Book 4, Chapter 8
The Secret Treasure
"But there"s nothing here."
We"renow standing on the very top of the place. There is a square platform, apparently man-made, with a round stone placed on it.
"Is this thetreasure?" I walked around the stone, without figuring out anything specialabout it.
Elfygrabbed Hawk"s sword. "Move away. Let"s see it when I break it open."
She just chopped at the stone using that sword almost as big as herself, beforeI can stop her.
The attack was simply bounced away. The stone isn"treally hard, a gash was left on the surface.
"It"s just an ordinary rock."
Igot closer again. "Yeah...But why would anyone construct a plat here andjust put a useless stone on it? There must be something."
Elfyreturned the sword to Hawk and ordered: "Break it. It must be hollowinside."
"Nahlet me do it. You will take too long." I asked them to get away a bit."This kind of job usually belongs to Lucky. Lucky! Get this thing open."
Heraised his tail and aimed the spike tip at the stone.
Crash!
Instead ofbreaking it, Lucky"s tail lodged into the stone. He tried to free himself, withoutsuccess.
Then Lucky just began to raise his tail by force. Now the entire stoneis lifted off the ground, we saw a stone pillar connected under it. The pillarseems still long below the surface, as Lucky"s height isn"t enough to drag it out.
"Holdstill." I said. "Rosy, try to get that thing out of the ground."
After a while Rosy emerged at the edge of the platform.
Phantomexplained inside my head: "Master, Rosy said the whole structure under usis made from rock, he can"t get through."
Hawkwalked over. "What"s wrong?"
Ipointed at Rosy. "It"s a whole rock under our feet, and prettydeep too. Rosy can"t do anything about it. And Lucky isn"t enough to pull it outeither."
"Sodo we break it or not?"
Elfyalready rolled up her sleeves. I dragged her back again.
"Leave that to me.Loong"er, can you break the pillar?"
"Letme try."
She coiled herself around the pillar and gave it a mighty squeeze.The pillar crumbled into several parts. Lucky also took the chance and smashedhis tail into the ground, breaking the stone as well.
"That should do it."
There"sstill about half a meter of the remaining pillar sticking out of the ground. Wegot no idea how big it is under the surface though.
"Lucky, pull it."
Luckygrabbed the pillar and began to lift it using his superior strength. It wentsmoothly this time--the bottom part is only about 2 meters long.
"Isthat an underground entrance?" We looked at the opening left by the brokenpillar.
"Seemsso." Hawk agreed.
"So...dowe go in?" Elfy suggested.
Isummoned the small animal I just caught. "Your name will be [Dart] from now on.Go into the entrance and report what you see."
"But,but do you have to ask the cutey to do the dangerous work?" Elfy looksworried.
Inodded towards the hole. "It"s narrower than a window. Dart is the onlyone who can get in without trouble. He"s level 0 anyway, which means freeresp.a.w.ns even if the worst happens. Besides he"s born to be a scout with thatkind of speed."
"Um,okay." Elfy is convinced. She held up Dart in her hands. "Becareful, little one!"
Dartdisappeared from our sight in a flash. He came back in just 10 seconds.
Phantomacted as out interpreter again. "...There"s only one room in there, areally small room. There"s a chest, bigger than the hole so he doesn"t know howto get it out."
"Isee. Hawk, let"s get down."
"Um,I can"t. The entrance is too small for me." He displayed his ma.s.sive muscles.
"I"lldo it." Elfy hopped into the hole like a rabbit. Geez, she acts fast.
"Don"t worry, I"ll go after her."
From the looks of it my size should just fit through. I still took off all thearmors, except helmet, just to be sure.
I carefully slipped down the narrow tunnel...Clap,my helmet is stuck.
Hawklooked down from above. "Ziri, take off your helm too. I"ll hold it foryou."
"Alright."
Ireached the bottom and found Elfy standing behind me with a lit candle in herhand.
"...You carry candles with you?"
