"Sun Worm, fly in there..."
Ethan originally wanted the Sun Worm to fly into the stone coffin and test the situation, but after thinking about it again, he felt the Sun Worm was too expensive. If it got petrified, it would hurt too much.
So he immediately changed his mind.
"Forget it! Better not go in."
Then, just as Ethan was about to go outside and catch a goblin to test things out, he turned his head and saw Daji leisurely licking her paw nearby.
Along the way, Daji hadn't made any particularly special contributions.
But when it came to finding enemies that slipped through the net and stopping attackers that suddenly jumped out, she had done a lot.
The moment Ethan saw Daji, he immediately smiled and said, "Little Daji, come here for a second."
"Meow?"
Daji looked at Ethan with a puzzled expression.
But when she saw the look in Ethan's eyes, her sixth sense immediately started warning her like crazy that something was wrong with her master.
'Very wrong!'
"Little Daji, don't run!"
When Ethan saw Daji turning around to leave, he couldn't help laughing, "There's a statue inside with petrification abilities. I just want you to go in and take a look for me! Anyway, you're not afraid of being petrified, right?"
"Meow?!"
Daji's eyes were full of suspicion.
It was as if she was saying, 'Are you really being that straightforward?'
Ethan nodded firmly, "It's true. I'm definitely not lying to you!"
"Meow?"
Daji remained cautious.
Without hesitation, Ethan took out a large handful of spirit stones. Like a shady uncle luring a little girl, he grinned and said, "Help me go in and take a look, and these spirit stones are yours."
"If you run into danger, I'll give you extra spirit stones. How about it?"
Ethan smiled as he looked at Daji, whose eyes were already filled with desire.
Anyway, Daji was his pet. These spirit stones were meant for her to eat sooner or later. There was no way he would lose out. After all, if his pet leveled up, the one who benefited would still be him.
"Meow."
Daji nodded, then quickly jumped beside Ethan. With a swipe of her paw, the twenty-something spirit stones in Ethan's hand disappeared.
Ethan couldn't tell where Daji had hidden them.
But that didn't matter.
As long as Daji was willing to go, that was a good thing.
"Meow!"
After taking the spirit stones, Daji quickly jumped into the stone coffin.
The next second, Ethan stopped hearing any movement from Daji!
"Daji, if you can talk, answer me?"
But Ethan received no reply.
'As expected.'
That stone statue had more than two eyes. Good thing he had been careful enough, otherwise he'd already be finished.
Ethan silently swallowed, then said to Daji, "Daji, if possible, the moment you break free from petrification, quickly turn your head away. Don't look at the statue's eyes, understand?"
"..."
Daji still gave no response.
But Ethan had already realized how dangerous the stone coffin was, so he decided to continue using spatial gates to dig out every single eye on the Medusa statue.
"Level 2 Spatial Gate!"
"Collect!"
[Advanced Stone +1]
Ethan first tried the forehead area, but it seemed to have failed.
'Looks like there instead an eye on Medusa's forehead. Then where are the remaining eyes?'
'Could it be...'
'No way...'
'Holy crap!'
Ethan suddenly thought of something.
If Medusa had eyes anywhere else, could it be her hair?
Medusa's hair was made up entirely of snakes. If each snake had two eyes, then how many eyes would there be on a whole head full of snakes?
'No wonder Daji got petrified the moment she went in.'
The instant Ethan thought about how certain crazy artists really might do something like that, Only two words appeared in his mind.
'I'm rich!'
Then, based on the proportions of the statue, Ethan moved the Open Gate of the spatial gate above Medusa's head.
Then...
[Petrification Magic Stone (Fragment) +12]
'Just as expected.'
But judging from the Petrification Magic Stones he had obtained earlier, the snakes' eyes didn't seem to contain complete Petrification Magic Stones. They were only fragments.
'That Master June really was something.'
Unable to afford that many Petrification Magic Stones, she had simply broken one complete magic stone into pieces and embedded them into the snake heads one by one. It really wasn't a bad solution.
But Ethan only had one thing to say... That person deserved a thousand years in prison.
'Damn it! Medusa's two eyes are already enough to kill a whole bunch of people, and then you add all those snake eyes too. Were you planning not to stop until everyone was dead?'
[Petrification Magic Stone (Fragment): Leftover pieces or fragments of a Petrification Magic Stone. Less powerful than a complete Petrification Magic Stone, but still possesses a certain petrification effect.]
[PS: Although they are only fragments, Petrification Magic Stones not only have petrification properties but are also an important ingredient in many dark magic formulas, so the market is often unable to meet demand.]
'Oh?'
He had thought broken pieces wouldn't be worth much.
'Since they are valuable, everything else is easy.'
Ethan continued working.
He could collect treasure while leveling up his skill. Why wouldn't he do it?
[Spatial Gate: Experience 210/1000]
[Petrification Magic Stone (Fragment) +17]
[Spatial Gate: Experience 211/1000]
[Petrification Magic Stone (Fragment)...]
Open gate, collect. Open gate, collect.
Again and again.
Very soon, Ethan had already gathered over a hundred Petrification Magic Stone fragments, until he heard an angry cat cry coming from inside the stone coffin.
"Meowww!"
Only then was he certain that he had dug out every one of Medusa's eyeballs.
'Not bad.'
Whoosh!
Daji quickly jumped out of the stone coffin and glared at Ethan angrily.
The expression on her face seemed to be asking him, 'Didn't you say there was no danger? This is what you call no danger?'
"Hehe!"
Ethan picked up Daji in her fluffy cat form and gave her several rubs.
"Alright, don't be mad! At worst, I'll give you another big handful of spirit stones, okay?"
"Meowww!"
Daji let out an angry cry.
But perhaps the petting felt too comfortable. She slowly narrowed her eyes, and a happy purring sound came from her nose.
While Daji wasn't paying attention, Ethan placed her back into the stone coffin and said, "Good girl, I'm still not completely reassured. Why don't you check it one more time?"
"MEOW!"
Daji realized she had been tricked again and immediately cried out in anger.
But the moment she jumped out of the coffin again, Ethan was already waiting with a large pile of spirit stones. The expression on Daji's face instantly changed from gloomy to cheerful.
"Meow."
Daji happily swept her paw across Ethan's hand.
The next moment, the spirit stones in Ethan's hand disappeared once again.
However... Ethan had already achieved his goal.
Medusa was finally blind, and he could finally find the platinum treasure chest inside the stone coffin.
"Yah!"
Ethan gave the coffin lid a hard shove.
He pushed the entire lid open.
Only then did he finally get to see what kind of state he had reduced the artwork inside the stone coffin to.