Chapter 88: Opening the Treasure Chest (Please Add to Favorites and Recommend)

Staring at the giant serpent lingering in the river, unwilling to leave, Liu Zhi became more and more convinced that his idea was right.

“No, I must find a way to deal with this giant serpent. Otherwise, one day it will come to the City of Gold. But how should I handle it? Should I restore the divinity I transferred away? That won’t do. Once something is in my hands, it’s never returned, not even a blade of grass—it stays to green my land.

Otherwise, perhaps I should slay the serpent.”

To slay the serpent—such a thing sounds easy in words, but to carry it out is incredibly difficult. For a moment, Liu Zhi was at a loss and could only retreat helplessly back into the Palace of the Dead.

Compared to the City of Gold, which was under the serpent’s gaze, the Palace of the Dead was much safer. After returning, Liu Zhi had no desire to open treasure chests; all his attention remained on the giant serpent outside.

He had entered the City of Gold through the Serpent’s Path, so he naturally knew how many such giant serpents lurked outside the city. Now, only one serpent was eyeing the city, but once the others realized there was no more food inside, how many would circle the walls?

And Liu Zhi was not an undead himself—he could not stay inside forever. The more he dwelled on it, the more his thoughts tangled into confusion.

Videnina had been silently following Liu Zhi this entire time. She said nothing, simply shadowed him wherever he went. After he had paced in circles a few times, Liu Zhi suddenly looked up and asked, “Videnina, do you think if we give it our all, we could kill the giant serpent?”

“One… perhaps. Two… impossible.”

“Yes, one is manageable. But if we face two at once, it’s over for us. And there are many out there.” Liu Zhi pressed his fingers to his brow. “But if we can’t kill them, driving them away is enough. We’ll leave here eventually, so we won’t need these passageways. I have a good idea.”

Excited, Liu Zhi began to explain. He planned to use certain methods to drive the giant serpents out of the City of Gold’s territory. After all, every seven years, the serpents would leave the city for a time, which meant they could leave their lairs. If he could force them out and destroy the passages behind them, the City of Gold would be safe.

As for what the serpents might do in the nearby jungles, or whether they would go hungry—those matters were no concern of Liu Zhi’s.

“At last, I have a plan. Let’s try it. If it works, we’ll be safe. If it fails, so be it—I’ll just hide here and send the skeleton soldiers out to fetch food.” Having prepared a retreat for himself, Liu Zhi finally relaxed. The fear the giant serpent had instilled in him slowly faded.

Only then did his attention return to the three treasure chests he held: two competitive chests (one lesser, one intermediate), and an occupational gift pack. Surely, as before, these would grant him many valuable items.

Returning to the center of the Palace of the Dead, Liu Zhi sat down and calmed himself for three minutes. Then, in one breath, he opened all the chests.

[Notification: You have opened a Lesser Competitive Chest and received: Blueprints for the Beka Fencer Hall*1, Manual for Crafting Rapiers*1, Universal Currency*500]

[Notification: You have opened an Intermediate Competitive Chest and received: Blueprints for the Alchemy Hut*1, Soulstone*3, Universal Currency*500]

[Notification: You have opened the Occupational Gift Pack and received: Professional Item (Necromancer’s Meditation Method)*1, Professional Item (Necromancer’s Spellbook)*1, Professional Equipment (Undead Servant)*1, Universal Currency*500]

When Videnina arrived, she saw Liu Zhi holding the items that had spilled from the chests, carefully examining each one.

Aside from a few that could be used directly, the rest were all models—two of them, building models: one resembled a training hall, the other a hut packed inside and out with cauldrons.

[Beka Fencer Hall Blueprints: City upgrade building, max level 4, usable 4 times. Once sufficient materials are gathered, the Beka Fencer Hall can be constructed at a designated location and upgraded three times.]

[Beka Fencer Hall: Assign subordinates to study the complete Beka family fencing style. At level 1, only the Shadow Rapier Technique can be learned. Requires a treasure containing the full Beka family swordsmanship legacy.]

[Alchemy Hut Blueprints: Basic city building, max level 9, usable 4 times. Once sufficient materials are gathered, a (small) Alchemy Hut can be constructed at a designated location and upgraded three times.]

[Alchemy Hut: Assign subordinates to study alchemy and related branches. Upgrading from level 4 to 5 (small to medium) requires building the Alchemist Guild. After upgrading, the hut will automatically produce alchemical potions. Upgrading from level 8 to 9 (medium to large) requires building the Alchemy Academy. After upgrading, the hut will automatically research new alchemy recipes.]

Next was a model of a rapier—the same style as those used by Perkin and Lloyd, except this model featured a hand gripping the blade tightly.

[Shadow Rapier Crafting Manual: Universal manual for crafting Shadow Rapiers. Following the manual, there is a chance (1%) to forge a grade C Shadow Rapier (for player use) and standard Shadow Rapiers (for followers, servants, and dependents).]

[Shadow Rapier: A rapier designed for use with the complete Beka family sword style. Using this rapier enhances the power of the Beka fencing techniques.]

Finally, there were three brick-like objects resembling small boxes.

[Soulstone: A gem that absorbs and stores souls, preventing their dispersal. Each Soulstone can absorb and store 1,000 soul units. When used to construct a Summoning Tower or Soul Tower, absorption and storage efficiency is greatly increased.]

Last was a statue, similar to the previous statue of the Corpse-Soul Naga—also crafted from gold. Yet this one was even stranger: again a female figure, but suspended in midair, with six metallic spider legs forcibly supporting her from behind, as though she were a Spider-Woman in kill mode.

But rather than the dashing tight-suited Spider-Man, this woman was dressed in robes, her body drawn in tightly, hanging as though she were a hanged wraith on a tree.

[Undead Servant: Weaver Spider Queen]

[Profession: Paladin]

[Level: 1]

[Abilities: Toxic Creature (attacks inflict poison), Web of Frost (casts webs to entrap all nearby enemies), Melee Expert (combat strength increases when outnumbered), Broodmother (can communicate with arachnid creatures)]

[Description: The result of a failed experiment combining a venomous spider with a human. Though she escaped the laboratory, she could not evade death’s pursuit. Revived after death, she possesses the combined strengths of both spider and human.]