She handed me another. "No. There"s a bunch of them lying over there. I don"t havethat kind of strange habit. I do have a lighter on me though." She paused."Wait, you"re a girl too? I was wondering why you hide your face all thetime. I thought you are not confident in your looks or want to hide your scaror something. Now that"s quite a-impressive, why would you hide it?"
"c.r.a.p...I"m male! And I wear the mask because people always get the wrong idea!"
"...Really?"Elfy is still doubting me.
"Guaranteed!100% pure! How about I introduce my girlfriend to you next time?"
"Noneed. I see your Adam. But seriously, a lot of girls would be jealous of yourlooks. What kind of creams do you use?"
"Forgetit. Where"s the chest?" Now this is what I came for. I should change thetopic too.
Elfystepped aside a bit, revealing a chest behind her back. "Here."
I touched around the chest. It"s well wornbut still intact.
I pulled at the padlock on it. Nope.
"Do you know how to picklocks?"
"DoI look like a Rogue?"
"Well...I"lluse my expertise then."
"Expertise?"Elfy curiously leaned near to see how I will open the lock.
Idrew my sword and stuck it under the lid. "By force of course."
Ipried at the chest with my full strength. "...mmmf! It"s--pretty--solid--"
I gave the other sword to Elfy. "A little help!"
Shefound a gap on the surface and began her effort too. But looks like our strengthis still not enough.
"Ugh.This is no good." Elfy panted. "Let"s try something else."
"What--Oh right, why didn"t I think about it earlier?"
I put away my swords andlifted the entire chest into my inventory. Thank goodness I can put everythinginto my bracelet--the chest occupied my full inventory s.p.a.ce plus filling up myweight load.
"Now hold my hands."
"Whatfor?" Elfy asked in confusion.
"I"lltake you out."
"Ican get out on my own. The problem is can you get back to the entrance withthat weight on you?"
"I"mnot getting out from the entrance."
I took Elfy"s hand and activated myring. We appeared above the cave in the next second. "Here we are."
Hawkran to us. "Who is...? Where"s Ziri?"
Then he just ran back to theentrance.
"Ziri! Are you alright down there?"
"Heystop it. I"m here!"
I took out the chest and began to re-equip my gear. Feelsmuch safer this way.
Hawk stood there, pointing at me while giving out some ambiguous mumbles.
I putthe last piece on me and gave him a pat on the head. "Hey you! Wake up. Neverseen a handsome before?"
"Handsome?You"re a beauty!"
"Cutit. Help me get this thing open!" I pointed at the red padlock on thechest.
"It"sjust a lock. Piece o" cake. Now back off." He raised his giant sword above hishead. I quickly moved away.
Ching!
The blade precisely hit the hook but didn"tbreak it.
"Sigh. Lucky, can you do something?"
He simply fiddled the chest around his claws like a toy before it completelyscattered open.
"Now that"s my Lucky."
"Ah!Treasures!" Elfy exclaimed when she saw something falling out of the chest.
A bow. A milky white colored ball. Aring and...a bracelet.
The bow is a heavy bow constructed from metal. Its shinysilver body is embedded with various gems. It looks like more like an arkworkthan an actual weapon.
"Elfy"s it is. You"re the only Archer here."
Shepicked it up and stroked over it. "Don"t mind if I do."
"Isit good? "
"Let"ssee, it"s...an Artifact! The [Elemental Kiss], attack 230-320. Every arrow shotfrom this bow will carry one or two random magic effects!"
"So,you can be a part-time Magic Archer now?"
"My lucky day!"
""Kay.Take a look at the others."
Elfy picked up the white ball."What"sthis? Nothing"s written on its attributes."
"Huh?Can"t be." I took it over. "It"s a companion egg. But I don"t know what"sin it. Try to hatch it if you wish. Maybe you can get a really nice companion, orwaste a slot. Who knows?"
"I"lldo it. You don"t understand how other people want companions so bad. Even Hawkhas his Sunshine. It"s kept together with an Artifact anyway. Itcan"t be THAT bad."
She dropped her blood on the egg. The egg shook, thencrack! A snow-white pony head looked out of it, before it shook off theremaining egg sh.e.l.ls.
