Chapter 71: The Hidden Treasure

Screech!

In a distant and dark part of the tunnel network, where only a very small number of faintly glowing roots were present, an E-Rank burrowing squirrel was happily yet cautiously eating a thin nearly extinguished root, for this meal rich in mana was far better than what it usually ate.

A few meters behind it, amid the darkness, evil red eyes gleamed, heading toward it slowly and silently, and when they drew close to the faint light, their owner appeared, a dark gray wolf, with dense fur and fierce features.

He bared his sharp fangs, then pounced on the squirrel. His attack was swift and sudden, which left the poor squirrel no chance, and before it even understood what was happening, its throat was already caught between the wolf’s jaws.

Its blood sprayed onto the root, and helplessly, the gleam of life disappeared from its eyes, and it fell a still carcass.

[ +15XP ]

Arthur released the squirrel, then bent down and began eating its rich flesh, but he suddenly stopped. A strained expression crossed his face, and with all the strength he had he resisted the effects of the moon frenzy.

After a few seconds the gleam of rationality returned to his eyes, and he thought anxiously, ’No, I cannot stay here any longer, I must get out of this place immediately.’

About an hour had passed since he had heard a thunderous roar that made every part of his body tremble with fear, and worst of all it had agitated the sealed mushroom ball inside him, because of that, he had faced a difficult time, and had it not been for the spider woman’s seal being strong, the mushroom would have grown in his body again.

Even though he had moved far from the source of the sound, that was not enough, especially since his savage side continued to disrupt his movements, for whenever he found traces of potential prey he would chase after them.

He gritted his fangs, and with great difficulty maintained his rationality, ignored the appealing squirrel carcass, and forced his body to move according to his will, then entered a dark tunnel, in which the glowing roots were absent.

He walked very slowly and cautiously, and examined his surroundings carefully relying on all his senses, but his wariness did not last long, for his savage side quickly took over again, and his movements became reckless.

He increased his speed, and began jogging in random directions unaware of his destination. Whenever he smelled something or sensed something, he changed his course, which caused him to push deeper inside the dense and narrow maze of tunnels. Sometimes he would reach a dead end, and be forced to retrace his steps, and take another path.

And so the night passed slowly, and during it he covered a long distance amid the unknown, and faced many strange deep-dwelling monsters, some weaker than him, and some stronger. He was injured, fled, hunted, and did many crazy things.

As dawn approached, and while he was in a dark area where not even a single ray of light was present, he felt a faint breeze of air caress his blood-stained fur.

Some rationality returned to him, so he stopped in his place, carefully sensed the breeze, and tried to determine its source.

Since he was not able to see anything, he relied entirely on his other senses, which enabled him to partially distinguish the features of his surroundings like a bat.

After a short while, he was able to determine the path he needed to take, and without any hesitation, he took a tunnel ascending upward, which was very narrow in some parts, forcing him to squeeze his body to pass through them.

Little by little the breeze grew stronger, and he realized he had drawn close to the exit, but he did not feel relieved, he continued resisting the effects of the frenzy, and maintained the clarity of his mind so as not to get himself into any other unwanted problems, and ruin everything as he always did.

Or that was what he tried to do at least, for his savage side got the better of him again, and caused him to lose control of himself.

A savage look appeared on his face, he sniffed the air powerfully, and then picked up a faint scent, it was very strange, and frightening at the same time. For some reason it seized all his attention.

’No, damn, not now, only a little remains.’ Arthur cried out inwardly in desperation, and tried with all his strength and will, to control his body and continue walking toward the presumed exit.

Because of the conflict between his savage instincts and rational mind, he walked one step to the right, then returned one step to the left, and to the right, then the left, and so on in a comical scene.

And the longer it went on, his rational side grew weaker, and in the end, he surrendered to his instincts, and watched himself helplessly, as he changed his direction following the strange scent.

When he drew close to its source, his bloodline also showed a kind of reaction, which was entirely different from any other reaction it had previously shown.

He was not in a position that allowed him to analyze it, but he did not need to, for after a few minutes, he arrived at a very spacious cave, its walls filled with sparkling stones, or rather transparent crystals of various sizes and colors, glowing with a very faint light.

Not only that, for in one of the nearby corners of the cave, there was a massive skeleton of a milky white color, its shape was somewhat strange, for it possessed a long serrated tail, at the end of which was a rounded bony mass resembling a hammer. Its head was broad, and its jaw long, and on its forehead there were two large horns, and a smaller horn above its nose.

As for the ribcage, it was the strangest, because it was convex from the top, and broad from the bottom, and it had four large wings, or more precisely only their remains. Inside the skeleton, there was a large glass ball filled with cracks, its color blackish-purple.

’What is all this?’ From the intensity of his shock he stood at the entrance with his mouth open, and all that regret he had felt for being dragged to this place by force disappeared. The breathtaking scene alone was worth a little risk.

His eyes swept the cave, and he contemplated the sparkling crystals with great greed. After all Arthur was a human, and like the rest of his kind, he loved acquiring valuable things, especially since a treasure of this size could cause a conflict between nations in his previous world and this world alike.

Naturally, he was aware that this was not mere crystal, but something hundreds of times more valuable, for the moment he stood near it he felt refreshed. There was a kind of mysterious energy around it, which eased his savageness, to the point that he regained control of his body.

’Is it possible that this energy is mana? And even that skeleton does not look simple. Unfortunately, I do not possess enough knowledge to determine their nature... wait, the system is working again, this means I have recovered the Evaluation skill, and the Dimensional Storage as well, tsk, since I have not used them for a while, I had completely forgotten about them.’

The moment he remembered that, he activated the Evaluation skill, and examined everything in the cave.

[ Mana Stone Ore – Medium Quality – Rare ]

[ ???????? ]

[ Skeleton – ??? – ??? ]

[ Primal Core – ??? – ??? – Partially Damaged ]

His eyes widened to their fullest, and he became certain that he had found a real treasure, especially the skeleton and the Primal Core, they had seized his entire attention. This was the first time the Evaluation skill was unable to determine the value of something.

As for the many question marks scattered among the mana stone ore, he did not know exactly what they meant. His skills had limits, and it was possible there were elements, or perhaps mana stone ore of very high quality, that the Evaluation skill could not currently determine.