Silver Treasure Chests
The muddy path was thick with the stench of blood and death. The four survivors.
The dying driver, the gravely wounded swordsman, the spearman who had lost an arm, and Su Ran, who was barely holding on with his mental power nearly exhausted, were all immersed in the exhaustion and profound grief that followed their escape from death.
Just then, another strange change occurred.
Centered on the fallen Gnoll Warlord's corpse, the air rippled violently like water.
The scattered gnoll corpses, the human remains, and even the blood that had soaked into the ground began to give off extremely faint points of light in different colors.
As though drawn by an invisible force, the points of light converged above the Warlord's corpse.
The light grew brighter and brighter, finally condensing into four treasure chests that gleamed with a soft silvery-white light!
They were slightly smaller than the wooden chests Su Ran was familiar with, but more exquisite. Simple cloud patterns seemed to be embossed on their surfaces, making them stand out in the gloomy forest.
At the same time, four pure, warm pillars of milky-white light descended from the sky.
The moment the light enveloped him, Su Ran felt a gentle but irresistible force wrap around him. His body grew weightless, and the bloody battlefield before his eyes began to blur and spin.
[Battle results in progress...] [Scene: Random active otherworld rift (low intensity)] [Contribution evaluation: 40%] [Base experience reward: 100 points] [First rift survival achievement detected. Additional experience reward: 50 points] [Results complete.]
The clear, emotionless notifications flowed directly into his consciousness.
The sensation of teleportation lasted about three seconds.
Light and shadow shifted, and the twisted forest, the bloody battlefield, and the silver treasure chests all vanished.
He felt solid ground beneath his feet once more. His nostrils filled with the familiar air of the instance wilderness, carrying the scent of dust and wild grass, and... the reassuring glimmer of the distant city shield.
They were back!
They had returned to the wilderness of the real world, not far from the broken-down bus.
The bus was still parked crookedly by the roadside, its doors wide open and its interior empty. Grimy marks left by terrified passengers pounding on the windows still stained the glass.
"Here! Hurry!"
Before Su Ran could get a clear look at his surroundings, several urgent shouts and the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps reached him.
A squad of class holders in matching standard-issue light armor, bearing the City Guard Hall's insignia, was running toward them.
Clearly, the bus's inexplicable disappearance and the loss of its signal had triggered an alarm, and the Guard Hall had dispatched a rescue team.
"Survivors! Medics!"
"Severely injured! Over here!"
The well-trained guards immediately spread out. Two [Healers] in pale green robes, each carrying a short staff, hurried toward the dying driver, the gravely wounded swordsman, and the spearman.
The soft light of life magic shone as they stabilized the three men's injuries.
Su Ran stood there, feeling somewhat dazed, his body swaying slightly.
A middle-aged man wearing a dark blue mage's robe, with a Guard Hall badge and the Mage Association's insignia pinned to his chest, walked over.
His sharp gaze swept over Su Ran's pale, exhausted face and eyes, which had grown somewhat unfocused from overexerting his mental power.
"Severe mental power depletion."
The mage guard made his assessment in a calm, professional tone.
Without asking any further questions, he took a small glass vial, as thick as a finger and filled with a clear sky-blue liquid, from the pouch at his waist and handed it to Su Ran.
"[Basic Mental Power Recovery Potion], standard military issue. Drink it, and you'll recover most of what you spent. The side effect is that you may feel a little overstimulated and unable to sleep for the next few hours."
Su Ran looked at the little blue vial held out to him, then at the clearly visible Guard Hall insignia on the man's chest. Without hesitation, he took it and pulled out the cork.
A cool, strange fragrance wafted out, a blend of mint and some kind of Star Sand Grass. He tilted his head back and drained the potion in one gulp.
The liquid was slightly cool in his mouth. After sliding down his throat, it quickly turned into a refreshing current that surged straight to the top of his skull.
His mental power source, which had been like a dried-up riverbed and throbbed with stabbing pain, seemed to be filled with a cool, sweet spring in an instant.
The headache that had nearly split his skull rapidly eased, his scattered thoughts began to gather again, and his depleted mental power recovered at a clearly perceptible rate, filling up...
Though he had not fully recovered to his peak, he had at least regained most of it.
The feeling of being pulled back from the brink of collapse finally allowed Su Ran's taut nerves and body to relax completely, in one long release.
Holding the empty vial, he nodded to the mage guard and said quietly, "Thank you."
The mage guard gave a slight nod. His gaze lingered on Su Ran's face for a moment, as though he wanted to say something, but in the end he turned to check on the other injured people and the situation at the scene.
Su Ran stood where he was, feeling the strength gradually return to his body. His gaze swept over the driver and the other two receiving first aid, then over the empty bus, before finally settling on the city's faint glow at the far end of the wilderness.
He had made it back alive.
He had even leveled up.
And... had those four silver treasure chests also been distributed according to some rule during the settlement?
With a slight thought, he indeed saw the faintly glowing silver chest in an inconspicuous corner of his personal space.
The Guard Hall's rescue team was highly efficient. Under the care of the two [Healers] and the accompanying pharmacist, the driver's horrific abdominal wound was temporarily stabilized.
Although he remained unconscious, his vital signs had stabilized, and he was quickly carried on a stretcher to the accompanying medical vehicle.
The swordsman's and spearman's injuries were also properly treated and immobilized. Although they had difficulty moving, their lives were no longer in danger.
Next came a lengthy but necessary procedure.
Because the incident involved a random active otherworld rift swallowing a public transport vehicle and causing civilian casualties, it was no longer a simple instance accident, but a public safety incident requiring a formal investigation.
The Guard Hall's clerks and investigators wore solemn expressions as they temporarily separated the four survivors and took detailed statements from each of them.
Su Ran was taken into a modified vehicle temporarily being used as an office.
He had already prepared for the investigator's questions and described the events truthfully: the bus had suddenly broken down, the surroundings had changed drastically, and they had encountered monsters and been forced to fight for survival.
He omitted the details of how he had used his Double Treasure Chest talent to obtain the token, saying only that when he had previously run the [Skeleton Graveyard (easy)] instance.
He had been extremely lucky and obtained the special item [Skeleton Summoning Token].
When asked about the token's source and quantity, Su Ran displayed the one intact token he had left and stressed that he had run the Skeleton Graveyard instance very diligently seven times in the past week to improve his strength.
"Seven times?"
The investigator looked up at Su Ran while taking notes, a hint of surprise in his eyes, but more understanding of the desperate struggle that was commonplace among low-ranking awakened.
"No wonder... Although [Skeleton Graveyard] is easy, it does have an extremely low chance of producing some special undead-related items. You're lucky."
Lucky. The explanation was perfectly reasonable. In the world of the awakened, there were always people briefly favored by the goddess of luck. A Lv.2 scholar,