When they arrived at the excavation site, the air was indeed colder than on a harsh winter night. Stepping on the structures that kept the water out, its surface hardened from the cold of the buried pagoda, freezing it over. As for the ruin, its top was slightly poking out from the riverbed, and it looked like it was made from a single, gray stone block, carved rather than built piece by piece. Who knows how long it had been buried here, yet there was no sign of corrosion or cracks; it was completely intact and exuded a constant, bluish, cold air from within.

  "Brr… It's really cold here." Isha shivered as they walked downwards to the excavation site, where some men were still digging around the pagoda, working in shifts, fighting back against the cold.

  "Yeah, we work on rotation; some can take it for a couple of hours, some for only one or two," Devitt expined, as the whole gang now followed them, not wanting to miss out on the treasure.

  "This coldness is clearly not natural." 01 mused, "What kind of treasure could do something like this? Never heard about anything simir, ever."

  "No, it's not producing the cold." Lacuss cut in, looking at the building. "It converts it."

  "Converts what?" Isha and Devitt looked at him.

  "Energy," Lacuss replied.

  "He is almost right." Ren nodded, smiling, "Try to feel it; The 'artifact' you are talking about, it constantly sucks out the heat from the surroundings. What you feel is simply the effect of the energy, the heat's absence. The coldness you feel is the result of this consumption. This is automated because it was the cultivation method used by the original host... His body just continues what it always did..."

  "How do you know about this?" Isha raised her eyebrow, getting suspicious.

  "There are tons of legends recorded from ancient times. I read almost every one of them." Ren answered with a smile, "The imperial pace has around a hundred thousand books and notes collected by the Aerthus family." She added, lying a little. "No wonder the Queen likes to spend her time there; it's fascinating."

  "Are you familiar with this?" Devitt inquired, clearly interested in any information that would help them get this out of the ground as quickly as possible.

  "A little bit." Ren nodded. "There is a legend of a demigod from… well... thousands of years ago. He lived in isotion for most of his life." She said, her eyes looking as if she was traveling back to a faraway past, "He had a gifted body since birth; the only problem was that the gift sometimes acted more like a curse. It made him strong and helped him advance in the old world's cultivation, allowing him to easily ascend to levels others spent their lives battling for. Yet it had a price for such talent... His own body... It killed everything around him, so he couldn't keep anybody close if he didn't wish to hurt them."

  "You mean he had a body that consumed others?" Isha asked, thinking of Leinor.

  "Yes, but no." Ren sighed as an answer, looking at her. "He could control it when conscious, but not when cultivating. Whenever he did so... he would drain the surrounding area of any heat, freezing everything, living or not. The long, hard centuries made him wary, cold, and detached. And then, when he was at the top of it all, at a threshold that even he felt unsure of, the idea came to him. If his body became something more than a hindrance... Holding him back... Why not make a new one? Abandoning the old."

  "Hah… okay, now we are getting into why it is called a legend." Devitt ughed with a hint of skepticism, and the others followed suit. Nobody could discard their bodies! While fascinating, it was hard to believe at face value.

  "Maybe." Ren smiled, not wanting to prove anything. "In the end, the demigod shed its old form and transferred itself into a newly made vessel. Of course, the original body remained, and it could be used as a weapon, a competent one at that, like a puppet. Or a golem. Call it whatever you wish. Without a consciousness, it was easy to manipute and use. And not just by him... That is why it was so dangerous." She chuckled, shaking her head and finally blinking her eyes. "So he made sure the old one was sealed and hidden away when transferring to the new body. He didn't want anyone to misuse his old self."

  "Why not just destroy it?" Isha blinked her eyes, asking by reflex.

  "Who knows?" Ren ughed, shaking her head, "Maybe because it was still his body. Would you destroy the flesh that made you into the being you are now? Or maybe he kept it as a backup; we can guess all we want; we would only get an answer if we could ask him."

  "There is no way he... is still around... is there?" Devitt asked, gulping.

  "No," Ren shook her head, "He died. So, if you want my take on it, he didn't want to destroy something he'd built from the ground up. He hid it and then forgot about it throughout the long eons that followed. That's all. Not everything must have a great pn or reason behind it." Ren smiled, but her smile was somehow... sad.

  "You say it like he would survive something like that!" Devitt rolled his eyes, deciding that the legend was stupid and probably embellished way beyond reason. "Or even if it would be possible!"

