RE: LORD OF TIME

As William crushed the Treasure Orb, it disappeared, and something else appeared in his hand.

He looked at it carefully and saw that it was a long, black-colored coat with silver lining across its surface. A golden-eyed wolf’s head was embroidered on its back, giving it a fierce and menacing appearance.

William raised an eyebrow when he saw the black coat because he had never seen this Uncommon-grade artifact before.

In the original timeline, he had seen many Uncommon-grade artifacts that came from Treasure Orbs, just like the Restriction Bronze Bell.

Although his status window had been locked when he obtained the Restriction Bronze Bell, he still recognized it because he had seen it before.

However, the black coat in his hand was something he had never encountered.

Curious, he focused on it, and its details immediately appeared before his eyes.

====

---) World Devourer Wolf Coat (Uncommon): A mysterious coat that accidentally came into contact with a strand of fur from the World Devourer Wolf and successfully fused with it, gaining an extraordinary ability. This coat possesses the ability to devour armor- and cloth-type treasures, allowing it to replicate some of their abilities. If it devours enough armor- and cloth-type artifacts, there is a high possibility that it can evolve to a higher grade.

====

William’s heart trembled violently after reading the coat’s description, but the expression on his face remained unchanged.

"Is this a cloth-type armor?" Alicia asked with a curious look, as it was also the first time she had seen something like this.

"Yes," William replied calmly before quickly putting the coat into his backpack.

Alicia was taken aback when she saw this, as she had been planning to look at the coat’s details as well.

However, since William had already said that it was merely an Uncommon-grade cloth-type armor, she didn’t think much of it and put the matter to the back of her mind.

"Should we go in and take a look at the mine now?" Liam asked as he turned toward the cave entrance, his eyes filled with excitement.

"Let’s go," William nodded as he stood up from the ground.

The three of them walked past the four dead mutated sand scorpions and entered the cave.

As soon as they stepped inside, all three of them immediately felt the temperature rise dramatically.

The temperature outside the cave had been around fifty degrees Celsius. Since they were already Star Warriors, that level of heat was nothing to them.

However, inside the cave, the temperature had already reached nearly sixty degrees Celsius, and they were only at the entrance.

"Now I understand why you were drenched in sweat when you ran out of the cave earlier..." Liam said as he looked at the cave walls.

Alicia took out a Light Pearl from her storage ring, and the dark cave was instantly illuminated.

The cave walls were uneven and dark brown in color, while the ground was completely covered in sand.

"There shouldn’t be any danger inside the cave anymore, but stay alert just in case," William said as he walked forward.

Liam and Alicia immediately followed after him.

As they continued onward, they noticed that the path wasn’t straight. Instead, it sloped downward, leading them deeper underground.

None of them found this surprising, as they had already expected the cave to lead beneath the surface where the Fire Essence Crystals were located.

As they ventured deeper, the temperature continued to rise, causing all three of them to sweat heavily.

Around three minutes later, they noticed a deep red glow coming from farther ahead, and they instinctively quickened their pace.

Soon, they passed through another entrance, and a vast underground chamber appeared before them.

The walls of the chamber were nearly fifty meters high, and deep red crystals that seemed to be filled with violent energy were embedded everywhere.

"These are Fire Essence Crystals..." Liam said excitedly, his breathing becoming unsteady.

William and Alicia remained relatively calm and instead carefully observed their surroundings.

"It seems to be a small-sized mine," Alicia said after examining the area for a while.

William nodded.

"Even if it’s only a small-sized mine, it’s more than enough for now."

"Are we going to mine it ourselves?" Liam suddenly asked.

William and Alicia gave him strange looks before silently ignoring the question.

"How many Academic Credits do you think we can get if we hand this mine over to the academy?" William asked Alicia.

"It depends on how many reserves the mine contains," Alicia replied before adding.

"But judging from what I can see, there still seem to be plenty of Fire Essence Crystals deeper inside, so three thousand to four thousand Academic Credits should be possible."

"Three to four thousand..." Liam gulped audibly after hearing Alicia’s estimate.

"Let’s first confirm how many Fire Essence Crystals this mine actually contains. We can decide what to do afterward," William said as he headed toward the right side of the mine.

Alicia and Liam looked at each other before each choosing a different direction and walking deeper into the mine.

William carefully inspected every part of the mine, and the more he examined it, the brighter his eyes became.

"It’s definitely a top-tier small-sized mine," He muttered as he stared at the abundant Fire Essence Crystals embedded in the walls.

Suddenly, he thought about Alicia, and his eyes gleamed slightly.

"Alicia’s brother also has a powerful faction in the academy. I wonder if I can sell this mine to him and get a better price."

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he recalled Alicia’s brother’s personality, and his eyes lit up.

’Actually, it wouldn’t be very difficult to trick him into buying this mine at a high price.’

A smile appeared on William’s face as a plan quickly formed in his mind, and he began inspecting the mine even more enthusiastically.

Soon, William reached the very end of the mine and discovered that there were no Fire Essence Crystals farther ahead.

"Let’s inspect the other areas as well."

He turned around to head back.

However, just as he did, the title Favored by the Supreme on his status window, which had been trembling ever since he entered the cave, suddenly flickered violently.

Out of nowhere, William tripped over a loose stone and staggered forward, crashing into the cave wall.

Rumble!

It had been nothing more than a simple collision.

However, the section of the wall William had crashed into seemed to be completely hollow.

As a result, the impact caused that part of the wall to collapse.

And as the wall crumbled away, a hidden passage suddenly appeared before him.