'How much time do you think will take for me to fully recover?' Rex said.
[A few days at least, but you should regain your ability to freely move and walk after your muscles relax which should only take a few hours with your current recovery speed,]
Restoring the damaged body wasn't hard for Rose but when even the core structure of the whole body has been overly strained by strong energy, the strain cannot be removed just be restored.
Rex slightly nodded then relaxed his body, he looked up at Lerna who was holding him in her embrace. He was truly enjoying his time, even when he moved his head resting on her bosom, she didn't throw him out.
'To think, that little guy gets this treatment all day, yes I'm jealous. Should I send him to a scholar academy or a sect to waste- make use of his precious time in achieving something? No, giving him a private room to respect his privacy sounds better,' Rex thought.
Rex had nothing much to do so he used Telekinesis to collect all the broken material of the bots he used to fight Leech. He wanted to observe the leeches from up close too but seeing that Lerna was beside him he didn't bring them closer.
After he finished collecting the goods, he sent the few remaining scouting bots inside the gate to check out the interior and where does the road lead to. Just after a few minutes, he found the answer, there were no traps on the way and at the other end of the road was a big transmission array platform.
Six hours passed just like that, Lerna didn't move this whole time, she was seemly lost in thoughts.
Rex checked and after making sure that he was in the condition to move, he decided to advance.
The trials weren't random, one needs to accept them before the test starts, the trial of Leech was an exception but after thinking Rex realized that if he hadn't passed through the tunnel and entered the hall then the trial wouldn't have started.
He turned his body and rested his head in her embrace, taking full advantage of the moment, he spoke.
"Lerna~ let's advance now," Rex said with an encouraging look.
"What advance? We are going to retreat," Lerna replied almost instantly.
[You got tricked!]
Rex looked at her serious expression, he understood that she was thinking about this matter all along and finally decided to retreat.
"Then… Why don't you wait here, I go and take a quick peek at the next trial before coming back?" Rex said with a smile.
Lerna narrowed her eyes, she moved her head closer to him with her eyes radiating threatening light.
"You are not going anywhere, you are coming with me either awake or unconscious," She said in a serious tone.
Rex was at a loss.
'Is this what people call hard-love?' He thought.
He started running the gears in his head to think of the right plan, he thought of something and his eyes shined. He looked at her face to face then sighed.
"As I thought, I'm still the second in your eyes, my opinion doesn't matter. Sigh... I wonder how Little Aru's previous father looks like, whatever let's go back," Rex said with a dejected look.
Lerna clenched her teeth, his words made her furious, she felt like she was the bad person here even when she was thinking good for him.
"I… I don't… Aru only had one parent before you," She said while holding back her anger.
Rex looked at her and sighed again.
"Eh... Yes, I see…" He said but his tone didn't sound like he believed it in the least.
Lerna stared at him. She regretted not telling him this before. She was more furious that he didn't believe her words but couldn't bring herself to hurt him in this condition.
"Okay, we will go forward," Lerna gritted her teeth and said.
"Really?" Rex asked with bright eyes.
"But if there is a dangerous trial ahead we will retreat," She added.
"Haha... Fine with me, my Lerna is so sweet," Rex jumped at her face, placed his hands on her shoulder, and kissed her on the right cheek.
It wasn't the first time he was trying such a thing, but it was definitely the first time he succeeded.
Lerna snorted and looked away, not showing the expression on her face. But her slightly red ears weren't easy to hide.
Rex chuckled, if he was in the right place he would love to tease her more but one could never relax in an unexplored tomb.
Soon after he stood up albeit Lerna still held his waist not letting him walk on his own, which embarrassed him quite a lot but thankfully there was no one around who was watching them.
'Seriously, Does she think I'm some five-year-old child? I can walk on my own,' Rex felt helpless.
[Yeah, how outrageous of her to think of you as a five years old child when you are clearly not even 2 years old,]
Rex's lips twitched. He understood Rose was counting from the time of his first evolution when his race changed.
'Someday I will settle my score with you,' Rex thought.
[Hope is an interesting thing, isn't it?]
Rex wanted to cry but no tears came out. he ignored the comment and focused on other things.
He took out a big glass pot resembling an aquarium and placed all the Leeches inside it using Telekinesis.
"What are you doing?" Lerna asked with a frown, she didn't like that disgusting creature that made them suffer so much.
"Oh, this? Don't worry it's just researc- I mean it's a reminder, it will remind me how my sweet Lerna tried to save me from this creature with her life on the line," Rex said with a smile.
Lerna didn't reply and looked away seemly hiding her expressions.
[Was it my imagination or I heard something suspicious there?]
The leeches were alive so he couldn't place them in his inventory, he had no choice but to use Telekinesis to carry them around. In fact, Rex was surprised seeing that all the leeches were still alive, especially when their strength was bound by the Middle Realm. The leeches had seriously caught his interest.
He had combat bots known for their destructive power, he had undead walking around his city that are literally very annoying opponents to fight as they don't feel pain or die easily, if he could add these leeches or make something new derived from them then his overall strength will achieve another breakthrough.
