Chapter 12: [12] : Thatcher’s Bargain, Absolute Dissolution

Declan paced around Thatcher, inspecting the glowing red chains. They were thick heavy iron, pulsing with a toxic red aura.

"There is no other way," Thatcher rasped, his blind eyes staring straight ahead. "Many players have made it this far. They all thought they were strong enough to break the chains.

They swung their weapons. The chains reflected the damage. Their bones shattered, and they bled out on this floor. Go find the runestone."

"I am not running errands in a dungeon," Declan said.

He opened his system inventory and started scrolling through the junk he had picked up over the last few hours. Rusted daggers, broken shields, rat meat, wolf pelts, copper coins. Nothing useful for breaking a magical chain.

Then, he stopped scrolling.

His eyes landed on a small insignificant item he had looted from a random slime monster back in the Weeping Thicket.

[Corrosive Acid Vial]

↳ Tier: Scavenged

↳ Description: A small glass vial filled with weak monster acid. Can be thrown at an enemy to deal 2 points of acid damage over 5 seconds. Mostly used for cleaning rust off cheap weapons.

It was a garbage item. Most players threw it away because two points of damage was completely useless in combat.

But Declan looked at the wording of the cursed chains reflection rule. Any damage you deal to the chains is reflected back at you. That implied an attack. A swing, a spell cast, a direct aggressive action.

What if he did not attack the chains? What if he just let a chemical reaction happen?

"System," Declan said in his mind. "Enhance the Corrosive Acid Vial. Push it." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He had 70 Origin Points left. It was time to invest.

The small glass vial materialized in his hand.

It was filled with a pale bubbly green liquid.

The system prompts flooded his vision.

[System Enhancement Initiated]

↳ Corrosive Acid Vial +1.

↳ Corrosive Acid Vial +5.

[Notice: Maximum safety threshold reached.]

[Talent: Boundless Enhancement activated. Cap removed.]

↳ Corrosive Acid Vial +9.

The glass vial started to heat up in his hand.

The pale green liquid turned into a bright glowing neon green. It bubbled violently, hissing against the glass stopper.

[Corrosive Acid Vial has reached +10.]

[Triggering Conceptual Mutation...]

The system chimed. The vial mutated.

[Acid Vial of Melting +10]

↳ Trait Unlocked: Armor Degradation. Acid now ignores physical defense stats and melts low tier metal instantly.

"Good, but not good enough," Declan muttered. The chains were magical. They would not melt like regular iron. "System, keep going. Hit it with another ten points."

He dumped his Origin Points into the vial.

The bright white enhancement light flashed rapidly in the dark antechamber.

[Acid Vial of Melting +11]

[Acid Vial of Melting +15]

[Acid Vial of Melting +19]

The glass vial was physically changing now.

The glass turned into a dark obsidian like material just to contain the liquid inside. The neon green liquid turned completely pitch black, swirling with tiny sparks of destructive energy. It looked like liquid void.

[Acid Vial of Melting has reached +20.]

[Triggering Conceptual Mutation...]

A heavy suffocating aura filled the room.

Thatcher gasped and shrank back against the floor. "What are you doing? What is that smell?"

The system text appeared in front of Declan’s face in deep purple letters.

[Vial of Absolute Dissolution +20]

↳ Tier: Scavenged (Double Mutated)

↳ Damage: N/A

↳ Trait 1: Armor Degradation.

↳ Trait 2 Unlocked: Conceptual Eradication.

The liquid inside this vial no longer deals numeric damage. It simply enforces the concept of melting. Anything the liquid touches, physical or magical or conceptual, will dissolve into nothingness. Cannot be blocked or reflected.

Declan grinned. It did not deal damage anymore. It just deleted things.

He walked over to Thatcher. "Keep your hands steady old man. I am going to break the chains."

"I told you!" Thatcher screamed, thrashing against the floor. "If you hit the chains, you will die! The reflection will kill you!"

"I am not going to hit them," Declan said calmly. "I am going to wash them off."

