Chapter 58: Treasure Hunt

Lucien laughed and took a tablet out of his coat. "I was starting to think you’d gotten too comfortable."

"I’ve only been here a few days."

"And you’ve already made half the research department question their careers."

Reinhard leaned back in his chair, and the chair creaked in a way that suggested the floor beneath it was still cracked. "They’re the ones who kept getting things wrong. I prefer to think of it as free career counseling."

Lucien shook his head and slid the tablet across the desk. "Three materials."

Reinhard looked down. "Silktide." He scrolled. "Emberroot." Another swipe. "Moonveil Grass."

Lucien nodded. "We need all three for a mana stabilization experiment."

Reinhard studied the marked locations. "How difficult?"

"Normally? Moderate."

"Normally?"

Lucien smiled. "You aren’t normal."

"Flattery won’t get you a discount."

"I’m not asking for one." Lucien tapped the tablet. "The locations are already marked, and your job is simple. Retrieve the three materials and bring them back."

Reinhard nodded and reached for his coat, and then Lucien added, "While you’re there..."

"Look around?"

"Exactly."

A grin appeared on Reinhard’s face. Now he understood. Anything valuable he discovered could be brought back to Eclipse. They would authenticate it, determine its value, find the right buyer, and handle the sale. Reinhard would receive his agreed share.

"So I’m going treasure hunting."

"Essentially."

"Why didn’t you say that first?"

Lucien laughed. "I thought you’d figure it out."

"I did." Reinhard finished putting on his coat and stood. "I figured it out two sentences ago, and I let you finish because you looked so proud of the speech."

...

The Eclipse vehicle was waiting outside. Reinhard looked it over as he approached. It wasn’t a normal company vehicle.

The exterior looked ordinary enough, but the moment he entered, he understood why Eclipse used it for expeditions.

The vehicle was equipped with supernatural detection, secure communications, artifact storage, tracking systems, emergency defenses, and spatial storage. Even the windows could display environmental readings.

Reinhard sat in the driver’s seat. "This is convenient."

Lucien’s voice came through the communicator. "That’s what it’s designed for."

Reinhard started the engine, and as the vehicle moved away from the city, he looked through the various controls. This is what money can’t buy. Access.

The first location was an abandoned stretch of forest. Reinhard stepped out and activated his senses, and a faint mana signature immediately caught his attention. He followed it deeper into the trees, and a few minutes later he found it.

Thin silver vines wrapped around the roots of an old tree. Silktide.

He carefully harvested the material.

[Silktide Acquired.]

Reinhard placed it inside the vehicle’s storage. "One down."

Then his Merchant King’s Lens activated, and Reinhard stopped. A faint golden outline appeared beneath the ground. He looked down. Interesting. He crouched and began digging, and a small metal box emerged from the soil. He opened it. Inside was an old relic.

[True Value: 240,000 Credits.]

Reinhard raised an eyebrow. "Not bad." He placed it inside storage.

The Lens activated again. Another location. He dug. Another relic.

[True Value: 380,000 Credits.]

Reinhard smiled. Then the Lens pointed him toward another section of the forest. He walked there. Buried beneath several layers of roots was another object.

[True Value: 1,200,000 Credits.]

Reinhard stared at it and then laughed. He pulled out his communicator. "Lucien."

"Yes?"

"You said to look around."

"I did."

"You didn’t expect me to actually look, did you?"

There was a long pause on the other end. "I should have known better."

"The storage is filling up. I’m going to need a bigger trunk."

"The vehicle has spatial storage."

"Then I’m going to need a bigger space."

...

The second location was an abandoned warehouse. Dust covered the floor. Broken machinery filled the corners. Old supernatural residue lingered in the air.

Reinhard walked inside, his senses spreading through the building. There. A faint mana signature. He followed it behind several collapsed shelves.

Emberroot.

He carefully collected it.

[Emberroot Acquired.]

Reinhard placed it into storage. "Two down." He turned to leave.

The Merchant King’s Lens activated again, and Reinhard stopped. The signal was coming from the wall. He walked over, then punched through it.

BOOM!

