"What do you plan with that item?" Caleb asked in an alert. He was a High Elder, which was a rank below Archaic. He could be killed instantly by this blade, so it made sense for him to be worried.
"Hehe, a precaution," Jack answered simply, while inside he thought, 'didn't Horatio mention the highest grade inside here is super rare?'
He also wondered why a vampire-owned treasury possessed such a taboo weapon for their race. The fact was, aside from being a treasury, this room also served as a warehouse for high-grade unusable items. Caleb didn't destroy the knife because there might be a time that this knife was put to good use against his vampire opponent. Yet, it was too dangerous to be stored elsewhere, so it was put here.
After storing his two rewards, Jack came out. Horatio was surprised to see Jack come out so soon. Caleb went and whispered to him about what Jack had taken.
"Why do you have that thing inside this warehouse?" Horatio asked Caleb with a frown. Caleb could only lower his head.
"You have peculiar choices," Horatio then remarked to Jack.
"I choose things that I think might come in handy," Jack replied.
"As long as you didn't use one of them on my subject," Horatio said, indicating the vampire-slaying knife.
"I won't dare."
"That concludes our business. Here, you can take this to Prince Alonzo," Horatio said and handed Jack a sealed letter. "It has my seal of approval. From now on, my side of the Maxius family will be an official supporter of Prince Alonzo. I will send a formal delegation to the prince to detail our cooperation."
"Thank you, Your Highness," Jack said and accepted the letter with a bow. He received two notifications that his chain faction quest had been updated and his quest, Search for Aubelard Maxius, had been completed. He received generous exp and coins. Luckily, he had set his Archer class to 0%. Otherwise, its level would have increased again.
"As I said, just call me Horatio. Aside from that, since you have saved us time by directly bringing the Book of the Damned here, I will bestow you the title of Sangrod Honored Guest."
Jack received notification about the title. He opened his status window to have a look.
Sangrod Honored Guest (Title)
Receive treatment of at least Baron nobility rank within Sangrod Empire.
Increased the effect of Diplomacy, Haggling, and Influence within Sangrod Empire.
This was a good title to use inside Sangrod's cities, Jack thought.
"I have other matters to attend to. Caleb will be seeing you out. But before that, I have another favor to ask," Horatio said.
Jack gave him an inquisitive look. Was this vampire going to give him another quest? He didn't have the time at this moment.
"Can we please keep the existence of this book just between the three of us?" Horatio said. His eyes were looking at Jack intently when he spoke, as if studying Jack's every gesture.
"Don't worry, my lips are sealed," Jack said.
Horatio nodded. The vampire prince then left with the Book of the Damned in his hand.
Jack thought Horatio must be very eager to study the book. The fact that he asked to keep the book a secret meant he didn't plan to hand it over to his father, the patriarch of the Maxius family. Jack cared not about the political turmoil within this country. His matter with them was finished after the task was done.
From the city hall, Jack went to the Mage Academy to use the Magic Furnace. Evanor was inside the academy and was alone again. Jack used the Magic Furnace and imprinted the Spatha of Light. Once it was imprinted, Jack received his Whirlwind Falchion back. Jack stored it and planned to use it as a backup when his Magic Weapon was on cooldown.
After finishing with the imprinting, Jack returned to the Zone Portal and teleported back to Heavenly Citadel. He had sent messages to Jeanny and John prior to meeting inside the Guild Hall, but he also told them to set it so only the three of them were allowed inside.
"Expert! I presume you bring gifts again this time?" John said.
"Why we don't allow others to come in?" Jeanny asked.
Instead of answering, Jack took out the Book of Creation and placed it before them. Both Jeanny and John had some slight basic in mana sensing after spending more time inside the Time Chamber, so they could sense the imposing aura from the book and knew that it was no normal item.
After they used Inspect, the two gasped.
"Isn't this one of the seven divine treasures that Master was pursuing?" Jeanny asked.
Jack nodded.
"Damn! You really do bear amazing gifts every time you return. Well, what are we waiting for? I'm going to link with it!" John declared.
When his hand almost touch the book, Jack swatted it away. "Not you, Jeanny should be the one fusing with this divine treasure."
"Why?" John asked, feigning a hurt expression.
"I already give you the God-eye monocle the last time. This time should be Jeanny that receives the gift," Jack said.
"I will give you the God-eye monocle. What say you?" John said to Jeanny.
"Buzz off!" Jack uttered to John. "I'm just saying that because I don't want to express my real thought. Okay, since you want to hear it. Let me say it then. I think Jeanny is the better candidate because she has a higher survivability rate than you."
"I disagree," John said. "She is always on the front line. I am at the back. If anyone has a better survivability rate, it will be me."
"She can take care of herself all right even in the front line. If our enemies specifically target you, they can get to you better than her. She is always with a party of close friends who are willing to cover for her. While your friends can be counted with just one hand. If you are in peril, I doubt anyone will sacrifice their lives to save you."
"Ugh, that hurts," John said.
"It does? Now that's surprising. It will be the first time you are hurt by words."
"What I meant was that it is hurtfully low! I might not have many friends but I have enough minions, a minion like you for example!"
"Minion my ass! Since when do I…"
"You two don't need to argue anymore," Peniel cut the two's bickering. "Jeanny has already started the fusing process."
The two turned and saw Jeanny sitting crosslegged with the Book of Creation on her lap. Some tendrils of light were seen entering her body.
"Hey, That's cheating!" John said.
Jack ignored him and went over to Jeanny. "You will experience pain through the process. Endure with it, it will pass after a few hours."
"A few hours?" Jeanny asked.
Jack turned to Peniel.
"Two hours," the fairy answered.
Jack shrugged, "I was in pain when I did it, so I didn't exactly record the time I spent fusing with the treasure."
He then put different types of healing potions and Heal scrolls. "You will need this. Let's form a party, Peniel will also heal you when needed."
Jeanny thought Jack was being excessive, but then several sparkling lights came out of the book. One of these lights shot a ray of light at her. The ray stung like a mother*cka! Jeanny felt being badly burned at the spot where the light hit. Then another ray shot out, and another.
From their perspective, Jack and John felt like seeing Jeanny getting skewered by endless laser beams as damage numbers appeared. Jeanny tried her best to endure the pain. At one point, she finally screamed in pain, but she continued to stay still and endure regardless.
"Hm… I change my mind. You made the right call letting Jeanny fuses with the treasure," John said.
Jack gave him a side-eye.
Jeanny started drinking the healing potions. Her level was much higher than when Jack was fusing with Lightning God Sphere and she was also an elite class, so her HP was enough to tank through this torment. Peniel cast Healing Field on her to help save the potion usage.
After a while and after making sure that Jeanny should have no problem dealing with the fusing. Jack stepped a few distances away before sitting crosslegged himself and started meditating.
John who saw, decided to follow suit and meditate as well beside Jack. He was not a fan of Domon's physical training session, but he kinds of enjoy the mana-sensing meditation.
After two hours passed, the book on Jeanny's lap burst into tiny light particles before entering her body. Jeanny gasped with cold sweat after the pain dissipated. She looked at the two men who were meditating silently. Only Peniel accompanied her the whole time.
"You okay?" Peniel asked.
Jeanny nodded. she was still catching her breath. She swayed as she stood up. After straightening herself, she looked into her status window to check the statistic.
"Duplication?" She asked after reading the description.
Jack felt from his mana sense that Jeanny had ended her fusing. He ended his meditation. John's mana sense ability was still not as good so he was not aware. Jack nudged him to bring him out of meditation.
"Are you done?" Jack asked as he came over to Jeanny.
