Chapter 1300: Gragas and Amanda

Franklin brought Amanda and Gragas to where Souta was staying.

Souta smiled when he saw the two of them. He already knew they were here, which was why he had sent Franklin to fetch them.

"It’s good to know that you two are alive," Souta said.

Then, Souta asked what they had been doing for the past few months. Amanda and Gragas told him about everything they had experienced. Being hunted after that battle had been a horrendous experience.

After escaping from the pursuit back then, Amanda and Gragas went to a small city where the strongest person was only at the S-rank. There, Gragas set up a weapon and armor shop to earn some money while honing his forging skills. On the other hand, Amanda created a mercenary group to gather information.

Amanda tried to find out if there were any survivors from the battle. She only learned that there was a man hunting down the people from the alliance force. From his description and fighting style, she guessed that it was Eztein.

However, she had no way to contact Eztein since he was very discreet in his operations. He would appear and disappear after killing someone. She couldn’t contact everyone from the alliance force, as some of those people were Hero-rank.

Moreover, millions of people had joined together to form the alliance force, so tracking them all was close to impossible.

"I didn’t think we would survive that day. I thought those demons would follow us and kill us," Amanda said.

Gragas nodded at her words.

The demons that had appeared during the battle were too powerful. They had massacred almost everyone from the Astros, leaving only a handful of survivors.

"The demons..." Souta paused, gazing down at his palms. "They stopped after I exposed one of their hidden HQs. Besides, they’ve already gotten what they wanted. I couldn’t stop them from taking Alice. I even made a deal with the No God Emperor so that no other Gods would interfere in this matter. When it came down to it, I still failed."

Maybe, if he had changed his strategy, the outcome would have been different. However, that was all he could think of at the time.

The atmosphere became gloomy.

It was Amanda and Gragas’s first time hearing that Alice was gone. She had been taken by the demons back to their lands. Rescuing her was absolutely impossible with their current strength. They couldn’t even handle a single God-rank entity, while the Heavenly Demon Palace had multiple entities at that level.

"Enough of that. Don’t worry about Alice. I will get her back no matter what."

Even if it meant waging war against the Heavenly Demon Palace.

Souta observed Amanda and Gragas, whom he hadn’t seen for a few months. His attention lingered longer on Gragas.

"Gragas, tell me to what extent you’ve improved," he asked, since his eyes could only perceive Gragas’s strength.

"Hmm..." Gragas didn’t immediately answer the question. He looked around the room first, as if trying to find something.

"Looking for a beer?" Souta raised his eyebrows before turning to Franklin, who was silently standing in the corner.

Franklin understood Souta’s gaze. He clapped his hands and said, "Bring out some beer for my friends here."

His voice was low, but it was still heard by the staff outside.

A few moments later, two people entered the room with floating glasses of beer beside them.

The table was prepared, and the beers were placed on top of it. There were also some delicacies, such as fruits and meat.

"This is good." Gragas laughed, recognizing that the beer had been made from high-quality ingredients. He looked at Souta and said, "My strength hasn’t improved that much. I’m only at the Sixth Shackle, and it’ll probably take another month before I can break through to the Seventh Shackle Realm."

Souta nodded. He could perceive Gragas’s realm without any difficulty.

"Even my combat skills have barely improved at all. The only thing that has improved is my forging skill." Gragas paused briefly before continuing, "I’ve reached a bottleneck. I can now forge high-quality red-grade artifacts, but I always fail when trying to make a dark-grade artifact. In the past few months, I’ve forged more than ten high-quality red-grade artifacts."

A blacksmith capable of forging dark-grade weapons and armor was already considered to be at the pinnacle of the forging world.

They were called Grandmasters.

Reaching that level meant that they could forge genuine dark-grade weapons and armor.

However, reaching that level was extremely difficult.

Gragas knew that his knowledge and skills weren’t enough to forge such masterpieces. Although he could now easily forge red-grade artifacts, dark-grade artifacts were on an entirely different level. It’s approaching the realm of Gods. Some Gods that didn’t have universal-grade uses dark-grade artifacts.