Dust filled the room. Behind the wall was a hidden storage chamber. Reinhard stared inside. Artifact cases filled the shelves. "Well..." He stepped inside.

The first case contained an old weapon.

[True Value: 680,000 Credits.]

The second held a collection of supernatural materials.

[True Value: 410,000 Credits.]

The third contained several damaged relics. Some were worth hundreds of thousands. Others were worth millions if restored.

Reinhard opened another case. Then another. And another. Soon, the Eclipse storage containers were filling up.

Reinhard looked around the room. This place was abandoned, but someone clearly cared about what was inside. He wasn’t complaining. He continued collecting.

By the time Reinhard left the warehouse, the Eclipse vehicle was carrying far more than three herbs. He looked at the mission list.

"I have the Silktide and Emberroot. Now only the Moonveil Grass is missing.." He muttered before starting the vehicle.

...

The final location was farther away.

Two hours later, Reinhard arrived at the marked location. The area was strangely quiet, and after stepping out of the vehicle, he immediately spread his senses across the surroundings.

A faint mana signature caught his attention.

Reinhard followed it toward the old building ahead. The structure looked abandoned, with broken walls, cracked windows, and vegetation growing across the entrance, but the mana signature was clearly coming from somewhere inside.

He stepped through the doorway and activated the Merchant King’s Lens. A faint golden outline appeared beneath several broken crates.

Reinhard moved them aside and found a small plant growing in the darkness. Its silver-green leaves shimmered faintly, with thin patterns running across their surface like reflected moonlight.

"Moonveil Grass."

He carefully retrieved it.

[Moonveil Grass — Acquired.]

Reinhard looked at the three resources now stored safely inside the vehicle. Silktide, Emberroot, and Moonveil Grass were all secured.

The mission was complete.

He was about to turn around when the building doors suddenly opened.

People began walking out. One. Five. Ten. Twenty. More followed.

His expression sobered slightly. These weren’t ordinary workers, they were classic broke people.

They carried artifact cases, monster materials, herb containers, old weapons, relics, and bags of supernatural resources. Some looked entirely ordinary. A few clearly carried Awakener strength. All of them looked directly at him, unfriendly, suspicious.

A woman stepped forward, two others falling in behind her. She studied him carefully.

"A rat wandered into our territory," she said.

"Your territory?" Reinhard glanced around at the crumbling walls. "I’ve been called a lot of things this week, and rat is the most polite."

"You don’t know where you are?"

"Apparently not."

"This is Collector Territory," she said, stepping closer, "and you’re speaking to Mirako."

Reinhard’s eye twitched. Ah, it’s these guys again. Perfect.

Her eyes moved over his clothing, then the Eclipse vehicle, then his equipment, then the containers he carried. "You’ve been busy."

"I have."

"And you’ve found quite a few things."

"Apparently."

Her smile widened. "That’s fortunate."

"For whom?"

"For us." Mirako looked toward his containers. "You found these things in our territory."

"So?"

"We collect things."

"And?"

"You can leave." She gestured toward his belongings. "After we inspect what you have."

"Inspect?"

"We’ll take a few things."

Reinhard raised an eyebrow. "That’s not an exchange."

"Call it a territory fee." She smiled. "Hand over the valuable items."

"No."

Her smile disappeared. "Think carefully."

"I already did."

Several Collectors moved around him.

Mirako sighed. "You don’t seem to understand."

Reinhard looked around at the people surrounding him. "I understand perfectly." He paused. "You want my things." His smile faded. "I’m not giving them to you."

Mirako stared at him for several seconds. Then sighed. "I guess we’re doing this the hard way."

Reinhard chuckled. "I guess so."

The first thing Reinhard did was activate Fooling.

The world distorted, and a second Reinhard appeared. The Collectors immediately attacked, and the illusion stumbled backward. One strike. Then another. A third Collector slammed a weapon into the illusion’s chest, and Illusion-Reinhard crashed onto the ground.

The Collectors surrounded him. Mirako walked forward and looked down at the bloodied illusion. "Still want to be difficult?"

Illusion-Reinhard coughed and looked up at her. "Maybe."

Mirako placed her foot against his chest. "You really don’t understand where you are."

