The Elven Cultivator

By the time he returned to the Silver Moon Forest, the sky was already bright.

Anton returned to the treehouse, closed the door, took out the Dimensional Bag and several other Storage Items, and began to take inventory of his spoils.

First, of course, was the Voidsilver Crystal.

Anton searched around and quickly found what he was looking for in a small, exquisitely crafted box.

There were four pieces of Voidsilver Crystal in total, each the size of a fist. They were silver-white, light as a feather, and their surfaces shimmered with a faint luster.

Holding them, he could feel the pure energy contained within, as if he were grasping a small energy vortex that constantly absorbed elemental energy from the surrounding air.

Anton looked at the Voidsilver Crystals in the box, a delighted smile spreading across his face.

’Now I have the main metal material for refining the Condensation Pill.’

’Of the five main materials for the Five Elements, I’m now only missing the Fire Attribute and Earth Attribute ones.’

The spoils from this haul included a large quantity of Alchemy and potion-making materials, so Anton immediately began to carefully inspect them one by one, hoping to find suitable ingredients.

But the result was somewhat disappointing.

Although there were many precious materials, none met the requirements for a main Fire Attribute or Earth Attribute material.

’Then again, materials of this quality aren’t that easy to find.’

’I was lucky enough to get my hands on the Voidsilver Crystal.’

Anton comforted himself with this thought, and his mood brightened again.

These materials could all be used for Alchemy or Artifact Refining, saving him a lot of effort in gathering ingredients in the future.

Composing himself, Anton continued to take stock of his spoils.

Besides the numerous assorted materials, the most plentiful items were various Gemstones.

Adamite, Astral Rubies, emeralds, Black Opals, Padparadscha sapphires… without exception, they were all mid- to high-grade Gemstones.

Low-grade Gemstones were clearly not worthy of being stored in the Flame Trade Association’s headquarters vault.

’These will be perfect for crafting Spirit Stones.’

Anton nodded to himself.

In the future, whether setting up more advanced Arrays or refining higher-tier Magical Treasures, he would definitely need mid- to high-grade Spirit Stones.

But while low-grade Gemstones were common, mid- to high-grade ones were not so easy to acquire and were extremely valuable.

Purchasing them in bulk would require a staggeringly large sum of money.

Unless he was willing to hand over some improved potion to the Tulip Commerce Association to sell on his behalf, it would be difficult to amass a large amount of money in a short time.

Now, with this batch of mid- to high-grade Gemstones, he wouldn’t be short on materials for Spirit Stones for some time.

To Anton’s surprise, he also found over a hundred Magic Stones among the spoils.

Almost half of them were high-grade Magic Stones.

But on second thought, the Flame Trade Association was a puppet faction propped up by Dragon City, so it was naturally easier for them to obtain Magic Stones from Dragon City than other factions.

That Golden Tier Caster named Duncan by Everett’s side had probably coveted the Flame Trade Association’s channel for Magic Stones, which was why he deigned to serve as Everett’s personal guard.

On the Eldron Plain, the allure of Magic Stones to a Caster was no less than that of rare ores to a Dwarf.

However, to Anton, who could craft Spirit Stones by hand, Magic Stones weren’t quite as valuable.

He set the Magic Stones aside, planning to find opportunities to give them to Darian later.

In addition to the Magic Stones, there were also many Magic Scrolls among the spoils.

However, the highest-level ones were only Sixth Ring, which held little appeal for Anton.

Golden Tier Casters typically cast Fifth and Sixth Ring magic.

A few of the most outstanding among them could cast Seven Ring magic.

But magic of even higher rings could only be mastered by Legendary Casters.

Interestingly, however, after reaching the Legendary Tier, Casters rarely used magic, instead fighting by manipulating the Power of Law.

In fact, upon reaching the Legendary Tier, the conventional distinction between a Warrior and a Caster no longer existed.

The contest between them was no longer about Magic Power and combat skill, but about the level of their Power of Law and their mastery over it.

So-called magic was, in essence, merely a crude imitation and application of the Power of Law.

Since they had already mastered the Power of Law, there was naturally no need to use magic anymore.

Anton next sorted through more than twenty magical items.

However, they were all Micro-Light Level; not a single one was Extraordinary Level.

Anton wasn’t surprised.

After all, Extraordinary Level magical items were exceedingly rare.

Never mind the Flame Trade Association; the entire Silver Moon Race couldn’t produce a single one.

He had been quite surprised when he first saw Zhuo Gu’s Sun-Day Emblem. It was only later, when interrogating the high-ranking lizardmen of the Molten Spike Tribe, that he learned it had been lent to Zhuo Gu by Marcus.

Even for high-ranking officers of the Dragon Race, Extraordinary Level magical items weren’t a dime a dozen.

Marcus was probably feeling the sting of losing an Extraordinary Level magical item for nothing.

Although Anton could refine the Separation Fire Shield, a Magical Artifact stronger than ordinary Extraordinary Level magical items, that was only because he had used the Sun-Day Emblem as the main material.

Without a suitable main material, he wouldn’t be able to refine a Magical Artifact either.

Naturally, Anton had no use for these magical items. In the end, he decided to use them to enhance the Clan’s combat strength.

But unlike Magic Stones, magical items were somewhat recognizable.

It would be best to wait a while for the heat to die down before finding a chance to give these magical items to others in the Clan.

After taking inventory of all the miscellaneous materials and items, all that was left were three large chests of Gold Coins.

A visual estimate put the amount at over ten thousand Gold Coins, significantly padding Anton’s wallet.

’As expected of one of the largest commerce associations in Bishui Port. Their coffers are certainly deep.’

Anton was extremely satisfied with this haul.

