Chapter 584 – The Little Morningstar Dwarf

The little Morningstar Dwarf’s ears twitched.

Then he saw the golden-haired Witch descend from the sky holding a card, landing right beside him.

In the blink of an eye, the card transformed into a black stone bottle.

His eyes locked onto the stone bottle, blazing with intense longing.

It was Darkrock Beer!

Unfortunately, there was only one bottle. For someone like him, whose entire body had already undergone severe vitrification, it wasn’t nearly enough to restore his mobility.

And even if he could move again, what would be the point? The Lake of Radiance had dried up, and his clansmen were all dead.

Alone here, all he could do was wait for death.

The hope in the little Morningstar Dwarf’s eyes turned back to despair. He quietly resolved that once he drank the beer, he would concentrate all the dark element within the liquid together to undo the vitrification of his mouth and throat, so he could say “thank you” to this kind-hearted Witch and tell her not to waste any more effort.

But then, one bottle of Darkrock Beer went glugging down through his slightly parted lips, and before he could even speak, another card appeared in the Witch’s hand. The card transformed into another bottle of beer, which floated over to his mouth on the Witch’s magic.

“Glug~ Glug~”

Bottle after bottle — as Mo Lan kept pouring, she suddenly felt the pace was too slow. She had to be extremely careful not to get too close, afraid that she might block the sunlight and cause this already critically weakened little Morningstar Dwarf to die on the spot.

After a moment’s thought, she deployed a {Furniture Card – Crystal Bathtub}, filled it to the brim with Darkrock Beer, then channeled her elemental force of wind to lift the little Morningstar Dwarf and lower him into the Crystal bathtub.

The little Morningstar Dwarf, caught completely off guard as he was submerged in beer: “(°°)!”

This was Darkrock Beer — something that even in the Underground World was worth its weight in gold and nearly impossible to obtain!

As the only blended brew in all of Valen that contained both light and dark elements, it could only be produced by the Witch city lord of the Underground’s Obsidian City — a Witch who had dual mastery of both light and dark Elemental Magic. It wasn’t just a remedy for balancing the bodily elements of Morningstar Dwarves; it served the same purpose for all races dwelling in the Underground World who feared sunlight.

Even back when the Lake of Radiance was still full, when the star marrow deep within the lakebed mineral veins hadn’t yet been exhausted, when the Morningstar Dwarves of Shadowless Mountain were at the height of their wealth — not a single one of them could have afforded the luxury of bathing in Darkrock Beer.

Yet this Witch had not only drawn him a bath, she had changed out the beer in the tub for him three full times.

His stiff, powerless body had soaked until it was limber and strong again.

Could she actually be the Witch city lord of Obsidian City? He couldn’t think of anyone else who could be this extravagant with Darkrock Beer.

When he saw that the dark element in the beer had been completely consumed and she was about to change the bath for him yet again, he hurriedly gripped the edge of the tub and stood up: “No, no need! I’m, fine now, thank, thank you so much! Lady Witch!” It had been so long since he’d spoken that in his haste, his words came out even more halting and stammered.

“Good to hear you’re alright.”

Mo Lan breathed a sigh of relief. However, the barrel of Darkrock Beer she had just materialized could no longer be reverted to card form, so she set it down beside him.

“I’ve heard that you Morningstar Dwarves can’t live without Darkrock Beer. This one’s yours. But can you tell me — what happened at Shadowless Mountain? Why are you the only Morningstar Dwarf left?”

“The star marrow, after being mined day after day, gradually ran dry. Without star marrow, we had no way to forge holy silver. And if we couldn’t deliver holy silver, the Angels were no longer willing to come irrigate the Lake of Radiance. The light elemental mineral veins of Shadowless Mountain soon began to degrade, and the Lake of Radiance slowly turned into what it looks like now. Without a supply of light elemental force, we grew weaker and weaker. Everyone turned into the crystalline sand along the lakeshore. Only I was left, and before long, I’ll turn into crystalline sand too.

I’m truly sorry for wasting so much of your Darkrock Beer. Please accept this, Lady Witch. Thank you for the Darkrock Beer — it gave our Morningstar Dwarves several hundred years of joyful times.”

The little Morningstar Dwarf squeezed out from within his own body a single drop of brilliant golden colloid, hovering between liquid and solid, and held it out toward Mo Lan.

Mo Lan was still processing the information in the little Morningstar Dwarf’s words, and the thing he offered left her puzzled: “What is this…?”

She had read so many books that there wasn’t a single material in Valen she didn’t know about — but the thing before her eyes, she truly didn’t recognize. All she could tell was that it carried a dense concentration of light elemental force, even denser than that of a top-grade light element gemstone, yet far more domineering than the light elemental force found within such gemstones.

Not knowing what it was, Mo Lan didn’t dare accept it, no matter how friendly and frail the little Morningstar Dwarf appeared. Not only did she not take it, she actually stepped back and activated her mind-reading magic.

What if he had a kind face but a wicked heart?

“This is star marrow,” the little Morningstar Dwarf said. “The Angels used star marrow to inflict the light element disease upon my ancestors, turning them into Morningstar Dwarves who could never again live without light element. To survive, we had no choice but to forge holy silver for the Angels in exchange for more light elemental force. The depletion of the star marrow was inevitable. The very last drop of star marrow was hidden inside my body by my mother — and it’s the only reason I’ve survived until now.

But the Morningstar Dwarves were always a race without a future. In the end, I’ll share the same fate as my clansmen. I had planned to carry this drop of star marrow back into the embrace of the God of the Forge, but then you came along. Shadowless Mountain has nothing left — this is the only thing I have to repay you for all the precious Darkrock Beer you spent on me. Being able to soak in a Darkrock Beer bath before dying — I have no regrets.”

The little Dwarf, no taller than a three-year-old human child, spoke of his approaching death with such calm — even with a hint of anticipation — that it tugged at Mo Lan’s heart. And yet—

“Have you never heard of the Dawn Society? If all you need to survive is light elemental force and Darkrock Beer, the Dawn Society could absolutely help you.”

Though Morningstar Dwarves suffered from all manner of racial deficiencies, they were also the closest beings to the light element in all of Valen to this day! Their bodies contained dense light elemental force that they could directly channel. Apart from the Morningstar Dwarves, only light elemental sprites could do the same.

When it came to wielding light elemental force, no one could surpass them.

As long as they were willing, they could simply bask in the sun each day and use photosynthesis to convert light into vast quantities of light elemental force, which they could exchange for various light element materials to get through the night, couldn’t they?

“The Dawn Society?” The little Morningstar Dwarf, who had known his race’s hopeless future from the moment he was born and had long since made peace with death, asked: “What’s that?”

Mo Lan produced a {Dawn Society Invitation}. These had only begun being sold a few years ago — signing the contract granted immediate membership. Like a veteran member of the Dawn Society, she guided the little Morningstar Dwarf step by step through the enrollment process.

It was only then that Mo Lan learned his name: “Forgestar Splitterlight.”