Chapter 144: The Hall of Void Forging

"Thud! Thud! Thud!" An astonishingly large heart beat upon a crystal pedestal, emitting a sound akin to thunder. Around it, a pool of molten-hot blood, resembling lava, encircled it, flowing slowly with the beat of the scorching bright heart, establishing a subtle circulation within the ventricles.

At this moment, Muria stood before this crystal pedestal, observing the heart that was several sizes larger than his current form, radiating a crimson glow and emitting an aura of filth, corruption, and destruction.

"This is the heart of a Balrog, along with the essence blood extracted from its body," Muria expressed, his face unmasked with disgust and surprise, "And it belongs to a legendary Balrog at that."

"Why would my mother collect such a thing?" Muria puzzled over the heart, still vibrant and beating strongly.

However, Muria shook his head soon after, realizing he could not comprehend the thought processes of a legendary mage; their perspectives were simply too different.

Thus, Muria turned his attention to the other crystal pedestals, each displaying a bizarre array of collectibles—anything from eyeballs, branches, bones, twisted tentacles, even a rock.

"A rock? Are you kidding me?" Muria stopped in front of a pedestal displaying a dull, dusty stone, taken aback for a moment before his curiosity took over. He shattered the protective shield over the pedestal and touched the nondescript stone, disbelieving that it was merely a rock.

The rough texture… It felt just like touching a real rock… Muria's expression twisted strangely, as it seemed to indeed be just a rock. But how could that be possible?

Why would a rock be displayed on a crystal pedestal, especially when other high-grade metals and high-purity elemental crystals were carelessly strewn on the ground by the Golden Dragon Mother? Why was this rock under the protection of a legendary array?

No, something was not right; this rock simply did not belong here, it was too out of place… Following this sense of discord, golden thunder flickered at Muria's fingertips, and as he laid his palm upon the seemingly ordinary rock.

"I knew it." Muria looked at the stone, which remained unscathed without a mark of scorching, his face placid. He then casually moved past it without any desire to take it. A particularly hard rock whose purpose he did not understand—what use could it be to him?

After inspecting several more crystal pedestals, Muria discerned a common trait among the items stored in the vault: none were merely ornamental, some looked too ordinary, others too grotesque, and some too bizarre... Even if they were incredibly valuable, the Golden Dragon Mother had confined them within the vault, not displaying them on the corridor pedestals.

"Ah!" Suddenly, Muria stopped in front of a pedestal, his face unable to hide his delight. The pedestal held a bundle of semi-transparent pale yellow "ropes" that seemed quite elastic, emitting a faint glow.

"My mother's collection really is extensive; she even has something like this." Unable to wait, Muria shattered the pedestal's shield and took the bundle of "ropes," thicker than his current human form.

"I've finally found suitable bowstring material." Muria, securing the "ropes," smiled, his eyes curving into crescent moons.

The twelve-year-old human boy Muria, handsome and cheerful in appearance, was healing to behold, that is, if one could overlook his arms at the moment.

For Muria's arms, having just touched the "ropes," had transformed into a dragon claw covered in golden scales, creating a rather shocking scene. If a regular human witnessed this, they might faint from fright, far from feeling healed.

"It seems the original owner of this bowstring was quite powerful when alive." Muria lifted his golden dragon claw, examined it briefly, then flexed it as the dragon scales receded, gradually reverting to soft, pale human arms.

"The mere residual aura triggered a reaction in my bloodline, quite extraordinary.

But that's for the best. The stronger it is, the happier I am because the bow I forge will be that much more powerful.

The sinews of a Swamp Hydra, one of the best materials for crafting bowstrings."

Muria walked contentedly through the vault, examining items on other crystal pedestals. He was already satisfied with the legendary metals, and the additional surprises were a bonus.

Muria hadn't expected to find Hydra sinews here, and it seemed this Hydra wasn't just any creature but a top-tier legend while alive.

