Chapter 1436: Box

The three stared at the screen for what felt like a long while before they felt water splash onto them.

When they turned around to see the source of the splashing water, they saw Ning standing behind them, soaked in ocean water from head to toe.

And in his hand, he held onto something golden.

"You did it?" Tim asked.

"Of course," Ning said.

"You killed the monster..." Jasmine said with wide eyes. "How are you so strong?"

"I'm strong because it's me," Ning said, showing off his biceps that weren't of much note visually.

Tony looked at his watch and realized that the time of surprise and excitement had arrived.

"Holy... fucking shit!" he cried out. "You killed the monster. You alone."

"I did," Ning said.

"Haha!" Tony laughed. "You're incredible. How are... I'm sorry, how did you do it?"

Ning smiled and said nothing. He shook the box he held and looked at the others as they slowly moved their attention away from him to the box.

"Is that..." Tim asked.

"The Zurin treasure," Ning said. "And a strong one at that. If I'm not mistaken, this one hasn't been bonded in... 640 years. Actually, it has never been bonded before by anyone. You can only wonder how strong it is."

All three of them got closer to look at the golden box that was in Ning's hands.

The box was not fully golden. It was also studded with ruby, sapphire, and emerald on the outside, and had an almost velvet surface to the parts of it that were red.

The gold on the box wasn't just a color, but also a design that depicted incredibly intricate swirls and patterns that would be almost impossible to do by hand.

There was a feeling of layers to the golden art, that a human would simply struggle to create without any aid from giant machines. "What is it?" Jasmine asked. She couldn't place the box as any everyday object out there.

"A pencil box?" Tim asked. "That's what it looks like to me, but at the same time, not?"

"It's a jewelry box, isn't it?" Tony asked. "I've seen women of Layan walk around with a bunch of those."

"Layan? Where is that?" Jasmine asked.

"It's like a 3-day journey to the west from Baromar on the other side of the Reef," Tony said.

"You are a knowledgeable person then," Jasmine said.

"I am forced to go to different places for my research," Tony said. "Anyway, that is a jewelry box that women place their jewelry in. I believe the tradition for that itself originated in Cogonia, but they have long since stopped using jewelry boxes, or at least stopped walking around with them."

Ning nodded. "This is indeed a Jewelry box. Given how old this thing is, the thing it was copied from should have long since been destroyed or lost to time," he said. "But the question isn't what it is, is it? The question is what it does."

They all nodded. "What does it do?" Tim asked.

"I... don't know," Ning said. "The only way to find out would be to use it yourself and find out."

Tony reached out. "Alright, I'll use it," he said and Ning pulled it away.

"I'm sorry, but you are not under consideration here," he said. "I have promised these two that I would get them a bunch of treasures, so I have to start doing so now."

"Ah, I'm sorry," Tony said and moved back.

Tim and Jasmine looked gratefully at Ning and looked at the treasure box. They hesitated a little.

The problem here wasn't that they didn't want it, but that if they took it, they would have to give up on something better that would come along in the future.

Was it a better idea to take it now, or was it a better idea to let the other person have it and hopefully get something better in the future?

"Remember, 640 years," Ning reminded them.

Tim spoke up. "Sir Ning, can I use my Book?" he asked. "I would like to see the information of this treasure before making my choice."

Ning smiled. "You may not," he said. "Truth is, I lied when I said I didn't know what it does. I was just waiting for you two to make a choice blindly."

"But, wouldn't it be better if we make a choice based on who deserves what more?" Tim asked.

"If such treasures come along, I will let you know. For this treasure, just know that neither of you will want to miss it at all," he said. "So, who will want it?" That caught their curiosity better than anything else would have.

"If I don't want to miss it, then I would like it," Tim said.

"Me too!" Jasmine said. "You are getting 4 treasures, aren't you? I'm getting 3. Let me make this first choice."

"But this one seems too good to leave. If not, sir Ning wouldn't say something like that," Tim said.

The two started bickering like little kids as to who should own the jewelry box. In the end, Ning pulled out a coin and caught their attention. "Jasmine, choose heads or tails," he said.

"What?" Jasmine turned around and saw the coin.

"We'll decide it with heads or tails. Choose," he said.

Jasmine thought for a moment. "Heads."

"Then you're tails," Ning said to Tim.

Tim nodded.

"Whatever it falls on, that person gets this treasure," Ning said and flipped the coin.

The coin flipped through the air more times than any one of them could tell before striking the ground and jumping partway once again.

When it fell again, it clattered 2 more times and then started spinning.

It spun and spun and spun and finally came to a rest in the end.

Tim and Jasmine quickly moved forward to see what it had landed on and saw the result.

It had landed on Tails.

"Yes!" Tim shouted in glee. He had received the treasure.