Chapter 739 - The weaponsmith’s wet dream

[Tournament Ark - Even Results]

[First place - Sofia Aphenoreth & Pareth (twin ruleset) - 14/13 rounds won]

[Detailed results for Sofia Aphenoreth:

Tier 1 event - Maximum point reward : 500 000 000 TP

Event score:

• First place : 500 000 000 TP

• GRAND FINALE CONQUEROR : 500 000 000 TP

Total TP earned : 1 000 000 000 TP

Your victory in the Grand Finale earned the last Gold Star Pin!]

‘As the first person to conquer the Grand Finale, you have earned the following bonus: Unique item purchase limit +1’

‘You have received rank 1 reward : Ark’s Gold Star Pin *1!’

‘You have received 1 000 000 000 tournament points!’

‘Current balance : 1 532 932 026 points’

[Congratulations, you have successfully awakened your mana heart and triumphed over the fifth filter!]

[The tournament has now concluded! Please enjoy your last week shopping and relaxing on the ark while we prepare your body for leveling up!]

A new golden star appeared in both Sofia and Pareth’s hands.

A bright light shone in the empty sky of the white void, and a new system window appeared to both of them.

[You have successfully gathered all ten Gold Star Pins and qualify to buy the Ultimate Star Pin. Spend 1 TP?]

Pareth expectantly looked at Sofia, seeming to say ‘You do it.’

“Alright… Let’s see what this thing does!”

‘You have spent 1 tournament points’

Music started playing out of nowhere, an entire orchestra playing a victorious hymn, and the light in the sky grew more blinding, until it fell in between Sofia and Pareth with a bang, colorful fireworks exploding in all directions.

Floating back up, the ultimate star pin hovered in front of Sofia, spinning on itself, the specks of mithrium in the asterite reflecting the light of the fading fireworks.

★★★★★★★★★★U [The Perfect Run – Ultimate Star Pin]: 

Only then can you truly call yourself the ultimate winner of the tournament Ark.

Effects:

• Chromatic Aberration: You gain resistance to all damage types.

• Chromatic Reflection: You inflict 25% more damage with damage types you are immune to.

Perfect play pentagram: You may distribute up to five master items that you know the name of to five different current trialees, including yourself. These are free and do not count toward the 3 uniques purchase limit. If insufficient master items remain for distribution, other similar artifacts will be offered.

Restriction: Can only be worn by the Tournament Ark’s grand finale winner.

Does not count toward the unique purchase limit.

Woah.

This is just as insane as the philosopher’s stone.

“Five master items… FOR FREE!”

For once, Pareth lost his countenance, he seemed just as shocked as Sofia was.

“FIVE!”

“Well…”

“We only get one each, but still! I’m glad that the rest of the team gets to enjoy some benefits from trying hard alongside us, don’t you agree? It’s just a pity Alith and Asty aren’t here…”

Sofia nervously paced around the white void.

“Alright, alright, alright… How do we do this… Which one do you want? You have enough points to buy one anyway so… Do I distribute the shield to you, then you’ve got a week to think about a second one to get? We’re the only ones able to buy them so nobody can buy what we want before us anyway.”

Pareth nodded.

[You are about to distribute [Tournament Dopple’s Master Shield] to Pareth, proceed?]

★★★★★★★★★U [Tournament Dopple’s Master Shield]: 

It’s not alive, barely. It glows blue when a worthy shield is nearby.

May be fed other shields to gain some or all of their magical effects, up to a limit.

Shape can be altered at will to that of any of the absorbed shields.

Cannot be destroyed.

Must be primed before use.

Price: 1 000 000 000 TP (FREE)

“I’m sure.”

[Master item 1/5 attributed, it will be distributed once you have locked in your final selection]

“There we go! Four left to give. I’m not sure what I want for myself yet, so let’s get the others out of the way first. We should get Mornn the Dopple sword, right? Unless you want it for some reason?”

Pareth shook his head, summoning his own sword.

“Figured, better to ask anyway just in case. Alright, she’s gonna be very happy with that.”

