MMORPG: Birth of the World's Luckiest Player-Chapter 264: The Chalice of Hellfire

"Master, the two princesses of the Dragon Dynasty, Princess Phoenix and Princess Celeste, are more than just beautiful women," Alana said, and there was a quiet, unfeigned admiration in her voice that made Marcus pay closer attention. "They’re brilliant, powerful, and the absolute pride of the human race."

Marcus leaned back slightly, intrigued. He had heard their names in passing before, the kind of figures people mentioned with casual awe, but the way Alana spoke about them carried a depth of reverence that suggested they were far more than distant symbols or ornamental royalty.

"Princess Phoenix was born five hundred years ago," Alana continued, her tone steady but tinged with something almost like wonder. "According to the old accounts, the moment she entered the world, a sharp cry echoed across the Citadel, clear enough to be heard from the outer districts. At the same time, a newly born Super Divine Beast descended from the heavens, and thousands of birds followed in its wake, filling the sky as if answering a silent command. That beast was the Immortal Phoenix, and it chose the princess as its lifelong companion."

Marcus blinked, his brows rising before he could stop himself. "She has a Super Divine Beast as a pet?"

"She does," Alana replied with a small nod. "And because of that bond, Princess Phoenix possesses what is known as the Phoenix’s Immortal Body. Even after five centuries, she still appears exactly as she did at twenty. Her beauty alone has kept her firmly at the number two position on the Beauty Rankings for generations, and she’s the only human who has ever remained in the top ten for so long. More than that, she has become the living symbol of the Dynasty’s strength."

Marcus let out a low whistle under his breath, leaning back further as he tried to picture it. A five-hundred-year-old princess, eternally youthful, bound to a phoenix that had descended from the heavens itself. ’That’s not just impressive... that’s absurd,’ he thought, a faint grin tugging at his lips.

"And Princess Celeste?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Alana’s expression shifted, turning more thoughtful, as if choosing her words with extra care. "Her birth was no less extraordinary. I was at the Citadel with my grandfather for her eighteenth birthday, and even then, people still spoke about the signs that accompanied her arrival as if they had witnessed them yesterday. When she was born, auspicious clouds gathered above the city, and the air carried a fragrance no one could quite describe, something pure and almost otherworldly. Then a pillar of prismatic light descended from the heavens and bathed the entire Citadel in color for three full hours."

She paused briefly, her gaze settling on Marcus. "But what people remember most is this: every flower within a thousand miles bloomed at the exact same moment, and they remained in full bloom for an entire week."

Marcus exhaled slowly, the image forming in his mind with almost surreal clarity.

"Because of that," Alana went on, her voice lowering just a fraction, "many believe Princess Celeste isn’t entirely human. There’s a rumor that she is the reincarnation of an ancient relic, something known as the Prismatic Celestial Jade."

"That’s... wild," Marcus muttered, shaking his head slightly. The sheer scale of it all felt excessive, even by Dominion’s standards, yet somehow it all fit together in a way that made the world feel larger rather than ridiculous. He found himself oddly looking forward to the next update of the rankings. If nothing else, he wanted to see these so-called legends with his own eyes.

After a moment, he straightened, pushing the thoughts aside as he returned to the matter at hand. Reaching into his inventory, he pulled out something he had been saving, a faint trace of pride surfacing as he did so.

"Take a look at this," he said, handing over the Three-Star Sacred Lotus he had harvested from Star Lake.

Alana’s reaction was immediate. She inhaled sharply, her eyes widening as she accepted the lotus with careful hands, almost as if she feared it might vanish if she gripped it too tightly. Turning it slowly, she examined every detail, her fingers trembling just enough to betray her excitement as she read through its properties.

"This... this is a Saint-tier herb," she said at last, her voice barely above a whisper. "Master, Star Lake has always been rumored to conceal something extraordinary, but I never imagined it would be this. A plant of this level is almost always guarded by a Divine Beast. How did you even manage to obtain it?"

