Chapter 61: Carved Scale Dragon Scale Amulet
“Back so soon?” Brat saw Anse push the door open and hurriedly drew the curtains.
“A few helpers came…” Anse placed the thing on the floor and briefly recounted the process.
“Harpers? This… you guys even sold the ship?” Brat widened his eyes, somewhat incredulous.
“To be precise, it was that bard who sold it, probably enough to give me a cut.” Anse was somewhat expectant; he was really short on money now.
With money, he could buy good weapon equipment and magical items, which was too important for a squishy professional.
A noble professional of the same level has combat power several times greater than a commoner professional, and the margin for error is worlds apart.
Anse laid out all of tonight’s loot on the floor; not much, but all quality work.
Tich gave him a bottle of water breathing potion and a pile of money bags; dumping them out and counting, there were about three hundred seventy gold coins and a dozen colorful gemstones.
In the pouch was a greater healing potion and a flare; maybe that captain wanted to take the healing potion at the time, because he didn’t seem that “professional.”
Two fine quality short swords, not a pair.
One was「 mithril short sword」, incredibly hard, with「 critical hit」 property; hitting an object with it counts as a critical hit, simple and unadorned; he planned to keep it for himself.
The other was vigilance short sword; after attunement, as long as this weapon is within your reach, you and your allies within 30 feet gain the following benefits:
「Alarm」: This weapon can awaken beneficiaries in natural sleep before an attack occurs. This benefit cannot awaken sleep caused by magic.
「Transcendent Readiness」: Each beneficiary has advantage on “initiative.”
The items were great, but unfortunately he couldn’t use them, because he could attune to at most three magical items, and the staff, spell storing ring, and cloak were all occupied.
He sheathed the short sword, raised his hand, and tossed it to Finn: “For you, vigilance short sword, requires attunement…”
Finn grinned widely; the only magic weapon in his hands was a bow of common quality, and he was short on a melee off-hand weapon.
“How much?” This was Anse’s personal loot, so he definitely had to pay.
“Valued at… five hundred gold coins.” Anse casually quoted a low price.
“Mm.” Finn wasn’t polite either.
Anse tossed the damaged enchanted leather armor aside, his gaze locked firmly on that palm-sized red dragon scale.
【Magical Item: Carved Scale Dragon Scale Amulet】
「Type」: Curio
「Rarity」: Rare（Requires Attunement）
In the Material Plane, dragons often form small societies of three to five dragons called pacts.
They have common pact goals; the most notable feature is carving arcane marks with protection effects on their scales, also called pact wards, so these dragons are also called Carved Scale Dragons.
This is an amulet made from the dragon scale of a Carved Scale Dragon young dragon, with runes effective against death.
「Death Ward」: Gain protection against death; takes effect when worn after attunement, passive constant effect. When suffering a fatal blow or instant death spell, maintain a sliver of life, retaining 1 hit point.
After triggering, the ward shatters, and the pact ward deactivates.
「Dragonkin Insignia」: Like a dragon lich, the pact ward engraved on a Carved Scale Dragon’s scale resonates with dragon bloodline, awakening dragon essence.
Dragonkin can use all its properties without attunement, armor class +1, constitution +1（up to a maximum of 20）, pact ward automatically reactivates every 1-3 days.
Soaking in a large amount of dragon blood can also reactivate the amulet.
‘No wonder that captain happened to have a bit of blood left and didn’t die.’ Anse realized.
This thing’s effect was equivalent to the fourth-circle spell death ward, but only effective on the wearer.
Ordinary professionals could only use the first property, like a one-time use item; after all, dragonkin were mostly quite tough, and dragon blood wasn’t easy to obtain.
‘Do I count as dragonkin?’
Dragonkin include metal dragons, chromatic dragons, gem dragons, shadow dragons, faerie dragons, dragon turtles, wyverns, half-dragons, pseudodragons, and kobolds.
‘If even kobolds count, why shouldn’t I? I can’t be worse than a kobold, right?’
He held the Carved Scale Dragon Scale Amulet, feeling a bit insecure; kobolds were weak, but they were genuine distant relatives of chromatic dragons.
He took off his cloak, lifted his shirt, unfolded the Carved Scale Dragon Scale Amulet, and pressed it to his chest.
Accompanied by a slight sting, the dragon scale wriggled, adhering tightly to his soft scales, and even the color quickly faded, soon blending with his scales.
At the same time, a warm power spread from the amulet throughout his body, lingering on the skin surface, giving a faint sense of security.
He reached out to touch it; he couldn’t feel the amulet at all, only seeing a faint line at the edge.
1 day! The dice gave an accurate judgment. In one day, he would gain a new death ward, equivalent to an extra life.
In this sense, his bloodline was equivalent to that of a young dragon.
‘Don’t get cocky!’ he warned himself inwardly.
That captain had the amulet but still died miserably.
Death ward only prevents death, not heals grievous wounds; without timely treatment, you’d still die.
Suddenly, his bloodline and mana surged, his soft scales glowed faintly, his eyes stung slightly, and when he opened them again, the dim room was as clear as daylight.
【Triggered resonance, awakened dragon bloodline: Gain blindsight 10 feet, darkvision 60 feet】
‘So that’s what it meant.’
As dragonkin, how could he not have darkvision and blindsight? That’s standard for the dragon race.
“Meeting you is my luck, Nahshival.” Anse sighed, “Is the slave business that profitable?”
Two short swords, one amulet, each better than the last, making his heart itch; he wondered how wealthy the Nahshival family must be.
“No need to say.” Brat shook his head, “Even hanging can’t make slavers back down a bit.”
“Slavers make money, we rob slavers, so isn’t that like them making money for me?” Anse laughed heartily.
“This… is that right?” Brat looked helpless.
Anse smiled without speaking, silently pulling up his character card.
Experience at 3936/6500, still over two thousand experience short of leveling up.
Perhaps because recent experiences were quite exciting, the fourth symbol on the dice was just a bit short of fully lighting up.
‘What will it be?’ Until bedtime, his mind was full of this question.
——
Morning, Moon Shadow Kui Ling treehouse dining room.
In the corner, Anse and Tich sat facing each other, with Brat and Finn beside them.
Anse slept until nine o’clock; if Tich hadn’t come to find him, he probably wouldn’t have gone out.
Tich had changed outfits today, wearing dashing hunter’s garb, long sword at his waist, lute on his back, and many small decorations, like a noble out for a stroll.
On the table were several breakfasts: elven bread, vegetable stew with herbal tea; Moon Shadow Kui Ling was only serving these this morning, very light.
Finn and the others still couldn’t get used to it, but Anse thought it was fine, especially the herbal tea, which suited his taste.
With a clink, Tich placed a money bag on the table, the gold coins clinking crisply and delightfully.
“That ship sold for five thousand six hundred gold coins; you take half, two thousand eight hundred gold coins. What do you think?” He carefully observed Anse’s expression.
Brat and the others immediately widened their eyes; they hadn’t expected the Harpers to be even more generous than imagined, giving so much money just like that.