[You are about to distribute [Tournament Dopple’s Master Sword] to Morning Star, proceed?]

★★★★★★★★★U [Tournament Dopple’s Master Sword]: 

It’s not alive, barely. The one true sword, to swing them all.

May be fed other swords to gain some or all of their magical effects, up to a limit.

Shape can be altered at will to that of any of the absorbed swords.

Cannot be destroyed.

Must be primed before use.

Price: 1 000 000 000 TP (FREE)

[Master item 2/5 attributed]

“Next is Kuli… This one is a bit harder, I don’t know what she would want… We could always wait until we’re back on the Ark proper and ask her but I kinda don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

Pareth pointed to himself.

“You know?” Sofia asked.

Pareth nodded in answer.

“You’ve been hanging out with her while I wasn’t looking? What does she want then?”

The skeleton pointed at his feet.

“The boots? Hmm. They do fit her class well, honestly. She already want to buyout the shop fusion tickets to fuse four of her similar passives into one big skill, so she’ll probably have a skill on the same level as [Dodge - me] to target… Yeah alright. I think she will like it.”

[You are about to distribute  [Tournament Master’s Greaves] to Kuli Hest, proceed?]

★★★★★★★★★U [Tournament Master’s Greaves]: 

Carefully crafted from the rarest materials by a genius craftsman, the master greaves envelope your every step with illusion-dispelling magic light.

The wearer’s Speed is doubled.

The wearer’s Agility is doubled.

On first equip: Choose a system passive skill, its potency will be doubled at no additional cost.

Cannot be destroyed.

Must be primed before use.

Price: 1 000 000 000 TP (FREE)

[Master item 3/5 attributed]

“That only leave me… And Ezerid. He should get the fifth one, as an apology for ruining his trial. He would have been able to buy one if not for us, so it’s only right. Any objections?”

Pareth shook his skull, Sofia could tell he had the same exact opinion on the subject.

“Well, the good news is, I already discussed what he wanted with him. He would like either the catalyst or the necklace. The issue is, I’m still not sure of what I want… Especially since we haven't found a master staff or a master ring yet and I have a good feeling they exist. We just haven’t found them somehow.”

Pareth nodded along, and just shrugged at the end.

“Yeah… We could still spend the last week looking… But also… Well, I think I’ll buy the earring with my points, it’s the cheapest and my first priority, so no reason not to. But unfortunately, with the discounts, that’ll leave me with a bit more than eight hundred millions or only sixty seven millions away from being able to buy another one…”

Sofia sighed, “But there are no more way to gain points and we can’t share or trade them… So close… If I hadn’t bought the specialization… Or if my awakening pill hadn’t been so expensive… Ugh…”

Pareth answered with a few vague gestures that only Sofia could possibly correctly interpret.

“That’s… Can we do that? Hey! Nex? Seraphs?! Anyone hear me, I have a question!”

[You may ask your question directly]

Huh?!

“A- Alright then, can we trade master items after buying them?”

[No]

“Ah…”

[But twins under the twin ruleset are allowed to buy items for each other with their own points and unique purchase limit.]

“Start with that!”

Pareth opened a window for Sofia to see.

[Pareth - Current balance : 1 682 938 579 TP]

“We can buy one more! Let’s plan this out properly… So, with the ten percent discount we have, you buy me the earring for 700 millions, that’s one of your four uniques. Then you buy your own second master item for 900 millions. That leaves you with two unique slots and eighty two million points.”

Pareth nodded. 

“Then I buy you a THIRD master item! Ahah! Now this is some proper reward! I can feel not as guilty for keeping the stone and the pin then. Unless you want to have the pin? It could do some nasty stuff against scripture if you buy the master cuirasse and take holy damage immunity.”

Pareth pointed at Sofia.

“You want me to have the third master item is what you mean?”

Pareth nodded.

“No,” Sofia answered categorically. “You worked as hard as I did on this trial, I’m not letting that happen buddy, you’re gonna take that master item whether you like it or not!”

