Chapter 629: Saint Monastery (X)

The journey to the Saint Monastery had come to an end.

Celia appeared in low spirits. After the battle, she stood blankly on the spot. After a few moments, she returned to Rhode's side and saluted before transforming back into her card form without leave, which was rarely seen from her. She wasn't as disobedient as Celestina, but this battle was sufficient to prove the close relationship between her and the Fallen Angel. However, Rhode didn't pester her for explanations because he knew that she would explain if she wanted to.

However, now wasn't the time to discuss about this. Rhode didn't come all the way to the Saint Monastery just to watch a couple flirt and grind EXP. The most important reason was that the equipment that he valued highly was bound to appear here: the Tear of Asha.

If the Tear of Asha were to be distinguished accordingly to the game, it would undoubtedly be considered a legendary artifact. Rumor had it that it was a teardrop of gratification from the spent Light Dragon when it saw the radiance of the rising sun that was full of vitality and hope. This teardrop eventually solidified into a beautiful crystal—the Tear of Asha.

Although it was a powerful equipment, it was also a construction equipment that was basically useless to the ordinary players, which was a pity. In other words, only players who had their own territory or guild would be able to use it to construct the Holy Maiden Statue.

The Holy Maiden Statue was made up of a massive, transparent crystal. She folded her arms before her chest, closed her eyes, and prayed piously. Its abilities were out-and-out of those legendary artifacts. Within five kilometers of the radius guarded by it, any Undead Creatures would be weakened after entering the range and this even went for those that had entered the Legendary Stage. Even the specters and Vampires who were experts in infiltration would be spotted as soon as they entered the zone. Not only that, but after the Holy Maiden Statue reached a certain level, it would also release holy beams at the Legendary Stage to strike down intruders. It was a legendary artifact that could be used against the Undead Creatures and this was how the Saint Monastery resisted against the Country of Darkness during the Creation War.

The Tear of Asha was considered a useful artifact. But in fact, it was considered worthless trash in the game by the players.

The reason was fairly simple. The Holy Maiden Statue was only effective against the Undead Creatures. Besides, even with the Tear of Asha, construction of the Holy Maiden Statue required an astronomical amount of money. From the beginning, several jubilant players cheered after getting their hands on the Tear of Asha because they could sell it to player guilds and overlords. But later on, they slowly realized that even though it was a legendary artifact, it wouldn't have an effect on anything other than the Undead Creatures. The players needed to defend against other player forces too and the Holy Maiden Statue required at least 300k gold coins and 100 kg of Magic Crystals. It was still the first generation of the game and players were mostly unfunded, where even the player guilds possessing hundreds and thousands of gold coins were considered one of the best. Player guilds had to defend against other player guilds from the Country of Darkness and even though the Vampires, Undead Knights, and Liches couldn't invade their territories, the player guilds were still able to. If the opposing player guilds sneaked in and shattered the Holy Maiden Statue, wouldn't it be all for naught? With this huge sum of money, they were better off reinforcing the walls and purchasing more arrows and kerosene, which would have the same effects at a much cheaper price.

It was due to this that until the end of the first generation and the release of the patches, there were only three player guilds who had built the Holy Maiden Statue on the entire continent. One of the player guilds was Starlight. Even though the Holy Maiden Statue had flaws, its effects against the Undead Creatures were still comparable to a nuclear warhead. As for the money...

With a pay-to-win player like Mini Bubble Gum in the guild, what was there to fret?

However, after the Country of Darkness was destroyed, the Holy Maiden Statue basically lost its value. It went from a legendary artifact used to annihilate the Undead Creatures to an expensive decoration used to show off one's wealth. In the game, several rich players loved to possess such trophies in their territory. Not only did it look beautiful, but it also flaunted how rich one was. That was how degrading the statue had become. Thereafter, no matter if it was the veterans splurging money or newbies grinding for EXP, no one basically could get their hands on the Tear of Asha. Even if they did, it was only used to exchange for some money from the Church.

Later on, the Tear of Asha also become a symbol to evaluate the players' standard and qualifications. If there was a player who jumped into the forum or main channel to flaunt that he had found the Tear of Asha, he would surely be deemed as a newbie.

At this point, the Tear of Asha could be considered one of the most boring and useless legendary artifacts in the history of the Dragon Soul Continent.

However, Rhode needed it now. Although it was slightly expensive, he had earned quite a lot from selling Lapis's potions. The minerals that were extracted in the Land of Atonement would be sufficient to construct a Holy Maiden Statue. He planned to construct at least three Holy Maiden Statues before summer next year. If he could do that, the safety of the Fortress would be guaranteed.

But he had something else to handle before that.

"Leader, what do we do with her?"

Mini Bubble Gum pointed at the unconscious young lady lying on the altar. The young lady emerged after the Fallen Angel faded into dust. It was apparent that the Fallen Angel had used the young lady's body as a vessel to come to this world and the young lady's ashen complexion had proven that Celia's damage onto the Fallen Angel had been inflicted on her. If she weren't a Human, perhaps she would've been dead by now.

"Get the others to handle her."

Rhode gazed at the unconscious young lady and twitched his brows. He lifted his right hand and the ring on his finger emitted a glaring ray of light that shot into the sky. After a few moments, two fuzzy figures emerged beside the ray of light.

"Rhode? What's wrong?"

"Mr. Rhode? Where is this place?"

Marlene and Lize widened their eyes curiously. As the Guild Leader, Rhode had the capabilities to summon his subordinates using the system whenever he wanted to. It was also due to this that he wasn't worried about only bringing Canary and Mini Bubble Gum with their 'unfortunate looting hands' to the Saint Monastery as he knew he could summon Marlene and Lize to this place. No one would say no to free, amazing equipment, isn't it?

"This is the gathering place of the Cultists. Canary and I have just eliminated the creatures here. Marlene, you're in charge of looting the place and Mini Bubble Gum will stay by your side. Lize, take care of that young lady. Canary and I will take a look inside.

"Ah. Alright, Mr. Rhode."

Lize blushed as soon as she heard his voice. She hurriedly lowered her head and answered softly while Marlene rolled her eyes before nodding helplessly. She knew about his strange habits. No matter where the battle had taken place, she basically was the one responsible for looting the place. Although this was a sign of trust and honor for the mercenaries, Marlene was born in a noble family, after all. Surely she wouldn't be glad to dig corpses all day. She was also curious as to why Rhode was so persistent in having her do it. There were so many members in the Guild, so even if Lize and Anne couldn't do it, weren't there Canary and Mini Bubble Gum too?

But as Marlene raised this question to Canary, the latter's smile stiffened and she patted Marlene's shoulder.

"Marlene. Rhode's future, the Guild's future, and our future are all in your hands."

Although Marlene didn't understand what Canary meant by that, she summoned up her courage and stepped forward.

On the other side, the moist, cold air hits Rhode's face. Under the radiance of the flames, the heavy doors could be seen to be tightly secured by steel chains. Rhode swung his right arm and a shimmering radiance cut through the steel chains. Then, the doors opened gradually.

A bright, dazzling crystal emerged before his eyes.

It was half a meter long in the shape of a teardrop. It was the treasure of this place: the Tear of Asha. This legendary artifact hovered in midair calmly, emanating in luster. Under it was a damaged ritual circle emanating in a faint magical radiance.

This is what I need.

Rhode heaved a sigh of relief and Canary's voice rang in his ears.

"Will we succeed this time, Rhode?"

"Ah..."

Rhode stepped forward and caressed the crystal lightly. Then, he nodded with might.

"Of course. We will meet our demise if we don't succeed."

He said in a resolute and decisive tone.