A Dragon’s Curiosity - Chapter 171

Treasure chests were one of the features that pleased adventurer teams the most. While exploring the rooms of a dungeon, it was not only the monsters that spawned in regular intervals.

Though no one knew the exact reason, chests, small boxes, and similar containers had a chance to surface as well. They contained gear of similar quality to the overall level of the floor they were found on: rare materials, skill manuals and more exotic goodies.

In most cases, the content of a single treasure chest will be about equal to the worth of a day’s exploration in the least case and worth about half a moon of diving into the Dungeon every day if it’s a jackpot.

No one disliked seeing one, and some adventurers specialized in finding those hidden stashes as their profession instead of hunting for more materials. They would learn dedicated skills with utility and sensory type abilities to increase their income and buy better gear to supplement the lack of stronger fighting prowess.

All in all, Nisha was quite happy to find a treasure box too; they were rare enough to warrant a bright smile.

When the elf was about to finish collecting the monster carcasses, Accalia also dug deep enough to pull the thin container out of the loose soil.

Just based on the form and size, the dragon did not raise her hopes for a jackpot. There might be a heap of small magic crystals or a beast hide inside, but since the treasure chest was only an added bonus to the duo’s goal and not their main purpose currently, anything was fine with her.

Suddenly a bright light lit up in her [Spirit Sight], and the previously plain and undecorated box experienced a drastic change. Reliefs and carvings appeared out of thin air. Pictures of wolfs’ eyes, teeth, and impressions of the whole animal now coiled around the box, which differed greatly from the previously bland cover. Just looking at the top, where the picture of a full moon highlighted a black silhouette in front of it, agitated the dragon’s aura and mana flow, suggesting that the container itself was not simple either.

Little Lia yelped from the flash of heat, yet also refused to drop the box and brought it back to her master, who carefully took it into her hands and tried to peer through the cover with her [Spirit Sight].

As the elf had expected, the carvings obstructed her view and concealed the contents, which should be a good thing though.

I was probably too hasty when I concluded that this chest was not a jackpot.

Carefully putting the treasure chest away in her [Inner World], Nisha petted her contracted beast and rewarded her with a complete body from their current hunt.

The wolf happily bit deep into it and dragged it along, chewing whenever convenient, as they retreated from the fourth floor.

After obtaining an unexpected reward, the dragon decided to conclude the hunt for now and check the shiny rewards when they were at home.

On their way out of the Dungeon, the two received some curious looks, as the elf truly looked too young to be on her own in such a dangerous place, but since the young girl had a contracted monster with her, the adventurers refrained from stepping up and reminding her to think of her own safety more.

Soon, Nisha sat down on her bed after a hurried dinner and took the thin box out of her [Inner Space].

Accalia was far less concerned with their bounty and curled up into a ball shape, which the elf rested against as she opened the treasure chest.

The stone surface itself had murals depicting figures of wolves prowling beneath the silhouette of a grey moon, with paw and claw prints embellishing the different scenes.

When the dragon saw the chest for the first time, it had still been a clean slate, with no imprints yet, the [Spirit Sight] only had trouble looking into the box itself. However, it changed right after Little Lia picked the chest up, so most likely it and the content had somehow reacted to the wolf’s mana and changed as a result.

Rather than the treasure itself, Nisha was more interested in the change that happened when it touched the wolf’s mana. Since the duo did not even descend further than the fifth floor, the first major hurdle for any respectable adventurer, she did not expect a major jackpot either way from the contents.

The elf traced the carvings on the surface and closely monitored the changes as faint ripples of her mana sunk into the stone material. Silvery white accents appeared on the edges of the box as the dark and grey stone sucked in the dragon’s mana.

In the process, Nisha noticed that there was a definite limit to how much the box would accept energy and confirmed that the earlier changes were also consequences of the wolf picking it up while unconsciously radiating mana and aura all over the place.

Nisha admired the changes and smiled as the theory she had turned out to be true. Still, the stone casing retained the ability to ward off the [Spirit Sight]’s capacity to see through it. Perhaps it came from one of the mysterious aspects of the Dungeon to ward off detection spells and similar abilities, or maybe the carvings had a more than decorative use, channeling the ambient aura of the world to form a protective ward. Either way, the treasure box still held some mysteries, but the dragon resolved herself to figure them out later.

A silvery clasp had absorbed the last vestiges of the mana and closed the box securely without a single visible slit on the outside.

She only needed to focus a sharp edge on the tip of her finger to slice it into two pieces. With a bit of anticipation, Nisha took out the contents and spread it open on her bed.

Contrary to the usual materials and valuables, the treasure chest only held a single item, a piece of tanned leather.

From a first look, the hide seemed golden and very supple. Only when the elf held it in her hands did she notice that the traces of countless hands and long age transformed the leather into a soft and water like surface, while the original brown color shone from the constant use.

Similar to the casing, the hide displayed carvings and images, etched into the leather directly. However, unlike the outer box, Nisha surprisingly understood the inscriptions.

