RE: LORD OF TIME

”This... Has the Goddess of Luck finally taken a liking to me?” William couldn’t help but mutter as he looked at the item the Titan Ape had dropped.

He reached up and touched his young face, and for a moment, a strange expression appeared in his eyes.

He was currently sixteen years old. Although he could no longer be called a child, he was still two years away from becoming an adult.

’This Goddess of Luck must be a pedophile. She never showed me any love when I was at the age where I needed it the most. But now that I have become young again, she is acting like a simp, throwing one gift after another my way.’

William thoroughly despised this woman inwardly.

But outwardly, he still acted like a green tea bit*h and accepted her gift with eyes full of tender affection, as if she were the most important existence in his world.

The item the Titan Ape had dropped was a crimson crystal with faint golden streaks flowing within it.

”Even monsters at the Star King level rarely drop a Bloodline Essence Crystal. To think I would obtain one just by killing a Star Warrior-level monster...” William smiled slightly as anticipation filled his face.

Bloodline Essence Crystals had many uses.

They could be used in alchemy to refine special pills or added as materials while forging powerful artifacts.

However, the best way to use a Bloodline Essence Crystal was simply to consume it directly.

Not only would it greatly enhance the user’s physical abilities, but there was also a chance of inheriting one of the innate abilities of the monster from which the crystal originated.

Once William absorbed this Bloodline Essence Crystal, his already formidable physical strength would increase even further, and he might even inherit one of the Titan Ape’s abilities.

”The risk I took by ambushing both the Titan Ape and that guy Roran was definitely worth it.”

William nodded in satisfaction before putting the Bloodline Essence Crystal away.

Refining the crystal wasn’t a simple process and would require a considerable amount of time.

As such, he planned to use it only after returning home.

”Oh right, I almost forgot about that.”

William suddenly remembered something and walked back toward Roran’s corpse.

He carefully searched the Abyssal being’s body and soon found an earring attached to one of his severed ears.

”As I thought, this guy really did have a storage item.”

Earlier, William had seen Roran summon a shield as large as himself out of thin air, followed by the Box of Madness.

After witnessing that, he had already been certain that Roran possessed a storage item.

As a pauper who currently didn’t even have enough money to buy a decent sword, William naturally intended to take everything of value.

He glanced at the sword his parents had bought for him and saw that it was covered in cracks, looking as though it could shatter at any moment.

’It was only a sword forged from fine steel. It’s already a miracle that it didn’t break while fighting that Iron Pig.’

William closed his eyes and painstakingly squeezed out a strand of mental energy to bind the earring to himself.

Since he hadn’t yet reached the Star Warrior level, manipulating mental energy was extremely difficult for him.

Fortunately, because Roran was already dead, the mental imprint he had left inside the storage item had disappeared.

As a result, William was able to bind the storage earring to himself with just a single strand of mental energy.

The moment the storage earring recognized him as its owner, he immediately examined its contents.

However, apart from some daily necessities and a few low-grade herbs that Roran had probably gathered while searching for the Rift Core, there wasn’t anything particularly valuable inside.

William wasn’t surprised when he saw this.

After all, if Roran had possessed anything useful during the battle, he would have certainly used it against the Titan Ape.

He carefully searched through the items inside the storage earring and soon found a cube shaped metal box.

Seeing the cube, William smiled slightly, as this item was essential for taking away the Astral Rift’s core.

The earring’s storage space wasn’t particularly large, but it was more than sufficient for William’s current needs.

It measured five meters by five meters by five meters.

William threw away everything stored inside except for the two herbs and the box that were useful to him.

After that, he walked over to Crol, the Abyssal being who had entered the cave first.

This man was already dead as well.

William searched his body but didn’t find anything worth taking.

He then walked over to Moru and picked up the bow he had used earlier.

Because his status window was still locked, William couldn’t see the bow’s details.

However, judging from its craftsmanship and aura, he estimated that it was an Uncommon-grade bow that Moru had likely obtained from a Treasure Orb.

By pouring Aether Energy into the bow, he could create arrows out of pure energy.

The more Aether Energy he infused into it, the stronger the arrows it fired would become.

William searched Moru’s body as well, but just like Crol, he wasn’t carrying anything else of value.

”Poor bastards...”

William cursed the two of them, completely forgetting that before looting Roran, he had actually been poorer than both of them.

He also didn’t forget to collect the shield and the compass Roran had used earlier.

The main reason Roran had been able to survive against the Titan Ape for as long as he did was because of that shield.

If it hadn’t weakened the Titan Ape’s attacks while reflecting a portion of the damage back to it, Roran would have died without being able to fight against it.

After collecting everything, including the Titan Ape’s corpse, which could be sold for a considerable amount of money, William finally turned his attention to the compass in his hand.

Its needle continued to point directly toward the entrance of the Titan Ape’s cave.

A look of excitement flashed across his face, and he eagerly walked toward it.

”Once I obtain the core of this Astral Rift, I will finally be able to forge a growth-type sword perfectly suited for me.”