Treasure-hunting: Into the Unknown

"It's done. Now, you can start drawing the Cultivation Boosting Pills again," said Mimi.

Zachary stood with arms crossed, waiting patiently. Time passed and passed, but there was no response from the Light Wonder Cauldron at all.

As the moments dragged by, his patience began to wear out. He had put one thousand treasure-hunting coins into the cauldron and gotten nothing in return. "No way," he muttered to himself. "Am I really going to get nothing at all out of this? You've got to be kidding me!"

Several more minutes passed, each of them feeling like hours. Unable to keep still, he fidgeted and paced about, occasionally stamping a foot in helpless frustration. Part of him just wanted to smash the Light Wonder Cauldron to pieces and be done with it.

Suddenly he heard Mimi's voice again. "Congratulations! Because you have used more than two thousand treasure-hunting coins in total, you have completed an achievement—many a little makes a mickle! You will be rewarded with a gift bag."

"A gift bag?" Zachary echoed. "That's what I get for all this trouble? Somehow I doubt that this will give me much comfort." Having apparently wasted a thousand treasure-hunting coins, he could hardly imagine something more humiliating than being awarded a useless prize.

Before he could whine any further, a large golden icon appeared in the sky and dropped down before him. Zachary clicked it with a shrug, and it burst like a firework.

"Congratulations on your harvest of three Cultivation Boosting Pills," said Mimi.

"Ah, only three?" Zachary scoffed. "That's it? I should get at least five!" Despite his greed and dissatisfaction, it wasn't a bad deal he had gotten. After all, three Cultivation Boosting Pills could improve the strength of a King Level warrior by three grades. That was something many others would be desperate to get their hands on.

Mimi continued, "Congratulations on winning two Strength Pills of King Level."

"Oh, wow! That's not actually too bad," Zachary exclaimed, somewhat stunned. He wasn't quite as disappointed and frustrated as he had been earlier.

But Mimi kept going, saying, "Congratulations! You have gained one drop of Life-prolonging Liquid. It can prolong your life when you are in serious danger. But beware! It can only be used once. Save it for when you need it!"

"Life-prolonging Liquid!" Zachary mused. "That sounds like it'll come in handy." He couldn't help but laugh in delight. It seemed that his loss wa

back to get them upgraded. You know that these things are very rare treasures. Any warrior would be greedy for them. But the process for upgrading them is tricky, and there's always a chance of failure. In fact, you could ruin the weapons unless you really know what you're doing. So we need someone trustworthy to do the job for us."

"That's what you want from me?" Zachary asked. "Why don't you go and ask the masters of the Shura College for help? Their skills would be far more adequate for this."

"I know that," Queenie said. "But we don't really belong to the Shura College. Do you understand? Those masters are not necessarily trustworthy. You're the only person here we can really count on. If you help us to upgrade our weapons, that will make up for your not training us the next few days."

Zachary took a moment to think it over. Queenie watched him carefully and knew she had won him over. "All right," he said at last. "Yes, I can help you with this. But I can't absolutely guarantee that I will succeed. Do you understand? Also, I'll need to see your weapons first." In reality, though, he expected the whole process to be a piece of cake.

Queenie nodded happily and said, "We don't show our weapons to just anyone. Usually we keep them in a well-hidden, secret place in our bodies. You'll have to meet up with us tonight, and we'll show you where they are."

"A secret place, huh?" Saying this, Zachary stole a look at Queenie's chest. If she had hidden her weapon there, he would be very glad to search for it, but he wisely kept that thought to himself.

With that, the three headed into the weapon refining room together.