"That mask of yours is a pain to handle." Alucard laughed before patting Ashton's back, "If I hadn't evolved a while ago, I might have lost my arm today!"
'I'm not sure if that's something you should laugh about...' Ashton kept his thought to himself.
The 'test' was over and thus both of them were receiving treatment in the infirmary. Ashton only had a few scratches in the name of injury, which baffled the healers as they had expected him to have at least a couple of broken bones, but he was more or less fine.
Alucard, on the other hand, had the bones in his right hand shattered. Soul sword had certainly roughened him up a bit. Other than the healers, Verina, Irina and Griffin were also present there and for some reason, it felt as if the princesses were a bit upset with Ashton.
He was wondering what he could have possibly done to piss them off, and then he remembered something he could have done to make them sulk a bit...
'It's related to the bet, isn't it?'
[Damn, I'm gonna miss the fool you once were.]
'I'm already missing the time my head was a bit on the quiet side.'
[Hehe, cheeky. I like it. Wanna know what I'd like more? Getting something off of his treasury. Last time the Arch Lich gave us quite some useful things. I hope this Alucard guy will also have some stuff worth taking.]
'Greedy bastard.'
[We're one and the same.]
'True...'
"That should take care of it, your highness." The healer replied as she wrapped a bandage around Alucard's arm, "You should refrain from moving it for a bit until your healing factor-"
"I got it. Thanks for your concern." Alucard replied and immediately began throwing punches in the air despite the healer telling him not to, "Aah, it already feels as good as new. Not on to the important topic. Ashton if you'll follow me, I'll take you to the treasury."
Ashton got up and left after him without saying a word, however, Griffin interrupted them before bowing in front of Ashton. Everyone was confused by it, but Alucard just smiled. He knew exactly what was going on inside his second-in-command's head.
"I would like to apologise for my arrogance when we first met, Lord Ashton. My hate for werewolves didn't allow me to look past your appearance and see the talent you possessed."
"It's fine. Also, before bowing in front of random people, you should know you're the second most important person in Transylvania." Ashton accepted the apology and urged the warrior to raise his head, "And I might not be the kind of man you'd want to apologise to."
[Look at you, acting so mature. Turning 17 turned you for the better, didn't it?]
Ashton ignored Astaroth and left for the treasury. Just like the Xyran had said, he was hoping to find something unique in there. Who knows, maybe he would even end with another piece of Grim Reaper's set.
He only had two of them so far and he was already overpowered for someone his level. If he managed to get his hand on more of them, he might not need to fear anyone on the planet.
Alucard led Ashton back to his chambers, proving Ashton's suspicion to be correct. The room was indeed a treasury of some sort. Alucard then proceeded to whisper something in the ears of a bat-shaped statue and at the following moment, the wall in front of them disappeared into thin air.
"Here we are. My treasury and armoury." Alucard opened a secret door in his chambers that led to another room, filled with weapons, armours and money, "But you can't take anything from here as they are a bit... personal. You know, they have emotional value attached to them."
[Should have known that much. Stingy bastard.]
Although Ashton did not call Alucard stingy, after all, he didn't do anything to make Ashton call him that. But he somewhat knew the items they were crossing were pretty awesome. Some of them even belonged to [Legendary] grade and seeing them but not getting them was paining him a bit.
"Here we are. This used to be my father's collection at least till the day he just up and left without any word or reason." Alucard shrugged his shoulders, "Feel free to take whatever you like from here. I'm sure you'll find something. I'll be waiting for you outside."
[Of course, we will find something.]
'This does not look good...'
[No shit.]
While the weapons they saw before had been placed inside beautiful containers and protected by a variety of enchantments, Dracula's stuff was just... thrown away in a pile. Alucard wasn't even trying to hide his hatred towards his father.
Thanks to the rough conditions they were in and how none of them had received any sort of maintenance, it did not come as a surprise that most of the items had been broken and hence were more or less useless.
Despite all that, Ashton was determined to find something useful from there, and maybe his luck wasn't all that bad.
[Wait a minute. Open your inventory.]
'Why?'
[Can't you hear that humming noise? Just open your inventory, and you'll understand what I'm saying.]
Ashton did as he was told, and the moment he did, a black broken blade fell out of it. It was the same blade Ashton had won the night he met Baiter in the black market.
Once out of the inventory, even Ashton could hear the humming noise Astaroth was referring to. It wasn't loud or anything, but it was clear that the blade was looking for something.
"Wait, could this be a-"
[Soul weapon. That's what I'm thinking. There must be something inside this heap of crap that's making the blade act like this.]
That was all the motivation Ashton needed to jump headfirst into sorting the mess out. It wasn't an easy task and almost took an hour, but finally, everything was separated and arranged into neat rows.
He then picked up the blade and brought it closer to everything that was there. The humming got louder and louder till it reached a specific piece, a broken hilt.
As soon as Ashton brought the blade close to the hilt, the blade freed itself before latching on to the hilt. The room got bathed in a blinding light and as soon as it faded away, a new dagger was waiting in front of them.
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Item: Reformed Dagger of Venom
Type: Weapon
> Damage: Unknown [Feed the blade to unlock this information]
> Stats bonus: Unknown [Feed the blade to unlock this information]
> Rarity: Legendary
Description:
Once the beloved dagger of Dracula, now has found a new owner who wouldn't abandon it like its previous owner. Not much is known about this dagger apart from the fact that it is a Soul Weapon that was created by <Unknown> in a time of dire need.
Effect(s):
> Cannibalism: This weapon can devour weapons of the same type to absorb their stats and make them, its own.
Please note: Once it devours a weapon, that weapon is lost forever and can not be recreated.
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[I said it once, I'll say it again... this planet is broken.]