Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 220: Jackpot

Thea looked at him aghast, seemingly not able to comprehend what was happening.“It’s an antidote pill,” Zac said as he paled a bit. “Or rather a poison pill that blocks other poisons. Kind of fight fire with fire. Do you need one?”

It was something he’d gotten after Alea poisoned him. It wasn’t specifically to protect against her, but he felt he needed some precautions. He’d been poisoned without even noticing it, and there wasn’t much he could do about it after the fact.

Unfortunately, pills that gave immunity to most poisons were extremely expensive. What he swallowed instead was actually a mild poison. It gave similar effects to food poisoning, but that wasn’t why he took it.

The poison also had the effect that it blocked up his pores, essentially stopping most poison to enter through the air or touch. It was a much cheaper alternative to the antidotes and a popular addition to most wandering cultivator’s survival kits.

“I’d rather get poisoned than eat that,” Thea said with disgust, instead taking out a hazmat suit.

Zac looked upon it with interest. It looked like it was made before the integration, but someone had added rudimentary inscriptions to it. It was clear that the Marhsall Clan hadn’t been idle, but rather making inroads in all sorts of things.

“Prototype Hazmat suit,” Thea said with some pride after seeing Zac’s gaze. “The fractals protect against tears and makes the material even less porous. It stops most particles from passing through. It was made by our re

A second later they saw a figure slowly approach them. However, it’s appearance was a bit unexpected, making Zac slightly lower his guard. It was a run-down golem that was currently carrying a bucket of water and a pair of shears.

“Hello? Do you live here?” Zac hesitantly asked.

However, the golem completely ignored the two until it sat down some distance from them and started tending a hedge. Zac and Thea observed it for a bit longer and tried various means to communicate with it. However, the golem completely ignored them while it tended to its task with great meticulousness.

“I don’t think it’s sapient,” Thea hesitantly said after they had observed its actions for a bit longer.

“Might be like a servant robot or something?” Zac agreed. “That would explain why the place still looks nice.”

“Yeah, but that might mean there are guard robots as well,” Thea said with a frown. “Are you in condition to fight?”

“Not at full force for the time being,” Zac admitted. “But as long as any defenders aren’t past early E-Grade I’ll be able to handle it.”

“Monster,” Thea muttered in annoyance.

Even though there were golems working in the garden they didn’t stop. The enticement of ancient Spiritual Herbs was just too big to ignore. Luckily they were completely unaccosted as they walked into the palace, with the golems actually bowing and moving out of the way as they passed.

The insides were well-tended as well, with well-oiled furniture and potted flowers creating a cozy atmosphere. Zac’s fingers started to itch when he saw all the high-quality furniture and decorations. But next his eyes hesitantly switched to a golem that was currently sweeping the floor.

“Do you think the golems would care if I took the furniture?” Zac said.

“The furniture? Why would you want that?” Thea asked with confusion. “When John and I checked the last mountain they barely had any value.”

“Well, I still haven’t decorated my place,” Zac said, drawing a raised brow from Thea. ”I mean I’ve been busy with closing incursions and stuff.”

“I don’t think it’s worth risking getting hounded by a bunch of robots so that you can get a new ottoman for your guest room,” Thea said with a shake of her head.

“I’ll just pick them up on the way out,” Zac muttered under his breath. “Rich people don’t know how to be thrifty.”

“Robbing someone’s home is being thrifty?” Thea snorted. “And last time I checked you’ve been in the first spot of the Wealth ladder since day one, no matter how much you spent at the Auction. We know for a fact that Thomas Fischer held over 100 million Nexus coins for a brief moment, but even that wasn’t enough to overtake you.”

Zac looked over surprised. One hundred million coins weren’t peanuts, and it was pretty impressive that the Government Leader managed to get a hold of that much.

“How do you know that?” Zac asked curiously.

“Spies and having people keeping constant watch of the ladders,” Thea said with a shrug as she walked through a doorway into a large dining area. “The government mapped out everyone's wealth by increasing Thomas’ wealth incrementally a few days after the Auction. Of course, you’re an exception since they couldn’t pass your wealth.”

“That’s a pretty smart idea,” Zac said with praise.

“It doesn’t work with factions like my family or a few of the other independent established forces. We spread out our Nexus Coins, apart from Grandpa who decided to put himself at the top ten of the Wealth ladder as a show of strength,” Thea added she looked around for any hidden compartments or treasures.

“Wait, another array,” Thea suddenly said as she stopped in front of a nondescript door.

Zac curiously walked over, trying to gain any insight from what might be inside from the door, but it truly looked just like any other door in this place. They had opened a few of them and most were just guest rooms or even empty.

“Can you see what type?” Zac asked as he looked at it.

“Pure defensive shield, we need to find the weak spots in order to-“ Thea started explaining, but was interrupted by Zac punching the shield with enough force to kill an elephant, causing some tremors in the building.

The array cracked like a mirror, giving the two access to the room within.

"You fool, what if you alert all the golems?" Thea said as she agitatedly looked around, the air around her humming.

Zac noticed the odd phenomenon and remembered his and Ogras' discussions about Thea's weapon. There was likely some sort of daggers swiveling around her at all times, providing both offense and defense at any time. It was worth remembering, as that meant he could be attacked at moment's notice, though Zac doubted Thea would do something like that from their interactions.

“It worked didn’t it?” Zac said with a small smile and pushed open the door.

However, he didn’t step inside, and instead only looked at the room with a gaping mouth. Thea walked up next to him and her face soon mirrored his own.

“Jackpot!”