Chapter 19: A Glimmer of Hope

Regarding Xiao Fen’s deduction, Sylvia neither agreed nor denied it. Instead, she lowered her head again to look at those crystals and said, “Listen, I take back what I said just now. Before that, I originally thought this mission was impossible to complete, but looking at these now, I feel there is a glimmer of hope.”

Hearing this, Xiao Fen also looked at those crystals, frowned, and asked, “What are you planning to do?”

“Do you remember what I said just now? Look at these, so many keys, and many of them are silver keys. I didn’t expect the drop rate of keys on those Stitched Monsters to be so high. High-level keys have a higher probability of opening good things. With these keys, we have a chance to turn the tables.”

Xiao Fen smiled, looked at the keys, and said, “The greater the risk, the higher the reward. Asking us to kill 100 Stitched Monsters whose level exceeds the proper level of this Trial World, the reward given to us should be equally large.”

Sylvia turned her head to look at the battlefield ahead and said, “Okay, from now on, you unlock. I’ll go pick up all those keys over there first. Don’t rush to exchange the Gene Points. Wait until I come back to talk about it.”

Xiao Fen nodded and did not refuse.

At a time like this, everyone had to make the best use of everything to complete the mission. Xiao Fen did not have the agile and rapid movements of Sylvia, so the efficiency of picking up keys was naturally much lower than Sylvia’s.

As for those keys, as long as one was not a Native of the Trial World, they could be opened, regardless of whether one was a “guest” or a Trialist. Xiao Fen was also competent for this, which was suitable for opening them at this time.

However, Sylvia left so many keys alone and went to pick up new ones. This approach made Xiao Fen somewhat moved. He coughed and asked, “You trust me very much?”

Sylvia turned her head to glance at Xiao Fen, smiled, and said, “Oh, that’s hard to say. Maybe it’s because I fell in love with you.”

Before Xiao Fen could answer, Sylvia had disappeared into the thick Mist again. The next moment, Xiao Fen vaguely saw her figure flashing in the gaps between those Stitched Monsters.

Although she had no weapons, compared to the movements of those Stitched Monsters, Sylvia’s speed was enough to ensure she would not be harmed.

The young boy Xiao Fen, who was turned dizzy by that confession, shook his head to wake himself up from his wild thoughts and looked down at the crystals at his feet.

There were a total of 12 crystals. Among them, 6 crystals contained keys flashing with silver light, which were probably the Silver Keys Sylvia mentioned. There were 4 Brass Keys like the one Xiao Fen hid privately, and 2 keys flashing with brilliant light. If he guessed correctly, they should be called Gold Keys.

Xiao Fen picked up a Brass Key. The book in his mind flipped quickly again. Soon, he found how to use these keys to open the World Tree treasure chest.

Calling out the Projection control panel, Xiao Fen selected “Prize Exchange” from the options, and then put the Brass Key in his hand onto a tray that popped up.

As the tray retracted, 5 cards immediately appeared on the Projection screen. The backs of these cards faced Xiao Fen, depicting a towering giant tree. Then, text was displayed under the cards.

“Please select your reward.”

Xiao Fen raised his eyebrows slightly. It seemed it was not just random treasure; one had to make their own choice before getting the treasure. He casually selected a card. As the card turned over, new text was displayed on the Projection screen.

“Reward: 100 Gene Points.”

“Congratulations, you have obtained 100 Gene Points. You can use Gene Points to exchange for equipment or materials of equal value. All equipment or materials must not be taken out of the Trial World. After the mission is completed, remaining equipment or materials will be uniformly cleared.”

It was a good start. Xiao Fen looked up at the battle scene in the mist ahead, then casually picked up another brass key. However, luck was not on his side this time; he opened a card with an empty reward.

The next few card-opening processes were not particularly good. In total, Xiao Fen only obtained 300 Gene Points, two bottles of Agility Potions, one Skill Point, one Spell Fragment for manufacturing weapons, and one Basic Potion Crafting Skill Scroll.

Out of 12 keys, 9 keys yielded items. This probability should be considered good, but looking at the prices of various weapons listed on the projection screen, one could only say that Xiao Fen opening these treasure chests did not achieve his initial wish.

While Xiao Fen was secretly calculating what to do next, Sylvia had already rushed back and asked: “What results?”

After glancing at the items Xiao Fen placed on the ground, Sylvia, who was suspected to be a Vampire, whistled and said: “Whoa, this is something incredible. A Basic Potion Crafting Skill Scroll—just this item alone can be exchanged for 5000 Gene Points outside. But here, it’s worthless. How should I put it, Palin? Your luck is good, but it won’t play a key role.”

Xiao Fen felt a bit embarrassed and was just about to speak when Sylvia picked up the Spell Fragment from the ground.

To “manufacture” different weapons in the Trial World, besides spells, other requirements might be needed. Xiao Fen believed that this ability to directly upgrade weapons should be subject to many restrictions; the higher the grade of the item, the more restrictions there were estimated to be.

And this Spell Fragment was part of a spell for manufacturing a high-level weapon. Nothing else was written on it. It was estimated that several fragments needed to be combined to display the full content.

“There are still 2 parts left. If we can open the other two fragments, perhaps we can get new help.”

Sylvia glanced at the Spell Fragment, then looked at Xiao Fen and said: “Yggdrasil will not place Spell Fragments of a weapon in different Trial Worlds separately. So, as long as you open one Spell Fragment, the remaining two will also be in this Trial World. This is a fragment chanted in Ancient Hebrew, most likely for the manufacturing of a ranged weapon. Open the remaining two, Palin. If we don’t have suitable weapons, we cannot complete the mission.”

Xiao Fen looked at the crystals Sylvia brought back; there were 15 in total. Some were covered in dirty blood and pus, looking very disgusting.

Opening two Spell Fragments from 15 keys sounded quite difficult, but now there was no other choice.

Without suitable weapons, Sylvia could not continue to kill Stitched Monsters, and likewise, there was no question of obtaining new keys.

As for those ropes, they were now unable to effectively kill those Stitched Monsters. As it got later, faint glows began to appear on the bodies of the Stitched Monsters. This glow could repel part of the rope attacks, which meant that continuing to scavenge would also become more difficult.

If the current situation did not change, the mission would never be completed.

Xiao Fen gritted his teeth and was just about to open a treasure chest again when the number in the corner of his eye suddenly jumped; 1/100 became 3/100.