Today was the second team's day to excavate.
Alka arrived early, aboard the pirate ship behind them.
He needed to think about what to do with the ship.
Using it themselves was obviously out of the question; they didn't have the necessary personnel, nor did they have the need.
And to be honest, they were somewhat disdainful of the ship; it was too small. The spells on board were ordinary, unremarkable.
The pirate ship had already been plundered of its supplies.
"Why not sell it? Sell it to the people in town. This ship looks much better than the two they're using," Juanlu suggested after some thought.
Alka nodded; the idea seemed sound.
"Okay, let's try it later."
Because Baraz might be arriving on the island these days, Jason didn't join the team in excavating the ruins, but waited in the town.
After breakfast, he and a few others towed the pirate ship to the town's harbor.
"Iwaki, you two are here today. It's been a while since we last met."
As soon as Jason disembarked, he headed straight for the two hunters guarding the harbor.
Judging by their familiarity, it was clear they'd known each other for a while.
Or rather, Jason knew almost all of the hunters in the town, or even knew them well.
"Are you familiar with that pirate group? If possible, Jason, I advise you to keep your distance from them," the hunter known as Iwaki whispered in Jason's ear.
Hearing this, Jason smiled and shook his head.
"No, we're not helping him. That pirate ship belongs to us now."
"Yours?" Iwaki asked, puzzled.
Then something seemed to occur to him. "That's right. Those pirates seem quite interested in you. Did they attack you?"
After all, Alka and his companions had been here for quite some time, and everyone in town with some power knew of their existence.
Thanks to Jason and Alka's frequent assistance, their relationship was quite good.
You could even say they were benefactors.
Because Alka and his companions had gifted the mayor with a more detailed map of the island.
Because of this gift,
they were quite well-regarded in the town.
Especially for the hunters, that map was a life-saving aid.
"Yes, they were blindly attacking us yesterday, but they were clearly no match," Jason said with a smile, patting Iwamu in front of him.
Iwamu nodded with a gloating look.
The pirates being attacked and eliminated was something that almost all orderly forces were very happy to see.
Although their town only had a few thousand people, the pirates didn't dare attack because some of their people were quite powerful.
Otherwise, they would have been destroyed by the pirates long ago. Furthermore, it wasn't like the town hadn't fought foreign pirates before.
Therefore, no one had a favorable impression of pirates. Even though the pirates had behaved politely and civilly when they arrived on the island.
"So, are you interested in taking over this ship? After all, we're not many, and we can't operate two ships.
" Jason smiled and said, "Since we're all friends, I'll give you a discount."
"You're going to sell this ship to us?" Iwaki was a little surprised.
In a world like this, good ships are always in short supply. In this chaotic sea, with more ships built and more destroyed, the demand naturally increases.
Not to mention that the pirate ship was definitely a spell ship, capable of long-distance voyages.
Neither of the two ships on their island were particularly good, and even long-distance voyages carried certain risks.
This was truly unsafe.
Even so, the two ships were well-maintained.
There was no other way.
They were too few in number, and there were no channels to obtain good ships.
The only specialty of their island was relatively good spell materials.
But after all, the town's population was small, and hunters couldn't go hunting frequently.
Each hunt yielded only a limited amount of materials, and the supply wasn't stable.
Only Baraz would occasionally come to purchase them.
Even the two ships were actually given to them by an islander who had made a fortune outside.
Now that they had the opportunity to acquire a better ship, they were naturally willing to take it.
"Okay, no problem. You wait here while I go find the mayor."
With that, Iwaki strode toward the town, while his teammates beside him, smiling, began to greet Alka and the others.
A moment later, the mayor arrived, followed by several hunters.
Looking at Alka, he smiled and embraced him.
"Friend, you've brought me good news again."
Among the hunters following him was Shiraishi, who waved to Alka and the others.
"It's called helping each other. Now, let's take a look at this ship. Does it suit your tastes?" Alka said, leading the mayor to the pirate ship's dock.
Looking at the pirate ship, the mayor didn't ask any further questions.
Instead, he circled the shore, surveying it, and then asked, "Do you mind if I come aboard?"
"Of course, of course I don't mind."
As they boarded the ship... The scene aboard the ship was somewhat surprising to the mayor.
Aside from the lack of sails, the ship was surprisingly clean, showing no signs of battle.
Even the inscriptions on it were intact.
The mayor had received news of a battle on the island yesterday, and he presumed it was Alka and his men battling the pirates.
The island was so small, and there were only a few strangers.
Logically, the ship should have been captured only yesterday, and the pirates wouldn't have simply surrendered to their capture.
The ship should have shown numerous signs of battle, and there would undoubtedly have been some damage.
He had come up to see the price because he hoped to bargain.
After all, they didn't have much property.
Every bit of property was extremely valuable.