He knelt down next to the heavy glowing red chain that bound Thatcher’s right wrist. He popped the obsidian stopper off the vial. A tiny wisp of black smoke drifted out, instantly burning a hole in the stone ceiling above them.

Declan carefully tilted the vial. He let exactly one single drop of the black liquid fall onto the cursed chain.

The drop hit the red glowing iron.

There was no explosion. There was no loud noise. There was no damage reflection.

The chain simply stopped existing.

Where the black drop touched, the iron and the magic instantly dissolved into thin air.

The hole spread rapidly, silently eating away the entire length of the chain until it reached the floor bolt and vanished completely.

Thatcher froze. He slowly pulled his right arm back. His wrist was free.

"What... what did you do?" Thatcher whispered in shock. "I did not feel a shockwave. I did not hear a spell."

"Science," Declan lied easily.

He moved to the left wrist and dropped another single drop. The chain vanished silently. He repeated the process for both ankles. In less than ten seconds, Thatcher was completely unbound.

Declan quickly jammed the stopper back into the vial and tossed it into his inventory.

That was an incredibly dangerous item to just hold in his hand. If he accidentally spilled it on his own boots, he would dissolve his legs.

Thatcher slowly stood up. His joints popped loudly. He rubbed his wrists, his blind eyes wide with disbelief.

"You actually did it," Thatcher said, his voice trembling. "You bypassed the dungeon’s law."

"I held up my end of the deal," Declan said, crossing his arms. He stared at the NPC. "Now, give me the key. You promised a Relic weapon."

Thatcher nodded frantically. "Yes. Yes, of course. A deal is a deal."

The old diver reached into the thick leather folds of his suit. He pulled out a heavy rusted iron key and held it out. "This opens the vault door behind me. The weapon is inside. Take it. I just want to leave this place."

Declan took the key. He walked past Thatcher and approached a massive heavy iron door at the back of the room. He slid the key into the lock and turned it.

The heavy vault door groaned and slowly swung open.

Declan stepped inside. The room was small and circular. In the center of the room, resting on a stone pedestal, was a weapon.

It was not glowing. It did not look magical.

It was a polearm. A halberd. The shaft was made of dark heavy iron, wrapped in worn leather grips. The axe head at the top was massive, thick, and brutally functional. It was totally dull, covered in a layer of grime, and looked like it weighed about eighty pounds.

Declan walked up to the pedestal and grabbed the shaft.

He had a base strength of 5. When he tried to lift the halberd, his muscles strained. It was incredibly heavy. He had to use both hands just to pull it off the stone block.

A system prompt appeared over the weapon.

[Dull Warden’s Halberd]

↳ Tier: Relic

↳ Damage: 80 to 120

↳ Stat Requirement: Strength 20

(Requirement unmet. Attack speed reduced by 80%)

↳ Description: A heavy ceremonial weapon carried by the guards of the Sunken Armory.

It has lost its edge over time, but its sheer mass can crush bone.

Declan rested the heavy iron shaft against his shoulder. His movement was sluggish because he did not meet the strength requirement. The system was penalizing him, making the weapon basically useless in a fast fight.

But he did not care. It was a Relic tier weapon. The base damage was already double what his +20 mutated cleaver did.

"You found it," Thatcher said, standing in the doorway of the vault. The blind man smiled.

"It is heavy, is it not? Without a high level Warrior class, you will not be able to swing it properly."

"The Dull Warden’s Halberd," Thatcher explained, panting from the exertion. "It was forged to subdue prisoners, not kill them. It has no cutting edge. It relies entirely on crushing force. It is incredibly slow, and incredibly heavy. Most warriors cannot even lift it, let alone swing it."

"I will manage," Declan said.

He looked at the Halberd. He was completely out of Origin Points. He had spent them all making the dissolving acid.

He could not upgrade the Halberd yet.

"I need to go back outside," Declan said, walking past Thatcher with the heavy weapon resting on his shoulder. "I have two employees waiting on the other side of the leech pool, and I need to get some upgrades."

Thatcher tilted his head. "Are you going to carry that all the way out?"

"No," Declan smiled. He willed the Halberd into his inventory. The massive weapon vanished into blue pixels.