Chapter 86 - Gem

In the moment the slab fell out and the secret compartment was revealed, a rainbow-coloured radiance blossomed out and illuminated the dark, underwater passage. Nie Yan swam over and looked inside, but was blinded by the intense brilliance. However, as his eyes slowly adapted, he saw a mess of items loosely scattered around the interior. It appeared much of the compartment’s contents had already been removed, presumably by NPCs. Nonetheless, quite a few items remained behind, all of which were precious gems of various quality and type.

Nie Yan collected all of the gems and sorted through them. Five were Fortune Gems (1), and the rest were even more precious Resilient Gems (1) and Life Gems (1), which there were two and three of respectively. Although one was the lowest quality rating for a gem, they were still fairly uncommon in the game’s current stage. A single Fortune Gem (1) could go for roughly five silvers. As for the two other gems, the Resilient and Life ones, it was a bit difficult to determine their prices since they had yet to appear on the marketplace. However, once a Jewelcrafter socketed these gems into equipment, their corresponding properties would increase significantly.

Equipment didn’t generally come with sockets, so players were required to pay a two silver commission fee to a Jewelcrafter to create one. Gold equipment could possess up to two sockets, Dark Gold up to three, and Legendary up to five. Once the sockets were created, for three additional silvers, the player could then have the Jewelcrafter socket a gem, and once they were socketed into a piece of equipment, Resilient Gems (1) would increase Resilience by five and Life Gems (1) would increase health by fifty.

Due to their effects, practically all the major guilds fought over these gems. However, since their production rate was extremely low, they were almost never listed for sale and thus didn’t have a set market value. In addition, due to their rarity, it would be a waste to socket them into anything lower than Dark Gold-grade. In some circumstances, though, it was acceptable to socket rare Gold-grade items such as shields, rings, necklaces, and so on.

I’ve struck it rich this time! Nie Yan inwardly exclaimed. Today’s harvests were fairly abundant. So no matter what happened next, the trip had at least paid for itself. If he were to list these gems up on the auction house, it would cause hordes of players to scramble and fight over them. Naturally, he had no plans of selling since, with so many gems, he could raise the overall quality of his gear significantly! Even if he did sell any of them, he would do so only if any remained after he had finished using them for himself and only to friends and acquaintances.

Nie Yan felt endless elation when he thought about these gems.

He threw these gems into a small sack and continued searching the compartment to confirm he hadn’t overlooked anything. Only then did he leave the secret compartment and proceeded deeper into the passage, resuming his original objective.

Nie Yan paid closer attention to the surrounding walls, but it led to no further discoveries.

A dozen or so minutes later, as he swam along the narrow passageway, he saw a sliver of light shining from above. Following it, he swam and eventually reached the water’s surface, whereupon he was greeted by the sight of an enormous room that could seemingly fit several hundred people. At the very center was a golden sarcophagus. It was five meters long, two meters wide, and two meters tall, and its surface was covered in delicate carvings, most of which were depictions of various dragons.

Besides the sarcophagus, the room was void of anything else.

It doesn’t seem like there are any monsters here. Nie Yan leapt out of the water and onto dry ground, then walked toward the giant sarcophagus. Right behind him, Dark Gladiator burst out of the water and positioned itself in a location not far from him.

Sulgata’s Shadow was a legendary Thief item and possessed much history behind it. Reportedly, the Lord of Sulgata, Seres Thoth, wore this piece of equipment during his reign in the Dark Era. However, when the conflict broke out, the item was shattered into three fragments. Now, it merely awaited the day when it would be restored. When all three fragments were retrieved, the powerful magical item would then finally make its reappearance in the world.

Each individual fragment was useless on its own. Thus, he could only wait until he possessed all three fragments for the item to have any effects. More importantly, however, was the fact that Nie Yan knew the location of the two other fragments. The second fragment was located in a Level 30 area, and the third was located in a Level 60 one. Although Level 30 and Level 60 seemed far away, he at least had definite goals for the future.

