CH 67

Chapter 67: The Treasure Chest and Quest Completion Reward

Yuto: “.......hm? What’s that?” The Dungeon is made of stone from top to bottom. Within those stone ceilings, walls, and floors, there was a wooden box sitting there.

It looked very out of place and suspicious.

Yuto: (Is it a trap…?)

But unable to resist his curiosity, Yuto creeps slowly towards the box as if being pulled to it.

The box was about 1 meter (3.2 ft) in length, and was fairly large.

Yuto: “........iーis this the rumored treasure chest?!”

Yuto has never seen a Treasure Chest before.

So he can’t be absolutely certain, but according to all the rumors and stories he heard, this should be a treasure chest.

Yuto never dreamed that he would run into an ultra-rare Treasure Chest so soon.

Yuto: “I wonder if it’s because no one explores this floor so it just sat here all this time.”

If this was any other floor, someone would have already discovered this Treasure Chest by now.

But this is the Dungeon’s 16th Floor - a floor dominated by one of the most unpopular Monsters - so much so that all the Adventurers have opted to ignore it entirely.

Even if a Treasure Chest was generated here, no one except Yuto had any reason to explore this floor, and it was left unnoticed and undisturbed.

Regardless, with trembling excitement, Yuto places a hand on the chest to open it.

With barely any strength, the Treasure Chest’s lid opened up easily.

Inside was a single staff - a staff with a purple jewel or crystal attached to its end.

As soon as he got a glimpse of the staff, Yuto’s skin prickled with goose bumps.

It was the same feeling he got when he saw the Mithril Katana.

Yuto: “Amazing…...this looks like a strong staff….”

Yuto carefully reached to retrieve the staff, and as soon as he grabbed the staff, the wooden box began to sink into the Dungeon floor and disappear.

Yuto: “So it was a Treasure Chest.”

Yuto was filled with renewed awe as the rumors matched every detail he could recall of the Treasure Chest.

To test the staff, Yuto poured Magic Power into it.

Yuto: “WHOA?! …..amazing….”

As soon as he poured Magic Power, the staff immediately began multiplying the power it received.

If he was to simplify the Magic Power he poured in just now as “1”, the staff immediately multiplied and ballooned the power to a “3” or “4”.

As he poured Magic Power, the jewel on the end began to glow brightly.

Yuto: “If I cast a Spell using this, it would turn it into an unbelievably devastating blow…..”

Yuto poured Magic Power to a certain extent, and then abruptly stopped.

He hesitated and fear crept over him to continue Magic Power beyond this point.

As the flow of Magic Power waned, so did the glow of the jewel.

Yuto: “.....this is an amazing staff…”

Although he has yet to test it out, Yuto felt the raw potential of the staff up close.

It was true. The items you can gain from the Treasure Chests are truly special one-of-a-kind items.

Yuto: “Would Eliz be able to use this?”

If her [Healing] Magic was increased by several folds, she may not have to put as much in, meaning the strain on her body would be lessened.

Even if they got caught into another fight like with the Mithril Golem, she may not have to suffer as much as she did to keep sustaining her [Healing] Spells.

Yuto: “I’ll let her try it out tomorrow.”

As he made the decision, Yuto placed the staff in his inventory.

As he placed the item, the item name was displayed above it.

This time, the item’s name was labeled, [The Nereids’ Staff].

<<<<>>>>

When Yuto returned to his room, he washed and cleaned his body, and ate a very late dinner.

Yuto: “I got back before the next day arrived…..”

Now, there’s a better chance that he won’t wake up late tomorrow morning and have his Party Members be upset at him.

With relief welling up inside, he threw the last piece of bread in his mouth.

Yuto: “ーーOH! That’s right! I cleared the Treasure Chest Quest!”

Yuto discovered a Treasure Chest on the 16th Floor.

So the Base Quest [Find a Treasure Chest] should have been cleared.

Yuto: “Since I couldn’t have cleared that Quest without luck, maybe I’ll get a [Luck] Skill?”

His heart pounded with excitement as Yuto opened his Skill Board to see.