Not only had he obtained the Voidsilver Crystal, but he had also acquired many other precious materials.

It was a bountiful harvest!

As the saying goes: a horse doesn’t get fat without a midnight snack, and a man doesn’t get rich without a windfall.

The ancients truly did not deceive me.

Furthermore, this battle had also tested the power of his Flying Sword Skill.

It was incredibly effective, whether against large numbers of minions or powerful individual elites.

It just went to show that Sword Cultivators truly deserved their reputation as the strongest combatants among all Cultivators.

This made Anton look forward to the Light Splitting and Reunification technique from the Starfall Sword Scripture even more.

Once he mastered the Light Splitting and Reunification technique, his power would skyrocket again.

Snapping out of his elation, Anton packed everything up, then took three Dragon Race corpses out of his Dimensional Bag and placed them on the ground.

Encountering members of the Dragon Race during the trip to the Flame Trade Association had been an unexpected bonus.

Anton had been wondering where to start hunting the Dragon Race, but an opportunity had unexpectedly presented itself.

This was a perfect chance to test how much the Dragon Race could improve the quality of his Sword Pill.

With a flicker of thought, a silver-white sword light leaped from Anton’s chest and shot like lightning into one of the Dragon Race corpses.

The next moment, the Dragon Race corpse abruptly disintegrated as if an invisible giant hand had pushed out from within. It dissolved into a thick cloud of blood mist that surged rapidly toward the Sword Pill at its center and vanished into it.

The sword light greedily devoured every wisp of essence, growing brighter with each bit it consumed.

In just two or three breaths, the blood mist was completely devoured.

Anton then repeated the process, controlling the Sword Pill to reduce the other two Dragon Race corpses to their most primitive essence and devour them completely.

After devouring three Dragon Race corpses in a row, the Sword Pill gave a sated hum, transformed into a stream of light, and sank into his chest, falling silent.

Anton focused his senses and found that the quality of the Sword Pill had indeed improved.

And not just by a little—it was a tangible enhancement.

He was overjoyed but quickly regained his composure.

’Considering the three Dragon Race corpses the Sword Pill devoured were all Golden Tier, this level of improvement seems normal.’

’If they had been Black Iron or Silver Tier members of the Dragon Race, the improvement probably wouldn’t have been so obvious.’

’I wonder how many of the Dragon Race I’ll have to devour to advance it to the Profound Artifact level.’

The Sword Pill was currently equivalent to a Magical Artifact.

It was just that, when paired with the Starfall Sword Scripture, it could unleash power surpassing most Magical Artifacts.

If it could advance further to the Profound Artifact level, its power would leap by several orders of magnitude.

However, the gap between different grades of Magical Treasures was like a chasm.

Take Profound Artifacts, for example.

On top of the foundation of a Magical Artifact, a Profound Artifact had already given birth to “Profound Light.”

This layer of Profound Light was not just a manifestation of power, but the budding of a Spiritual nature.

A Profound Artifact already possessed a faint, vague sense of self. It could perceive its master’s emotions and intentions, and even react on its own without explicit commands.

Because of that trace of self-awareness, a Profound Artifact could actively cooperate with a Cultivator and even, to a certain extent, absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi on its own to replenish its energy.

For the same input of True Essence, a Profound Artifact could unleash greater power than a Magical Artifact while consuming less.

So, although a Profound Artifact was only one grade higher than a Magical Artifact, its power was stronger by more than just a single measure.

Correspondingly, the number of Dragon Race bloodline creatures the Sword Pill would need to devour to reach the Profound Artifact level was likely a staggering figure.

Unless Anton could take care of it in one fell swoop and kill the Radiant Ash Dragon directly.

The essence of a Legend-level Giant Dragon should be enough for the Sword Pill to break through directly to the Profound Artifact level.

At this thought, Anton laughed and shook his head, dismissing the unrealistic idea and turning his mind to other feasible methods.

’There aren’t many places on the Eldron Plain with members of the Dragon Race. First, I’ll rule out Kresol Dragon City.’

’As for Bishui Port…’

Anton thought for a moment, then shook his head and gave up on the idea.

Although Bishui Port had a large number of Dragon Race troops stationed there, the risk was much higher.

Because of the Fallen Dragon Association’s recent activities, the Dragon Race garrison in Bishui Port was now on guard. If he were to act now, it would needlessly increase the difficulty and risk.

More importantly, there was the attitude of the Bishui Council.

After long-term infiltration by Dragon City, the Bishui Council was no longer a monolithic entity.

For example, Everett, one of the council members, was a die-hard lackey of Dragon City.

Although Everett was dead, there were likely still quite a few council members who leaned toward Dragon City.

If Anton were to attack the Dragon Race in Bishui Port, the Bishui Council, whether willingly or under duress, would probably move against him.

Just like the members of the Fallen Dragon Association who were currently being hunted throughout the city.

One had to remember that Bishui Port was guarded by a Golden Peak expert.

Although Anton was confident he could protect himself with the Sword Pill and the Separation Fire Shield, there was no need to take the risk.

Besides, there were other, better options.

For example, the Dragon’s Fang Line.

The Dragon’s Fang Line consisted of hundreds of military outposts scattered across the various mountain passes and strategic routes of the Eldron Plain.

Each military outpost was garrisoned by anywhere from several dozen to over a hundred Dragon Race soldiers, along with large numbers of Vassal Army troops.

Although the garrison forces were not weak, apart from a few key locations, the strongest combatants in most military outposts were only Silver Tier.

Even a power as great as Kresol Dragon City had a limited number of Golden Tier combatants, not nearly enough to station one in every military outpost.

Therefore, for Anton, these military outposts were the perfect hunting grounds.