Chapter 200: Legendary Stone

"This one?" The staff frowned. Even though this guy had a Paragon Badge, they only had one Legendary Stone—and they had just promised it to the Saintness.

"What? You can’t?" Zarek also frowned harshly.

"We only have one Legendary Stone, and we already promised it to the Saintness. If you want, you can talk to her," the staff finally pushed the matter toward someone else.

This whole time, he had been under pressure, and there was no way he could argue with someone carrying a Paragon Badge.

But things were different with the Saintness. Paragon Badge or not—even the Paragons themselves had to show her deep respect.

Zarek frowned and turned to look at Evangelin.

"What do you say? I really want that Legendary Stone. I’m even willing to pay you extra if that’s what it takes."

"I’m sorry, but my friend here wants this stone. I’m not giving it up," Evangelin replied calmly.

Zarek frowned and glanced at Daniel. Until now, he had completely ignored Daniel, thinking he was just a regular pilgrim or maybe the Saintness’s bodyguard.

But apparently, he was wrong.

"I want that stone. How much for it?"

"No matter how much you offer, I don’t care. I want to see what a Legendary Stone is like," Daniel replied with a smile on his face.

"You sure?" Zarek raised the badge again and showed it to them, hoping it would intimidate them like it did with the staff.

But it had no effect—in fact, Evangelin started laughing, and even Daniel gave her a surprised look.

"What’s so funny all of a sudden?"

"This idiot just tried to scare us with a Paragon Badge?" Evangelin said.

"Yeah?" Daniel raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t known her long—less than a day—but he was starting to get used to her personality. Still, he didn’t expect her to straight-up call someone an idiot.

"Paragon Badge or not, even if the Paragons themselves came here, I wouldn’t give it up. If you’re not buying anything else, then get the hell out," Evangelin looked at Zarek with a sharp tone.

It was clear she didn’t like the Paragons at all.

Zarek flinched a little from the pressure of her aura. He wanted to say something back—he could feel the mocking stares around him—but he was afraid things might escalate even further.

And from this girl’s confidence, it was clear her status was high enough to have him arrested if she wanted to.

’I’ve stirred up enough trouble already. That bastard Rowan better make this humiliation worth it,’ he thought and let out a heavy sigh, shooting one last glare at the two of them.

"This isn’t over," he said coldly, then turned and left the store.

As soon as he left, the staff let out a sigh of relief and joy. That guy had been seriously annoying.

"I didn’t expect you to get that angry," Daniel said, looking at the girl beside him now that Zarek was gone.

"I don’t like it when people act like the Paragons outrank me... especially those two filthy idiots who caused a bunch of pointless conflicts inside the religion and basically split the followers into two. If it were Uncle Abraham, that’d be different..." Evangelin said with puffed cheeks.

Seeing her beautiful but slightly angry face, Daniel had a strong urge to pinch her cheeks—but he barely managed to hold himself back.

He nodded and waited. It didn’t take long before a few workers brought over a black box.

"Saintness, dear customer—would you like to open the stone in a private room, or in the public area?"

"Private room," Daniel answered casually, not thinking much about it.

A private room was safer, and if the stone contained a powerful item, he didn’t want to be a target for others.

Especially now—he already had his hands full keeping the Prophet’s sermon safe and didn’t have time to deal with anything else.

The staff nodded and led them into a private room. The room was very normal—nothing special about it.

They placed the stone on a central table that seemed even tougher than metal and carefully removed it from the box.

The stone was glowing purple.

"Would you like to open it yourself, or should we do it for you?"

"Does it make a difference?"

"Not really. Some people believe they’ll get better luck if we open it, or something like that—but in truth, it doesn’t matter," the staff explained.

"I’ll open it myself," Daniel said and took the hammer from the staff’s hands.

"Good luck," Evangelin encouraged him and took a few steps back. The other staff also stepped away.

"Why are you all stepping back like I’m defusing a bomb or something?" Daniel looked at them strangely.

"When the stone breaks, it releases a burst of light that can cause headaches," Evangelin explained, and Daniel nodded in understanding.

Then one of the staff gave him a quick rundown on how to open it properly. Daniel listened carefully to avoid messing it up. After the instructions were done, he stepped closer to the stone.

He examined it closely—and suddenly felt his blood boil.

’Huh? What’s going on?’ he frowned and stepped a bit closer. The sensation got even stronger.

It was like the closer he got, the more his blood boiled—almost as if it sensed something of the same kind inside the stone.

Without wasting any more time, he gently hit the stone with the hammer. A small crack appeared. He immediately followed it up with another strike.

This time, a large crack formed, and the entire room shook violently.

"What was that? An earthquake?!" the staff and Evangelin frowned and looked around.

But Daniel didn’t care and just struck it again. A bigger crack appeared—and this time, the tremor was even stronger.

"What’s going on? Could it be because of the stone? Every time a crack appears, the whole place shakes!"

"Is that even possible?"

"Yeah! If there’s a really powerful item or treasure inside, it can cause these kinds of phenomena!"

"What’s inside it?" Everyone stared at the stone in anticipation.

Daniel ignored their chatter and raised the hammer one last time.

Then he brought it down.