Blood Elegy

“By the Black Night, you two intruded into my home uninvited, severely traumatizing my family member to the point where she even shattered precious fine china meant for guests,” Lynch said with a dark, aggrieved face full of righteous indignation. “As the source of all this, shouldn't your Church of the Black Night make a little extra gesture? To compensate her for the mental distress you've caused? Hmm, let me call it a mental damages fee.”

“You make a valid point, Mr. Levive. We indeed ought to make amends,” the archbishop said, narrowing his eyes into a smile. “Let us bestow upon her the highest form of compensation: a personal blessing from the goddess's highest-ranking archbishop in this land to a faithful follower. Heh, in the name of the sacred, in the name of the night, I bless you, my child. Look, this is the most solemn blessing the Church of the Black Night can bestow. Surely that demonstrates our sincerity?”

Lynch stood dumbfounded, with only a single thought in his head: this stingy old fox, is your personal blessing really worth so little?

Archbishop Trinlais, however, remained exceedingly composed in the face of Lynch's bulging eyes. With a holy expression, he stroked his sparse beard and smiled with utmost benevolence, as though a saintly halo were shimmering behind his head.

Fine, you win this round. I'll remember this grudge. Just wait until our next collaboration—I'll pad the expense account so hard you'll see what a corporate wage slave from another world is capable of when taking advantage.

Oh well. Mrs. Maggie was overjoyed anyway, flushed red with sheer, overwhelmed delight. Losing this round wasn't the end of the world.

Lynch coughed softly, calmed his landlady—who practically had steam rising from her head—and invited the two high-ranking figures from the Church of the Black Night up to the second floor.

As soon as they went upstairs, both sides dropped their playful demeanor and sat down on the sofa. Knight Rick placed the long briefcase he was carrying onto the coffee table.

Lynch's breath hitched for a fraction of a second, and he secretly licked his lips.

He had felt it the moment he walked downstairs—this was something truly good, exactly what he needed most. As expected of one of the wealthiest factions in Lande, they were remarkably generous. It seemed he could extortion... no, collaborate with them quite often in the future.

Muttering in his heart, Lynch took a deep breath and opened the briefcase with great anticipation.

The silhouette of a gentleman in a black suit standing from behind, holding a black cane in his hand. The cane thrust deep into the chest of a monster before him, causing the beast to rapidly wither and shrivel, while the gentleman holding the cane grew radiant and full of vigor.

【Blood Elegy: The favorite weapon of Scarlet Baron Weimar, used to purge mysterious heteromorphs until his desire for blood consumed his soul, causing him to fuse with the mystery of the Dreamlands.】

Hiss. Lynch straightened up and leaned back, feeling a thick wave of bloody stench wash over him as the case opened. Though the sensation was fleeting and everything quickly returned to normal, a faint, lingering tang of blood continued to hang in the air.

Inside the case lay a black cane with a matte visual finish, yet cold to the touch like metallic iron.

The handle was also metal, tightly wrapped in fine black cloth strips.

Looked at from a distance, the entire cane gave off a sense of low-profile restraint.

Just when he was thinking about needing a cane, a weapon had been delivered right to his door. An ordinary, high-quality combat cane cost nearly ten pounds, so a mystery relic cane like this was priceless, easily worth tens of pounds at minimum.

“This item feels a bit different,” Lynch murmured. He felt a sharp, throbbing pain between his eyebrows. Even after staring at it for dozens of seconds, waves of panic still rose in his chest.

“Mm, this is a destruction grade mystery relic, far more powerful than fear grade. Be extremely careful.”

Destruction grade was the second classification level of mystery relics. In terms of both power and influence, it surpassed fear grade, but its inherent danger was correspondingly higher.

Lynch thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, and reached out to grasp the handle.

The next instant, countless images flooded into his brain.

Surrounded by tens of thousands of heteromorphs, he ignored the countless wounds inflicted on his body by their fangs and claws, focused solely on swinging his cane to slaughter his way through them. The pitch-black cane pierced, tore, and shredded monsters with ease, and as creature after creature collapsed, the wounds on his body rapidly healed until even his clothes became as immaculate as new.

