Chapter 55 - 51: Treasure Map? Kajimi, We Have a Target Now
Chapter 55: Chapter 51: Treasure Map? Kajimi, We Have a Target Now
Inside the cave.
It was completely dark.
Fang Xiu had to rely on the flashlight in his hand.
By its somewhat faint light,
Fang Xiu began to search.
’Where’s the badge?’
He checked the woman’s handbag, but the badge wasn’t inside.
He felt her pockets; it wasn’t there either.
After a careful look at the ground, he spotted a brand-new badge lying there.
Fang Xiu picked it up and saw a shallow scratch on its surface.
It looked like it had been nicked by a wind blade from one of Kajimi’s skills.
’Kajimi’s Rotating Storm only managed to leave a single scratch on this badge. What in the world is this thing made of?’
Fang Xiu was amazed.
He had witnessed the power of Kajimi’s Rotating Storm more than once; it was anything but weak.
It could slice those Demon Beasts in half.
Yet this badge was virtually unharmed.
’The badge isn’t recording. Good. It seems she was used to killing people. Besides, she probably didn’t want this place to be discovered.’
Fang Xiu inspected the badge carefully; the recording function wasn’t active.
After all, if a recording of him killing her was on it, he would have had to delete it.
Even though it didn’t sync in real-time, leaving it behind would be leaving evidence.
But this woman had been very cautious. She hadn’t turned on the camera at all; there were no videos from the past month.
He then checked the woman’s information on it.
Name: Dan Peiyu
Level: 32
Talent: Beast Tamer
Points: 12
’She barely left any Points!’
Fang Xiu had been hoping to use the Points to get something for himself.
Looks like that wasn’t happening.
Besides, if he had used them, someone might notice Dan Peiyu was dead and investigate, which could easily lead back to him.
’Level 32, and she was taken out by a single one of Kajimi’s Skills!’
This Dan Peiyu had actually reached Level 32.
But based on the fight just now, she couldn’t even withstand a single Skill from Kajimi.
Then again, as a Beast Tamer, her personal abilities—combat, Power, speed, and so on—wouldn’t be strong.
She was a Beast Tamer, after all. They usually relied on their Guardian Beasts.
The Beast Tamer Profession itself was a very weak one.
However, if their Guardian Beast was powerful enough, or if they acquired a skill that allowed them to merge with their Guardian Beast...
...they could become much stronger for a short period.
But Dan Peiyu’s Moonlit Wolf had been dealt with by Kajimi right from the start.
Before she had a chance to summon another, she was trapped by the chains.
It was a direct, one-hit kill.
She had no room to resist at all.
’She spent her Points on... defensive gear?’
Fang Xiu looked and saw that the woman was indeed wearing a piece of defensive Equipment.
But it had been shredded by Kajimi’s Rotating Storm.
A piece of Level 30 defensive Equipment was sliced apart, yet the badge in Fang Xiu’s hand only had a single scratch.
This made Fang Xiu even more curious about what material the badge was made of.
’Let’s see what else is in here.’
Fang Xiu rummaged around and found a notebook.
He opened it and saw it was filled with drawings and patterns.
’What are all these?’
Fang Xiu flipped through several pages, but they were all covered in patterns he couldn’t understand.
However, when he got to the last one, he finally found something he could recognize.
’A map of the Seventh Gate World?’
Fang Xiu hadn’t expected the woman to have a map of this Gate World.
It seemed she frequented the Seventh Gate World.
To have drawn such a detailed map, no less.
’But the central area is mostly blank.’
Fang Xiu stared at the map in his hand.
It was divided into four sections.
These were the result of Dan Peiyu’s explorations, advancing inward from four different directions within the Seventh Gate World.
This was the map she ended up with.
Fang Xiu noted that the edges didn’t even connect.
Clearly, Dan Peiyu hadn’t fully explored the entire Seventh Gate World.
’Is the Seventh Gate World really this vast?’
Fang Xiu was rather surprised.
If the school’s Gate World was ten times the size of the one in his home...
...then the area of the Seventh Gate World that Dan Peiyu alone had explored was already twenty times the size of the school’s Gate World.
And that didn’t even include the many unexplored regions.
’Looks like it’ll take a long time to reach the center of the Seventh Gate World.’
Fang Xiu felt a bit helpless.
Still, he wanted to give it a try.
If it were that easy to reach the center, the boss of the Seventh Gate World would have been killed by someone else long ago.
Fang Xiu continued flipping and found several more maps.
This time, however, they had some annotations.
’A gathering place for Level 30 Demon Beasts? A gathering place for Level 35 Demon Beasts? The Demon Beasts here are such high Level?’
Fang Xiu saw that the marked locations indicated the Level of the Demon Beasts.
