(A deal is a deal! ^^ enjoy )
Inside the dragon's nest, Frieren was clutching a grimoire to her chest while arguing passionately with Fern.
Shane imdiately spotted the title written on the cover:
[Magic That Lets You See Through Clothes]
"This is a very useful grimoire."
"It's a perverted grimoire!"
"It has practical applications, Fern. Think about it. If the clothing and detection range are appropriate, you could check whether soone is hiding weapons on their body..."
Fern puffed out her cheeks, clearly in full "I'm not listening" mode.
With a serious expression, Shane reached out toward Frieren.
"Frieren, Fern's right. This grimoire is dangerous. Let keep it safe for you instead."
Fern turned to stare at Shane, suspicion written all over her face.
"Neither of you is allowed to touch it!"
"Fern, you don't trust ?"
Shane looked utterly devastated.
Fern ignored him completely.
"When it cos to this, I only trust myself."
The grimoire's title was written in ancient Elvish, so Stark couldn't understand it. He stared blankly at the three arguing people.
"Isn't it just a grimoire...?"
In the end, Fern claid victory.
Frieren looked a little depressed.
Right then, her eyes swept across the treasure pile, and she pulled out a sowhat tattered parchnt.
"Shane, co look at this. What is it?"
Shane glanced over.
It was a strange diagram filled with odd symbols, along with a line written in ancient Elvish:
The key to opening the treasure vault gate: three turns left, three turns right.
Could this be a treasure map?
Shane and Frieren exchanged a look, both seeing the excitent in each other's eyes.
A treasure map found inside a dragon's nest, complete with instructions for opening a vault? There was no reason not to go.
After stuffing all the "junk" from the nest into their bags, the four of them followed the route drawn on the parchnt toward the so-called "treasure vault."
————
"Even though the map is blurry, it looks like this is the Riegel Canyon where we are now."
Standing at a fork in the road, Shane stared at the map while trying to identify their position.
Fern used [Flight Magic] to rise high above the canyon and help him observe the terrain.
"Mr. Shane, I think it's on the left side."
The group traveled through the canyon's maze-like ravines.
Because the [Solar Dragon] had made this area its territory, there were no low-level monsters nearby, which saved them a lot of trouble.
But the steep cliffs and endless branching paths still slowed their progress considerably.
Finally, near sunset, they reached the location marked on the map.
"But there's nothing here."
Stark looked around before continuing.
"Could this just be so prank treasure map?"
Shane circled the marked spot once, but like Stark, he found absolutely nothing.
Frieren rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"Since it's written in ancient Elvish, it definitely isn't the prank of so ordinary human child. But... I suppose we can't rule out the possibility that it was an elf child's prank."
"Elves have children?" Stark blurted out.
"...Now that you ntion it, I haven't seen another elf in centuries. Maybe there really aren't any children anymore."
Stark stared at her in shock.
"How can you say sothing that serious so calmly...?"
"Lady Frieren, that's actually a very serious issue..."
"Is it?"
Shane ignored their conversation entirely.
Standing at the marked location, he frowned in thought.
The target position was correct. The map had drawn a pentagram symbol here with the words "Treasure Vault" beside it.
So why was reality just... ordinary ground?
He stomped his foot against the earth.
Solid.
That's strange...
As he pondered the problem, he unconsciously paced around the marked point. He circled left three tis clockwise, then turned back and spun right three tis counterclockwise.
'Could the terrain have changed over ti? Maybe the vault's already gone?'
Just as the thought crossed his mind, his vision suddenly went black.
Clang! Clatter!
The sudden noise interrupted everyone's conversation.
Frieren turned around.
The place where Shane had been standing was now completely empty.
All that remained on the ground were his clothes, a backpack, and a sword.
"Where's Shane?"
————
Shane was numb with disbelief.
While rummaging through the gold coins at his feet, he desperately searched for sothing to cover himself with.
The instant darkness swallowed his vision earlier, he had imdiately realized what had happened.
His unconscious circling had triggered the vault's opening chanism:
Three turns left, three turns right.
At first, he had assud it was so kind of riddle or clue for a puzzle chanism.
Turns out it literally just ant spinning in circles.
What kind of elf made this treasure map? That's downright malicious!
And what kind of ridiculous entrance chanism strips off all your clothes?!?
Clatter.
The gold coins beneath his feet shifted and slid.
Shane's heart ached.
Without his backpack, he was standing there completely naked. He could only stare longingly at the mountain of gold, unable to take even a single coin with him.
Fortunately, they had already gathered a huge pile of "junk" from the [Solar Dragon]'s nest earlier, including plenty of valuable ores. At least that counted as so kind of profit.
Otherwise, he would absolutely be crying while hugging this pile of gold right now.
After calming himself down, he carefully examined the "treasure vault."
It was a simple square cellar.
The floor was completely covered in gold coins, and aside from that, there was nothing else inside.
Wait.
No, there was sothing.
Wading through the sea of gold coins with difficulty, he made his way to a corner of the cellar.
Another parchnt?
But unlike the previous one, this parchnt was over a ter long when unfolded. It was densely packed with ancient Elvish text, research theories, and nurous magical formula diagrams.
Clearly, it was a set of magic notes.
Far too complicated.
Shane couldn't understand any of it.
But that wasn't a problem.
He possessed the trait [Wisdom Under a Simple Mask (Gold/Legendary)].
It could simplify complex magical theories and spell formulas into easily understandable "traits." By mastering the trait, he could quickly learn the corresponding magic.
In an instant, a line of simple, clear text appeared before his eyes:
[One Against Three]
Type: Combat Magic
Effect: 'Links' with three targets, briefly borrowing the most prominent attribute from each linked target and stacking them onto oneself. Effect lasts for 30 minutes.
Status: Unlearned
!!!
Shane was stunned.
[Great Luck] had not disappointed him.
What was this?
This was a complete cheat skill for combat!
A one-on-one fight? No.
It was you against three.
Without hesitation, Shane activated [Extract] imdiately.
The parchnt crumbled apart.
A tiny light transford into magical particles and rged into his body.
The familiar sensation returned.
His blood began boiling throughout his entire body. An indescribable wave of pleasure shot straight from his tailbone to his brain.
"Ah... this feeling..."
Shane unconsciously closed his eyes, savoring the lingering sensation.
But the mont he opened them again, he froze.
The mountain of gold coins had vanished without a trace.
In their place on the ground, a massive hexagram magic circle appeared out of thin air.
Whoosh—
A blinding white light erupted from the magic formation.
User Comments
0 comments from readers