Jibril left upset. Far away, Riku took a deep breath. He looked really pale.
This was his first serious fight since gaining power. Riku was actually pretty satisfied, considering he had almost no combat experience and still managed to go toe-to-toe with Jibril.
He was also a bit relieved.
'Good thing everything went as planned, or getting away would've been a lot harder.'
But even now, he was exhausted.
Using so many big moves in a row, especially when he was still not used to his new powers, had left him drained.
'Thank goodness the Chaos Energy Seed can soak up energy from the surroundings without causing a spirit reaction. Otherwise, recovering my strength would've been a nightmare,' Riku thought, shaking his head.
'Next up, more chests,' he decided, opening the map and scanning the locations.
He already had the Dwarf telescope and with Shambhala, he wasn't worried about returning late. It was smarter to use the time to get even stronger.
'I'll have to take the long way. If that crazy Flugel finds me again, escaping won't be so easy next time,' Riku thought.
The Flugel could sense spatial abilities easily, and if he wasn't careful, Jibril could track him down. The last time he escaped, the explosion masked the spatial waves, which was the only reason he got away.
After a day of sneaking around, Riku made it hundreds of kilometers away. Skywalk made travel faster, but he held back his speed so he wouldn't attract attention.
He ran into a few Demonia along the way, but didn't fight or recycle their corpses. It wasn't worth the risk, not right after clashing with Jibril.
On top of a cold mountain, Riku finally found a silver chest and let out a sigh of relief.
That day, he also opened three bronze chests along the way. But it was like his luck had run out—the stuff he got was just weird.
The first bronze chest gave him… a pack of sanitary pads.
'What am I supposed to do with these? Am I supposed to take them back to Couronne for the girls? That would be weird as hell.'
The second chest? A case of instant noodles.
'Okay, food is valuable here, but I was hoping for something to boost my strength. Like another Gene Potion…'
The third chest was a little better: Sword Mastery.
'At least I won't be swinging my sword around like an idiot anymore. Even Jibril made fun of me for that…'
"Let's hope the silver chest is better. I need something strong if I'm ever going to fight the Warbeast God or a Flugel head-on," Riku muttered.
He placed his hand on the silver chest.
With a flash of light, it opened, and a glowing orb appeared.
[Ding! Congratulations, you have received the Divine Escape Talisman.]
Divine Escape Talisman: When used, allows you to move through barriers and terrain for a short distance. Also grants invisibility for one hour, perfectly hiding your presence.
'Nice, an escape tool. Used well, it could save my life,' Riku thought, eyes bright with excitement.
'Wait… why am I immediately thinking about escape?' Riku frowned, suddenly realizing. 'I'm supposed to be aiming higher, not just running away!'
'The Elf capital… the platinum chest…' Riku rubbed his chin, considering.
The Divine Escape Talisman might help him get the platinum chest, but the elves were full of sorcerers, and at best, the talisman would get him past their barriers.
And if the timeline was the same as the original, Jibril would destroy the Elf capital within a year, turning it into a mess.
So, he figured, it'd be easier to get that chest later.
'Vampires… I don't know much about them. Dwarves… should I just recycle all their warships for points?' Riku grinned.
Dwarf warships were valuable. Lots of exchange points.
[Kind reminder: Items still under someone's control cannot be recycled.]
'Useless,' Riku clicked his tongue, annoyed. Looks like the system didn't want him farming points that easily.
'The Dwarves are trouble anyway. Their tech might even detect me. Too risky for now,' he reasoned. 'That just leaves…'
Riku's gaze slowly shifted to a different race on the map.