Dragon Stance!

The great world map is perilous, especially in the early days before players have grown familiar with it, and many call it a world where the strong prey on the weak. In such a place, the greatest danger is not the tribal patrols, but other players. When a treasure as immense as the Fourth Cache appears, who could possibly remain unmoved by greed? The dwarven paladin wanted to split the spoils with Morning Wind, and might even have intended to kill him in the end and claim everything alone. And the others had their own schemes as well.

No one can truly see into another’s heart. That saying was not wrong. On the surface, everyone was cooperating in clearing the monsters ahead and making for the treasure site, but in secret each had already begun to act. Take High Rising to the Sky, for example; he had actually brought four more thieves along. Clearly, the reason he had arrived so late was that he had been waiting for others to reach level thirty before coming over.

"Charlie, I found someone has planted a Truth Eye on the road. This time everyone has their own tricks, so you had better be careful." The British thief trailed at the rear. He had long known about the four thieves from the Japanese region, and had seen them when they passed through the Truth Eye.

If a Truth Eye was well concealed, it could reveal stealth. Those four players were all in a party, and since they were all able to see one another while hidden, crossing the Truth Eye’s range did not change the visibility of their teammates. That was why they had failed to notice anyone had placed a Truth Eye along the road.

"William, you be careful too. There may be many more Truth Eyes." Charlie, the British frost mage, knew this cooperation was extremely dangerous. He had no intention of monopolizing the treasure, but he still needed to keep a hand in reserve. Otriles of the German region was a ruthless man who would devour others whole, and with him present, one had to be ten times as cautious.

...

Everyone there had their own methods. Anyone who had come this far on the world map knew how dangerous it was. With the appearance of the Fourth Cache, internal betrayal and attempts to seize everything for oneself were entirely possible. They had all walked together for the treasure’s sake, but now that they had reached this point, their own safety had to come first.

The crowd arrived before a small hill and found the entrance to a cave nearby. A tank warrior took the lead, carefully walking ahead, afraid that a boss might suddenly leap out. Once everyone had gone inside, Morning Wind did not hurry in. He intended to stay at the very end; otherwise, the secret passage would be too easily discovered by the others.

A Truth Eye had been checked at the entrance, and its position was very obvious. Because of that, all the thieves who had followed along did not dare go any farther. Unless they had some means of bypassing the Truth Eye, they would be exposed. After waiting for a long time, Morning Wind still saw no one enter, and then he understood that this was the dwarven paladin’s plan: to delay things and let the people outside come in later.

Morning Wind, transformed into a raven, flew in first. Then he shifted into a feral panther form, activated his Sprint skill, and charged ahead at full speed. There were branching paths inside the cave, and Morning Wind roughly remembered the location of the secret passage he needed to take, so he entered naturally.

When he reached the third fork, Morning Wind did not continue forward. Instead, he felt along the wall beside him. When he touched the right side, he discovered that the solid-looking wall was actually an illusion. His hand could pass right through it. Already in stealth, Morning Wind dashed straight through.

After entering the concealed passage behind the illusion, Morning Wind changed into a raven and flew onward. Though this hidden route could take him quickly to the treasure, it was even more dangerous inside. The passage was filled with all kinds of traps, and if one was careless, one could die even faster than outside. But Morning Wind was a raven; flying over it meant he did not touch the floor or the walls, and he triggered none of the traps along the way.

At the end of the secret passage stood a stone giant guarding the entrance. This stone giant was a guardian boss, and anyone who wanted to enter had to kill it. Unlike other bosses, this one was triggered. As long as the mechanisms ahead were tripped, or the stone giant was touched, the boss would awaken.

Morning Wind, still a raven, flew past on the giant’s shoulder without touching the boss, and passed through smoothly. Of all classes, Morning Wind’s was undoubtedly the strongest for quest-based play. Even the best thief would trigger the boss here, yet Morning Wind, as a raven, got through with ease.

