Chapter 493 (1/2)

Book 4, Chapter 111 – Returning to the Southern Wilds

It was a significant – if brief – trip For the first time, Cloudhaas in control the entire time There were notable differences fro into different di this ability into a skill he could e at will

Countless di countless treasures… From now on he could mine for them as he pleased

There were still dangers of course Cloudhawk had no way of knowing if civilization had been destroyed on every world he visited If they were, then why? He had so many questions about how all of this was connected to his own reality

Hoas the phase stone able to link theether? Why did everywhere he visited seem to bear the scars of the Great War? Would his own dimension end up like all those others?

His h and passed quickly without answers Big proble for him to worry about His only interest was in the treasures left behind Whether the discarded relics or cru ruins, these new dimensions were rife with valuable remains

Cloudhawk hoped he had enough tihly explore the hier

hellflower had also earned a bountiful harvest It didn't take her long to grow a few sa to her, while Cloudhawk didn't care so much about her efforts she was convinced they had incalculable value

Her only regret was failing to capture one of those spiritof the sort Who was to know if they didn't hold soy? At any rate, this was just the beginning – there would be many more opportunities

Late night…

Cloudhaas sitting alone in his room Eleven relics were arrayed before him

They were covered in dirt and many were rusty, but what did he expect frootten for thousands of years? Most were ruined, probably during the process of whatever war killed their owners and being left out in the open None were coh for him to use directly

He reached out and picked up a bracelet which hummed with a weak and broken frequency It was obviously badly daed, but not completely ruined The anima within it could still be used; otherwise Cloudhaouldn't have been able to sense it

The relic itself wasn't important What he needed – and what y at its heart Since this relic wasn't completely destroyed, did it ed?

Cloudhawk didn't knohat the repair process in Skycloud's Temple entailed, but as clear was that eboncrys was an indispensable part of it Soy of eboncrys allowed it to mend a relic and its anima

Why not give it a try? It wasn't like the Vale lacked eboncrys, and Cloudhawk had a number of relics to practice with It would be an incredible success if he could figure out how to fix relics

Afterup his mind, Cloudhawk held the bracelet in one hand and a chunk of eboncrys in the other His palan to ether However just as the process was beginning he heart a series of ominous cracks

The bracelet shattered into a handful of pieces He looked down to see its aniht and vanish

Why did he fail? Cloudhawk frowned as he hurriedly collected the shards They were valuable pieces of his efforts toto easily part with them

His knowledge of relics was very limited, so it was no surprise that his ed himself to be too impatient Perhaps it was foolish to think he could simply combine eboncrys and a broken relic directly He would have to disassemble the process and take it slowly, step by step

He tried again twohis approach with each failed atteed, broken beyond repair

Stubbornness was an integral part of Cloudhawk's character, so failing in this as intolerable After identifying the relics one by one, he picked up a dagger which appeared to have the least dae If he couldn't fix this one, Cloudhawk doubted he had the skill necessary to fix anything at all

It no longer had a handle or handguard However the edge was still sharp and gleaht The air around it was cooler by a few degrees and the blade itself was crystalline in appearance, like an ice sculpture

A delicate and impressive weapon, when it had been whole

He saw cracks and chips in it now that lass that'd been struck by a hammer While not beyond all hope, it was in bad shape

He took a hts, then took up a handful of eboncrys and began the sation Fire danced over the black crystals, uided the eboncrys-laden fires over the dagger's surface

Castigation Fire rose off the dagger like ghostly tendrils It slowly seeped into the cracks

All the while Cloudhawk held back his power, erees to ensure it wouldn't destroy the relic He could sense that the sy into the blade, and the relic was slowly absorbing it in turn Finally, a result he was pleased with eed

The cracks slowly began to vanish Before his eyes, the dagger was slowly repairing itself

This continued for a handful of seconds When it was done, the dagger looked good as new He gave it a gentle toss toward a nearby wall, which sent the blade out like a frigid streak It buried itself about an inch in, and ice crystals crackled as they stretched out from the point of impact