Chapter 459 Elemental Badge (2/2)
Rhode turned his gaze towards the iron strip in Marlene's hands. It seems that this thing was placed here intentionally.
”Ah… Miss Marlene, I'll be right there. Give me a few seconds!”
Lapis responded in a panicky voice. Upon hearing her answer, Marlene took two steps back innately with an anxious expression while Christie also backed off, at the same time pulling Rhode's hand hurriedly.
As Rhode was trying to figure out their inexplicable actions, Lapis's voice sounded once again. ”Ah, give me a while more, Miss Marlene. I'm almost done, almost done… Woaaah, almost… No no no, wait, wait, w—…”
Boom! Before Lapis completed her sentence, a loud explosion sounded and billows of smoke surged out of the workshop door. Rhode was startled while Marlene and Christie seemed to be used to this. They exchanged glances with one another before turning their gazes to the door. Soon, the workshop door opened and Lapis emerged. ”Cough cough… Ah, Sir Rhode, you're back… Sorry to let you see me in this manner… Cough.”
Lapis was covered in smoke stains from head to toe. The wide hood and baggy cloak wrapped the young lady's slim and frail body while her fair, delicate face had been filled with speckles of filthy dust. In the past, Rhode thought that her hood was to conceal her identity from being exposed, at the same time, also serving as a sign of her reserved personality. But now, it seemed that there was a more practical meaning to it. At least she wouldn't need to worry that her hair would be burned by all these experiments…
”What were you doing?” Rhode asked curiously as he scanned Lapis' miserable appearance.
Lapis let out an awkward cough and lowered her head in embarrassment. ”This… is nothing much, Sir Rhode. I was just following your instructions to modify the potion recipes. After all, there are many ingredients that we lack… But this is really too difficult…”
No wonder.
Rhode secretly let out a long sigh. As Starlight had just been established, they didn't have too much money to purchase expensive Magic Herbs. Meanwhile, the Magic Herbs in the wild around the Fortress didn't make the cut for high-level potions. Therefore, Rhode designated Lapis a task to test if she could modify these high-level potion recipes into more 'common' ones. But it seemed that this experiment didn't proceed smoothly. ”Be careful; don't hurt yourself. You must take care of your health too.”
”Ah… Yes… Sir Rhode,” Lapis felt her heart skip a beat and she lowered her head hastily to conceal the blush on her face. Then, she spoke as though to cover up for her embarrassing actions. ”B-B-By the way, Sir Rhode, are you here to see the badge? I've completed them. Please wait for a moment.”
After a succession of clumsy clatters, the young lady ran back with a square badge that matched Rhode's guild flag. Through the carved silver gap, an embedded magical crystal that resembled a meter dial could be vaguely seen.
”I have made it according to Sir Rhode's instruction and everything has met your requirements.” Lapis pinned the badge to her chest and withdrew a dagger from her waist. She used her other hand to rotate the pointer on the badge to one its four sides. In a blink of an eye, a red radiance enveloped Lapis entirely and her dagger blade began to blaze with flames.
”Elemental Badge: the holder will receive the corresponding buff in the attack, defense, and elemental attributes by turning the pointer on this badge. This will activate the badge's effect using the spiritual energy within the holder's body. The complicated mutual relationships of the Four Main Elements must be respected, so the effects aren't that powerful… This current badge contains about 30% of the total attack and defense power.” Lapis rotated the pointer on the badge once again and the red radiance had been replaced with a layer of green radiance. Meanwhile, the flames on her dagger transformed into a slightly visible wind aura.
”Not bad,” Rhode nodded in satisfaction. ”So how do we use it?”
”Just as Sir Rhode has mentioned, the holder has to use his or her blood to activate it. After the activation is completed, only the holder can use it.”
”Good.” Rhode examined the accessory closely after taking it from Lapis. Although this accessory wasn't considered top-notch, it was a somewhat high-grade equipment for the mercenaries. If everything was as per Lapis had mentioned, the second 5 Star Mission wouldn't be too challenging for Rhode anymore.
Rhode kept the badge and patted Lapis's shoulder. ”You did well, Lapis. I will give you your reward now.”
”Reward?” Lapis's eyes beamed in dazzling anticipation. Then, Rhode withdrew a scroll from the fold in his clothes.
”What's this, Sir Rhode?” Lapis tilted her head to the side and asked curiously.
”This is the Defense Formation of the Construct Guards,” answered Rhode.