Ashlock easily broke the seals on the many rings looted from the two slain bounty hunters, confirming his suspicion that both men had been a stage or two below Nox. Once again, he let the contents from the ring rain down and form a separate pile beside Nox's belongings.
Oddly, all that went through Ashlock's mind as he saw the piles of shiny coins nestled among bundles of clothes was that this felt like Christmas and that he was turning into a dragon with a hoard.
"Oh, this is a much better selection than Nox's," Stella said as she crouched beside the items and began digging through them. She then paused and muttered, "I'm an idiot." Standing up, her hands wreathed in spatial soul flames. With a simple gesture, the items all rose up with telekinesis, allowing her to have them float around so she could inspect them in three dimensions.
"Did you get this idea from Nox?" Diana asked as she wandered around inspecting the goods. Much like Nox's pile, most of the items were personal things like clothes, but there was also a fair amount of spirit stones and mortal currency. However, even more exciting was the presence of artifacts.
"Yeah, as much as I hate Nox, she knew how to present her artifacts for sale," Stella seemed drawn to a ring encrusted with an amethyst gemstone. After a brief inspection, she slid it on her finger, but it didn't seem to fit her slender fingers and sat too loosely.
"What's that, Stella?" Ashlock asked. His system could not tell him the grade or function of artifacts not given to him by the system since he lacked an appraisal skill.
Stella shrugged, "No idea, but I felt a faint trace of spatial Qi coming from the gemstone, so I think it's an artifact that helps with something spatial affinity-related?"
"Why don't you test it over there?" Diana gestured to near the edge of Ashlock's canopy, where the rain had gotten even more intense.
Stella took the artifact and walked over to the area Diana had pointed to. Everyone watched in anticipation as she pushed her Qi into the ring, and the amethyst gemstone lit up with a purple hue, which then spread to her finger.
"Ah! I think I know what this does now," Stella said after a while as she turned to face everyone.
She then gestured to the items still floating, and with a flick of her finger, they all began to spin faster. "It seems to be an artifact that gives minor control over telekinesis," Stella lowered her hand and stopped injecting Qi into the artifact, "But it's too weak to help me much."
"That's a shame," Ashlock said, wondering what grade the system would assign such an artifact. "Perhaps C grade? If all it offers is increased control over telekinesis, it's not very versatile. Something like increased control over all spatial techniques would be better."
Stella wandered back over, and to Ashlock's surprise, she strode up to Douglas and deposited the ring in his hand. "The ring converts any Qi type into spatial Qi through the gemstone, and the inside of the ring has runic lines that handle the telekinesis technique. I do not need it as it only worsens my control, but I think it would suit you."
"R-Really?" Douglas took the artifact with surprise on his face, "You are giving this to me?"
Stella crocked a brow, "Yeah? Why wouldn't I?"
"It's just you're not one to usually give gifts..." Douglas muttered.
Stella tilted her head, "What else am I supposed to do with it? It's practically trash to me. I can't even wear it to look nice because it's too big for my finger. Besides, earth affinity is usually rather grounded, so wouldn't telekinesis be a massive boon for you?"
Douglas gave a strained smile after learning the truth behind Stella's charitable actions, "That's true. I can think of several uses for this artifact." Douglas slid on the ring, and it fit perfectly. "Now, what do I do? Should I just push my earth Qi into the gemstone?"
Stella nodded, "Yeah, it's really that simple. Even a dumbass like you can operate it."
"Alright, here goes nothing," Douglas grumbled at Stella's comments, "Don't laugh at me, okay?"
Earth soul flames ran down his arm from his soul and into the gemstone. Sure enough, it began to glow with a purple hue, and Douglas's eyes widened, "It really worked."
"Did you think I would lie or something?" Stella clicked her tongue.
Douglas decided not to answer that question and took out his walking stick from his spatial ring and proped it up against the stone throne. Taking a few steps back, he pointed his glowing finger with the ring on it at the walking stick, and after struggling for a while to get a handle of the ring's power, the walking stick began to shudder and slowly lifted into the air.
