Next was the second path on the left, the one where the knight was killed. With the experience gained from exploring the first path, the illusion easily traversed the straight section of the road ahead. After turning the corner, Xiao Hua saw a golden chest shining brightly in the middle of the road!
Ha! It’s obviously a trap!
Xiao Hua recalled playing single-player RPG mazes where opening chests often released a bunch of monsters. He despised the system for using such a low-level trap, feeling it was insulting his intelligence! Then, he despised himself even more for not being able to resist having the illusion walk over to open the chest with the lockpicking skill!
System Prompt: You obtained the Free Skill Book “Battle Roar”!
“Battle Roar”: After learning this skill, you can increase the rate of rage gain. Available for Warrior class!
Wow! An excellent skill for Warriors!
After failing numerous times, Xiao Hua successfully opened the golden chest, and inside was an excellent Warrior-class free skill book!
Xiao Hua happily stored the skill book. Since no monsters appeared, Xiao Hua essentially slapped himself in the face, but he figured a few slaps were worth it!
Continuing onward, Xiao Hua encountered several more golden chests along the way. Despite constantly reminding himself that the first chest was just a sweetener from the system, the subsequent chests were likely fake, containing only monsters, and were traps, he still couldn’t resist the temptation to control the illusion to open them.
Another golden chest appeared.
Don’t open it! It’s a trap!
The white-winged angel of reason blocked the door of action, trying to persuade him.
But if it contains a skill book or excellent equipment, that’s money!
The black-winged demon of greed wielded a small fork, easily knocking down the weak angel, then giggled excitedly as it slipped through the door of action.
As a result, the golden chest opened its mouth and swallowed the illusion. It was actually a chest monster! Xiao Hua wondered if the system had peeked into his mind, recalling a game where he ignored an NPC’s warning and opened a chest, only to be eaten and forced to restart after three hours of progress.
The second path was also a dead end, with numerous golden chests opened, yielding mostly potions aside from the initial Warrior skill book. Xiao Hua cursed the system for being shameless and vowed never to open another chest!
On the third path, shortly after entering, another golden chest appeared...
Again, he couldn’t resist sending the illusion to open it...
“Damn it! I won’t believe there isn’t a single good thing in these chests!”
A burst of toxic gas emerged from the chest, causing a green -5000 damage to the illusion, killing it instantly.
After the illusion was destroyed, Xiao Hua was furious but then realized that in regular groups, even if there was a thief, they couldn’t infinitely open golden chests like he could. Most would stop after a couple of failures, fearing the severe consequences, including potential party wipes! From another perspective, to open all the chests, a highly skilled team would be required. The system wouldn’t place all trash in the chests; it might be shameless, but it rarely makes rewards disproportionate to the effort!
Thinking this way, Xiao Hua decided to open all the chests! While unsure about the Undead Bone Warlock’s strength, he had no confidence in defeating it. Compared to killing the warlock, the chance of obtaining excellent items from the chests was higher. He already had one skill book, ensuring no loss, and if the system was just fooling him, he’d consider it practice for lockpicking.
Lockpicking skill gains proficiency only by successfully opening chests, making it challenging to level. Luckily, the required experience for leveling wasn’t too high. Except for rare chests like gold, crystal, and rainbow chests, which require higher skill levels, ordinary iron, copper, silver, and gold chests can be opened by any skill level, though success rates decrease with lower skill levels.
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Xiao Hua finished opening the golden chests in the second path, nearly leveling up his lockpicking skill. After opening two more golden chests in the third path, his lockpicking skill finally reached the basic level.
To open all the golden chests, Xiao Hua explored every corner of the Mysterious Forest. Surprisingly, the third path led to the opposite side, guarded by a three-meter-tall gray skeleton wielding a black scythe!
Xiao Hua had the illusion attempt to sneak past. Thankfully, Grandmaster Stealth worked, allowing the illusion to walk past the gray skeleton and exit the Mysterious Forest!
Phew! Not easy at all!
After enduring the Mysterious Forest for so long, Xiao Hua felt a great sense of relief.
Beyond the Mysterious Forest lay another forest, with a small path winding through the grass towards the Undead Bone Warlock.
After some consideration, Xiao Hua had the illusion self-destruct. Perhaps he wasn’t ready to face the Undead Bone Warlock and preferred finishing the chests!
