Chapter 221: Is Your Fruit Platter Made of Gold or Silver?
Treasure chest! Ah!!!! Treasure chest!!!!!
Amidst the fierce battle between the two legions—no, it was already a one-sided chase with the Knights of the Round Table pursuing the Silver Legion—Cheng Tian, who had finished assimilating the gem fragments and was ejected from the altar, mounted his Primordial Wyvern. It had reverted from 'Rock + Fire' to 'Rock + Flight' after the template was unloaded, and he accelerated towards the Silver Fortress.
At this moment, the 'flames' emanating from Cheng Mouren's eyes were even more intense than in his Ghost Rider form, indicating extreme urgency.
The Silver Fortress's 'Allow Plunder' status, like Moth Cave, was a special event that allowed for additional benefits. As the prompt described, triggering this event was quite demanding.
Simply put, it required all those capable of controlling the overall situation within the Silver Fortress to be dead or absent for it to potentially trigger.
The Prince's soul was burnt away, the Chief Knight had died early from decapitation, the only Halberd Knight who could have taken command of the remaining legions was still focused on escaping the pursuit of the Knights of the Round Table, and the faction players had entered 'main quest failed, retreat' mode. The Silver Fortress truly had no one left capable of controlling the overall situation.
Of course, this 'allow plunder' status was only applicable to players of the Britannia faction.
Cheng Tian was the MVP; they were just along for the ride.
Compared to Moth Cave, where Cheng Tian had been completely clueless and simply grabbed whatever he encountered, his plundering targets within the Silver Fortress were very clear: the pile of valuable treasure chests that he himself had burned down in the original work when he encountered Allen.
For other players, these treasure chests might just be valuable items that could appreciate or depreciate, but for Cheng Tian, they were boxes that almost certainly contained treasures, making them extremely valuable.
Cheng Tian still had two Holy Grail missions to complete. The one about killing enemies didn't matter, but the Green Shock was absolutely necessary, so Cheng Tian also planned to try searching the fortress's kitchen area.
It just goes to show, having a flying mount makes all the difference. Cheng Tian flew into the Silver Fortress precisely at a time when his own faction's players hadn't yet arrived, and the enemy players had already fled. The guards who were originally dutifully on watch had also absconded with their loot.
However, it couldn't be said that Cheng Tian was absolutely safe now, as even if everyone was fleeing with their loot, some soldiers or players might still be left behind. Cheng Tian simply believed that the treasures in the fortress were worth the risk.
As Cheng Tian rushed into the Silver Hall through the stone window on the topmost floor of the castle-like fortress, subsequent prompts appeared:
"You have successfully entered the 'Silver Fortress' area. All items in the current area eligible to become dropped items have entered 'Plunderable' status. You can attempt to plunder any item with 'Plunderable' status."
"As a member of the Britannia faction resisting invasion, you have continuously slain 'Dual-Sword Knight Balford' and 'Silver Prince Allen', becoming a key factor in expelling the Silver Legion. Your loot plunder range has expanded, and your plunder success rate has significantly increased."
"You have a maximum of 5 plunder attempts. You can repeatedly plunder the same item. Performing this operation will accumulate and increase the plunder success rate to a certain extent."
While rolling and landing, Cheng Tian had already activated the Ten Commandments to detect his surroundings. With NPCs and players still primarily composed of the 'human' race, the detection effect of the Ten Commandments remained excellent. Cheng Tian did not sense the presence of other humans in this scene where he had fought Allen in the original game.
As expected, the treasure chests that Allen had personally burned in the game were not laid out in front of the throne awaiting Cheng Mouren's inspection... Thinking about it, those things shouldn't have been openly displayed on the ground. While players weren't qualified to just take them, it was different for NPCs; the possibility of embezzlement was certainly not small.
So, where might the items be placed?
Cheng Tian began to try, based on his experience in castles from Castlevania, Zelda, Mario, Resident Evil, and so on, to tap and feel all the protruding parts in the hall. The research ape Utan, who had been on standby, was finally summoned by Cheng Tian, and together with the war elephant Mammoth, they began to search.
Eventually, after searching around, they focused again on the two Silver Knight statues placed behind the side of the throne.
One of these items was identical to the Silver Knight statue Cheng Tian already possessed, a special treasure with a 'Plunderable' status, but the other had no status.
At first, Cheng Tian didn't react, assuming the one without status was just an ordinary decoration, but now he realized his mistake. He directly started twisting, pushing, and pulling it, but it wouldn't budge.
And this further proved that something was wrong with it.
Ultimately, it was only by recalling the Primordial Wyvern and releasing the Crimson Tyrannosaurus Rex, which, crouching low, used its incredibly flexible tail in conjunction with the even more flexible trunk of the war elephant Mammoth, plus Cheng Tian and the ape's negligible participation, that they managed to slowly twist the silver statue to the right. After the statue turned 90 degrees, a 'click' sound was heard, and the broad backrest of the Silver Prince's throne slowly lowered, revealing an open stone door and a dark, cavernous interior.
It was fortunate that the fortress had such astonishing ceiling height, otherwise, it wouldn't have accommodated these two large creatures.
The inside of the stone door was pitch black, and Cheng Tian was not reckless enough to dive straight in. Instead, he sent in the Crystal Eye first. With his special vision of light and shadow, Cheng Tian saw a pile of various types of valuable items unique to the Knights of the Round Table dungeon, from tea sets to treasure chests, and even vegetable and fruit platters encased in a crystal-like substance.
It turned out that the opening mechanism for Allen's treasure vault had never been hidden; it was simply a mechanism that had no magical enchantments, just one word: heavy. So heavy that no one could open it except the Silver Prince himself.
If Cheng Tian hadn't had the help of two giant beasts, he probably would have just wasted his time.
Cheng Tian decisively used all 5 plunder attempts, succeeding 4 times directly. He ultimately obtained 1 fruit platter, 1 vegetable platter, 1 tea set, and 1 treasure chest.
The fact that fruit and vegetable platters, which should be consumables, were stored in a hidden treasure room implied that Allen might have also discovered the possibility of special treasures hidden within these two items.
In other words, even without Cheng Tian's Random Step Cutting Technique, these two items, deliberately preserved by Allen, would have had a higher probability of yielding special treasures when cut with an ordinary cutting technique.
However, under Cheng Tian's Random Step ritual, the probability of cutting out loot became 100%.
The vegetable platter yielded a Green Shock Orb, the tea set yielded a Silver Knight Statue, and the fruit platter and treasure chest respectively yielded a Golden Knight Statue and an Emerald Staff!