When Rex entered the room, he was surprised by the content, the most eye-catching thing was the block of ice with the frozen woman inside it. On a closer look, he realized that this woman wasn't human, demi-human, or of a monster race.
Her body didn't have any sign of life around her indicating that it was just a corpse, normally if one does not hide it, their presence, smell, Qi alone can tell a lot of things about their races but when Rex looked at her, for a moment he felt she was a demi-human, then monster race and after few more seconds of observation he realized that he has never seen or heard about such species.
The woman had pale red skin, her hair was dark crimson, he could also barely see her blood-red nails under the blue ice.
'Interesting, I haven't even started the test and the reward is already here? Hehehe,' Rex thought when he looked at the unknown race corpse and the bookshelves at both sides.
His eyes then landed on Lerna, she excitedly ran to the bookshelf on the left, picked out a random book, and started reading it.
After 7 seconds she again put the book in its place, she then chooses another book, the same thing happened again, the process was repeated a few times until she finally confirmed that these books are way different from what she thought them to be. She put back the last book in her hand into the shelf with a 'thud' and snorted.
"Humph, useless books," She mumbled under her breath as she walked towards Rex.
When she arrived near him, her eyes landed on the corpse of the naked woman frozen into the chunk of ice, earlier she got so excited when looking at the books that she didn't focus much on the ice cuboid. Now that she saw the corpse of a woman, she suspiciously glanced at Rex, then stood between the corpse and him.
Rex's face was dark.
"Just what do you think of me? I don't have a fetish to lust over a corpse dammit," Rex said in a bitter tone, his pride was hurt.
Lerna stared at him for a while then retracted to the side, she took out a chair sat on it, then started reading the novel she brought with her.
Nera nervously entered the room after them, she was confused by Rex's behaviour, in the end, she took it as greed, he wanted to advance further as possible that's why he chose the third option but now if he failed she had to suffer the penalty too, though it was nothing compared to penalty Rex would face, he would be degraded from his Calamity Lord cultivation base directly to Monster Emperor cultivation base which is same as Golden Core stage.
Rex shook his head then looked at the stone beast face which was looking at them.
"What is the objective? And the rules?" Rex asked.
"The chimera you see in the middle of the room is Master's creation, it is made from five different species, you just need to discover and prove the existence of other four species in the main body. You have one week, the sooner you complete the test the greater will be the reward, meaning the closer you will be teleported to the center core area.
The books around carrying the information of various species including flora, fauna, humanoid species... etc., the information regarding five species are also hidden among these books. You have a maximum time limit of one week to complete this test, your time starts now," The stone beast face said.
"Just that?" Rex asked in doubt.
"..." The stone beast face.
Rex waited but there was no reply, instead, the stone beast's face closed its eyes not paying any heed to him anymore.
The thing that surprised him most in the conversation was the fact that the corpse was not of a single race person but was actually a chimera, he never thought that a chimera would look like this, there was no sign of different species being patched up together at all. Moreover, an act of making a chimera is not something a righteous path would do, he was now doubting if the tomb was of an evil path or true devil path cultivator.
Making a chimera would suit a true devil path cultivator the most, but he didn't believe that their method was so advanced and he wasn't sure because there was another reason, if the tomb belonged to such a powerhouse then most of the penalty will not result in a ban or temporary imprisonment but death.
Rex turned and looked at the books on both sides, he then saw Nera quickly taking out a book in panic and started reading.
[So should we start scanning?]
'Nah, your method of scanning will waste a lot of points, we can do it in a simple time-consuming way, that is,' Rex snapped his fingers and several books flew out from the shelves and hovered in front of him.
All the books opened at the same time, and the pages started flipping until they were closed.
'Now, can you slow it down and record the content?' Rex asked.
[Of course, I can, though it's a little time consuming, the process will fasten if you use Fast Clock and Calm Mind,]
'Hmm...' Rex said while controlling another batch of books.
The sound of page-flipping attracted the attention of Nera on the other side, when she saw what Rex was doing, she found that her tiny bit of hope was diminishing again.
The most carefree was Lerna, she wasn't in the least bit worried, she may have been the first person to read a novel inside a tomb without a care in the world.
Rex's reading marathon lasted for hours, in the start, he was enthusiastic but then he got bored so he thought of a solution.
He left the page-flipping work to Rose, leaving his body on the Rose-Pilot, and started going through the data obtained inside his inner world with a 1:10 time flow.
His knowledge of the physical bodies of various species was soaring at an astonishing rate, the books might be just a pile of trash for many but for Rex as the possessor of Gene Coding they were a treasure.
Rex realized there were many species with similar looks or almost the same abilities but the process of using them and the consumption rate is completely different, instead of others he felt like he was learning about his own body.
There was a time that everyone single one of his abilities looked heaven-defying and something beyond common sense to him but with time, he began to realize the logic behind them.
In the end, the conclusion he reached was 'anything that we lack knowledge about appears miracle in our eyes'
After half a day, he finished reading all the books, after doing that Rex didn't go to the chimera but meditated and analyzed the important point of the updated data that had similarities with the appearance of the corpse.
