GREED

At the topmost parts of the snowy Northern Wastelands, there existed immeasurably deep ravine. Sliced at two sides flatly, as if done by a majestic, mountain-tall sword, the ravine, at the very top, was almost a kilometer wide, but narrowed as it went deeper. A few months ago, this place was home to a majestic Relon Tribe, whose population numbered in several hundred thousands. Yet, at the moment, the land surrounding the ravine was completely barren. This was solely because of the thick, black smoke that bellowed from the depths of this abyss.

Full moon hung up high in the sky, casting slight light at the frozen tundra beneath. Surrounding the ravine were several mountains and forests, and a massive valley where the tribe used to live. One could still see leftover huts and buildings, completely abandoned.

Suddenly, the ground quaked and shook deeply, and a distant roar, filled with immense terror and dread, erupted from the depths of the ravine. As the ground shook, web-like cracks sprung along, and the mountains begun collapsing. Trees were uprooted and fell, and the winds were roused, causing a massive hurricane. The thick, black smoke suddenly gathered and bolted out of the ravine. It was merely thumb-sized chunk, but it carried the depths of strength very few could understand. The black chunk of smoke’s greatest feature were two holes; they were scarlet red and gave of the light of primordial evil. As they scanned the surroundings and floated in the air for some time, the chunk suddenly turned around and went back into the ravine’s depths. If one had keen ears, they would have been able to hear a fading whisper coming directly from the black chunk of smoke: Almost there…

**

Lynne was currently walking with a rather frustrated expression. Despite the fact that he had gotten himself a majestic mount, he was still traveling on foot. As for the reason, it was Anna and Elynal. Due to the fact that the ancient city wouldn’t open for another few months, there was no reason to rush there. In addition, because they were ambushed shortly after leaving the sect’s grounds, the two concluded they’d move inconspicuously, trying not to draw any unwanted attention. Flying in the air on the back of a Six Evolutions Ice Phoenix was the true opposite of that, so they wholeheartedly rejected Lynne’s idea.

Luckily, once creature evolved at least five times, they could shrink their original size exponentially. Currently, the majestic Ice Phoenix was the size of a monkey, and it was resting on Lynne’s shoulder. On one, there was the furry beast, and on the other was a chunk of ice. Lynne truly appeared quite strange with these two beasts in tow, but there was nothing he could do. He had used Heaven’s Writ – treasure that can now be used only four more times – so he had to bring the Ice Phoenix with him. As for the monkey, the little creature was the source of heavenly herbs and ingredients he needed for Alchemy. Dammit! He cursed inwardly. It’s like I’m building a zoo!!

As the ancient city wouldn’t open for a while, and they didn’t need to rush there, Anna and Elynal had planned some side activities to fill up time along the way. One such activity took place today. In the ancient scripts, Elynal had uncovered existence of a massive tomb, called simply Emperor’s Tomb. As it was the case with everything, even tombs themselves had grades and ranks, and Emperor’s Tomb was by no means a small matter.

Starting with Mortal’s Tomb, one that would usually have army generals and such figures, to Royal Tomb, Emperor Tomb, Magus Tomb and Heavenly Tomb. The rank was based upon the figure that was buried there, but it didn’t necessarily mean that the tomb would have more riches if it was of higher rank.

The trio didn’t know whether the Emperor’s Tomb Elynal discovered was already unearthed, but it didn’t hurt to check out. Prominent figures would usually bury their most precious treasures and items alongside themselves, and with the passage of time, as their own kin and family would slowly perish, there was no one to guard such tombs, leaving them exposed to excited adventures.

According to the few passages, the Emperor’s Tomb was located slightly to the south of the continent, moving east. It used to be built in a massive valley and had a whole city surrounding it, but with the passage of time, the city had completely eroded and sank to beneath the ground, while the tomb was, without doubt, hidden beneath the trees and weed.

The location led them to a thick forest of pine trees, the shortest of which was still over ten meters tall. There was no discernible road as they had to cascade down a steep cliff in order to reach it. Bushes and weed sprung around much like trees, further conveying the thickness of the forest. It didn’t take a keen eye to see that this forest was left untouched for a long, long time.

Even though the population of each Kingdom was immensely massive, the land itself was more than enough to accommodate any number of citizens. As each Kingdom usually had several dozen major cities where majority of population settled, vast amount of land was left untouched, similarly to this forest. The land was extremely old, so it wasn’t odd that someone would luckily stumble upon a treasure or inheritance when cruising through these abandoned regions. Due to this, there was even a profession named after such people: Treasure Seekers.

However, only those who didn’t have any other choice would actually dare embark on such a path. Chances of discovering something worth even a single gold coin were exceedingly rare, and perhaps one person in one hundred thousand would come across it. This was why Lynne wasn’t exceptionally excited about their detour. Even if there was, by some ludicrous chance, a hidden tomb somewhere here, chances of it actually having something worth a damn were almost zero.

Nonetheless, as he had little to no experience in adventuring, he left such decisions to Anna and Elynal, and thus the trio arrived here. He sent the monkey ahead to scout, as the little creature was extremely sensitive to any spacial fluctuations, which natural treasures often caused. If there truly was a tomb here, the monkey would be able to discover it.

