Jack confirmed to the two that it was indeed true, that they should not waste their time in this village. To hammer in his point, he also joined in the conversation with the two animals while unleashing his combat skills and spells one after another.
Grace and Jet were impressed by Jack's ability to carry out a decent conversation while doing other things. They were similarly impressed with his expansive arrays of skills and spells.
Captain Whitebeard and Shortpaw were more than happy to entertain their talks.
Jack informed Grace and Jet about the treasure chests in the lake. The two agreed to help him search the lake tomorrow. Jack told Jet that they would first look for the chests in the morning before attempting the descent into the sinkhole for the runic metals. Jack laid out everything he had found during his corporeal state scouting and his plan on how they should descend.
*
The next morning, the three entered the lake. Meratis and Oswald simply observed them from the lakeside. The natives here were either oblivious of the treasure chests' existence or simply paid them no heed.
The lake was rather big. Jack and the others agreed beforehand to divide the lake into three sections, not including the central part where the vortex regularly sent out strong waves. Each of them separated and headed to these three sections to look around.
It was Grace who spotted the first chest. She sent a message informing the others of the coordinates. Jack and Jet came soon after.
"Gold treasure chest!" Both Jack and Jet were amazed after seeing the color of the treasure chest.
Jack told the two about his luck stat and runestone of luck. If he was the one opening the chest, the probability of getting good items was much higher. But he asked them if they wanted to improve their lockpicking grade then this was also the best chance to do it. Both their lockpicking grades are rather low so it was unlikely that they could open the chest.
Yet, Peniel informed them although it was unlikely, it was not impossible. In the case that this fluke accident happened and they opened the chest, then it was not reversible. So, they decided to just let Jack work on the chest.
They didn't try to move the chest out of the lake. By now, they had encountered several treasure chests in the wilderness. Sometimes, a treasure chest would even spawn randomly on the field. Though these treasure chests were mostly bronze grade, the same fact about them was that they were immovable.
As usual, Jack used his Enduring Lockpick first. After that, he used the normal lockpicks, which he had stocked a great number of. While Jack worked on the chest, Grace and Jet went and looked for the second chest. After finding it and marking its location, they came back to Jack who was still working on the first chest. They then spent their time swimming and practicing their available skills while waiting for Jack.
Jack spent almost three hours working on the chest before it finally opened, all the time using his Runestone of Probability to increase the success chance. He also activated his Runestone of Luck when he heard the successful click. Blinding light spread underwater, blanketing everything around them. Jack thought the visual effect was even more exaggerated underwater. While for Grace and Jet, this was the first time they saw a gold treasure chest being opened, so they were notably dazzled.
Since the chest was opened underwater, its content floated out of the chest. There were a lot of goods. Jack took all the mana cores. They had agreed that the mana cores from these chests would all be donated to the guild. While for coins, Jack gave them all to Grace and Jet to be divided in two. He had no shortage of coins.
Aside from the coins and cores, there were seven armors; three uncommons, two rares, and two super rares. One super rare weapon, a mace. This mace was unanimously given to Grace. Six materials and ingredients, two of which were unique grades. These were also agreed to be donated to the guild. Two gemstones; one rare amber and one super-rare amethyst. Jack asked for the amethyst and he let Grace and Jet roll for the amber, he had no runestone of the earth element. The two didn't object to letting Jack take the super rare amethyst.
The last item was a crystal. After inspecting the crystal, they found it to be a unique-grade summoning crystal that could summon a level 70 Mythical-grade Water Serpent. However, this crystal was usable only during a guild conflict. So, they did not need to discuss who got this crystal, it was donated to the guild.
"No one would dare to mess with our guild if they know we have this thing," Jack commented in his party chat.
As for the equipment, they were divided based on their types. Grace took the heavy armors, Jack the medium armors, while Jet the light armors, followed after their classes. The cloth armor they rolled to decide.
Finished with the loots, they had over to the second chest. It was also a gold treasure chest. These chests should be some kind of secret reward for those who came to this village first. Wilted was first. Unfortunately, she only had enough lockpicks for one chest at the time, so these two others became their boons instead.
They left Jack to work on the lockpicking again. This time it took a shorter time, around two hours. Thanks to this village's boost, after the successful lockpicking, Jack's two auxiliary skills had upgraded. Both his Lockpicking skill and Runecraft skill were now Intermediate Expert.
After the dramatic light show, there were similarly many items floating out of this second treasure chest.
The coins and mana cores followed the previous treatment. Eight armors this time, no weapon. The highest grade was super rare. They dealt with this equipment following previous arrangements as well. Materials and ingredients went directly to the guild. There were three gemstones; one rare sapphire, one super rare emerald, and one unique diamond.
The diamond was the most valuable since it could be used with any element. Jack asked to roll, but Grace and Jet agreed that Jack should have it. In their opinion, Jack was the one who knew about the chest and also the ability to open it. If Jack wanted, he could have monopolized everything without letting the two of them know. They were already happy to get some spoils from these treasure chests. Hearing them say it that way, Jack wasn't courteous anymore. He took the unique diamond and let them roll for the other two.
Two other items from this treasure chest were the most special. Their values were not less than the unique-grade summoning crystal from the first chest. One of these two was a runestone, it was called Runestone of Detection. Its beginning grade was a rare grade. Peniel informed them that after fusing with this runestone, one could summon it to detect things within a radius of one hundred meters.
Jack asked Peniel what kind of things. She said living things like monsters, natives, or outworlders, and also valuable items, including the invisible ones. Jack said then it was almost similar to his Godeye's radar. Except his radar didn't detect items unless those items were nearby and within his field of view.
Grace remarked that if they had this runestone before, it would be much easier to find these two treasure chests.
After giving the matter some thought, Jack offered the runestone to Grace. Grace felt hesitant to receive it at first. Jack explained that this runestone was less useful for him. He already had a monocle with a similar function, while Jet's mana sense was already advanced. So, Grace was the one who needed this detection ability more. Jet supported the decision.
After seeing that the two didn't mind, Grace accepted the offer.
The last item from the second treasure chest was a unique-grade seed. This was even a higher grade seed compared to the super rare Vampiric Seed Jack had gotten from Aubelard. His eyes were visibly glinting seeing the seed.
*
Organic Seed (Unique consumable)
Evolve a skill
*
Grace and Jet noticed Jack's glint. They looked at each other and silently agreed. The two then extended their hands and pushed the seed to Jack.
Jack turned to the two with a surprised look. The two nodded at him. Since it was so, he accepted their generosity. He took the seed.
'What can this seed do?' Jack asked Peniel.
'Well, the most likely answer I can think of is that it turns your skill alive.'
'Alive?'
'This is one of the seeds that have the most uncertain effects. You will have to use it to find out.'
'Hm… What if I use it on a skill that is already alive? Like for example, my tame pet skill?'
'You can't,' Peniel said.
'Why?' Jack asked.
'You can't use a seed to evolve a skill that is linked to another thing. For Examples, Tame Pet, Master Tamer, Spirit Weapon, and Magic Weapon. Those skills already change based on what you linked them with. Like Therras for your Tame Pet and Storm Breaker for your Spirit Weapon. A seed won't affect that kind of skills.'
'I see.'
'So, what are you going to use that seed on?' Peniel asked.
'Let's put it on hold first. It's time to get those runic metals,' Jack said and stored the Organic Seed.