In other words, even far from the center, the Demon Beasts in the Seventh Gate World reached Level 35.
’No wonder she didn’t venture any deeper. The boss here might already be Level 40.’
Fang Xiu now understood why Dan Peiyu had stopped advancing.
Her Level was only 32; she would have to avoid even a pack of Level 35 Demon Beasts.
Let alone going any deeper.
’It’s no wonder that after all these years, no one has reached the center of the Seventh Gate World.’
After all, this Gate World wasn’t rated as a high-Level one.
Of course, this rating was based on the Level of the Demon Beasts that appeared inside it.
Since the lowest-Level Demon Beasts in this Gate World were Level 10, its overall rating wasn’t high.
Therefore, Awakened who were over Level 40 couldn’t be bothered to come here.
After all, when you encounter a Demon Beast, you have to kill it.
Killing Level 10 or Level 15 Demon Beasts was a waste of time and Spiritual Power for them, and they probably wouldn’t get anything good out of it in the end.
’But what are these?’
Just then, Fang Xiu used the light from his phone to look at one of the pages.
There were no written notes on it.
He could only make out that it was another map, with several small "x" marks on it.
’What is this?’
Fang Xiu stared at it for a long time but couldn’t figure it out.
He frowned slightly and flipped back. ’Wait, this spot is marked with the number one.’
That’s when Fang Xiu noticed a tiny "1" next to the small "X".
At first, Fang Xiu had thought it was just an accidental speck.
But upon closer inspection, he also saw a "2" and a "3".
’Wait, if I cross-reference this...’
Fang Xiu suddenly remembered the pages of incomprehensible patterns he’d seen earlier.
What if he flipped to the page number corresponding to the number on the map...
And then...
’Still don’t get it!’
Fang Xiu still couldn’t understand what was drawn on the page.
He casually flipped through it again...
’Huh? What’s this?’
Fang Xiu saw a somewhat strange shape and turned the book around.
’Isn’t this the place I’m in right now?’
After rotating it, Fang Xiu understood.
The spot marked "X3" was exactly where he was standing.
’In other words, the other drawings are also marking places that might have something good?’
Fang Xiu finally got it.
All the places marked with an "x" actually indicated something valuable was there.
The place Fang Xiu was in had the Fake Sun Flame Stone.
And the other four pages represented four other potentially valuable items or treasures?
’This is basically a Treasure Map!’
Fang Xiu carefully compared the small maps marked with an "X" by overlaying them onto the large map.
Finally, Fang Xiu confirmed his current location and the locations of the other four marked spots.
’Following the route from the Gate Passage, I must have come from this direction... which means I’ve already missed number one and number four. If I’m at number three right now, then... it seems number five is the closest one ahead.’
Fang Xiu studied the notebook in his hand.
He had pieced together all the routes on it.
Although Fang Xiu didn’t know if the "treasures" had already been taken by Dan Peiyu...
...at least the one at location number three hadn’t been.
Of course, that might be because it was too big to move.
But Fang Xiu was only here for training and to find things he could Sacrifice.
Now that he had a Treasure Map drawn by Dan Peiyu, he at least had a clear objective. It wouldn’t hurt to check them out.
"Kajimi, we have a goal now. Let’s go!"
Fang Xiu said, looking at Kajimi beside him.
"That’s great!"
Kajimi said with a smile.
Fang Xiu was also saying that for his own benefit.
Before, he had been searching aimlessly.
Now he had a target, even if someone might have already gotten to it first.
But just like this place right here, there was still a chance for him.
Besides, in a Gate World like this, there wouldn’t be many things that could be used for a Sacrifice to begin with.
Having already performed a Sacrifice at one location, Fang Xiu felt this trip was already a success.
It didn’t matter whether he found anything else to Sacrifice or not.
If he could, that would be for the best, but even if he couldn’t, it wouldn’t matter.
Afterward, Fang Xiu carefully searched the handbag again.
There was only a single Potion for rapid Spiritual Recovery.
And another Potion that could quickly heal wounds.
Everything else was useless.
As for things like bank cards, Fang Xiu had no interest at all.
After all... he had plenty of money.
"Let’s go!"
Fang Xiu said.
Kajimi was already holding onto him, and with a beat of its wings, they flew directly out of the cave.
This feeling was truly... wonderful.
Soon, Fang Xiu was back outside the mine.
Looking back at the mine entrance one more time, Fang Xiu felt a wave of emotion.
The mine looked the same as before, but the Undead miners inside had all disappeared.
Walking to the entrance, Fang Xiu forcefully stuck the shovel he had taken from inside into the ground.
"I hope you can rest in peace."
He then turned, confirmed his direction, and headed toward the fifth treasure location marked on Dan Peiyu’s map.
Perhaps at that fifth treasure location, there would be something new to Sacrifice!