"Dark-grade..." Souta muttered.

It was crucial for both him and the entire Blood Realm. Once Gragas became a Grandmaster, dark-grade artifacts would no longer be out of reach.

One by one, every elite expert in the Blood Realm would be able to have their own dark-grade weapon or armor.

However, Souta didn’t know how to help Gragas become a Grandmaster. He was completely clueless about it.

"I need to study a dark-grade artifact, a bunch of high-grade materials, and some research about it," Gragas said.

Souta nodded. "There’s an extra dark-grade artifact in the vault, and there are also high-grade materials there. As for research regarding dark-grade artifacts, I can’t provide it right now."

Urhan and Armante’s weapons were dark-grade artifacts. They were now in the vault after Souta had dismantled the higher-ups of the Creasant Republic. They didn’t have owners since there was no one who had made enough contributions to claim them.

"I’ll try to find anything related to them," Souta assured him.

"I’ll thank you in advance," Gragas replied.

"Don’t thank me. I’ll benefit from you becoming a Grandmaster." Souta shook his head.

He knew very well that he would be the one to receive most of the weapons and armor Gragas forged. Of course, he wasn’t going to take everything for himself, as he planned to distribute them among his people.

A Grandmaster blacksmith would elevate the overall military might of the Blood Realm. Just a few dark-grade weapons and armor would make the elites capable of fighting opponents stronger than themselves.

Souta turned his attention to Amanda. He could see that she had reached the Seventh Shackle Realm, but she wasn’t at Franklin’s current level.

Franklin was at the Tenth Enhancement and was preparing to break through the Eighth Shackle, while Amanda was only at the Sixth Enhancement. If she wanted to lay a more stable foundation, she should strive to reach the Tenth Enhancement before breaking through to the next shackle.

"Your soul weapon..." Souta didn’t finish his words.

Amanda already knew what he was going to ask. "Ever since I broke through the Seventh Shackle, my soul weapon has become comparable to a high-quality dark-grade artifact. Moreover, its effects and style complement my skills very well."

Through the battles she had experienced, her skills and techniques had reached a higher degree of mastery. She was stronger, much stronger than what she showed on the outside. She simply preferred to lay low after being hunted by the alliance forces sevaral dozens of times.

Souta stood up and placed his hands behind his back as he gazed at the various territories within the Blood Realm.

"As of now, aside from the two of you, there’s Franklin, Yuko, and Kessa here in the Blood Realm. I heard from the Fourth Head of the Dragon Council that Vashno, Eztein, and Doranjan are going to the Immortal Land to find Isabella. Coincidentally, the Ninth Head is also there, trying to find someone to fill the vacant position among the Nine Heads."

Amanda, Gragas, and Franklin listened to his words without interrupting him.

"Some parts of the Immortal Land are going to become chaotic. I’ll go there once I’ve settled a few things, so prepare yourselves. The trouble in the Immortal Land isn’t going to be easy," Souta said with a solemn look on his face.

The Immortal Land was home to one of the Holy Lands, the Heavenly Court. It was filled with numerous powerful entities, and danger lurked everywhere.

"I don’t know the details, but it seems that Alexander has obtained some crucial information. Right now, the Eighth Head is also heading there."

...

Great Shen Empire, Yunze City, Heavenly Potion Pavilion.

Isabella was in her room, looking through the papers on the table.

"The price of the ingredients is getting higher and higher..."

Her brows furrowed with concern. The situation in the Great Shen Empire was deteriorating faster than she had expected. Even though the Heavenly Potion Pavilion had become a huge organization, its strength wasn’t enough to stabilize the entire empire.

She couldn’t help but recall Souta’s words.

"The peaceful days are numbered. Sooner or later, chaos will engulf the entire world. Even those higher beings called Gods won’t be able to escape it."

He was right.

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