Zach groaned. He stretched his arms in the air as if it had been a while since he felt this peaceful. His joints snapped and cracked like a symphony. Then he heard a voice.

“At last,” the voice said.

He opened his eyes and peeked to the side. There was a person sitting on the floor with a bored look on her face. It was Savreen.

“You’re out,” Zach said.

“I am. So can you get up now?” Savreen said.

He propped his upper body up with half-opened eyes. Again, he stretched his arms in the air and looked left and right, scanning the whole room.

“Where’s Bulan?” he asked.

“Not here,” she replied.

“What do you mean?” he looked at her, questioning with his brows arched.

“She’s resting, telling me she’ll meet me again after the Prelude,” Savreen said. From the look on her face, she was quite bothered by Bulan’s absence.

“I see. So that’s why you have a long face,” Zach said.

“I don’t have a long face,” she said, scowling.

“I meant the expression,” Zach replied.

“I know, and again, I don’t have a long face,” Savreen said. She crossed her arms over her chest as if proving a point.

“Whatever you say,” Zach said. He got up, dusting off his boxer and adjusting the leather cuirass on his torso.

“Here,” Savreen threw something in the air and Zach caught it one-handed. It was a pouch that looked far from being remarkable. He guessed it must be one of those pouches Savreen had hanging on her belt with flint or something useful inside of it.

“I didn’t expect a treasure seeker to be a giver,” Zach said, grinning.

“It’s not from me,” Savreen said.

“Bulan?”

She nodded. “I don’t know how you won the heart of Lady Bulan, but that pouch is one of the gifts from her for agreeing to protect me,” Savreen said. “Not like I can’t protect myself, but I’ll follow whatever she commanded.”

“So what about the other gifts?” Zach said.

“I don’t know. She just told me once you get me out of this Prelude realm then you will get the full version of whatever it is,” Savreen said.

If he had to guess then it must be the full cure for the protection of his body, mind, and soul against the invasion of that bastard Fallen. So for now he got an ongoing task at hand, and to make sure this Mirdouin here survived whatever that would be thrown at them in the Prelude realm. Not to mention, he was pretty lucky to get a good Fallen as an ally. If it wasn’t for Lady Bulan he wouldn’t have got to know of his impending death in the hands of a vile Fallen.

“So can we go now?” Savreen asked. “I’m dying to get out of here and taste real food for once, and magic water isn’t just going cut it anymore.”

“So there’s also a fountain inside the sanctum?” Zach asked.

“Fountain?”

“Yea, a fountain. The thing where the magic water comes out,” Zach said.

She gave him a look as if she just talked to a crazy person. “I don’t know what you mean, but there’s no fountain,” Savreen said. She rummaged through one of her pouches that looked identically the same as the one in Zach’s hand and took out something.

He was shocked. It was a mana potion bigger than the one he got outside of the gate, and coming from that small pouch it could only mean one thing. ‘This pouch has a similar function as the Inventory window in an RPG,’ Zach thought. He stared at the pouch in his hand and used Identify on it.

[Storage Pouch(Tier:Rare)]

[A leather pouch made by the combined efforts of a skilled weaver and an arcanist specialized in the Space element. The leather of a beast that traverses the skies, and the keratin of a creature that burrowed deep underground with the internal lining made out of the precious ore, Cosmium.]

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

[Durability: 100/100]

[Effect: A maximum of fifty spaces for storage. Similar items can be stacked until a maximum of a hundred.]

The words said it all. Zach definitely hit the jackpot. The trouble of leaving all of those shiny things behind went away as he had the perfect item to store it all.

Savreen watched the man in the boxer who ignored the higher-grade mana potion in her hand as his eyes were glued to the pouch. She stored it back, confused over this weird man’s behavior. “Can we leave now?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Zach said. “There’s a place we need to stop by and you’ll definitely like it.”

She had a disbelieving look, but nonetheless, she still followed him. Then it shook her. True to the heart of a treasure seeker, her eyes glimmered like the stars as she saw a room full of shiny things.

“Here,” Zach threw something, and she snatched it. It was a dagger made out of lunarite, and it wasn’t a normal one at that. Even without Identify, her experience as a treasure seeker knew this was a precious item. She took a look around and she couldn’t help but salivate over these precious things.

“You do know these are all the property of the Moon Priest Enclave right?” Savreen said. Her treasure seeker’s heart just couldn’t sit still seeing these items, and the urge went out.

