Transmigrated as a Ghost

With both of his hands on either side of the treasure chest's lid, Marcus flung the box open with a dramatic movement and revealed what was inside.

Just taking a glance Marcus could see a number of valuable items from skill orbs to potions.

However, two items caught his eyes immediately.

On of these items was something he had been trying to get ahold of for quite some time, an adamantine bar that he could use to make powerful items.

But what had attracted his attention even more, was a small box that had a faint golden glow coming from inside it.

With excitement rising at what he believed to be in the box, Marcus reached in and opened it revealing the item he wanted to see.

'A unique skill orb!'

Marcus could not help but be astounded, unique skill orbs were the jackpots of dungeon treasure chests and only very rarely found.

Yet here one was, and now it made sense why this chest was so small, since this single orb was valuable enough to start a small war over.

Unfortunately, this left Marcus in a precarious situation. The next most valuable item was certainly the bar of adamantine which was also incredibly hard to get ahold of and something he had been vehemently searching for.

Nevertheless, unique skill orbs were far too valuable to pass up, and being the first one to get to choose, Marcus reached in and took it much to Treasa and Jarek's dismay.

With the skill orb in hand Marcus activated it an received the message asking if he wanted to learn the skill within.

'Would you like to learn the unique skill: Peerless Physique.'

Clicking his tongue Marcus was a bit upset that this skill was pretty much useless to him.

Its description stated that it adjusted the user's muscles, bones, blood flow, and other bodily aspects to bringing their body beyond its natural limits.

Luckily Marcus soon realized that this passive unique skill was perfect for Lilia.

She was more of a brawler than anything else, and this would increase all of her physical abilities bringing her to a new level of physical prowess.

Taking the unique skill orb, Marcus stored it away into his item box and stepped back away from the chest stunning both Treasa and Jarek.

They had except to watch the skill orb disappear as Marcus learned the skill, but instead he had stored it away.

This was pretty much unfathomable since no sane person would ever not learn a unique skill themselves.

"Irene are you okay. Why are you not using that unique skill orb?" Treasa asked in a concerned manner.

Shrugging his shoulders Marcus just responded saying, "It is not really that useful for me and I already have enough unique skills, so I plan to give it to my little sister."

Hearing this Treasa and Jarek, were flabbergasted.

Marcus wanted to give a unique skill orb away to someone else.

Even if it was not good for him, he still could have presented it to the kingdom and received a fortune in rewards.

Yet he was just planning to give it over to his little sister.

However, Treasa after thinking about it could understand, she herself had a little brother and if she could not use a unique skill, she would probably give it to him to help keep him safe.

"Well, Jarek you are up next go ahead and choose."

Coming out of his daze after hearing Marcus' words, Jarek looked towards the chest and walked over to it. 

He of course noticed the large bar of adamantine that was sitting on top of two dozen mithril ingots which was likely the most valuable thing left, but there were also six regular skill orbs which he checked first just in case an incredibly rare skill was among them.

In fact, he found one orb that did interest him but it still was not more valuable than just taking the bar of adamantine.

Seeing that Jarek had taken the bar of adamantine, Marcus felt a bit regretful but he knew when he took the unique skill orb, he would not get the adamantine bar.

Next Treasa went up and began looking through the items before pulling out a large vial of rainbow-colored liquid Marcus recognized.

It was a stat increasing draught like the ones he had found after wining the monster festival, however, this one was much larger and more refined looking.

Luckily while that would normally be a premium item for most people, Marcus had access to a large supply of natural treasures from the intelligent beast's domain and did not even need them himself.

Walking up to the chest Marcus turned towards the skill orbs and checked what they were.

'Dancing, enhanced vision, magic circulation, steel body, chant shortening, and a small item box.'

Picking up each of the skill orbs, Marcus was pretty happy to find that some of them were useful skills.

Unfortunately, skill orbs were just less useful for him than most people since he could just purchase skills anyway, but if he could save a few skill points that was fine.

Taking the only really useful skill for him, Marcus picked up enhanced vision and learned it right away.

Immediately he could see a bit better and could almost zoom in and out a bit to focus on things that were far away.