It didn't even take half an hour and they arrived at the transmission array platform.
Single transmission array platforms aren't a trap, Rex assured her that then stepped on it together with her.
The array started soon after they stepped on it. It released a brilliant light-blocking their vision and when the light disappeared their surroundings changed.
When Rex looked around, he realized that he was standing in a completely different place. It was the giant circular hall, he was standing in the center and 8 hollow light pillars were present in the hall having equal distance from each other.
All light pillars had a stone stand similar to a cuboid stool, present inside them.
The stone stands placed inside the four light pillars on the left had golden flower insignia present on them and the rest four had a crescent moon enigma.
Rex didn't look at these enigmas for more than a second because his interest was caught by the things floating inside the pillars.
There was a long silver blade, a purple book, a black-white pill, a golden scroll.. and many more things.
Rex didn't recognize even one of them but there was no doubt that they were all treasures, and the fact that they were inside the core treasure room meant that they have cleared the tomb. Rex was doubtful as to how they were able to clear the tomb so fast but who would think that much when the treasures were just in front of them.
'Eight pillars constituting eight treasures, going by the rules of a tomb, each challenger can take one treasure and leave or they can also put something else in the place of the treasure they took if they want to, but it's optional,' Rex thought.
"Welcome~ Half-Masters~" A sweet child-like voice echoed in the hall.
Lerna switched to her battle instance instinctively, she held Rex with one hand and her iron club in the other.
Rex was speechless, he now realized how a beauty would feel when saved by a hero.
Specks of light appeared from the void and combined into one to make the silhouette of a little girl floating in the air.
From the appearance alone, the girl looked like she was 7-9 years old, she had long curly golden hair tied into two big pigtails, her two bright stars like eyes were acting like rubies on her jewel-like face. She wore a pure white dress that was so long that it covered her legs, the girl had an angelic appearance it wasn't just because of her bright smile and attire, she also had two little white wings sticking out from her back and a golden halo on top of her head.
"Artifact spirit?" Rex muttered in a low voice.
The girl's eyes shined.
"First Half-Master knows about Luna? As expected of Half-Master, even when you are weak, your cultivation base is low, your background is pathetic and you live in Middle Realm, Luna still has to admit that you are wise," The girl said with a blooming smile.
Rex's face was dark.
He wasn't sure if she was doing it on purpose but every single one of her words struck his heart like a piercing needle.
He then noticed Lerna giving him a questioning look.
"Let me explain, you should have heard stories that when a good weapon or any equipment lives with their wielders for a long time, shares up and down times with their wielders they develop sentiments, and if they keep going then they can develop an artifact spirit, which can take the same form as their race resembling their personality.
But you probably haven't seen even one in the Middle Realm, right? You know why? It's because their lifespan will probably end before their weapon even develops sentiments, there is a way to speed up the process, that is, using a weapon of better quality, for example, a high-grade Treasure Artifact. If I am right she is the artifact spirit of this tomb," Rex said.
The little girl quickly moved her head in back and forth motion like a rattle.
"Eh... So the tomb is an artifact?" Lerna asked in confusion.
Rex shook his head.
"Truthfully speaking it isn't, making such a big artifact such as tomb isn't easy and if the refining failed it will waste a whole lot of resources, this Artifact Spirit is not directly from the tomb but the mechanism controlling the whole tomb. The foundation mechanism of a tomb is like a big array made using Treasure Artifacts as its nodes. This artifact spirit was probably born from the core artifact in that array.
As for why? I have just said that the higher the grade of the Treasure Artifact the higher the chances for it to develop sentiments but when did it become so easy to refine a high-grade Treasure Artifact? In Higher Realm, 6 Star Treasure Artifacts has the same value as high-grade spirit tools in Middle Realm, they are not easy to refine but when an artifact becomes the core of the array in a tomb its quality and overall increases.
For example, if you use a 6 Star Treasure Artifact as the core artifact of the array then its value would rose to 7 Star artifact at the very least, and when its value increases the chances of it developing sentiments and hence Artifact Spirit also increases and because of its position this little one has full control over the whole tomb so indirectly speaking, it is the Artifact Spirit of the Tomb," Rex explained.
Lerna nodded then suddenly she narrowed her eyes at Luna.
"So we got stuck with those filthy creatures and almost died, was it because of her?" Lerna said, she was angry but also unwilling to move against a child.
"Kya... Luna did nothing wrong!" The little girl dodged Lerna's glance, flew towards Rex, and hid behind him.
"No, an Artifact Spirit is similar to a pre-programmed AI, hmm... In simple words she can't just do anything she wants, she is just following the orders the maker of the core mechanism gave her," Rex said.
Luna stuck her head out from behind Rex and nodded vigorously.
Rex placed his hand on her head and gently patted her, he then spoke.
"That aside, I'm curious how we arrived here just by completing two trials? The difficulty level was indeed too high, but the number of trials just don't fit right to me, was it your doing?" Rex said as he tightened his grasp on her hand not letting her run away.
"Er... About that, you see... Luna was just following orders," Luna said while tapping her fingertips against each other.