Benso's General Store, Storeroom.
Clang!
The large lights in the storeroom turned on, and the incandescent light filled the entire room, dispelling the darkness and allowing the people who entered to clearly see the scene inside the storeroom.
The storeroom, located beneath Benso's general store, was filled with shelves, row after row of them, packed to the brim, with the entire storeroom being the size of a basketball court.
In addition to what was on the shelves, even the corners were piled high with various materials or semi-finished products.
"Wow, Benso has so many good things here!"
Mylo slowly walked forward, approaching a shelf, and casually picked up a small trinket, fiddling with it in his hand. Vi also walked to a shelf and picked up a helmet. "Benso is the biggest fence in the entire Black Alley. His inventory here is more than you'll see in your entire life."
"Little one, have you been in here before?"
Powder squatted in a corner by the door, sifting through a pile of odds and ends. Ekko, with his White crew cut, scratched his head. "I've been in here to help Benso tidy up, but he wouldn't let me tell anyone!"
"Wealth should not be revealed; if it is, it's big trouble!"
Duke also constantly roamed among the shelves, searching for things he could use. Colin Workshop had its own foundry, located in the basement of the workshop, specifically for making various precision Clockwork Technology parts, and it was exclusive to Colin. The original owner had been in there and helped out, but using it alone was out of the question.
Now, Duke should be qualified to use it, but his Clockwork Technology battle armor still needed to be secretly manufactured, and with the Hextech Gem, he needed to reorganize the energy system.
"Select some materials from here, and after taking them back, try to see if the Hextech Gem and the wealth value of these materials can be extracted. If so, then unlock the energy system blueprint."
Even a pile of dung has value!
Duke took a half-body armor from a shelf and casually put it into his inventory. This thing could be melted down to make the outer armor of the battle armor.
"Duke, what exactly do you want? Everyone can help you look for it!"
Vi looked at Duke through a gap in the shelves. At this moment, Duke picked up a short lever-action rifle, about the length of a forearm, and lightly toyed with it in his hand.
"Armor, Clockwork Technology creations, and rare ores—these are all what I want!"
"Okay, I'll have everyone help you look for them!"
Vi immediately got the other companions to search the storeroom for the things Duke wanted. Duke also kept picking and choosing. The armor would be melted and recast into the external armor of the battle armor. The Clockwork Technology creations would help Duke understand the internal structure, allowing him to improve his Clockwork Technology level, and the parts could also be used.
The materials for the outer armor and internal parts are not the same; they require different materials. The parts from the Clockwork Technology creations here can be melted down and recast.
As for ores, it's still a material issue!
Iron Man Tony Stark has a solid family fortune, which allows him to make money from money and more money, even blowing up battle armor worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions as fireworks. Furthermore, he has the help of Jarvis and numerous artificial intelligence machines, and his own processing plant.
But Duke cannot.
Duke not only has to absorb wealth value but also has to buy materials himself, then craft them himself, and keep it secret. All of this is extremely mentally taxing.
"Look, look, a longsword produced in Demacia, it's so sharp!"
Mylo picked up a longsword that was broken in the middle and was showing off flashy poses. Claggor pulled out a short hand-axe. "A Noxus hand-axe, it's really scary, no wonder it's called War Machine!"
"People from both these countries are idiots, especially those from Noxus!" Vi showed full disdain for Demacia and Noxus. Duke heard this and said indifferently, "One of the councilors in the Piltover Council is still from a Noxus family!"
"What? A Noxus person became a Piltover councilor?"
The other people were all very surprised, but Duke didn't care about their surprise and astonishment at all, and said again, "That's right, and he was exiled!"
"If I remember correctly, it was because he was too benevolent and too idealistic, so he was exiled by his family!"
"But isn't that good?"
Ekko asked, and Powder, holding a wind-up doll, nodded repeatedly beside him. Seeing this, Duke could only stop what he was doing and patiently explained to them, "It's different. Noxians are a group of people who yearn for war, yearn for power, and pursue power. For them, mercy is weakness!"
"Moreover, this country is an imperial system, but now it seems to be ushering in a change. In the near future, it should also be changed to a council!"
"What about Demacia?"
Powder quickly asked. She suddenly felt that Duke knew so much. She couldn't believe Noxus was like that. Duke scoffed, "Demacians are all idiots!"
"Huh?"
"Demacians fear mages and hate mages, but many of their nobles keep mages, and some nobles are even mages themselves!"
"Why?"
"Who knows? That's why I said they're a bunch of idiots!" Duke recalled Galio. Galio was entirely made of Demacian Petricite, which imprisoned and dispelled all magic. Furthermore, there was a Petricite forest surrounding Demacia to prevent mages from entering or escaping.
But in reality, they didn't know that Petricite didn't imprison and dispel magic, but rather absorbed it. When a mage's magic was absorbed by Petricite, it only created the illusion of being imprisoned.
If Petricite were fully charged, then it would be the best magical material.
"Speaking of which, should I also get a batch of Petricite to make Petricite armor?" Duke, who had just put away an true ice dagger produced in Freljord, began to ponder. The true ice he had just put away was, to put it plainly, a special magical weapon. true ice would not melt and carried the magical power of freezing.
