Chapter 572: Herbal Garden.

'Here I come!' Erik was the first to exhibit unfiltered excitement and eagerness as he dashed towards the glass door.

This time, he opened it up with full confidence at Felix's words. If he said it was safe then it was safe in his eyes.

The instant the door was fully opened, an enticing aroma had surged from within akin to a tidal wave.

Everyone felt like they were being pulled by their noses towards those breathtaking flowers and herbs that were lying everywhere.

Although the garden wasn't that big, when the squad got inside, they felt like it was stretched to infinity.

The moment Malak saw that Erik was planning to plunk a flower by its stem with his hand, she scolded him, 'Use the proper tools, you moron! Are you trying to cost Sir Felix a fortune?'

'My bad!' Erik quickly withdraw his hand and coughed, 'I totally forgot about them.'

'This applied to all of you.' Malak said while beaming a black case, 'We might be in a haste to secure as many natural treasures as possible, but don't rush the process lest you destroy them.'

It was common knowledge that high-graded natural treasures were quite fragile and easily contaminated...Especially plant-based natural treasures.

So, a tool kit was needed to harvest them plus a bit of practice.

Everyone here had a fair share of practice in the UVR since such a skill was a must-learn.

While everyone was working hard to pluck those natural treasures, Felix was going back and forth to scan them with Malak's bracelet.

So far, the results were making him grin from one ear to the other.

He already knew that the Herbal garden possessed a B grade and also some A grade natural treasures. But, knowing and seeing were totally different from each other.

'I believe that there are more than 200 natural treasures just in this garden only.'

Felix's grin was wiped out of his face after recalling that they had less than 10 minutes before the pirates reach the hole.

Since it takes a bit of time to harvest those natural treasures, it means they weren't going to get everything.

Hell, he doubted that they could secure 30% of the harvest before getting forced to leave.

'At the last 3 minutes, please start digging the dirt around the natural treasures and beam everything inside.' Felix requested them.

Everyone nodded their heads and restarted their harvesting process.

They know that Felix's plan gets used only in desperate times since it was possible to cut the roots of the natural treasure when digging the dirt around it.

If the roots were lost, it meant that natural treasure couldn't be planted again.

It would remain in the spatial card until the time it comes when one would need to use it.

That greatly diminishes its worth since most buyers prefer planting the natural treasure with the rest of their collection in a single garden.

It was done like this since high-graded natural treasures had the ability to absorb the natural energy around them then expel back the elemental energy that was based on their element.

By creating a garden of high-graded natural treasures from the same element, then it would become one of the best places in the universe for one to enhance his affinity with the element.

Just like what Felix was doing the swamp in Jörmungandr's UVR room. Though, it was ten times better in the real world since the feeling was real instead of virtual.

It might not feel like it but knowing that it was virtual makes it quite hard to get in touch with the element.

This garden was clearly dominated by sand element natural treasures. If Felix owned it and had sand manipulation, it would have helped him greatly with understanding the element.

Minutes went by and the area had descended into a deathly silence, where only the sounds of digging and tools clashing together kept resonating here and there.

Everyone was focused on his work, knowing that it wouldn't look good to have less harvest than the rest of the squad.

So far, more than 30 natural treasures had been harvested in total. There were only 4 minutes left in the clock.

'Samir, update please.' Felix sent a message.

'I am currently trying my best to catch up to that pirate spaceship. But, I doubt I will get rid of it before the pirates notice the hole.' Samir informed.

'Listen well, the moment they will spot the hole, the first thing they will do is send the location to the rest of the fleet.' Felix spoke calmly, 'So, I want you to scan their distance and calculate how long it will take them to reach the hole after they get notified. It's crucial to know.'

'Give me a few moments.' Samir kept him on hold as he requested the Queen to make that calculation.

A moment later, he relayed the results, 'The closest one will arrive after 5 minutes. The rest will take about 7 minutes to 11 minutes before everyone gather above the hole.'

'That's good, tell me more about the pirate spaceship you are chasing.' Felix asked, 'Does it belong to the captain?'

'No.'

'Very good, this meant he will not make a move before the captain reaches the hole.' Felix reasoned, 'So, he will keep flying in wide circles around the hole until then.'

'That's what I believe as well.'

'How about the captain's spaceship? Do you know its whereabouts?'

'Yes, I have marked it previously during our space fight.' Samir informed, 'Based on the calculation, it will take at least 11 minutes before it reaches here after getting notified.'

'That's some good news at least. Now, you have a good chance of taking the 1st spaceship down before the fleet gathers.' Felix smiled coldly, 'He will not dare to retaliate back without the captain's presence or the fleet. Those scums know only to gang up on others.'

'I will do my best.'

'Get going.'

Felix hung up and started pondering on the time given to them.

It might seem like it got increased by an extra 11 minutes but that didn't mean he would let his squad spend it to gather more natural treasures.

He wasn't that greedy to spend his squad's window of escape to keep harvesting.

'Momo, any updates on the ventilation system?' Felix asked.

'I am now in a straight tunnel. I believe that it is below the pyramid and leading to somewhere far from it.' momo replied.

The moment Felix heard so, he knew that his theory was correct!

The pyramid was completely sealed down but there were still air pockets.

This meant, there was another hidden exit that was probably built for escape when things go south.

In the Era of primogenitors, wars were literally everywhere, making everyone a bit antsy about safety.

The researcher who built this lab wasn't any different.

Felix swiftly requested permission from Malak to watch the synchronized feed of Momo.

When he got it, he was startled to see that the camera was off!

'This f*cker is pushing my buttons.'

Felix gritted his teeth after realizing that Momo had sneakily pulled a one on them again by turning the camera off for god knows how long. 

If Felix had to guess, he would say that he probably turned it off when he was occupied with the riddles and the team with the pirates.

No one bothered with the recording now since they knew it would be used only at the end.

The worst part, since Momo had lost his AP bracelet, they couldn't use even the footage of the Queen's recording through his eyes.

She could merely keep the connection like this with the signal released from their AP bracelets.

Felix didn't flip out on Momo or anything, he simply took a deep breath and requested calmly, 'Turn on the camera.'

'Oh? Sorry, didn't realize it was off.' Momo replied casually.

'Hehehe, he is really a prick and shameless. He reminds me of someone.' Asna chuckled.

Felix ignored this vixen and focused on the holographic live feed that was showing a windy three-meters in height dark tunnel.

When Momo turned around, he showed only pure darkness at the end of the flashlight.

'For how long were you walking?'

'About 7 minutes now?'

Felix's eyelids rose in surprise as he asked, 'Queen, is he telling the truth?'

'Yes.'

Felix believed her since it was impossible to lie about such a thing.

After all, the Queen could easily calculate the distance crossed on her own and compare it with his answer unlike figuring out his true intentions.

This meant that the tunnel should be stretching for at least a couple of miles away from the ruins' coordinates!

'Such a long tunnel must have an opening on the surface.' Felix frowned his eyebrows, 'But how did we not see it? There is nothing in this planet besides sand.'

Felix was truly confused about this but he knew that it wasn't time to sate his curiosity.

It was time to question Momo about the path he took while he still can.

The f*cker wanted to leave them stuck inside, not caring about the consequences of his actions.

Till this point in time, Felix still didn't know if he simply snapped after getting enslaved twice in a row and wanted to have revenge on his newer 'Master' or he had other intentions.

Whatever it was, he would be dead the moment they reach the surface safely!

Felix wasn't even planning on sending him to an auction! The moment he was crossed like this, he needed to kill Momo to demonstrate the rest of their fate if they had the same thought.

Wasting a billion SC for such a lesson was totally fine for him!