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2024-10-29 19:42:56"Sigh … is still far away?" Ave pouted a bit as he kept following the floating holographic map in front of him towards the big circle, but he had not reached it yet. The narrow path was getting even narrower, so Ave had to tilt his body to squeeze through the gaps.
However, all of Ave's questions were answered when he saw a tiny bright light at the end of this narrow path. The young man blinked his hopeful shining eyes and quickened his pace.
"Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold," Ave repeated continuously as if he were chanting a spell to make sure he found a mountain of gold behind that light.
Just a little more, and Ave would arrive there. He did not even care how many times he bumped into rocks on the cave wall because he was too focused on getting there quickly.
"Gold—!"
The young man was about to leap forward before he hurriedly grabbed onto one of the rocks, and then stepped back with a terrified yet amazed expression. Ave's eyes widened.
Right below Ave was a pool filled with thousands... no, maybe millions of gold coins with various gems.
This place looked like heaven. With all these gold coins, Ave might be able to make a new country and become president there. The young man could not help but smile at the shimmering gold coins, tempting him to dive in and drown himself in the pool of gold and diamonds.
"Haha... is this real? Is all of this gold mine?" Ave asked, unsure to whom, laughing to himself. He must be crazy, crazy for all these golds.
[Ding!]
Amidst his happiness of gazing at his soon-to-be wealth, Ave suddenly heard a notification sound coming.
For some reason, Ave felt uneasy with the notification sound that popped up when he just arrived here.
"Gulp."
//
[Coin Master's Quest - The Forgotten Treasure of Solomon]
Quest Difficulty: S
You've arrived in one of Solomon's forgotten treasure chambers. This treasure room is guarded by a fierce creature, Solomon's pet, to drive away thieves trying to take the gold. Defeat the 'Stone Goliath' and claim all the gold in this chamber.
Quest Rewards:
All items in this room
10,000 Gold Coins
3x Rejuvenation Potions
Unlock 1 of the Underdog’s Wrath Skillchain
Penalty for failing the quest:
Death
//
Ave punched the ground beneath him with a bitter expression. Of course, it had to be like this! There's no way he would get all this precious gold for free. Fighting a giant stone monster? It was like Ave was being delivered straight to the gates of his doom.
He was talentless.
This means Ave didn't have the talent or ability to defeat the monster. He even struggled in practical classes, swapping practical class grades by becoming a teacher's assistant for over a year without pay to keep his ranking safe and not lose his scholarship. But Ave didn't have any skills at all!
"Damn it! Does this mean I won't get all that gold if I don't defeat that monster?"
GROOOOOOO—
"Hic!" Ave suddenly choked at the terrifying roar. The young man quickly covered his mouth when he saw with his own eyes that the pile of large stones in the middle of the gold pool suddenly moved and made a loud sound that hurt his ears.
The pile of stones shifted and transformed into something else.
"Is that the monster I have to face?" Ave said with a bewildered look, dropping his limp hand to the side.
In front of Ave, a giant stone golem stood with a massive and sturdy figure. The golem stood in the middle of the pool as if to show that it was the guardian of this place and would destroy anyone daring to steal gold from there by swinging its stone arms.
Ave was already ready to leave.
"No, forget it. There's no way I'll survive against that monster. Let’s just leave."
However, Ave froze in place as if contemplating whether he should run for his life or take the risk to defeat the stone monster. The young man looked up and checked one of the quests he received.
[Punishment for failing the quest: Death.]
...
[Death.]
“Aaaaaaargh—! Darn it!”
Whether he fled or fought the stone golem, Ave would end up dead anyway.
“Forget it! I'd rather die in a pile of gold and rot with all those treasure than die alone in darkness!”
The young man had made up his mind and spontaneously turned around, ran fast to jump and free-fall into the pile of gold below.
“Waaaaaaaaaah!”
The sound of a massive object hitting the gold pile caused the Stone Goliath to move toward the source of the noise. It was programmed to eliminate all kinds of threats and show no mercy.
Without lingering in the embrace of those beautiful gold pieces, Ave quickly stood up, and balanced himself to avoid falling or drowning himself in the gold pool beneath his feet.
GROOOOOO—
STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!
"Darn!" Ave struggled to keep his balance as the golem stormed toward him at high speed, causing a powerful vibration with each step on the cave floor.
But Ave did not lose his wits. The young man quickly grabbed a sword beneath him, preparing to face the oncoming golem.
"Whoa—!"
As Ave took the sword, he discovered it was still held by someone—or more precisely, a complete skeleton wrapped in full clothing.
"Dang it, will I end up like this too if I fail to defeat that monster?"
STOMP!
STOMP! STOMP!
