Chapter 46: A Legendary Treasure!

"......"
Old man, subway, cellphone.jpg
Song Qi was momentarily speechless.
He had expected a moving, epic tale of resistance—a saga of tree spirits and flower sprites fighting desperately to protect their forest from invading forces. In the end, the tree spirit, unable to withstand temptation, reluctantly accepted the power of the Abyss.
But who could have foreseen such a dramatic twist?
It turned out to be a story of betrayal!
Though the narrative was brief, Song Qi had pieced together its outline.
In essence, the forest housed two beings: a tree spirit and a flower sprite.
The tree spirit loved the flower sprite deeply, hollowing out his own trunk so she would have a place to live.
But the flower sprite never regarded him as anything more than a sycophant; she quickly moved in with a stranger, a male, and even spent the night there.
Overnight, no less!
Song Qi was utterly dumbfounded.
Wasn’t this a textbook case of betrayal before the husband’s eyes?
Predictably, the lovesick tree spirit succumbed to darkness.
He embraced the Abyss, infecting the flower sprite and transforming the once-protected forest into a domain teeming with monsters.
"Sigh~~"
"This is why you should never debase yourself for love. In the end, you lose everything."
Song Qi let out a long sigh.
"Better to examine the state of these two rings now."
"If the effect is fusion, then a simple activation should suffice, right?"
He took out the two rings and slipped them onto his left and right hands, silently intoning:
"Fuse."
In the next instant...
The rings burst into dazzling light!
Before Song Qi could react, the two spheres of white light collided, and he felt his ringed hands forcibly pressed together.
Smack!
With a crisp clap, the light faded, and a palm-sized book fell to the floor.
"Two rings fused into a book?"
Song Qi picked it up.
It was a thick tome bound in cowhide.
The entire book was purple, and the cover was blank.
It felt cold to the touch, yet somehow unsettling.
Song Qi checked its information.
[Treasure: The Seven Deadly Sins—Envy]
[Quality: Legendary]
[Required Level: None]
[Required Attributes: None]

[Strength: +0]
[Agility: +0]
[Constitution: +0]
[Spirit: -1]
[Effect 1: Select a target. If any of the target’s attributes exceed the owner’s, forcibly stun the target for 1–5 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes.] (The greater the difference, the longer the stun.)
[Effect 2: The owner may challenge an enemy to a duel. If any of the enemy’s attributes exceed yours, they cannot refuse, and no one else may interfere. Cooldown: 48 hours.]
[Evaluation: A gift from the Abyss. Gather all seven to open the gate to the Abyss!]
....
"Two extraordinary rings fused into a legendary piece of equipment?"
"And it’s a treasure-type item?!"
Song Qi couldn’t conceal his joy.
Treasures differed from other equipment—they could only be obtained from wild monsters, and even then, the odds were slim.
All treasures were unrestricted by class, level, or attributes.
Even the number worn was unlimited!
In other words, if you managed to wear dozens of treasures, their effects would all activate simultaneously!
Because of this, even a rare-grade treasure could command a price of a million credit points!
As for legendary treasures, Song Qi had never even heard of one being auctioned.
He guessed that if he put this book up for sale, ten billion credit points might not suffice.
It would spark a frenzy among all the elites in the city!
Of course....
Sell it? That was out of the question.
At least, not now.
Song Qi’s joy was written all over his face.
"I had thought I’d only fuse a hero-grade item at best."
"But this is a windfall!"
"And the two abilities are fantastic!"
"One is a powerful single-target control, the other forces a duel."
"For a summoner like me, both are divine skills!"
Imagine, an angry mob approaches, only for the leader to be singled out and dragged into a duel.
Then Song Qi summons Lu Bu and Ying Zheng, his two enforcers, and uses Effect 1 to stun the opponent.
The outcome needs no further elaboration.
A perfect execution combo!
At this thought, Song Qi broke into a sun-bright smile.
"Heh heh heh heh....."
....
"Ahem... sir, the dungeon has ended. How much longer do we need to stay here?"
Ying Zheng spoke up, reminding him.
Song Qi finally snapped back to reality.
"Oh right, I almost forgot—there’s someone waiting for me outside."

He slipped the book into his coat with satisfaction and turned to grasp the dungeon core.
[Congratulations! You have obtained a special dungeon core.]
[Attention! The core has been claimed. All participants will be forcibly ejected from this dungeon world in ten seconds.]
[10, 9, 8.....]
Song Qi recalled Ying Zheng and Lu Bu, standing in place to await the countdown.
[3, 2, 1!]
After a dizzying swirl, Song Qi found himself back at the cave entrance.
The burly man waiting anxiously outside scrambled to his feet.
"Hey there, little brother, you nearly scared me to death."
"You were in there so long without a sound, I thought you might’ve died inside."
"If you hadn’t come out soon, I’d have started wondering if I should change my name and move to another district for a living."
"So, how did it go? Did you get the dungeon core or...?"
Song Qi brushed the dust from his pants and smiled, producing the core.
"Special dungeon core, yours for ten million credit points."
The burly man’s eyes lit up. He carefully took the core and examined it.
"That’s right! It’s definitely a special core."
"And it’s tied to the Abyss, too!"
His breath caught; his expression shifted from surprise to elation!
A special dungeon core meant he could flip it for at least a hundred million credits!
"Excellent! As expected of the city lord’s disciple—truly gifted."
"But...."
He scratched his head, embarrassed.
"I don’t have that much money right now, only about a million on hand. To gather ten million credits... it’ll take some time. At least until tomorrow."
Song Qi waved it off.
"No worries. You gave me an escape device, so I trust your character."
"Tomorrow is fine."
At these words, the burly man was filled with admiration.
"Little brother, you truly live up to the city lord’s favor."
"Not only do you have immense potential, but your conduct humbles me."
To someone his age, ten million credits was a staggering sum, yet Song Qi acted as if it were nothing.
The burly man admitted he could never have been so indifferent to ten million credits at Song Qi’s age.
"In that case, let’s hurry back."
"Staying in the wild too long is dangerous, and as a future powerhouse of our race, you mustn’t come to harm."
With that, the burly man hoisted Song Qi onto his back.
This time, his run was much steadier.