It has wings!
"APegasus!" Hawk immediately recognized this mythologic creature. "It"sthe king of all flying horses, a legendary pegasus."
Iwatched it closely. "Is it different from other flying horses? How do youknow it"s THE pegasus?"
"Theblue eyes. I saw it somewhere on the forum. Someone also got his hands on oneand explained some basic knowledge about the species."
Thoughthis is not any concern for Elfy. She"s just being happy about the tiny horse.
"Why is it so small?" Elfy looked at the pony which can basically fitinside her palm.
Ipointed at Lucky. "He was even smaller when he was just born. Try to level him upa bit. Companions usually reach their full size around level 50 or so. I thinkLucky is exception. His growth won"t stop."
"Goodto hear. It will be weird if he stays like this forever. I don"t really mindthough. He"s adorable! I"ll call you [Crystal Eyes], because that"s how youreyes look like!"
The pony hopped around her palm before it jumped onto theground and cut loose. Yup, that looks an energetic horse to me.
Iturned to the remaining drops. First, the ring. A cross is decorated on thisordinary looking ring.
I tried to pick it up and---
"AHH HOT!!"
I threw it away. That thing burns!
"What the heck?"
Hawkcarefully poked the ring. Nothing. He held it up, still nothing.
"What"sthis thing?" I asked. Not gonna touch it. The skin on my hand is charredblack, and that"s with the protection of my gauntlet!
Hawkchecked around it and even tried to equip it. "I don"t know... How didthat happen?"
"Check the status. I"m sure there"s something holy or justice or such. That"s whatwill happen if I try to touch these G.o.d-d.a.m.ned stuff."
The pain on my handis getting worse. Owwww.
"Ohyou"re right. The ring gives you 2 points of Luck, and there"s a bonus to it: EvilResistance." He chuckled.
"Tsk.I"m no evil!"
Elfyfinished her enthusiasm with the pony and went over to us. "You"re all black, andwith a red name over your head. If anyone"s evil it"s you!"
"Ugh,fine!"
I looked at the last piece, the bracelet.
"Aha! Now here"s areal treasure!" I jumped out of joy.
"What?"
Itook off a common bracelet and equipped the new one. "This one"s mine! Youcan have all the rest!"
"Comeon, what is it?" Hawk took the ring for himself and walked towards me.
Ipointed upward. "See my name?"
"No,why?" Then Elfy"s eyes got wider. "Red named players cannot hide theirnames...and I can"t see your name now, which means--"
Idisplayed the status window.
[The Masking Wheel], Sacred equipment, Luck +1, eliminatesany negative effects caused by red name status, effects will return when thebracelet is unequipped. There is a 5% chance to double anyone"s Evilness whenyou attack them, ineffective against players with Righteousness or 0 Evilness.
"Wah-hahahay!Finally, I can enter cities! Gonna have some fun! Eeeehehahaw!!"
Elfyand Hawk watched as I laughed out with insanity. Elfy even moved a little behindHawk"s back. "Is he broken or something?"
Hawknodded. "I think so."
Ijumped onto Night Shade. "Go! To the city! Now!"
The pair looked at me with doubtful looks. "Calm it. It"s not like the city will run away."
"Youno understand!" I"m too excited to even speak like normal. "Listen, From dayone of the game till now, I only went into cities twice. And that was when thegame is still testing itself. There were no people in the city. I nevervisited any cities after registration is open to everyone!"
"But--you never resupply your potions and items in cities?"
"Atfirst I lost my way in a forest. Then I fell into some kind of undergrounddungeon and was trapped inside a quest. For two months! When I finally got outI was already red named. Then that avalanche put a bounty on my head in public. I can"teven get close to cities."
"Ugh.That sounds really terrible experience." Elfy patted on my shoulder. "We"ll come withyou. We need to change up our gear anyway and maybe sell something we don"tneed."
"Thenlet"s go already!"
However,someone shouted behind us before we can move.
"YOU AIN"T GOING ANYWHERE!"