>>Level 33 → 34

>>Skill Point: 4 → 20

Yuto: “WHOAAAA?!?! I GOT A TON OF SKILL POINTS!!”

After he split away from the Party, Yuto cleared 2 Quests.

He slayed 100 Evil Spiders, and found a Treasure Chest.

He has cleared the Monster Slaying Quest several times now, but he never received so much Skill Point from any of them.

So the dramatic rise in his Skill Points had to be due to the Treasure Chest Quest.

Yuto: “............so that’s how difficult it was to complete it……...haha….”

The Treasure Chest Quest was by its very nature, an incredibly difficult Quest to clear.

And especially because the success of the Quest was not correlated to Yuto’s strength at all.

Whether he would be able to Clear the Quest or not depended all on luck.

Because of that, the Reward for the Quest was set incredibly high.

It was unfortunate that Yuto did not receive the imagined Skill he wanted, but instead, he received this many Skill Points.

The points were enough to satisfy Yuto.

Yuto: “What should I do～ Which Skill should I increase?”

With so many Points on hand, Yuto looks through his Skill Tree over and over again.

If he would to spend it all on Swordsmanship, he would reach S-Rank Adventurer Level - Level 7.

Just imagining the possibility made his face swell with an innocent but greedy smile.

Yuto: “........but there might be times like before…..”

Just the other day, within the City Limits of Kronos, a B-Rank Monster, Chaos Slime, appeared.

Yuto doesn’t believe an incident like that will occur again in the very near future.

But he can’t deny the possibility that it COULD happen again.

For Yuto, the absolute worst case scenario is still that - a genuine and real possibility.

Yuto: “It might be good to save the points for now…….”

When the unthinkable happens, having points available and having no points will make a huge difference in the fight.

In the previous crisis, he was lucky to have had points to use on hand.

He threw all the remaining points to achieve and awaken the Magic Swordsmanship Skill, and because of that, Yuto was able to defeat the Chaos Slime.

If he did not have the expendable points, there was no telling how the outcome of that fight would have been.

Of course, if they were lucky, other Adventurers could have come to their aid.

But if help never came, Yuto’s group would have perished.

Yuto: “........yeah. I should hold off on the decision for now.”

If he only focused on getting stronger and as a result, Party Members were lost, Yuto would be haunted by that regret for the rest of his life.

After thinking about it for a while, Yuto postponed leveling up his Skills.

Next, Yuto checked his Quest Status.

With the Treasure Chest Quest completed, there was a possibility that a new Quest would appear.

[Chain Quest]

Challenge the Instant Dungeon α NEW

Yuto: “Oh, there is a new Quest……..wait, Insta-α ??”

Yuto tilts his head in confusion.

He’s certain that the completion of the Treasure Chest Quest triggered the initiation of this Quest.

But Yuto has never heard of an [Instant Dungeon α ] in his entire life.

Yuto: “Hmmmm? Why did this come up as a Chain Quest…….?”

Yuto thought for a long moment wondering, but with a sudden realization, he switched the screen of the Skill Board.

He finds what he was looking for on his Inventory Screen, and now Yuto understands better.

Yuto: “I see….so this was the reason.”

In his Inventory, he saw an [Instant Dungeon α Key] item that appeared there.

Yuto suspects that the Key was a reward from completing the Treasure Chest Quest as well.

But even so, he has no idea what [ α ] means.

Yuto: “........oh, didn’t they say they discovered a new Insta-Door recently?”

Just the other day, Dannan mentioned that [someone discovered a new doorway near the Temple].

So there’s now an extremely good chance that the Instant Dungeon α is located through that doorway.

Yuto: “A key to a new Insta……..”

What kind of Dungeon is it?

Just thinking about it made Yuto shiver in excitement.

What kind of Dungeon will it be?

What kind of enemies will he find there?

What kind of items will drop in there?

Yuto: “I have to find out! I have to go!!”

But Yuto is not sure if the new Dungeon will be appropriate for their level.

He would love to jump in there this second, but first, he must start collecting information.