At around midnight, Rex approached the corpse.
When he placed his hand on the surface of the ice, it melted on touch, the ice wasn't simple but acted very obedient in front of him. Rex then touch the woman's forehead and started analyzing her body.
[I have collected the data, it is being matched with the new database,]
'If I give the result with just a touch then wouldn't it be too magical in Nera's eyes?' Rex thought, then took out a few types of equipment and formed a temporary operation set at a corner.
Nera had no idea what he was doing, her Buddhist teaching made it hard for her to look at the sight, luckily Rex had used a temporary tent to isolate the corner from her side.
As for Lerna, she was peeking inside using her spiritual sense from time to time.
By the end of the day, Rex came out while wiping his hand and stood in front of the stone beast face.
"The five species mixed in the chimera are, Venom Starfish, Blood Devouring Eel, Desolate Blood Troll, Earth Crust Piranha, and Nether Salamander, where Desolate Blood Troll was taken as the main body because of its high similarity with human shape and size. Hmm... One more thing, the last one, Nether Salamander wasn't pure but a variant," Rex said.
Nera was reading a book when she heard his words, her eyes got wide as she stared at Rex, they still had 6 more days but he answered on the first day without even discussing with them.
The stone beast face opened its eyes and stared at Rex.
"Are you sure? There is no second chance for answering," The stone beast face said.
"Wait..." When Nera heard its words, she rejoiced and quickly spoke intending to stop Rex but...
"Stop wasting time, I don't make guess, confirm it," Rex said to stone beast face in annoyance.
Rex was the leader, so the beast ignored Nera's words.
Just when Nera was on the brink of despair, the beast spoke.
"Congratulation on passing the test, you have met the conditions for the bonus reward. All three of you will be rewarded for your efforts," The stone beast face said in its usual emotionless tone.
Suddenly, three light spheres appeared in front of it, when the light spheres disappeared, three objects were hovering in the midair.
The first was an Azure Pill, The second was a long blunt rod hammer similar to an iron club with spikes in appearance, and the last was a silver necklace with brown crystal embedded in it.
"The first one is 4 Star Flame Essence Pill, it can help anyone to upgrade their flame whether it's inborn or acquire. The second one is 2 Star offense-type Treasure Artifact called Storm Bringer possessing two Wind Element Skill. The last one is a 1st Star defense-type Treasure Artifact called Lesser Earth's Blessing possessing one Earth Elemental Skill. The leader can distribute the prize according to the choice," The stone beast face said.
"I see, I will take the pill, Lerna you take the weapon and Fairy Nera should take defense equipment because it would be a good thing for both of you," Rex said, as soon as he said, the two Treasure Artifact flew to them, on a mere touch the information regarding them surfaced in their mind and they soon realized their true value.
Nera's hand trembled when she looked at the necklace in her hand, it was a treasure, her master and also her ancestor were still looking for a spirit rank high-grade weapon but now she got a treasure artifact and a defense type on top of that. This was the first time she came to knew about the treasure artifacts and she liked it very much.
But she was hesitant, she looked at Rex, she sighed and was about to speak when Rex interrupted her.
"Fairy Nera, I know what are you thinking but please accept it regardless of how you feel. Although we haven't met for long, we are still a team, we should share happiness and sadness, moreover, I will be ashamed to not share the reward with a kind-hearted Buddhist follower," Rex said with a kind smile.
Nera looked at him for a while, but in the end, she didn't speak and put it inside her storage ring.
Lerna looked at him suspiciously, thinking if this man was always so kind.
''Dammmit alll! If it wasn't for this crappy Karmic Indicator, and this shit head stone face, sigh... I know it is doing this on purpose,' Rex screamed inwardly but he still maintained his gentle and benevolent smile on the surface.
When the stone beast face said that he can distribute the reward, it was already decided that he couldn't take them all or else his Karmic Indicator will change colour.
As for sharing rewards with a Buddhist follower, Rex clearly knew that these were Buddhist followers but just in name. The teaching of Buddha focuses on points like treating every living being with equality and think of others before us with no greed but there might not be a single disciple in any big Buddhist sect who has not killed or differentiated among others.
The very fact that they were here for treasure and took over a big territory and pushed out the weaker sects around them is an act not suitable for monks.
"Fairy Nera, I advise you not to tell about this treasure to anyone else, because no matter who, they will want it. You should keep it hidden, it can become a life-saving treasure for you," Rex advised.
Nera nodded. She understood his hidden meaning, he was telling her not to tell her ancestor about this treasured artifact or she might take it from her in the name of strengthening sect so she agreed with his suggestion. She now had a very good impression of Rex, a kind and wise powerhouse that only appears in stories.
The reason why Rex advised her is that he wanted to hide the information of not only her treasure but Lerna's too. It would be a problem if they got attached just after leaving this place.
The door in front of them opened and a new light curtain was revealed.
Rex took the lead and disappeared into the light curtain. Lerna followed behind him.