Chapter 272 The Trophy of the Beholder
After the "Sunfire Explosion", Brian ignored the tired corpse of the Beholder Tyrant and quickly turned back to look at Santila.
He saw the drow girl leaning against the wall lifelessly, her face looking even weaker than before.
Next, Brian witnessed an incredible scene. There was a blood hole as thick as a thumb on Santila's slightly heaving chest, and blood was gurgling like a spring.
Obviously, in the battle just now, even he himself did not notice that Santila was hit by a beholder ray at some point. As an adventurer with rich combat experience, he naturally knew that blood The location of the hole is undoubtedly the heart.
Faced with this situation, Brian's mind first echoed with the chuckle of the drow girl, and then he suddenly felt that his vision suddenly became blurred, and the whole world seemed to be dyed red.
He rushed to Santila, squatted on the ground, and hurriedly untied her elf chain armor, trying to check whether her injuries were still salvageable.
At this moment, Santila suddenly opened her blue eyes. First, a trace of blood spilled from the corner of her mouth, and then she let out a soft cry that was more like complaint than pain, and scolded: "Brian, you You can't slow down, it hurts."
"..."
Brian, who had long lost his previous calmness and composure, was stunned. He thought he had suffered something like a beholder. The ray that pierced her heart would definitely make it difficult to save her even if she didn't die, but she could still speak and remain calm as usual.
He saw Santila holding his arm tightly with one hand and covering the bleeding wound on her chest with the other hand. She stood up groaning in pain.
A ray of emerald green magical light enveloped her, and her wounds recovered in the blink of an eye. Only the delicate skin exposed in the hole in the elf chain armor and the blood seeping out of her clothes were still telling. previous situation.
"Corylon will not let me die so easily." Santila gasped, shook her thick white hair away from her pretty face, and gave Brian a reluctant smile.
Looking at the playful appearance of the drow girl, Brian immediately understood the reason.
He breathed a sigh of relief and did not ask about the specific relationship between Santila and the elf god Corellon. Instead, he smiled and stretched out his hand to rub her newly combed hair into a mess again. With a dissatisfied look in her eyes, she turned around and walked towards the body of the beholder tyrant.
Although at this moment, Santila had not awakened any memory of the dark girl, and only understood the vague things that had happened through dreams, but he had a vague feeling that one day she would definitely have to face it in person.
For some reason, if such a thing really happened, his inner instinct told himself that he did not want such a thing to happen at all.
As for the specific reason, he couldn’t tell clearly at the moment.
Brian stopped thinking about it, put back the chaotic thoughts that were drifting into the distance, and slowly relaxed his whole body, and then his brows knitted together.
Because as he relaxed both physically and mentally, he suddenly felt the dual sequelae of the ninth-level power "Reversal of Reality" being backlashed by the Beholder Tyrant, surging like a tide, so much so that he He almost lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Fortunately, he used the psychic protection ability in time to make his spiritual sea of consciousness as stable as a barrier, gradually offsetting this pain.
The Beholder Tyrant Rekni, as an alien creature whose strength has reached the legendary realm, Brian doubts his ability to reverse reality. With the blessing of racial characteristics, he may have been studying it for at least hundreds of years.
A rookie like him who has just mastered the ninth-level superpower through the method of transferring skills, if it were not for his strong willpower and the blessing of the state of mind, with the strength of his current psychic warlock profession that is not in the legendary realm, In the intense backlash just now, turning into an idiot is the most gratifying thing.
Of course, although his approach was too risky, in fact, these emergencies were completely within his consideration, which allowed him to directly avoid unbearable costs and sequelae on the spot.
After stabilizing his body, he began to clean up the loot while checking the system bar.
Among the experience points gained this time, 70,000 experience points were gained from killing the beholder tyrant, 50,000 experience points were gained from the green-footed dragon snake whose strength reached the legendary realm, and about 100,000 experience points were gained from the four fourth-level beholder demons. The total is Around 220,000 experience points.
It is a very good harvest.
"Are you okay?" A touch of blood gradually appeared on Santila's pretty face, she walked slowly to Brian, held his hand, and asked with concern.
