Chapter 23: Returning to Mondstadt
Depending on their strength, Ruin Guards could drop three useful materials - Chaos Devices, Chaos Circuits, and Chaos Cores.
These Ruin Guards were not very strong, just yielding Chaos Devices.
Like Slime Condensate, Chaos Devices could be used as material for alchemically enhancing weapons. Though mechanical in nature, they contained unusual energy and were considered rare.
After gathering the spoils, Nolan said to Noelle and Vile:
"Let's go see what's inside the ruins."
"Uh-huh."
They nodded lightly, also curious about the unknown ruins.
Soon, the three of them walked into the dark passageway where the Ruin Guards came out. The stone walls had some moss growing on them, giving people the feeling of a long history.
Durable hunting shoes, Lightweight ladies' boots, and knee-high armor boots - only these three different footsteps echoed softly in the quiet passageway.
Perhaps the serene surroundings made them unconsciously avoid chatting and disturbing the atmosphere.
This Ruins passageway seemed to be newly excavated by the Treasure Hoarders Group, and no one had discovered it before, so it had to be said that they were really lucky.
After walking almost a few dozen meters, the three of them came to a more open space, surrounded by many traces of the Ruins Guards that had been parked when they were not activated, the five relic guards outside might have gone out from here.
There is a stone door on the right side, which has been opened, before going in again, Nolan noticed that there is a stone tablet outside the door, what is written on it seems to be the way to unlock the seal. It read:
Golden reflections upon clear lake waters;
Crystal of lightning in stone crevice;
Primordial slime fluids of fire;
Fragment from jet-black meteorite;
Forbidden scroll of Hilichurl shaman;
Fill the five slots of the stone door in sequence, to undo this seal!
"Isn't this too obvious? Shouldn't unlocking seals involve cryptic clues that rely purely on guesswork?" Nolan complained.
"Not necessarily. Ordinary people would still find these materials hard to obtain," Vile pondered for a moment and shook her head.
"Looks like knight novels aren't fully accurate after all," Noelle said regretfully.
The main characters in the books had gone through a lot of hardships to gain their rewards, Not everything matched reality.
"Oh well, let's see if there's really a Secret Ruins inside," Nolan concluded.
Since the seal had already been unlocked everyone didn't continue to care about it, and in no time at all, they crossed the stone door to the inside, which was likewise a simple stone room.
Right in the center was a stone altar plateau, which likely meant to hold some artifact, but unfortunately, it was taken away by the people from the Treasure Hoarders group.
"Look guys, it's the Secret Ruins!"
Vile said in surprise, pointing to the right corner.
Nolan sniffed and looked over, only to see a massive spatial rift tear hovered quietly, the rift in space wasn't void and deep black, instead, it looked like a starry sky, dotted with stars.
"Is this the entrance to a Secret Ruins?" Nolan had seen it in-game but was still awed to witness it up close in reality.
"Hmm... It's also the first time I've seen one, I don't know the principles behind it. If it were the learned Miss Lisa, she'd probably understand," Noelle said, equally surprised.
"Should we go in and take a look, the more information we gather, the more valuable it'll be!" Vile said with some excitement.
Nolan gave her an "Are you serious" look, at a loss for words.
"Miss Vile, we don't know what's inside. Going blindly is too dangerous. We should leave it to the Adventurers' Guild's experts," Noelle advised gently.
Nolan who had played the game knew that no matter what kind of Secret Ruins, there was a high probability that there would be a bunch of monsters. He was afraid of appearing in a pile of monsters as soon as he went in.
Nolan felt it was better not to be so reckless.
"Now that we've confirmed an actual Secret Ruins, let's head back for today," Nolan suggested.
They'd been out on the commission quite a while. Returning to Mondstadt now, it would be nightfall.
"Alright."
Vile naturally understood the reasoning behind this, and disheveledly lowered her hands and hung her head.
Along the way they came, the three of them walked out of the ruins passageway, and then began to return to Mondstadt City, while also betting on a few members of the Treasure Hoarders.
Overall, Nolan was quite satisfied with this adventure.
On the return trip, they divided the spoils. Despite Noelle's protests, he insisted she take a share. After all, she had contributed the most this time. He couldn't let her suffer for nothing.
The Slime Condensate obtained from defeating Slimes as well as the Chaos Devices of the Ruin Guards could sell quite a few Mora.
Vile accepted her portion nonchalantly, and in return for saving her life, she was also willing to help sell these materials. They could split the Mora after seeing the total.
Nolan had no objections. In the end, soft-hearted Noelle reluctantly agreed under his firm attitude.
[Noelle Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 50 Affection Points. Current Affection Level Lv.2 (30/200)]
[ Vile Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 30 Affection Points. Current Affection Level Lv.3 (2/300)]
To Nolan's delight, their affection had grown. They could be considered close friends now.
Just as the sunlight became golden and the sun was about to set, Nolan and the three of them finally saw Mondstadt from afar, the magnificent city wall looked as epic as magnificent under the golden sunlight.
More and more adventurers on their way back could be seen nearing the city, some in groups likely from the same party.
Instead, there were not many who were scattered and alone.
After all, without strong strength, it was not only difficult but also dangerous for adventurers to venture out alone.
Back inside Mondstadt City, Nolan's trio first handed over a few Treasure Hoarders to the Knights of Favonius, patrolling the city. The Knights also offered public commendation and rewards.
Vile hurriedly said no, her identity as an intelligence broker was not suitable to be known by too many people, with letting everyone recognize her in the future, how could she collect intelligence?
As for Noelle, although she had not yet become a Knight of Favonius, she had always demanded herself by the standard of a Knight, so naturally, she would not accept the praise and reward.
As for Nolan, it didn't matter if he was praised or not, but he still wanted the reward money. However, with both girls declining, he had no choice but to act likewise, reluctantly letting it go.
After bidding farewell to the patrolling Knights, they came to the Adventurer's Guild to submit their commission.
After Confirming the completion of the Commission, they received a 100,000 Mora. Noelle accepted half without protest this time. This time she also understood that she couldn't refuse and didn't say no more about not needing anything.
What was rather unexpected during this time was that there was a young male with unusual clothing who was handing out flyers to the people passing by.
Nolan and the others were also stuffed with one, and curiously looked at it, simply saying that it was a new recruitment for an adventure group called 「Verdant Wings」, with very good benefits, and there were adventurer mentors who would accompany newbies, take them on adventures and so on.
It was a common thing for adventure groups to recruit new members, so Nolan didn't care too much about it.
Then there was the news about the discovery of the Secret Ruins, and after thinking about it everyone decided to tell the Adventurers' Guild.
Maybe selling it to those large adventure groups could get more Mora, but it was more troublesome.
First of all, we have to look at the reputation of the adventuring group, and also compare the prices offered by different adventuring groups, then we can choose the one with the biggest gain.
It was simpler to just tell the Adventurers' Guild directly. The Adventurers' Guild wouldn't take their information for nothing.
(End of Chapter)
To be continued...
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