASIL was primarily based on Norse mythology, and in those legends, the Father of the Gods, Odin, once hung himself from the World Tree for nine days and nine nights to contemplate the secrets of the universe.
When the Father of the Gods, Odin, came down from the tree, he had comprehended the secret of the "Rune." This secret was then taught to humans in the form of script by Heimdall, the guardian god of the Rainbow Bridge.
This was the so-called "Rune Script."
The reason Tang Zheng suddenly thought of this was because the ballad had just mentioned the word "god."
According to the information he currently had, so-called gods were nothing more than human players. Of course, this was based on the premise that no non-player gods existed in the otherworld.
So how did the Dwarf Race come to master the power of "Rune Script"?
This was a question the Forging Minister clearly couldn't answer.
Tang Zheng didn't dwell on it further. There were too many secrets hidden in this world, and before truly delving into them, acquiring sufficient strength was fundamental.
"So, why is this armor, which you created by gathering all your artisans, so severely damaged?" Tang Zheng looked at the Forging Minister.
"Because the ores and materials used to forge this armor were too good," the Forging Minister gave an answer that was completely outside Tang Zheng's line of thought.
"This armor can only devour the same kind of ores used to forge it. However, those ores are so rare that from the moment the armor was created, it was impossible for it to grow stronger by consuming them."
As the Forging Minister said this, his voice carried a trace of melancholy.
He seemed to be mocking the absurd fact that the armor created by the combined efforts of all the top rune craftsmen had become just an ordinary, albeit rather sturdy, suit of armor.
Tang Zheng was somewhat taken aback, not expecting such a comical reason. He then asked, "Are you still capable of forging such an armor?"
"No."
The Forging Minister shook his head.
"It requires several highly skilled rune craftsmen to inscribe the rune characters together. With this armor here, the four Highest-Tier characters haven't been lost, but besides me, there are no other rune craftsmen left in the Gray Dwarf Race."
"Furthermore, not just any materials can bear the power of four Highest-Tier Rune Characters. And to truly unleash that power, you must provide the corresponding materials for it to devour."
"Meeting these conditions is too difficult. It was destined to be a failed masterpiece."
The Forging Minister's words extinguished the idea that had just sparked in Tang Zheng's mind.
But very quickly!
Another thought flashed through Tang Zheng's mind. He narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly. Perhaps he could try a different approach.
"It looks like you won't be dying anytime soon."
Tang Zheng spoke softly to the blank-faced Forging Minister. With a wave of his hand toward the armor on the wall, he collected it and stored it in his item box.
The night passed quietly.
The next day, at dawn.
After a whole night of hard work, a portion of the numerous Grey Dwarf corpses underground had been cleared out by the three thousand human tribesmen.
This resulted in the entire oasis being piled high with the corpses of Grey Dwarves.
After a sleepless night on top of the previous day's combat, some of the people collapsed from exhaustion. Even the cheetah-like Alar was utterly spent, to say nothing of the ordinary people.
Clearly, the rest of the cleanup work would not be completed in a short time.
Under these circumstances.
Alar could only arrange for a portion of her people to temporarily stay at the Grey Dwarf Oasis, while escorting the Gray Dwarf Race's supplies and Tang Zheng back to the Human Oasis.
On the night of the third day.
At the Human Oasis, another bonfire feast was held, and the sound of joyous laughter filled the air.
Tang Zheng sat by the water source in the center of the Human Oasis. He glanced in the direction of the bonfire, then shook his head and looked away.
He did not participate in this celebration of the human tribe.
"It's about time to leave."
Tang Zheng raised his hand and stroked the Evil Spirit Hound beside him, which was still in its goshawk form, as he murmured to himself.
Nearly half a month had passed since he arrived in this Despair Valley. He had originally just wanted to gather some simple information, but he never expected so many things to happen.
His gains, however, were not small.
The unique way to take up the job class of [Gray Armor Knight] alone was a huge boon for Tang Zheng, not to mention the information and items he had obtained from the Grey Dwarves.
"I wonder if using a higher tier of teleportation magic can get me directly back to the northwestern corner of the continent."
Tang Zheng had currently mastered the Third-Tier [Dimensional Move] and could raise its magic level by increasing his magic power to master a higher tier of teleportation magic.
However!
Tang Zheng couldn't be sure if the Seventh-Tier [Greater Teleportation] could send him all the way back, because he seemed to recall that for long-distance teleportation, one needed to mark the destination in advance.
If it were a [Portal], it wouldn't be so troublesome.
But the [Portal] ability was no longer considered simple tiered magic; it belonged to the category of special skills.
Even in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, only the Bone King and Shalltear had mastered this ability.
If he couldn't return via teleportation magic, Tang Zheng would have to consider going back through the natural portal in the magma beneath the volcano, returning to the lava zone of the Angelicisia Mountain Range.
Turning back into a small anglerfish wasn't the problem. What gave Tang Zheng a headache was having to face the ancient fire dragon and the sun anglerfish in the magma.
While using [Wild Transformation], Tang Zheng couldn't use his own abilities, which would inevitably leave him in a state of weakness.
"Lord Hero!"
Just then, the sound of Alar's footsteps came from the distance.
(end of chapter)