Cave Exploration

Xia Lin crouched down, ignoring the strong stench wafting from the Kobold corpse, and carefully picked up the bone amulet hanging from its leather cord.

It felt cool and hard to the touch, as though it had been polished from the fang of some fierce beast. Crude symbols had been carved into its surface.

A faint yellowish glow seeped from those symbols, flickering on and off.

He focused and cast [Item Appraisal] on the thing.

His head gave a slight twinge. Thankfully, appraising a dead object was far easier than appraising an old fox like Barrett.

[Item: Crude Beast Fang Amulet]

[Durability: 5/15]

[Effect: Provides a slight courage boost and minor physical damage reduction while worn. It appears to be an attempt to solidify the effect of some inferior "Blessing Spell."]

[Evaluation: Was it stripped off some even more unfortunate, tasteless adventurer? Or did they make it themselves? No way...]

"An inferior Blessing Spell..." Xia Lin muttered inwardly, though his expression remained unchanged.

Just as he stood up, he felt a sharp gaze settle on him.

Barrett's eyes were like two cold knives, scraping over the amulet in his hand before returning to his face.

"Find something?" The hoarse voice was utterly calm.

Xia Lin did not hide it. He openly held up the bone amulet. "Yeah, this little thing had it hanging around its neck." He shook the faintly glowing fang. "Some bone trinket. Looks strange. No idea what kind of beast it was carved from. Nothing special."

He did not mention its "Blessing Spell-like" effect at all.

Barrett narrowed his eyes. His gaze paused briefly on the amulet, then he gave a noncommittal snort. It was impossible to tell whether he had noticed the faint glow.

"Put it away. We're entering the cave."

His thick fingers pointed at the team. "Kasimir, you scout ahead. Newbie, follow him. I'll take the middle. Lila, bring up the rear. Stay sharp."

The orders were concise, but the formation left no room for argument.

Xia Lin understood at once.

Kasimir, that walking block of ice and vanguard, naturally took the lead.

There was nothing wrong with having Lila, the Apprentice Mage who needed special protection, cover the rear.

The only oddity was putting him, the newly arrived rookie, in second place—with the stone-faced swordsman ahead and the scar-faced Captain behind him...

"Heh. The standard 'surveillance position,'" he mocked himself inwardly. "Looks like my credibility in the Captain's eyes is about as real as a Harpy's concept of chastity."

He silently nodded to show that he understood, then followed Kasimir straight into the dark cave mouth that breathed cold air and foul stench.

The light inside immediately dimmed. A smell of damp soil, mold, and the distinct rank odor of Kobolds rushed over them, choking enough to make breathing difficult.

Water dripped from the cave ceiling with a steady "drip, drip," the sound endlessly amplified through the silent passage until it became unsettling.

Lila's voice trembled with nervousness as she softly chanted a spell.

The crystal atop her staff gradually lit up, releasing a steady, gentle white glow.

The light drove back the darkness several meters around the party, illuminating the uneven stone beneath their feet, along with the slick, gleaming moss and writhing slime on the cave walls. Every now and then, startled cave cockroaches darted into the cracks.

"Oh! Look! Glow Mushrooms!" Lila suddenly whispered excitedly, pointing toward a corner of the cave wall.

Several clusters of mushrooms grew there, emitting a ghostly green radiance that cast the surrounding area in an eerie glow.

"Focus, Apprentice!" Barrett barked in a low voice from behind Xia Lin. "Don't act like a chick on its first spring outing!"

Lila stuck out her tongue and did not dare let herself get distracted again.

The cave ran deep, and the branching paths became more numerous.

Stray Kobolds kept emerging from the shadows and side passages along the way, hissing threats at them.

But without exception, Kasimir swiftly dealt with every minor nuisance.

His rapier always found the trickiest angle, ending each fight with the greatest speed. Usually, all that remained was a brief whimper and the dull thud of a corpse hitting the ground.

Clean and efficient. He did not even disturb the Apprentice Mage at the back, who was looking around in every direction.

As they passed an abandoned mining site littered with rusty Mining Picks and shattered mine cart wreckage, Xia Lin noticed a faint reddish-brown glint in the corner that differed from the surrounding stone.

He moved closer without drawing attention and confirmed that it was an overlooked piece of ore.

[Item: Low-Quality Copper Ore Chunk]

[Value: Approximately three to five copper coins.]

[Evaluation: Low-quality scrap overlooked by a careless miner. But for you right now, it could probably buy half a loaf of Black Bread?]

While Kasimir stood guard up ahead and Barrett and Lila were observing the surroundings, Xia Lin quickly slipped the small ore chunk into his pocket.

The movement was discreet and swift.

Just as he was secretly pleased with himself and about to catch up with the group, he was too busy savoring the thrill of getting a bargain to watch where he was stepping.

As he took a step, the ground beneath his foot felt unusually soft.

"Hm?" He instinctively looked down.

"Ha!"

A powerful hand suddenly grabbed the rear of his shoulder armor from behind. The force was so great that his entire body lurched backward, throwing his footing into disarray.

Xia Lin staggered back and nearly crashed into Barrett behind him.

Barrett's face was grim as he nodded toward the spot Xia Lin had nearly stepped on.

Xia Lin looked closely and immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

The loose dirt over the spot he had almost stepped on had been scattered by the gust from being yanked back, exposing several sharpened wooden stakes beneath it, their surfaces glinting dully!

[Camouflaged Shallow Pit Trap]

[Effect: Falling in will impale the soles of your feet on sharpened wooden stakes and make you scream like a pig at slaughter, successfully drawing every enemy's attention.]

[Evaluation: The Kobolds' hospitality—simple yet effective. Specifically designed to deal with people who do not watch where they walk and greedy fools with nothing but clinking copper coins on their minds. Thank the fellow who saved your feet!]

Barrett released him and crossed his thick arms over his chest. The scar on his face looked especially savage beneath the shifting light and shadow.

He looked Xia Lin over from head to toe, his tone dripping with undisguised mockery. "Well, newbie? You think those few copper coins are worth more than your legs?"

Xia Lin's face turned bright red. All he could manage was, "Uh... thanks..."

Kasimir walked over expressionlessly, his cold gaze seeming to regard Xia Lin as nothing more than an obstacle in the road.

He could not even be bothered to speak. With one hard kick, he snapped all the stakes in the shallow pit, flattened them beneath his boots, and cleared a safe path.

At the very back of the party, Lila gave Xia Lin a faint smile.

That smile was strange. It was neither comforting nor mocking. It was more like... knowing?

As though she had known there was a trap there all along and had expected Xia Lin to nearly step into it.

Lila's smile made Xia Lin's skin crawl.

Honestly, although that scar-faced bastard's mouth was sharp enough to kill and his sarcastic jab had indeed made Xia Lin furious, if Barrett had not yanked him back so hard, Xia Lin would probably be figuring out how to pull wooden stakes out of the soles of his feet right now.

Xia Lin let out a long sigh inwardly.

Gratitude was gratitude, and facts were facts.

In the end, he was still far too much of a rookie.