In the middle of the night, under the moonlight, Li Wei was wandering through the ruins of the buildings. The first thing he did was to inspect the different body parts of the Ghost Farmer that were spread all over the place.
Unfortunately, there was nothing valuable, the deadly scythe was nowhere to be seen. It was probably taken by the 2 cloaked figures and aside from that, the Ghost Farmer did not have any other piece of equipment.
Having found nothing, Li Wei turned to the ruins. When he talked to the old farmer, the latter said that maybe the Ghost Farmer was protecting some kind of treasure. Although it was highly possible that the treasure was the "Dungeon Core" that the two cloaked figures mentioned, there was no harm in trying his luck.
The ruins were a complete mess. Remains of pieces of furniture and rubbles of the buildings were scattered everywhere. The place was covered with dust which resulted in a sticky and dirty environment due to the earlier rain.
As he stepped into the ruins and started moving the rubbles, rats immediately started to run all over the place. Their habitat, that remained untouched for years was being turned upside down. Li Wei slowly looked under each ruin and carefully moved some blocks, but he did not find anything except for dirty rats angrily staring at him before running away.
10 minutes later, still nothing. Li Wei already explored the entire ruins of the house, the barn, and the stables. But he found nothing that could be called a treasure.
"Mmm, if I was an old man, running away from some strong entity, where would I hide stuff?" said Li Wei to himself. He tried to put himself in the shoes of the Ghost Farmer when he was still alive.
"Somewhere safe... Where normal adventurers would not randomly stumble across it and where these people obsessed with their God or the guards will not investigate. Where can that be?" Li Wei stood on one of the rubbles and looked around him.
But he still could not find where the treasure was. He was even starting to doubt the old farmer's words. It could just be a local rumor the farmers came up with.
Li Wei came out of the ruins, having found nothing. He decided to explore the rest of the territory of the Ghost Farmer. The farm was not very large. Aside from the ruins, there were a few creepy completely dried fruit trees on one side, an empty well on another and barren fields next to it.
As for the 4th side of the ruin, a lonely gravestone was standing in the middle of a barren field. It was the tomb of the Ghost Farmer's wife who passed away before the incident.
As Li Wei observed the surroundings, he calmly thought about everything he knew when a thought crossed his mind, "Could it be the tomb? The guards and the adventurers would normally respect the deceased, right? As for these cloaked individuals, I don't know which God they worship, but respecting tombs should be a given, right?" thought Li Wei.
Having found a possible clue, he turned his attention towards the gravestone and walked towards it. The moon was bright, allowing Li Wei to easily read "To my dear wife, Evelynn…" However, the rest of the words could not be read. Time did not spare this gravestone, and the paragraph near the bottom was completely damaged and illegible.
Li Wei was convinced that the treasure should be related to the gravestone, but the writings gave no clues. The only thing he could do now was to dig the ground but that was something he was reluctant to do.
He had morals and one of the things that were ingrained in him was to respect those that passed away. But in front of him, might just be one of the greatest treasures of the game! If even the powerful cloaked figures came all the way to collect it. Even if the most valuable thing, that is the Dungeon Core, might be gone, the Ghost Farmer should have other valuable belongings.
"What a dilemma! I cannot possibly dig out her corpse, right?!"
"He must have some good stuff to be able to steal that "Dungeon Core" from such powerful individuals and live a long-life despite being hunted."
"Maybe that's why the Ghost Farmer refused help from the farmers! So that he could bury his treasure together with his wife!"
Li Wei continued to hesitate, but as time went by, he became more and more certain that the treasure was actually there!
At that moment, Li Wei recalled his encounter with the Clairvoyant. The brief meeting with the strange man left a mark on Li Wei.
“I see… You are going North East… To the Gassian Lake… No… You real aim is the Abe’s Forest, but you will inevitably go to the Lake… Fish… Fish… A lot of fish… The harvest will be good, but the real gain would happen on the return journey… He has been trying to hide it for decades! They are here… Coming for him… Remember, if you want to earn something… Respect the dead… Respect the dead…”
The prediction of the man has been spot on! Li Wei indeed went to the Gassian Lake and obtained a lot of fish! He was now on his return journey and have indeed encountered a huge opportunity.
