Guss extended its massive palm and scratched the back of its head awkwardly.
Of course, that's assuming its thick hide could even feel an itch.
Elias stared at the heavy cabinet before him, momentarily at a loss for how to proceed.
It was true that he was a Moon Lord believer, endowed with some kind of blessing.
But he wasn't a professional at something technical like unlocking!
Moreover, this wasn't an ordinary padlock.
“Sir, you need not worry.”
Guss's massive body leaned over like a small mountain, continuing its fawning explanation.
“With your esteemed status, you only need to deactivate these damned spell locks.”
“I'll handle the remaining heavy lifting.”
Elias's eye twitched uncontrollably.
'Easier said than done!'
'The problem is, how do I deactivate them?!'
Elias held his breath, observing the intricate repulsion charms on the cabinet door, which glowed with a flowing moonlight hue.
This thing was no joke.
Guss had just said himself that even a slight touch would either incinerate one with Moonfire or blast them away by the repulsion glyphs.
He had no desire to become a human cannonball.
Elias could only brace himself and resort to the most primitive transcendent method.
He took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.
He cautiously released the spirituality within him.
He attempted to make an extremely subtle contact with the Moon Lord spirituality of the same origin on the cabinet door.
However.
To Elias's utter surprise.
His spiritual tendrils had only just extended from his body, not yet truly reaching the cabinet door.
“Whoosh—!”
As if drawn by a magnet.
The Moon Lord spirituality on the cabinet door transformed into an invisible hand.
It forcibly pulled Elias's spirituality towards it!
“Holy crap!”
Elias's heart leaped in shock.
He instinctively wanted to sever the spiritual connection.
But the next second, he abruptly stopped.
Because he clearly felt the underlying nature of the spirituality actively pulling him.
There was no repulsion, no burning, and no hostility.
Only pure coolness and gentleness.
Elias's tense nerves relaxed.
'But...'
'This feeling was too familiar.'
'It reminded him of his previous life, when he'd pass the convenience store at his community's entrance every day, and a voice would call him "handsome" and invite him to play.'
'That's right.'
'It was this sense of déjà vu!'
'This Moon Lord... is it serious?'
This absurd thought uncontrollably popped into Elias's mind.
However.
In just an instant, he forcefully reined in this suicidal line of thought.
He was afraid that such extremely disrespectful associations would earn him the direct enmity of that deity.
Gossiping about deities in this Lovecraftian world was truly like an old man eating arsenic—courting death!
Yet.
The moment he collected his thoughts.
Elias actually felt an emotion named “chiding” within this spirituality from the Moon Lord!
...
?
'No way?'
'Now he was almost afraid to open the cabinet.'
'It felt like opening some kind of mystery box.'
However.
Since he had completely confirmed that the terrifying spirituality on the box not only held no hostility but was actually very amicable towards him.
Elias simply stopped being timid.
He no longer hesitated.
He began to unreservedly channel the surging spirituality within him onto his hands.
To gradually deactivate the tangled spell lock arcane circuits on the cabinet.
As well as the charms distributed at various nodes.
Who would have thought.
His hand had just grasped the two handles on the cabinet door.
Immediately after, the wooden cabinet, which Mester had supposedly secured with multiple deadlocks, was obediently pulled open.
...
“This... is this right?”
Elias turned his head to look at Guss beside him.
“Are you sure…”
“This thing was actually locked to begin with?”
'Wasn't this just barely closed, guarding against gentlemen but not scoundrels?!'
Guss, standing by, was also dumbfounded.
Its massive head leaned closer, staring at the easily opened cabinet door, its eyes filled with disbelief.
'It felt this was simply an insult to its intelligence.'
“Impossible!”
“This isn't right!”
Guss let out a muffled growl, also feeling confused.
To verify its suspicions.
It abruptly pulled at another identical cabinet nearby.
The next second.
“Boom—!!!”
A violent repulsion force erupted from that cabinet door without warning!
Guss didn't even have time to curse.
Its massive red figure was violently blasted away!
Elias silently averted his gaze.
