An Old Coin

The sound of dripping water was amplified about ten times by the vast vault of the cave. At regular intervals, its echo reminded all who heard it that even a tiny drop of water could make a loud sound.

"Keep your eyes open," Lin Yuchen instructed the group of about ten students who formed a line behind him, "We are near the area designated by the Diviners. We should be seeing some treasure soon."

He led them around a perilous cliff only a couple feet wide. The only source of light were lamps strapped to everyone's heads, but not even they could illuminate the bottom of that drop. Lin Yuchen pretended it wasn't there and trekked on slovenly.

Soon they came into a level room with a low ceiling. Claustrophobic, sure, but at least the danger of falling to one's death was no more. The ground was littered with rocks and pebbles. Lin Yuchen sat down on a comfortable-looking one and sighed. Since it was really hot there, he took out a metal canteen and took a few gulps. Dozing a little, he couldn't get the dream he had last night out of his head. It had been occurring quite regularly for the past month. Meanwhile the students were busy swarming the place, looking for any traces of ancient artifacts.

"There's nothing here!" Ju Tianzong, a first-year student, sighed in frustration, "We've been in this miserable cave all day and haven't found so much as a shard of pottery."

"That's cause you aren't looking hard enough," Lin Yuchen barked, "Look harder."

Ju Tianzong's reply was nothing but grumbling.

They spent nearly thirty minutes scouring the room, turning over every pebble, but not a single man-made item did they find.

I don't even want to be an archaeologist. Who would want that job? Ju Tianzong's heart filled with resentment. Whether he had plans to become one or not, every scholar, even those who went on to become doctors or engineers, had to take at least two years of an archaeology class. It was not that it would be of any use to them later on, but mostly because professors like Lin Yuchen enjoyed having the free labor of undergrads at their disposal.

After a while Lin Yuchen stood up and scratched his head.

"That Diviner must have been full of crap. The nerve, sending us on this wild goose chase!"

He remembers earlier that day that Diviner looking bored out of his mind as he tossed sand onto the divination mat and mechanically flipped through the divination classic, before writing out, in almost illegible handwriting, the location of the cave that they were now exploring. "Next," he had said as soon as he finished shoving the paper into Lin Yuchen's hand, who at that moment figured, This guy is either a pro or a fraud.

Now the verdict was in: fraud.

Unfortunately, a Diviner was a necessary part of a successful excursion. The land was littered with caves, mountains and dungeons of all kinds, some with treasure, but most completely barren. A Diviner could at least point you in the right direction, otherwise it would be finding a needle in a haystack. However, Diviners were part of the Priest class, entitling them to hefty official salaries even as mere hirelings, so you would expect them to at least know what they were doing.

Scholars like Lin Yuchen and all students who entered higher education were also technically members of the Priest class, but ranked so low they might as well not be. They only knew the basics about being a Priest, nothing more than some history and a few formulas from the classical mystic texts. These were even tested on the entrance exam. Thus the students, professors and researchers of various disciplines made up a second, unofficial class within the Priest class: the Scholar class.

Despite that, only the top-ranking Scholars even received an official salary. The actual Priest hierarchy was very exclusive, and the upper echelons were filled only with senior members who descended from one of the five ancient priestly clans. For years now they lorded it over the Scholars, who were all too happy to grind away at books and essays late into the night for them.

Archaeologists like Lin Yuchen were among the most respected of the Scholars, because their work was considered vital to the realm. They were seen as selfless and dedicated gentlemen who also weren't afraid of getting their hands dirty, or even risking their lives to seek out ancient artifacts. However, after "studying" under Lin Yuchen, the students began to doubt that.

"You are all useless," he raved, "Can't you find something, so I don't have to go back to Professor Bai empty-handed?"

"He really is the worst."

"I can't believe someone so selfish became a teacher."

"I want to transfer..."

The students were all whispering things like this to each other, but to Lin Yuchen it just sounded like white noise in the almost pitch-black cave. He sighed again and began pacing.

The cave continued back for a couple more rooms, but after that it was clear they had reached the end. By then it was nothing but a tiny corridor almost completely blocked off by stalactites. It seemed to Lin Yuchen that they had no choice but to turn back. No sense wasting any more time here.

But just as they were about to do so, a quiet voice sounded, so quiet that over the sound of feet crunching on the rocky floor, it was almost inaudible.

"I think I found something."

Lin Yuchen couldn't tell whom the voice belonged to. He rushed to the source and found it had come from the shy girl with long hair. What a rare thing it was to hear her talk. Now that he thought of it, he couldn't even remember the last time she opened her mouth. He couldn't even remember her name.

"What did you find, Shujie?" another student said.

By now the whole group had crowded around Qiu Shujie with perturbed demeanors. She seemed to be trying to dislodge some dull object caught underneath a giant rock.

"Move over, let me try." Lin Yuchen wasn't the strongest man alive, but he was strong for a scholar. He managed to move the rock just enough to free the object.

He took it up and held it in front of his headlamp, where little golden specks could be seen dotted across the surface of a very dusty round thing. He put it in the middle of his hand and saw that took up almost his entire palm. And, it was a lot heavier than it looked. On its ancient surface, both back and front, were inscriptions that had almost completely weathered away. One had to really strain one's eyes in order to see them.

"That's amazing..."

"I've never seen anything like it!"

Some of the students were saying things like this. Others, like Ju Tianzong, rolled their eyes.

"Maybe this excursion wasn't a bust after all," Lin Yuchen gloated, "That Diviner did know what he was doing."

"What even is it?" asked Qiu Shujie.

"A coin," was Lin Yuchen's reply, "An old one."

It was definitely not a bad find. Though Lin Yuchen was no expert at appraising artifacts, he could tell just by looking at it that it was rare. You see, all the ancient artifacts in the world are the remains of the previous worlds. As far as mankind's knowledge went, there had been eight worlds in total. As this world was considered to be the eighth, the first world was the oldest, and the seventh the most recent. The first step in judging the value of any artifact was telling what world it came from, that is, how old it was.

"The consensus is that coins used as currency first appeared in the fifth world. Before that people only bartered or traded precious metals measured out by weight. However, most coins made in the sixth and seventh worlds were not made of gold; they tended to be made of nickel or copper. If that's correct, then this is at least as old as the fifth world. Qiu Shujie, you are officially my favorite student." Lin Yuchen might as well have been jumping for joy.

Qiu Shujie stared at the coin with a rare look of wonder in her eyes, as Lin Yuchen took off his backpack and stuffed it inside. He had left a lot of empty space in the backpack in hopes of finding tons of artifacts today. Now having found just this one, even though he was no where close to filling up the backpack, he was pleased beyond words.

"Alright, let's get out of here."

They left the cave.

That evening, Lin Yuchen wrote a letter to Professor Bai at the local inn. He described the coin very briefly and attached a photograph. While traveling, he did this whenever he found an artifact that was particularly interesting. Professor Bai, his boss and a member the Archaeology Council, was an impatient man and eager to hear every detail.

A reply came from Professor Bai a couple days later. In it he explained that the artifact was much rarer than Lin Yuchen initially believed, and he wanted him to return to the capital with his students as soon as possible to have a closer look. This came as a shock to Lin Yuchen. Normally when he went on these trips he would be gone for over a month, hitting several caves or mountains in the region. He had never been recalled in the middle of a trip like this, making him wonder just what kind of artifact Qiu Shujie discovered the other day.

He announced the change of plans to his students at once.

"Professor Bai has informed us that we are to return to the capital immediately," he said, "I expect you all to get packed and meet at the train station in an hour."

The expressions on his students' faces ranged from confusion to relief.