Treasure Hunting Time!

"That is… treasure hunting!"

"Treasure… hunting?"

Faruk successfully draws her interest, "(I did it. Let's push this further!) Hm. Adventurers love doing it. There are many treasure chests in a dungeon, yet only a few can find most of them. This dungeon may be odorous and ill-looking, but it still houses some valuable treasures!"

"Oooh…!"

"This treasure chest…" Faruk flied above the opened brown chest. "…is one of many treasures you can find in here. Potions, unique materials, weapons, even precious gems that can be sold!"

"Waah…!"

"Well, Oria? What do you say? Are you up for a treasure hunt?"

"That sounds fun! Let's do it!"

"Hm. Hm. Very well, then."

The little girl is brimmed with excitement. She's eager to search for treasures now. Meanwhile, Faruk chuckles as the girl checks the treasure chest again to see whether there's anything she missed.

"(How nostalgic… it has been around 500 years since I told dungeon explorers and adventurers about treasures in dungeons like this…)"

"Faruk, let's go!" said Oria excitedly. "There's nothing left in that brown chest, so come on!"

The Silver Dragon sighs with proudness, "Hmph…" and then he follows the little girl.

They reach a corridor with only six pillars hugging the wall, each with a single torch hanging on top. There's a running small stream of those dirty water by the edge of the paved floor. Lastly, there's a doorway by the end of the corridor. Oria's Pathfinder skill tells her to go just straight past the road, but Faruk gives her a different idea.

"This corridor may look like a straightforward path. But little would know that there are two treasure chests hidden."

"Two? Umm…" Oria's eyes immediately searched around all corners, but… "There's no treasure as far as I see…"

"Of course, there's none. It's not treasure hunting if it is right in front of your eyes," Faruk said in sarcastic tone, in which Oria replies.

"So, what to do?"

"Hm. Use your observations, Oria. See if there's anything out of the ordinary within this corridor."

"Anything…?" the girl gazed at every corner of the corridor once again. Her eyes search for anything strange. It doesn't take long for her to find one.

"Oh, Faruk! I think one of those six torches is… slightly lower than the others," said Oria pointing her finger at the torch by the middle-left pillar. It is positioned lower than the rest.

Faruk applauds her, "Well done. You've found one."

"Heehee. Umm… What to do next?"

"Things like that torch being lower than the rest indicates a hidden passage that can be accessed. To find this 'hidden passage', we must take a closer look at that torch."

Oria hurries to the middle-left pillar. The torch is positioned higher than her, so, it's impossible for her to reach up there and see it up close.

"Aww… I'm not tall enough…!" she pouted.

"Hmph, well guess we should find another—

"—Oh! I have an idea!" The little girl exclaimed, cutting Faruk's words.

She rushes back to where she found the brown treasure box. Faruk follows her, wondering what she's going to do. Upon finding the treasure again, she tries lifting it up by herself.

"What are you doing, Oria?" The eyeball frowned.

"Heehee. As expected, ugh… this empty chest wasn't heavy. I can use this…"

"H-Hey… where are you taking that…?"

Surprisingly, the little girl carries the looted chest and puts it down beneath the oddly positioned torch. There, she climbs above the box. Her light weight allows her to stand firmly atop the old chest without breaking it apart. Finally, her small hand can reach the handle of the torch.

"Hey, careful there! Don't get your face too close to the fire!"

"Okayyy! Umm… I wonder why this torch is put lower than the rest…" the little girl picked up the torch from its place. Then, something is triggered.

"Eh? What's happening?" she said a bit surprised.

The wall where the torch was moves. It shifts inwards, then slides to the right side, revealing a treasure chest hidden in that tight hidden space.

"Oooh! Faruk, look, a treasure chest!"

"Ah… h-hm, nice work, Oria. (Never did I think a treasure chest would be used as a foothold like that…)"

While still having the torch in her hand, she goes into the tight space and witnesses the chest in brown color. Switching the torch to her left hand, she opens the chest. In there, she finds three small bottles of potion. The liquid is green.

"More herbal potions!"

Her eyes are brimming with excitement upon finding them. She picks them all up and stores them in her shirt pockets. Then, she returns to Faruk with a happy face.

"I found three potions in there, Faruk."

"Hm. Good."

"Umm… but what should I do with this treasure box I put here…?" she looked at the chest that she used as a foothold.

"J-Just leave it there. No need to worry about it."

"Oh, okay, then!"

"Now, let's find another one."

"Umm… what should we do? The remaining torches are aligned perfectly with each other."

"Observe again. Is there anything else?"

Oria tries searching around again. "Umm… Nothing much as far as I can see…"

"If there's nothing you can see, try to think out of the box."