Ave shook his head quickly, trying to shake off all the negative thoughts. He forcefully pulled the sword, causing the skeleton's arm bone to come off with it. He wanted to discard the bone, but he did not have enough time as he saw the giant golem's arm moving to crush him.
BOOM—!
Instinctively, Ave jumped to the side and shielded his head from sharp objects like diamonds or crowns.
"Uhhh. I gotta find that golem's weakness," Ave wiped the blood from his lips who accidentally cut and stared at the angry-looking golem. The guy then frowned a little when seeing a red diamond in the middle of the golem's chest, shining every time it got mad or tried to smack Ave with its stone arm.
Ave tightened his grip on the steel swords with both hands and sprinted towards the giant golem, which was also heading his way at a fast pace.
GROOOOOO—
"Ugh," Ave muttered as he stumbled several times due to the loud thuds on the cave floor, nearly losing his balance. However, Ave did not give up and kept running towards the monster.
Ave reached the golem's feet and tried to stab it with his sword.
Clank—!
"Darn it, I knew this wouldn't work." The sword flew backward, defeated by the golem monster's sturdy leg. Ave, showing off his monkey-like climbing skills, scaled the golem's leg. He climbed from the ankle to the waist, and finally, Ave's last stop was the golem's shoulder.
GROOOOO—
The giant golem sensed a tiny bug climbing on it and started thrashing around to catch the bug. It repeatedly hit itself, preventing Ave from moving forward toward the diamond while he clung tightly to the pile of rocks on the monster golem's shoulder.
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
GROOOOOOOOOOO—!
"C-Calm down! Do you really want to kill me, huh?" Ave tried to shout as the golem continued to pound its own arms, waist, and even its head, causing the golem's body to slowly crumble from its own blows.
DUAAAAAAGH!
Losing balance, the monster golem fell backward onto a pile of gold, causing Ave to tumble along with it. He closed his eyes, hoping not to be crushed by the golem's tough body.
Fortunately, Ave held on tight. He was okay, but his ears were ringing badlyfrom the continuous loud crashes.
"Ugh, this is really troublesome."
The young man did not waste this rare opportunity and quickly climbed onto the body of the giant golem, who was struggling to stand again because one of its legs was broken from its own punch.
Ave reached the spot where the red diamond was and tightly held the sword in his hand.
He bit his lower lip while lifting the sword high.
"I hope my instincts are not wrong, hyaaaaaa—!"
Stab—!
Crack.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Ave quickly moved away from the red gem that began to crack as he thrust the sword into the middle of it and descended below.
Shortly after the cracking sound ended, the red diamond on the golem monster's chest shattered into pieces, followed by the colossal stone golem's body crumbling and turning into a pile of ordinary rocks.
Ave covered both ears because it was too loud, then he opened them again, and blinking in amazement.
"I... is it over?" he said cautiously, afraid that the golem might rise again.
[Ding!]
[Host has completed the quest; Stone Goliath successfully defeated.]
[Calculating bonuses...]
[Bonus calculation complete. Host will receive:
All items in the Solomon's treasure room
10,000 Gold Coins
3x Rejuvenation Potions
Unlock 1 from the Underdog’s Wrath Skill Chain
Note: 1 Gold Coin equals $100 and can be exchanged for real money.]
After hearing the entire content of the notification, Ave could finally lie down on the pile of gold with relaxation and a wide smile.
It still felt like a dream to him.
Before, Ave always lived in poverty and was pushed to the brink of death.
But now, he could earn money and become incredibly wealthy in an instant!
"Ah... darn, this is so much fun!" Ave exclaimed, creating snow fairies on the pile of gold and gazing at the cave ceiling.
"I love money!"