The trio calmly sat down in front of the forest as they started fire. Ice Phoenix scuttled away into a corner near the cliff and fell asleep. The night was slowly deepening, and distant howls and roars of beasts echoed out throughout the sky. This was the time Lynne would either sleep or concoct pills, but he simply wasn’t in the mood so he decided to silently ponder over the Spell Arts he had at the moment.

Save for the Elemental Blade, which he had advanced understanding of, all of his other Spell Arts were stuck at the basic understanding. Comprehending Spell Arts was an exhausting and ardous process, and even with Lynne’s innate Gift of Comprehension, it wasn’t something that can be done over night, especially Spell Arts as deep as Starcarrier. Lynne was rather interested in a Spell Art created by the Headmaster; even at basic understanding, when infused with another spell, the potency of the latter would increase by as much as 30%. The drawback, though, was its insane Mana consumption. A single cast would consume quarter of his Mana reserves, which is why he scarcely used it.

However, with his current Rank, it was simply impossible for him to attain any larger understanding of the spell, so he left it alone for the moment. As for his Origin Spell, one he created when he became an Archmage and stepped into Magus Realm, Lynne hadn’t even touched it since then. Since the spell was pure utility and had no uses in combat, comprehending higher layers was much easier, and Lynne was confident in attaining grand understanding within a year, which was why he left it alone.

At the moment, he put his entire focus on Aqua Blade. The spell was exceedingly deep, surpassing even Headmaster’s Starcarrier, simply due to its nature. The spell simply provided a framework, a guideline of sort, and its usage was completely in Magus’ hands. It could either be a blade or a wall – that was the spell’s true strength. However, that was simply a surface level that Lynne managed to comprehend so far. As he pondered, he was forcibly woken by the scuttling of branches and bushes and he opened his eyes, seeing the monkey finally return.

“So?” Lynne asked indifferently.

“Yap, there’s definitely a tomb there,” the monkey replied excitingly. “And I don’t think it’s Emperor’s; I think it’s actually Magus Tomb.”

“What?!” both Anna and Elynal exclaimed in shock. If Emperor Tombs were as rare as winters in south, then Magus Tombs were one hundred times rarer. “Are you sure?!” Anna asked, disclined to believe.

“Of course I am! I felt at least several dozen, powerful spacial fluctuations. There are some really amazing natural treasures in there, so you can imagine how many man-made treasures will appear. However, there’s a slight problem.”

“There always is…” Lynne added, snorting slightly.

“What’s the problem?” Elynal ignored him and asked.

“It seems we aren’t the only ones who discovered the tomb. On my way there, I had actually discovered two groups, each numbering in about twenty people, weakest of which were at least Master Archmage. I’m afraid, if we want to get anything from there, it’s gonna be tough…”

“The weakest are at least Master Archmages?” if Lynne was indifferent before, he was truly shocked now. In their group, the strongest one – Elynal – was barely a peak Master Archmage. How could they possibly fight for the treasures?

“Hmm...” Anna pondered for a moment before her eyes flashed with a strange glint. “Since we’ve come this far, we can’t just run away. As there are two groups, there’s no doubt they will eventually end up in a fight, especially once they discover it’s a Magus Tomb. No sane person would want to share it. During the chaos, we can take the opportunity and sneak in. So, while the others fight, we’ll suck the entire tomb dry of treasures!” although Anna was usually calm girl with fine temperament, the allure of Magus Tomb was simply too great, and her usual, sweet smile had turned completely insidious as she licked her lips softly.

“You really think we’ll be able to sneak past at least forty people, each of which is stronger than us?” surprisingly, it was Lynne’s turn to be a voice of reason; he’d lie from the depths of his soul if he said he wasn’t interested greatly in the Magus Tomb, but the treasures were worthless if you died obtaining them. While greedy, Lynne was also an extremely calculating person; each risk he took had to have ten times the benefits, and even then he’d think it over at least hundred times before taking it. Otherwise, with his personality, he’d have offended someone long ago and died a miserable death.

“What are you afraid of?” Elynal reprimanded. Even he, the First Prince of the largest Empire, was beyond tempted, and cared very little for the other groups’ strength. In the face of profit, reason scarcely wins. “Unless they have someone who has mastered the Art of Space, during the battle, you really think they’ll be paying attention to anyone outside their enemies? Besides, even if we take a step back and say they have someone who mastered the Space, figures like them are usually weak in direct confrontation. If we are discovered, we’ll simply assassinate him before he has a chance to alert others.” … and they call me money-hoarder. Shameless, utterly shameless!

“Ugh, fine, if you want to go treasure hunting, we’ll go,” Lynne agreed, acting reluctant; in truth, he merely needed a push. Seeing how the monkey was excited, there was no doubt the tomb contained some heaven-shaking treasure. Just thinking about its worth caused Lynne to salivate. While calculating, it’s still too hard for him to suppress bone-deep greed in his soul.

As they all agreed, they suddenly moved silently, under cover of the night, with expressions of greed that were impossible to hide. Whatever the dangers were, in face of enormous profits, how could they simply turn a blind eye and do nothing?