Chapter Forty-Four: An Unexpected Gain

“Should we roll the dice?” Ye Chen gently tossed the Mo Yan Ring in his hand up and down, smiling cheerfully.

When a party finds equipment that everyone wants, rolling dice to determine who gets it is a common practice. After all, everyone contributed to obtaining the chest key, and Ye Chen knew he couldn’t have made it this far alone. He felt it would be inappropriate to claim the ring without saying a word.

“Roll the dice?” Drunken Longing and the other mage girls immediately brightened, itching to give it a try. Even leaving aside the Silencing Spell, a silver-grade accessory was tempting enough. If the ring hadn’t given intelligence as its primary attribute, the other girls would have joined the competition too.

“Forget it. I’ll make the call—Ye Chen gets the ring. Let’s be honest, without him we’d never have found this silver chest. And just the fact that he saved us all from losing a level is worth far more than a set of Dark Magic gear. Let’s treat this ring as a reward from the guild,” Sword Over City intervened, stopping the eager mages. In her eyes, Ye Chen had contributed so much today that, as the leader, she had to reward him appropriately. Giving him the valuable ring was only fitting.

“Heh, since big sister says so, I won’t stand on ceremony. I’ll gratefully accept the Mo Yan Ring,” Ye Chen said with a grin. He had coveted the silencing ring from the start, and if not for team harmony, he would have pocketed it long ago. Now that the leader had spoken, he wasn’t about to put on a false show of modesty—besides, he could always make it up to the girls later with some special potions.

“Little Ye, can’t you at least pretend to be modest? At least put up a token refusal!” Second Sister Drunken Longing glared at Ye Chen as he pocketed the ring with a clear conscience.

Ye Chen laughed heartily and looked up at the sky, saying, “Second Sister, the weather is wonderful today, don’t you think?”

Drunken Longing was speechless, pointing at him, sputtering, “You—you—you’re even more shameless than I am!”

The girls burst out laughing, their spirits high. Sword Over City was pleased with the cheerful mood of the group. With a small smile, she waved her hand and said, “Let’s go, take the right-hand passage. Time to take down the Ghoul Commander.”

The party set out. Ye Chen quickly jumped out from between the rocks and was about to leave the corridor when 2058’s voice suddenly rang in his ear.

“Ye Chen, there’s another item in that silver chest, wedged in a crevice. Don’t you want it?”

Another item? Ye Chen was stunned, then quickly called out to the group at the end of the corridor, “Wait, come back! There might be something else in the silver chest!”

The girls gathered around once more. Drunken Longing even hopped into the rocky crevice, opening the chest and peering inside. She frowned, “There’s nothing here, Little Ye. Are you messing with us again?”

“How could I?” Ye Chen’s eyes darted as he explained, “The other day in the library, I read a story about a treasure chest with a secret compartment hiding riches. Maybe this silver chest is the same.”

Drunken Longing rolled her eyes. “Seriously? You believe that?”

Lingyue joined in, “Yeah, most of those stories are just made up. When I was little, my grandma told me there was a golden pig hidden in the garden. I searched for three years and never found it.”

“Haha, Sister Lingyue, you’re adorable.”

“So silly, so silly.”

Lingyue blushed scarlet as the girls teased her, protesting, “I was just a child then—I didn’t know any better!”

Ye Chen broke out in a cold sweat; the conversation was veering off track. He hurriedly interrupted, tugging at the hunter girl’s sleeve. “You’ve got a dagger, right? Lend it to me.”

The hunter grinned and immediately handed over a dagger from her pack. As a hunter’s standard close-combat weapon, she always carried one.

Watching Ye Chen, dagger in hand, crouch beside the chest, the girls wore the expression of amused spectators, clearly not expecting him to find anything. Even Sword Over City watched with a smile, sharing their skepticism.

Ye Chen snorted at them, then started scraping and prying inside the chest with the dagger, tapping and digging at all sides. No secret compartment. The girls laughed even harder. He rapped the bottom—nothing. He began to feel uneasy. Was 2058 playing a joke? But no, even though it had developed some personality, it surely hadn’t evolved enough to pull pranks.

He looked the chest over one more time, feeling like he was missing something. As he stood up, his gaze caught the overturned lid. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. Of course—the lid! He hadn’t checked it yet. With two strides, he reached the lid and drove the dagger in.

“Little Ye, I think it’s time to give up. Stories all trick—trick—trick us!” Drunken Longing had started to mock Ye Chen but her tone abruptly changed to amazement, because Ye Chen had pulled a pale pink skill book from the chest lid.

The girls stared in disbelief at the skill book in Ye Chen’s hand. Drunken Longing snorted sourly, “Getting cocky, eh? Show us the stats—don’t tell me it’s another one for you?”

Ye Chen rubbed his nose sheepishly and shared the stats of the pale pink skill book with the group.

[Pierce] (Knight Skill): Deals 120% damage to the target, inflicts a light wound, reducing defense by 5%. Light wounds can stack up to three times.

“What a powerful skill!” The girls gasped in unison—even Sword Over City looked astonished. The skill was indeed impressive. With three stacks, an enemy’s defense would drop by 15%. And that was just at level one; as the skill leveled up, it would become even stronger.

“Lingyue, this skill book is yours,” Ye Chen called to the lady knight, waving the book. He was secretly pleased—he’d worried he didn’t have a good enough gift for her, but this [Pierce] skill book was perfect.

“No, no!” Lingyue waved her hands in panic. “That’s your reward, not ours. You could sell it for at least thirty gold coins.”

Her cheeks reddened as she glanced longingly at the book, then said awkwardly, “How about selling it to me for less? Twenty-five gold, maybe? I only have sixteen now—could I give you fifteen and keep one for potions? I’ll pay you the rest as soon as I earn it.”

Ye Chen stuffed the pale pink skill book into her hands with a flourish. “Thirty gold coins—such a trifle! Don’t be so serious. It’s yours.”

The girls exchanged glances, all rendered speechless. Thirty gold coins—a trifle? Usually, earning a dozen coins was enough to make them celebrate, but Ye Chen called thirty small change. Either he was boasting, or he was genuinely wealthy beyond measure.