Treasure Trove

Taking the lead, I opened the window and jumped out into the courtyard.

The sound of brittle bones cracking and snapping beneath my feet filled my ears.

Although it’s been only two months since the apocalypse started, the collection of bones that blanketed the ground was so weak and fragile, that it wouldn’t be a surprise if these bones were in fact 10 or even 20 years old. It was as if all the energy and vitality was sucked out from them. Without a doubt, the only thing that could do this was the monster that had built this nest.

As my eyes scanned over the surroundings, from behind me, I could hear the sound of more cracking. The others had followed me with trepid, yet excited footsteps. Their eyes scanned the courtyard cautiously.

The President was the first to approach. His hand were pale white as he tightly gripped onto the handle of his sword. He quietly stood behind me, ready to attack at a moment's notice. Followed by his arrival, Narise rushed forth, brimming with enthusiasm. Although she let out a startled yelp, the moment her feet landed on the carpeted ground, her composure and enthusiasm quickly returned as her eyes locked onto the egg in the center of the garden.

Cielle, who had a somewhat similar enthusiasm also feverently stared at the egg. A part of me doubted that she truly wanted to eat the egg, although after seeing her current expression, hearing the noises that escaped out from her stomach, and remembering Cielle’s own gluttonous nature that had surfaced a couple of times during our stay at the school, I could not help but frown in unease.

Hina placed a gentle hand on her sister as she tiredly sighed out. Her eyes momentarily landed on the egg before they meticulously scanned her surroundings. Cher and the other two also entered the courtyard, but their enthusiasm was noticeably less than the others.

I stared briefly at the group, and gave a cursory glance over at the surroundings, before I immediately walked over to what had drawn my attention.

After 40 steps forward, in front of me was a rather large piece of long bone. Going by the shape of its ends, it was most likely a part of a humerus of a humanoid monster. The only difference between an actual human’s humerus, and this, was that this piece of bone was slightly yellowish in color, like a piece of old, weathered paper. In addition, it was also extremely large. Going by the size of this bone alone, its owner was a monster that was as large or even larger than the Dungeon Boss.

I used [identify] on it, but the results were rather disappointing. It did not give me any useful information, such as the species it came from. Instead, the system labeled it as [Weathered Bone Fragment]. It was an utterly useless item that gave no benefit whatsoever. This was in part due to how bad its current condition was. The monster that had built this nest was indeed quite thorough and ruthless.

Most likely, the rest of the bones within this courtyard were also in a similar state. I could only sigh in dejection after realizing this.

As my eyes continued to wander, I paused, and after a moment of contemplation, I brought out Fynch.

I hesitated for a moment before I thrusted the tip of the grey sword into the aging bone fragment. The sword smashed into the base of the bone, shattering it into a dozen pieces while sending out a puff of dust with its destruction.

“...”

One, two, ten seconds passed yet what I had wanted to happen did not happen. Fynch’s skill, [Devour] did not activate. Although I had expected this, still, the disappointment in my heart could not be entirely contained, as an unwilling sigh escaped my throat.

“As expected, there are special requirements in using Fynch’s weapon skill…” I muttered to myself as I stared at the weapon in my hand.

Previously, I had also tested Fynch out on a variety of things. Rock, and concrete, some of the monster corpses lying around the school, the withered tentacles from the Boss fight, even the mangled and bloodied aftermath of my recent dissections. All the same, [Devour] did not activate.

Fynch was a truly great weapon, and its skill was similarly quite overpowered, but at the same time, this weapon was an exceedingly picky fellow. Aside from the Dungeon Boss’s corpse, it did not accept anything I tried feeding it.

I knew that there were special requirements as to what this thing could and would [Devour], but with my current knowledge, I could only begin to make guesses.

What sort of requirements did this soul bound weapon have? Did it only devour high level monster corpses? Was their a minimum “freshness” to the corpses it devoured? Could Fynch [Devour] living things? Could Fynch [Devour] inanimate things? Could it [Devour] weapons? Items?

All these questions filled my mind, but I was powerless to answer them. I would have at least tested out whether Fynch could eat weapons, but right now, each weapon I possessed was a valuable lifeline. On the off chance it did work, I could easily discard them for such an experiment.

After sighing once more in disappointment, I put away the sword before my eyes continued to travel downward and locked onto the item beneath the remains of the yellowish bone fragments.

I suppressed a smile as my eyes widened in excitement.

The edges were slightly frayed, and a few of the pages were damaged, but without a doubt, it was unmistakably a skill book.

