The Villain's Story

Chapter 973: Army(2).

A useful feature that developed when Alan was repairing the Jade Palace was that he could access the altar of sacrifice directly from the throne room, sitting right on his comfortable throne.

He really couldn’t explain it, but the peculiar seat made of crystal and ice, devoid of any cushioning, somehow provided an unexpected level of comfort that far exceeded his expectations. Alan found it astonishing that something so hard and cold could feel so inviting and cozy. In fact, it was so enjoyable that he honestly didn’t want to get off, wishing to remain there indefinitely.

As he began to sacrifice the treasures from the comfort of his throne, he kept track of every treasure he sacrificed, making note of the number of points he would acquire from each.

“It really is inconsistent…”

He cursed inwardly, watching an S-rank treasure be worth a pittance of points. The Altar of Sacrifice valued ‘worth’ in many ways from what Alan could see.

First and foremost, the worth of an item to the particular individual it belongs to, the amount of ‘love’ they have for it, and also the difficulty in acquiring such an item in the first place.

If the individual in question traded it with a heavy heart or sacrificed it directly to the altar, the points earned would be unfathomable. However, there were other restrictions that Alan was not aware of.

Second, the worth an item held to the vast populace in the universe. It did not matter if they personally owned it or not; if they were aware of it and desired it for the effects of the item, the worth would skyrocket. The items given to Alan by the House of Death fit this category, and they were worth many points.

However, not all were worth as much as he thought, and Alan was beginning to suspect that the condition of acquiring the item was involved here as well.

The Altar placed a great importance on how an item of worth was acquired; if Alan personally got it due to his achievements or adventures, it was worth a lot… but if he was gifted it because of a formality, then the value would drop.

Most of the treasures of the House of Death were like this; however, oddly enough, Alan was beginning to suspect something.

From the inconsistencies in points that he was getting, Alan argued that the issue of how an item was acquired wasn’t necessarily in adding extra points to the item already. All items had a kind of fixed value of a kind.

A sword used by one of the greatest generals from the House of Death was worth about half a million points at base. Alan had three of these swords; one of them was given to him just for the sake of it, while the other two were a bit special.

One was gained from being the new heir of the House of Death; it signified his importance and served as evidence that he had passed the Trials of the House of Death, thereby earning his position.

The other one was given to him by Valus after Alan impressed the Supreme Being by landing a single solid blow on the Supreme Being during his training. It was the only time he ever managed to hit Valus and cause even an iota of damage.

Both of these swords… had to be worth something, no? The one he got for the sake of it was worth around half a million points. What exactly were the other ones worth?

Alan let his mana permeate the surroundings, deepening his connection to the Jade Palace as he threw the sword he got from Valus on the altar for the sake of the experiment and slowly watched as the altar accepted it.

“Damn.”

He whistled, shocked to receive two million points from the altar for such a sacrifice. Well, it was still within expectations.

“Is it more of a multiplier?”

He wondered as he threw the sword he got from becoming the heir of death into the altar as well. He could faintly feel all four of the dragons from the House of Death watching his actions, waiting for the response from the altar.

Valus and Ariel were especially interested, and Alan couldn’t blame them.

His domain really was special, wasn’t it?

[It is the domain of the serpent.]

Ariel argued with a hint of frustration, her voice echoing in Alan’s mind, who promptly shrugged.

“Was. It was his domain; now it’s mine.

He could feel them rolling their eyes, but he ignored it, waiting for the altar to finish digesting the sword. It was taking longer than usual, and Alan patiently waited, excited for the result.

The wait could only mean that the number of points would be that much greater, no?

At last, the sword was digested, and Alan was shocked to see a staggering eighteen million points received. His connection with the Jade Palace deepened, and he could sense a faint tinge of Death mana permeating the castle. He smiled.

“So it really is a multiplier… The difficulty in acquiring an item is just a multiplier that gets added to the final count… Interesting. Explains why some good items gave such few points.

The total number of points of an item was probably getting reduced due to the multiplier; something he got for free or too easily would be worth only a quarter of its original price. His connection with the Palace and the Altar told him a multiplier of 0.25x would be added, reducing the value. Merely a quarter of the original value.

As for the items he gained through some efforts, multipliers of up to 3x were added, those that he valued greatly and went through a lot to get, up to 10x; and the exceptional ones that were one of a kind, like the ornamental sword he just sacrificed… were just phenomenal.

As Alan watched the points go higher and higher, he began to sacrifice the last remaining items he had scattered around the throne room. There was something oddly satisfying about it, watching the numbers just go up and up.

He stared at it with glee, and it was scary, because Alan almost sacrificed the Ame-No-Sakahoko to the altar as well. He was so busy throwing random things in there and watching the numbers go up he almost sacrificed his beloved spear…

While he was interested to see what the multiplier would be on the Ame-no-Sakahoko, sadly for the altar, Alan wasn’t willing to part with his beloved spear yet.