Treasure Hunting

Chapter 4 A Crazy Newbie Quest

After a while, Zachary found himself teleported to a sealed cave surrounded by thick stone walls without any opening. Plus, there was no ventilation at all.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw some glaring light. He blinked to make sure his eyes were not fooling him. Shining words appeared in front of him as he pointed his gaze to the direction of the light.

"Quest hint: solve the puzzle on the wall before the cave is fully immersed by water. This quest is meant to train your mental dexterity so as to prepare you for treasure hunting in the future." As Zachary read the lines, he felt the wet grounds. As he looked down, he was surprised to find water gushing from below with its level quickly rising.

"This looks so real!" he murmured to himself in worry. "Hey, Mimi, you told me that there's absolutely no danger! Are you kidding? This is killing me!" Zachary reminded himself of the quest at hand and stopped complaining. On a wall beside him, there were nine rocks protruding out. Each rock had a figure on it.

Talking to himself, he asked, "So I have to solve the jigsaw puzzle as soon as possible?" Zachary tried to move the stones, but they couldn't be moved. Still confused without any clue what to do, he concluded, "So it's not a jigsaw puzzle.

"Could it be a riddle?" Staring at the stones and figures on it, he pondered, 'But what do the figures mean? I can't even understand them? How can I solve the puzzle? Damn it! Is the system teasing me?' Zachary rolled his eyes.

The water level had already reached his knees. Surely, the system wasn't kidding. He would indeed be drowned if he couldn't complete the quest on time.

Zachary diverted his energy and concentrated back on the rocks.

After a few attempts, he found that he could press a couple of the rocks down and they didn't bounce back. The discovery gave him hope.

His legs were totally submerged in water, signaling him that there wasn't much time left.

He was hesitating to put his hands on the two rocks, but when the water level gone up to his chest, he reached them and pressed the rocks in a hurry.

"'Please, Come on!" he exclaimed. In the brink of hypoxia, he gathered all his strength and jumped up while holding on those two rocks. He knocked his head on the last rock.

Zachary felt sick as if his surroundings were swirling. The last bit of air in his lungs was also used up. Deprived of oxygen, he thought he was going to die.

"Congratulations! You have successfully completed the first newbie quest. A Refreshing Pill is awarded to you!" said the voice whispering in his ears. Zachary opened his eyes and found himself back to the Peach Blossom Forest.

"Fuck! I thought I was dead!" Zachary cursed as he gasped for air.

"Since you've completed the first quest in the second world, you're given the chance to choose your awards." It was Mimi speaking.

A beam of light flashed through and three choices appeared in front of him. The first two choices were cultivation methods, namely Mortal Energy Formula and Heaven and Earth Formula. Both were at the medium stage. The last choice, however, was a question mark. This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

Eyes fixed on the last award, he asked, "What does the question mark mean?"

"The question mark means random choice. If you choose this question mark, you will be given a cultivation method at a random stage. It could be at the primary stage, at the medium stage or at the

premium stage. You might get something better than those two, or something worse," she explained.

Zachary did not say a word while contemplating on the choices. "The probability of drawing higher- stage cultivation methods is very low. The first two choices are already the best cultivation methods at the medium stage. I would suggest you choose either one of them. If you risk the third choice, most likely you won't get a better result. Don't blame me for not reminding you," Mimi explained to Zachary.

"No worries. I've always been lucky," he replied with confidence. "I'll choose the third one." Zachary decided to try his luck. 'If I can get a cultivation method at the premium stage, it will be so great!' he thought excitedly.

"Starting random draw!" Mimi tersely said.

The question mark started to swirl. Different names of cultivation methods flashed in front of Zachary. In a short while, the name stabilized. The cultivation method was called "God-slaying Formula."

"What stage does this cultivation method belong to?" Zachary hurriedly asked.

"Cultivation method examining... Examination completed. The stage of the cultivation method is..." Mimi fell into silence.

"Oh, come on. What stage is it?" Zachary probed Mimi.

"Now you'll get your awards." When Mimi spoke again, she skipped the topic on the stage of the cultivation method.

Before Zachary could complain, a beam of light radiated from the third choice. The light directly entered his brain. In a matter of few seconds, he saw huge chunks of words and a myriad of figures flashing in his brain. Soon, he gathered everything about the God-slaying Formula.

"Now it's the award for activating the second world..." After a while, a golden pill appeared and gradually landed in front of Zachary.