The new mystical item was completed swiftly.
It was a suit of pitch-black armor that seemed to absorb all light falling upon its surface, emanating an intimidating chill.
Don opened the system interface to examine its properties.
[Item Information: A mystical item crafted from the Sequence 4 Undying's Beyonder characteristic, retaining certain "living" properties.]
[The armor's wearer can freely traverse the Spirit World by providing it with spirituality.]
[The armor itself functions as a miniature "Underworld." By channeling spirituality, one can open gates to the Underworld and rapidly summon accumulated spirits and undead.]
[When infused with a large amount of spirituality at once, this item will assume an incomplete mythical creature form for fifteen seconds, with duration extendable through additional spirituality input.]
[Grants powerful regenerative abilities - even severe bodily damage can gradually heal over time.]
[Negative Effects: Gradually leads the wearer toward death.]
[This is a living mystical item. The longer it's worn, the more it absorbs the wearer's spirituality. One day, it may perfectly mimic its wearer.]
[Sealing Method: Store in brightly lit rooms with no spiritual beings within ten meters.]
Don studied the armor's information carefully. "It's alive," he murmured.
Taking out the brass whistle from his system storage, Don observed as the armor twitched slightly at its appearance before stilling again.
"Alive, but barely. Without a wearer or external spiritual input, it lacks sufficient vitality for autonomous movement."
Don added an annotation to the system's documentation.
"If this is all, it's still acceptable. Now we just need to minimize the negative effects."
With his father absent and himself not yet a high-sequence Beyonder, Don could only rely on alternative methods to restrain the item.
From his storage, he retrieved a square seal - a mystical item from the Sun pathway's Sequence 6: Notary, called the "Coronation Seal."
Don took out a piece of parchment and began writing in ancient Hermes with a charcoal pen. After completing the text, he blew on the parchment, then used a silver dagger to scrape some iron filings from the armor's surface.
He intended to use the armor's residual spirituality to establish a contract.
Mixing the iron filings with the Coronation Seal, Don pressed it against the parchment's lower right corner, leaving a sun-symbol imprint. The written characters suddenly glowed with scorching solar radiance, the heat palpable.
Only after a long while did the light fade, signifying the contract's completion.
"This will restrict the armor's vitality - without spiritual infusion, it won't (or will rarely) display living properties. It also won't excessively drain the wearer's life force under normal circumstances."
"Of course, the effects won't last too long."
After all, this was a demigod-level item constrained by a Sequence 6 contract - the suppression wouldn't be absolute.
Don glanced over the contract's contents before rolling it up and tossing it into a drawer.
'As for the death-related aspects... that depends on how quickly Owen can become an Undying. Once he consumes the item as potion ingredients, the negative effects will cease.'
Having stored everything properly, Don called for the guards he'd prepared earlier to take the items away. With this, the mystical item matter was settled.
Clapping his hands, Don prepared to go out.
The team he'd sent to find thumb trees had returned with meager results. In this era filled with supernatural horrors, even those who recognized these grotesque-looking trees knew their fruits were non-toxic and sugar-rich. Yet their terrifying appearance led most who encountered them to chop the trees down, fearing they might be avatars or minions of evil gods.
Hmm... hard to judge that logic.
Did they think felling the trees would prevent evil gods from coming after them?
Next thing you know, Rose Bishops will be at their doors performing rap battles.
Don planted the two unsettling saplings in the courtyard he'd purchased earlier.
"They'll need some supernatural influence to thrive."
Don retrieved a short staffed with a green gemstone from his system storage.
[Item Name: Staff of Life]
[Item Information: A mystical item crafted from the Sequence 5: Druid characteristic of the Earth pathway.]
[Appearance: A 20-inch alder staff from the highlands, staffed with an emerald and engraved with unknown inscriptions - likely variants of prayers from the Earth Mother Church's "Scriptures of Life."]
[When infused with spirituality, it significantly enhances vitality for plants within a 15-meter radius, accelerating growth and enabling them to obey commands and attack enemies.]
[Continuously heals the user's body - capable of regenerating severed fingers or damaged organs, though it can only delay death for life-threatening injuries.]
[When flooded with massive spirituality, it releases potent toxins transmissible through air and contact (affecting the user equally).]
[Negative Effects: Over time, induces frenzied mating urges in nearby flora and fauna. The resulting offspring survive through unnatural means and display hostility toward all life.]
[Sealing Method: Store in areas devoid of plants and animals.]
"Honestly, I hate this item," Don muttered as he planted the staff beside the thumb trees.
It reminded him of that incident when searching for mermaids - how the staff's proximity made the ship's wood merge with certain algae to create monstrosities.
The memory made him shudder. He never wanted to experience that again.
Though it might have been residual power of the Earth Mother in those waters that mutated the Mother pathway's effects. He'd immediately stashed the item in his system storage, but they'd nearly capsized, almost becoming fish food.
(Chapter End)