Finding the exit, Xiao Hua focused solely on the chests. The remaining paths also contained golden chests. After spending a considerable amount of time, Xiao Hua excitedly realized he might be facing the last golden chest!
Lockpicking successful!
System Prompt: You obtained ten “Large Life Recovery Potions”!
Not again, the last chest giving junk?
Xiao Hua was dumbfounded.
But then, he received another system prompt!
System Prompt: All golden chests in the Mysterious Forest have been opened, triggering a hidden condition. A mysterious chest has spawned at the entrance of the Mysterious Forest. The Chest Sprite guarding the mysterious chest is currently asleep. Please return to the entrance within 10 minutes and successfully open the chest to receive special rewards! After 10 minutes, the Chest Sprite will awaken and take the chest away!
Mysterious chest? What’s that? He had never heard of it!
Xiao Hua’s eyes lit up, and he immediately had the illusion self-destruct, returning his consciousness to his character, who was hiding near the entrance of the Mysterious Forest!
Running a few steps to the entrance, Xiao Hua indeed saw a pitch-black mysterious chest on the ground at the entrance of the Mysterious Forest. A green six-winged sprite was sleeping on the lid of the chest.
Would this chest require a skill level... Xiao Hua worried.
Without hesitation, Xiao Hua knew the mysterious chest’s level must be high, given the six-winged sprite. With his lockpicking skill barely reaching intermediate level, Xiao Hua felt uncertain! If he failed due to insufficient skill level, watching the sprite take the chest away would be too frustrating!
To be safe, Xiao Hua summoned the illusion. Failing to unlock would cause a one-minute stun, and with only ten minutes, he could only attempt nine times. But with the illusion, he doubled his chances to eighteen attempts. If he still failed, it would mean his skill level was insufficient!
Lockpicking failed!
Lockpicking failed!
Lockpicking failed!
Lockpicking failed!
...
Both the character and the illusion attempted to unlock, failing six times. Xiao Hua was sweating nervously, fearing the worst!
Once the stun wore off, Xiao Hua tried again!
Lockpicking failed!
But then, the chest suddenly opened!
System Prompt: Opening attempts reached seven, the chest is forcibly opened!
Reaching the forced opening condition, Xiao Hua was delighted. The system could be cute sometimes!
System Prompt: You obtained the Mutated Skill Book “Enhanced Lockpicking”!
“A mutated skill book? What’s that?” Xiao Hua was curious, as he had never seen one before!
“Enhanced Lockpicking”: After using this skill, the “Lockpicking” skill becomes “Forced Lockpicking,” allowing you to open some chests or doors that usually require keys. Available for Thief class.
“Ha ha, jackpot!” Seeing the skill book directly enhanced the class skill, Xiao Hua laughed heartily and immediately learned it.
System Prompt: The skill “Lockpicking” has mutated into “Enhanced Lockpicking”!
Enhanced Lockpicking (Intermediate): 65% chance to successfully open locked chests in the wild or dungeons. Higher skill levels increase the chance of obtaining high-quality equipment. 30% chance to open locked doors in the wild or dungeons. 10% chance to open doors or chests requiring special keys. If lockpicking fails, the character enters a one-minute stun state.
After the chest opened, the six-winged green sprite stretched lazily, yawned, and woke up.
“You opened this mysterious chest alone? What a waste; this chest contains rewards for six people!” The sprite looked around, seeing only Xiao Hua, and complained.
Sweat. It was a team chest with rewards for six people, explaining why a six-winged sprite guarded it.
Xiao Hua realized that normally, only a coordinated team could open all the chests in the Mysterious Forest, triggering the mysterious chest. The system wouldn’t reward just the thief who opened the chests.
Too bad, if the system allowed one person to claim all six rewards, he’d be rich!
“Beautiful fairy, would you like to come home with me? I have a big, comfortable bed!”
Regretfully, Xiao Hua tried to lure the rare six-winged sprite.
“No! No bed is as comfortable as the mysterious chest. I’ve waited so long for someone to take the treasure so I can sleep in the chest. Bye, enjoy yourself; I’m going to sleep.” The sprite refused, flapped her wings lightly, and dove back into the mysterious chest, which closed and disappeared.
Xiao Hua shrugged and headed towards the other side of the Mysterious Forest.