Legendary-grade equipment were items countless players coveted but were unable to obtain. Since there was an opportunity to obtain one, there was no chance Nie Yan could possibly let it pass by. He’d seize this fragment first and then wait until his level rose appropriately before seeking out the other two. Although it wouldn’t provide any immediate benefits, he was laying a path for the future that would pay off in the long-term.

As he drew closer, he discovered lines of characters carved on the stone above the sarcophagus. Like the totemic carvings he saw before, the characters here were also written in Dragon Tongue.

「TOMB OF LORD SERES THOTH」

「WHOEVER DISTURBS HIS REST WILL BE CURSED!」

The item Nie Yan had been searching for was located inside this sarcophagus, so it was, of course, necessary for him to open it!

The fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow was within his reach!

However, the very same moment, Dark Gladiator suddenly walked over and stood by Nie Yan’s side. The pale cyan flames in its eye sockets flickered even more intensely as it stared at the golden sarcophagus. Although it was a lower life form without intelligence nor a sense of fear, its instincts had driven it to protect him.

In response, Nie Yan glanced at Dark Gladiator’s information window. It seemed it had been inflicted with a status effect when they entered this tomb.

Dark Oppression: All stats are reduced by 20%.

Dark Gladiator’s stats had actually been reduced by a full twenty percent.

As Nie Yan began to wonder what sort of terrifying entity lurked inside this sarcophagus, traces of hesitation arose in his heart. If he was unable to retrieve the fragment of Sulgata’s Shadow and died instead, it would be a situation where he tried to steal a chicken and ended up losing the rice used to lure it.

Regarding the pyramid, all of the information he possessed came from hearsay, so he wasn’t knowledgeable of the finer details, and he was even more clueless when it came to the golden sarcophagus before him.

Will I be able to use a Return Scroll inside this tomb?

Nie Yan took out a Return Scroll and tested it to see. He was able to activate it without a problem! After confirming that he could still use the scroll to escape, the tension he felt abated significantly. In the worst case scenario, he’d grab the item and use the Return Scroll to escape. Besides, no matter how useless Dark Gladiator became, at the very least, it could still act as a meat shield for a brief period of time.

Risk and reward were two sides of the same coin. If he didn’t take any risks, how would he be able to reap any rewards?

Nie Yan resolved himself and walked up to the sarcophagus. Feeling around it, he found a small metal button protruding to the side. This was the activating mechanism for opening the sarcophagus! He reluctantly pushed the button and swiftly retreated behind Dark Gladiator. If anything dangerous emerged, he could only rely on Dark Gladiator to shield him.

The interior mechanisms of the sarcophagus slowly turned, emitting a sound that could cause a person to quake in fear. The lid slowly began moving away, and the friction of metal grinding against metal produced a sharp sound resembling nails on a chalkboard.

After the sarcophagus completely opened, a mummified corpse wearing a set of heavy armour appeared before Nie Yan’s eyes. It had completely rotted away; all that remained was skin and bones. The corpse wore a golden crown on its head. Its arms were folded flat across its stomach where both palms grasped a golden longsword pointed upwards. It was clear that, at the time of burial, the person died with a solemn and dignified expression.

Crusadium, Blacklight Crystal… Nie Yan scanned his eyes over the materials of the armour as his heart rate progressively increased. These were all priceless items!

Unfortunately, the equipment on this corpse weren’t items he could use. They were all incredibly heavy, and in his current state, even if he exerted all of his strength, he would be unable to budge it by so much as an inch.

At a first glance, when Nie Yan swept over the rest of the coffin and found a wooden case resting by the corpse’s side, it seemed exceedingly ordinary. For it to be put in such a luxurious sarcophagus made it seem somewhat out of place. However, his expression brightened immediately upon laying eyes on it. This box was exactly what he came for.

At this point, Nie Yan felt like his heart was going to leap out of his chest.

Sulgata’s Shadow: an item that would cause countless Thieves to drool over it, was quietly sitting right in front of him! It was right within reach and so readily available as well! This sort of situation would cause not only him but anyone to feel like they were on cloud nine!