A glowing Douglas naturally took the lead, walking at the very front, Ailiya was second, Saifei'er third, and Fei was at the very end.
However, what the group didn't know was that about a hundred meters away, behind a tree, a person peeked out, silently watching the four enter.
Saifei'er's 'Super Hearing' was directional; if she didn't deliberately focus on that direction, she wouldn't hear any movement from it. Clearly, her attention was currently focused on this ancient tomb.
The entrance to the ancient tomb was not wide. Douglas, who was two meters tall, had to bend over and lower his head, making it very awkward to walk. The air was filled with the smell of something rotting.
Finally, after the four advanced about ten meters, the surroundings gradually became wider and flatter. Clear signs of artificial construction could be seen on the ground and walls.
A half-open stone door, about three meters high, appeared in Saifei'er's vision. On the stone walls on both sides of the door, there were two torches, but this was not a game world with 'ever-burning torches.' These two torches had long since burned out.
The stone door was not opened very wide. If it were Ailiya and Fei, they might be able to squeeze through, but Saifei'er and Douglas clearly could not.
Douglas, the big guy, goes without saying. As for Saifei'er, she looked down at her full chest, then at the gap in the door, and became even more certain: 'Can't get in! Absolutely can't get in!'
Subsequently, Saifei'er looked at Ailiya, whose chest was as flat as her back. To be honest, she was quite envious of her.
Douglas stepped forward and took a deep breath. He gripped the stone door with both hands, and with a heavy dragging sound, this massive stone door was slowly pulled open by him!
Inside the stone door was a stone corridor about three meters high and four meters wide. On the walls on both sides, there was a burnt-out torch approximately every five meters. Because there was no light source at all, Saifei'er couldn't see what was at the end of the corridor. She could only see more clearly at night, but not through objects.
Douglas's glowing radius was ten meters, and the visibility for the others was also ten meters, but Saifei'er could see about twenty meters away. Beyond that, it was pitch black in her vision as well.
"Keep going," Fei said. However, after waiting for a moment, Saifei'er noticed that the three of them hadn't moved; instead, they were all looking at her. This made her extend her index finger, pointing at herself in surprise. Her golden fingernail poked a small dimple in her cheek. "Me first?!"
Fei was speechless. "Isn't that obvious? When exploring this kind of terrain, the thief always goes first."
The scale of this tomb seemed large, so its owner was likely not an ordinary person in life. He probably brought many burial objects when he was interred, and it was very normal for this tomb owner to set up some traps and mechanisms to prevent his tomb from being robbed after his death.
And this was the thief's area of expertise: finding and disarming traps. This was almost a mandatory course for thieves, after all, those who would enter such tombs to rob them were basically thieves.
But Saifei'er was clearly not a proper thief! How could she know how to do this?
Seeing Saifei'er's bewildered and confused expression, Fei couldn't help but freeze for a moment. "It's about disarming traps with thief tools. You don't know how?!"
Saifei'er showed an awkward expression. "Th-thief tools? What are those?"
Fei, "?"
Douglas, "?"
Ailiya tilted her head and repeated, "What exactly are thief tools?"
Fei put one hand on her forehead and explained that thief tools were actually a general term, roughly including: lock-picking tools, small mirrors, fine hooks, files, tweezers, and the like. A normal thief would carry their most proficient and accustomed tools in a single box for various emergencies.
Subsequently, the group fell silent for a moment. Douglas tentatively said, "Then I'll go first...?"
But before he could finish speaking, Saifei'er said, "It's fine, I'll do it!"
What's wrong? She has Godspeed! Could the Flash step on a trap and kill himself?
If any accident were to happen, a blink of an eye would be enough for her to run back to the Adventurers' Guild inn in Stone Pine City and hide under the covers.
Besides, what if Fei was overthinking it, and there were no traps here at all?
"Wait a moment." Before Saifei'er set off, Fei came to her side first. After chanting a string of incantations, she said to Saifei'er, "Extend your right hand."
Saifei'er did as she was told. Then, Fei extended her index finger and tapped her palm. A blue, circular symbol with many patterns appeared on Saifei'er's glove.
Fei explained, "Triggered Shield Spell (First-Ring Protection School). It will automatically generate a temporary shield around you when you are about to take damage."
Saifei'er looked down at the mark on her glove and said in surprise, "How amazing~!"
The path of magic was truly profound. Many mages spent their entire lives only learning the basics, so mages divided various magic into eight categories, which were the so-called Eight Great Schools. Instead of dabbling in everything, it was better to specialize in one system first, and Fei was a mage specializing in the 'Protection School.'
Once ready, Saifei'er officially entered the stone door. Her gaze was fixed on the ground in front of her: a dusty, slightly uneven stone path. It didn't look like any kind of mechanism at all, did it?
As she was thinking this, Saifei'er's right heel stepped on a slightly raised spot. With the sound of stones rubbing against each other, the spot where her foot was placed sank in a little.
"Eh?!"
The next second, several small holes suddenly appeared on the stone walls on both sides of Saifei'er, and black hidden arrows shot out with a 'whoosh'.
All of this happened in an instant, but Saifei'er's reaction speed was also extremely fast. The cat ears on top of her head twitched slightly; she had heard the sound of gears turning even before these mechanisms activated.
Being prepared, and relying on her excellent dynamic vision, Saifei'er watched the hidden arrows on both sides of her. She merely turned her body slightly and leaned back a little, and these arrows brushed past her, less than a centimeter away, above her chest and on both sides of her waist.
Saifei'er was fully capable of dodging further, but there was no need. She only needed to move this small distance, and these hidden arrows would not hit her.
It was also quite a coincidence that her figure was so good, her waist was very thin, just smaller than the gap between these arrows. She only needed to fine-tune her position and stand in the middle, and these arrows would not hit her.
