BXBX NOVEL Chapter 544
Desmond reached down and used his hands to brush away the rest of the rocks, revealing more of the buried gem. At first glance, it was obvious that the gemstone had been placed on purpose in the ground rather than being a natural occurrence. It didn’t take a genius to deduce that it was the work of armored armadillos.
The notion that the beasts in this cave even knew how to hide their most valuable treasures by using other treasures was quite interesting to Desmond since the average human being wasn’t necessarily that cunning.
Although interesting, Desmond was more intrigued by the value and nature of the gem. The gem could not be an ordinary object for it to be hidden in such a unique way. Cleaning up some of the loose dirt and revealing the rest of the gem, the electrical hums increased almost to the point of becoming too intense.
The electric blue glow emitted by the gem lit up the entire cave, almost hurting Desmond’s eyes. Desmond could see the gem’s true appearance once his eyes grew accustomed to its dazzling brilliance.
The blue gem had an extremely peculiar shape. It looked like a piece of crystallized electricity, like lightning frozen at the precise moment it hit the ground. The web of electric snakes formed a blue gem of dazzling brilliance and priceless value.
Desmond wasn’t particularly fond of jewelry or the like. Still, even he had to admit that the blue gem was the most exquisite thing he had ever seen. Appearance aside, the energy fluctuations emitted by the gem were absurd, in no way inferior to the fluxes emitted by Desmond’s sword, a three-star class treasure.
Although Desmond always used to complain about his poverty, he wasn’t really a person who was greedy by nature. Even if his living standards were high, he wouldn’t go crazy seeing a godly treasure. However, that didn’t stop Desmond from looking at the blue gem with a strong desire. He couldn’t be blamed; what was in front of him was much more significant and valuable than pure wealth.
Desmond wouldn’t get too excited if it were any other gem or treasure, but he knew very well that the gems in these mines were special. Obtaining a very high-level gem could mean a huge increase in his personal strength. Whether he was using it directly as a material for a piece of equipment or to study its powers, the gem was precious to Desmond.
.....
Unable to resist the temptation any longer, Desmond used the hunter’s book to analyze the gem.
<Wrath of Zeus (Elemental gem with spirituality). Class three-stars, maximum-level.
Elemental Affinity: Lightning.
Description: The gem is born from the natural gathering of an immense amount of wild electric mana. It possesses a tremendous amount of electrical mana of extreme purity that is violent in nature. It can be used as a material for forging or crimping equipment. It can also be used as an auxiliary power source to train electric mana, speeds up training and comprehension speed by 300%, and give a chance to comprehend a skill contained in the spirituality of the gem.>
Although it didn’t quite fit his personality, Desmond still felt the urge to gape at the holographic display with the gem’s description. As calm and temperate as Desmond was to almost any treasure, the gem was simply too merciful. The most ridiculous thing was that Desmond had obtained the gem with tremendous ease; there was even an earthquake that very kindly unearthed the gem for him. His luck practically defied heaven.
Desmond had never looked at anything with such kindness, wanting to carry the gem in his arms like a newborn baby. Luckily, Desmond was still cautious enough, his instincts telling him it wasn’t a good idea to touch the gem with bare hands.
As if to prove Desmond right, an arc of electricity shot out of the gem, destroying a portion of the stone wall. “It doesn’t look very stable; I guess that’s what the description meant by wild and violent energy.”
Although the gem seemed a bit dangerous now, Desmond felt no less thrilled. Such a treasure was too valuable and too rare. Regardless of what Desmond used it for, the benefits would be long-lasting and significant, and he couldn’t be happier.
For some reason, Desmond felt a little uneasy as he stared at the blue gem as if someone was going to come out of a dark corner and snatch it from him. Such paranoia was ridiculous, but that didn’t stop Desmond from wanting to store the gem in the hunter’s book to avoid the unforeseen.
Since Desmond had just analyzed the gem, the hunter’s book hadn’t left his left hand yet, so all he had to do was point the book at the gem and press a holographic button to store it. Not in his wildest dreams would Desmond have expected something to go wrong and that something would come precisely from the hunter’s book.
Instead of watching the blue gem silently disappear, it was a flash and a familiar object that Desmond saw. A bad feeling filled his heart. It was that piece of burnt wood that Titania had given Desmond, floating there calmly, constantly emitting an electric buzz and a low yellow glow.
A brief fraction of a second stretched to infinity as Desmond’s mind began operating at breakneck speeds, generating ominous premonitions and dire predictions. Desmond still hadn’t forgotten what Katya had told him about the piece of wood, nor what had happened when that crazy mercenary used his lightning to attack.
“Shit.” A curse was all Desmond managed to squeeze from his lips before a huge blast of lightning hit him in the chest, sending him flying.
BOM* CRACK*
Desmond felt his entire spine undergo a minor adjustment as he found himself against the stone wall behind him, sending pain signals through his entire body. Desmond’s vision blurred for a brief moment; As clarity returned, Desmond saw his premonition come true.
The blue gem seemed to have gone berserk, releasing arcs of electricity wildly, causing low hums to fill the cavern. Worthy of its name, the blue gem seemed to be unleashing the wrath of Zeus upon the earth... The problem was that its blue lightning blasts did not cause even the slightest disturbance to the burned piece of wood.
More precisely, all blue lightning, no matter how big and powerful, would be devoured as soon as they encountered the burnt piece of wood. Little by little, the arcs of electricity emanating from the blue gem became more concentrated, all aimed at the piece of burned wood. From another point of view, it was as if there was an invisible vortex around the burned piece of wood that attracted all the electricity.
At some point, a chain of dense blue lightning formed, firmly connecting the blue gem and the piece of wood. Seeing such a familiar scene, Desmond panicked, fearing that the worst would happen, but to no avail; the energy fluctuations were too intense, and approaching the phenomenon was seeking death.
Desmond had to stand aside to watch helplessly as his worst nightmares came true. Eventually, the worst happened. The burnt piece of wood never stopped draining the blue lightning, causing the low-spirited blue gem to want to escape what turned out to be its natural predator.
As Desmond hoped it would, the blue gem could not escape or sever its connection to the burned piece of wood. A minute later, the flashes and lightning dimmed, becoming less intense. Two minutes later, Desmond managed to get close enough to see the blue gem lose all its color before crumbling away, collapsing into a scattered heap of ash.
To Desmond’s blank, dumbfounded gaze, the burnt piece of wood acted like a fat cat that ate too much, collapsing lazily on the floor, appearing to be just a harmless piece of burnt wood. Desmond didn’t know why, but even he had the strangest feeling that the burnt piece of wood was trying to act like a bratty little girl pretending not to know she had done something wrong.
Desmond’s gaze lingered on the burnt piece of wood for a couple of seconds before shifting to the pile of ashes that used to be a godly treasure that almost made him cry with joy.
Desmond felt anger, frustration, despair, and a deep grudge, but it all turned to scattered smoke after a couple of deep breaths. Desmond had a rather wry expression on his face as he said. “Truly, my luck defies heaven.”
What was normally a phrase of smugness and pride turned into a bitter complaint filled with limitless grievances. Given the current circumstances, Desmond’s face was worse than crying.