Treasure

Inside the Magical Beasts Forest, although there aren't powerful beasts, it's loved by many hunters because of the large number of small magical beasts out there.

Of course, these hunters are not ordinary peoples. They are either magicians or swordsmen.

Cecil is a swordsman. His harvest this time is quite impressive: three level 4 magical beast crystals, fifteen level 3 crystals, and around twenty to thirty level 2 and level 1 magic beast crystals. If he sells these, he can make quite a few diamond coins.

(If Ling Fan knew how valuable these magical beast crystals were, the creatures in this forest would have suffered long ago. There might not even be a trace left.)

The reason Cecil has so few level 2 and level 1 magic beast crystals is not because he had trouble killing them. He just doesn't consider them worthy of his intention of attacking. They are too weak, not worth his effort. After all, Cecil possesses the strength of a golden swordsman; these small creatures' ranks are few levels beneath him. If they didn't come seeking death themselves, Cecil wouldn't actively hunt them.

Although Cecil often hunts here, he isn't really short on money. He visits the Magic Beast Forest purely out of boredom. Another reason is that he doesn't want to waste his skills.

Cecil walks towards the city with a contented feeling when suddenly a strange sound comes from ahead.

Has he encountered another magical beast?

Thinking this, Cecil quietly followed the sound. He figures it's on his way, and getting a few more magical beast crystals wouldn't hurt.

In the distance, he sees what appears to be a pit on the ground, and the strange noises are coming from there.

Could it be a ground-type magical beast? But ground-type magical beasts shouldn't make such a commotion! Could it be mating season?

Suddenly, a wicked smile appears on Cecil's face. He moves quietly towards the edge of the pit.

"Master, there's nothing here!" Suddenly, a little girl's voice comes from the pit, startling Cecil.

How can there be someone here?

Since there are people, there's no need to sneak around. So Cecil walks openly towards the pit, coming right up to its edge.

He peeked inside and saw two little figures with their bodies filled with mud, about five to six meters deep in the pit, searching for something, looking rather funny.

Heh heh~

Cecil can't help but chuckle softly. He's truly witnessing such a funny scene for the first time. In his mind: These two kids are really something else. What are they doing here? They're not looking for hidden treasures, are they?

"Hey, what are you two doing here? Shouldn't you head home? It's dangerous here!" Cecil shouted using an adult tone, kindly advising them. Actually, anyone can tell from his tone that he's mocking these kids.

Ling Fan looked at Cecil like he's an idiot, and he didn't respond to him.

"Robin, keep looking. I feel like there's something here." Ling Fan says to Robin.

Robin also looks up at Cecil, then, hearing Ling Fan instruction, starts searching again in the muddy water.

Cecil, with his thick-skinned nature, didn't back off due to this. Instead, he becomes interested and sits down at the edge of the pit.

"Master, I think I found something." Robin's voice carries a hint of excitement.

Ling Fan hurriedly stopped what he was doing and came over. "Where is it?"

Cecil, watching the commotion from above, is now more intrigued. He was very curious about what these two kids were searching for. Could it be that they're looking for a treasure?

Thinking of treasure, Cecil can't help but smile because he played treasure hunt games when he was a child, although he wasn't as clever as these two kids. He had only dug a pit in his backyard. For that, he received a good scolding(beating) from his father!

As Cecil gets lost in reminiscing about his childhood follies, Ling Fan and Robin finally manage to pull something out of the mud.

Completely covered in mud, Robin wipes her face with her hand, looking quite joyful. After a whole day of searching, they've finally found something. It's hard not to feel happy about it.

"Hey, what did you find?"

Cecil now sees what Ling Fan and Robin have pulled out of the mud. It's not small, about the size of an adult, covered in mud, making it hard to discern what exactly it is.

Seeing their hard work paid off, Ling Fan can't help but feel delighted. He carefully holds the thing that they found and then swiftly climbs out of the pit.

Robin follows suit.

When climbing out, whether intentionally or not, Ling Fan's movement caused mud and water to splash on Cecil, covering him completely.

At this moment, Cecil is somewhat dumbfounded. He didn't even notice the mud splashed all over him. He's too amazed – he never expected these two tiny kids to leap out of a five-meter-deep pit so swiftly. Who could believe that?

Both Ling Fan and Robin ignored Cecil and treated him like an air, setting the thing that they found aside. They first started to remove the mud from it using the dry grass and branches they found.

Although they didn't clean it completely, they managed to reveal its general outline.

It turns out to be a skeleton, a mostly decayed one. However, the skeleton is dressed in armor and wields a sword. This is precisely what Ling Fan has been searching for!

"Master, do you think this could be from the Z War era?" Robin asks softly as she wipes away the mud from the armor with her little hands.

"I'm not sure. Who knows what that Z War thing is? But one thing is for sure – this thing is at least several hundred years old." Ling Fan said, pointing at the armor, "Look at the color, the embroidery. It wouldn't look like this without being aged for a hundred or two hundred years."

Robin nods, seeming earnestly interested.

What? Z War? In a dazed state, Cecil's attention is snapped back to reality upon hearing the word "Z War." He quickly recovers, moving as if he's had a stroke, and approaches the thing eagerly.

"Let me see!" Cecil shamelessly extended his hand, wanting to take a closer look. However, before he knew it, Robin had already grabbed his hands.

Robin didn't say anything, just stared at the man before her.

Cecil gazes at the small hand, gripping his wrist, his eyes full of disbelief. Is this the strength a little girl should have? It's even stronger than a pair of pliers!

Cecil feels his wrist growing increasingly strained, and pain begins to spread from his wrist to his whole body.

This is because Robin is tightening her grip.

"I won't touch it, i won't touch it anymore..." Cecil hurriedly surrendered and begged for mercy. If he doesn't surrender now, his hand might as well be declared scrapped.

Robin hesitated for a moment, then released his hand, but kept her gaze fixed on him. The meaning of it couldn't be more clearer:

Hey, if you dare reach out your hands again, let's see if I won't crush it to pieces!