Pareth gave up, throwing his hands up.

“That’s right! So, as I said, I buy you a third master item. That leaves me with two master items of my own, three more uniques to buy and six hundred million points to spend. Then, since you will have so few points left, I can buy an expensive unique for you and you buy me a cheap one if there’s something you want that you can’t afford anymore. We’ll see I guess. Good. I know what to do now. And I’ve decided what I want. If you get a free ticket, just buy the most expensive thing!”

[You are about to distribute [Tournament Dopple’s Master Necklace] to Ezerid Rodes, proceed?]

★★★★★★★★★U [Tournament Dopple’s Master Necklace]: 

It’s not alive, barely. For some reason, you sometimes feel the urge to throw it in a volcano.

May be fed other jewelry to gain some or all of their magical effects, up to a limit.

Appearance can be altered at will to that of any of the absorbed necklaces.

Cannot be destroyed.

Must be primed before use.

Price: 1 000 000 000 TP (FREE)

[Master item 4/5 attributed]

[You are about to distribute [Tournament Master’s Mana Mirror Catalyst] to yourself, proceed?]

★★★★★★★★★U [Tournament Master’s Mana Mirror Catalyst]: 

Carefully crafted by [Redacted] with their own essence, the master catalyst reflects its recipient weapon instead of enhancing spellcasting.

Doubles all magical effects of the recipient weapon.

Doubles all physical damage inflicted by the recipient weapon.

Recipient weapon cannot be destroyed.

On first inserting into a recipient weapon: 

• Grants the item one random powerful magical effect.

• For spellcasting weapons only : Vastly improve performance as a physical weapon.

• For physical weapons only : Vastly improve performance as a spellcasting weapon.

Cannot be destroyed.

Must be primed before use.

Price: 1 111 111 111 TP (FREE)

[Master item 5/5 attributed]

[Perfect Play Pentagram attributions:

• Pareth / Shield

• Morning Star / Sword

• Kuli Hest / Greaves

• Ezerid Rodes / Necklace

• Sofia Aphenoreth / Catalyst]

[Lock in those choices?]

“Yes!”

[Perfect play pentagram distribution completed, the ultimate star pin has now lost thing ability]

[Beginning Master Item distribution]

[Congratulations! Sofia Aphenoreth, owner of the Ultimate Star Pin, has gifted you with a Master Item!]

The master catalyst appeared directly in Sofia’s hand, while a moss-covered wooden shield fell on top of Pareth’s head.

The catalyst was a simple fist-sized mirror polish sky-blue orb, pulsating slowly with a familiar energy.

As expected. It’s definitely the same essence as the dagger. Sofia held up the dagger in one hand and the catalyst in the other. Before she could even react, the catalyst shot out of her hand and embedded itself into the side of the dagger, becoming a tiny bead the size of a fingernail.

HUH?!

You’re supposed to go on my staff!

[The third Key] : This divine dagger is the third Key, once worn as a decorative piece by Admin |REDACTED|, it is made from one of their essences. 

Grants access to the scrapped sub-systems: Titles(lvl1), Sub-classes(lvl250), Principality(lvl450). Facilitates mana control.

Facilitates mana control.

[Greater enhanced cutting]

Now has the capabilities of an average staff for spellcasting purposes.

Must be held or worn for ‘Titles’ and ‘Principality’ to stay in effect.

Item level : -500.

Grade : Test.

Restriction : Cannot own other daggers.

Catalyst: Mana Mirror

Greater enhanced cutting?! As if it needed that!

It’s like a staff… So I could cast a bolt through it? And the Spine over it? That’s ridiculous to think about…

Can I take it out?

Following Sofia’s will, the catalyst just popped out of the dagger by itself, returning to her hand at its original size. The description of the third Key updated itself in realm time, but only the ‘mana mirror’ part of the catalyst line and one ‘facilitate mana control’ disappeared.

THE ‘FIRST INSERT’ UPGRADES AND THE CATALYST SLOT ARE PERMANENT?!

“PARETH! YOUR SWORD!”