Opening the Box

On the way back to the herb garden, Gao De was still able to keep his pace normal at first.

But every now and then, he reached out to touch his chest, making sure the Spell Scroll tucked there was still safe and sound.

As the herb garden drew nearer and nearer, Gao De finally could no longer suppress the urgency in his heart, and his steps grew faster and faster.

The moment he stepped through the herb garden's gate, he broke into a jog and plunged headlong into his workshop.

Gao De bent down and dragged out the large wooden chest beneath his worktable, then carefully took out the Arcane Wooden Box he had stored inside.

Afterward, he took the incomparably precious Spell Scroll from his robes—the scroll carrying the spell Knock.

After thinking for a moment, Gao De, who had long been unable to wait, forced himself to calm down. Rather than immediately using the Spell Scroll, he first went out to the washroom and washed his hands.

Better to believe it exists than to believe it does not.

What he was about to do was the equivalent of opening a Blind Box.

And a paid Blind Box at that.

This Spell Scroll had been bought at enormous expense. If it failed to yield anything good, he would lose everything.

So before opening the box, he still had to arrange the proper sense of ritual.

In a world full of mystic forces, believing a little in mystic forces was nothing to be ashamed of!

After washing his hands and returning to the workshop, Gao De finally picked up the Spell Scroll.

With just a light tug on the knot tying it shut, the Spell Scroll opened and lay flat in his hands.

Gao De drew a deep breath and focused his mind on the scroll in his hands.

In an instant, the obscure magical writing on the scroll glimmered faintly, resonating with Gao De's mind.

Feeling that powerful force, Gao De willed it toward the Arcane Wooden Box on the table.

Driven by Gao De's will, the light on the Spell Scroll suddenly erupted, spreading an invisible magical fluctuation that could not be seen with the naked eye but could be clearly sensed through Mental Strength.

As if granted life, that magical fluctuation transformed into a bolt of lightning in an instant and shot forth under Gao De's mental command, heading straight for the Arcane Wooden Box on the table.

The fluctuation pierced through the air and struck the invisible Arcane Lock on the wooden box.

The instant the two collided, ripples like waves on water spread across the surface of the box.

As though a stone had broken the water's surface, a succession of tiny, dense cracks burst forth.

The cracks kept appearing, then vanishing.

Each appearance and disappearance was accompanied by a faint sound.

With the final crack, all the ripples finally vanished, declaring that the magical force on the wooden box had temporarily been suppressed.

As for the Spell Scroll in Gao De's hand, after the magical power contained within it had dissipated, it turned into specks of fluorescence and scattered into the air.

--It was common knowledge that scrolls disappeared after being used.

It should be openable now, right? Looking at the wooden box before him, which appeared no different from before, Gao De thought to himself.

He knew he had to hurry and open the box to retrieve the items hidden inside.

Pierre had told him that Knock could not break an Arcane Lock. It could only temporarily suppress the Arcane Lock's magical effect.

Once the time ran out, the Arcane Lock would take effect again.

Although he knew time was pressing, Gao De did not act recklessly.

Instead, he first backed away several steps until he reached the doorway, then opened the door so that if anything abnormal happened, he could flee at any time.

Then, a faint and barely noticeable glimmer gathered at Gao De's fingertips.

A translucent, floating ghostly hand appeared.

Under his control, the ghostly hand extended forward and gently, precisely touched the wooden box from afar.

Mage Hand.

May the Yellow-Black King, who holds Good Fortune in His grasp, bless me.

After silently offering that prayer, Gao De controlled Mage Hand and gave a gentle push.

Creak.

With a faint sound of friction, the wooden box—which could not be opened even with the strength of nine oxen and two tigers—was effortlessly opened just like that.

Gao De glanced at it from afar and saw that although the wooden box was not particularly large, it held quite a few things.

It was not an empty box!

A flash of delight passed through Gao De's eyes.

He did not dare delay, afraid that the Arcane Lock might take effect again. He hurriedly controlled Mage Hand to remove every item from the box.

As the objects inside the wooden box were taken out, Gao De's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

First came three rather thick books.

Then came five much thinner booklets.

Below them were three aged parchment sheets.

Next came a small stack of paper, around twenty pages in all. The farther down they went, the older they became, and the pages at the bottom had already yellowed, looking as though they had weathered many years.

After that came a scroll tied with string, which surprisingly looked somewhat similar to a Spell Scroll.

The final items taken out made Gao De's breathing quicken.

They gleamed with gold, radiated an irresistible allure, and were round, their surfaces engraved with the image of a spirited little rooster.

Sien Gold Coins!

Mage Seda had placed the gold coins at the very bottom of the wooden box.

A full fifty Sien Gold Coins.

Gao De, who had never seen or owned so much money before, simply could not restrain his excitement.

"Praise the Yellow-Black King!" Gao De could feel his heart pounding.

This haul had made him rich in one stroke.

This was the reward he deserved for taking such an enormous risk to kill a seasoned Third-Order Apprentice!

Everything in the wooden box had now been removed.

After confirming that there were no hidden dangers in the box, Gao De hurriedly shut the door, then eagerly walked over to the wooden table and picked up the fifty gold coins to play with them.

The coins clinked together in his hands, producing an incomparably pleasant sound.

That cold metallic texture made it impossible for Gao De to put them down.

Not long ago, he had still felt pained over a Gaddon meal.

He had wanted to split every copper coin in half to spend it, only abandoning that restless idea because a copper coin split in half would be worth even less.

Now, seeing so many gold coins, he even felt a little unreal.

"What am I supposed to spend all this money on?!"

After playing with the fifty gold coins Mage Seda had left behind to his heart's content, Gao De turned his gaze toward the Arcane Wooden Box still sitting open beside him.

He knew that before long, the Arcane Lock on this wooden box would take effect again.

At that point, the box would be locked once more and could no longer be opened.

After giving it some thought, Gao De had an idea. He casually gathered a small stack of scrap paper from the table and placed it inside, filling the wooden box back up before closing it.

Just then, ripples of faint light spread out.

The Arcane Lock took effect again at precisely the right moment.

Looking at the closed box once more, Gao De smiled knowingly.

Blue came from indigo, yet surpassed indigo.

Mage Seda might not play reverse tricks, but that did not mean he would not.

Only after finishing all this did Gao De finally settle down and begin examining the rest of his spoils.