Chapter 316: Treasure Chest Mimic? Whopperflower?

At Dragonspine's Starglow Cavern:

By the time Nolan and the others arrived at Starglow Cavern, it was already noon. The temperature had dropped even further after the snowfall, but they didn't yet need to put on thicker coats.

Nolan's body was robust enough that the cold didn't bother him. Eula, being an adept user of the Cryo element, had a natural resistance to cold thanks to the elemental energy within her, and her physical strength was nearly on par with Nolan's. Amber, with her Pyro element, didn't need to worry about the cold at all.

"This is the southwestern entrance to Starglow Cavern. I've heard that most of the creatures on this mountain dwell inside the caverns, so we need to stay on our guard," Eula said, folding her arms as she glanced into the cave.

Inside, it looked somewhat dim. The walls and floor had a frosty blue hue, and even the grass growing along the ground seemed to shimmer with this cold tone, which gave the place a mystical aura. Perhaps these grasses had absorbed so much cold over time that they'd mutated.

"Alright, let me take the lead," Nolan said, his eyes glowing gold as he activated his Eye of Judgement. With this skill, he would instantly detect any creatures or unusual elemental traces within his field of view.

"Okay, let's go," Amber and Eula nodded in agreement.

Nolan stepped first into the cavern, finding that the space within was much larger than it appeared from the outside. The grass underfoot felt surprisingly stiff, almost like it had been freeze-dried, rather than soft as grass usually feels.

As the three of them walked along the pathway, the walls on either side of the tunnel gradually began to widen—or rather, they seemed to disappear altogether. Before they knew it, they were walking across a naturally winding bridge.

This bridge spanned a small hill below, which was barren and devoid of any vegetation. Further down was a lake with numerous floating ice chunks, spanning about a hundred square meters. The water was crystal clear, and fish adapted to cold waters swam leisurely beneath the ice.

In the middle of the lake, an icy mound rose up, with a treasure chest—a beautifully crafted one, no less—perched prominently on top.

Placing such an eye-catching chest in such a noticeable location, yet somehow no adventurer had taken it. Perhaps no one had spotted it, or perhaps some unknown danger kept them away.

Regardless, even the smallest reward is still a gain, and like Lumine, Nolan shared the admirable trait of not leaving a single treasure chest unchecked in his line of sight.

As he moved closer, he summoned translucent threads that snaked towards the chest to retrieve it.

Surprisingly, the whole process went smoothly. Nolan's threads easily wrapped around the treasure chest and began pulling it back toward them.

Just as the chest was about to reach their position, Nolan noticed something strange—a row of text appeared conspicuously above the chest.

[Level: 62]

"Huh?!"

Instinctively, he froze his translucent threads mid-air.

How could a treasure chest have a level? Nolan had never encountered anything like this before. Could there really be such a thing as a "mimic monster"?

"Why did you stop?" Amber asked, hands resting on her hips, pressing gently on her abdomen through her coat, creating soft indentations.

"This chest is… strange. It seems to be alive," Nolan said, scratching his chin.

"Alive?!" Amber and Eula exclaimed in unison. Both of them were visibly shocked. There were countless strange creatures on Teyvat, but a living treasure chest was a first, even for them.

"Could it be some kind of mental illusion?" Eula speculated, crossing her arms over her torso, which slightly lifted her well-endowed figure under the tight, dark fabric.

"No, I don't think so. No illusion could escape my eyes," Nolan replied, shaking his head.

"All right, don't move. Let me give it a little heat!" Amber grinned, pulling out her Favonius Warbow and, with flawless movements, notched an arrow, drew the string, and infused it with Pyro energy.

Just as she took aim, the treasure chest—perhaps sensing danger—suddenly started shaking and struggling, as though realizing its ambush had failed!

"Oh, it's really moving?" Nolan grinned with intrigue. "Amber, quick, roast its rear!"

"Don't say such weird things!" Amber huffed, releasing the arrow. It zipped through the air, landing precisely on the moving chest.

Bright red flames engulfed the chest in an instant, even causing Nolan's translucent threads to feel a bit of a burn.

Before long, the creature resembling a treasure chest began transforming dramatically. Its form seemed to flow like liquid, expanding and reshaping as it grew larger.

The threads holding it were pushed open slightly by the shifting creature, and before they could tighten again, the monster—still not fully visible in its final form—vanished silently mid-air.

"A teleport? Could it be an Abyss Mage in disguise?" Eula speculated, familiar with the Abyss Order's dark creatures after years of fighting them.

"Does the Abyss Order have some kind of plot in Dragonspine?" Amber wondered aloud.

"Wait, look at the ice mound over there," Nolan interrupted, just in time to see the creature reappear atop the icy mound in the lake.

It wasn't an Abyss Mage, but a massive, pale-purple Whopperflower, about the height of an adult. The tips of its drooping petals glowed with small, purple-white flames, giving it a mystical appearance.

"What on earth? A Whopperflower this large and strange? Not only can it disguise itself as a treasure chest, but it can also teleport!" Amber said, astonished.

"Even with Sucrose's bio-alchemy experiments, I doubt we could engineer a Whopperflower this formidable," she added.

"Something's definitely off. Let's capture it and bring it to Albedo for analysis," Nolan suggested, frowning slightly. He seemed to recall some lore from the game about a peculiar Whopperflower linked to Dragonspine.

But that Whopperflower was even larger and looked different from this one. Whether the two were related was hard to guess.

No matter; Jean had mentioned that Albedo had a camp set up in Dragonspine, so they could deliver it to him for further study.

With that thought, Nolan summoned three translucent threads, aiming at the peculiar Whopperflower on the distant ice mound and reaching out to capture it!

(End of Chapter)