CHAPTER 189 - COIN-VINCINGLY FULL OF SWEET, SWEET TREASURES!
🙞❤︎🙜
“Teacher, we’re opening treasure chests?” Kharli’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
Mo clasped her hands in front of her as though in prayer and Lari leaned forward, his eyes scanning the myserious chests.
I smiled at their enthusiasm. “Exactly! These are the chests that we got from Fishing last year. I can now cast the spell that will open them.”
I waved the wand over the chests to demonstrate its magic. Intangible trails of sparkly gold dust followed its every movement. The wand wasn’t the biggest or most ornate one, being made of carved oak covered with intricate gold filigree and topped with a heart-shaped amethyst crystal, its deep purple hue shimmering with an inner light. It was definitely the most theatrical one!
Lari’s forehead creased in a frown. “But which ones are the ones I Fished?”
“They’re all mixed together,” I said. “You can each pick one [Casket] at a time and I’ll open it for you.”
“First!” Kharli grabbed one and presented it to me with a smile.
“No, I should go first!” Lari grabbed one, too, and held it out to me.
“Play rock-paper-scissors. Winner goes first, then the two losers can play again to get the second and third rankings.” I waited until they finished playing before I added, “But first, refreshments and snacks.”
Kharli, who had won first place, jumped up from her chair. “I’ll get a tray of dim sum from the kitchen. Lari, you set the table. Mo, you make the tea!”
We went to the small side table where the kids prepared our morning snacks. I had coffee while they had tea. The chef sent us three steaming baskets filled with translucent dumplings with juicy shrimp filling, open-faced pork buns, and crispy spring rolls filled with savory vegetables. Lunch was not too far off, so I only had a few bites. The others, however, managed to polish off all three baskets.
I wiped my mouth with a white handkerchief and we all returned to the worktable where Kharli, carefully picked a [Casket] and put it down in front of me.
“This one, please!” she said.
Just like how Herblaw used [Spell Stones] and gave magic exp, albeit only a small amount, unlocking [Caskets] with a spell was an expensive endeavor. Most players didn't bother with it at all, but I was close to leveling up, so I wanted to show off to the kids a little.
[Enchanter’s Golden Key:
A simple spell for unlocking treasure chests, doors, and forbidden books.]
I hadn’t done this earlier in public since spells had a chance to misfire unless the player’s Magic level was ten points higher than the spell’s base requirement. Now that I was level 12 Magic, I could cast it without fear.
The wand was already charged with the energy from one hundred [Spell Stones]. All I had to do was to cast the [Enchanter’s Golden Key] using the System’s menu.
My hand made a series of movements, drawing a small pentacle in gold dust in the air above the [Casket]. The symbol flashed brightly twice, and then the dust fell onto the wooden chest, which silently opened, revealing a piece of jewelry.
[Gold Ring:
A plain thin band of polished gold.]
“It’s so pretty!” Kharli put it on right away. She was in ecstasy at her newfound treasure. “I love it!”
“Lucky! By the way, some of the [Caskets] may contain junk items or nothing,” I said.
“Me next!” Lari was very excited and pushed his chosen one towards me.
“Okay, let’s open it. Abracadabra!” The spell didn’t need any magic word to activate it, but saying “Abracadabra” was fun.
This time, the chest contained a miniature statue].
[Decorative Dragon Figurine:
A tarnished silver dragon figurine with sharp fangs and claws bared in a fierce battle pose.]
Lari sighed in contentment as he reached into the wooden chest and took out his prize. “A treasure for me! Fishing is the best!”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Teacher, here’s mine.” Mo looked nervous as she placed her chosen treasure chest in front of me. “I hope I get something.”
Once again, I waved my wand and opened the [Casket] to reveal a square of folded fabric.
[Premium Silk Handkerchief with Gold Detailing:
A luxurious handkerchief, crafted from high-quality silk, embroidered with gold and silver thread in an elegant gilded vine design.]
“I got something! I’m so glad it wasn’t empty… I’m always unlucky…” Mo pressed the handkerchief to her chest and sighed in pure contentment.
“Bah, what do you mean ‘unlucky’? I’m sure that’s not true.” I gave Mo a hug before picking a chest at random. “Okay, now it’s my turn.”
So far, Lari has gotten the most valuable item, but I easily surpassed that when I opened mine and got one of the three rarest items one could get from a [Casket].
[Crimson Codex:
A forbidden magical tome sealed with a spell. Bound in crimson dragonhide, this grimoire radiates an unsettling aura.]
The description was a lie since it looked like a tiny, ordinary-looking notebook bound in ripped red leather. I stored it in my inventory for safekeeping. “This will do quite nicely. Guys, if you get books, they’re mine, okay? You can keep the other treasures.”
“Yes, Teacher,” said Kharli.
The others nodded. I guess they were more interested in gold and treasures rather than books.
