Chapter 103: 103

After giving Michelle the earring and belt, David let her go through all the artifacts and told her what he knew about those she was curious about. In the end, she ended up taking six more artifacts. All seven artifacts had their names engraved on them, which meant they were artifacts that could grow in power with their bearers. That wasn’t uncommon in the middle realm, and in the upper and heavenly realms, all artifacts were like that, but in the lower realm, from where the artifacts were, it was a bit rare. Not too rare, but for a family to possess so many of them meant that the Sloan family was quite influential there.

The seven artifacts Michelle chose were: Everfrost Mantle, Eye of Nihil, Whispering Serpent, Flame of Forsaken Souls, Bloom of Tyndaris, and Soulstep Anklet. The first three artifacts were something only Michelle could use; the Flame of Forsaken Souls was for Kieran; the Bloom of Tyndaris was for Ivona; and the Soulstep Anklet was for Anastasia.

The Everfrost Mantle was a long, light-blue cloak forged from unmelting, but not the least bit cold, frost, which suppressed the wearer’s presence and let him completely blend in with mist, fog, snowfall, or a blizzard, making him nearly invisible. Also, it kept the wearer cold, so anyone other than ice element Spirit Masters couldn’t use it, or they would freeze to death. And since it kept the wearer cold, it would solve Michelle’s problem of always feeling hot when it was not winter. Additionally, the mantle could be made invisible, but then it lost its concealment abilities; however, Michelle could still use it to keep herself cool without looking strange. Not like she cared about looking strange.

The Eye of Nihil was a glass-like gem that replaced one of the wielder’s eyes, which allowed them to see through the illusions, lies, and deceptions of people of the same and lower rank than themselves. Also, if they put a mix of their soul and spirit energy into it, they could look into a person’s soul, but it could only be done on people of the same or lower rank, and it was accompanied by extreme pain in the bearer’s whole body and soul.

The Whispering Serpent was a black ring in the shape of a snake coiled around a finger, which could subtly influence the minds of those around the user. It allowed the user to whisper ideas into someone’s mind without them realizing that the thought wasn’t their own. The longer the user whispered, the more influence they had on their victim, but that was mentally draining. It could make the victim hesitate, doubt their allies, or second-guess their own actions. If used intensely, and when the user filled the ring with the full force of their spirit energy, they could make a weak-minded victim temporarily listen to the user mindlessly.

The Flame of Forsaken Souls was a scarlet pendant, the shape of a flame, that could house the spirits of the dead. When opened, it will release wailing phantoms, which drain the willpower of enemies. When first contracted by a person, it’s empty, and the user has to fill it by finding corpses of people who died recently, an hour ago at most. The user can also extract the memories of those he trapped in the flame.

The Bloom of Tyndaris was a brooch in the shape of an orange lily, and it could allow a user of light element spirit energy to calm the emotions of others and heal, to some extent, some mental trauma. It could be used to restore peace of mind. The brooch also allows the user to feel the emotions of others, making them understand their desires, fears, and pains, letting them easily manipulate their victims, but also able to help someone who cannot describe what they are afraid of. And the last thing, when the user infuses it with a bit of their spirit energy, the brooch makes the people around the user think that the user is more sincere and trustworthy than they really are.

The Soulstep Anklet was a delicate anklet which could only be used by Soul Masters, cultivators of not spirit energy but soul energy, and it let the user slip into one shadow and appear in another, allowing short-distance instantaneous teleportation and quick travel, also silent escape from danger. But, the user doesn’t have to instantly reappear after hiding in a shadow, and they can hide there for a while, making the enemies believe they disappeared.

Seeing Michelle’s pick, both Alexander and David understood what she was planning. She picked all artifacts which not only could her friends use but also were suitable for their ways of fighting and dealing with enemies. For Kieran, who was a fire element Spirit Master with a tendency to drive his enemies into a corner before killing them, she picked the Flame of Forsaken Souls, so the wailing souls he summoned could help him corner his enemies mentally.

For Ivona, who was a schemer but also had potential in healing because she possessed the light element, which was good for healing, she gave her something that would make her look sincere and give her the ability most healers didn’t have: to help, to some extent, those who had gone insane or were traumatized.

For Anastasia, she picked something perfect for stealth and quick movement, because reflexes and reaction time were weaknesses of Soul Masters. Also, Anastasia’s fighting style was close combat, so she needed to move quickly if she wanted to have a chance to defeat a ranger.

But all those artifacts were things Michelle and the rest, couldn’t use at the moment because growing artifacts could be contracted after one reached the level of Spirit Lord; it was similar with Soul Masters, so Anastais couldn’t use her artifact either. Still, she picked them before they were good and suited her and her friends. Even in the upper realm, if they cultivated diligently, the artifacts would be useful.

However, no matter how Michelle looked at the artifacts, she couldn’t understand how the Sloan family, in the lower realm, got them, even if they were considered powerful there, and why they would send them to the Land of Exile, where they couldn’t even be used. The artifacts were something that existed in the lower realm, but not in such an amount that Michelle could pick from them which she liked and which she didn’t. It was suspicious, at least.

Also, no matter how much David told her that artifacts like that weren’t rare in the lower realm, she felt like he was lying. Though the artifacts only gave abilities which could affect people of the same and lower levels than the user, their abilities were far too good. She thought artifacts like that would only exist in the middle and higher realms.

If artifacts like that already existed in the lower realm, did that mean that in the middle realm already existed artifacts which could affect people of a higher level than the bearer’s? And in the upper and heavenly realm, could the artifacts completely disregard levels? But it sounded impossible. She was guessing that artifacts which could disregard levels were rare, even in the heavenly realm? Or was she wrong? Or was it even different?

Slowly, a frown knitted Michelle’s brows together, and everyone noticed it. “What are you thinking about so much?” Alexander asked with a lazy smile, finding her frown amusing.

Lifting her gaze to stare at him, Michelle knitted her brows tighter. “How rare would these artifacts be in the lower realm?” she asked after a while.

“Hmm-?” Alexander lifted a brow with a smile. “Why do you ask?”

“The artifacts are originally from the Sloan family, so if these artifacts are rare, by any chance, how did they get them? Even if they were influential in the lower realm, it would be impossible for them to get so many.” Michelle voiced her doubts. “Also, why would they send the artifacts here when they can’t be used here?” she added.

“Maybe they are just stupid…” Alexander shrugged, but that made Michelle glare at him. She didn’t believe that in the least. “Or maybe they didn’t know what level the threshold of reachability is here…” Alexander added, when he saw Michelle’s glare.

“That’s bullshit!” Michelle shook her head. “If that was the case, how come they sent Malrik here when he couldn’t cultivate? If they didn’t know the average level of people here, wouldn’t they send cultivators to make sure nothing went wrong?”

“They probably wanted to hide the artifacts from something, thinking they would be safe here since no one could use them,” Alexander concluded, a speck of seriousness flashing in his eyes. That just showed how nonchalant he was about everything. The only reason he cared was because he wanted to see more of Michelle’s potential. Otherwise, he would have straight-up left.

“I thought about that too…” Michelle nodded a bit. “But why would they need to hide so many artifacts when they could have used them to strengthen themselves and defend against the danger? Was the danger so big? Or did they have no Spirit Lords? In a family that had so many artifacts? If they didn’t have any Spirit Lords, how did they get the artifacts? What if someone gave the artifacts to them… But why? Why would someone give away so many artifacts?” Michelle’s head started racing with thoughts, and after her short monologue, she went silent, thinking about it all in her head.

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