The Ruined Death Knight

With the Halbert hitting the ground, the whole building shook, making dust gathered in the ceiling fall down.

Looking in front of him, Danzel sighted internally in relief with the halberd only hitting the floor in front of him.

The stone floor had a small crater where the halberd's blade was sunk into the ground. Where the blade was pointing was a massive rip that had gone between Danzel's legs and behind him as if a small earthquake happend.

The several long rip on the floor showed that although the swing didn't hold much technique into it, it instead showed the sheer strength of the high troll in front of him. And that was without even going using his whole strength.

"Is that how High Trolls ask to speak with someone." Danzel said while glaring at Sartan, one of the few accession that he talked with someone taller than him.

"I heard that you can strengthen my weapon. Do it." Sartan said, his voice resembling a growl of a beast. Each breath of his was so hot that it was visible to a pair of naked eyes.

"..."

Giving Azrael a meaningful look, the latter just shrugged his shoulders.

Staring at the halberd and then back at Sartan, Danzel's voice became cold.

"And why should I apply for such a request? What have I to gain from such request?"

A portion of the killing intent that he was holding back was released to the side and an ominous aura surrounded his body.

Though Danzel had no plans in fighting a losing battle, he also wasn't going to do charity work without gaining something back.

"Grrh~"

Grinding his teeth, Sartan pulled the halbert out of the floor and rested it on his shoulder. Displayed his muscles that looked as if they were carved to perfection.

"Death Caller once asked me the same question, and my answer stays the same."

Raising his other arm and making a fist, tightening so hard that made his palm start bleeding and letting blood fall to the ground.

"You shall receive the blood of immortal flesh!"

Using the same hand, he hit his own chest so hard that it could have been mistaken for a drum sound.

"And that`s the favor of a future king!"

"..."

Retracting his killing intent, Danzel looked once again at Azrael seeking answers for an uncomparable long time.

"..."

Seeing that he wasn't getting any answers from the dark elve, Danzel turned to look at the High Troll.

"May I ask where the kingdom of the future king is?"

At his question, Sartan scoffed at him.

"Hmpf, I will have to first build one to answer your question."

"..."

Danzel for a moment felt an urge to curse at the High Troll in front of him.

It sounded like a scam where one would try to sell him a house that didn't exist with the premise that it would exist in the future.

At first, he thought it was a joke, but after seeing Azrael's silence and Sartan's proud face, he knew that this guy was serious.

'I guess not everyone is rich like Azrael and Velkir. It seems this deal will become as fruitless as the one with Agare's He thought before nodding his head.

"If that's the case, then it would be rude of me to reject the request of a king."

"Great, then I will leave it to you." Sartan said before raising his halberd and piercing to the floor and then turning around to leave.

"That favor also goes to you, Blood Mage."

With a bitter face, Azrael nodded at the leaving High Troll who left his prized weapon behind.

Danzel would have made a similar face if he had nothing more than a skull for his head.

It was already bad enough that he had to deal with Vanessa's request, but having another one on his plate made him more than annoyed.

'If it weren't for the fact that I wanted to make him a harvested for me, I would even reject his deal.'

That was the main reason for accepting his request.

Though that didn't mean that he was going to be sloppy about it.

He was planning to carve two epic runes, them being [Rune of Harvest] and [Rune of Mana Essence] with additional few minor runes.

He wasn't going to haste in finishing the halberd though.

After all, he simply said his piece and left right after confirming that he would do his job. There was no date and no nothing. Heck, he didn't even stay to discuss what kind of runes he would like to have on his halberd.

"Sigh..."

Reaching out on the halberd that was taller than himself, Danzel pulled it out of the ground and stored the weapon in his storage ring.

"Hey Azrael, do you know anything about what he talked about...of building a kingdom and such."

"Mhm, I am not surprised doubting his words. Even I, when I heard him say that for the first time I thought he was pulling my leg. But he is serious. Apparently, his dream is to return to his tribe and raise a kingdom in the Infested Lands after reaching the peak of strength." Azrael said.

"Infested Lands? I don't remember any place called like that in the maps that I have." Danzel said in confusion as he tried recalling anything about such a place.

"Of course, he hasn't. That place hasn't been recorded on any maps because of its ever-changing nature. It is also called the center of the world. That's where most other races live, including the tribe that I and my sister came from..." He said with a cold expression on his face.

"Anyway, follow me to the room. I even prepared some of the stuff for you."

Danzel didn't comment on how he changed the subject and simply followed the dark elve back to his room, which was in a similar mess when he first entered his room.

Of course, the building this time was different than the other time.

But the only change that he noticed was that the bloody whittled spear that he once carved runes into it had changed its appearance.

The previous material that was already in a weird form for being just bones now looked as if it was woven much more unnatural.

The area where one would expect to penetrate his enemy also changed. It looked longer and doubled-edged blade, with a huge orb holding everything together as if the double-aged blade of the spear was fused with the orb.

At first, he thought that this was another spear, but after activating [Rune Vision] for a brief second, he saw that this weapon had his runes.

"Over here, Danzel." Azrael called out, taking Danzel's attention off the weapon.

"You said that you got something for me. Is this it?" Danzel asked while glaring at the small box unimpressed.

"Yeah, that's for you as thanks for the runes. I even made a masterpiece out of that...spear." His last words brought out a reaction from the spear, making it shake for a split second. Something that Danzel missed.

Opening the small chest, his ethereal eyes flared up in surprise.

"This is..."

At first look, there were 5 pieces of rolled-up paper and nothing more. But once he picked one thought to read the description, his expectation became the truth.

[Magic Scroll: Innate Blood Absorption]: 38 000 XP is required to learn this spell.

"A magic scroll?" Danzel said while glaring at Azrael in suprised.

Magic scrolls weren't like normal books that explained how to use a spell, but it was an item that allowed someone to feel how to cast the given spell.

Once one inputted his mana on the magic scroll, they would experience some sort of simulation inside their head of how to cast the spell and potentially experience engagement over that specific spell.

Because of its nature, the cost of making such an item was really high, even for a tier 1 spell.

They were considered the item that masters would give to their apprentices as an inheritance.

Of course, one wouldn't be able to imminently learn the spell on the first try as it still required one skill, but the difficulty in learning that spell would lessen by an incredible amount.

For that reason, they were mostly banned to be sold or made for other than one's apprentices. Those who did would be looked down upon and seen as a threat after all.

The most common magic scrolls were the ones made by professors of the magic academies and they were under the tier 1 spells. And even they were a rare case to be seen in any market.

And currently, in front of him, Danzel had a total of 5 such magic scrolls.

To him, such items were treasures as compared to the others.

He just had to pay some of his XP to learn the magic scroll and pay once more to make it available to use and continue improving it by leveling it up.

'If my guess is right, the other 4 scrolls will be of blood magic...' Danzel thought, before gently putting back the scroll and slowly closing the small chest while resisting the urge to take all of them.

"What do you want for those?" Danzel asked while glaring at Azrael who had a mischievous smile on his face.

"You understand me well, Danzel. I am really glad that I met an undead like you." Azrael said.