The construction of the new Golden Road was finally on its way. Rebornian Engineers had already fixed the crevices and cracks on the ground, reinforcing it with steel bars to make sure that it wouldn't get destroyed by another earthquake again.
If anyone visited Neo Orcus at this time, they would see nothing but big trucks filled with rolling cement coming in and out of the town every single day.
The only thing they needed to do now was to pour liquid concrete onto the ground and use a little bit of magic to quicken their hardening process.
Michael helped a lot with this. Sheina and Umisu ended up finding out about the thieves incident a few days ago and were immediately angry at Michael and Fudge. They were talking about having a Dragonborn always present with him at all times as a precaution, so Michael had to escape from that conversation quickly.
"Master! Master! Good news!"
As Michael finished pouring cement into the ground, Fudge suddenly jumped out of his shadow and landed on his head.
"What is it? Did you find the tomb?" he asked the ninja slime.
"Yes, we did!" replied the excited Fudge. "Fufu…nothing could be hidden in the shadows with us around."
Michael conjured a ball of water in his hands and washed off all the dirt and cement in his hands.
"Show me," he said.
Michael and Fudge both descended into the shadows, leaving the Rebornian Construction workers to their jobs.
As the two ascended from the shadows, Michael was immediately greeted with the sight of overgrown vines and moist grass all around him. It felt like he was in an Amazonian jungle, with twenty-foot pythons lurking about in the wilderness.
Aside from the obvious change in scenery, Michael observed the raucous mumblings echoing all around him.
It didn't take a second for him to know that those were people talking to themselves, trying to keep their presence as small as possible.
Michael and Fudge peeked around the tree and saw middle-aged men with scars around their bodies and their faces, wearing parts missing metal armor and a semi-decent weapon.
They were giving off a hostile aura, something that didn't welcome any ridicule or disrespect.
They were adventurers!
And like most adventurers that Michael saw in anime, these people weren't that well-off with regard to money. Despite the obvious dangers and risks that their jobs entailed, the clothes and armor they were wearing were severely below standard. It looked like something they just whipped up from a scrap yard.
These adventurers were grouped up, some with many members totaling up to twenty, while some only had three to five in their midst.
Michael sensed the Life mana in the area and judged that there must have been about a hundred adventurers here right now.
There was only one thing that would tempt an adventurer into a nondescript part of a jungle, and that was none other than treasure!
They must have also heard about the tomb.
Why are they all still here? Michael thought to himself. The treasure is first come first serve, so why are they not out there adventuring?
Michael even saw a few groups camped out with full beds and tents set up on the outskirts of the jungle. And by the looks of it, they had been here for a couple of days as well.
He wanted nothing more than to simply just walk right over to them and ask this question, but he knew that having an eleven-year-old boy coming out of the jungle alone would raise some red flags to the cautious adventurers.
Michael planned to show himself with the Dragonborns and some of the Rebornians later, but for now, he had to stay in the shadows.
"Fudge, did you find out anything about the tomb? Has anyone entered it, or even found it at this point?"
The ninja slime grabbed Michael's head and moved it in the direction of a large group of 'adventurers' on the far left.
Michael hesitated to call them adventurers because of their decent attire. This group of twenty-something people were practically shining in the middle of the jungle with their full metal armor gleaming in the sunlight.
"Master, I heard that nobody wants to enter the tomb for now because it's filled with a lot of deadly traps. The first few groups that entered never returned, only leaving behind corpses for the next group to stumble upon."
"And how did you find that out?"
Fudge pointed upwards, towards the crown of the tree putting shade on the large group.
There, Michael saw a large Orcanine Orc just hanging on the branches, looking down on the group using no effort to hide himself.
Michael slapped his own forehead. "I don't even know what a ninja is anymore…"
"Hm? We are the exemplary specimen, master!" Find more to read on My Virtual Library Empire
"Anyway," Michael sighed. "Who is this group? And why are they being the subject of all the gossip and whisperings from the other adventurers?"
"They seem to be part of HammerStone company, Master. I don't know much about them, but from what I could piece together from the other adventurers, they are on some sort of ranking or whatever. Golden…"
"Golden 500."
"Yeah, Golden 500! I heard they are ranked 495th, meaning that they have the best chance of breaking through the tomb and reaching the inheritance. At least, that's what I've heard."
Michael didn't know much about this company, but he knew that he wanted to someday break through this Golden 500 ranking.
He would have to ask more from Jimmy or Yuna if they knew more about this HammerStone company.
For now, Michael had to go back.
But just as he was about to descend back into the shadows, he heard a faint sound coming from the jungle.
"Haaa! Haaa! Help!"
A haggard adventurer with his entire lower leg turned into nothing but red flesh came rushing out towards the group of adventurers.
"Legs! We need Leggings!" he screamed, before eventually collapsing into the ground.