Chapter 22: Treasures and Willpower

Raj watched as the lid of the treasure chest sprang open. His legs nearly buckled, but he managed to stand upright again, on the verge of tears from excitement. "I can't believe it actually worked!"

"Hurry, see what's inside!"

He could barely contain himself, already rushing forward to peer into the chest.

"Wait!" Red barked in a low voice. His grip, iron-strong, clamped down on Raj's shoulder, yanking him back with force.

"Don't let your guard down just yet! Kira, open the chest with your throwing knife."

Only then did Raj, under Red's command, come to his senses, a flash of regret crossing his eyes. The emotional rollercoaster of not having to sacrifice himself had made him forget such a basic rule of survival: caution.

Kira flicked her wrist, and with a soft whistle, her knife embedded itself precisely into the seam of the chest. With a hooked finger, she wrenched the lid open.

Ye Mi, ever vigilant, had already deployed her defensive shield.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Nothing happened.

Only the stale scent of ancient objects newly exposed to air drifted in the silence.

Ye Mi lowered her shield, and the others cautiously approached.

Inside the chest lay two objects:

On the left, a palm-sized bronze mask rested quietly. Its features were identical to the statues in the temple—serene, with a single closed eye, the edges mottled with verdigris. When Ye Mi picked it up and showed it to the others, she discovered there was a reverse side: the same face, but the eye on the back glared wide open in fury, giving off a strange, unsettling aura.

On the right was a bronze bell, roughly the size of a fist. Its surface was laced with spider-web cracks, as if it could shatter at any moment.

Most horrifying of all was the tongue of the bell—a shriveled, ashen eyeball.

"What are these little things... supposed to do?" Raj scratched his head. "I was hoping for armor or a legendary sword, or at the very least, some magic potion to boost my stats."

Red chuckled, taking the bell and running his fingers over it. "Would you really dare drink a magic potion if there was one?"

As they spoke, Ye Mi noticed a wafer-thin stone tablet pressed into the bottom of the chest.

Covered in dense, twisted script—clearly related to the script on the stele—Ye Mi picked it up and examined it.

"Imitation Mask of the Divine," she read softly, her voice clear in the quiet temple. "Activated by mental power. The tranquil face conceals the self; the wrathful face repels foes. Each use depletes the mind. Prolonged use leads to utter exhaustion and death."

Concealing the self—could it mean invisibility?

Repelling foes—Ye Mi couldn't immediately imagine the precise effect, but it likely was some form of control.

"Prolonged use leads to death by exhaustion? Such a severe side effect—what kind of reward is this?" Raj exclaimed, hastily tossing the mask back into the chest as if it might drain his very spirit just by proximity.

"And the bell?" Red shook it experimentally, but it made no sound.

"Bell of the Sightless. The ringer must close their eyes. All who see the bell will hear a piercing shriek in their minds, lose their senses for ten heartbeats. Any who ring the bell with eyes open will fall forever into illusion."

Both items came with their own drawbacks.

By comparison, the bell seemed less demanding than the mask.

After a moment's thought, Red handed the bell to Raj and the mask to Ye Mi.

It was a simple matter: mental power was tied to psychic abilities, and Raj had barely any to speak of. Kira, being a psychic herself, would be overburdened by the mask; Red had little use for it in the air, so the mask naturally went to Ye Mi.

The bell was mainly for Raj's self-defense.

As he distributed the relics, Red's tone was grave. "Unless absolutely necessary, avoid using them at all costs."

He swept his gaze over the group. All of them showed signs of fatigue, so he gave the order: "We'll rest here for the night."

His voice echoed through the vast temple as he slipped off his pack, the metallic click of buckles sharp in the silence. "We'll take turns keeping watch. Kira first, I'll take second, Raj third, Gina fourth."

"Understood."

Raj collapsed to the ground with relief, leaning against a bronze pillar, his body relaxing completely as he let out a contented sigh.

Ye Mi noticed his fingers still trembling—a lingering effect of excessive tension.

They set up no tents, deciding to make do with the shelter of the temple.

This strange new world left everyone with little sense of security.

...

That night, Ye Mi was easily awakened by Raj. He yawned, waved her over, and promptly dropped down to sleep.

Perhaps because this mission was so perilous and life-threatening, Raj actually stayed awake during his watch.

Ye Mi, however, had little faith in Raj's reliability, and thus barely slept during the latter half of the night. She didn't feel tired, though.

Perhaps it was because her real body was always at rest.

To facilitate the switching of perspectives between her silver form and others, Ye Mi spent most of her time sleeping at the Defense Bureau. The silver form inhabiting Ian's body would wake only according to his routine, which kept the majority of Ye Mi's energy anchored in the light void.

It wasn't until she joined the human expedition team that she realized she never had to worry about sleep while in the light void.

"Mental power, huh..."

Before coming to the ruins, Ye Mi hadn't thought much about it. Now, with the night deep and the discovery of those treasures, she couldn't help but ponder.

Mental power wasn't hard to grasp: consciousness, thought, even soul—all these incomplete, hazy concepts were related, a kind of ineffable energy residing in the human mind.

The Defense Bureau never denied the link between mental power and psychic abilities, but had never created a separate scale for it; after all, psychic users were rare, and truly powerful ones almost nonexistent.

So Ye Mi had no idea what her own mental power level was.

She took out the mask and studied it. In fact, she had no clue how much energy it would take to activate it.

It was clear she couldn't count on it for a substantial boost in combat power.

Ye Mi sighed, put the mask away, and turned her gaze to a nearby bronze pillar.

"...May as well give it a try."

She had coveted these metals for a long time. Now, with Raj and Red snoring loudly and Kira deep in sleep, it was the perfect moment.

Ye Mi rose quietly, went to the pillar, and pressed her hand against it. Threads of black seeped from her sleeve, writhing as they tried to engulf the metal.

Yet the normally unstoppable tide of corrosion met an invisible barrier—no sign of decay, not even the faintest crack on the surface.

Her brows furrowed. The black threads washed over the pillar like a tide, but it remained cold and smooth, utterly unresponsive.