Lin Gui's eyes narrowed slightly.
Divine Artifact Fragments?
Not magic, not a potion, but... something like equipment shards in a game?
And the item synthesized from them would actually be a divine artifact.
Lin Gui looked at the demi-artifact Staff of the Windwhisperer in his storage space.
Even though it was a demi-artifact, it wasn't even fit to carry the shoes of a true divine artifact.
The origins of every divine artifact were lost to time.
But one thing was certain: divine artifacts could not be forged.
Even at the peak of the Golden Age's craftsmanship, the might of a divine artifact could not be replicated.
To this day, the Ten Divine Artifacts remained the Ten Divine Artifacts.
And each divine artifact exhibited terrifying effects on the level of an unchantable forbidden spell in its respective field.
For example, the concealment divine artifact lost by the Arcane Brotherhood.
Even if you were just an ordinary person, you could achieve top-tier unchantable concealment that even an Epic Rank expert could not match.
Then there was the Alliance's Omniscient Compass.
It could detect the rank and strength of all living beings within its detection range.
By using it, the Alliance could always sense the birth of a Dark Tide several days in advance.
And that was only one of its many powerful functions.
Or the Holy Church of Light's Hall of Heroic Spirits.
Lin Gui had once seen its power through Eve.
It could allow a Low-tier Transcendent to instantly burst forth with the power of a Legendary.
Did it sound inferior to the terrifying way Jesse could directly climb to High-tier Epic?
But the most frightening aspect of the Hall of Heroic Spirits was that it could connect to more than one person.
In other words, it could instantly raise the major rank of many people connected to it.
Decades of Transcendents could be transformed into Legendaries in an instant.
For any faction, such an upgrade was devastating to its enemies.
The power of divine artifacts was just that immense and terrifying.
There wasn't a single divine artifact that wasn't powerful enough to inspire greed even in the hearts of Apex powerhouses.
...
...
Except for the dwarves' Heart of the Towering Mountain.
And except for the Soul-Slaying Blade, which had mysteriously appeared outside the Ten Divine Artifacts.
Lin Gui had never heard of any other divine artifacts existing.
Was it possible that the System was going to steal an existing divine artifact for him?
He couldn't help but ask the System in his mind, "If I gather all the fragments, what kind of divine artifact will I get in the end?"
The System was silent for a few seconds.
Then, that mechanical voice rang out.
[Corresponding divine artifacts will be crafted based on the Host's characteristics and the materials owned.]
Lin Gui found this answer confusing.
Characteristics were easy to understand—it was a tailor-made service.
But... what on earth did "crafted based on owned materials" mean?
It was common knowledge that divine artifacts could not be forged.
Even if they could truly be forged, he didn't have any top-tier materials like a dragon's heart or a branch from the World Tree on him.
Lin Gui wanted to ask more.
But the System began playing dead again.
No matter how he called out in his heart, there was no response.
Resigned, Lin Gui could only pull his focus back.
He glanced at the people holding letters and then at the mission panel in his mind.
A sign-off rate of over one percent.
That meant even if only a few dozen letters were delivered, he could get a Divine Artifact Fragment.
But...
Lin Gui thought it was possible that ultimately, not a single person would receive a letter.
As long as the recipients were in the borderlands.
Inside his mind, Shadow Blade Lynn's annoyed voice rang out.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?"
Her tone carried clear anger.
"Don't make me look down on you."
"If you want to take risks for your own actions, that's your business."
"But you cannot let the girl you worked so hard to save bear the risk for you."
Lin Gui turned to look at Elvia.
Elvia was standing beside him, looking like she wanted to speak but hesitating.
Her gaze toward Lin Gui also held confusion.
She opened her mouth as if to say something.
But surprisingly, she didn't speak to stop him.
In fact, her gaze moved past Lin Gui to look at the crowd.
Within the crowd, some people stiffened slightly upon meeting her eyes.
Then, they lowered their heads, not daring to look at her.