‘Respect the dead?’
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"What to do? What to do???"
After 5 more minutes, Li Wei finally got a grip on himself, as he placed one knee on the ground, he placed his left hand on the gravestone.
"I am sorry Madam Evelynn, for showing bad intentions towards your resting place! But I shall not disrespect you any longer. I, Li Wei, shall not shame myself by robbing tombs. I sincerely apologize for disturbing your rest. Farewell, may you rest in peace!" solemnly declared Li Wei as he stood up.
He meant what he just said. Despite all the temptations of obtaining treasures, he chose to abandon all of that for his moral ethics or else he would never be able to peacefully sleep again. He was not a saint, but grave robbing definitely crossed his borderline. The words of the Clairvoyant did not influence his decision much. Even without the warning, Li Wei would not have tried anything.
"Sigh". He could do nothing now but return to the farm. He simply could not bring himself to rob a tomb. It was a very detestable act, he himself would not want his own tomb to be robbed one day.
However, at that moment, a rune suddenly appeared on the gravestone. Li Wei had already turned his back to the gravestone. He did not notice this change yet. Two more runes appeared on the gravestones, linking themselves to the first one and together, they started to shine.
A fourth rune appeared, visibly more complex than the previous three. It slowly moved and combined with the rest of the runes, forming an intricate design. The dim light that was being emitted suddenly became brighter and more vivid.
Li Wei did not notice at first when the three runes were shining and was still slowly walking away from the gravestone with a low spirit. But he could not miss the bright light coming out of the intricate design, especially since it was like a rainbow, projecting a plethora of colors.
"This... What is happening?" said Li Wei. He was surprised to see this phenomenon in front of him; as far as he was aware, he did not damage anything.
The multicolored light that was coming out started to condense and vaguely took the shape of a person.
Li Wei could not distinguish the features of the person, the light was too bright but he heard the person speak very quietly, almost like a whisper:
"Young man, I have seen your actions tonight! Few individuals would have the moral strength to resist temptation like you did! I would like to thank you for that!"
Li Wei was started to find the appearance of this ghost-like person. From the voice, he could determine that it was a woman. Li Wei easily concluded that she was the Ghost Farmer's wife, Evelynn but wasn't she supposed to be dead?
"I know what you are thinking! And don't worry, I will not harm you. Instead, it’s the opposite. I am tired after all these years! The curse is finally lifted! Now that my husband is finally free to rest, I will also join him and disappear forever. After taking these items from the Heretics, we had to run away and live a miserable life in secrecy and now we can finally rest! I was about to leave when I noticed your behaviour," said Evelynn.
"Although I would have preferred to leave these items to rot forever, I know that young adventurers like you will find these beneficial for your growth. You were right in thinking that there is a treasure. However, it is not under my tomb but because of your respectful behavior, I shall allow you to obtain these items. Follow me!" continued Evelynn as her bright figure levitated and floated towards a specific area of the barren land.
Li Wei did not know what to say, this situation was so unexpected. He was surprised to see the ghost suddenly appear and speak to him like that. He stood there without moving for a moment before silently following the floating ghost. ‘Was the prediction correct?’
Evelynn floated for about one minute towards a particular spot before finally stopping. She was like a giant light bulb due to all the light being emitted by her body.
"This is the place; my husband was old. So, he probably did not dig too deep. You should be able to easily grab the items below," said Evelynn. She raised her right hand and immediately, the black soil started to move, leaving a cross on the ground,
"Looks like the last 50 years really drained me out... You will have to dig it out yourself, I need to go to rest now! Farewell adventurer! Always remain true to yourself but be careful, these items are powerful, but they will come with a price!" declared Evelynn. Without waiting for his answer, she immediately turned back and returned to her gravestone.