Skill books were objects that dropped from monsters upon their deaths. Regardless of how or what killed them, the chances of a skill book or any other object dropping still existed. To find a place like this, with so many high level corpses, this nest could only be described as a treasure trove.

If my thoughts are correct, then this skill book that I found was just one among many. As this idea formed in the back of my mind, the excitement I felt could not be suppressed anymore as a low, somewhat creepy chuckle escaped from my throat.

The others around me all threw perplexed and confused stares my way, but I ignored them all as I quietly activated [identify].

Skill Book - Savage Blow

A skill derived from the Mid Land Orc race’s ruthless nature. They are famed for their brutal strength and unimaginable tenacity. This skill book allows one to learn the active skill [Savage Blow]

Effects -

New Skill - Savage Blow

Equip Skill Bonus -

+15 Strength

+5 Vitality

I smiled and nodded in satisfaction. Although the skill book was rather ordinary and not all that powerful, all the same, it was a precious skill book that could improve my strength and increase my chances of survival. If not me, then it could also go to another person who's on my side. Someone like Cher might find such a skill useful.

Either way, skill books were a precious commodity whose importance were second to none in this new world.

I quickly pocketed the book, before my eyes turned towards the rest of the courtyard. They glinted with feverish excitement as I took a step forward.

I searched around feverishly, riffling through the carpet of bones, and upturning a few giant fragments. Particularly, I searched around the spots where larger, more imposing looking bone fragments were. These had a higher chance of originating from some elite monster.

After 10 minutes, I managed to search through about a third of the courtyard. In return, I found three more skill books. There were other things too, like a few potion vials and the remnants of a wooden staff, but these things were already useless. The vials were shattered, and the staff was broken beyond repair. Even the skill books, out of the three that I found, one was too torn up to use.

Still, in addition to [Savage Blow], with the two new skills I found, [Ferocity], and [Lesser Draconic Boost], the rewards were still pretty amazing. What’s more, there was still a good two/thirds left of the courtyard that still needed to be explored.

As I continued to search, I finally recalled something that I had previously forgotten about due to the stress and excitement that recently took place. I took a quick glance at the newborn Gila in Narise’s arms, before I remembered that the Gila Matriarch had died at the Dungeon Boss’s hands.

Its corpse should still be in the refuge, but most likely, it already under a pile of concrete and cement. While there was a possibility of that elite monster dropping an item or skill book upon its death, the chances of that happening weren’t particularly high. In addition, searching through that room and digging whatever item might have dropped from under a pile of debris was a real pain in the ass.

I frowned, internally debating whether it was worth the effort to go back to that room and search for something that wasn’t even guaranteed to exist. After a while, I let out a resigned sigh. I decided that, if there was some time left, I’d go back to the refuge and search for it. For now though, I’ll focus on reaping the rewards from this treasure trove.

I continued to search, eventually finding another skill book, [Basic Fire ball], and one additional item. This item was a red spherical ball, that had a tinge of yellow light within its center. The ball was almost perfectly smooth, and was about the size of an adult fist.

After using [identify], on it, I was rather surprised at its effects.

Lesser Draconic Flare

A ball of condensed dragon essence. It is a one-time use item that explodes after activation.

Activation requires injection of mana. Item explodes after three seconds of mana injection.

Equip Skill Bonus

Skill owner can use it without the use of mana. When used by the skill owner, does 2x as much damage.

This round ball that resembled an apple was akin to a grenade. Considering the fact that it was technically a “magic item”, it probably had strength surpassing an ordinary grenade. In addition, although the item was labeled “lesser”, it was still a dragon type object. Going by just books and movies alone, anything with the label, “dragon” sticked on them was bound to be stronger than ordinary objects.

I gingerly placed the item in my backpack, and carefully closed it shut. Although it was practically impossible to “accidentally” set the item off, still, I could not help but be cautious, especially when handling such a dangerous explosive.

After I put away [Draconic Flare], I was about to resume my search, when a slightly impatient voice called out from the center of the courtyard.

“Bossss… When can I grab the egg?” Narise’s expression was twisted into agony, as she crouched down next to the egg. Her eyes were feverish, and it was clear that she was reaching her breaking point. Previously, I had told her to wait until I finished collecting all the items in the courtyard before she could grab it, but it was apparent that she could not wait any longer.

With a sigh, I called out to the President, who had been standing nearby the whole time. “Make sure she doesn’t touch the egg. Just so much as touching it might trigger something, so be careful.”

