Chapter 168: Artifact & New Skills

Even so, he couldn’t help but contain his curiosity.

The Underworld Coffin had been able to seal the Rank 3 Corrupted Dryad with ease and summon Undead Evil Spirits seemingly out of nothing.

This alone was enough to pique his curiosity. The later descriptions on the Player Panel only strengthened that curiosity even further.

Soon, the coffin’s description emerged before Aurelius.

Though he had already expected it, he immediately felt surprised as he went through it.

...

[Underworld Coffin (Artifact): Born during the creation of the Underworld, it carries part of its authority. During the War of the Gods, it was lost and drifted into the mortal plane. Though weakened as a result, it still retains a part of its extraordinary abilities. Even after countless years in the mortal plane, its connection with the Underworld has never been severed. Its true power can only be unleashed after returning to the Underworld.]

[Effects:]

[Gate to the Underworld: The Underworld Coffin can connect with the Underworld, summoning its most loyal soldiers, the Undead Evil Spirits. Their number and power depend on its user’s strength and affinity with Death.]

[Death’s Kiss: Creatures sleeping within the coffin will continuously experience the power of Death, growing closer to the Underworld and improving their affinity with it. Without a strong will, long-term exposure to this effect will result in the creature becoming an Undead. The longer the creature remains within the coffin, the deeper its connection with Death will become.]

[Underworld Seal: The Underworld Coffin can seal undead creatures and those with affinity to Death, placing them into a slumber. The closer the creature is to the Underworld, the longer this slumber will last.]

[Reminder: Other effects are currently unable to be used. Please improve your affinity with Death or bring the Underworld Coffin to the Underworld and help it unleash its full potential. The closer it returns to the Underworld, the more of its original authority it will be able to recover.]

...

Compared to the Necromancer’s Throne, the Underworld Coffin seemed far more impressive.

And in fact, it was.

Gate to the Underworld. Death’s Kiss. Underworld Seal.

Each effect was powerful enough to compete with Necromancer Summon.

More importantly, there were two other aspects of this Artifact that caught Aurelius’ attention.

First, the Underworld Coffin’s origin.

The description revealed that it had a close connection with the Underworld, even carrying part of its authority.

Although Aurelius didn’t fully understand what this meant, the word "authority" alone was enough to show its extraordinary nature.

The second was the reminder near the end.

These three effects were not the only abilities of the Underworld Coffin. There were other effects that were simply unable to be used for the time being.

’Is this the difference between Artifacts and Relics?’

Aurelius had heard of the word Artifact in the past, though he didn’t understand what this term truly entailed.

Now, he had a guess.

Relics were used by ordinary Awakeners.

As for Artifacts, they were supposedly used by divine beings.

This didn’t mean that Artifacts were necessarily stronger than Relics.

The Underworld Coffin was strong but not stronger than the Sea God’s Trident.

Rather, the uses between these two categories were completely different.

Perhaps Relics were objects created for mortals, while Artifacts were closer to vessels that carried the authority of higher existences.

Aurelius stared at the coffin for several minutes.

The more he looked at it, the more extraordinary it became in his eyes.

Unfortunately, he knew he could not actually activate any of its effects.

Not only because he had yet to become its master, but also because of the Corrupted Dryad lying inside.

If Aurelius were to try to open the coffin, the only thing awaiting him would be death.

’It’s no wonder that the Undead Knight felt free to leave this Artifact to me.’

’Even if it wasn’t for our agreement, I would still have to purify the Dryad if I wanted to control this Artifact.’

The agreement between Aurelius and the Undead Knight had no time limit.

Theoretically, Aurelius could postpone helping the Dryad forever without suffering any backlash.

Yet with the Underworld Coffin’s existence, doing so was obviously unwise. No one would deliberately give up control of an Artifact of this level.

They would do anything in their power to get the best out of them.

Aurelius sighed once more.

Beings like the Undead Knight, who had lived for centuries and experienced a lot, were truly troublesome to deal with, especially for an inexperienced Awakener like him.

Aurelius shook his head and placed the coffin back into the Blood Crown’s space. Though he would prefer to put it in the System Inventory, that was impossible.

The System Inventory could not contain living beings like the Blood Crown.

’Perhaps this Relic was upgraded specifically to help me hide this Artifact.’ Aurelius thought.

Then, he focused on the last, and perhaps most important, harvest from this adventure.

The dozens of Skill Books!

Compared to the Rare Relic and Artifact, this was the thing Aurelius was most excited about.

The reason was simple.

The other treasures were powerful, but they could only increase his strength to a certain extent.

These Skill Books, however, could directly affect his Rank 3 advancement.

As long as he could find enough skills that possessed sufficient synergy, his biggest problem would be solved.

Moreover, with Demonic Prodigy, the value of these Skill Books had increased even further.

Without any hesitation, Aurelius immediately picked up several of them and began going through their contents.

Soon, notification after notification appeared in his field of vision.

"Skill—Blood Manipulation has been detected!"

"Requirements: INT 120. Class: Blood Warlock. The Player currently does not meet the requirements!"

"Ding! Mythical Class Arcanist has been activated. Arcanist’s Heart takes effect."

"Ding! You’ve met the requirements."

"Skill—Blood Curse has been detected!"

"Requirements: INT 155. Class: Curse Mage. The Player currently does not meet the requirements!"

"Ding! Mythical Class Arcanist has been activated. Arcanist’s Heart takes effect."

"Ding! You’ve met the requirements."

"Skill—"