A ray of emerald green divine energy flashed in the darkness, reflecting Brian's slightly pale face into Santila's worried blue eyes.
The drow girl's azure eyes are sparkling, full of caring tenderness.
Looking into these familiar eyes, Brian's mind unconsciously recalled another girl who was still waiting for him to return in the small world.
She also has a pair of blue eyes like Santila, he thought to himself.
The memories hidden deep in his heart were suddenly unearthed, once again strengthening Brian's determination to try to get the magic goddess Mystra to help him repair the passage to the small world.
He sighed and made up his mind to wait until he finished treating the ranger Azara, and no matter what, he would ask the chosen ones of the Goddess of Magic to help him inquire about the possibility of repairing the passage.
After all, after the wizard tower was successfully established, he had exhausted all means, but still could not sense the slightest location of that distant small world.
In this case, he can only choose to ask for help from the goddess of magic, because she can connect to the magic network and sense its approximate location. If the magic network is successfully repaired, only a few related items will be needed in the vast sky of the country. Its location can be found.
"What can I do?" Brian shook Santila's little hand. After letting go, he brushed a disobedient strand of hair from her forehead behind her ear and smiled softly. Said: "Do you think I'm in trouble?"
Although the divine energy transmitted to him by Santila did not have any effect on his current situation, the stinging pain in his mind still felt like The pins and needles appeared frequently, but they were gradually getting better and were completely within his tolerance.
In fact, in this battle, he had no confidence at first, and even thought of quitting when he couldn't handle the anti-magic force field of the Beholder Tyrant.
But Santila didn't think so. Not only did this stubborn drow girl refuse to retreat, she even risked her life and stabbed the eye mask tyrant's one eye with a sharp sword, breaking his magic power. field and successfully reversed the situation.
Originally, Brian thought that Santila's move was too risky, and her life would be in danger if she was not careful.
Who would have thought that when he heard the other party's nonchalant tone when he mentioned the Elf God, he would realize why Santila dared to take such a risk.
There is no doubt that she deliberately concealed some special methods from him, such as why her sword was able to ignore the beholder's anti-magic field and burst out with such powerful energy after being stained with blood.
In this regard, he did not pursue it deeply. After all, everyone has their own secret.
"Then I'll be relieved." Santila looked at him seriously, with a sweet smile on her pretty face.
"If you have nothing to do, help me find the secret room of the beholder." He smiled back, and then assigned the task to the drow girl who seemed to have nothing to do:
"I can feel that with the eyes, With the death of the demon tyrant, this extra-dimensional space shaped by their spirits is likely to collapse soon. The sooner the better, otherwise, we are likely to be exiled into the turbulence of another dimension. "
Santilla nodded after hearing this, put away the loose expression on her face, and began to use detection magic to carefully search for any secret rooms that may be hidden nearby.
Bryan came straight to the body of the Beholder Tyrant.
From the information he had seen, he understood deeply that beholders may be the most deadly of all powerful aberration races, and they are also the most monstrous in appearance.
It is said that beholders were first born in the outer world, and their ancestor was a primitive being with abilities comparable to those of gods.
She had no name, and her descendants did not see the need to give her a name.
‘Grand Mistress’ is her only title to the outside world.
This is not to say that there is conclusive evidence that she is female, but because the bloodline of the entire beholder race is undoubtedly derived from her descendants.
Since the Great Matron, the beholder clan and its various variants have been extremely successful in colonizing the various planes, and almost no force can stop this living torrent of destruction.
And due to the special way of dream reproduction of beholders, it is difficult for them to leave corpses after death, and it is more like disappearing into nothingness directly.
It is precisely for this reason that it is difficult for some mages who are curious about the body structure of beholders to learn their true secrets.
Of course, although it is difficult, it does not mean that there is really no way. There are still some powerful mages who have a rough idea of the beholder through many fancy means such as detention, imprisonment and sealing. learn.
The main reason why Brian still wanted to look for his body was that even though the body of a beholder whose strength reached the legendary realm would gradually disappear as the energy overflowed after being killed, But an extremely special material was left behind: Beholder Crystal.
To put it bluntly, it is actually an eye of the beholder.
