Soul of Searing Steel

[Twin Infernal Serpents Ring: Extraordinary Gold-tier Magic Item]

[Serpent's Eye: Passive Skill. You will acquire the Thermo Vision of a snake. You will acquire the Life Vision. Your ability to capture moving objects will increase tremendously.

—Only living things will be captured by your eyes.]

[Bathe in Fire: You shall become immune to all sorts of non-magical flames. Your Fire Resistance will increase by 50%. Your Holy Flame Resistance will increase by 25%

—To bathe in the warm of the flame, is something anyone would desire.]

[Guard of the Two Serpents: One time each day. Summon two Silver-tier Giant Pythons of the Fire Element

—The thing that is more dreadful than being marked by one snake is to be marked by two.]

[Advanced Flame Barrier Charge: Three times a week. Casting Gold-tier Spell 'Advanced Flame Barrier Charge' without any delay.

— The flare of the sun shall protect my body.]

[—For the Fire Serpents, there's nothing else worth worshipping and following than the flames. This is a replica of an Ancient Holy Artifact. The artifact came from the sand dunes located in the Gleaming Desert that is always flurrying with insanely harsh winds.]

Four special magic effects! This was indeed an Extraordinary magic item!

"Hmm… this is a great item indeed."

Well, that was indeed an Extraordinary item that could drastically enhance the power level of a Gold-tier warrior. Joshua put the ruby ring on the center of his palm to take a closer look. There was a golden-red radiance gleaming brightly in the middle of the twenty-four-edged ruby. Then he nodded in satisfaction. "[Serpent's Eye] can allow a mage to follow the movement and speed of a high tier warrior. [Bathe in Fire] makes the user immune to fire-type spells. Summoning the Fire Elemental Giant Serpents and the Flame Barrier can largely increase the survival and power level of the user as well. Vale Dani has taken out a great item out from her collection. Her sincerity is well received."

If the design of the ring was not too girlish, it would have been a perfect gift. Joshua could not help but sigh when he thought about it.

"… I'm glad you like it."

Brandon who was about to open his mouth to explain the effects of the rings had once again being shut up by the warrior's words.

How did you know about the effects of the ring without Identification?

Brandon was a little depressed as he looked at Joshua who obviously did not know anything about magic. Then he sighed and said, "Actually, this is not all. Dani has also prepared more gifts. However, Moldova is still under restoration. The restoration is estimated to complete in a month or two… And now, I'll have to get back to the Imperial City as soon as I can to deliver the Marine Abyssal Spawn that you gave to me. I will also need to report in on the dimensional rift."

Upon saying that, Brandon smiled. "If you have the chance to pay a visit to Imperial City, inform me. Count Radcliffe, the Kaos family will forever welcome you with open arms."

"I'll definitely have the chance to pay the Imperial City a visit."

Joshua thought about the incident that was happening around the shops that his family ran. He raised the corner of his mouth up a little yet his eyes were cold. "Maybe I'll go there not long from now… However, my friend, are you sure you want to depart like this? Just look at you. It would be awkward for you to go back like this."

The golden-haired swordsman lowered his head and looked at his own body. There were bruises that were caused by the warrior's punches all over his body. Also, the shirt on his chest was torn. Blood was oozing out from the wounded muscles and his veins, tainting the lower part of his body red.

Well, he was not in a favorable condition to depart for the Imperial City now.

"That's true as well. Then I shall go to your city and clean myself up a little."

Shrugging his shoulders, Brandon could not help but laugh. "As long as you don't reject me."

"Well, I was afraid that you're not willing to come."

The two of them were walking towards the hillside where Ying was sitting around.

However, it was strange this time. The silver-haired girl did not come up to greet her master. Right before the eyes of the warrior, Ying was sitting in the middle of the white snow, leaning on a gray rock. She did not even move a bit.

"Ying!"

Joshua raised his voice on purpose so that his voice could reach the silver-haired girl that was far from him, "It's time to go."

No response.

"What's wrong?"