  "Even though you never saw a room full of gold, is it impossible for it to exist?" Ren ughed jokingly, but her words made the others flinch. "True, even a demigod could not survive without his body. But who knows, maybe he became a God in the process."

  "A God, yeah sure… if God exists, then he would have already stricken us down for disturbing his body," Devitt rebuked her, clearing his throat.

  "Yeah, you may be right." Ren agreed, "But we will know if this story is still just a legend or real if we dig this pagoda up."

  "If we had Zern here…" Isha shook her head, sighing.

  "You would need more than only one person with earth affinity." Ren chuckled, walking closer to the ruin. "This whole pagoda is made from one piece connected to the rocks lying deep beneath the earth. Lifting it out would be like trying to lift up the ground below your feet. Go and give it a try~!" She giggled, but her eyes were serious.

  "Then our only option is to dig, dig, and dig until we reach the bottom." Devitt sighed, putting his hands on his hips.

  "I can help you with that. Pce thick, around 6-meter-long iron rods into the spots I mark." Ren began pointing, and Devitt's eyes immediately lit up; he was not asking why. He just ensured it happened...

  The bandits, who had been stuck here for more than a year, were completely trapped by the idea of a treasure, especially now, after Ren's tale. They were more determined than ever to dig it up. When everything was done, Ren ordered the rest to stand back, farther away from the excavation, while she floated up and above it. Stretching out her arms, lightning soon struck from the clear sky, hitting the four rods in sequence. She made sure they were inserted into the correct pce in the ground before she began pouring all her energy into them for at least a minute, and when she finished, she was gasping for air... but she knew it was working. Controlling her breathing, she watched the stone pagoda's top without blinking. In the beginning, nothing happened, but only a few minutes ter, the ground started to shake, and the earth cracked while the pagoda began rising by itself.

  "What the…" Devitt blinked, fbbergasted as he watched a nine-story pagoda slowly emerge from the ground.

  The rods that were inserted into the ground now levitated above the four corners of the square on which the pagoda itself stood. After it settled down, the ground constantly pulsed with an ancient formation as the rods, still fshing with purple electricity, supplied it with energy with every fsh, keeping it afloat.

  "How?" Lacuss furrowed his brows.

  "A seal is nothing more than a lock. You just need the key to open it! Or be good at lockpicking." Ren giggled, floating down from above the pagoda, "Anyway, we have around fifteen minutes before the rods are drained and the whole thing sinks back into the ground." She stretched herself, and even though everyone had a lot of questions, Devitt didn't want to miss the chance.

  At his signal, a dozen bandits immediately rushed at the pagoda, but as soon as they reached the ptform and took a few steps towards its entrance, their skin turned gray and blue, and in a snap, life left their eyes, freezing them into statues.

  "You!" Devitt turned to Ren, eying her, both angry and afraid, but she just shrugged, looking at him with one eye.

  "What? I already told you what kind of thing is down there. It's not my problem if your men cannot withstand it."

  "So what you said was really true…." Isha whispered, amazed by everything she was seeing, "Man… I still don't know if I believe you, but if it's true, I should indeed read more!"

  "You certainly should read more." Ren said with a roll of her eyes, "What else could be the case? That I pced this pagoda here...? Or was I there when this happened?" Ren asked with a grin. "Books. They are very useful!"

  "Mmm… that is also… true." Isha sighed, shaking her head, "Man… I wonder how many old legends are stored in the Empire's vault, thought of as a tale yet hiding treasures… I should ask for access and go through it just like you!"

  "You are weird," Lacuss commented, looking at Ren, not taking his eyes off her since she started directing the bandits where to pce the rods.

  "Thanks. You too." She winked at him in response, not bothering to answer any questions he may have, "Don't think too much of it. The lock on it is an ancient formation. It's not like we don't have records of them; it's just that we lost the method of ying them down. Before the Camity, those who could make these were few and far between, keeping their secrets to themselves. Still, diagrams can be found in many books, and you can study them. If you have the brain, that is. Formations are tough, and I hate them! With passion! But even our Sect Head's son is a formation master... so..."

  "Master… shouldn't we move on?" 01 cut in, anxious, as the bandits were already rushing in, sticking together, trying to resist the cold down there and the suction of their energies, leaving Ren's group behind.

  "Don't worry. Let them dilute the suction force first." She shook her head. "Fools."

