Chapter 47: The Underground World! (3)
Author’s note: This chapter is thanks to a gift from one of our Patreon subscribers, so let’s thank them (I’ll see you on Saturday).
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[System Notification: Your pet Ibla has killed a Common-tier "Prairie Hyena" monster. Kill rewards have been deposited into the Lord's inventory: Origin Points ×4, Residential Blueprint ×1.]
"It seems Ibla is having fun."
Upon seeing the notification, Kaiden shook his head in amusement and continued on his way. But he had barely taken a few steps before another notification stopped him.
[Quest "Reclaiming the Spoils!" Completed! Reward dispatched to the Lord's inventory: Iron ×1,000 units.]
"My expedition team has finally arrived!"
Kaiden exclaimed with delight. Now with this quest completed and the iron units secured, upgrading the Lord's Hall — and by extension the Lord's Crown — was as good as guaranteed.
But he had no intention of going to meet his team. He continued on his way.
He had a task he was working on, and not much daylight remained. Besides, he still didn't know what to do with the spider carcasses, so he decided to wait for Luther the Alchemist's research results.
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After two brief detours, Kaiden finally arrived before the Lord's Hall. The two-story building radiated its usual air of dignity and gravitas.
But now was not the time to admire it. Kaiden wanted to see if there was anything interesting beneath it.
He checked his status bar — mana had been fully restored. In truth, Kaiden didn't know exactly what he was looking for through the Subterranean Vision skill. As stated in the quest, he needed to find something beneficial to the territory using this skill.
He did have a few ideas — perhaps he would find an underground water source, or a mineral vein. If he discovered either, the quest would naturally complete.
And though his first attempt had yielded nothing, that was to be expected. It hadn't discouraged him — his territory was large.
Kaiden entered the Lord's Hall and sat in the grand chair reserved for him at the head of the table. He then activated Subterranean Vision. His perspective immediately shifted to the floor of the hall.
This time, Kaiden wasn't disoriented the way he had been on the first attempt. He immediately began controlling his viewpoint and descending, piercing through the Lord's Hall floor downward.
The soil was familiar. The darkness was familiar too. Fortunately, the skill accounted for field of vision — Kaiden could see an illuminated area of roughly two meters around his focal point.
This reminded Kaiden of childhood memories of Minecraft, and he felt a wave of nostalgia. Back then, he had been one of the children who would sneak out of the orphanage during the day and go watch the regular kids playing it.
Ah, speaking of the orphanage… he wondered how the others were doing.
Having grown up in an orphanage, Kaiden had dozens of non-blood brothers and sisters. But being an unsociable person, he hadn't had many close acquaintances — especially since he and the group he had grown up with had left the orphanage a long time ago, and everyone had gone their own way. Only a handful had stayed in contact, and they spoke every now and then.
Kaiden shook his head and pushed those thoughts away. This wasn't the right time to worry about others. In the future, if an opportunity arose and he encountered any of them in a position where he could help, he would. That was all.
And now — his focus returned to the task at hand.
Kaiden looked deeper. He had reached fifteen meters, passing below the protective barrier's foundation. He thought for a moment and decided to scan the surrounding area beneath the Lord's Hall thoroughly — fearing there might be monsters living down there or something similar, which would be dangerous.
So rather than continuing deeper, he began rapidly scanning the surrounding directions to avoid wasting mana.
While moving quickly, Kaiden suddenly caught a glimpse of something in a corner — barely noticed. He quickly pulled his vision back to verify — and was surprised when he recognized what it was. A notification appeared before him:
[System Alert: You have discovered a Black Iron Treasure Chest through use of the "Subterranean Vision" skill. You have gained Experience +45.]
"…" Kaiden was speechless.
He hadn't expected to find a Black Iron Treasure Chest fifteen meters underground. He was more stunned than happy at the discovery.
In truth, over the past days, Lords had discovered that treasure chests tended to appear in very well-hidden locations — beneath large boulders, at the bottom of rivers, and some Lords had even found chests hidden inside tree trunks. Everyone had been cursing the system's pettiness.
But… who could have expected treasure chests to be buried deep underground?
Brother, this was a whole different level of pettiness.
Kaiden also cursed the system inwardly. How petty of it to hide treasure chests this deep.
It was worth noting that this was only the second time he had ever used Subterranean Vision. Which meant that most likely there were many chests rotting quietly in the earth without anyone knowing they existed.
True, he was cursing the system — but in reality, Kaiden was secretly pleased. He was an earth-affinity mage, and with the Subterranean Vision skill, he now held a significant advantage over others in finding treasure chests.
Oh right… the quest, Kaiden suddenly remembered a detail he had overlooked. Despite finding the chest, no quest completion notification had come.
Kaiden accepted this quickly — he hadn't expected to find a chest anyway. What remained was the matter of getting it out of the ground.
That wasn't really a problem for him. He could simply ask Ibla — a perfect burrowing monster — to retrieve it. But there was a small issue: Ibla was large, and the treasure chest was tiny — barely the size of a crumb between her long saw-like teeth.
"Hmm… why don't I try it myself?"
The thought came to Kaiden, and he couldn't push it out of his head. He had a spatial inventory that could store items through touch. Obviously, he couldn't physically touch the chest with his hand.
But… what about trying to store it by touching it with mana? Mana was an extension of his will, so there was some logic behind the idea.
Even if success was unlikely, there was no harm in trying.
Kaiden was not a hesitant person. He executed the idea immediately. The distance was fifteen meters — not too close, not too far. Still within his reach. He extended a thin, invisible thread of mana from his finger, sending it through the earth toward the chest's coordinates.
Mana was a non-physical energy. Physical barriers like layers of earth and walls meant nothing to it. The thread quickly reached the chest. Kaiden touched it through the mana thread and focused his mind on storing the chest.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Just as Kaiden was thinking the idea had failed and was about to cancel the mana thread — the chest suddenly disappeared.
!!!
Kaiden looked at his inventory. A dirt-covered black iron chest sat in one of its slots.
"Hahaha! I'm a genius!" Kaiden laughed with delight.
Even though he hadn't completed the quest yet, he was brimming with motivation after finding this treasure chest.
With that fresh motivation, Kaiden continued lowering his vision. Every five meters he scanned and swept the surrounding earth layer quickly. But perhaps his luck had been spent — or perhaps the treasure chest distribution system didn't allow them to cluster in the same area. Even after reaching the forty-meter layer, he found nothing.
At this point his mana was depleted too. Concern began to creep into Kaiden's mind. He didn't know what he was searching for, and he might not be able to complete this quest at all.
Thinking about it, Kaiden wasn't afraid of difficult quests. What he disliked were unclear ones — like this one.
But not much time remained, and he had no desire to be working at night if it wasn't necessary. So he took a Mana Recovery Potion from his inventory and drank it in one go, then continued descending.
He quickly checked the surrounding environment at a depth of fifty meters. Nothing. He kept going.
He reached the sixty-meter layer. Nothing. He quickly scanned the surroundings…
Oh. Wait.
What is this?! Is that a tunnel?!
Suddenly, during the quick scan, Kaiden's vision reached an empty space. Upon inspection — it was a circular tunnel. An enormous one.
Not even Ibla's diameter came close to this size.
Kaiden felt stunned. Then angry. Then a creeping sense of dread.
What on earth was a tunnel this large doing sixty meters below his Lord's Hall?!
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— End of Chapter Forty-Seven —