All beasts notably held deep comprehension of the monster language. Normal monsters often had limited awareness and only reacted to simple phrases or commands, yet they also rarely deigned to voice an opinion if they had the chance to use violence to solve matters instead.

The carvings on the leather were mostly adaptations of the monster language, a variant coming from the wolf subspecies.

Since all of the different kinds and species shared a single language, the core concepts relied on images and cadence instead of rigid words and structure. Different beasts also spoke distinctively, depending on their physiques. A bird with a beak had to make different sounds than an insect with multiple mandibles. Hence, the language itself had many incantations and words that meant the same as long as the correct image correlated to the same intent.

The pictures depicted on the hide showed wolf totems and similar imagery while the scripture had many growls and howls compared to other variants of the monster language. As such, Nisha had no major troubles when she tried to decipher the scroll. It only took some time to translate the wolf dialect into the variation the dragon enjoyed.

Accalia also developed some interest in the carvings when she raised her head to glance at the thing her master fiddled with, and understood some of the contents, but it was not of major interest to the wolf and she settled down again, content to act as a fluffy pillow.

This might be a tad interesting after all. A little curiosity won’t hurt anyone.

Going by the central image and the carvings from the top, the name of the hide was quickly deciphered by the elf.

“So, it is called [Tome of the Wolf God] and this is one chapter derived from it. Maybe we can both learn something from this, Little Lia.”

Seeing that the content had a great similarity to the beast that first influenced the treasure box with her mana, Nisha guessed that the box previously only promised a reward corresponding to a certain value and the Dungeon would adjust the content based on the discoverer.

It should work for warriors as well, since almost all living things picked up a faint trace of mana or aura, whether they primarily cultivated only one power or not. Pure mana or aura beings were very rare, so the mana residue should work anyway when a warrior picked up the treasure. Though, a beast like Accalia had a very strong mana presence, heavily influencing the chapter that resulted from the box.

Only some minor additions stemmed from the dragon’s mana, likely having no sway on the reward.

Of course, the floor also had a major influence on the tier of the treasure and the fourth floor could not possibly reward the full [Tome of the Wolf God]. The name alone hinted at a very high level, to be crowned as the cultivation record of a god it had to be a high-level manual.

Nisha held a single chapter in her hands, it was titled [Eyes of the Obsidian Wolf] and described a spell that was suitable for reconnaissance and fell in the utility category.

Surprisingly enough, spells and skills were not limited to the human race. Aside from inheriting abilities based on their genetic inheritance, monsters and beasts also had the potential to learn suitable skills through repeated practice, instruction, or inspiration.

The [Adventurer’s Guild] offered a guide for interested parties too, if they wished to pursue the path of a monster tamer. Suitable education was necessary to aid the creatures they reared to remain undefeated in battle.

And even though the [Wolf God Manual] likely held the best available techniques for the wolf subspecies among monsters, still, a reconnaissance spell seemed out of line with the character of a wolf, which usually were depicted as aggressive, swift, and unrelenting. A keen nose and good tracking also fell under the image that came to mind, yet the chapter Nisha possessed appeared to be based on the eye.

Ocular techniques did not lose out to other spells or abilities, only that warriors rarely practiced them to a high level due to the already high strain on their vision in combat.

Still, the elf did not discriminate between any arts and earnestly studied the hide, looking to connect the images and inscriptions on the hide.

With her natural high intelligence and the systematic teaching of her grandfather to create her own skill, Nisha quickly grasped the key points of the spell.

The main themes of the scroll were a silver moon, a pitch-black wolf figure, and an endless expanse, all covered under the eye of the sky.

Together with the incantation, the spell formation recorded on the hide and the dragon’s comprehension, she figured out a method to cast the [Eye of the Obsidian Wolf], at least she judged that it was likely correct.

A pleasant surprise occurred completely accidently. Based on the method derived from the piece of leather, the activation method had a similar outline to the [Seal: Create] that she obtained from the large compendium called [Seals] she obtained from the Guild.

Instead of constructing the spell in the vast landscape of her mind first and then activating it from there, the [Eye of the Obsidian Wolf] established the model outside of the body – in Nisha’s case, between her hands – and then merged it with part of her body to achieve the maximum effect.

As such, it had a much more direct effect than [Seal: Create], which she yet had to figure out how to successfully invoke.

The dragon calmed her mind and prepared to test out this new spell. Threads of mana condensed in the air and weaved into complex symbols, each following the wolf symbols on the hide and finally fusing into a subdued grey marble that rotated and followed an unknown rhythm.

Controlling the orb with her left hand, Nisha raised it to her eye level and slowly pushed it into her right eye, which closed in the process.

The vision provided by [Spirit Sight] covered a large area in all directions in most situations and closing any of her eyes had no influence on the ability at all.

However, this time the sphere of awareness shrunk together with the suffusion of the orb inside her eye.

Rather than falling apart, the construct pulled in her consciousness, sending the elf in a sort of out of body experience.

With her eye like a silver moon shining brightly through the darkness, the spell formation rotating in her right eye projected into the room a jet-black spiritual construct of a wolf body holding her consciousness.