Compared with the others clearing their way through monsters, Morning Wind had it much easier, and he was faster too. Coming through the secret passage, he soon reached the treasure chamber. After exiting the passage, he saw that there was still another illusion behind him, looking just like a wall; if one was not careful, one would never notice it.

The Fourth Cache was nothing more than a room, with a throne in the center and great heaps of gold coins, gems, equipment, and materials scattered around it. Yet if all of this belonged to one person, it would be a different matter entirely.

Without the treasure map, coming in would have been very troublesome, because there were many branching paths, many wrong turns, and many more bosses to kill. After Morning Wind entered, there was still no movement outside. He knew perfectly well they would not arrive so quickly; they were probably still outside clearing monsters. Because everyone was guarding against one another, no one was going all out, and the speed of slaughtering monsters was much slower.

System: You obtained 128,334 gold coins.

Although it was called a treasure cache, the amount of gold was not actually that much, nothing like the legendary millions. There were only about one hundred and twenty thousand gold coins here; split among six people, that was only about twenty thousand each, not much at all.

System: You obtained 40 gold bars.

Gold bars were not currency; they were materials. However, they could be smelted into gold coins, and each gold bar could be converted into one thousand coins. Forty gold bars meant forty thousand gold coins. Like platinum coins, gold bars could be converted into coins, but coins could not be converted into gold bars. Gold bars were also relatively easy to find, unlike platinum coins, which were much rarer.

System: You obtained 745 gems, including...

There were quite a few gems, though very few truly powerful ones. Morning Wind was planning to socket his own equipment later, and then embed gems into it. Gems were graded by level, and the higher the grade, the better their attributes. The gems Morning Wind obtained were mostly low-grade, so he would have to combine them later.

System: You obtained 129 materials, including...

There were many materials, and they were relatively rare ones at that, far more valuable than the gems. There were plenty of gems at auctions, but rare materials were much harder to come by. Morning Wind also found dark magic cores among them, which could later be used to repair the Shadowless Shield.

System: You obtained 9 gold-tier items and 15 silver-flash items, including...

Among the gold-tier equipment were three level-30 leather pieces: a chest piece, shoulder guards, and gloves. Morning Wind equipped them at once, and his attributes immediately rose by a good margin. Among the gold-tier items were also three plate pieces: a chest piece, shoulder guards, and trousers. These three could be used for his warrior character. The other three were cloth pieces. As for the fifteen silver-flash items, there were leather boots and trousers among them, raising Morning Wind’s overall equipment even further.

Treasures were indeed different; they could produce piles of equipment, so there was no fear of lacking gear. But the equipment was only silver-flash and gold-tier, nothing higher. Because of Morning Wind’s current level, the equipment here would only be level 30. If Morning Wind were level 60 when entering the treasure site, the equipment would have been level 60 as well.

After collecting all these items, the room became rather bare, with only the throne and the three treasure chests in front of it remaining. Across the continent of Orglas, there were eight treasures, and in each treasure site, the most important things were the throne and the chests.

System: You opened the King’s Chest and obtained an Epic Refining Stone.

Opening the first chest, Morning Wind obtained an Epic Refining Stone. This could raise a gold-tier item to epic grade, with a 30 percent success rate. If combined with other gems, the success rate could be increased to 60 percent. Purple-grade equipment was not rare to Morning Wind; he already had a legendary weapon. It was just that his gear was rather mediocre. Still, one epic item would not save his entire set.

System: You opened the King’s Chest and obtained a Froststone.

A talent stone! Morning Wind had already used a talent stone before, and yet now, in the world map, he had actually pulled another one. This was a highly valuable item. The last time, a talent stone had been sold by Morning Wind for more than sixty thousand gold coins, and it might be even more expensive in the future. If the people outside knew he had obtained one, they would probably be green with envy.

System: You opened the King’s Chest and obtained the skill book Frozen Flash.

Frozen Flash: Enhancement skill. Passive effect: strengthens the water elemental you summon, transforming it into an ice elemental with higher health and defense. Active skill: freezes your ice elemental, reducing the damage it takes by 50 percent and increasing its attack by 30 percent for 8 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes. Cost: 10 percent of base mana. Learning requirement: Mage.