She looks at him in a curious gaze, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Look at the corridor again but in a different perspective. Don't just set your focus on those torches, Oria. There are many things that can be considered out of the ordinary. The walls, the pillars, or even anything. Try observing from a different spot, you might find something."

"Got it. I'll give it a try!"

Oria walks around the short corridor, trying to find an abnormality within the walls. "Hmm… there's nothing odd with these walls…"

She then tries again, but this time, she inspects the pillars one by one. A few minutes has passed, yet she finds nothing from them aside cracked surfaces.

"Oooh… this is harder than I thought…"

Oria tries to look at a different perspective. "The walls are mossy, the floor is pretty normal, umm… the pillars look fine. What could it be?"

"Is there anything odd you found, yet?" Faruk asked.

"Aww, not yet. Faruk. Oh, will you help me—"

"In your dreams. If I tell you where, then the treasure might as well be for me and not for you!"

"Hnn…" the little girl pouted adorably. Even so, her unintended cuteness didn't change the dragon's mind. He still insists that she finds it on her own.

"Oh, right. Maybe the hidden passage has something!" she goes to the secret room where she found the hidden treasure. Her small stature allows free movement in there. With the torch alighting the tight room, she finds nothing but more moss.

"Oooh… nothing at all…"

Oria begins to sound desperate. She trudges back to Faruk in a pouting expression. The floating eyeball does not change expression at all when seeing her like that. Not long afterwards…

"Different perspective… huh…?" Oria wondered. In her wondrous gaze, she tilts her head a bit. Her eyes focused on the doorway by the end of the corridor.

"Huh…? Huh? Huh!" she noticed something.

In her sights, she detects a motif from the mosses by the walls by each side of the doorway. It's hard to notice if one's eyes are not focused to the door. The mosses on the corridor and the torches also align with the motif there.

"I notice… something…"

Then…

<Conditions are met. Focused Eye Lv.2 achieved!>

"Eh? (My Focused Eye just leveled up? Wait… Whoa! Oooh! I can see things clearer!)"

Her eyesight becomes sharper. Now, she can see the motifs better. Then, she discovers the clean parts between the mosses forming a long trail. Her eyes follow the long trail, which leads to one of the bricks on the floor pavement by the edge of the corridor. She proceeds to that brick, followed by Faruk.

"So, what did you find?" he asked.

"I saw a trail pointing to this brick here, Faruk… now, what do I do…"

"(So, she can actually find it by herself, huh…) Hm. Well done on finding it," said Faruk.

"Eh? Is it really the out-of-the-ordinary thing you spoke of?"

Faruk nods, "Hm. It is. Now, try pushing it downwards."

"Okay…" the little girl pushes the stone brick down. Then, a clicking sound is heard. The floor at the center of the corridor slides open, revealing a short staircase that leads to the very thing Oria is looking for.

"Wooow! There it is! We found it, Faruk! The treasure!" she yelled cheerfully. "Come on, let's go and see what's in there!"

The two goes down there. Oria still brings the torch in her hand to light the path down. There, they discover a treasure chest, but in red color and gold trims.

"Huh… this treasure is red…" she looked at Faruk.

"Hm. This treasure chest is a special chest. It usually contains a unique material or probably an accessory."

"That's cool!"

"Go on and open it. See what's in there."

"Heehee. Okay, here goes!"

Oria grasped the chest and moves the lid upwards. Inside, she finds two different items.

"Oh! Look, Faruk! Isn't this a hairclip?" Oria immediately grabs the first one. Faruk looks at her for a moment in a confused gaze and immediately turns his attention to the other content in the chest

"Uhh… oh, well," Oria shrugged. The delightful piece of accessory reflects the light from the torch in her hand. "This shining hairclip… is like a star!"

In her hand is an accessory that takes the form of a diamond star. It has three spikes between every point of the star, twelve in total. It has a glistening blue hue almost like a shining stone complimented with a black color taking half of every point and spike.

"It's so… beautiful…!"

Oria's eyes are captivated by how pretty the hairclip is. She tries them on by putting it on her left part of her hair.

"Umm… Faruk, how do I look?" she showed it to the Silver Dragon.

"Hm. It's fitting for you. Now, for the other item…" Faruk said blandly. He's more focused to the other thing in that chest.

The little girl, of course, frowns. "Hnn… (Well, he's a dragon… how foolish of me to expect him to compliment my looks when I'm a completely different being… Oh, right, I've yet to appraise this hairclip…)"

She appraises the accessory, and this is what she gets:

<ASTRAL SAFIR>

Desc: A sapphire hairclip that has the shape of a diamond star. Can be enchanted with magistone.

"So, its name is Astral Safir… what a mystical name…"