Vol. 8 - Intrigue - Chapter 9

Thomas looked over the rewards from the quest and sighed to himself in disappointment. Was rebuilding the whole house perfectly using his transmutation ability not enough for Fokgrag? Did he expect Thomas to rebuild the place encrusted in gold and gems or something like that? What the hell? Or was the increase in reputation the bonus reward? If it was... fuck that reward. He didn't really like Fokgrag all that much and didn't care how much Fokgrag liked him. All he wanted was to get the U.L.T.R.A. and leave.

Thomas dismissed all the notifications and looked at Fokgrag, "So, what next?"

He didn't expect Fokgrag to give him the plans for the U.L.T.R.A. just for repairing his house. Clearly Fokgrag intended to milk Thomas for all he was worth and Thomas really only had two choices. Be milked or leave without the U.L.T.R.A. and after coming this far and going through so much, leaving without the U.L.T.R.A. just wasn't an option. Fokgrag turned to look at Thomas after arranging some of his tools, "Well kid, before ya can make yurself an U.L.T.R.A. ya gotta have all the proper materials! They ain't easy ta come by or find."

Thomas could see a scheming glimmer in Fokgrag's eyes as he continued, "Now the steel an' Mithril ain't all that hard ta find around here. What ya really need ta work hard to find or buy is the Orichalcum ya need! But, don't worry kid. I know where ya can go ta try an' get yur..."

In the middle of his little speech, Thomas pulled a small box out of his inventory, set it on one of the tables, and flipped it open to show off the Orichalcum ingot inside of it. At this moment Thomas was supremely glad he'd chosen not to use it or mess with it at this point. If he had he'd have to spend god knows how much more money or how long just to find another. Plus, the look of utter shock on Fokgrag's face was totally worth the million gold he spent on the single ingot.

Fokgrag's mouth was opening and closing without any sounds coming out. His eyes were wide and bugged out as he stared at the pristine chunk of legendary metal just sitting on his table in plain view. Thomas just crossed his arms over his chest and grinned at Fokgrag's expression while Snowlily wore a look of pride at seeing the annoying and noise dwarf shut up for once. It took Fokgrag a good couple of minutes to return to his senses. His black eyes flicked up to Thomas, "Bloody hell kid! Where'd ya get an entire ingot of Orichalcum?! Ya only need a few scraps!"

Thomas just continued to smirk, "Doesn't matter, what else do I need to get my hands on?"

Fokgrag cleared his throat and stroked his beard while acting like he was some sort of wise sage, instead of a money grubbing old man, "The next thing ya need is a very large Mana Crystal. Preferably from somethin' like an old Giant, young Dragon, or... What the hell ya doin' kid?!"

While Fokgrag was speaking, Thomas started pulling mana crystals out of his inventory and piling them on the table next to him, "Just watch."

Thomas had selected the largest mana crystals he had from the lowest floors of the dungeon. Each was about the size of his fist. He held one up for Fokgrag to see, "How much bigger than this one?"

Fokgrag examined the mana crystal while still stroking his beard and looking a bit confused, "That one is definitely too small kid. But... about five times that size? Give or take a bit dependin' on the purity."

Thomas just nodded and selected the twelve largest mana crystals and put the rest away. Why twelve? Well, purifying the mana crystals reduced their size by about half so ten should make a single amalgamated mana crystal about five times the size of their original form. He added the extra two to get a set further. He expected that this would be the main power source for an U.L.T.R.A. so having a little extra power couldn't hurt!

Fokgrag watched silently and wondered what the little brat was going to do with the twelve mana crystals that were useless in his eyes. A moment later and he began to doubt the eyes he just took pride in a moment before. His jaw dropped once again as he watched the mana crystal in Thomas's hand begin to emit a black smoke-like substance that faded away after a bit. That's not what had him questioning his own sanity though. It was the sight of the crystal clear perfectly purified mana crystal left sitting in the palm of Thomas's hand. It took him a few moments to get his brain functioning again before he suddenly shouted, "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT?!"

Snowlilt clasped her tiny hands over her ears and glared daggers at Fokgrag for shouting. He was already loud enough normally but when he shouted it hurt her delicate ears. Thomas pat her on the head to comfort her while turning to look over his shoulder at Fokgrag, "Getting the mana crystal."

"B-but that doesn't make any sense! How the hell are ya turning a nearly useless crystal into such a pure one?!"

Thomas just shrugged his shoulders, "Hero magic."

It was a lame excuse but he didn't feel like explaining more. As far as using the ability to purify things in front of Fokgrag, he wasn't worried at all. With The Destroyer, his improved attributes, and his variety of magic at his disposal he had plenty of ways to defend himself now and could be considered pretty strong among the Otherworlders. He also had a kingdoms Princess at his back, just in case. He didn't want to owe Selena anything but he wasn't above asking for a favor if he really needed it.

He ignored Fokgrag again and continued to purify all twelve of the mana crystals. Fokgrag was practically drooling at the sight of twelve perfectly pure mana crystals sitting on the worktable. He'd never seen a pure mana crystal in his entire life, and that was several hundred years of life to experience. Even if he knew Thomas's true mental age he would still refer to him as 'kid'. As he was admiring the mana crystals, Thomas's next action caused him to experience two conflicting emotions. He felt the blood simultaneously drain from his face while his blood boiled in rage. Thomas had nonchalantly started to grind the perfect mana crystal into a fine dust. They might not have been good for making an U.L.T.R.A. but mana crystals that pure could be used for so much!

