Chapter 666: The Mightstone and the Weakstone (Patreon)

Over a year later.

Inside a dilapidated warehouse, Urza was aimlessly flipping through an ancient text.

Suddenly, something familiar caught his eye. His previously bored expression shifted drastically, replaced by a look of absolute, intense focus.

Leaning his head in, he scrutinized the recorded information word by word, terrified of misreading or missing a single syllable.

Gradually, the look on his face morphed into uncontrollable ecstasy. Pointing at the ancient records, he shouted at his dozing younger brother beside him:

"Mishra! Get over here!"

"!"

Half-asleep, Mishra hadn't caught his brother's words and assumed their teacher had arrived. His body jerked instinctively in a sudden panic. He looked left and right; only after confirming the coast was clear did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Taking his time, he asked, "What is it? Did you run into another word you can't read?"

The two were blood brothers. Their mother had died early, and their father had remarried, but unfortunately, their stepmother despised them. After their father fell ill, their already miserable lives became even harder.

Thankfully, their biological father hadn't completely forgotten his two cubs. He sent them to study under his friend—the archaeologist Tocasia—so they could at least scrounge up meals and avoid dying out on the streets.

Over the past two or three years, the boys had demonstrated genuine talent and a solid capacity for learning. Seeing their potential, their teacher decided they were worth molding and sincerely taught them highly practical skills.

For instance: how to evade traps when raiding ancient tombs, how to infiltrate ruins without alerting the locals, how to beg for mercy if caught, and how to appraise the value of freshly unearthed goods...

It was a wealth of highly applicable knowledge!

"Of course not!"

Offended by the suggestion that he was asking for vocabulary help—a blow to his dignity as the older brother—Urza pointed frantically at the book. With the tone of someone showing off a grand prize, he demanded, "Look at this!"

Seeing his brother so worked up, Mishra hesitated for a few seconds before curiosity got the better of him. He leaned his head over.

There, on the page, he saw two very familiar illustrations.

"The Mightstone? The Weakstone?"

The two items recorded on the page were exactly what they had unearthed from the Caves of Koilos all that time ago. They were roughly the size of small eggs, irregularly round, and covered in cryptic, indecipherable patterns. Because they hadn't known what the stones were, the brothers had simply split them, taking one each.

The Mightstone: One of the sacred Thran relics. Possesses the effect of enhancing artifacts and Artifact Creatures. It can also amplify the efficiency of an Artificer. Currently lost.

The Weakstone: One of the sacred Thran relics. Possesses the effect of weakening artifacts and Artifact Creatures. It can also amplify the efficiency of an Artificer. Currently lost.

"Sacred relics?!"

Seeing those words, Mishra's eyes lit up instantly. Even if he didn't fully understand how much these stones could empower artifacts, or what "amplifying an Artificer's efficiency" really entailed, the words "sacred relic" alone proved they were priceless.

"Hahaha... We're finally rich!"

Cheering wildly, an ecstatic Mishra hugged Urza. His mind was entirely consumed by the thought of selling the two trinkets for a lifetime of endless wealth.

Urza was thinking along the same lines. After all, as archaeology apprentices, these items were practically useless to them; selling them was the only logical move.

But after a brief, jubilant celebration, another problem presented itself to the brothers.

How were they supposed to cash them in?

The realization hit them like a bucket of cold water. Given their current status, if they dared to expose these items, there was a ninety-nine percent chance they would be murdered on the spot for their loot. They wouldn't get endless wealth; they'd get an early grave.

And so, revolving around this grim reality, the two began a frantic discussion.

Hours later, they reluctantly accepted the truth: they were holding a mountain of gold, but they couldn't spend a single coin.

At the very least, they wouldn't be able to safely sell them for another ten years. But sitting on a treasure trove while gnawing on stale bread every day was completely unacceptable to two boys who had suffered through enough poverty for one lifetime.

After wracking his brain, Urza gritted his teeth and proposed an idea:

"Doesn't the book say these two things can boost an Artificer's efficiency in making artifacts and Artifact Creatures? Why don't we try using them to change our profession? We could become Artificers ourselves! That pays infinitely better than being dirt-digging scavengers!"

Hearing this, Mishra was tempted, but he had no idea where they would even begin. Compared to their current gig as scavengers, an Artificer was an elite, high-society profession.

It was incredibly difficult to enter, hard to progress in, and even harder to become famous for. The initial stages required dumping massive amounts of money into professional texts and research materials. Those costs were completely beyond the means of two penniless nobodies like them.

Sensing his brother's hesitation, Urza patted his shoulder with a determined look.

"Haven't we dug up plenty of fragmented Artificer blueprints and severely damaged Artifact Creature chassis over the years? We can use them to teach ourselves!"

Mishra immediately looked at him as if he had seen a ghost.

Sure, under Tocasia's tutelage, they had learned a bit of the ancient Thran language. But their overall education level barely placed them a half-step above complete illiteracy. With that meager foundation, they wanted to self-study as Artificers?

The difficulty of such a feat was roughly equivalent to a second-grade dropout, who slept freezing under a bridge and hauled bricks for a living, somehow managing to self-study his way into a top-tier Ivy League university. It would be a rags-to-riches miracle of historic proportions!

Just thinking about the sheer impossibility of it gave Mishra a massive headache. He desperately wanted to reject the proposal.

But, as mentioned before... the feeling of guarding a mountain of treasure while starving to death was simply too agonizing. It felt like a cosmic joke.

So, after a long moment of hesitation, Mishra gritted his teeth and agreed to Urza's plan!

And just like that, relying entirely on their skills as junk-pickers, two semi-illiterate scavengers began racking their brains, attempting to self-study one of the most difficult and complex disciplines in the entire world of Dominaria.