Chapter 279: A World Wonder of His Own

[Your Legion’s World Wonder has reached 100% completion.]

[Your personal contribution exceeds 50%. Administrator authority over the Five Elements Temple granted. Select to view.]

Cassian had received those notices when the Temple was completed. No one else had seen them.

Buildings of Mythic Quality and above were known collectively as World Wonders. As far as he knew, none of the Wonders in Sector 632, including the Mythic Ancient Road, had an administrator yet. Nations were fighting fiercely for the right to claim them.

He had acquired that authority simply by contributing more than half the work. It was rather like holding a majority of a Domain’s shares.

Had anyone done this before? He had certainly never heard of it.

To the other Champions, the Temple was a quest Building. They could not view its attributes, use its functions, or even destroy it. Taking pictures was about all they could do.

For Cassian, the completed Wonder offered enough wealth to leave him grinning every time he opened its panel.

[Five Elements Temple — Mythic One-Star]

[Function 1: Generate one random Elemental Root every two years. Possible types: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. A complete set of five can be evolved into a Mythic Chaosroot.]

[Function 2: Within the Temple’s area of influence, training speed for all arts and skills of the Five Elements is doubled.]

[Function 3: Permanently imbue equipment with one of five elemental powers: Brightsteel, Heartwood, Stillwater, Trueflame, or Deepstone. Imbuement improves equipment attributes and consumes Aether. No limit on the number of items.]

[Function 4: Imprint Five Elements spells upon the energy orb. Current capacity: 10 spells. Each imprint consumes the corresponding Skill Book. Casting consumes Aether.]

[Function 5: Convert ordinary Aether into Five Elements Aether of various Qualities at the corresponding conversion rates.]

[Function 6: The administrator may enter Fivefold Heaven at will.]

[Function 7: The administrator may enable or disable individual Temple functions and appoint secondary administrators.]

[Function 8: The administrator may relocate the Temple. Aether cost depends on relocation distance.]

Cassian had already read the list several times. It still excited him.

Training, equipment enhancement, and a defensive tower in one Building—and every function was powerful. For the Homeworld as a whole, winning the Legion Contest was worth far more. For him, the Temple was an even greater prize than Divine Dragon Amber.

He wanted to start using it.

"Generate an Elemental Root."

Light flared across the Temple. A golden strand formed within the orb at its summit, then crossed ten thousand meters of open air and dropped into his hand.

"Metal."

About a foot long, the Root trembled against his palm. It might have been a plucked string, or a slender golden serpent that refused to lie still.

[Metalroot — Legendary]

[Increases training speed for Metal arts and skills. Increases skill damage. Does not consume Load.]

Elemental Roots were among the finest Legendary treasures. Combining all five in the Temple could produce a Mythic Chaosroot. It would not grant attributes directly as Mythic Aptitude did, but its effect on training speed and skill power would be tremendous.

After a brief thought, Cassian held the Metalroot out to Celia.

"This should make your sword even stronger."

Gathering what he needed for a Chaosroot would take at least ten years. He was not going to leave such a treasure unused while he waited.

The strike that had cut down Brahma’s Temple was still fresh in his memory. He wanted to make that greatest weapon of his stronger. With the Metalroot, the next sword Celia nurtured would be more terrifying still.

Like Sword Intent, it provided a passive increase. No Load, no Aether expenditure each time she used it.

Celia accepted the gift, her face brightening.

"Thank you, Lord."

[Celia Morcant — Affinity +1. Current Affinity: 99.]

Cassian paused. He had not expected a second reward.

Veyra, with them in the Domain, gave a soft sigh.

"Men stop making an effort once they have what they want. Don’t they, Aurelia?"

"Very true." Aurelia looked at Celia. "Hold out a little longer. Don’t let that Affinity reach a hundred too easily."

Liora leaned closer, openly curious.

"What is it now, Celia?"

Even Sylvara, usually so reserved, was listening closely.

Color rose in Celia’s cheeks.

"Why do you need to know? And how am I supposed to control it?"

Cassian laughed.

"Steady progress is all we need. Don’t put yourself under pressure."

Several pairs of eyes rolled at him.

Nine leaned into the conversation.

"Lord, my Loyalty has been a hundred for ages."

That left him with a rather different problem. What if she became excited and changed into her Crystal Dragon form?

He shuddered. He might or might not survive the experience. The Lord’s Hall certainly wouldn’t.

Cassian returned to the Temple’s third function and drew his Heartsense Sword. The blade had reached Level 75. With the Swordgrave able to upgrade weapons, his fighters no longer had to replace their swords every time they grew stronger.

"Imbue it with Brightsteel."

[Imbue Heartsense Sword — Legendary with Brightsteel?]

[Aether cost: 5,000,000.]

He hesitated for a moment at the price.

"Confirm."

A beam of gold descended from the Temple and enclosed the sword. When it faded, threads of golden light moved beneath the blade’s surface.

Beautiful. Its appearance alone could have raised the price by thirty percent.

The new panel was better still.

[Heartsense Sword — Legendary]

[Level: 75]

[Sharpness: 1,002 | Durability: 519]

[Physique +3,010 | Aether +2,000 | Spirit +2,000 | Load ?1,800]

[Skills: Heartpiercing Touch / Skyward Slash / Clearspirit Dance]

[Elemental Imbuement: Sword skill power +30%.]

[Enchantment: Physique +500.]

[Sword Soul 1: All attributes +300.]

[Sword Soul 2: Sword skill proficiency +1 stage, up to Perfection.]

"Almost twice the Sharpness. Thirty percent more power for sword skills..."

He turned the weapon in his hand, watching the golden light move.

Brightsteel was worth the expense. Put a sword like this on the Worlds Market, with all those additional attributes, and buyers would lose their minds.

If he ever needed money, selling a few of his finest blades was certainly an option.

Next came the Temple’s fourth function. Cassian took out a basic Fireball Skill Book and opened the Exchange.

He traded the book, together with fifteen million Aether, for a complete Legendary Cinderfall Skill Book.