It's been almost three months since the Ascension Program started, and until now only two reported Golden Chests have been found.

  Thus, Golden Chests were very rare. The last one even sold for a lot of gold coins.

  “Zhen, we should sell it. That way we all can have a D-rank gift, and after the next Monster Tide, we might find another.” Looking at that familiar look on Zhen's face, Anon tried to bring him back to his senses.

  “You are right, but…” Zhen wanted to say what if they find something better but stopped himself.

  If it was before he had experienced the power of a D-rank gift, he would have certainly opened the chest.

  But now, he hesitated.

  If both Anon and Joon got D-rank gifts, Zhen could almost smell the blood from slaughtering countless monsters.

  “We will sell it.” Zhen's voice contained a firm resolve, as if he had made the decision after much inner struggle.

  Hearing those words, Anon was relieved.

  Meanwhile, standing on the side, Kenji also began fantasizing about having a clone that would do everything for him.

  It wasn't long before Joon returned with the workers, and they arrived at the city.

  “Did I miss something?” Joon couldn't help but ask, as they all kept smiling randomly the whole way back.

  “We found a Golden Treasure Chest.” Anon told him as they finally returned to the city.

  In the wild, if the news of them finding a Golden Treasure Chest was leaked, there was no way of telling whether they could make it back to the city or not.

  “You are kidding… right?” Joon didn't believe Anon.

  Golden chests aren't like silver chests just lying around; the two known Golden chests were found deep in the lairs of Elite Monsters.

  “Look here,” Zhen showed the palm-sized golden chest hidden under his clothes to Joon.

  After seeing the chest, Joon's eyes were wide open in surprise.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Here,” Selling the carcasses, Zhen paid the workers and gave 35 silver coins to both Anon and Joon.

  But when it was Kenji's turn, 35 silver coins turned into only 15.

  “What… about the… treasure chest?” Zhen had already sold the chest, and Kenji was eagerly waiting for his share.

  Even if Zhen deducted the money for the grade 4 Healing potion, he would still have hundreds of gold coins left.

  “All of it is going to the team fund.” Zhen's voice left no room for retaliation.

  “We are going to the Treasure House, wanna join?” Anon happily invited Kenji as they were about to buy all the materials that both he and Joon needed.

  “I have… something to take… care of.” Deep inside, Kenji was very angry. For the past couple of days, they had been very unfair to him.

  It wasn't his fault that Anon got hurt, but Zhen was punishing him by making him pay for the grade 4 Healing potion.

  During the fights, Anon seemed to be keeping his distance. Even if he faced a desperate situation, they hardly ever helped.

  Returning to his housing complex, Kenji poured all his heart into practising [Beam].

  After practising for four hours, Kenji's progress was noticeable.

  [Ancient Calendar: 30 Mar 0001]

  The next day when Kenji met up with the others, there were noticeable changes in their attire.

  Joon was no longer carrying a quiver, and Anon had gotten rid of his armor; now he was wearing loose clothes.

  “What… gifts you two… get?” Curiously, Kenji asked.

  “Let's get going.” Before either Joon or Anon had any chance to show off, Zhen's heavy voice sounded.

  Along the way, Joon and Anon told Kenji all about the gifts that they had chosen.

  Joon, being an archer, had gotten the D-rank gift [Arrow], which allows the bearer to gather the surrounding energy to form arrows.

  Now Joon didn't have to ever worry about running out of arrows.

  Meanwhile, Anon had gotten another body-strengthening D-rank gift, [Iron], which made his body as hard as metal.

  Now normal monster attacks couldn't even scratch his skin.

  Before long, they entered the Howlers territory.

  Under Zhen’s guidance, it wasn't long before they found a pack of Howlers.

  “Why did you stop?” Zhen asked as Anon and Joon stopped the moment the Howlers' pack came into view.

  “Don't know... I am following… their lead.”

  “Right, almost forgot, I now have [Iron].”

  “This is my place, I am an archer, remember.”

  Everyone gave a random reason for stopping, but ultimately it was also due to muscle memory.

  “They… already noticed… us.” After Kenji's warning, they all got into battle position.

  Zhen, Anon, and Kenji rushed toward the oncoming pack of Howlers while Joon stayed in place.

  Using the [Arrow] gift, Joon gathered the surrounding Ki and, in the blink of an eye, formed an arrow.

  Taking the unfamiliar arrow, Joon aimed at one of the incoming transformed Howlers and fired.

  The arrow made of Ki penetrated the Howler's skull and killed it.

  Zhen, moving like a ghost, appeared amongst the Howlers, killed one, and then slipped away.

  Meanwhile, Anon charged at the Howlers without a care in the world.

  Seeing an easy target, a Howler opened his mouth and took a bite. But unlike the usual taste of human blood, the Howler felt his teeth biting into something hard.

  “I was scared for a second.” When the Howler's fangs were coming at him, Anon took a leap of faith, didn’t dodge, and activated his gift [Iron].

  Soon, Anon's entire skin turned metallic, and the Howler's powerful biting force wasn't able to do anything.

  Using all his strength to free himself, Anon killed the Howler effortlessly.

  [Ki Blade]

  Holding his ground, Kenji waited for the Howler to get close before killing it with a single [Ki Blade]. Then he turned to the next Howler and killed it the same way.

  Just like this, in a few minutes, all 9 Howlers were dead.

  “So easy, it was like handling a bunch of toddlers.” Anon was amazed at how the Howlers' attacks were hardly able to do any damage to him.

  “Zhen, should we head toward the middle area of the Howlers territory?” Joon felt that hunting Howlers at the outer area of the territory wasn't much of a challenge anymore.

  “I don't… think it's a… good idea.” The Howlers in the middle and inner areas of the territory have multiple talents.

  Before they entered the middle zone, they came across Howlers with the [Transparent] talent, and Anon almost lost his life.

  “You do have a point. The pack size of Howlers in the middle area isn't much larger, and they have more talents. But if we enter the inner area, that would be a completely different story.” Z Shen spoke after giving it much thought.

  __________

  Author’s Note:

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