“Didn’t think you’re the greedy type,” Zach said, giving her a thorough look from top to bottom.

“I’m not,” she said. “I’m just stating the facts and as I’m the sole Moon Priest, thus—“

“Thus that’s where you are wrong,” Zach said.

She frowned. “By the order of Lady—“

“Lady Bulan already told me these are mine to keep and to be fair, these things are not the belongings of the enclave,” Zach said.

“You’re lying,” said the one who lied.

“I’m not,” Zach said. He took out a book from a drawer and showed it to her. “All of this is the property of a man called Ahm-Nain, and he isn’t a Moon Priest.” A bit of a white lie.

“Can I take a look?” Savreen asked.

He immediately stored it in his pouch and smirked. “Nope,” he said.

“That’s not fair,” Savreen said.

“Nothing is, dear,” Zach said. “And don’t you treasure seeker has this motto of finders keepers?”

“Lady Bulan won’t like this,” Savreen said, pinning her last hope to her Fallen.

“Sucks you don’t believe me, but hey, you can just tell mommy after getting out of here,” Zach said.

She pouted and left. Stamping her feet across the stairs and with the sly treasure seeker out of the way, Zach did his thing. He grabbed everything and threw it all inside his pouch. From the smallest to the biggest item in Ahm-Nain’s secret room, not leaving even the broken weapons and armor as everything had a use in his eyes. Then seven things were left on the floor. He stripped himself naked even his boxer as he stored it all and wore those seven pieces of equipment.

Lunarite cuirass, lunarite pants, lunarite boots, lunarite armguards, and to complete his overall look a Spartan-inspired Lunarite helmet. He was decked from top to bottom with a whole new appearance and not like the boxer-wearing man he was.

New strength flowed within him as he felt the added boost of agility from all the equipment he enchanted. At first, he thought of making it all equal for all his stats, but for now, he thought it was better to maximize the one stat that was the most beneficial to him.

Last but not least the two identical swords. Both were enchanted and rather than agility, he boosted them with strength to give a bit of oomph to his offense. He twirled them around as he took his last look at the room that was the beginning of his enchanting journey.

Zach left and emerged from the staircase. Savreen was about to complain about something, but Zach’s new appearance left her speechless.

“Jealous?” Zach said with a smirk.

Again, she pouted. Savreen turned her head away as she couldn’t stand seeing him having all those treasures and for a treasure seeker, it kinda scratched her pride a bit.

“Hey,” Zach called.

“What?” Savreen asked and not even looking at him.

“Just turn your head, and look,” Zach said.

She fought against her own ego and gave a side glance. Both her eyebrows raised as she saw what was lying on the floor. Savreen quickly reclaimed her cold look and gazed at Zach.

“So what's the price?” Savreen asked.

“We’ve been through thick and thin together even for a short while, and you’re still distrustful of me?” Zach said.

“I trust no one,” Savreen said.

“Well, you trust enough to be hauled around in my arm, so can we at least make this relationship amicable? You do know, we need to stick together until we’re out of the Prelude realm, right?” Zach said.

She sighed as Zach wasn’t wrong. Lady Bulan did say to stick with him no matter what, so going against it would be an insult to the aid that was given to her. She didn’t say a word and just grabbed the stuff laid in front of her and went back into the underground room to change. She returned, dressing similarly to before and the only thing visible was the cuirass, boots, and helmet. The armguards were hidden underneath the long overcoat jacket she usually wore.

“What?” Savreen asked as she felt the stare from Zach.

“Nothing,” he didn’t want to say it but she looked rather weird in her usual clothes mixed with the lunarite equipment. The duo took their leave, and the portal that wasn’t there was now shining brightly, preparing for their exit.

“Ready?” He glanced to his side.

“For what?” Savreen asked.

“What else? Once we’re out of here, the scarecrows will be waiting,” Zach said. He didn’t forget despite the two weeks that had passed in this domain. But he didn’t worry. Despite his level stagnated, he still believed he had gotten stronger.

Zach with his two swords, and Savreen with her dagger. Both stepped through the portal and their visions changed. There was no longer the light of the moon and the darkness of the endless sky.

Now there were back in the tunnel and the first thing they saw were the many silhouettes packed tightly together. The silhouettes immediately turned at them in unison as if their tracker went alive, and Zach smiled.

He didn’t waste a single second and threw himself forward with two swords glowing crimson bright.