A Hydra, though named 'dragon,' has no relation to true dragons. It is a serpent-like monster with nine heads, extremely large and possessing multiple attributes. Its bloodline is incredibly powerful, legendary at adulthood, with a terrifyingly vigorous life force.

"I wonder who killed this Hydra

?" Muria mused, understanding from the residual aura just how formidable the Hydra was when alive.

"It must have been one of my grandfather's trophies," Muria speculated, thinking it unlikely to have been his parents' doing, considering they hadn't been legendary for much longer than his own age plus a few years.

Killing a legendary-tier, fourth-order or higher Hydra, often dubbed a 'moving mountain,' was virtually impossible, given the massive size of such a creature.

"Hmm!" Muria continued exploring the vault leisurely. Before coming here, he had learned that the Golden Dragon Mother Atelis had gone out to "combat evil" and wouldn't return soon, so he wasn't in a hurry to avoid a confrontation.

Besides, in the castle, the strongest housekeeper was already restrained by him (or so he thought), meaning no one was there to stop him. He had plenty of time.

"What's the deal with this sword?" Muria casually broke another light screen and picked up a rust-covered short sword. The sword was very short, only about half a meter long, more like a dagger, but by its design, it was unmistakably a sword.

Thunder strikes and dragon flames did nothing; the sword remained unchanged, not even losing a spot of rust.

"What's this?" Muria raised an eyebrow, "A divine object in disguise? Has it not met its rightful owner yet, thus appearing as this rusted sword?"

"Ha!" With a disdainful scoff, Muria then… slipped the rusty sword into his spatial ring, not returning it to its pedestal. He had an indescribable feeling that this sword was special, so he decided to follow his intuition.

The rusty sword was a foreshadowing.

Underneath the towering form of the super-gigantic "Freedom Gundam," comparable in size to an adult Titan, Muria stood, gazing at the translucent perforation through the Gundam's chest. He sighed heavily.

"Why call it Titan?" Muria murmured to himself with a low chuckle as he noticed the golden arcs still sparking from its fist, "The original name was perfectly fine—Freedom! Or, Infinite Freedom!"

The black-haired, golden-eyed youth rose from the ground, floating up to the height of the Gundam's chest cavity. He examined the gaping hole, the sight of the complex, exposed, and fractured metal parts making his head swell with a painful throb.

"It's impossible to repair. Unless..." Muria's eyelids lowered as he whispered softly, "I find the 'fellow townsman' who built this thing. But there's no need for that.

Since it was destroyed by my father's punch, it's proof that there's no need to fix you."

"I'm still lacking a set of armor, and the legendary metals you provide will serve just right!" Muria looked up towards the Gundam's head, adorned with a yellow V-shaped crest, speaking in a declarative tone.

Next, the youth extended his hand, pressing down. A thick light screen appeared, within which countless complex and mystifying runes emerged, dizzying to behold.

"The defense is twice that of the treasury," Muria said with a hint of scorn, "But what use is that? Just double the runes, a mere change in form but not in substance. I've seen and deciphered all legendary runes already; it will just take a bit more time."

Despite his casual words, the double-thickened defense of the light screen took Muria nearly ten times longer to decode than he had anticipated.

"Phew!" Watching the light screen shatter, revealing a breach as tall as himself, Muria let out a long breath, instinctively reaching up to touch his slightly sweaty forehead.

"It's a bit large," Muria noted, glancing at the rapidly healing light screen, unaffected, "Lucky I prepared some spatial equipment in advance, or I wouldn't have been able to carry away so much."

After speaking, the youth took a necklace from around his neck, held it in his hand, and stretched it into the light screen. Next, his psychic power extended, enveloping the entire Gundam. Then, linking with the spatial necklace, the stylish and imposing Gundam vanished from its place of many decades in just an instant.

"Perfectly done!" Muria, satisfied, put the necklace back on and landed on the ground.

"Master Muria!" Two somewhat panicked voices called out from behind him.