  "Are you using them as a sacrifice? Good. I hate bandits." Isha nodded, smiling evilly.

  "Weren't you one?" 02 raised his eyebrows.

  "No." Isha snapped at him coldly. "I wasn't."

  "Okay, okay, sorry. I was just wondering..." 02 recoiled backward, trying to look innocent.

  "They are like moths," Ren smirked, watching them die, "Let them fly into the light and be burned by it. The year they spent here corrupted their thinking; this is what they wanted. Let them have it then!"

  "Is it the effect of the pagoda?" 01 asked cautiously.

  "No. It's the effect of being a human." Ren shrugged before she smiled without emotion, watching them struggle and succumb to death. If they were not so blinded by their proximity to the treasure, they might realize that their leader, Devitt, was still lingering at the edges, letting his people go forward and using them as mere fodder.

  After a few minutes of struggling, the cold began to recede, and the feeling of being sucked dry of energy faded or slowed enough to be resistible. Even the remaining bandits could now stand before the only door at the first level of the stone pagoda. Devitt excitedly put his hands on it... took a deep breath and pushed it in. The heavy stone doors were pin and straightforward, without any decoration or carvings, and as he began using his strength, with a loud, ear-grinding roar, they slid open.

  "Come." Ren flew out as the rest followed her, going past the frozen statues that were the dead bandits.

  Arriving at the door, they could look into the single room inside. It was nothing much, just a small, circur chamber with a body sitting in the middle, crossed legs, his hand in his p in a cultivation position, his fingers intertwined. As for Devitt and the rest, they stood close by, not daring to get too close, though, fearing hidden traps and remembering Ren's tale; seeing a body here was now creeping them out.

  "You were right…." Lacuss looked on, finally showing some feelings of surprise on his face, while Isha also gulped.

  "Well… that demigod had a pretty fine body…." Isha tried to joke, trying to calm down her nerves, while Ren just chuckled at her words.

  The body had a slim yet defined, almost perfect build, sitting completely naked in its lonely chamber. His long, snow-white hair was still shiny and lifelike, sprawling behind him on the ground like a cape. Even with his eyes shut, his handsome face revealed a calm, indifferent expression as the air around him was filled with frozen particles, floating in the light from the open door and hovering around the 'corpse' like tiny pnets.

  "How do we control it?" Devitt asked, looking back at Ren with bloodshot eyes, now believing everything she said, and clearly, he was afraid she would go ahead and obtain the prize right in front of his eyes.

  "See the little hole in his chest?" She pointed at it, "That was the pce where his demigod crystal was formed. You must pce a repcement energy source into it and control it through it."

  "Ren?" Isha pulled on her hand as it was clear the air between the two groups was tense… and if the bandits could control a demigod's corpse, it would not be an ideal outcome.

  "Rex. They can't control it," she chuckled. "If they wished to do so, Devitt here would need to sacrifice the rest of his men's lives to the corpse to feed it with energy, then maybe, and only MAYBE, through that, he could control it for a few minutes. At best."

  Her words made the rest flinch, but Devitt suddenly pushed one of his men forward without a second thought. As the poor bandit stepped into the proximity of the corpse, he just turned into a cold statue, crumbling into pieces as his frozen blood fell to the ground, making loud, ringing noises simir to when a gss shatters. The demigod's body shuddered for a moment, clearly giving out a reaction when the bloody crystals rolled before its body. It all happened so quick, only taking a second or two, but Devitt was already hellbent on getting his hands on it... Reducing the competition, he released his powers, spping on his fat belly, barfing out a foul-smelling, thick, greenish goo, and attacking the rest of his people. It instantly turned into a slime-like creature as his body shrank, and the summoned slime enveloped the remaining bandits, pushing them toward the corpse.

  "Gross." Isha trembled, immediately encasing herself in fire, while 01 and 02 also simultaneously summoned their powers of fire as they had the same affinity, readying for battle.

  As for Lacuss, he was watching with a crossed arm, looking at the quickly developing chaos, then shifting his gaze to Ren.

  "Mmm?" She looked back up at him with a faint smile.

  "Did you lie?"

  "Nope. Just watch." She smiled, standing there, unbothered.