'It seems the lock was real after all.'
'And its power was far greater than imagined.'
After a good while.
A dusty Guss finally climbed out of the ruins.
Not only was it not angry, but it trotted back over.
And excitedly rubbed its massive hands together.
“Right, right, right!”
“It was locked!”
Elias couldn't help but feel a deep sense of speechlessness.
Man and demon both turned their gaze to the depths of the cabinet.
When they saw what was inside.
Even the knowledgeable infernal demon Guss couldn't help but gasp.
Inside the cabinet, densely packed, were glass bottles of various sizes!
Each glass bottle contained an unknown, finger-thick, pale white larva!
They were wriggling extremely slowly inside the glass bottles!
“That damned, insidious pig!”
Guss pointed at the cabinet full of disgusting worms and roared furiously.
“He actually hid so many soul larvae from me, before they could be pressed into coins!”
“It seems the rats from the Mist Veil Society secretly supplied him with plenty of living people to juice!”
Upon hearing this.
Elias's brain buzzed, as if struck hard by a heavy hammer.
He abruptly turned his head, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“You... you mean…”
Elias pointed at the cabinet full of nauseating worms.
“These... are all people?!”
Seeing Elias's extremely shocked expression.
Guss turned its head and looked at him, unfazed.
Its tone was matter-of-fact.
“That's right.”
“What's there to be surprised about?”
The demon calmly recounted a cruel truth.
It let out a cold laugh.
“What else did you think?”
“How else could something as intangible as a spiritual body be transformed into a tangible object?”
Elias felt a chill run through his entire body.
“Speaking of which…”
Guss seemed to suddenly remember something, and a fawning smile reappeared on its ferocious face.
It looked at Elias, its tone respectful.
“With your noble status, possessing a holy artifact of the Moon Lord.”
“You must usually be involved in high-level sacred rituals.”
“You surely haven't seen our Abyssal, crude soul coin production process.”
Guss rubbed its hands together eagerly, as if pitching its specialty dish.
“If you're interested in seeing that bloody spectacle…”
“I can personally demonstrate it for you, and give you a proper tour of the coin press's operation.”
Although Elias had no idea what kind of person Guss currently mistook him for.
He still managed a strained smile.
“That won't be necessary.”
Taking a deep breath, Elias forced his gaze away from the wriggling soul larvae.
Next.
Was the metal safe beside it.
Elias was familiar with this thing's structure.
It was nothing more than an old-fashioned mechanical safe.
Its panel only had a retro combination lock with a purely mechanical structure.
However, for such a purely physical mechanical combination lock, even if the Moon Lord spirituality covering it was amicable towards him, it definitely shouldn't open without knowing the password.
'Reality wasn't a Hollywood movie.'
'Not everyone could open a safe with a stethoscope.'
'And he didn't even have a stethoscope.'
Elias gritted his teeth and slowly placed his hand on the dial.
“Hmm?”
Before he even had a chance to turn the dial, he felt his hand, gripping the dial, enveloped by that gentle Moon Lord spirituality.
It directly guided Elias's hand, making it spin precisely on the dial.
The crisp sound of gears meshing echoed successively through the ruins.
Before long.
The thick safe door swung open with a click.
“That's incredible!”
Guss, who had been peeking and prying from behind, couldn't help but let out an utterly shocked exclamation upon seeing this scene.
'At this moment, it was wildly grateful from the bottom of its heart.'
'Its decision to immediately concede earlier was simply too brilliant!'
'Its yellow vertical pupils had clearly witnessed the entire process.'
'The spirituality, prayed for by a Moon Lord believer, had actually actively helped this human unlock the safe!'
'This seemingly inconspicuous human boy was definitely not simple!'
'He indeed had an extremely profound connection with the Lord of the Spirit World!'
“That was close, so close…”
Guss wiped a cold sweat from its forehead.
'It had almost unwittingly thrown away its life just now, all due to greed!'
As its thoughts raced.
The moment they saw the contents of the safe, both man and demon stared, wide-eyed!
“We're... rich!”
Rate on N.U.
