Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

A mini mountain of Extols.

A variety of spell scrolls and runic stela created by Nira Nightshade.

Precious ores and mana-conductive metal nuggets could be used to craft specialized artifacts. Archer and ranger-specific gear.

Various herbs, ranked items, and other ranking resources could be used in a variety of applications.

And finally, a disk levitating motionlessly in the middle of all these things.

This was what Alephee had managed to take out of the castle's defenses before she hit her limit. Eren saw these items as the Sage archer's legacy, which he had wrestled away from her grasp forcefully.

***

Eren had to say that Nira Nightshade was relatively easy to handle despite being a demonic ranker. Or it was just that his expectations of Sages were skewed because he met with Eliza.

The night elf had given him valuable information. And he was also able to claim the rewards she was supposed to give him after their deal was completed.

Nira was easy to handle. And what she had said to Eren also made sense to him to some extent. After all, it was true that he was far away from cultivating a Spirit Beast into a God Spark. And the risk of getting spotted by other Sages like her was also there.

This was a huge risk with no immediate reward.

Eren wouldn't have given her the Spirit Beast under any conditions. Nira Nightshade had come to realize that eventually. She couldn't kill him no matter how much she tried. And it was becoming apparent to her mid-battle that the vestige of soul she had left in the land of Anfang was at risk of getting destroyed by Eren.

Therefore, Nira tried to strike a different set of deals with him towards the end. Ones that didn't involve the exchange of the Spirit Beast.

Eren could understand the other side of the coin as well. Technically, it would have been better for him to get Nira Nightshade's legacy in exchange for the Spirit Beast which he had no immediate use for. He wouldn't have to put his and Alephee's lives on the line had he gone with her deal.

What's more? Eren knew that even though he had prevented the information leak, Nira would at least be able to tell who destroyed the vestige of her soul on the land of Anfang no matter where she was at the time.

Eren wasn't sure if the real Nira Nightshade could be called a Sage with her current rank. From the looks of things, she had progressed beyond the Sage rank.

Meaning the butcher had created a powerful enemy out of the elf archer with this move. He was at risk of encountering her after he left the land of Anfang behind him.

However, it was not always about avoiding trouble or prioritizing usable resources. Some conflicts were necessary to get into, just to get peace of mind at the end of them.

This duel with Nira was helpful to Eren in many ways. First, he overcame a mental block that Sages were not to be messed with. Secondly, he kept Nira Nightshade from finding out that he had a Spirit Beast.

The fact that he was able to learn how to use spiritual attack was an unexpected gain he hadn't planned from the beginning.

***

The butcher had many thoughts swirling inside his mind as he looked at Nira's Legacy all around him. He was a bit overwhelmed by what he was seeing at this point.

He was least impressed by the mountain of Extols. He could always get his hands on money, thanks to his city.

However, the ranking resources that Nira got were priceless. They were not something he would necessarily be able to buy no matter how much money he had.

The butcher started walking through his loot and checked a few items. He had a light smile on his face as he brushed his hands over them, just to get a feel.

"Keke. All of this and I get a powerful enemy in the future as a punishment."

Eren chuckled before shrugging his shoulders.

"Meh! Still worth it. It's not like I don't have powerful enemies to begin with. One more added to the list isn't going to make a difference."

Eren stopped in his tracks and took out his Sativa Stick. His entire body was hurting. And he felt mentally exhausted. He could really use the effects of smoke to get some respite.

The butcher could use the temporary Perks he had bought using Karma points to alleviate his condition. But he had to leave Sage's castle to activate them.

"I need to make use of this before I go out."

Eren walked towards the levitating array disk. He observed it for a few moments and confirmed that it was what he was looking for most in Sage's Legacy.

Eren released puffs of smoke while looking at the array disk. Only after finishing the Sativa Stick did he raise his hands to grab onto it.

"Time to add another class."

Eren said to himself before flashing a smile. The array disk in his hand was an expandable array a ranker could use to reforge their mana circuits. The layout of the reforged mana circuits would be based on Nira Nightshade's actual mana circuits.

This was what it truly meant by Sages passing down their legacies.

Participants were required to claim the rewards for their entire team before offering the array disks to their compatible members. Meaning Eren was supposed to share the rewards he had obtained from Nira with his team.

Ideally, he should have offered the array disk to Renita who was the ranger in their group. She was seen as the most suitable candidate because of her class.

The array disk would have reforged Renita's mana circuits if she had had the chance to use it. It would have fine-tuned her as a ranger and archer.

The array disk was not supposed to be used by members with incompatible classes as doing so would only fry their mana circuits. Eren was the only exception to this rule.