Chapter Thirty-Four: A Tremendous Harvest

"Your Highness, are you all right?"

Aliris noticed that Kana's emotions were clearly off and asked with concern.

Kana shook his head and said, "I'm fine. The feeling of finding treasure is just a little exhilarating."

Hearing this, Aliris couldn't help but reveal a smile, nodding with a hint of excitement. She was clearly much happier than she let on.

"I'll go out and get some bags."

"No rush. There is another chamber next door; let's go in and take a look."

Compared to this one, Kana was equally curious about the occupant of the other tomb chamber. He tucked the Stone of Genesis into his inner chest pocket and headed to the other side. Since he was unfamiliar with this room, he observed it carefully for a long while to ensure there were no traps before the two of them stepped inside.

The layout here was almost identical to the one next door, also triangular. In the center stood a statue, and in front of it, a sculpture of a holy chalice. This sculpture looked extremely similar to the one next door, with the only difference being that this figure was not bald.

The masterpiece placed beneath the circular pedestal was a sphere about the size of a human head. The items stored within the holy chalice, however, were not as straightforward as those in the priest’s chamber; they were a rather cluttered mix. There were cloth-wrapped objects, cylindrical crystals, unrecognizable metallic materials, and even books.

Kana curiously looked at the inscription beneath the circular pedestal.

"Puppet Master—Teanrui... A Puppet Master? A Puppet Master!"

Kana's voice rose by several octaves, his excitement visibly surging.

"Is... is he very famous?" Aliris couldn't help but ask, seeing Kana so agitated. To be honest, she had never heard the name before, though she had never expected much of her own scholarship.

"Of course! This is a Puppet Master, representing a hidden class—"

Kana clamped his mouth shut.

He calmed himself down. The reason he was so excited was that the Puppet Master was the very last class he had played in the game. It was a hidden class that required completing a series of questlines buried deep within the game’s rich lore and details. As a lore-focused player, Kana had found the clues toward the end of version 3.0 and spent the entire time working through the hidden quest chain, finally unlocking the hidden class in the middle of version 4.0. The class lived up to the hype, outperforming every other class he had played before. Although it was his main class, he had only been using the Puppet Master for three years. Regardless, there was no denying that the [Puppet Master] class was incredibly powerful.

What truly excited Kana was that he was intimately familiar with every character story and hidden location associated with the entire questline.

In the game, this was just a process of running through the story, gathering items, and eventually unlocking the class. But now that he had transmigrated and this had become reality, this series of tasks would guarantee his path to the pinnacle of this profession.

Regaining his composure, Kana replied, "It is a branch of ancient alchemy."

After this brief explanation, Kana looked back at the circular pedestal. From the information above, he learned that this man, named Teanrui, was known as the Puppet Master, and his masterpiece was the metal sphere below. It was an ancient, foundational base puppet.

Kana picked up the sphere, wiped away the dust, and recognized it at a glance.

[Spherical Puppet—Universal]

Kana now knew who Teanrui was: the founding patriarch of the [Puppet Master] class. "Patriarch" didn't mean he was the strongest, but rather that he was the one who laid the foundation for the profession. According to some records in the game, Kana knew that the origins and naming of the [Puppet Master] class came from its founder. The founder had created the first programmable and modifiable universal base puppet, allowing the profession to flourish. Unfortunately, this pioneer passed away early due to a laboratory accident.

The records on the pedestal confirmed this. The brother in the adjacent tomb had also died in the same incident, and Teanrui, the founder, had been on the brink of death. Knowing he could not survive, he had buried the two brothers together.

Kana hurriedly picked up the books in the holy chalice container and flipped through them. These books were clearly made of special materials; even now, covered in dust, they remained sturdy, and the handwriting was exceptionally clear.

Indeed, they were his experimental journals.

Kana began to carefully inventory the items: various alchemy materials, experimental journals, memory crystals, and a personal spatial pouch.

Perfect. A truly perfect collection. With these, Kana could fully and rapidly transition into the [Puppet Master] class—the weakest, most basic form, perhaps, as this was the state of the profession during the Ancient Alchemical Empire, and alchemy was something that evolved over time. Modern Puppet Masters were far more advanced, but given the current circumstances, making do with what he had was more than fine.

He checked the spatial pouch; it was still in its brand-new, sealed state. Seeing this, Kana felt much more at ease, as these spatial pouches tended to become unstable over time until they eventually became ordinary bags. This sealed state proved it had been preserved perfectly.

He broke the seal and checked inside; the space was a full cubic meter. That was enough. He shoved the sphere and the pile of materials into the spatial pouch.

"It, it went inside!" Aliris exclaimed in surprise from the side. It was her first time seeing a spatial artifact; she hadn't even heard of one before.

"This is a spatial artifact. Don't let its small size fool you; it can hold quite a lot," Kana explained.

Hearing this, Aliris nodded, her eyes filled with curiosity as she stared at it.

"Not now. I'll let you play with it tonight when we get back."

"No, no need, Your Highness. I was just curious," Aliris said, her face flushing slightly. She felt her reaction had been a bit embarrassing.

Kana looked at her. "Are you sure you don't want to try? It's quite interesting."

"If, if that is Your Highness's command..."

"Haha, good. I command you to get a good understanding of this thing."

"Yes!"

After sharing a laugh, the two went to the other side. Kana loaded the pile of coins and gems into the spatial pouch as well. It had to be said, there was quite a lot; the items from the two chalices had nearly filled the pouch.

"Let's go. We're heading out."

With that, they exited, carefully re-sealing the stone door and taking the stone slab with them, tossing it into the pouch as well. As the heavy door slowly closed, the entire cavern plunged back into total darkness.

They jumped into the pool. The icy river water soaked their bodies, washing away the excitement of their treasure hunt. Aliris led the way, and the two quickly retraced their path.

Seeing them return, Black, waiting on the bank, quickly reached out and pulled Kana from the water.