Our Treasures

A burnt smell came from the remains of the blood-seeking vines, which had been scorched to the point where it was almost impossible to tell their original shape. Arias stepped on the remains of the blood-seeking vines before leaning down to pick up a wooden box. Surprisingly, the box did not sustain any unintentional damage from the fight between Arias and the blood-seeking vines.

It looked like a normal wooden box, but Arias knew very well that it was not something that ordinary. The box was made of fine material and securely inscribed with a protective magic circuit. Judging from the strength of the protective circuit, the person who crafted this box must have been at least on the sage level. No matter how much Arias tried to open it, he still could not.

“Perhaps I’m not strong enough to open it at my current level.”

Arias eventually gave up on trying to open the box. He could only sigh disappointedly before storing the wooden box away in his dimensional ring.

Arias turned his attention away from the wooden box and took out all of the beastcores from his dimensional ring once again. 28 mid-level beastcores and 4 high-level beastcores were put down in front of Arias before he began to absorb them.

The way that Arias had been in a constant rush to absorb the magic power over the past several days was not a very popular method. This was because it had the potential to create a disbalance of magic power inside the body that might cause uncontrollable turbulence of magic power. However, it was almost like this dungeon was created to be a great fix for Arias’ power disbalance problem, because after absorbing magic power from beastcores, Arias would always get to refine the magic power inside of him through continuous fighting.

“Such a greedy core of magic. I’ll surely be wasting a lot more resources in the future.”

Arias opened his eyes with a small sigh. The lightning inside his core of magic absorbed power from beastcores like a hungry demon. But after absorbing the 28th mid-level beastcore, his power level did not increase as he had hoped. Though his power had become stronger, it was still on the rank of a first-level adept.

Arias gritted his teeth before he began to absorb the remaining beastcores again. Since he reached the adept level, Arias felt like absorbing beastcores had become much easier. While he still felt small pain when absorbing power from beastcores, he could tell it was not the same as it had been in the past. He had no idea if this happened because his power had become stronger or the magic power in his body had already gotten used to the power of beastcores.

Arias opened his eyes with a delighted smile adorning his face. After absorbing 3 high-level beastcores, Arias’ power had finally reached the second level of adept. There was still one high-level beastcore left in Arias’ hand, but he chose not to absorb it and kept it in his dimensional ring. He might need this in the future.

Arias came to a pause in front of two doors once again. This time, he chose to take a moment to decide.

“Looks like I’ve spent too much time in this dungeon. I wonder what the situation is at the manor. They must be frantically looking for me.”

A small concern started to form in Arias’ mind. He had no idea how his parents were doing. The situation back at the manor was also concerning. He had been so absorbed in fighting for the past several days that he forgot all about the situation outside.

Arias chose to walk past the door on the left to return to the outside world once again. The light from the door brightened before it enveloped Arias’ body until he disappeared from the spot.

After Arias was gone from the dungeon, the scorched remains of the blood-seeking vines slowly and mysteriously disappeared. The same happened to the bodies of beasts on the fifth floor; they slowly turned into specks of light and eventually disappeared. This occurrence mysteriously happened on every floor of the dungeon.

A huge pair of golden eyes appeared amidst the dim light of the dungeon. They were eyes that gave off a formidable air. Just looking into these eyes could make you feel like you were petrified by a spell.

“A mortal who consumes the power of beasts, in the end, was but a toddler who was unable to clear this dungeon. How disappointing.”

The sound echoed throughout every floor of the dungeon before those eyes faded away once again.

.

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At the entrance of the dungeon, Tyko’s group sat waiting in front of the door in boredom. On the one hand, they were worried that the one they had been waiting for might have already lost their life inside of the dungeon. But suddenly, the light of the door brightened, accompanied by the appearance of a tall young man with a well-sculpted face. Though his clothes were full of rips and tears like old abandoned cloth, they could not hide his proportionate body. Though he was not as heavily built as Tyko, Arias’ body was now full of lean muscles. He looked nothing like the Arias who had been branded as the worthless presence of the Scarcia Clan.

They quickly got up with eyes full of unconcealable greed, excited like a child receiving a gift from their mother. Their eyes glanced toward Arias’ finger which was adorned by a high-level dimensional ring with greed. Ruber and Paeter were a bit taken aback upon sensing the power of a second-level adept, but once they turned to meet Tyko’s eyes, they were able to smile once again. Though the young man in front of them had power on the same level as Tyko, they still had the upper hand considering that there were three of them. And, in terms of fighting experience, this young man definitely could not compete against their boss.

Arias furrowed his brows as he looked at them with surprise. But as soon as he looked into their eyes, he was able to understand everything without much difficulty.