You know, the numerous eyes of beholders are their most eye-catching and most terrifying iconic feature.
In addition to giving them global vision, these eyes can be used to aim, guide, and launch powerful supernatural effects.
These effects are so extraordinary and this organ is so strange and complex that it has puzzled countless sages and mages for a long time.
This crystal is naturally the concentrated essence of all the eyes after the death of the legendary beholder. It is an extremely special magic material, especially when making certain magic eye type magic items, it has the best effect. .
No surprise.
Brian found a crystal the size of a glass ball in the remains of the beholder's body.
This crystal looks hard and strong. If arcane energy and the power of a psion are injected into it, the surface of the crystal will be covered with a brightly colored round iris, which looks like it is made of hundreds of Blocks of translucent crystal come together, as if each one can move independently.
This means that the beholder can adjust the shape of the iris to control the amount of light entering the eye.
They are able to adjust the iris to almost any shape imaginable, even beyond the orbit of the eye, making it look as if there is no iris at all.
Bryan raised the Beholder Crystal above his head, and under the bright light, he could clearly see that the strange thing about this crystal was that it was not just one lens, but many lenses of different sizes and curvatures. They are composed of groups, all of which can rotate and move independently as the iris changes.
Multiple lenses greatly enhance the beholder's vision, allowing them to have dark vision of at least 60 feet, and in a bright environment, they can see clearly how many mosquito leg hairs there are at twice that distance.
Brian solemnly put away this piece of legendary material.
If he were to make it and then let Myrcella, the super-enchanter, help him enchant it, it would undoubtedly be equivalent to obtaining another legendary equipment, but Brian did not intend to do this.
Because the psionist Helist once accidentally mentioned to him that there is an item called the psionic eye.
This kind of spiritual object looks like just an inconspicuous small crystal, but it can contain many special abilities. When the user conveys the correct thought to it, the crystal will automatically emerge from the wearer's forehead. Emerging in the center, similar to the third eye.
Obviously, the crystals left behind by the legendary beholder after death are the most suitable materials for making psychic eyes.
Brian decided to wait for Helist to come out of isolation and let her use this crystal to help him make a similar psychic eye.
Then, he turned around and focused his gaze on the fifteen-meter-long corpse of the Green-footed Dragon Snake.
The appearance of the green-footed dragon snake is similar to a combination of a centipede and a crocodile. The outer skin composed of scales is green blue to dark blue, gradually transitioning to the light blue color of the abdomen. Looking at the charred body of the dragon snake in front of him, Brian knew that if it had not been bombarded by his "Meteor Explosion", its intact skin could produce at least ten pieces of "excellent" quality leather armor.
Now I'm afraid he can't even get five pieces together, but he doesn't feel any regret about this. After all, in a critical battle, it is natural to go all out, rather than being tied up due to many reasons.
With a wave of his hand, he teleported the body of the Green-footed Dragon Snake to the different-dimensional space of the preaching mage. There are specialized staff there who will give full play to the role of the body.
For example: the two horns on the forehead of the green-footed dragon snake can be used to make staffs with thunder attributes, the teeth and dragon tendons can be used to make daggers and bowstrings with lightning damage, and even its flesh can be used to make lightning resistance. Good material for sex potions.
As a mage lord, with so many people and spellcasters under his command, he naturally does not need to do such dirty work as skinning and cramping.
After cleaning up the body of the Green-footed Dragon Snake, the moment Brian turned around, he happened to find that the excited drow girl had successfully opened a secret door and ran to him happily.
As the door slowly opened, the mountains of gems and gold piled inside the secret room emitted a bright light in the darkness.
Although this wealth was not as much as what he had received from the Blue Dragon Lich, it still made him couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
"See if there is anything you need, just take it." Brian said to the drow girl beside him.
Now he is no longer the adventurer who once wandered into the Underdark with Hesiah, not even sparing the items inside the dirty ooze monsters.
Although the wealth is dazzling, it is not important enough for him to monopolize it all.
"No need." Santila shook her head understandingly, "These gold jewelry are of little use to me, and I don't like the magic equipment inside, so I gave them all to you."
Brian nodded slightly. As the reincarnation of the dark girl, it was indeed difficult for these things to enter her sight.
