"What the hell? Fifty Gold Coins per shot... That means for the price of two shots, I could buy a Cloud Steel Sword and still have Thirty Gold Coins left over?"
Gray frowned.
"Why is everything related to Magic so expensive?"
"Before, I saw that noble Vanguard, Kilian, drink a bottle of Magic Potion before fighting the Nine-headed Dragon Snake. I asked around later—it was seventy Gold Coins."
Gray couldn’t help but shake his head as he spoke.
"Is that a price a normal person can afford? I saw him gulp it down like it was water, without even batting an eye."
"Well, that’s because he’s from the Nobility," Valles said, as if it were obvious.
"Nobility... Even before I ran away from home, I couldn’t just drink something like that whenever I wanted..." Gray grumbled.
"There are rich and poor among commoners, let alone between one noble family and another."
Marcus said, "So your family is one of the poorer ones?"
Gray looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.
On the path ahead, the team encountered all sorts of endless traps.
And they were far more dangerous than the ones before.
Like a network of linked floor spikes.
Step on a pressure plate, and the entire hall—several dozen square meters—would be instantly pierced by spikes, leaving virtually no safe place to stand.
Hidden axe-blade traps in the ceiling.
Trigger an extremely thin tripwire, almost invisible to the naked eye, and giant axe blades would fall from both sides of the ceiling, swinging across in opposite, intersecting arcs.
Worse, the axe blades were rusty; even a scratch would be a huge problem.
And that’s not even mentioning the flamethrowers.
The creators of this ruin didn’t just use Source Energy Crystal Stones to make Magic Cannons; they also used Demon Cores to create other traps.
In a long corridor, three hidden flamethrowers were installed, all powered by Fire Element Demon Cores.
Hill threw a stone ball to trigger one, and the resulting gush of Flame was like a Flame Breath Skill, lasting for several seconds.
Other rather morbid contraptions included acid showers and crushing wall traps.
The former would make your skin fester and rot, the acid burning through your flesh to expose the bone.
The latter would simply turn you into a meat patty.
Of course, to go along with such a harsh environment were the treasure chests that Adventurers dreamed of!
Zelir’s team finally discovered their first treasure chest, and a Bronze Level one at that.
It lay quietly in a corner at the end of the hallway.
The light from the Fluorite was blocked by a half-broken stone pillar, making the chest inconspicuous.
But Gray spotted it at a glance.
"Hold on."
Marcus reached out and stopped the eager Gray. "Let Hill check for traps first."
After carefully checking the area around the chest, Hill gave an all-clear signal, indicating that there was no problem.
Actually, Zelir had wanted to open it himself.
After all, the contents of a treasure chest were random, a bit like a lottery.
’And since it’s a lottery...’
’My Lucky Attribute should come in handy, right?’
’It’s my only Ultimate Attribute, after all.’
’A normal person has 15 points in an Attribute, but I have 66. It would be a crime not to even try it.’
But seeing the look of eager anticipation on Gray’s face...
Zelir decided to let him try first.
CREAK...
The chest opened. Gray reached in, felt around, and pulled out a crystal.
It was a Demon Core.
"It’s a Demon Core? What kind of Demon is it from?"
The Demon Core was a flattened, roundish lump, about the size of a pigeon’s egg. Its edges were smooth, and it was ocher-colored overall.
The group passed it around, each taking a look.
"It’s probably..."
In the end, it was the experienced Marcus who made a guess. "It should be the Demon Core of a Stone-Skinned Earth Lizard, right?"
The Stone-Skinned Earth Lizard, a Difficulty-rated Demon with very high Defense Power.
Back then, Zelir had broken through to the rank of Junior Mage only after killing an Earth Lizard Beast.
The Stone-Skinned Earth Lizard was basically an enhanced version of the Earth Lizard Beast, and much harder to deal with.
"So its value is... about... Thirty Gold Coins?"
Gray asked uncertainly, "Getting a Stone-Skinned Earth Lizard’s Demon Core... is that a good pull or a bad one?"
"I have no idea..."
Marcus scratched his head.
"It’s not like there was a sign outside the maze detailing the average value of a Bronze Treasure Chest’s contents."
But even if they didn’t know this time, with Gray as the benchmark, they would find out from now on.
Repeating the cycle of Hill dismantling traps, the team pushed forward.
They found more treasure chests along the way.
The second person to open a Bronze Treasure Chest was Valles.
He got a piece of wood.
The wood was slightly heavy to the touch, about the length of a forearm, and black as ink.
"This is..."
This time, Zelir felt it looked familiar.
After taking it and weighing it in his hand, he remembered.
He had once seen a Magic Wand made of similar material in the Magic Wand Shop at the Mage’s Guild.
"This is Black Iron Wood! It can be used as a Base Material for a Magic Wand!"
"A Base Material for a Magic Wand?"
Valles said, pleasantly surprised, "Then it should be quite valuable, right?"
"No... it can only be used as a Base Material for the most Low Level Magic Wands. It would sell for ten to twenty Gold Coins at most."
Although it had some value, it definitely couldn’t compare to Gray’s Demon Core.
"Heh heh, not as good as me," Gray chuckled.
"What’s there to be happy about? Any loss is a loss for all of us," Marcus shot Gray a sideways glance.
The third person to open a chest was Hill.
She got two daggers.
The daggers suited her style, but unfortunately, the quality was poor. Bundled together, they would sell for Five Gold Coins at most.
Even Hill herself wouldn’t use them.
And as for Marcus...
When it was his turn, the team had only found a Rotten Wood Treasure Chest.