“Hey, hey, hey, young man. You just went into the dungeon, didn’t you?”

Paeter was the first to approach Arias and ask.

“You could see that I just came out of it, why are you still asking?”

“My friend asked you nicely! How about you give a nice answer? Don’t be a brat or you'll make us lose our temper.”

Ruber yelled loudly. In actuality, he would not have dared threaten a second-level adept if it was not for Tyko having his back. In fact, he would not even dare look the first-level adept in the eyes.

“Who are you to demand answers from me? And would you just get out of my way? You’re blocking me. I am in a hurry.”

Arias said in irritation before walking away without paying attention to them.

“I suggest you evaluate your situation.”

Tyko stood blocking Arias, and the power of a second-level adept was released to threaten the young man. Tyko had been stuck at the second-level of adept for several years, which made his power almost on par with a third-level adept. This was why he was not afraid of Arias.

But it seemed like his action had no effect on Arias. Even a high-level adept would not be able to make Arias feel threatened, so there was no way a second-level adept would scare him.

Arias looked at the huge body that was almost a foot taller than him with disdain. His eyes then glanced over to Paeter and Ruber who were closing in on him to block his escape path. In Arias’ eyes, these people were worth no more than those goblins he slaughtered inside the dungeon.

“You know, the three of us discovered this dungeon just like you did. Since we all discovered the dungeon, I don’t think it’s fair that you’re the only one to take away all the treasures.”

Tyko said while acting like an upholder of moral standards. But for Arias, it seemed like a sickening kind of justice.

“Our treasures should be equally divided between us. So, hand over that dimensional ring in your hand, kiddo. Then we can fairly split the treasures.”

Ruber added, his eyes not leaving the dimensional ring in Arias’ hand for even a fraction of a second. He did not even conceal any of the wickedness and greed in his eyes.

“Hahaha...you called it ‘our treasures’? That’s a funny choice of words.”

Arias laughed mockingly. His eyes were full of scorn as he glanced their way.

“Since we gave you a nice offer but you chose to keep all our treasures to yourself, then don’t say that we’re cruel. Kill him!”

A ruthless smile appeared on Tyko’s face. He immediately shouted out an order to have his two underlings attack Arias.

The silver blade was swung in front of Arias without much of a warning. Fireballs simultaneously attacked him from two directions.

“Where the hell were you aiming!?”

Paeter and Ruber’s Fireballs did not even come close to touching the tip of Arias’ hair. The only thing they had hit was Tyko’s sword which had swung into emptiness. Even as Tyko was shouting angrily, there was no reply coming from his two underlings. He turned his head to look at Ruber and Paeter with discontent but was met with a shocking sight. One body dropped to the ground, bearing a fresh wound on its neck. The other body was stabbed through by a sword and was slowly losing its life in pain. The reaper who had just taken their souls was no other than the one whom they had planned to rob the treasure from.

“Y-you...who are you?”

Fear started to take hold of Tyko’s heart. Even as a second-level adept like Arias, Tyko was not capable of killing high-level acolytes in a split second like this. He looked at the young man who had just killed two of his underlings with dread. The lightning that was enveloping the young man’s body was like lightning serpents; it made the person in front of him look several times more terrifying. The murderous intent exuding from the young man’s body told him that he had no way of escaping anymore. He finally chose to push forward to attack Arias. The power of an Earth-Wielder was forced out of his body to the limit. His body turned dark brown and the muscles on his body visibly expanded.

Arias was also not standing idle and waiting to be attacked. His body charged toward Tyko at high speed.

Earth Wall!

A magic circle appeared in front of Tyko as the Earth element formed itself into a dark brown wall of soil in front of him.

“There’s no way you can get through this. The element of Earth’s strength is its defense!”

Tyko yelled out with confidence.

BOOM!

Flaming Thunder Fury!

But that confidence vanished in a split second. The Earth Wall was destroyed by furious lightning within a split second. It shattered to pieces. Tyko started to doubt whether this young man was a human or was he a beast that had escaped from the dungeon.

It looked like this decision was the most foolish one he had ever made in his entire life. But it seemed like the realization came to him when it was too late. The sword in his hand broke into halves by the blow of the Shadow Demon Sword.

“Don’t!”

But it looked like Tyko’s cry was unable to stop the Shadow Demon Sword that was surrounded by furious lightning. The sword delivered a precise blow at the vital part of his body. Arias’ attack was not unlike that of a well-trained assassin. He knew all the vital parts that could kill a person. Tyko’s body slowly dropped to the ground, the sound it made was like when a huge tree had fallen. He was finally taken down.

“If you plan to kill someone, do not expect mercy. And remember my name, it’s Arias Scarcia!”

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