The weapons of Ashe, Braum, Sejuani, and the Troll were all made of true ice!
It was just that this dagger was too small, only the size of a baby's palm, making it difficult to even shave!
It should have been a broken spear tip that was re-processed into a dagger.
"Twin Cities is still the best!" Powder exclaimed, but Vi scoffed, "When have those Piltover people ever treated us like humans?"
Seeing the two sisters start to argue, Duke didn't interject.
Before long, a pile of items was stacked at the entrance of the storeroom. Duke began to squat in front of these materials, picking and choosing. Everyone watched as items quickly disappeared from Duke's hands, their mouths wide open.
"Is this…?" Ekko's mouth was agape as he nudged Mylo, "Is this magic?"
"Just a little trick!"
After Duke put away a broken Ionian sword, he found a thick hemp rope in the pile of materials. He picked up the rope and discovered that the other end of the rope was a palm-sized amulet.
The amulet was entirely cyan-gold, with a bluebird pattern embossed on the front and an abstract depiction of wind on the back. It felt very smooth in his hand, as if it had been handled for a long time.
"Who put this in here?"
Duke, holding the amulet, scanned the others. Powder timidly raised her hand, "It was me. I saw that this thing was also made of ore, so I just put it in!"
"This is a good item, Powder, you've been a great help!"
Duke touched the qingniao amulet with uncontainable joy, and at the same time remembered the Joker's baseball bat. He casually pulled it out and handed it to Powder, "It's for you. Take it and play with it!"
"Wow, what a cool bat!!"
Powder took the bat and was very fond of the patterns on it, holding the baseball bat with affection. Vi glanced at the baseball bat, and sensing something, she said suspiciously, "This bat looks very…"
"It probably killed someone!"
"What?"
Vi exclaimed, and Duke glanced at her: "Don't make such a fuss. I obtained this stick by chance. Its previous Master was a crazy girl. The overall material is excellent, and it feels good to hold. It's perfect for Powder to defend herself, and the graffiti on it has a unique artistic flair. Isn't it good to cultivate Powder's artistic cells?"
"You guy...."
Vi made up her mind to throw this thing into the gutter later. Duke coughed lightly, holding up the amulet and saying, "Let's not talk about that anymore. Let's look at this first!"
"This is a good thing!!"
"Tsk, it's just a broken rock. What's so good about it?" Mylo leaned against Claggor, a look of disdain on his face, and the others generally had the same expression.
"To be precise, this thing is called the qingniao amulet. From the looks of it, it should be a relic left by a devout believer. Perhaps it can serve as a medium to contact that..... God of Zaun!"
"God of Zaun?"
The group cried out in unison. Duke shrugged his shoulders, "I said it's a possibility!"
"Don't be so shocked, alright!"
"But how could there be a God in Zaun?"
"Calling her a God isn't entirely accurate. She is a very ancient Wind Spirit who provided shelter and guidance to sailors and fishermen on the high seas in the past."
"Her worship should have been when Zaun hadn't become this terrible place. At that time, Zaun was still a famous harbor, a channel for trade and cargo flow!"
As Duke spoke about these things while holding the qingniao amulet, a breeze suddenly arose in the storeroom, as if it had attracted the attention of a certain entity.
"At that time, she still guided and protected sailors and fishermen."
"But why is it that so many people don't know about her now?"
Powder, who was listening to it like a story, couldn't help but ask. Duke, hearing this, instinctively stroked her hair. The current Jinx was too cute; the future Jinx would make people want to slap her.
"Because desire and Voracity blinded people's eyes. More and more people became obsessed with artisan technology. New ideas and trends swept through Zaun, and everyone firmly believed that science could overcome everything!"
"So she began to be forgotten by people!"
"Does she have a name?" Ekko asked absently. Duke grasped the amulet, gently stroking the sky-blue bluebird on it, recalling the moment he played Janna support and went one-versus-five godlike.
"Her name is Janna, Janna, the Storm's Fury!!"
"If you are obscured by the grey haze, then call her name, and the Wind will guide your way!"
Duke spoke distractedly. The clear breeze in the storeroom swirled around everyone, carrying away dust and sending it outside.
But no one noticed this scene; they were all immersed in Duke's story.
Duke, who had stroked Ekko's head, now heard Claggor ask, "What does she look like?"
"A saintess draped in light gauze, with a delicate and beautiful face, long pointed ears, and....." Duke's face showed a mischievous smile: "A broom head!!"
Thump!!
Vi, Powder, Ekko, and the other five stared in shock at the sky-blue bluebird circling above Duke's head. The bluebird winked at them, and then the wind turned into a palm, heavily slapping Duke on his butt.
A voice as ethereal as the wind also swirled in Duke's ear.
"I clearly have flowing beautiful hair!!"
"You bad boy, I'll remember you!!"
But besides Duke, no one else heard it. Duke, whose mouth kept twitching, roared in his heart: "You petty lunatic, your mother is dead!"
The sky-blue bird circled around them once, then quickly disappeared into the warehouse, leaving only a soft hum.
"Do not fear the winds of change, for they will always propel you forward!!!"