"Ah!" Muria sighed lightly, turning to look at the entrance of the hall where two dragonmaid faces showed panic and confusion.

Superior Dragon Paralysis Spell!

Two streaks of amber light shot out, immobilizing the maids within a static glow, frozen in place.

Muria descended from the air and approached the two dragonmaids.

Through the immobilizing light, Muria could still see their faces frozen in expressions of shock, fear, and bewilderment.

After all, they had never dreamed they would witness their master's offspring stealing, let alone assaulting them.

"Sorry!" Muria bowed slightly, then bypassed the two dragonmaids, navigating through the castle, scrutinizing the exhibits displayed along the corridors.

"Armor mixed with adamantine and a bit of mithril, yes, can be refined, I'll take it."

"Tsk, nearly half of these staves are forged from void star gold, taken."

"This axe, actually forged from godbreaker iron and meteoric steel, taken."

Muria wandered through the castle, passing hall after hall, and collecting all the useful items for himself, mostly weapons and armor mixed with legendary metals.

...

As the morning sunlight fell on the Golden Dragon Mother's crystal castle, casting even more splendid reflections, Muria walked out of the castle gate, contentedly stretching.

"Roar!" Golden light rose from Muria as the black-haired, golden-eyed youth transformed under the light into a majestic golden dragon with six horns and a strong, dragon-like form. As the sun shone down, he let out an excited roar.

Then, the golden dragon took to the skies, wrapped in wind and thunder, carrying the spoils of a busy night, flying towards Taiji Island.

Unbeknownst to Muria, on a castle platform, a golden-haired young woman quietly watched his departing dragon form, a playful smile on her lips:

"Master Muria, you'd better hurry and make all your gains truly your own. If Lady Atelis returns and sees this, she'll go mad."

With that, Maid Sophia gently stamped her foot, a subtle ripple spreading from her to the entire castle. A chorus of shattering sounds echoed throughout the castle as she freed all the dragonmaids

 paralyzed by Muria's touch.

Muria, unaware of this scene, wouldn't dare to confront the head maid if he knew.

At that moment, he was already back at his clan's site through a teleportation circle set up on Taiji Island.

Upon returning, Muria immediately entered the stone temple storing the four types of legendary metals, collecting them all.

Then, standing still, he exhaled deeply.

"Cassiel!"

"Present," the translucent spirit materialized beside Muria.

"Transport me to the Hall of Void Forging."

"Are you preparing to forge your personal weapons now?"

"I now possess the qualifications, and I have enough legendary metals."

"How many personal weapons do you plan to forge?"

"Nine!" Muria hesitated before stating a number that would even startle a Titan.

"That's too many," Cassiel interjected. "With your current constitution, you cannot sustain forging nine weapons."

"What?" Muria was puzzled.

Cassiel did not reply; instead, a miniaturized teleportation circle formed in front of Muria, and a round-bellied crystal bottle containing a vibrant green liquid appeared from within.

"This is..."

"Eternal Life Tree's essence sap. Take it with you; you'll need it."

Somewhat dazed, Muria held the crystal bottle, and before he could voice his questions, the teleportation circle beneath him burst into brilliant light, and he vanished from the spot.

...

Below him was a silver-white metallic floor, and above was the boundless void. Muria looked around, his eyes revealing a trace of awe, for the void above was not dark.

Countless streams of light surged from all directions of the dark void, illuminating the metallic platform, which was almost as large as the abyssal training grounds, in a radiant brilliance.

Muria looked towards the center of the massive metallic platform, where a pyramid-shaped structure (reminiscent of a Mayan pyramid) towered majestically. Even if Muria reverted to his Titan form, he could only look up at this grand construction.

This was the Hall of Void Forging! The place for Titans to forge their personal weapons!

"What are these streams of light?" Muria looked up, the endless light flowing from the void into the rune-covered top of the pyramid, each stream containing energy that made Muria shudder with its potency.