When he saw the blazing horse, its two fiery eyes also met with Jack's. For a single instant, all the horrors he had experienced in the dream test just now came flooding back into his mind. He took a step back unconsciously. A cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
He dismissed the sudden spooky feeling that gripped his heart, steeled himself as he took out his Storm Breaker and magic staff.
"Wait!" Peniel shouted. "That is not a monster."
"It's not?" Jack asked. "It looks perfectly like one."
Peniel didn't answer, she instead flew into the room behind the crumbled wall. Peniel's existence never drew a monster's hostility, most of the time monsters acted as if not aware of her presence. This flaming horse, however, stared at Peniel as she flew around, but didn't show any hostile intention. It still huffed though, when Peniel got too close.
Seeing that the horse didn't show any intention to attack, Jack stepped into the room as well. His weapons were still ready in his two hands just in case. The flaming horse turned to him when he entered, yet stayed at its station.
Jack could now see that there were multiple interconnecting runes drawn all around the floor where the horse was standing, even the wall and ceiling were covered by runes. It was a rune diagram. As Jack was observing the room, Peniel flew to the front of the horse.
It was sometime before Jack's attention was back to the flaming horse, Peniel was still floating in front of it. Her mouth was closed and no sound came from her, but from her gestures, Jack felt that she was actually communicating with that black horse. The black horse itself was not moving nor showed any expression on its face, but the flame that coated its body swayed unnaturally as if making gestures as well. The longer Jack observed the horse, the more he was convinced that the flame was as much a part of the horse's body as its limbs.
Jack didn't interrupt the two. After a while, Peniel turned back and flew back to him. "I think I find a way for us to get out of this valley."
"Oh? Did the horse know the way? So, where should we go?" Jack asked.
"The horse is the way," Peniel replied. "Oh, and don't call her a horse. She can take offense. She is a Nightmare and her name is Pandora."
"A what mare?"
"A Nightmare. She is a unique grade steed. Although she can't actually fly, she can glide through the air. Most importantly, she could gallop through any surface, including the vertical surface like this valley's wall outside."
"I see. If I rode her, then she can take me back up there!" Jack exclaimed.
Peniel nodded, "you are in luck. This kind of steed does not usually accept having a rider. Usually, there is a difficult quest attached which you have to complete before you are being accepted as their master. This one, however, was in special condition."
"What special condition?"
"She was trapped. See the rune diagram strewn all over this place? It was a spell designed to hold the Nightmare in place and harnessed her energy."
"Harnessed her energy? For what?"
"You said before that you were being tested with fear-inducing illusion in your dream, right? It was most probably done using the energy from this Nightmare. She had the psychic ability to instill fear inside someone's mind."
So that's why he felt like he did the first time he laid eyes on this Nightmare, Jack thought.
"I see. So in return for us freeing her, she agrees to be my steed?" Jack asked.
"In return for that, she agrees to be in your service for one year. After that, she will have her freedom," Peniel replied.
"Oh? Just one year?" Jack said with a slight disappointment.
"What do you expect? Do you think getting a Unique grade steed is easy? It was already generous of her to be willing to give you that long."
Jack didn't disagree. In fact, even if this Nightmare only agreed to bring them up there into the plateau for the condition of her release, he would still take it. After all, his priority at the moment was to escape this valley. A one-year lease on a unique steed could be considered a bonus already.
"All right, so how shall we free her. Do I hit this rune diagram to destroy it?" Jack asked.
"Don't be ridiculous. It was not that simple," Peniel said. "On best occasion, a reckless interruption on the diagram can cause its energy to backlash at you. With this diagram's level, that backlash energy will most likely kill you."
"That is on best occasion? What about the worst occasion?"
"The mana that supports this diagram becomes unstable and it exploded. The energy released by the explosion for a diagram of this scale will most likely destroy half of this valley."
Jack blinked a few times after hearing the explanation. "Uh, then how do you suggest us freeing her?"
"I have to study this rune diagram more, find out its weak links. It will take some time."
Jack nodded. "Anything I can do to help?"
"Since you can't sense mana yet, there is none. Just go lockpick on that treasure chest or do something. I will call you once I have a result," Peniel said. She then flew away to start studying the rune diagram without waiting for Jack's reply.
Since there was nothing he could do, Jack didn't stay around. He would just disturb her if he loitered around this room. Before he went out, he gave the Nightmare a glance again. The Nightmare was also watching him. When their eyes met, Jack felt that irrational fear again. Not as intense as when he was facing the God of Fear, but a similar kind of unsettling feeling. He was sure then that the horror he had experienced in his dream not long ago did come from this steed.
He had a thought, since they were freeing this Nightmare, wouldn't that be considered stealing from that Majus old man. Would he come out to intervene them? That old man said he was only a leftover consciousness that oversaw the trial. Could such an apparition have the power to stop them? But no choice, there was a way to escape this valley in front of him, Jack would not let this opportunity go. He would deal with the old man if he appeared.
He came to the gold treasure chest that was still sitting in the middle of the outside hall. As usual, he took out his Enduring Lockpick first to exhaust all its lockpicking chances, before he continued by using normal lockpicks.
Since he had dealt with a gold treasure chest before, he was not too flustered when he experienced too many failures. He spent hours as the lockpicks continued to break one after another. His proficiency was already more than halfway to the next grade when he opened the last treasure chest. When he had wasted more than two hundred lockpicks, his lockpicking skill increased to Basic Expert.
In the end, he used 389 lockpicks before he heard the chest clicking and notification of success. He realized then that he had been lucky to open the previous gold treasure chest with less than three hundred lockpicks. He didn't forget to summon his Runestone of Luck before the chest opened.
The same brilliant and exaggerated display of golden light like last time appeared when this golden chest's lid swung open. Jack turned his gaze away and waited until the blinding light dissipated before he turned his head back again.
He could now see the content of the chest. There were eleven items, the quantity was rather generous. This must have been due to the help of his luck boost. Amongst the eleven were a pouch of coins and a pouch of mana cores, two standard items that were mostly present when acquiring loots. Their contents were 62 gold coins and 39 mana cores, less than the previous gold treasure chest, but he didn't mind since this chest gave more items.
The remaining nine were two rare medium armor equipment, one super rare medium armor helmet, one rare ruby, one rare tent, one rare material. The last three were a small-looking pebble, a strange-looking seed, and a gem-like stone, the aura the first two exuded was rather imposing.
He threw inside his bag the pouches, rare equipment, and rare material without bothering to take a closer look. For the super rare helmet, he was disappointed. He already had a super rare headpiece. In the end, the luck was still not good enough to help him get the piece that he hoped for. He inspected this super rare helmet.
Golden Knight Helmet, level 30/60 (super rare medium armor)
Physical defense: 80
Magical defense: 65
Durability: 50
Strength +8
Endurance +6
Damage is reduced by 20% when HP is below 50%
He was in a dilemma. This Golden Knight Helmet looked much cooler than his Golden Noble Headband, but the stats and abilities in his opinion were lacking compared to the headband. After some pondering, he decided to keep wearing his headband.. In the end, he was still a gamer to the core. Stats and effects still took priority before aesthetic look!
