Chapter 21: Treasure Orb (Part 2)
William jumped into the pit and walked over to the dead body of the Iron Pig.
He circled around it, searching for the item it had dropped, and soon found a glowing orange-colored orb lying beside its ripped-open belly.
"An Uncommon Treasure Orb..."
William’s eyes lit up slightly when he saw the orb, and he immediately picked it up.
Other than skill books, artifacts, pills, monster cores, and various other treasures, monsters killed inside Astral Rifts could also drop Treasure Orbs.
There were eight grades of Treasure Orbs.
Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Ancient, Mythical, and Primordial.
These Treasure Orbs could be identified by their colors, which followed the colors of the rainbow.
Red represented Common, orange represented Uncommon, and so on.
The Primordial-grade Treasure Orb possessed a mixture of all seven rainbow colors.
The orange orb dropped by the Iron Pig was an Uncommon Treasure Orb, meaning it could grant William an Uncommon-grade treasure.
He sat down on top of the Iron Pig’s corpse and, after taking a deep breath, crushed the orb in his hand.
The moment it shattered, a flash of light burst from his palm and the next instant, a small bronze bell appeared in his hand.
Because his Status Window was still locked, William couldn’t view its information.
However, there was no need for the Status Window because this wasn’t the first time he had seen this bell.
Many Treasure Orbs of the same grade often produced identical treasures.
In his previous life, William had seen many people obtain this exact bell from Uncommon Treasure Orbs.
"Restriction Bronze Bell...if I remember correctly, it can create a Restriction Field with a diameter of 20 meters. The strength of every enemy inside the field will be suppressed to a certain extent."
The Restriction Bronze Bell automatically absorbed the surrounding energy to replenish itself.
As long as it contained enough energy, the Restriction Field could remain active.
Once its stored energy was completely exhausted, it would require twenty-four hours to recharge fully.
"With the Restriction Bronze Bell, hunting monsters will become much easier..." William muttered under his breath.
After killing the Star Warrior-level Iron Pig, he had originally planned to leave the Astral Rift.
After all, his primary purpose for entering the rift had been to kill a Star Warrior-level monster and complete his trial.
Now that he had accomplished that goal, there was no reason to continue taking unnecessary risks.
However, now that he possessed the Restriction Bronze Bell, even if he encountered another Star Warrior-level monster, he would be able to weaken it using the Restriction Field and fight it head-on.
"I wonder if I can find a few more treasures like the Two-Leaf Hollow Earth Flower before leaving."
William jumped down from the Iron Pig’s corpse and used his sword to cut several large pieces of meat from its body.
For someone who was still some distance away from becoming a Star Warrior, the meat of a Star Warrior-level monster was an excellent tonic.
Although its effects were nowhere near as great as those of the Two-Leaf Hollow Earth Flower, it was still much better than nothing.
Moreover, Iron Pig meat was famously delicious.
Many people even raised these monsters on ranches solely because of the quality of their meat.
William collected enough meat to last him two or three days before quietly leaving the pit.
He returned to the clearing where the Iron Pigs had been resting earlier and lit a fire to prepare himself a meal.
Since this area was the territory of a Star Warrior-level monster, weaker monsters generally wouldn’t dare approach it.
While the meat was roasting over the fire, William sat cross-legged nearby and began circulating the Supreme Star Scripture to absorb the surrounding Aether Energy and heal his damaged Aether Core.
Fortunately, the damage to his core wasn’t severe and simply absorbing Aether Energy was enough to repair it.
Soon, the rich aroma of roasted meat spread throughout the clearing and William slowly stopped circulating the Supreme Star Scripture.
His stomach rumbled slightly, and after smelling the mouthwatering aroma, he couldn’t help but swallow.
He sprinkled some spices over the roasted meat and once it was fully cooked, he tore off a piece and took a bite.
The instant the juicy meat entered his mouth, William felt as though his entire body had been liberated.
It wasn’t that he had never eaten delicious food in his previous life.
On the contrary, he had tasted countless delicacies.
However, after joining the war, nearly every meal he ate until his death had been little more than tasteless rations.
In a sense, it had truly been a long time since he had enjoyed monster meat that actually tasted this good.
While eating, William continuously refined the energy contained within the Star Warrior-level monster’s flesh.
Combined with the Aether Energy he had absorbed earlier, the energy inside the meat completely healed the minor cracks in his Aether Core.
After finishing his meal, William rested for a short while before setting off once again in search of herbs that could accelerate the formation of his Aether Core.
Several hours passed in the blink of an eye.
During this time, William discovered a number of useful medicinal herbs.
However, none of them could compare to the Two-Leaf Hollow Earth Flower.
He also encountered several monsters along the way.
Fortunately, with the Eyes of Insight, he detected them from a distance and easily avoided unnecessary battles.
He only hunted a few unranked monsters in the hope that they might drop something useful.
Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on his side and none of them dropped anything.
Although he could have searched for another Star Warrior-level monster, since higher-ranked monsters had a much greater chance of dropping valuable treasures, William had no intention of taking such unnecessary risks.
He had already completed the monster-hunting portion of his trial.
Furthermore, he wasn’t far from breaking through to the Star Warrior realm.
Once he reached that level, hunting the monsters inside this Rank One Astral Rift would become significantly easier.
For now, his only objective was to gather enough medicinal herbs and leave safely.
"The herbs I have collected should be enough to help me reach the Star Warrior realm..." William muttered as he looked at the three medicinal herbs stored inside his backpack.
"If nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to break through within two or three days."
He nodded in satisfaction and prepared to leave the Astral Rift.
However, just as he was about to head toward the exit, faint voices suddenly reached his ears.
Surprisingly, the language being spoken wasn’t human.
If William hadn’t retained the memories from his previous life, he would have been completely confused after hearing those voices.
But with those memories intact, he immediately recognized the language.
"The scums of the Abyss..." William muttered under his breath as a cold killing intent flashed across his eyes.
