Ancient weapons, ancient armor. Some instruction manuals, and yet...
Where are the Phoenix Tears?
Raelis brushed his fingers across a few items, then walked back to the headmaster.
"Excuse me, do you have any fire-based materials around? Maybe a Phoenix Tear?"
"Oh? That? How am I supposed to get Phoenix Tears off an extinct creature?" Arius replied with a chuckle.
Raelis’s brows twitched. "Then... do you have a Fire Dragon’s tongue?"
"Nope, the Varekan imperial family confiscates all the dragon-related stuff," Arius replied. "There are Fire Wyvern tongues though, but you’d have to search through the rubbish. They’re not exactly a high-demand commodity, so most of those tongues are probably rotten by now."
I don’t need any of those low-quality materials... Raelis sighed.
He knew where a Phoenix Tear was, but it was quite far away. To get it, he would have to wait until the headmaster or Julian sent them on a personal excursion, and at this pace, the next excursion should be in two weeks.
It was mandatory, and it was meant to build up their battle experience. Depending on their performance, they would be sent out on excursions more frequently, which in turn would allow them to skip lessons and still get good grades.
If it really is next week, then I want to go to the Azteran mountain range. In a cave underneath a waterfall, there’s a dying Phoenix.
Even if it was thought to be extinct, people knew deep down that Phoenixes could never truly die. After all, they would be reborn endlessly.
But as for where they rebirth? No one knows. The only sign of a Phoenix was a report I once read in the news article.
Two years from now, one of the Varekan’s main line would find that Phoenix, and from then on, they would use it for tears endlessly.
But Raelis wasn’t like that. He had goals, but he also had a conscience.
Nevertheless, he brought his gaze back onto the headmaster and let out a sigh.
"What would you say is the best thing in this room?" Raelis asked flatly.
The headmaster let out a chuckle. "Bluntness won’t get you very far in the grand scheme of things. Just grab a manual. There are some shadow techniques, and maybe even a few fire cultivation manuals you could implement into your current foundation."
Raelis stared at the headmaster for a few moments, then shook his head.
"Since you let us in here, that means there’s another part to the vault we’re not allowed to see, is that it?" Raelis asked, narrowing his eyes. "You said there aren’t any Phoenix Tears here, I call that a lie."
"Phoenixes were said to go extinct nearly 150 years ago. This academy has existed for more than 300 years. Phoenixes were extremely common back then, so it’s impossible that you didn’t save even a single Phoenix Tear."
Raelis raised a single finger. "And the Dragon’s tongue? Its shape is odd, and the sizes vary. But the potion quality from a single piece wouldn’t be affected by its size. It would melt inside the potion... and given how you could cut off any part, and it would go unnoticed, I’m calling your lie on this one as well."
After a moment of silence, a faint smile appeared on the headmaster’s face. Then, he put a finger up to his own mouth, as if trying to signify Raelis to remain quiet.
"You are correct, but sadly, a little herb does not give you passage into the actual vault. You may roam around the outer vault, and you may get whatever you wish. The items here are treasures, that much is certain. And even if there are better, these could save your life and make your fight against demons that much easier."
With those words, the headmaster turned around on his heel.
"Fifteen minutes, Raelis. Find something, or you will lose the chance to get anything at all," Arius said, subtly looking past his shoulder. "Those daggers of yours... you might want an upgrade, don’t you think?"
"What about this... You said anything inside this room, so can I choose you?" Raelis asked plainly.
"Slavery has been abolished for centuries, Raelis." Arius chuckled.
Raelis’s gaze hardened. "I’d like to use my Vitriol Rose in exchange for a personal lesson with you."
"Hmm... no." Arius shook his head. "It’s an interesting idea, but no. I’m worth as much as the inner vault. You know what that means, don’t you?"
That means you’re overly confident, but hey... Raelis didn’t voice his thoughts out loud.
"What would it take to get a lesson from you?" Raelis got straight to the point.
"Kill a Demon Captain," Arius replied half-jokingly.
Yet that joke gave Raelis a short-term purpose.
When he went on an excursion in the Azteran mountain range, he would have to first get through a city overfilled with demons.
And it was highly likely there was a Demon Captain amongst them.
The demon ranks were fairly straightforward:
Demon, which was basically an all rounder.
There were many more ranks, such as demonic nobility, royalty, sovereigns. But Raelis didn’t have nearly enough strength to face those upper ranks.
Even then, a Demon Captain’s strength would be equivalent to a 4th Core Mage, which would be one Core higher than Raelis.
Much more powerful too... those demons can heal from any injury, so killing them would be troublesome.
"It’s a deal then," Raelis said confidently, then turned around and walked toward the weapon sector.
There were several good options scattered around, but he wasn’t exactly a weapon expert.
After looking around for ten more minutes, he made his decision.
He picked up two black daggers, but just as he was about to tell the headmaster, one slipped and fell to the ground.
Coincidentally, there was a rusty pair of daggers on the ground, blades pointed upward.
And as the fancy-looking dagger fell onto the rusty daggers, something strange happened.
The fancy dagger shattered, and the rusty dagger remained the same, as it had not left even a single scratch.
Raelis held out the daggers he had picked and tossed them onto the rusty daggers.
Alas, the same thing happened.
He didn’t hesitate to lean down and pick up the rusty daggers. They felt light, incredibly so. Their sharpness was undeniable.
So with that, he walked back to the headmaster.