âWhat are you digging?â Han Sen wondered. He knew that he couldnât steal whatever it was from the Nine-Life Cat, as ten thousand fitness wasnât much in the Fourth Godâs Sanctuary.
Han Sen couldnât use his geno armor in the sanctuaries, so he knew heâd be unable to beat the Nine-Life Cat. Fortunately, he still had Destinyâs Tower, and that meant he wasnât afraid.
âI know thereâs something good in there, I just donât know what it is. If you help, Iâll count you in for a share of the profits,â Nine-Life Cat said.
âIf you donât know what it is thatâs in there, how do you know itâs something good you can profit from?â Han Sen didnât believe him.
âTeehee. You should know a bit about this. This is Godâs Ruin, but it is a crystallizer ruin, also. I know there is something about the crystallizers here, and weâll find out what it is exactly when weâve dug it out,â Nine-Life Cat said.
Now Han Sen knew this was Godâs Ruin, and it was no wonder why it looked strange.
âOkay, letâs dig it out together. Count me in for that share of the treasure.â After that, Han Sen started digging out the grave alongside Nine-Life Cat Then, he thought to himself, âHe didnât know I would be here. He wouldnât count me in if I wasnât here. We donât have a grudge, but thereâs surely no chance heâd want to harm me, right?â
They both kept on digging into the grave that looked like a little mound of soil. It was very solid. All of Han Senâs fitness, with the use of Taia, could only allow him to shovel just a tiny bit of soil.
The soil was like steel, and it was incredibly difficult for them to dig through. After digging only a meter, Han Sen was sweating through his clothes.
âSomething is wrong with this soil. There canât be treasure inside, surely.â Han Sen spoke as he continued digging.
Nine-Life Cat said, âThis is the crystallizerâs crystal soil. Itâs composed of crystallizer material rendered into dirt. Itâs all fairly useless.â
Han Sen kept on digging and asked, âHow do you know something good resides in here? There are lots of graves here, all identical. There doesnât seem to be anything outstanding about this one.â
âHaha! I know because I am the Nine-Life Cat. Keep digging. Something must be in here.â Nine-Life Cat smiled.
After digging for a while, Han Sen felt as if something was wrong. Soon, he started to hear a strange noise.
He stopped and tried listening to it. He decided that the sound must have been the wind, as there was nothing remarkable about it.
âOld Cat, do you hear that noise?â Han Sen asked the Nine-Life Cat.
âWhat noise?â Nine-Life Cat perked his ears, but there was nothing. He went back to digging.
Han Sen focused, and after not hearing anything more, he returned to the work at hand.
After half a day, they had dug a two-meter-long hole that was three meters deep. Then, they finally found something.
Han Sen felt as if he had struck something hard. He brushed away the crystal dirt and found a portion of a big metal board.
The part that was revealed looked to have been made from silver. There were some words on it, too, but he couldnât read what was written. It wasnât the usual ancient human text that the crystallizers traditionally used.
âWhat are you doing? Keep digging. Dig it out.â Nine-Life Cat hurried Han Sen along when he froze.
Han Sen followed the edges of the metal board and dug out its shape until he unearthed it all. It was a square-shaped silver board around forty centimeters long. It was full of text, but Han Sen couldnât discern a single word of it.
He didnât know how thick it was, as some of it was still beneath the soil. The visible portion was at least five centimeters thick. There was something there, but it wasnât anything unpleasant Han Sen felt much better, seeing this, so he kept on digging with renewed vigor.
But when he dug, he began to feel as if something was wrong. It wasnât actually a board. It was very long. Han Sen dug another half a meter, but he couldnât bring it all out
âOld Cat, what is this? It cannot be a coffin,â Han Sen said thoughtfully.
âItâs not a coffin. The crystallizers didnât bury; thatâs something only humans do,â Nine-Life Cat said.
âIf itâs not a coffin, then whatâs in there? What is this?â Han Sen asked.
âWho told you it might be a coffin?â Nine-Life Cat said, rolling his eyes as he did.
âIf it is not a coffin, then what is this?â Han Sen repeated.
âThis is the greenhouse of a crystallizer,â Nine-Life Cat said.
âGreenhouse?â Han Senâs jaw dropped.
Han Sen had never expected some sort of greenhouse.
âStop asking stupid questions and keep digging,â Nine-Life Cat said.
The metal board was very long. They dug four meters of it out, and they still werenât done.
âItâs working! It is almost out. Keep going!â Nine-Life Cat used his paws to push the board, and it moved a little.
Han Sen did not know what to say. They had been there for so long, it would have been terrible if they ultimately walked away empty-handed.
After digging for another two hours, they managed to dig the entire board out. They stood it up against the wall of the cave they were in. The board was six meters long, forty centimeters wide, and forty centimeters high. There was a lot of text scrawled across it.
Han Sen tried to carry it out, but he could not. Even using all his strength, he could barely lift the thing.
Han Sen felt very strange. If Old Cat said that it was a greenhouse, then that might have meant all the graves were plants. They should have been digging out seeds, not a giant metal board, right?
But before Han Sen could get answers, he and Old Cat had to get it out of the hole. They both lifted it as if it were a heavy tree. They flew together and brought it out of the pit.
âItâs finally out!â After they flew up out of the hole, Han Sen and Old Cat dropped it back on the ground. After wiping the sweat from his brow, Han Sen froze when he saw what was before him.
For some reason, there were many pairs of eyes looking back at them both.