Treasure-hunting: Into the Unknown

Zachary returned into the system, thinking that Anne would have already completed repairing the Illusory Dragon Spine. He made a beeline for Living-dead Tomb, and saw Anne stepping out.

"You've got good timing. I've finished the work on the Illusory Dragon Spine. It's been repaired, and you may take it." A gentle wave of Anne's hand produced the spine from thin air, and it floated towards Zachary.

Zachary carefully reached out and clasped the weapon. Turning it over in his hands, he found it was still like the piece of scrap metal that it had used to be.

"I'm grateful, Master Anne, but if I may ask...shouldn't a weapon of Divine Level look more...divine? This one looks kind of..." Zachary trailed off, grimacing at the weapon's appearance.

"The Illusory Dragon Spine comes in this form, Zachary. If its appearance is too plebeian for you, then exchange it for some treasure-hunting coins," Anne replied with a huff at such a shallow concern.

At that, Zachary burst out laughing. "Only a complete moron would exchange a weapon of Divine Level for treasure-hunting coins. I'm sorry if I seemed ungrateful for a minute there. Honestly, I don't really care about its looks. It's useful and powerful and that's what matters."

"On that note, you haven't even finished any treasure-hunting quests in a couple of days. So here, take these quests." She gave Zachary two treasure-hunting quests for him to complete.

He received the quests and headed back into the system briefly to place the Illusory Dragon Spine into his collection of treasures. Once done, he exited the system again and began his questing.

It didn't take very long; he completed two treasure-hunting quests in roughly six hours. Swaggering back into the Celestial College, he heard a woman's voice cry shrilly, "Excuse you, but how long do you plan to keep hiding from me?!"

Her voice, sweet as it was, was aggravatingly shrill. Zachary, heart hammering and blood surging, felt his legs rooted to the spot at the sound.

"Master Shu, who are you referring to? I couldn't possibly be trying to hide from you..." He recognized the voice immediately, and Zachary was certain that he was in vast jeopardy as he realized that Sophie must be livid at his absence. And offending someone at the Sage Level was never a good idea.

"Oh really?" Now he saw Sophie's splen

y without a care. It was already too much to expect of her that she hadn't yet killed him to prevent her secret from being exposed.

"Well... I guarantee that's not happening," Sophie responded coldly. She was aware that she might be outgunned. The only way to protect Zachary was to accompany him round the clock.

"That isn't convincing at all. I think I'd rather keep the contract, for my own self-preservation!" Zachary shook his head, his tone firm.

"You!" Sophie's face colored in rage; she was clearly unhappy that Zachary wasn't willing to work with her here. Considering her status, she shouldn't even have stooped so low as to make a deal with him. But even if she threatened him, he would not hand it over either.

"It's not even as serious as that! If I keep the contract, then not even Master Katrina will find it easy to take it from me, right?" Zachary suddenly said with a big smile, like he had a great idea.

At that, Sophie flustered for a moment, and then it clicked for her. A wicked smile spread on her face. "So you're saying you don't blindly follow her rule, then?"

"I'm only saying that my first principle in life is that I never fall for a bad deal. Always looking out for number one, that's me." Zachary raised his eyebrows at her. "Besides, you've given me so many treasures last time. This is what I have for you in return."

"You are such a little..." Sophie began, but then she stopped as she remembered that she herself was almost cheated by Katrina. At that, she quickly cut the discussion short and vanished instantly.