Hearing this, Narise’s expression darkened, “That’s not fair, Boss! Although I was a little bit impatient, can’t you trust me? I mean- wait, hey! Sto-mph!”

Narise’s ardent complaining was put immediately interrupted as the Prez grabbed hold of her, and forcibly dragged her back. Although she struggled, her level one strength was utterly powerless against the President’s current level of prowess.

From the corner of the room, Cielle let out a smug chuckle upon seeing this scene. Seeing as she wasn’t nearly as frantic and frenzied as Narise, and didn’t really do anything up to this point, I ignored her and continued my search.

I found a few more skill books, unfortunately, they were all magic skill books, what’s more [Basic Fireball] skills. There were a total of four fireball skill books, but just going by the collection of bones I found, there were probably about a dozen elite monsters of the same species.

Just imagining such a force was enough to bring a cold sweat to my brow, but what was even scarier was the fact that the owner of this nest successfully killed off twelve of those things all at the same time.

After the Fireball skill books, I found another three more [Lesser Draconic boost] skill books. I pocketed these as well.

20 minutes quickly passed by and I could not find anything else.

With a resigned sigh, a look of forlorn masked my face. My expression quickly brightened though, upon recalling all the things I had found within this courtyard.

Ten skill books, and a Lesser Draconic Flare. This nest was truly an unexpected treasure trove, and what’s more, the best prize of them all still hasn’t been collected yet.

I turned towards the basket ball sized egg in the center of the withered flower garden, a small smile leaking from my face.

Narise saw this change in my expression, and her own instantly brightened, she broke free from the President’ grip and ran at full speed back towards the flower garden. She almost slipped and fell due to the uneven footing of the bone carpet, but she paid it no heed as she quickly jumped into the garden.

Her expression was excited and her smile was genuine. “Boss, can I? Can I grab it now?”

Seeing her excitement, I sighed but did not say anything. I walked into the flower garden and stood a few feet away from the egg. Without hesitation, I immediately activated [Identify].

Manticore Variant Egg

An egg belonging to the manticore monster species. Due to the variant nature of the mother, the resulting monster hatched from this egg holds many mysteries.

Incubation Period Left : Indefinite

I read through the window panel twice, before a frown formed on my face. While the egg itself seemed to possess potential, especially with that whole “variant” thing going on, my mind was solely focused on the egg’s mother.

The owner of this nest was a Manticore. What’s more, it was apparently a variant too. From what little I could recall, manticore’s were mythical beasts with the body of a lion, and the face of a man. I can’t recall whether or not they had wings, but I was fairly certain that they had something like a scorpion tail… or was it a dragon tail?

Either way, that was the type of monster we’d be provoking upon taking this egg.

The frown on my face grew darker and darker. I crossed my arms and tilted my head, lost in a fog of indecision and hesitation. As I was thinking, from the corner of my eye, I could see a small body moving past me and directly heading towards the egg.

Upon realizing this, my momentarily daze quickly vanished, as my eyes trailed behind the person who had rushed past me.

As expected, that person was Narise. Her eyes glinted with feverish light, while her arms were outstretched towards the egg.

“Wait, Don’t-” Before I could finish, she had already grabbed hold of the egg. Her thin arms wrapped itself around the basketball sized object, as she smushed her face on its smooth, bleak white surface.

“Hehehe, I finally got it… I’m going to raise you real well…hehehe, I wonder what I should name you….” Her eyes were somewhat hazy as a sloppy smile formed on her face.

Seeing this, I momentarily paused. I wanted to let out a tired sigh and rebuke her, but seeing as nothing immediate has happened so far, the budding tension in my body somewhat lessened.

After I composed myself, I sighed out, before stating, “We should leave this school quickly. When the mother gets back, it’ll be really angry. The sooner and further we are away from this school, the bette-”

Before the last few words from my mouth could completely form, a resounding roar vibrated throughout the air. The primal, beast like roar originated from away the school, probably somewhere near the residential area that bordered near the market place located next to the school.

The roar itself was furious, and carried with it a domineering layer of killing intent, enough to make my breathe halt and the hair on my scalp to shiver.

Five seconds of silence passed before another roar rang out through the air. This time, the roar was noticeably louder. Without a doubt, the source of the roar was getting closer.

Not waiting for a third time, my expression turned solemn as I faced the others. Their expressions were of varying shades of anxiety and fear.

In a low, and dread filled voice, I uttered simply, “We’re leaving. Now.”