Chapter 21：Ellandi's Necklace

Xiao Ling went about in the bustling crowd, being in stark contrast to others. While he didn't want to talk to anyone, he still heard some chatter of the others.

Xiao Ling halted when he heard what the player said—his attention was drawn to the words "Cobalt Gem". He turned to glance at the player, who did not look like he had a high level, as he was in an Epic armor, probably level 10 or above.

"The Scarlet Monastery," Xiao Ling murmured with a lowered head. He was not sure if he could go there. The Cobalt Gem was one of the materials to make a gargoyle, but would something so expensive drop in a low-level dungeon? He did not know where the Scarlet Monastery was, either.

"You actually managed to get it? I heard that there's only one-ten-thousandth of a chance that a Scarlet Mage could drop a Cobalt Gem," a Barbarian Warrior exclaimed from the side. 

One-ten-thousandth—the probability was immensely low, but Xiao Ling wanted to try. After all, the price of a gem was incredibly high, and it was incredibly difficult to stockpile that much wealth, not that one would be able to buy it even with the money available. It would be the best if he could obtain some himself. Since that player could kill a Scarlet Mage, the latter's ability was probably quite weak. He could train leveling in addition.

"Gems will only appear drop from mage-class humanoids. I heard that the price of gems has gone up now. The Cobalt Gem is already being sold at 3,000 gold coins, yet you're only selling it for 2,000 gold coins. You're making a big loss," said a rogue mercilessly.

"Are you sure what you said is true?"

"Of course it is!"

A pitiful moan came from behind Xiao Ling's back. He could already imagine that player's grief that came after the mounting happiness.

Nonetheless, Xiao Ling was not in the mood to gloat. The inflation of the Cobalt Gem's price was no good news to him, as it meant that he would need to spend more money to build a gargoyle. It seemed like he would have to defeat several mage-class humanoids to acquire gems; he wondered how long it would take him to collect the mass of gems.

Not knowing how to go to the Scarlet Monastery, he decided that he would buy a map.

Arriving at the server's vendor, he asked about the price of a map. A general map of Brakada required 500 gold coins, while a detailed map cost as much as 5,000 gold coins. Xiao Ling sighed; maps were not affordable for the poor at all.

Xiao Ling considered it for a moment, and went to the Appraisal Hall. This time, he was not here to appraise items, but to ask for directions. As Xiao Ling really did not know how to get himself to the Scarlet Monastery, he might as well ask a NPC.

The old warlock was still there, reading a magic book beside the table. Xiao Ling thought that this might be the same book he'd been flipping through the last time. As for the female apprentice, she was nowhere to be seen, probably having been sent home by the old warlock.

"You wish to go to the Scarlet Monastery?" The old warlock squinted his eyes slightly to scrutinize Xiao Ling. "Keep going southwest from Brakada and you'll be there after going through the Reese Valley."

Xiao Ling knew about the Reese Valley. Some level 6 sprites spawned there; the sprites had low HP and low defense, and Xiao Ling had contemplated hunting them for leveling, but he gave up ultimately as the sprites had too high a resistance to magic.

"Young man, I have a quest here. Do you want to accept it?" asked the old warlock.

"What quest is it?"

"Clearing the Scarlet Monastery. The reward for the quest is Ellandi's Necklace. It's a Legendary item, but it has been sealed," said the old warlock.

Xiao Ling thought about it for a while. "Can I have a look at the necklace?"

"Sure." The old warlock retrieved a silver necklace from a closet. Various odd glyphs were etched in the necklace.

An alchemy glyph again! The glyph looked different from the previous glyph he saw. There were many branches of glyphs, and the Mechanical Alchemists had only grasped one of them—they mainly learned about engineering glyphs, including connecting glyph, power glyph, lock glyph, reinforced glyph, and others. Moreover, the glyphs passed down from humans and the goblins' authentic glyphs varied. The passage of thousands of years had caused the glyphs to evolve continuously, resulting in countless glyph systems existing currently. Rare were the people who know how many glyphs the Endace Continent actually had.

The alchemy glyphs were not merely limited to mechanics; they could be used in many aspects, including the sealing glyph on this Ellandi's Necklace.

The sealing glyph was one of the branches of the alchemy glyph with an array of usage.

The sealing glyph was divided into Apprentice rank glyph, Journeyman rank glyph, and Expert rank glyph; each rank was again separated into five tiers, and the glyph of each tier could restrain a certain amount of energy. The glyph had a characteristic as well—it was capable of disregarding the attributes of the energy, be it frost, fire, lightning, light, or demonic. As long as the glyph was of sufficiently high level and strong, it could restrain energy from any attribute.

Xiao Ling could perceive that the glyph on the Ellandi's Necklace was a type of sealing glyph. The entire necklace was crafted from silver and shone with a light metallic luster; its streamlined smoothness was evidence of its exquisite craftsmanship. The hanging pendant was a white silver demon head, while the strange patterns engraved on the chain gave the Ellandi's Necklace a mysterious aura that also concealed its splendor.

The sealing glyph on the Ellandi's Necklace was at least an Expert rank's! Xiao Ling was not acquainted with knowledge of the sealing glyph, so it was impossible for him to unlock it. He had to find relevant books in order to unseal the glyph. However, books regarding the sealing glyph were only available in the library of Brakada's chief. To enter the chief's library, one had to be a lord or a duke and above!

As a Mechanical Alchemist, Xiao Ling was familiar with items crafted from metal. Just from the white silver luster radiating from the necklace, he could guess the materials and ingredients used.

The white silvery shade was most probably from mithril as its main material, while the slight dullness in the luminescence had to be from a mix of Blackrock. Blackrocks were only produced in the Island of Evmont on the southern sea of Brakada, where the Barbarians' hometown was. Blackrocks had an excellent buff effect to the demon's spells and were quite scarce, making them invaluable. A small piece of Blackrock was worth a few millions gold coins to tens of millions gold coins. Other than certain noble NPC in Brakada who could afford the Blackrock, common players could only wish for it.