As for the equipment, he just glanced at it and discovered that Santila's bow, sword, quiver, and even a vague ring on her fingertips were all of legendary quality. Equipment, she doesn't need to worry about equipment at all.
In this case, Brian naturally accepted the order without hesitation.
Just as he expected, in an inconspicuous space box among the wealth, he found the treasure that the beholder tyrant had stolen from the king of Leyline Maze City, Helaster.
This treasure looks like a huge round glass container, about 10 feet high and 5 feet wide, which seems to be perfect for holding a beholder.
The mirror-smooth glass surface does not reflect any light. Under normal circumstances, it looks no different from an empty metal frame.
The magic on the glass can perfectly reflect the image of any human being observing it from a distance of no more than 60 feet. The image is so lifelike that it may be mistaken for a living person.
As expected, Brian was unable to identify the specific attributes of this treasure even with his knowledge.
According to his rough calculation, this is definitely a magic equipment exclusive to the beholder.
The beholder only needs to have line of sight with the mirror instead of the target, or burrow its body into this treasure similar to a glass shield, so that it can refract and amplify any eyeball rays projected on the surface of the mirror, and it can also greatly enhance the power of the rays. and its own defense.
In the previous battle, if the beholder had put his body inside, it would have been impossible for Santila to succeed, so much so that he was blinded by the sword.
As for why he did not equip this treasure, Brian did not know.
But through this treasure, he suddenly thought of something.
It is said that the beholder's rays can be released endlessly.
The reason for this is mainly because the beholder has a unique visual nervous system. Just like humans transmit light to the brain through the optic nerve to obtain vision, the eyeballs can also transform, enhance and store magic in the brain.
This allows the beholder to absorb magic by observing magical effects in combat, gazing at magical creatures such as golems or spellcasters, gazing at ancient ruins or magic items, or even directly reading and learning magic books.
They can even absorb magic power by looking at their own eyeball rays and recycle the energy.
Brian suspected that this glass cover-like thing might have something to do with this aspect.
He put the treasure away and planned to wait until he returned to the Wizard Tower to ask Myrcella to assist in researching it. If necessary, he would wait until he had the opportunity to go to Waterdeep City.
Halaster lives in the Leyline Labyrinth in Waterdeep City. He is the only survivor on the surface of the destroyed mechanical empire Imaskar.
Perhaps it is also possible that through this mad mage's strong interest in treasures, he can open the door to the knowledge of the mechanical empire.
After collecting the spoils of the Beholder Tyrant, the satisfied Brian was about to take Santila and activate the teleportation spell to leave, but he found that the drow girl looked at him a little strangely.
"Brian..." She hesitated for a moment, her eyes fell on the fingertips of his right hand, and she said softly, "I want to take a look at the ring in your hand, is that okay?"
Brian was slightly startled, and immediately realized that what Santila wanted to see was his legendary ring, the Brilliant Evening Star.
"I seem to have seen this ring in a dream, so I want to take it into my hands and take a closer look." She quickly added.
Brian took it off without any suspicion and handed it to her.
He saw the drow girl taking the ring with slightly trembling little hands and gently rubbing the platinum ring set with a diamond.
The ring actually really shined under Santila's gentle touch, making the tiny blue and white gemstones surrounding the diamond shine with dazzling brilliance.
The bright light reflects on the pretty face of the drow girl, and you can clearly see a trace of nostalgia and a fleeting sadness in her expression. This feeling seems to be inadvertently It's like finding something you've lost for a long time.
"It's weird..." Brian looked shocked and couldn't help but mutter in his heart.
This ancient ring was given to him by an elf mother-in-law who raised him in the small world. It comes from the world of Asta of the 'Calamity Setting Sun'.
What he didn't expect was that he would have a slight connection with the dark girl.
In other words, if one pursues it seriously, it can even be traced back to the era of cross-border migration across the universe by the 'refugee leader' Corellon with his own elven race.
"Brian, can you keep this ring with me for a few days?" Santila's sweet voice interrupted his deep thoughts.
"No problem." Brian thought for a moment and nodded slightly.