【Blood Elegy: Absorbs enemy blood to heal a designated target. Excessive use causes blood dependence, leading to corruption by filth and transformation into a twisted one. Containment method: Smear the mystery relic with blood every natural day.】

Whew. Lynch let out a long breath. Through deep reading, he now possessed a preliminary understanding of this mystery relic.

In short, by inflicting damage on enemies, it could absorb their blood and condense it into blood essence, which could be used immediately on himself or applied to allies nearby to heal their injuries.

The effect wasn't exceptionally potent—it fell short of the healing capabilities of the Church of Suffering or specialized healing potions, and overusing it would induce blood dependence, eventually turning the user into a twisted one. Still, as an extra life-saving measure, it was quite excellent.

Fingering the cane gently, he felt a strange sense of blood-linked connection. Lynch held the grip and felt it out for a moment. Following the method he had gleaned during his deep reading, he flicked his wrist. A clattering noise of metal mechanism echoed from within the cane, and one-centimeter metal blades extended from both sides in a staggered arrangement, turning the edges into serrated teeth as sharp as razor blades.

With another flick, the entire cane split apart with a clatter into more than ten segments linked by chains, transforming into a long, segmented whip that multiplied the weapon's reach several times over.

Finally, with a swing of his arm, metallic clicks sounded once more as the segmented whip retracted quickly. With a soft tap against the floor, the weapon returned to a plain, dark cane, looking simple and unpretentious.

Lynch immediately understood why there were so many strange training implements in cane fighting drills. It seemed this world had quite a few similar transforming canes. After altering its form several times, making the segmented whip rattle loudly, he frowned and said, “The creativity behind this item is good, but the internal mechanism must be very complex. The more complex a machine is, the easier it breaks. Does this really have practical value?”

Knight Rick smiled and shook his head. “Mr. Levive, have you forgotten? This is a mystery relic.”

Lynch's expression froze as he immediately realized he had overlooked the most crucial detail.

In essence, a mystery relic was merely a memory from the Dreamlands, not actual matter. Unless subjected to supernatural force—such as being crushed under a ten-thousand-ton warship or colliding with a higher order of mystery—a mystery relic simply could not be destroyed. No matter how intricate the mechanism, it would suffer no damage, nor did it even require daily maintenance. It could never break.

“For most mystery relics, their value lies solely in their magical effects, with weapon-type relics being the sole exception,” Knight Rick explained. “Weapon-type mystery relics are very rare. Beyond their magical properties, what makes them even more useful is their function as weapons and their indestructible nature, which is most prominent in transforming weapons like this. There are plenty of imitations on the market, but just as you said, they break too easily. Only a genuine mystery relic can realize its full potential.”

Whew. This was likely a priceless treasure that money couldn't buy, impossible to measure in terms of currency. He owed them a massive favor now, but...

“Something this valuable... is it really appropriate?”

Lynch narrowed his eyes, his mind turning rapidly. This item was higher in rank than Officer Natalie's rapier, which was said to be an heirloom of the Angel family. Blood Elegy was only more valuable, more than worthy of being passed down for generations. He knew full well that his actions had helped the church, but he had already handed over the holy memory in advance. Adding this priceless treasure on top felt a bit unnatural.

“Hehe, Mr. Levive,” the archbishop said with a faint smile. “How much do you think Her Goddess's reputation is worth? You preserved the church's reputation, so using priceless to compensate for priceless—is that not entirely appropriate? Furthermore, there is no need to be nervous. We originally had no intention of giving you something quite so precious, but what you did forced us to raise the level of our reward, lest we bring shame upon the church.”

“Huh?”

“You will find out soon enough. Heh, you've given everyone quite a headache. If the value of our reward weren't high enough, we might be outdone by others, which would bring even greater shame upon the church. So do not be overly guarded; simply accept it with peace of mind. It is a good thing for both you and us. You...”

As he spoke, a knock sounded at the door. The three of them turned around to see Mrs. Maggie once again.

The look of bewilderment on her pretty face had deepened even further as she said blankly, “Um, Mr. Levive, you have another visitor.”