Satisfied with his new skill Marcus walked back away from the chest allowing for Jarek to take his turn.

The rounds of taking one item after the other continued with Jarek and Treasa focusing more on the stat boosting items and Marcus completely ignoring them.

This surprised Treasa and Jarek a bit, but they quickly realized Marcus must have been confident in getting such items himself and wanted to prioritize what the other items.

In the end Marcus obtained the chant shortening and dancing skill orbs, a piece of wood from some type of rare tree that absorbed mana impeccably well, fourteen of the mithril ingots, a number of high tier elemental crystals as good or better than the ones he had obtained from the demon's treasury, and he had also managed to get the elder magma elemental's magic core.

All in all, it was quite the haul for all of them but in Marcus' opinion he made out pretty good.

The only things he was sad to not get were the bar of adamantine and the small item box skill orb, but neither one was truly crucial.

It certainly would have been nice to give Lilia and item box, but he had snagged her a unique skill and chant shortening so he was satisfied.

And on his end, he got some more materials to work with as well as a useful new skill, and while having the adamantine would have been nice, there were ways he could get some later.

'Worst case scenario, I may have to take some time and just float through the ground looking for a deposit of ore.'

With everyone having taken what they wanted from the treasure chest, the three allies went back over to their camp and started on making a special victory dinner.

Each of them had allocated a bit of space in their storages for brining fine ingredients to make a delicious meal to celebrate their victory if they beat the dungeon boss.

First up Jarek took out something incredibly interesting especially to Marcus. "This is the finest bottle of wine I hav,e that was made in the vineyards of the Kingdom of Taglia on the southern end of the continent, where unlike here the weather is always warm and farms abound the land." 

Looking at the bottle Marcus was amazed by the workmanship of it as well as the beautiful color of the white wine.

However, what interested him the most was that this bottle had come from a far-off kingdom he did not know anything about.

Truthfully Marcus had not spent much time studying the geography of the area he was in, and other than the name of the kingdom directly to the south of Borealia, he did not know much about the world outside the first kingdom he had found himself in.

"Jarek, do you mean to tell me that you have been to this far off kingdom?" Marcus asked inquisitively.

Taking a minute to think about it Jarek seemed to be a bit conflicted about what to say but in the end decided to just tell the truth. "Normally you would not find out about this until you reach the mithril rank but seeing as you are likely to get there soon anyways, I might as well tell you. I am sure you know that the adventures guild is not just an organization in this kingdom right."

Nodding his head Marcus was pretty sure he had heard about that somewhere though he could not remember where exactly.

"Well, the exact number of kingdoms that the adventure's guild is established in is sixty-eight kingdoms across five continents plus its own autonomous area where the main headquarters are. And in each of the kingdoms' main guild hall, there is a teleportation circle that allows for movement between the kingdoms. Of course, this function is heavily restricted and can only normally be used by mithril and adamantine ranked adventures. So, around two years ago, me and Dahlia accepted an emergency request to fight off a large monster outbreak in Taglia along with a bunch of other adventures and this wine bottle was something we picked up there."

Marcus was surprised to hear how much of a force the adventurers guild was to be reckoned with, and now realized that if it brought together all of its members it could probably overthrow a kingdom if it wanted to.

'I suppose there is still a lot I do not know about this world and the way it works. I have been focusing more on my personal growth but maybe it will soon be time for me to see what this world really has to offer.'

After listening to Jarek's information about the adventurers guild, they got back on track with making the delicious meal to commemorate their victory.

Treasa, actually took out a number of rare herbs and vegetables, some even being lower grade natural treasures.

But the one who brought out the most luxurious item was Marcus.

He had set aside some of the meat from the caladrius which was the epic grade beast he had killed.

The meat itself was practically glistening, and when the meal was ready and everyone took their first bite, the rich flavors that were beyond what could normally be experienced caused them all to begin eating in nearly a frenzy.

In fact, they quickly devoured the entire meal, leaving both Treasa and Jarek with bloated stomachs, though Marcus still looked exactly the same even though he had eaten the most.