But the problem was, this ship looked like new.
The mayor scratched his head, bewildered, and looked at a hunter nearby.
The hunter shook his head, somewhat bewildered.
Forget it, let's see if there are any hidden dangers.
The mayor said this with a mixture of joy and regret.
He led his men to conduct a thorough inspection of the ship.
Arka and the others were unhurried, chatting idly with Bai Shi, quietly waiting.
Fortunately, he and Simon had repaired the ship yesterday. With the treasure in his possession, Simon was surprisingly quick at manipulating the constructs to repair the ship.
Mainly because the spells on this pirate ship were not complex, and the forging technology was not difficult.
Not to mention, thanks to Simon and Jason's deliberate efforts, the ship had sustained very little damage.
The spells were only damaged at key points, which they could simply re-carve. The damage was only to the rudder, which they could also repair.
The main coupling structure was flawless. Aside from the burned sails, which couldn't be quickly recovered, everything else was almost completely repaired.
They even had time to clean and maintain the boat, making it look even better.
Sell it for a higher price.
These were the skills they'd learned day after day from maintaining the Voice of the Dawn.
Compared to the Voice of the Dawn, maintaining this boat was child's play.
After all, it was never too much to treat one's own daughter with care.
"I have to say, this boat exceeded my expectations. How much are you going to pay?" the mayor said helplessly, approaching.
Hearing this, a smile broke out on Alka's face.
After talking with Balazs, they had a good idea of the surrounding prices.
Because long-distance voyages in the Infinite Ocean demanded high standards, ordinary boats were practically nonexistent.
Aside from the fishing boats that operated offshore.
Starting with a spellship, and with the high magic power here, materials for crafting spellships are practically plentiful.
As a result, spellships here are significantly cheaper than those in the Home Sea.
The most common, low-level commercial spellships are only capable of patrolling the waters around islands and are extremely limited in their ability to sail far. Without any weapons, they typically cost only around 200 gold sails.
Of course, this is only standard for the Infinite Sea; the sea conditions in the Four Gods' waters are far less severe.
The pirate ship they possessed boasted a gun deck with 24 cannons, and these weapons were quite expensive.
However, they had no idea how much these rock-shaking cannons cost, as they had never seen such a model before.
Clearly, they were unique to the Infinite Sea.
Furthermore, the ship's size and construction clearly exceeded common standards, built to the standards of a warship.
So they simply used the price of a standard warship spell ship. Warships, due to different requirements, are naturally smaller than merchant ships.
This ship was clearly a mid-range vessel.
After all, it was over 40 meters long and had the required number of cannons.
Fully loaded with weapons and ammunition, a ship built to warship standards would have a market price of around 1,500 gold sails, excluding second-hand and pirate ship prices.
"1,200 gold sails, using spell materials of equivalent value."
Upon hearing Alka's price, the mayor immediately shook his head.
"No, no, that's too expensive. This ship is clearly not worth that much."
"It has no sails, and it's quite old. We'll need to replace some materials soon after we get it, not to mention it's a pirate ship, so 800 gold sails is the maximum."
"800? How can that be? It's too little. There's no way we can get it at that price."
The two of them haggled back and forth.
The others, surprised then accustomed to it, finally returned to their own conversations, ignoring the two.
"How about this, we each compromise: 600 gold sails, settled with your materials. But you have to let me and a friend see your totem technology."
Alka stated his request.
Hearing this, the mayor waved his hand without hesitation. There was no way he was going to let outsiders see the island's core technology.
"Impossible, don't even think about it."
"I can swear to our respective gods that this will only be seen by the two of us, and will never be passed on to outsiders in any way."
In this world where gods truly exist, swearing an oath to a god is truly worthy of respect.
Breaking an oath will definitely not end well, let alone against a god they each believe in.
Even if it were possible to circumvent the oath, it wasn't something they had the means to do right now.
Hearing this, the mayor fell silent.
He couldn't help but ponder.
He knew Alka's faith in the Virgin Mary; he could tell.
After a moment's reflection, he said, "For the materials of 500 gold sails, I'll grant your request."
After all, their totem technology wasn't that great, and many factions, both large and small, had similar methods.
Alka was simply interested. He had a certain hobby of collecting technology, and he wanted to use it on his puppets.
It was clearly far superior to the spell-carving technique he was currently using. Now was a good time.
"Deal."
It was only a few hundred gold sails, worth it. After all the treasure they had mined on the island for so long, a careful calculation had yielded them around 600 gold sails.
The two men shook hands vigorously.
The mayor then spoke to the hunters beside him.
Then he turned to Alka, "Do you have any requirements for the materials?"
"No requirements. I'll take a little of each."
The mayor nodded. "That's fine. We'll deliver the materials you need later."