Feeling a little puzzled, Joshua furrowed his brows as he quickly walked towards the hillside.

Walking through the snow-drenching land of ice and walking up the slope of the hill, the warrior saw the shadow of his Divine Armament.

It was obvious that there was something wrong with Ying as she was sitting down on the ground leaning on the side of a piece of gray rock. Her face was red. Even her neck and her collar bones were blushing red. She had her arms wrapped around her chest. She seemed to be trembling. Her green eyes that glittered like fireflies were glowing with blurry radiance. It seemed as though her whole consciousness had been detached from her body.

"Ying? What's wrong?"

Joshua immediately ran to the side of the young girl. Then he held on to Ying's petite body in his arms. After that, he noticed that an inexplicably high heat was conducting throughout her entire body from the inside. Snow and frost all around her were melted. Meanwhile, the melted water had moistened the clothes and the long dress of the young girl, revealing her lean waist and thighs.

Upon sensing the arrival of the warrior by her side, Ying gently blinked her eyes a little. Her eyelashes trembled a little. After that, she whispered softly to the ears of her master, "Master… I'm feeling a little uncomfortable… I'm not feeling well…"

"Which part of you is feeling unwell?"

Joshua looked at the young girl with a deadly serious face without having a single clue about what was really going on. Then he said to the young girl with his softest possible voice, "Your body is getting hot…"

"No…"

The young girl was feeling the intense vibration in her core deep inside her body. An enormous source of energy was overflowing out from her body as well. She took a gentle breath and said, "I have no idea… the power that I felt when I formed the pact with you is now… urgh… my Divine Armament core is activating, it's getting faster and faster now…"

Ying turned her head and looked at Joshua. Her snowy-white skin was unusual red under the gloomy light of the cloudy day. Her green eyes seemed to be watery and both eyes looked a little foggy. "Master, the amount of unleashed energy is a little too excessive… I have no idea where the energy comes from… it's just too much for me… My body is feeling unwell…"

"Don't worry. It's only temporary."

Joshua had no idea what to say at the moment. Well, he was really bad at comforting people. Thinking a little, the warrior suddenly understood something. He immediately knew the reason why this strange phenomenon was happening with Ying.

He leveled up.

Indeed. Upon nodding his head, Joshua furrowed his brows once again. Because of the Divine Armament pact he made with Ying, the power between the two of them could enhance each other. The Divine Armament Transformation Level 2 had also greatly enhanced such an enhancement ability… Furthermore, Divine Armament could also level up their own abilities. As alchemy weapons that were forged to fight against Chaos, these Divine Armament had the ability to improve themselves in order to slay Aragami, Chaos daemons and other creatures that were tainted by Chaos.

However, Joshua had leveled up too fast. He had leveled up over ten times after he charged into the Dark Tide and slew the Ajax Aurumseeking Draconian Spider. Right after that, he even slew the Corrupted Black Dragon, a Rimetooth Wyrm, and defeated Brandon. Because of all those achievements, he had improved himself to a whole new level, to Upper Gold. Because of that, his power level had pushed Ying so far behind that she could no longer keep up with him all of a sudden.

As too much energy was flowing right through every part of her body, the girl's body could not handle the load.

"My head is dizzy… so hot…"

Ying's voice was slowly fading. "I feel that I'm going to undergo some changes now… Master, I'm sleepy…"

Letting out a sigh, Joshua kept his Divine Armament close in his arms. Meanwhile, the body of the young girl was still hot though. So, he frowned and said, "Nothing to worry about. Just take a nap if you're sleepy. I've told you before this. Just rest whenever you think it is necessary."

"Um… thank you…"

With the permission of the warrior, Ying revealed a faint smile on her face right before she fell asleep.

"Ying?"

The warrior called out to her twice. Then he noticed that the girl had indeed fallen into a deep slumber. It seemed that mere voices no longer could wake her up. She looked like she was sleeping deeply.

"…"

Upon taking a deep breath, Joshua furrowed his brows a little. Then he looked at the calm and cozy face of the young girl. His good mood earlier on seemed to have vanished.