  Ren was right; the sacrifices clearly affected the corpse, as it began to show signs of revival, regaining some lifelike color on its cold skin. Devitt was already standing before it, feeding his strange powers to it, along with people who called him boss only a few moments ago. The goo, as it rolled onto the 'corpse,' slowly enveloping the naked body... It was unable to cope, no matter what kind of spell it was. Soon, the slimy thing turned clear and see-through, then solid, falling apart like a smashed porcein vase. Devitt could barely cut off the connection at the final moment, stumbling backward, coughing up blood as the white-haired body opened his eyes, which were completely red in color. Even though none of them felt any powers emanating from the corpse, they felt like being in the mouth of a monster as it looked at them, awakening primal terror in everyone present.

  "Hahaha, I can feel it as being my own! This power, this body! I will be invincible!" Devitt ughed loudly and breathed heavily, turning towards Ren, but she just shook her head.

  He didn't realize that when he turned his upper body, it had already become a block of ice and was starting to crumble. He tried to move and say something more, enjoying his reward after a year of yearning for the unknown treasure, not realizing he was already dead. When he tried to step forward, instead, he fell over and broke into a million pieces like a gss statue. After the energy supply died down, ending Devitt's life, the corpse closed its eyes once more, and soon the little room was silent once more.

  "Are you satisfied?" Ren stepped forward, walking around the demigod's corpse with a calm expression, holding her hand behind her back, her question aimed at Isha and the rest.

  They did not really understand the question's meaning; still, 01 and 02 just gulped, feeling they had done something wrong but couldn't tell what. As Ren walked in circles, she was clearly checking out something before dragging her eyes from the body to Isha and the rest as she stood before the treasure, blocking it from view.

  "Treasure hunting is good. It is fun, yes. But you need to know when to stop." She lectured them with a calm voice, "Sometimes you need to give up on things to not be consumed by them." She looked at the corpses littering the ground, broken, frozen, unrecognizable. "This is something that none of us can control."

  "But you said…." Isha gulped before Ren cut her off. She was not angry, but as she spoke, she carried a calm aura and tone... like an actual master.

  "Yes. We could control it." She nodded, "Let's feed the whole Rorik kingdom to it. Maybe we could order it around for a day or two then. A million or so lives in exchange for pying the role of a demigod for a day. Here. Take it." She stepped sideways, away from their prize, but none dared to look at the corpse anymore.

  After waiting for a little while, she smiled and continued in a kind but serious voice, happy that nobody was stupid enough to try.

  "Look…" She began, "I just want you to understand that everything comes with a price. Sometimes it just… isn't worth it. Let it go, and don't dwell on it. Another chance will come ter. Greed only leads to more greed, a never-ending circle in which nothing is enough, and you will consume yourself. Don't do that." She walked towards them, watching each of their eyes. "Come, let's go; time is slowly running out. We don't want to be buried here."

  The rest soon took a st look at the sitting corpse before following Ren. Not long after they rose into the air, Ren, carrying the group out, the metal rods lost their energy, falling down with loud thumps, and the pagoda sank back into the ground, dragging everything on its floors with it. At Ren's nod, Lacuss brandished his saber, striking down, leaving a red, giant scar in the air behind it, sshing the remaining structures to pieces, letting the water flood it once again, hiding the thing where it was sleeping for who knows how long.

  "Chin up!" Ren chuckled after the group nded back on solid ground, "Reach the demigod level, and then you can come back. I'll help you open it up once again."

  "Huh?" They all looked at Ren; even Lacuss quickly gulped, hearing her words.

  "Someone at that level could control it." Ren winked at them, "Maybe a demigod could cultivate it into a second body~!"

  "Master… even…" 01 licked his lips, "Reaching that level... I mean... Not even Aerthus did..."

  "Yup." She nodded, "And with that mindset? Nobody would. Believe in yourselves! You too, 01, 02. Look, the first to get to the demigod level can have it~! I won't tell Sect Head if you won't!" She whispered with a grin, and even Lacuss nodded in reflex.

  "Ahaha~ Good~!" Isha ughed, "I will take up on that offer!"

  "Sure!" She nodded at her before beginning to stretch, "Well, the bandit problem should be fixed now; next time we visit, we could ask for some kind of reward. Anyway, we should go! We must reach the Kingdom and look for our missing prince. Heh, like in the tales… a missing princess, maybe kidnapped in a foreign nd, turned into a sex sve, waiting for rescue. Poor guy..."

  "Isn't he a prince?" 01 asked, making Ren giggle to herself.

  "No matter... We will find him and rescue him in the name of Justice! And the Sect. More because of the Sect."