The broken sword was pretty good.
You could even say it was the weapon most suited to Harriet.
After all, her original greatsword had been broken by Ethan's spatial gate. Although she had replaced it with a new one, its quality was far worse than the previous sword.
So... by both reason and sentiment, this broken sword should go to Harriet.
Unfortunately, Ethan had never been someone who cared about reason or sentiment. Besides, what did her broken sword have to do with him?
And anyway, giving a good sword to an enemy was no different from handing her his own head.
Ethan wasn't that stupid.
So, the first treasure he picked was the broken sword.
"The first thing I want is this sword."
"Alright."
As Harriet watched Ethan choose the broken sword, a trace of disappointment flashed through her eyes. But there was nothing she could say.
After all, they had agreed to it beforehand. She couldn't go back on her word.
And even if she wanted to, she couldn't beat Ethan anyway.
"What about the second one?"
As she spoke, her gaze fell on the pair of bracers.
However, Ethan picked up the bracers without hesitation and said, "For the second one, I'll take these bracers."
Another look of disappointment crossed Harriet's face, but it quickly faded.
"Then there's only one item left. Pick it."
"As for the last item, I'll choose..."
While speaking, Ethan stared into Harriet's eyes.
It was as if he was trying to see what she was looking at. The way he acted made it seem that whatever Harriet wanted, he would take it first.
Naturally, Harriet noticed what he was doing. She immediately looked away and said, "There's no need to test me like this. Just like you, I can't see the true nature of these items either. If you're going to choose, then hurry up and do it."
"Alright."
From the start, Ethan had been deliberately teasing Harriet.
At the same time, he wanted to see whether she had some special ability.
Something similar to his own cheat ability, or perhaps some other unique gift.
But now it seemed, Harriet didn't have that kind of skill. Every item she liked was chosen purely based on appearance and whether it suited her.
With that confirmed, Ethan was relieved.
He directly picked up the pitch-black underwater breathing magic pill and said, "In that case, I'll leave it to luck and see what this pill does."
"Since you've finished choosing, then this wing belongs to me, right?"
Harriet immediately took the demon wing.
The next moment, joy appeared on her face.
She had probably discovered the wing's special effect.
Unfortunately, Mr. White had once said that although every pair of demon wings had different side effects, even the mildest side effect would still affect a person.
It was said that the lightest effect was turning someone into a birdman.
The person would still be human and wouldn't fall from the sky.
But their behavior and way of thinking would gradually become more like a bird's, eventually turning them into a violent Rakshasa tribesman.
That wasn't something Ethan wanted.
So, giving this pair of demon wings to Harriet was actually quite fitting.
"Huh? The treasure chest wasn't automatically dismantled?"
However, after Harriet took everything out of the platinum treasure chest, the chest didn't disappear immediately. It remained where it was.
Based on Ethan's experience, that meant there had to be something else inside.
He immediately stepped forward and began searching for hidden compartments or concealed items.
Hearing this, Harriet quickly came over to help.
Sure enough.
At the bottom of the chest, he felt a thin piece of beast hide that shimmered with a metallic silver light.
He lifted it up.
Underneath, there was still nothing in the chest except a red exclamation mark.
[Congratulations on finding the treasure of the Second Temple. But the next stage won't be so easy!]
[The six of you and one cat probably won't even be enough to die there. You'd better quit while you're ahead, take your things, and get lost.]
[Of course, if you really want to die, you can give it a try.]
[The rewards in the Third Temple are very generous, but they're also very difficult to obtain.]
[The entrance to the Third Temple is beneath the stone platform. As long as you destroy the stone platform, you'll be able to enter the Third Temple. Good luck.]
"Huh?"
After reading the message, Ethan was stunned.
The message at the bottom of the platinum treasure chest actually knew their number and even the number of pets they had.
That shocked him.
He quickly looked up toward the top of the temple, trying to see whether someone was secretly watching them.
Unfortunately, there was no telling how high this cave was. Above the hall was nothing but darkness. He couldn't even see the ceiling, much less anything else.
"Look! There are words at the bottom of the chest," Harriet had finally found the reason why the platinum treasure chest hadn't disappeared. Pointing at the bottom, she exclaimed, "And these words are fading quickly. But I can't understand a single one of them. Could this be some kind of hint about the next temple?"
"Maybe," Ethan gave a vague answer.
He had no intention of telling Harriet the truth.
Given how badly her side had suffered and how completely he had them under control, they would most likely choose to leave.
But Ethan wasn't about to let that happen.
After all, having people charge ahead and risk their lives for him was useful. At the very least, they could serve as pathfinders.
There was no way he would let them leave.
Soon after, the platinum treasure chest disappeared.
It had probably been automatically dismantled, and the materials should have gone to Harriet.
"The platinum treasure chest just dismantled into ten units of platinum and one hundred spirit stones," Harriet said, "We'll split them equally. Five units of platinum and fifty spirit stones are yours."
"Sure."
Ethan wasn't polite at all. He immediately held out both hands to receive the materials.
"Don't you feel embarrassed?", Harriet was speechless when she saw how readily he agreed, "If I were you, after taking such a huge advantage just now, I would definitely give the remaining worthless materials to the other side. Do you really have to be this stingy as a grown man?"
"Why should I?", Ethan looked at her strangely, "These were mine to begin with. Why should I give them to you? Just because you're a woman?"
"That logic is strange in itself."
"And I don't think taking back what's already mine counts as being stingy."
"Besides, these materials are valuable. If you think they're worthless, you can give them to me. I don't mind."
Harriet was immediately left speechless by Ethan's twisted reasoning.
In the end, she simply tossed half the materials back to him. Then she turned toward Charlie and said angrily, "Charlie, do a divination on the entrance to the Third Temple and the level of danger inside it."
"Yes, Sister Harriet."
Charlie responded.
Meanwhile, Harriet turned and walked toward the stone platform.
But at the moment she turned around, the corner of her mouth lifted slightly into a smile that was almost impossible to notice.