Illusion-Reinhard smiled weakly. "Actually..." His eyes narrowed. "...I’m trying to understand something else."

Mirako frowned. "What?"

"Does the Baal Family know about this place?"

Mirako’s expression changed slightly.

The real Reinhard watched from a distance. His attention wasn’t on the fight. It was on their thoughts. Mind Glance.

He searched.

Baal Family. Nothing. All he saw was Mirako confused on what he mentioned their names to them and.

He then had the Illusion Reinhard asked about Ashcroft and once again it was nothing.

Silent Night? Nothing.

Reinhard sighed. So they don’t know anything... The Baal really kept things private.

These people didn’t know anything about the operation that had targeted Emily. Unlike the previous Collector team, there was no connection. Still that was all he needed to know. Now he could stop holding back.

Mirako looked down at the illusion. "You should have kept your mouth shut." Her foot pressed harder.

The illusion smiled.

Then the real Reinhard stepped forward.

Mirako looked up and their eyes met.

Reinhard’s blue eyes slowly turned grey-white, shining faintly in the darkness.

Mirako’s entire body froze.

The world around her vanished.

The building disappeared, the Collectors disappeared, and even the ground beneath her feet was gone, leaving nothing but endless darkness.

Something vast existed within that darkness.

A black hole.

Mirako tried to move, but her body refused to respond. The longer she remained beneath his gaze, the stronger the pressure became, crushing down on her mind until her confidence began disappearing piece by piece. She had fought powerful Awakeners before.

She had faced death before.

But this was different.

There was no attack to dodge and no enemy to fight.

Her own mind was telling her that resistance was meaningless. Mirako’s thoughts began to slip away, one after another, until even the desire to resist disappeared.

Then the world returned.

She staggered backward, her legs giving out beneath her as she struggled to breathe.

The building stood around her again, the Collectors were still there, and Reinhard was standing calmly in front of her with his eyes already back to normal.

Mirako stared at him before collapsed unconscious onto the ground.

Reinhard looked down at her for a moment. "That was disappointing."

The Collectors screamed and charged. Reinhard raised one hand and flames erupted.

The fire swept across the battlefield, and eight Collectors were swallowed instantly, screaming as flames covered their bodies. Reinhard walked through the burning battlefield without slowing.

The remaining Collectors backed away. Fear had replaced their confidence. One of them raised a hand, mana gathering around his body. Another formed a barrier.

A third accelerated.

Reinhard’s eyes brightened as he flooded them with mana.

The world changed.

He could see their Gnosis. The defensive one. The speed enhancement. The mana reinforcement. The barrier. The elemental ability. He understood them almost instantly.

Reinhard smiled. "So that’s what you can do."

The first Collector rushed him. Reinhard moved. The attack missed. He struck once, and the Collector crashed into the ground.

Another attacked from behind. Reinhard turned.

BOOM!

A single strike sent him flying.

A barrier appeared. Reinhard’s hand passed through it with overwhelming force, and the barrier shattered.

Another Collector tried to escape.

Reinhard appeared in front of him. The man froze. "You..."

Reinhard struck and ended the man before moving on. The rest followed, one after another, and the fight ended almost as quickly as it had begun. He then summoned the Disintegration Spray and began spraying the bodies.

After the last broke down, his attention shifted toward the equipment the Collectors had been carrying before smiling.

"Why waste it?"

He collected those too.

Then the Merchant King’s Lens reacted.

Reinhard stopped and followed the faint indication into another storage room. Beneath several broken crates sat an old sealed container.

He picked it up.

[True Value: 680,000 Credits.]

His eyebrows lifted.

"Lucien really did tell me to look around."

He stored the container away, only for the Lens to react again.

Collector Territory really is a treasure hunt.

After securing the additional valuables, Reinhard returned to the Eclipse vehicle and checked the storage one more time. The Silktide, Emberroot, and Moonveil Grass were all safely secured, along with the relics he had discovered throughout the expedition.

Everything he had come for was there.

And he had somehow returned with a lot more.

Reinhard started the vehicle and drove away from Collector Territory.

He leaned back in his seat with a satisfied smile.

He glanced at the treasures filling the storage. I think I looked enough.