It can be seen that this ring definitely has some origins in the era when the dark girl Eilistraee had not become a drow elf, so he agreed to her request without thinking.
He did not think that Santila would take this opportunity to monopolize this piece of equipment.
"Thank you, Brian." Santila thanked him in a gentle voice, "Don't worry, I will return it to you. In fact, this ancient legendary coin called 'Bright Evening Star' The ring is a real artifact..."
Listening to Santila's soft words, Brian felt in a trance that this familiar drow girl had a different face. , actually made him mistakenly believe that the person standing in front of him was not the real Santila, nor the drow girl with whom he was entangled.
It wasn't until the corner of her mouth curled up into a familiar playful smile that impressed him so deeply that he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Because he knew that the Santila he was familiar with was back in an instant.
As for the shocking news that it was a real artifact, he symbolically ignored it.
After all, from the attributes awakened by the primary ancient ritual, he had already guessed the potential that this legendary ring would show after it was fully activated.
"You have to know that there is probably no one in this world who is more familiar with this item than me." When her blue eyes looked at him, she showed a hint of pride, and then raised the ring in her hand. He smiled and said, "I can activate the second ancient ritual of this ring, "Mystery of the Stars," without any effort, and help you find the method to activate the third ancient ritual. ”
"Then I'll trouble you." When Brian heard this, there was a hint of surprise in his expression.
Obviously he never thought that Santila was not only connected to this legendary ring, but could also find a way to activate it.
You must know that the activation method of the second ancient ritual "Mystery of the Stars" is that the wearer must spend a full half year to study, research or appreciate the stars. This may be in the form of stargazing or studying astrology charts. , read literature or myths about the stars, and even write poems to praise the beauty of the stars.
This form of obtaining intermediate ancient attributes leaves little time for Brian to even study and study magic, let alone take time to explore the mysteries of the stars.
In the end, he kept delaying the activation method of this ring.
It was clear that by activating the intermediate legendary feature, he would be able to obtain an equipment with a quality that was at least "Legendary", but he was unable to do so.
Now, Santila was able to quickly help him activate it, which was naturally something he was happy to see happen.
"Brian, do you know? Since I met you, I suddenly realized that in my short life, there are many words that cannot be expressed in words." Santila played with the platinum in her hand. Ring said in a leisurely tone:
"Every move you make, whether in the dark realm or the surface world, can touch my heartstrings and leave me at a loss. Sometimes I really want to return to Ancient Oron. Although Si City is full of chaos and conflict, it is easier to understand. At least I can play with the rules there easily. However, facing this strange world on the surface and facing you again, the conflicting emotions aroused are still there. It makes me feel like there is nothing I can do."
"So, you don't look like an introspective person at all," Brian took out the casting materials for the teleportation circle and said to her with a smile. ：
"Do you like to put aside your uncomfortable new feelings and turn to familiar methods that you can understand?"
"You guessed it right. You are right, For example, making love with you is the area I am most familiar with and feel at ease with, and it is also the only outlet I can find to vent my emotions." The drow girl's cheeks turned slightly red, and her tone remained firm as she said:
"Because I don't know. Do you understand what it means for a drow girl to give her body as a gift, let alone what you think about this method? But I understand that it is difficult for my tribe to describe it. The keen way allows me to know without understanding that my destiny is actually deeply connected with you to some extent."
Hearing this, Brian's movements stopped. Even the hand holding the casting materials couldn't help but tremble.
It was difficult for him to understand whether it was because of this ring that Santila's attitude towards him suddenly changed so drastically.
He slowly turned around, reached out to touch the drow elf's cheek, and said to her in a soft tone:
"Remember, don't think so much, and don't let this completely ridiculous thought and lifestyle , affects your mood, you just need to follow your heart and do what you want to do.”
Seeing Santila’s lips adorned with a smile, his gentle fingertips. Outlining the curve of her lips, he smiled slightly and said: "Let's go, it's not suitable to stay here for a long time, we should go back."
After saying that, he opened a portal, and the two of them disappeared together.
The matter here has been resolved. He only needs to find the ranger Azara and insert the dagger given to him by Storm into his body. This mission to the magic demiplane will be successfully completed.
(End of this chapter)