Lin Gui noticed that these people were dressed in various ways.
There were cooks wearing aprons.
There were farmers with dirt still on their hands.
There were old men in old robes who looked like grassroots administrators.
There were also several ordinary women holding children, their heads bowed low.
Elvia's gaze swept over them.
Then, she gave a soft sigh.
Those people were the informants she had scattered throughout the Carter Royal Capital.
When the situation had turned chaotic, they were supposed to be her eyes and ears.
Yet, in the end, they were the ones who had sold her out.
If it hadn't been for the help of others, she would have been caught long ago.
And the people who had truly helped her were the refugees she had usually looked down upon.
What had originally been a charity event just to put on a show for Lin Gui had become the opportunity for these people to help her.
They had hidden her in places she could never have imagined herself.
Not even Warren could find her.
But ultimately, she had still been sniffed out by that terrifying woman.
As for why Elvia had suddenly had a crazy impulse to spend all her wealth on welfare for the refugees?
It was purely because she wanted Lin Gui, when he eventually returned to the ruins of the Carter Royal Capital to search for traces of her, to see her good deeds through the newspapers she had heavily publicized.
She wanted him to feel guilty for the rest of his life for not coming to save her.
Even if she died, she wanted to haunt him for eternity.
But who could have imagined that this bastard would actually brave the Dark Tide to come and save her?
Even now, Elvia was in a daze.
You've already taken such a huge risk to save me; what more can I ask for?
Elvia, who had always been greedy for life and afraid of death, did not object.
She looked at Lin Gui and said, "Let's be quick about it."
Her voice was very soft.
"I really don't want to become demon fodder."
She also quite wanted to help these poor people; after all, they had helped her.
Lin Gui looked at her and nodded.
Then, he said to Shadow Blade Lynn in his heart, "Don't worry. If the situation worsens, I'll shove her over to Caleb."
"They must have a way to leave or evade the calamity."
"I assume Lady Shadow Blade Lynn has guessed that too?"
Shadow Blade Lynn fell silent.
Lin Gui continued, "Furthermore, I have a trump card that can allow us to evade this Dark Tide."
He paused, a hint of a smile in his tone.
"That was originally meant to deal with you, Lady Shadow Blade Lynn, back when you were holding me hostage and trying to kill me."
Shadow Blade Lynn was stunned.
It was startling enough that that powerful woman had a way to evade the Dark Tide.
But this weak mage seemed to have another method as well?
Since when did the Dark Tide—which terrified the Alliance and forced the elves to move their capital three times—lose its fearsome reputation so completely?
"What is the method?" Shadow Blade Lynn asked.
Lin Gui smiled faintly and said, "That is my personal secret."
Moreover, if possible, Lin Gui didn't want to use that method.
Its location was very close to the radiation zone of the Dark Tide.
If Lin Gui wanted to use it, he might have to go to the Withered Rift.
So, unless he had no other choice, he wouldn't use it.
In fact, Lin Gui didn't just have his own way to evade it.
He had also roughly guessed the method Catriona and Caleb were using to evade the Dark Tide.
His gaze silently shifted toward the ground.
Beneath their feet.
Underground.
No wonder when he had searched every inch of the Carter Royal Capital back then, he couldn't find the Tomb of Catriona.
It turned out... it was because it was buried at a depth far beyond his imagination.
It was beyond even the range of a Demigod's perception.
A sharp gaze suddenly looked over.
Lin Gui quickly raised his eyes.
He met Caleb's slightly narrowed eyes.
Caleb looked at him, his gaze full of scrutiny.
Lin Gui immediately deflected, "Time is pressing."
"The number of people sending letters might be very high."
"It might be necessary to trouble the Count to assign more people for the audit."
Caleb narrowed his eyes and stared at him for several seconds.
Then, he spoke slowly, "Kid, don't dig too deep."
"The reason I wanted to kill that girl back then was precisely because she might see things she shouldn't."
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