Kharli pointed at the door. “Someone’s outside.”
“Huh?” I frowned. Now that she mentioned it, I did hear some faint sounds from behind the door, as though some people were there having a whispered argument. “Why haven’t they knocked? Open it.”
I hastily cleared the table by putting all the [Caskets] back in my inventory.
Outside were Fengying and Deming with his three assistants.
“My lady, they say they felt a surge of strange qi from this room.” Fengying’s disapproving glance at her husband clearly showed that she didn’t think they should be disturbing us.
Deming looked away from her, to the side, pretending that it had nothing to do with him. His assistants squirmed under Fengying’s scathing look.
“We, uh, were opening some sealed chests.” I figured it was better to just come clean instead of being too mysterious since I didn’t want any wild rumors to get around.
My words made Deming’s head whip back and he and his wife's eyes met in some sort of silent communication. The assistants' eyes brightened and after a few seconds, Fengying’s expression relaxed into one of resigned tolerance.
“My lady, may we watch?” asked Fengying.
“Give me a sec.” I retreated back into the workroom and closed the door.
The wand I had used was too flashy to show to the staff. I quickly browsed the Cash Shop until I found the plainest one that looked like a conductor’s baton. It had no special effects. I charged it with [Spell Stones] and then put one [Casket] on the table before opening the door to allow them inside.
“I’ll show you guys the spell this one time, but please keep this a secret from people outside the house, okay?” I said.
They all nodded and watched closely as I cast the spell to open the [Casket]. The onlookers all clapped or exclaimed in amazement when I lifted a polished gemstone to the light.
[Star Ruby:
A red gemstone with a faint, six-pointed star nestled within its depths.]
“Nice, isn’t it?” I handed the gem to the kids so they could examine it closely, then gestured for them to pass it around.
Deming and Fengying silently inspected it, but Deming’s assistants were a lot more vocal about their amazement.
“I've never seen anything like it,” one assistant breathed, his voice filled with awe. “The qi in this gem is amazingly intense but still gentle.”
“It's a natural qi gemstone,” another exclaimed, his eyes wide with wonder. “There's actually a star captured in the stone.”
“The color is extraordinary,” a third chimed in. “Dark red like a pigeon's blood. This is the most valuable color for a ruby.”
As they passed the gem among themselves, their murmured exclamations filled the room: “Look at the way the light of the star glitters when you move it!“ “It's almost as if it's alive.“ “I've never felt such a powerful energy from a gemstone.“
Fengying let them talk for a while before decisively taking the gem away from them and saying, “Yes, it’s lovely. Now let’s get back to our work and let the lady and her apprentices continue theirs.”
“Oh, it’s no bother,” I said just to be polite as I took back the jewel.
They were, in fact, keeping me from leveling up!
With the minimum of fuss, Fengying herded her wayward husband and his kitchen staff outside. I let out a sigh of relief.
“Shall we continue?” I said.
We sat back down and I opened chests until I got the expected message.
[Congratulations, you just advanced a Magic level!]
[Your Magic level is now 13.]
The System fireworks exploded around me and the others congratulated me on my latest achievement.
“Magic is so cool!” said Mo.
“We have the best teacher in the world!” said Lari.
“And the prettiest!” said Kharli.
“Thank you, thank you.” I laughed good-naturedly and hugged the kids. “Let’s open more treasure chests. This is my leveling-up gift for you guys.”
We happily spent the rest of the morning in the same way. Of the rest of the [Caskets], we got plenty of copper, silver, and gold nuggets as well as a few cheap semi-precious gems and more figurines, handkerchiefs, rings, bracelets, and hairpins. The kids were disappointed that we got many duds - chests that had nothing in them or only contained worthless items like cracked marbles, dirty chicken feathers, bent needles, and tarnished buttons.
The kids didn’t know, because I didn’t tell them, that my “magic wand” was activated by energizing it with [Spell Stones] which they called spirit stones in this world. I let them enjoy their little prizes though, obviously, using one extremely expensive [Spell Stone] to get one silk handkerchief or gold ring was hardly a fair exchange. The books and the ruby were the most valuable things we got.
Right before we left to eat lunch, we gathered the treasure in four piles in front of each of us and traded the ones we didn’t like with the ones we wanted.
Lari traded the female jewelry he got for coins. Mo got all the handkerchiefs in exchange for her two silver rings, and Kharli was content to trade her single topaz gem for a cute butterfly hairpin.
As for me, I gave away my pile to the others since I still had 2,147,483,647 [Caskets] in my inventory left after we finished opening the ones we had Fished.
After lunch, the kids studied while I opened more chests and managed to collect all three books from the [Caskets]. The [Crimson Codex], [Black Codex], and [Azure Codex] each had one part of the recipe that I needed to unlock the blueprint for the Black Tortoise clan’s signature weapon.