Chapter 781: 778, Compartment under the treasure chest_1
“So, what do you want to say?” Sky Dragon asked.
“Well… I just wanted to make a joke.” A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated admitted his previous reaction, “Sky Dragon, you always say the Boss Ke is your boyfriend, but he never seems to admit that you’re his girlfriend.”
Her body and facial expressions froze completely.
If it were to be described in game terminology, it would seem as though she was under the effects of [Critical Strike] and [Petrify Attack], standing motionlessly, like a wind-weathered statue.
[Ice Dun Dun], noticing the significant shift in its owner’s mood, let out a roar and leaped out from the pet space, sending a snowball as big as a washbasin at A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated.
A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated hastily dodged.
But knowing he misspoke, he rushed to rectify, “I apologize Sky Dragon, I didn’t mean it like that. What I meant was, considering the significant age difference, you may find it difficult to compete with women of his age.”
[Ice Dun Dun], not understanding A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated at all, pelted him with several more snowballs to shut him up, while soothingly rubbed its huge head against Sky Dragon’s arm in comfort.
Comforted by [Ice Dun Dun], Sky Dragon regained her composure.
She gently stroked the larger head of [Ice Dun Dun], determinedly smiling at A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated in the distance, “Director Gu, this is simply old-fashioned thinking. Age is no hurdle for Nemesis and me!”
“But he’s 12 years older than you!”
“12 years is not a barrier.” Sky Dragon crossed her arms and calmly responded, “The age gap between Nemesis and me is considerable, but don’t forget, we’re no longer like the humans of the past.
Humans of the past could at most live up to 100 years or so, but with our now enhanced abilities, we could live up to a thousand or two thousand years without a problem!
You think a being that can live for thousands of years can’t accept a meager 12 years age difference?”
“Uh…” A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated was now stunned.
He stroked his chin thoughtfully, finally nodding, “You do have a point when you put it that way. Okay then, I support you in pursuing Boss Ke!”
“Thank you!” Sky Dragon smiled, recalled [Ice Dun Dun] back into its pet space and prepared to bid farewell to A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated.
However, a small cracking sound came from the treasure chest nearby.
The sound was faint, no louder than when someone would clip their fingernails. But given they were standing so close to the chest, Sky Dragon and A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated picked up the sound easily.
Sky Dragon turned to look at the chest.
She found an additional crack on the bottom surface of the chest.
The bottom surface of the chest didn’t have this crack before, it was a slab of sturdy grey-black metallic bottom plate, smooth and polished.
But now, a straight crack had formed at the center of the metallic bottom plate, hinting that the bottom plate could be taken out and revealing a hidden compartment beneath.
Sky Dragon exchanged a glance with A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated.
A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated knelt down to have a closer look at it, channeling his energy into his palms while saying, “Sky Dragon, be prepared for anything. I want to find out what, if anything, is in that compartment.”
“Okay, just be careful,” Sky Dragon took a step back and summoned her panda pet [Steamed Bun] to stand in front of her.
His palms now fully charged with energy, A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated reached into the chest and pried along the thin crack.
With a creak, the bottom plate of the chest was completely pried open by him.
Simultaneously, a dazzling sunlight-like glow shot out from beneath the plate, reaching straight towards the skies.
“Director Gu, danger!” Sky Dragon shouted from behind [Steamed Bun].
A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated already knew he was in danger and immediately activated his defensive martial arts skill, [Golden Bell Barrier].
A loud gong-like sound echoed around A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated, his powerful energy transformed into a massive “Golden Bell”, protecting him within.
As it turned out, Sky Dragon and A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated were overly cautious.
After using [Golden Bell Barrier], A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated remained unscathed. The glow erupting from beneath the chest was indeed blinding, but as harmless as sunlight.
About half a minute later, the glow from underneath the chest subsided a little.
Sky Dragon and A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated looked inside the chest and found indeed an additional compartment. Inside it was a sparkling golden third of a sphere, but what exactly it was, was still unclear.
“Steamed Bun, grab that stone.” Sky Dragon ordered the panda in front of her.
As Sky Dragon’s primary pet, [Steamed Bun] had all its stats including defense maxed out to its limit.
Being from a wealthy family and a key foster of the federal government, Sky Dragon had no shortage of resources and had equipped [Steamed Bun] with the best gear available, making it stronger even than a Wartan or a Warknight of the same level. Letting it fetch the stone would be much safer than having A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated, a fragile martial artist, do the job.
[Steamed Bun] was very obedient.
Upon receiving the command, it readily stretched its chubby panda paw into the chest and retrieved the glowing stone.
Holding the glowing stone, [Steamed Bun] held it out in its open paw;
The stone continued to emanate light, but caused no harm to [Steamed Bun].
Sky Dragon, being a [Beastmaster Hunter] in the [Archer] class, had learned a passive skill called [Telepathic Connection] at level three.
[Telepathic Connection] allowed the Beastmaster to understand the thoughts of their pet, and share their field of vision.
Sky Dragon switched her field of vision over to [Steamed Bun] and squinted at the glowing stone, noticing a line of small text hidden beneath the light.
She didn’t recognize the text, it wasn’t in Skuru,
But when she concentrated on the text, she immediately understood their meaning, as if the text had a built-in “understandable by the reader” buff.
“This object is known as the [Sun Secret Realm Stone Fragment]. Collecting three of these fragments will open the ultimate trial—the [Sun Secret Realm].” Sky Dragon read the text aloud.
Upon hearing this, A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated jumped, “That’s what the text on the stone say?”
“Correct.” Sky Dragon tapped her right finger on her lower jaw, falling deep into thought.
According to the text on the stone, their current location was just a common secret realm, and collecting three of these stones would allow for access to an even more formidable secret realm?
“Quite interesting,” thought Sky Dragon.
A Thousand Cups Unintoxicated turned to her, “Sky Dragon, haven’t you cleared two secret realms before? Did you encounter similar stones in those two realms?”
“No,” Sky Dragon pouted, “The previous two times, I just took the items from the chest and left immediately, who would’ve thought there was a hidden compartment!”