What a skill book! As expected, nothing that came from a King’s Chest was garbage. Morning Wind remembered that last time, Cheng Xue had bought from an otherworldly plane merchant a skill book that summoned three water elementals. If she learned this skill, she would become even stronger. Morning Wind only knew Cheng Xue among mages, so he decided to give it to her.

Finally came the throne. It was said that the player who sat upon it would receive an increase in attributes, a racial upgrade, a skill enhancement, or some other surprise. In every treasure site, the throne was the most precious reward. Because Morning Wind was in a special map, he could not use the Spatial Teleport Banner, so only this character could use it.

A tremor!

He did not know what was happening outside, but Morning Wind could feel the surrounding area shaking. It seemed the others were about to reach this place. With a treasure map, and all of them being top-tier players, arriving this quickly was entirely understandable. Morning Wind did not think too much of it and immediately stepped up, sitting upon the throne.

A dark aura enveloped him, and then the roar of a dragon echoed all around. Afterward, the black throne turned white, and the divine power upon it had faded away.

Dragon Form: Heroic skill. Passive effect: increases health by 30 percent, defense by 20 percent, and healing received by 20 percent. Active effect: transform into a dark dragon, greatly enhancing all attributes for 30 seconds. Negative effect: for the next minute, you cannot move, take 500 percent damage, and suffer tenfold bone-and-muscle pain. Cooldown: 2 days. Cost: none.

Transform into a dragon! Morning Wind’s eyes widened. He had not expected that sitting on the throne would grant him a heroic skill. How much his attributes would rise after becoming a dragon, he did not know. What skills he might gain, he did not know either. The only thing Morning Wind was certain of was that if he transformed into a dragon without protection, he would die for sure. He would take five times the damage, be unable to move, and suffer ten times the pain in his bones and sinews.

Even in his previous life, Morning Wind had never seen anyone transform into a dragon. He had never expected to obtain such power so quickly. As expected, the throne in a treasure site was absolutely the most exquisite enhancement item in the game.

After obtaining Dragon Form, Morning Wind immediately retreated back into the hidden passage. At that moment, the dwarven paladin sent him a message.

"That High Rising to the Sky is insane. He actually has a legendary samurai sword. I’m using my invincible hearthstone to return to town. Take care of yourself!"

"A legendary samurai sword? That strong? Did you people fall out?" Morning Wind immediately opened a call to Otriles. He had not expected that Japanese player to be so powerful, possessing a legendary samurai sword.

"Was it necessary to fall out just because I took a purple shield?" As the party leader, the dwarven paladin Otriles had not been able to preserve the party’s distribution settings before entering. Since they could no longer be changed, he had immediately switched the loot method to leader distribution when the boss went down.

Originally, the dwarven paladin had planned to pick up the items and run, then return to reap the benefits after the others fought among themselves, because his magic ring granted him the ability to step into the void. He had not expected High Rising to the Sky to possess a legendary samurai sword, and with the help of his four thief friends, to cut down everyone else.

When the dwarven paladin told Morning Wind he had already returned to town, he was lying, hoping to lure Morning Wind over for a desperate fight. Since all three of High Rising to the Sky’s companions had already fallen, only he and one friend remained. If Morning Wind worked together with the Ghost Rhino, they could kill that remaining ally or severely wound High Rising to the Sky. Then Otriles could descend as the legendary savior, kill High Rising to the Sky, and take the treasure for himself.

Why had the dwarven paladin cheated for one purple item? It was simply because he wanted them to fight among themselves, so that he could pick up the spoils at the end. If they waited until they reached the treasure before turning on each other, they might end up losing a few things.

Only the dwarven paladin had not imagined that Morning Wind had already taken everything from the treasure site. Morning Wind hid within the secret passage, curious to see what expression High Rising to the Sky would wear when he arrived.

What interested Morning Wind most, however, was the magic ring in High Rising to the Sky’s hand, and his legendary samurai blade.