"Okay, the ship is yours. Here's the spell control code." Alka handed him the crystal piece.
The command reconstructed through the key connection points last night served as the control center for a spell ship, similar to a car key fob.
Without this, you'll need a sufficient crew to sail, and you'll only be able to sail a sturdier, ordinary vessel.
Because the spell on the ship is locked.
The deal was officially concluded, and everyone was happy as they departed the pirate ship.
He was now a member of Broken Town.
Jason, standing nearby, curiously asked the mayor, "Why hasn't Baraz arrived this time? Has he ever had this happen before?"
Alka and the others were planning to travel with Baraz to Southern Cross Island.
Hearing this question, the mayor's expression grew serious. "It's happened before, but rarely like this."
To be honest, he was a little worried.
He was always worried.
It wasn't because he and Baraz had a close relationship.
If anything unexpected happened to Baraz, he'd have to find a new partner.
That wouldn't be easy, given the lack of trust between the two sides. Baraz and the others have been working together for a long time; a good partner is rare.
In another day or two, it will be over 50 days and nights.
"I heard you're preparing to leave?" Shiraishi suddenly asked, walking behind.
He had recently heard Jason mention this.
Alka nodded; he certainly thought so.
Most of the crew members on board had already met the requirements. Since Juanlu and Jason didn't have any treasures, the others didn't have much of a solution.
"Yes, it's coming soon."
"Then you better hurry. We'll be leaving the island chain in just over ten days, and these ten days are the best time," the mayor said beside him, hearing his words.
Basically, every 60 days and nights constitutes a cycle, and of those 60 days and nights, only 15 will reconnect the island chain with the Southern Cross.
This equates to 15 days out of 60 being the optimal time for both leaving and returning to the island.
These 15 days typically fall within the final period of the cycle, subject to some fluctuation and not guaranteed accuracy.
This time, it's between 45 and 60 days and nights, with Baraz typically arriving within the first five.
This provides ample time to trade goods, respond to unexpected situations, and ensure departure from the island within a reasonable timeframe.
"Ten more days and nights?" Alka muttered to himself.
It was indeed a bit urgent; if he missed it, he'd have to wait until the next time.
After parting with the mayor and the others, Alka looked at the map in his hand, wondering how many days remained.
map points.
After a moment's thought, he crossed out some white dots, leaving only the accessible blue dots and a few adjacent white dots.
"Let's excavate these points in the last few days, then we'll be ready to leave."
Jason peeked over and nodded.
Unknowingly, they had already excavated so many ruins.
To be honest.
He felt that his excavation skills had reached perfection.
…
Ten days and nights passed quickly, neither long nor short.
In the final days, Alka and Simon met with the mayor to learn about their totem technology and swore an oath.
After taking the oath, Alka felt a strange feeling, as if it were binding him.
Whenever he tried to share these techniques with others, the constraints would remind him that if he persisted, he would be punished.
It seemed that in this world of gods, any oath related to the gods was taken very seriously.
It couldn't stand any jokes.
As the last blue dot was cleared,
Arka looked at the map in his hand.
Compared to the once densely packed dots, it was now much emptier.
These vast expanses of emptiness were the fruit of their efforts.
Unfortunately, they didn't have the power to clear all the dots.
Only a few blue dots and some white dots remained, scattered about.
And that incredibly bright, unsettling orange beam.
During this time, Arka had also discovered the presence of fame on many of the blue and white dots.
It wasn't just the orange beam that had fame.
This means that someone still remembers this unknown civilization from 30,000 years ago, someone still has memories of them, and some tribe still has records of this civilization.
Alka had almost deduced some information.
The reason they couldn't obtain the remaining three golden treasures was most likely because they were still trapped in an alien dimension.
The shattered island beneath their feet was merely a fragment separated from that dimension.
This was also why the orange treasure was needed to save their tribe.
Because only the orange treasure could unlock it.
The ship was about to set sail for the Southern Cross.
Otherwise, they would miss their final chance.
Xadaiti approached and observed Alka staring at the map.
She smiled and said, "Why? Is there any treasure on this island that you wouldn't want to leave?"
Alka nodded. "Indeed, there is."
"Really?" Sofia had only been joking; she hadn't expected it to be real.
"Then why don't you go find it?"
"Because it's impossible to get it. There are requirements, requirements that you might never be able to fulfill in this lifetime."
Hearing this, Sofia's eyes filled with curiosity.
Requirements that you might never be able to fulfill in this lifetime?
"Four corresponding Holy Grail treasures."
"Four... four treasures? And corresponding ones?"
Sofia's tone was a little surprised; this request was nothing short of exaggerated.
"What kind of treasure do you want... Could it be..." Sofia's eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
Alka saw her expression and smiled and nodded.
"Yes, it's just as you thought."
"A Scepter-level treasure."