Chapter 686: Side Story 3. Stellar Blossom - 21
Taking the relic home, as it happened, wasn’t so easy.
The location was a big problem. While the Mallarc and Mortix had considerable influence in the Eastern Federation, it wasn’t the case with the other states. The Southern Kingdom was easier since Mortix had a lot of business agreements in their land. Western Republic, on the other hand...
People said those who live opposite of each other inevitably end up as enemies. That seemed to be so between the East and the West of the continent. They had too many differences within their principle that they could hardly see each other in a good light.
The devoted Westerners, who revered and worshiped the patron deities as their Gods, could not take the Easterners’ view of seeing those deities as mere providers who gave back as a consequence of their actions.
If it wasn’t bad enough, the Eastern Federation and Western Republic excelled in their research of dungeon materials and technology. There was a saying that a global conference could not be called a global conference before researchers from East and West bickering over who found what first.
Of course, it wasn’t like they would start attacking each other when they met on the street, and there were a lot of people from both sides who bonded friendship or became family. Nevertheless, judgment and narrow perceptions still existed between the two states.
And just like how researchers always had beef with each other, the companies who were profiting from dungeon technology were in a ceaseless war over exclusive rights, logistic farming, and product sales. Sometimes, it got so heated that the government was involved in imposing trade restrictions or import taxes.
It was a battlefield. It was a battlefield for Radia.
No matter how good his information gathering was, it couldn’t be better than the local. The artifact was a high-ranking one, and was immediately sought after. Western Republic was known to produce a lot of magician-type espers, so elemental artifacts were always on their radar. From the government to guilds and companies, everyone tried to get their hand on this artifact.
A fire artifact that housed a sentient flame. An appraisal stated that it was able to strengthen a natural fire mana, or, if used by an elementalist with neutral alignment, could turn them into a fire elementalist. If they were too scared to use it in their body, high-level artisans could turn the artifact into a soul weapon using the sentient nature of the flame.
Naturally, since it came from the fifth floor, the power would be tremendous. A strengthening artifact was already rare, much more a sentient one. The hunting of it was brutal--so brutal that the warrior who was granted the artifact swiftly bid his goodbye by throwing the artifact to the black market. He’d rather sell it cheaper rather than potentially piss off some people because he sold it to someone specific.