Hearing the voices of Aunt Marcy and the other townspeople, Ed turned and looked out of the cave.
The sky outside had been dark for who knows how long, a black curtain dotted with bright stars. Two full moons of similar size hung high, their soft silver light reflected on the sea.
Ed's first reaction was dread: he was done for. He was surely going to get beaten by Aunt Marcy today. He was in a cantilevered cave, with his footprints and a rope hanging below as clear evidence. As long as they weren't blind, it was impossible for them not to find him—and they might also realize he had found a treasure.
Wait, why am I getting scared? It's not like they can hack the system and steal money from my Inventory. Besides, I just found a little residue, not enough to make them fiercely jealous. And even if they were, what could they do to me with Aunt Marcy standing behind me?
While muttering, Ed opened his Inventory and looked down at the coins and two tiny rubies inside. The total value of 36 silver snakes was the equivalent of a craftsman's earnings over seven or eight years.
"It would only make them envious to death. And according to my memory, the island residents are very united and a little xenophobic. Not to mention, this was property left by my mother's ancestors. On the contrary, if I hid it, that would make people suspicious, thinking I'd dug out a mountain of gold. Some greedy, crazy guy would definitely try to investigate."
Having figured this out, Ed took action immediately. He first took out the gold leaf and about twenty silver coins and put them in his pocket. After a moment's thought, he decided not to put the metal block into his Inventory, planning to use it as his "biggest treasure" to create the illusion that his find was nothing special. He then went directly to the cave entrance, picked up the torch—thankfully still burning wildly—waved it outside twice, and shouted.
"I'm here!"
With the firelight and his roar, the townspeople noticed him instantly.
"Look up there! There's a torch!"
"It's that stupid boy Edward. Thank God he's fine."
"I said, how could Edward have a problem every day? Yesterday he saved Hena and helped us deal with that beast, and today, he disappears. He's just a brave, naughty brat, not an idiot."
"Marcy is too anxious. For such a small thing, she literally gathered everyone in the village. But why is this brat up there? How did he even get up there?"
The townspeople who had found Ed gathered around the cliff. Aunt Marcy stood below with a torch in her hand and shouted up to him, her voice filled with uncontrollable anger that clearly indicated someone was going to get beaten tonight.
"What the hell are you doing up there? Why don't you come down quickly? Do you know how worried I am about you, you little rascal? Just you wait—if I don't teach you to be a good boy today, I'll change my name!"
Marcy is angry. Edward is done for.
Yes, I bet we won't see Edward for an entire week. Poor guy had barely recovered from his illness, and now he's going to be laid up in bed for another week.
While the townspeople made fun of Ed's poor luck with expressions of schadenfreude, Ed—who had already prepared himself to face his doom—shouted again.
"I'll be down soon. You guys make way; don't stand under the rope!"
...
An hour later, Ed returned to his home. Aunt Marcy held the bag of bones containing his mother's body, clear tears in her eyes. Her husband, Boka, a strong, bodybuilder-type middle-aged man with short brown hair and an easy-going personality, was with her, trying to calm her down, though with little effect.
Sigurd, Aunt Marcy's only son, who took completely after his father in both looks and solid build, was holding the 50 kg block of metal in his arms. He placed it by the door after entering.
Panting heavily, he complained while wiping sweat from his forehead, "Why did you have to bring this thing back? It's just a piece of metal, and the quality isn't even good. Do you want to be a blacksmith?"
Hearing his words, Ed just smiled mischievously while rubbing his index finger and thumb together in a universal gesture for money. He didn't explain anything else. He couldn't say that this was the mysterious treasure, even though he himself couldn't see what was special about it.
He had originally wanted to carry it himself, but Aunt Marcy had given her son a hard look. No matter how unwilling he was, under his mother's deadly gaze, Sigurd had no choice but to carry the iron block. Although it was clearly forced labor, Sigurd claimed he was worried about Ed, who had just recovered, and didn't want him to burden his fragile body, a poor attempt to save his fragile image.
Aunt Marcy wiped her tears, reached out, and twisted her son's ear hard. Turning a blind eye to his screams, she held the urn in her hands and gently, solemnly placed it on the table. As if afraid it was unstable, she cushioned and secured it with a few items. She then took the bracelet that represented her mother's identity and gently placed it on the table as well. She wiped her tears again.