Elaine clapped, "Well done! You finally did it."
Douglas turned to Elaine, and his eye twitched, "I appreciate the applause, but it was supposed to be something easy to do."
"Oh," Elaine lowered her hands, "Sorry."
Douglas sighed as the walking stick floated over into his hand, "And now I feel bad."
"Sorry?" Elaine said again, clearly confused about what to do.
Douglas embraced her in a short hug and didn't say anything more.
Stella looked between the two in confusion. Then, with a shrug, she seemed to give up on understanding the situation and returned to the floating items. Like a composer with telekinesis, Stella separated the clothes, spirit stones, and mortal currency into distinct piles, leaving only a few artifacts floating.
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"These are all the artifacts?" Diana asked as she grabbed two black military-style boots with blue laces. "Mind if I take these? They suit my style, and I've been looking for new shoes."
Stella shrugged, "Sure, I don't like wearing shoes anyway." Which was true. She was barefoot most of the time. But so were a lot of cultivators. Their bodies were superhuman, so they could walk over jagged rocks without care, and shoes that weren't artifact gear would be destroyed quickly in a fight.
"Thanks," Diana sat on the bench and put them on. Standing back up, she got a feel for them by walking around in a circle. "They feel good."
"What do they do though?" Stella asked.
Diana pushed Qi into the boots, and they took on an ethereal look as if they would fade away in the wind. "Strange, they look ghostly but feel as solid as before," Diana muttered as she stepped forward, her whole body blurred as she crossed more distance than expected.
"Woah, what was that?" Stella took a step back as if worried she would get knocked over by being in Diana's path. Meanwhile, Diana stood rooted in place like a terrified snowboarder with both arms spread out and crouched slightly.
"I... have no idea," Diana admitted, "It felt like something forcefully pushed my body forward faster than I've ever experienced."
The capabilities of the boots were yet to be fully discerned, but Ashlock had already deemed them far more useful than the ring Douglas had been given. "That blur effect alone would set these boots as a B-grade artifact, and I must admit they suit Diana's style."
"Why don't you try going for a run in them?" Stella suggested.
Diana scowled at her, "Are you trying to kill me? I am scared of taking a single step right now, let alone walking or running."
"Stop being dramatic. What's the worst that could happen," Stella nonchalantly replied, "You go flying, faceplant the ground, and Sol heals any injury you sustain? Did you forget you are a demon that got beaten up so hard you formed a crater in the stone and yet still live?"
"Fair point..." Diana manifested her raven wings and crouched in a sprinting position with her wings close to her back.
Although Sol could heal most injuries, Ashlock was still unsure if this was a great idea. But Stella was right. Diana was a Star Core cultivator with a demon body, so she would have to throw herself from space to have a chance of serious injury.
"Alright, here goes nothing, and if anything bad happens, it's your fault, Stella." Diana sprinted forward. Once again, the ethereal boots seemed to extend their ghostly form to her whole body, making her blur as she ran. Her speed was also faster than Ashlock had ever seen the demoness manage before as she reached the edge of the mountain peak within two seconds and then threw herself off the side and into a glide through the rain by spreading out her majestic raven wings.
Stella whistled in amazement, "That was quite some speed, and I struggled to keep track of her movement." She nodded to herself, "Mhm, those do indeed suit Diana with that effect since she prefers to get up close and personal when fighting, so the extra speed and confusion that effect gives is perfect. What do you think, Tree?"
"I agree. Those boots are a perfect fit for Diana's fighting style." Ashlock said. "But they would also be useful for almost anyone here..."
"Best she has them." Stella disagreed with his suggestion, "Especially if she is to become a bounty hunter, these will help her escape pursuers."