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11. The Power Within
At Neogen High School, there are two kinds of classes provided for their students: the regular one and the special class. Of course, there were some differences between those two classes. The regular class was a class with common school subjects like math, language, or art subjects that were also being taught at other common schools. However, what made Neogen so special was its special class. In this class, students with talents were being trained and developed according to each of their talents.Their unique talents led to their future careers.Students with combat talents might become rangers and fight monsters on the war zone, meanwhile, students with supporting talents like healing, mapping, or strategy become a support role for the students with combat talents.Yeah, even in Neogen, a student’s social status was determined by their talent. Sometimes a student with combat talents felt so superior to other students because teachers considered them the best and strongest talent. It
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10. A Sign of Enemies
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09. Old Class, Old Friend
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"So, you are … Avery Blythe's distant cousin?"A middle-aged man with glasses stared at Ave suspiciously, examining the young man's registration file. The man's glasses were almost slipping off his long, crooked nose as he continued to scrutinize Ave’s figure from top to bottom. Well, everything did feel so sudden, Ave admitted to himself. Luckily, having been an assistant and frequently visiting the teacher's room, he understood a little about how the school's registration process works.Facing the young man was Dotoevsky Swerzen, commonly known as Mr. Swerzen, the Economics and Business teacher at Neogen High School and the person in charge of sorting through the students applying to the school. One could imagine how stingy and calculating the balding man in front of Ave was.However, Ave was not worried because he already had an answer to this problem."Yes, Mr. Swerzen. We come from the same grandma, but my family lived in Rivera and only recently decided to return to New Orleans
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07. New Face, New Life
"He's quite handsome too."Ave had been in the bathroom for quite a while, staring at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror—or Elias's face, the guy whose face was duplicated and turned into Ave's new face. Luckily, Ave's grandma was blind, otherwise, she would have had a heart attack seeing her grandson's face change like that.The young man then turned on the tap at the sink and washed his face using soap—he was too poor to buy special face soap, so he used regular soap for both shampooing and washing his everyday clothes.Ave rinsed his face with water until it was clean before drying it with a towel and gazing again at his new face in the mirror.Again and again, Ave was amazed by this new face.He thought he would get a plain face or even worse, a face older than his own.Ave’s new face is much smaller than his old face. His hair is still the same black color, but Ave's black pupils have now changed to a golden color like a marble. Moreover, his chin looks slimmer, making Ave
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06. Elite Class
"Welcome home, Lady Rosalind."A tall and lean butler bowed after opening the car door and greeted a beautiful girl who was stepping out of the car with a calm expression, there was almost no expression on her face."Is Father home?" the girl asked coldly."The Master is busy at the president's office. He'll be back when dinner time comes."Upon hearing the butler's answer, the girl showed no reaction and walked up the stairs to her house. Although called a house, her place looked more like a giant mansion with Greek architecture and a touch of futuristic style, adapting to the surroundings in their Apocalypse world—in which Earth had been destroyed by the emergence of monsters, and the surviving human groups built a new civilization by adapting to a world full of monsters and dangerous territories."How was your day at school, Lady Rosalind?" The male butler took Rosalind's blazer and walked beside her.Rosalind sighed. "You're so noisy, Armand. I don't want to be bothered today."Ar
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05. Come Back Home
"I've told you many times, I don't want to give you anything anymore! You dirty beggar!"A half-old man with a tall figure glared fiercely at a hunched elderly woman standing in front of his shop. The old woman wore a worn-out pink dress and both of her shoes had holes in various places."P-please, Sir. Tomorrow, my grandson will have an exam, and I want to give him bone soup to keep him motivated to study—""I don't care if your grandson has an exam or not. Old lady, just go away from my store! Your terrible appearance is scaring away my customers!" scolded the meat shop owner. He wore a blood-stained apron, and underneath it, his belly bulged due to his stingy and calculating nature."B-but...""Tch, go away!" Running out of patience, the meat shop owner stepped out of the store and pushed the old woman hard."Ahhh!"The old woman fell onto the street and winced in pain as her entire aged body ached. The shop owner then spat to the side."Go away and never come back here!" The butch
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04. Golden Pool
"Sigh … is still far away?" Ave pouted a bit as he kept following the floating holographic map in front of him towards the big circle, but he had not reached it yet. The narrow path was getting even narrower, so Ave had to tilt his body to squeeze through the gaps.However, all of Ave's questions were answered when he saw a tiny bright light at the end of this narrow path. The young man blinked his hopeful shining eyes and quickened his pace."Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold," Ave repeated continuously as if he were chanting a spell to make sure he found a mountain of gold behind that light.Just a little more, and Ave would arrive there. He did not even care how many times he bumped into rocks on the cave wall because he was too focused on getting there quickly."Gold—!"The young man was about to leap forward before he hurriedly grabbed onto one of the rocks, and then stepped back with a terrified yet amazed expression. Ave's eyes widened.Right below Ave was a pool filled with thousan
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03. Dark Cave
Throughout Ave's life, he never ate beef or pork. At most, he would have chicken head stew or discarded chicken wings from the butchers that were not sell well.Also, he never had his own room.Ave slept with his old and blind grandmother. Every day, Ave had to change his grandma's diaper using old cloth and wash the soiled cloth diaper with water before heading to school.Ave never changed his school uniform either. He only had one black bag with various stitches all around, and who knows how many times the zipper broke, he just replaced it with safety pins to keep it closed.However, Ave never complained. He thought it was normal in New Orleans. In this dystopian country, poverty was a common thing, and almost 75% of New Orleans' population were poor, with a high crime rate.The gap between the poor and the rich was huge, from everyday clothes to shopping places, to their residential living areas. New Orleans truly classified and differentiated their citizens based on money and clas