"Ed, keep your mother's bones safe. I will talk to the priest, Pakchi, tomorrow and prepare for the funeral. Let's give her a real farewell. I hope she will rest in peace after that."
After saying that, she came over, hugged Ed tightly in her arms, so tightly he could hear his bones creak, and then let him go, patting his shoulders firmly.
"Don't be sad. It's a good thing to find your mother's bones. Have a good rest. We'll talk tomorrow if there's anything. Also, this time, because of your mother, I'm letting you go. But you won't be so lucky next time... I've left your dinner in the kitchen; eat it on time and don't stay up too late. Also, remember to take a bath before going to bed..."
After giving a few more instructions, Aunt Marcy gave Ed another hug, then led her husband and son out the door. Before leaving, Boka turned around, looked at Ed, and nodded silently; he was always a man of few words.
Unless he was heavily drunk, one couldn't expect many words from him. Sigurd obviously had a lot to ask Ed, especially after seeing his money gesture and playful smile, but facing his mother's deadly cold gaze, he could only follow her out reluctantly. His eyes were still full of a desire to talk as he left.
Ed had really found a treasure, even if it was just a wreck already picked over by others. For the teenagers and young people, it was a very exciting thing. It was just a pity that the real treasure had been taken by others; otherwise, Ed could surely have become a big shot on Golden Wheat Island.
When Aunt Marcy and her family had left the yard, Ed immediately locked the windows and door. Only then did he bring the oil lamp from the table to his bedside. Leaning close to the lamp, he opened the manual and turned to the map page.
On the ordinary-looking map, light spots appeared. Now, only two white spots remained. The blue light spot on the coast had dimmed and turned into an ordinary blue dot. Ed reached out and clicked on it.
[Jack's Magic Treasure (Harvested)
Difficulty: Adult
Popularity: 1325
Treasure Information: The legacy of "Magician" Jack Monk, captain of the famous treasure-hunting ship "Dream Poker".
Treasure Harvest: 1 Gold Sail, 1 Gold Leaf, 6 Silver Snakes, 2 Small Gems, and Jack Monk's "Magician" inheritance.]
The money and gems had been put back into his Inventory by Ed after he explained everything to the search party. The "Magician" inheritance must be the metal block weighing more than 50 kilograms.
"Is that thing the inheritance? I thought it was some kind of precious metal that just looked like junk. After all, this kind of plot twist is very common in novels."
Ed immediately carried the metal block from by the door to his bedroom, with the help of his Inventory, of course, and placed it on the bed. It looked like a completely solid, poured metal block. So the question was, how to get the inheritance out of it? Blood dripping? This was the first method Ed thought of, the one that came to his mind instantly.
After all, in most fantasy worlds, dripping blood on mysterious magical items is a classic approach. Furthermore, if you really thought about it, Ed was indeed a relative of Jack's, a distant descendant. Maybe blood dripping would actually work.
Thinking of this, Ed immediately picked up the knife from the fruit tray on the table and gently cut his index finger. A small blood mark appeared, and after squeezing hard, a drop of blood finally welled up and dripped down.
Ed stared with wide eyes. However, the blood just splattered shapelessly on the metal block, and nothing special happened afterward. The trick was completely useless; clearly, Jack didn't have much confidence in his descendants' treasure-hunting talent.
What other ways could it be opened? Spells? Gestures? It can't require special powers, right? Like pouring magical energy, mana, or something. If that's the case, then I'm truly helpless and might have to resort to force, which could ruin everything inside.
Ed put his hand on the metal block and began to stroke and carefully observe its surface, not missing any corner. When he had found it earlier, he had been interrupted by the shouts from outside and hadn't had time to observe it carefully. Aside from the patterns on it, he really didn't see anything special. Suddenly, on one cross-section of the metal block, he felt a slight unevenness.
He picked up the oil lamp and looked at it very carefully, literally bringing his nose to it. There were sunken lines filled with mud, making them hard to see in the dim room. He used his fingernails to pick out all the mud inside and blew hard. Finally, the lines were revealed, forming a single word:
"RECITE"