Marcus rubbed the back of his neck, a faintly awkward smile creeping in. "It wasn’t exactly clean," he admitted, giving her a condensed version of the chaos that had unfolded at Star Lake before letting out a small sigh. "The problem is, my gathering skills were... rough, to put it kindly. I damaged it while harvesting, so in its current state, it’s basically unusable. Do you know anything about the Starlight Frost-Bloom?"

He already knew the basics, that the lotus required the sap of a Frost-Bloom to be restored and that the process itself demanded the precision of a Grandmaster Alchemist. Before, that had made the whole thing feel like a lost cause, but now, standing here with Alana, the situation felt very different. If the lotus could be repaired, it would allow him to shift between three classes and even summon three identical clones. It wasn’t just valuable, it was transformative.

Alana’s expression dimmed the moment he mentioned the Frost-Bloom, the earlier excitement giving way to something more complicated. "Master, the Starlight Frost-Bloom is a Mythic-grade herb," she said slowly. "It only grows in the Flowing Jade Ravine, which used to be the sacred land of the Flower Tribe. But..." She hesitated, then continued, "there’s a story my grandfather told me, something that explains why no one has been able to obtain one for centuries."

Marcus watched her closely, sensing the shift in tone.

"Eight hundred years ago," Alana began, "Seraphina, the Flawless, demanded that the Flower Tribe abandon the Arcane-Beast Race and swear allegiance to the Demon Clan. What she truly wanted, though, was their greatest treasure, the Ebonwood Violet Jade Flute."

Her brows drew together slightly. "The Flower Tribe refused, as anyone with pride would. That refusal ignited a war that spread across the continent."

"They knew they couldn’t win in a direct confrontation," she continued, her voice steady but heavy. "So they withdrew into their stronghold in Rosewood Valley and activated the Great Floral Array. It was an almost perfect defense. For twenty days, the Demon Clan surrounded them, but they couldn’t break through. Their forces grew restless, their morale began to falter, and the Flower Tribe even managed several successful counterattacks."

For a brief moment, it sounded almost like a story of resilience, of a weaker force holding its ground against overwhelming odds.

Then Alana’s expression hardened.

"But Seraphina was not someone who tolerated failure," she said. "Enraged that she couldn’t crush what she saw as a minor tribe, she took action personally. Using her Nine Realms Sun-Setting Staff, she activated a relic known as the Chalice of Hellfire, releasing a thousand years’ worth of demonic flames in a single act."

Marcus straightened slightly, a chill running through him despite the subject being fire.

"She poured that power into Rosewood Valley," Alana continued, her voice quieter now, but carrying a weight that made the words land harder. "The entire region was swallowed by flames. What had once been a lush, thriving sanctuary was reduced to a burning wasteland in a matter of moments. That place is now known as the Valley of Fire."

Marcus stared at her. "The Chalice of Hellfire... you’re saying one item did all of that? Wiped out an entire tribe?"

"It’s not an ordinary item," Alana replied. "It’s a sacred relic of the Demon Clan. According to legend, five thousand years ago, the Demon Lord slew a Primal Behemoth, a One-Horned Flame Beast. He took its horn and cast it into the fires of hell. Two thousand years later, that horn emerged again, transformed into a pitch-black chalice wreathed in flame."

She tightened her grip slightly around the lotus as she spoke. "Over the centuries, it absorbed the most intense heat of the underworld. By the time Seraphina used it, the chalice contained two thousand years of concentrated hellfire. When she tipped it over, it was as if a fragment of the sun itself had fallen into the valley."

Marcus said nothing, the image alone was enough to make his throat feel dry.

"The flames were so intense that for an entire week, nothing below the level of a Mythic Beast could even approach the area," Alana said. "The Flower Tribe had nowhere to escape. They were trapped within their own sanctuary, and they were incinerated where they stood. In a single day, they vanished from the continent."

She paused, her voice softening at the very end. "And the Flower Maiden, who was ranked second on the Beauty Rankings at the time, became nothing more than a name people remember in stories."