This proved one thing.
The treasure chests in this world did not appear randomly, but according to the player's level.
But the maps in this world definitely weren't numerous enough to provide endless brand-new maps for every player, so the game designers hid treasure chests of all levels inside one map, then made specific treasure chests appear based on the player's strength and level.
And because there were no treasure chests on this map that matched Ethan's level anymore, that was why Ethan hadn't seen any treasure chest prompts here at first.
Until Nana took out this [Hidden Treasure] map.
This map was basically a cheating bug.
It could use illegal means to pull out those hidden treasure chests one by one.
Which also meant that one person could open treasure chests that originally belonged to others.
And as long as your strength was enough, you could even take all the high-level super treasure chests in this area that originally didn't belong to you and were above your level.
The more Ethan thought about it, the brighter his eyes became.
But to confirm his theory.
He turned and asked Nana and the others, "After entering this botanical garden, did you encounter treasure chests that could be dismantled?"
"Y-Yes!"
Nana answered.
Although she didn't understand why Ethan asked this question, in her view, it didn't seem important, so she answered him.
After all, things had already reached this point. If they didn't properly cooperate with the man in front of them, the only ones who would suffer would be them.
"Those dismantlable treasure chests, did they appear directly in front of you and open without needing the map to unlock them?", Ethan asked again.
"How did you know?", Nana looked surprised.
"So that's how it is."
But Ethan didn't answer Nana's question. Instead, his eyes lit up at once.
He had completely solved the secret of this [Hidden Treasure] map. Treasure chests that could be dismantled represented the treasure chests their level deserved, and also counted as rewards for clearing the map.
As for the other treasure chests that were not map-clearing rewards, meaning the treasure chests forcibly pulled out using the map bug, they could not be dismantled.
That also meant, if his combat strength was high enough, then could he go to high-level maps and directly clear out every high-level treasure chest on the entire map?
'Holy shit!'
'I'm getting rich!'
Because he had gained such a huge advantage, Ethan decided to treat these little money-bringing kids slightly better.
After all, they had brought him something this good. He couldn't exactly repay kindness with hostility, right?
"..."
And just as Ethan turned around to continue studying the map.
Logan stared viciously at Ethan's back, his eyes full of hatred.
The silver treasure chest that should have belonged to their Azure City Sect had somehow fallen into a thief's hands just like that. That guy definitely got a lot of good stuff from it, otherwise he wouldn't be smiling like that.
He was so unwilling to accept it.
What could he do to make the monster vines under the swamp attack him?
When the scarecrow first stepped onto the grassland, it also didn't seem to be attacked by the monster vines. Could it be because it had always landed on rocks, and only attracted the monster vines the moment it accidentally fell into the mud?
Then...
"I get it!"
The more Logan thought about it, the brighter his eyes became.
So the only way to attract those monster vines was to have something disturb them. Just now, although he didn't know what method that man used, he had been moving on solid ground and never fell into the swamp, so he never disturbed the monster vines, that was why he wasn't attacked.
Now that he understood the principle, things became much simpler.
Logan quietly picked up a fist-sized rock, then while nobody was paying attention, suddenly threw it toward the mud near Ethan.
"Ahhhh!"
The moment Nini saw this, she couldn't help crying out.
And Nana's pupils also shrank at that instant, but she was smarter than Nini and understood almost immediately.
So she quickly covered Nini's mouth to stop her from making more noise.
After all, one was her teammate, while the other was just a stranger who might kill them at any moment.
No matter what, Nana would choose to stand on Logan's side.
"Hm?"
But Nini's brief cry still caught Ethan's attention.
The moment he turned around, Ethan saw a rock cutting through the night sky, about to fall into the swamp beside him.
At this moment, he immediately understood, someone wanted him dead.
However, even though Ethan's brain reacted instantly, his body simply couldn't respond in that split second.
So in the end, he could only watch helplessly as the rock fell into the swamp.
Thunk!
A muffled sound rang out from the swamp.
The sound wasn't loud, but when it reached everyone's ears, it was like thunder exploding on flat ground.
Because everyone knew what would happen next.
Puff!
Puff! Puff!
Countless Predatory Vines instantly burst out from the swamp.
And this time the number was several times greater than when the scarecrow had been attacked. Probably because the disturbance caused by the rock was much larger than the disturbance caused by the scarecrow, even giant Predatory Vines as thick as water buckets emerged from the swamp.
"Unafraid of corrosion and fire, huh?"
Ethan pulled out the Godslayer Sword. He refused to believe that the Eight Forms of God-Slaying could slaughter gods but not a vine.
As the Predatory Vines intertwined in midair into a giant net and descended toward Ethan, Ethan swung the Godslayer Sword in his hand and pointed it at the vine net.
"Chaos Sword Form!"
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Countless sword flashes swept through the air, and the giant Predatory Vines were immediately cut into countless broken pieces.
However, whenever one Predatory Vine was cut apart, even more Predatory Vines would emerge from the swamp.
As Ethan's attacks intensified, the swamp also rapidly produced dense masses of Predatory Vines, countless as a field of chives.
"He's finished!"
Looking at the scene before him, Logan finally let out a huge sigh of relief, "Heh! Heh! Nobody can survive against this many monster vines. Even if he's strong, it's impossible."
"Logan, do you know how dangerous what you just did was?", Nana shouted angrily, "If you fail to kill him, then all of us will die!"
"If we don't take risks, how will our Azure City Sect have a future," Logan coldly looked at Nana and said, "Besides! Looking at things now, do you think he can still survive? Once he dies, won't everything he just stole from us, plus his sword and all his equipment, become ours? Hahaha!"
"But have you thought about what we should do if he wins?"
"Wins?", Logan sneered and shook his head, "Impossible. Forget this lifetime, even in his next life he couldn't beat these monster vines. This is a D-rank danger zone, an area even you and I don't dare approach carelessly."
"Not to mention, he even helped by drawing all the monster vines out himself. And he still wants to live?"
"Heh! Heh! If he can leave behind a complete corpse by the end, that already counts as impressive."
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