But similarly, it was also because her figure was too good that she had to lean back slightly, otherwise her side breasts might get hit by an arrow.
Although she hadn't tried it, she knew from common sense that if she were really hit, it would be very painful.
Saifei'er couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thinking, if it were Ailiya's figure, dodging would probably be much easier, right?
It wasn't until all the arrows were embedded in the opposite wall that Ailiya and the others behind realized Saifei'er had just stepped on a trap. Especially from Ailiya's perspective, a large number of arrows flew past Saifei'er, but Saifei'er, who was in the middle of the arrows, was completely unharmed, which made her freeze.
Ailiya said blankly, "Sister Saifei'er?"
Saifei'er turned to look at Ailiya, tilted her head slightly, and said, "Hmm? What's wrong~"
At the same time, with an extremely faint 'click', perhaps due to the aging of the mechanism, one hidden arrow was only now ejected, and it was precisely aimed at Saifei'er's tail.
However, Saifei'er didn't even turn her head. Her tail curved slightly, forming a shape like a lying question mark, and this arrow passed right through the loop formed by her tail.
Fei and Douglas, who also saw this scene, both showed shocked expressions.
One second earlier, they were shocked that a thief would step on a trap? Was she that careless?
The next second, it turned into, untouched by a single leaf amidst a barrage of hidden arrows? Completely unharmed? Was that so absurd?
After stepping on a trap once, Saifei'er found that these mechanisms were nothing special, and then she walked even more confidently and boldly.
"Click~"
"Click~"
"Click~"
Approximately every ten meters, Saifei'er would step on a trap, but whether hidden arrows flew out from the walls on both sides, or the ceiling suddenly opened and something fell down, or the floor beneath her suddenly gave way, she could easily dodge every time.
She didn't even need to use Godspeed. Saifei'er, relying solely on her excellent physical quality and reaction abilities, these traps simply couldn't harm her.
From the perspective of Ailiya and the others behind, Saifei'er was practically dancing, skipping and jumping, dodging all the traps.
Especially Fei, he murmured, "So this is how traps are 'disarmed'?"
But no matter how he thought about it, something felt off. If any other thief were here, they would have been long dead, right?
"Boom!!!"
Just then, Saifei'er stepped on another trap. Instantly, a violent explosion rang out in everyone's ears. Fei looked up and saw scorching flames engulfing the corridor ahead, burning fiercely.
He had just opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Saifei'er's voice sounded beside the three of them. Saifei'er extended her tail in front of her, carefully checked for any burn marks, then patted her chest and sighed softly, "That was close, my tail almost got burned."
Fei and Douglas were both stunned because they hadn't even noticed when Saifei'er had returned. Fei even realized that the shield spell he had prepared for Saifei'er hadn't triggered at all, meaning that this explosion happened in an instant, but Saifei'er had retreated even faster than that.
After the explosion's flames dissipated, Saifei'er continued forward. In fact, after stepping on so many traps, she had also discovered some patterns. For example, these traps would not be too close to each other; a certain distance around a trap was safe.
Secondly, although the ground here was uneven and seemed to have no pattern, if she stepped on all the raised spots about ten meters from the last triggered trap, there was a very high probability of triggering a trap.
Saifei'er couldn't disarm traps, so to prevent her teammates behind from triggering them, she now actively sought out and stepped on traps, triggering them in advance, so her teammates behind would be safe.
After a few more minutes, the first fork in the road, or rather a crossroads, appeared before Saifei'er. Looking around, whether straight ahead or to the left and right, it was all the same stone corridor, with no difference whatsoever.
"What should we do? Which way?" She turned to look at the other three.
Fei said, "There are no clues here. Just pick one. If you choose wrong, we can just come back."
"Then to the right!" Saifei'er said casually. As a result, after changing direction, within ten meters, a wall blocked the four of them, clearly a dead end.
However, at the end of this dead end, a dust-covered metal treasure chest lay on the ground, attracting the attention of the group.
If it were a game, Saifei'er would definitely have gone up and opened the treasure chest immediately. Isn't it perfectly normal for there to be a treasure chest at the end of a fork in the road?
But since this was reality, she began to ponder, "Would anyone really put a treasure chest in a dead end in their own tomb?"
That just doesn't make sense, does it?
But! Even if she knew this treasure chest was most likely a trap, what if it wasn't? Saifei'er was really super curious about what was inside this treasure chest.
Or more accurately, she didn't really want any treasure from this chest; she was just very interested in the process of opening the chest.
It was like playing a certain game in her previous life, knowing there weren't many rewards in the treasure chests, but still running around and grinding maps every day to open all the chests.
......
The Eight Great Schools are:
Protection School, skilled in defending against enemy attacks. The most famous spell is 'Spell Counter', a third-ring spell, which has the effect of interrupting the enemy's actions at the moment they cast a spell, causing them to fail their casting. The best defense is to prevent the enemy from casting spells.
Conjuration School, skilled in summoning various things, not limited to living creatures, but also inanimate objects, such as an earthen wall, a house, etc. At the same time, the Conjuration School is also skilled in teleportation magic, such as summoning oneself to another place, thus achieving the purpose of teleportation.
Divination School, this doesn't need much explanation, right?
Enchantment School, skilled in various mind-controlling magic.
Evocation School, skilled in controlling elements, such as fireballs, ice cones, wind blades, etc., are all spells of this school.
Illusion School, as the name suggests, skilled in creating various illusions.
Death School, studies positive and negative energy. The former can heal, the latter can kill, and can revive corpses. That's right, healing magic is a spell of the Death School.
Transmutation School, skilled in changing the form of matter, such as turning a person into a sheep, and also skilled in creating various potions, which is alchemy.