A moment later, Diana returned, soaring through the rain and crash-landing headfirst into the stone under Ashlock's canopy. Groaning, she hesitantly got to her feet and stopped pushing Qi into the boots, causing them to return to normal. "These are going to take some getting used to."
"How much do they increase your speed?"Ashlock asked.
Diana tapped her chin, "I think they doubled my speed while running but didn't help much while I was flying other than making my body blur."
"Seems like a good find and perfect for you then."Ashlock then focused on Stella, "Found anything, Stella? And what about Elaine? Have you found any artifacts that interest you?"
"Huh?" Elaine was sitting on one of the stone thrones with a few artifacts on her lap, and she had been intently studying their runic patterns. "Oh, my apologies, Ashlock. I was distracted. I've been looking for a defensive artifact, but there seem to be none so far."
Ashlock found that strange, but then he thought some more. A cultivator would always wear defensive artifacts as they served no purpose sitting inside their spatial rings. "As merchants, they should have had at least one defensive artifact between the three of them." Ashlock then thought back to how the two bounty hunters had been devoured. One by the void, and the other by his black vines... not even a shred of cloth had remained.
"I must have eaten them," Ashlock grumbled at the realization. His vines, and especially the void, did not discriminate and would devour anything they could get their tendrils on. But Stella had thoroughly checked and looted one of the corpses. So maybe they didn't have any defensive artifacts after all?
"Although I did find this," Elaine held up a silver bracelet covered in runic lines, "When I wore it and injected my Qi, I felt my field of perception sharpen."
Its effect sounded relatively weak compared to the boots Diana had picked out. Still, a greater ability to track threats around her in a fight would help Elaine tremendously, especially with her lesser battle experience than the others here.
"That suits you well. You should take it." Ashlock said, and Elaine gave him a thankful nod while holding the bracelet close to her chest.
Now, all that was left was for Stella to pick something. There were still around a dozen artifacts to choose from, ranging from jewelry like rings and necklaces to more odd items like a small wooden statue of a three-headed dog. The problem was not all artifacts could just be worn and used. Some were specific for certain affinities, while others were too weak or powerful to be used.
Stella spent a while trying on various jewelry pieces but didn't seem to be a fan of them. Either because they didn't fit, their effects were a mismatch to her skill set, or like the ring she gave to Douglas, they were too weak. She was a rather strong cultivator now firmly in the Star Core Realm, so artifacts matching her caliber will be increasingly rare.
While watching her shift through the items with Elaine at her side and giving suggestions, Ashlock felt a ringing at the back of his mind. Focusing on it, he felt concern coming from Khaos through their mental link.
Someone was coming.
Ashlock used {Eye of the Tree God} to peer through the torrential rainstorm and saw Sebastian Silverspire flying through the sky on an ornate sword with Ryker standing behind him and peering past his waist at Red Vine Peak.
It was finally time for the Silverspires to set foot on Red Vine Peak.
"Sebastian will be here in a moment," Ashlock told the group. "I don't want them to become totally aware of what I am and what is happening here as they haven't sworn an oath of loyalty. But we have things to discuss with them, and keeping them at arm's length for so long when they are business partners feels wrong. The Silverspires have, without a doubt, been our greatest allies so far. Other than the Redclaws, of course."
"Who should lead the discussion, and what points do you want to cover?" Diana asked.
"You and Stella can make the initial introduction and then give them a Mind Fortress pill. Since Sebastian Silverspire is a Star Core cultivator trusted to guard one of their Grand Elder's children, he should be mentally strong enough to speak with me directly."
"As you wish," Diana patted Stella's shoulder, "Let's go greet them."
Sebastian's shadow grew progressively larger through the rain until he touched down at the edge of Ashlock's canopy. Withdrawing his sword, he led Ryker toward the waiting Stella and Diana by putting a hand on the young boy's back.
"We have come as requested," Sebastian Silverspire bowed his head, and water dripped from his long silver hair onto the floor, "To meet with the immortal leader of the Ashfallen Trading Company."