“Nan Tian.” Shiro called out as Nan Tian glanced over.
“Mn? What is it?” He asked curiously.
“What do you think about studying under someone called the Divine One?” She asked, pointing at the gauntlets.
“Eh? Don’t you want Madison, Helion or your parents to have this instead?” Nan Tian raised his eyebrow in surprise.
“Well mum and dad are already well versed with martial arts. Since the age is around the corner and that we’re probably going to be in a party often, having you learn some martial arts to act as my front line would be helpful.” Shiro replied as Nan Tian nodded his head.
“Are you sure? A rainbow grade item is very precious.” He said as Shiro nodded his head.
“I told you that I trusted you no? You having the rewards is also helpful for me. Plus, as long as you don’t betray me I’ll be happy haha.” Shiro chuckled with a small smile.
Handing the arm guard to Nan Tian without hesitation, Shiro made her way out of the chamber.
“Though I don’t think you have time to complete the test in the gauntlet just yet since we still have another mountain to search as well as the shard of the garden to find.” Shiro reminded.
Sighing with a soft smile, Nan Tian stored the arm guard away after a short pause.
“If you give me a rainbow grade item, how am I supposed to repay you?” Nan Tian asked as Shiro shrugged.
“You know I do this without much expectation other than that you don’t betray me.” Shiro replied.
“But not many would give a pinnacle grade rainbow gear away.” Nan Tian shook his head.
“Of course I don’t give items of this grade away at random you know? If it was something I needed I’ll be keeping it ok.” Shiro pouted slightly seeing that Nan Tian had suggested that she gave items like this away without care.
“Ah I don’t mean it that way. I meant that most people would keep it for themselves even if it didn’t fit what they needed. The fact that a rainbow grade item even existed while most have only seen a purple grade at best is a surprise never mind getting it.”
“Well most people will keep it for themselves while I’m a Spirit.” Shiro shrugged.
“True.” Nan Tian nodded his head.
“Do you want to set up camp for a bit before we try the next mountain? Or should we go straight for the shard?” Stanley asked curiously.
“Hmm… I’m not able to use my divine energy for a while so we won’t be able to go straight to the final chamber. It’ll take quite a while and it’s probably best to notify the crew on the boat about our decision since it might take a while.” Shiro replied.
“Hmm… it’s probably best that we explore the other mountain first. Who knows if taking the shard would cause this island to become inaccessible.” Stanley said as both Shiro and Nan Tian nodded their heads.
“Sure, it’ll take a while but overall, we should have some time to spare.” Shiro agreed.
Leaving the mountain, the trio made their way back to the ship and told the crewman that they were going to the third mountain as well so it might take more than a week.
Agreeing to come back for another week once they got some supplies, the trio rested for the night.
Waking up early next morning, they watched the boat sail back to the city to resupply.
“Right then, let’s go to the third mountain shall we?” Shiro smiled.
The third mountain was rather similar to the second as there were quite a few golems but this time there was the addition of traps which fired mana absorbent spears towards them at high velocities. Strangely enough, they seemed to breach mana too which reminded Shiro of what her attacks are like. However, when she picked them up, they lost this property so Shiro could guess that it was most likely the launcher that had this skill.
As for the bosses, rather than giant golems, they were essentially fortress walls with weapons mounted on the top which fired ceaselessly. It was rather difficult to dodge them all and take them out but in Shiro’s opinion, they were much easier than the big bosses.
Clearing the rooms with ease, it took them two days before they found the final chamber as they were quite unlucky. All of the previous chambers they entered were false and ‘only’ offered some red grade items which weren’t bad but compared to what they’ve been getting seemed a little lackl.u.s.tre.
Once they killed the final guardian, they received their third rainbow grade item which was actually a key.
However, once Shiro read the description of the key, she was glad that they decided to check out the third mountain as they needed this in order to progress.
[Key to the Garden – Rainbow]
A key that unlocks the chamber to the Garden Shard.
IF they didn’t decide to do the third mountain, they would have probably needed to brute force their way through or waste more time going out then back in.
With the key in their possession, they’d cleared all three mountains and only the shard remained.
“Do you know a way towards the shard?” Nan Tian asked while pointing at her map.
“Not really. The map only tells me that it’s on this island not where the entrance is. If we want to go to the shard, we’ll have to look for the entrance manually. However, I can probably scan the entire island given enough time and find the entrance.” Shiro smiled.
Spending the next few hours guarding Shiro while she scanned the entrance towards the shard of the garden, Shiro found what seemed to be a staircase underground that was hidden rather well within the forest.
Making their way over, they moved the rubble out of the way and entered with caution.
Looking at the staircase, Shiro furrowed her brows as it was strangely clean. It was as if it wasn’t affected by the elements at all.
The journey was rather simple since there weren’t any side doors or the such within this place. It was just a straight walk down with no distractions.
Reaching the bottom, they saw what seemed to be a portal frame with no portal.
Looking around the area, she saw that the portal frame was the only thing here.
“Do you think we need to use the key here?”
“Perhaps.” Shiro muttered while bringing out the key. Just as she brought out the key, unfamiliar magic circles appeared in front of her as it resembled a keyhole. Placing the key in the centre, she watched as the magic circles started to turn.
With a flash of light, a strange portal opened up in front of them as they furrowed their brows.
Looking at each other, they nodded their heads and entered.
Upon entering, they shielded their face from the light.
Once the light calmed down, they removed their hands and widened their eyes at what they were seeing.
Right now, they were floating in what seemed to be a spherical room with an orange orb in the centre. Swirling around this room was motes of energy that had thin trails of light behind them.
Next to the orange orb was a severely damaged statue of a woman who was missing an arm and her lower body. However, she was embracing the orange orb like it was her own child.
Slowly, the statue looked up at Shiro and smiled.
“So you have arrived.” A melodic voice rang out softly as Shiro tilted her head.
“You have been waiting for me?” She asked as the statue nodded its head slowly.
“You’ve come to claim the shard haven’t you? Queen of the Spirits. Young Demi God.” The statue smiled as Shiro nodded her head.
“Who are you?” Shiro asked.
“I suppose I can be called this Garden’s Spirit. I guard the shard and preserve it as much as I can until the age arrives. I use my own life essence to stop the age from arriving too soon but as you can see, time is running out.” The Garden’s Spirit said while glancing down at her broken body.
“How long do you think there is until the age arrives?” Shiro asked with a frown.
“I can hold out for at most 5 more months.” The Garden’s Spirit shook her head as Shiro frowned since 5 months was an extremely short time for the age to arrive. They needed to quickly deal with Madison’s role as the demon queen in this time too. With everything combined, sorting it out within five months was going to be hard.
Taking a deep breath, Shiro sighed.
“Ok, five months should be somewhat doable.” She muttered.
Hearing this, the Garden’s spirit smiled.
“I wish you luck.”
With that, she let go of the orb that she had been holding onto and pushed it towards Shiro.
Reaching out to the orb, she watched as it morphed into a miniature anchor and floated above her palm.
[Shard of the Final Garden – ???]