By the time he felt the urge to yell at Thomas once again, all twelve of the mana crystals had been quickly and easily ground to a fine powder. Thomas found that the huge increase to his attributes and achieving King class in all of them had greatly improved his efficiency in working. Fokgrag was heartbroken seeing the mana crystals all destroyed. Now that they were powder they were completely useless for anything but enchanting and Alchemy. While not all Alchemy recipes needed mana crystal powder, the two most common ones, health and mana potions, did. The more powerful ones required purer mana crystals and the purer the crystal the more effective they became. But those whole mana crystals could be used to power so many of his designs!

Thomas didn't give Fokgrag's mind a break as he moved onto the next phase of his work. He gathered all of the mana crystal powder and summoned an open cube to pour all of the powder into. He sealed the top of the cube and used it to compress the powder together as tightly as possible. Once it stopped shrinking, he placed his hands on opposite sides of the cube and activated his Transmutation once again to fuse all of the powder together into one solid mass. Once he dismissed the metal magic he was left with a large cube-shaped Amalgamated Mana Crystal. Amalgamated Mana Crystal's were not as powerful as equally sized pure mana crystals due to their nature. However, they were exceedingly easy for Thomas to make as long as he had any Mana Crystals of any size.

Once again, Fokgrag felt like he was losing his mind. He just blanked out and couldn't even think anymore. Not even the smug look the little girl with white hair was throwing his way could get his mind to start working again. Sitting in front of him was the biggest mana crystal he'd ever seen in his life, even bigger than the one Hekrin had used to make his U.L.T.R.A. all those years ago. Just by looking at it, Fokgrag estimated that it was at least twenty centimeters on each side. That wasn't what was stopping his brain from functioning at the moment. No, what really got him was the realization that the young man in front of him could make mana crystals of any size he desired that were completely pure. It was ungodly!

Once Thomas finished with the mana crystal he looked at the still stunned Fokgrag and grinned to himself. It felt so good to blow the old goats mind. It might be a bit petty to take pleasure in messing with the old dwarf but he didn't care in the least. It was fine to act a little immature at times, as long as he didn't act that way all the time. Finally, Fokgrag's brain seemed to reboot as he looked at Thomas with a bit of awe. Before he could ask anything, Thomas poke up, "What next?"

Fokgrag's words were caught in his throat causing him to cough. Once he recovered, he cleared his throat and glared at Thomas a bit, "Cheeky brat! I admit, I didn't see any of that comin' but I know ya ain't got the next thing ya need! Ya need ta find yurself a special gem called a Mercury Emerald!"

Thomas nodded, it was true, he didn't have a gem like that on hand and frankly, he'd never heard of it. Seeing Thomas not just whipping one out of his inventory, Fokgrag let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. Given all of the surprises Thomas had given him so far, he really wouldn't have been all that shocked to see him whip one out. Fokgrag grinned and continued, "The Mercury Emerald is a special kind of Emerald. It goes through a natural process that softens a normal Emerald and makes it significantly better at transmitting mana for enchantments. When used as part of an enchantment the Mercury Emerald can nearly double the effectiveness of the enchantment! It's a wonderful material that enchanters would give their eye teeth for!"

Thomas frowned, "And how am I supposed to get one?"

Fokgrag's grin grew, "The only way is for ya ta head into the mines and dig one up yurself! Lucky fer you, the mines around here produce a fair amount of them and if ya dig one up yurself it belongs to you."

Thomas tilted his head to the side, "How does that work?"

"Well unlike ya humans, we dwarves have a more civilized way of diggin' our mines! Ain't no one own the mine. Anyone who wants ta work in it can and whatever they dig up belongs ta them. If they wanna work with it ta make somethin' ta sell, they can. Or they can just sell the raw ore ta the kingdom. All ya gotta do is pay a fee ta work in the mine and make sure ya follow the rules. As long as ya do that ya can dig out as much as ya want!"

Thomas nodded. Dwarves were less interested in raw ore and more interested in what they could turn that raw ore into. Running the mine in such a fashion kept anyone from having a monopoly over it and allowed anyone to go work the mine. On top of that, they had to pay to work the mine instead of being paid. It was pretty clever, in his opinion. After thinking about it, Thomas looked at Fokgrag, "Do you happen to have a Mercury Emerald in your possession?"

Fokgrag looked warily at Thomas, "I ain't sellin' ya one."

Thomas waved his hand dismissively, "That's not it. I'd just like to see one so I know what I am looking for."

Fokgrag eyed Thomas for a bit before pulling a small green gem out of his inventory. The MErcury Emerald was green like you would expect an emerald to be but it also had thin strips of silver metal running through it in random patterns. Thomas looked at the gem while his eyes began to glow with blue light. He focused on seeing the mana around the gem to get a feel for what it would look like. The emerald put out a mixture of two mana particles. The first was a dark brown earthy tone while the second was a light silvery one. The two particles seemed to move around in pairs circling the gem. After getting a good long look at the mana signature of the gem, Thomas was confident he would be able to find it within the mine thanks to all the skills he possessed.

Once he had it memorized, he turned off his eyes and nodded, "Lead me to the mine. It shouldn't take me too long to find what I'm looking for."

Fokgrag scoffed but didn't bother to argue with Thomas, just in case Thomas wasn't just being cocky. Fokgrag wasn't blind and had noticed the blue glow coming from Thomas's eyes. He didn't know what it meant but he guessed it was something just as ridiculous as the rest of his abilities. Fokgrag made a gesture to follow him, "Follow me kid. Time fer ya to get yur own Mercury Emerald! Seein' as yur so confident, ya got two days!"

System Notice: New Quest!   
Fokgrag Coalheart has tasked you with finding a Mercury Emerald within the city mines.
Requirements: Find a Mercury Emerald that meets Fokgrag Colheart's standards.
Rewards: 25,000 Exp
Failure: Fokgrag Coalheart will forever refuse to teach you how to make an U.L.T.R.A.
Time Limit: 48 hours