"Thank you! I will make good use of them," said Li Wei at the disappearing silhouette of Evelynn.
The latter did not answer, she quickly vanished into thin air. She did not have much energy left to begin with and so, kept the conversation to the minimum and did not give Li Wei any chance to ask any questions. If Li Wei did not quickly follow her, the treasure might have remained buried forever.
"But what does she mean by price? Never mind, I will consider this later," said Li Wei to himself.
It felt weird to converse with a ghost; she constantly emitted a cold aura appearing very unapproachable. But the desire for the treasure was too compelling and it was totally worth it since he now had the exact location of the treasure. When he looked around him, he found that this was just in a random spot in the barren field; there was no way he would purposefully come to dig there.
Since Evelynn already left, Li Wei immediately started to dig the indicated area. He was extremely excited and could not wait to dig out the treasure. Using both hands, he quickly dug a small hole but still found no sign of treasures.
5 minutes later, there was still no treasure in sight. However, Li Wei did not give up, the ghost would not have brought him here for no reason. Fortunately, the soil was not dry after the rain and could easily be displaced.
“Is that what she meant by not too deep?” sarcastically said Li Wei.
Eventually, Li Wei finally found something. While digging out, his hands hit something hard and it was not a piece of rock. Having found something, Li Wei's spirit rose, he quickly removed the soil from the hole as quickly as possible.
10 minutes later, Li Wei pulled out a medium-size chest from the hole.
"Fiouff, this thing is heavy!”
He could not wait any longer and hurriedly tried to open the chest. Fortunately, the chest spent more than 50 years buried, the protective runes around it already faded away, leaving the content at the mercy of anyone.
As the chest was open, the first thing Li Wei saw was a pile of dirt. The pile of dirt was originally precious materials like medicinal herbs and monster’s drops. Unfortunately, with the passage of time and improper storage means, they could not survive that long.
However, under that pile of dirt, Li Wei found several useful items. The biggest one was a staff; it was clearly old and ravaged by time. However, its stats were extremely good.
[Forgotten Crosier](Grade 2)
Wisdom +3
Vitality +2
Effect 1: Allows the user to convert [Heal] to [Black Heal]
Effect 2: Will emit a protective barrier when the user is about to be inflicted with lethal damage.
Condition: User needs to have 14 Wisdom
Note: This is a severely damaged weapon, after serious maintenance, it will regain its former appearance, grade, and stats.
Note: [Black Heal]: Deals damage equal to [Heal]'s value instead of restoring health.
"Wow! This is so good! A grade 2 equipment and it is not even its real form!" exclaimed Li Wei. He was delighted to have found this treasure. It was just a pity that the weapon was meant for priests and had such high conditions. But if he sold that, he was certain that it was worth a lot of gold.
Li Wei quickly placed the staff in his inventory and continued to browse through the chest. Next, he took out a decently large piece of shiny grey ore. According to the system, it was a piece of [Grey Obsidian] but Li Wei had no idea what its uses could be.
Placing it in his inventory, Li Wei took out two bottles of potion from the chest.
[Mind Strengthening Potion (Grade 2)](spoilt)
Intelligence: -2
Note: This potion is spoilt due to improper storage, its original effect has changed
[Spirit Strengthening Potion (Grade 2)](spoilt)
Wisdom: -2
Note: This potion is spoilt due to improper storage, its original effect has changed
"Such bad luck! These are useless now..." said Li Wei, placing the 2 potions to his side. His inventory was now completely full, but he did not want to throw away the 2 potions, even if they were spoilt. The 2 spoilt potions might still have some uses. He was not an alchemist, but he might be able to sell them to one.
He continued to browse through the chest and took out the final item. It was a skill manual!
Li Wei excitedly opened it.
[Training technique: Clarity of the mind]
Can be used once per day at the cost of 20% fatigue, effect:
Performs meditation and breathing in a particular way. After 10 sets, increases wisdom by 1.