The Voice of Dawn set out once again.
Galloping towards the direction they had decided on long ago.
In the captain's cabin, Alka sat quietly, studying the map in his hand by the bright light.
This map, drawn just a few days ago, was none other than the Isle of the Dead.
The map was painted with exceptional detail.
Yet, with a blink of an eye, Alka could see the entire island glowing red.
Simply put, there was treasure.
The good news: the treasure was a crown of the highest caliber.
The bad news: the treasure was an entire island.
So, when Alka broke through the fog and looked toward the island, he could see a circle of red light.
He reached out and tapped on the island.
Or perhaps, he tapped on the entire map.
[Island of No Rebirth]
[Difficulty: Those Unafraid of Death]
[Popularity: 0]
[Treasure Information: A certain divine power of death has merged into this island, a missing piece of the world's cycle.
This island controls a large group of those unable to rebirth, and they are the island's best proof of its existence.]
The treasure information is very vague, but it likely reveals some of the island's problems.
In short, it's likely that some power controlling the world's cycle, or a divine power, merged into the island with the destruction of the world.
This transformed the island into a crown-level treasure.
Just as Alka and the others had speculated.
Either the death of a god or the shattering of the world left some of the divine power behind.
Either they were found by those who discerned their value and crafted a perfect vessel to incorporate them.
Or they were left alone in uninhabited areas, perhaps unexpectedly merging with various objects.
At least they've seen it fused onto some tattered wooden signs, onto a tattered flag, onto a dagger-like fruit knife, and so on.
Now they can add another one.
It fused onto an entire island.
Perhaps only the Crown-class possess such an ability.
Although Alka couldn't quite grasp the true nature of this artifact's power, it was likely related to the afterlife.
The living undead on the island were likely bound to the island by some of the artifact's abilities.
However, seeing the difficulty of the artifact and the fact that it encompassed the entire island, Alka lost interest in acquiring it.
And there was almost no information about the treasure.
Alka had also investigated over the past few days.
Simply put, they were just pitiful people bound to the island.
They still prayed for others' release.
They had no idea what bound them; they had simply derived certain causes and principles from millennia of experience.
But this was meaningless.
Simply put, this object was beyond the reach of Alka and his companions. Knowing it was enough.
Rather than becoming the treasure of the entire island,
The true benefit for them lay in the materials within.
These plants, stones, and even the undead within them—they all truly lived within the treasures of the crown.
Alka, just as he was thinking, was interrupted.
Sofia, Lusilia, and the others entered and took their seats.
Lusilia, with a flash of her hand, dropped a massive book onto the table, and with both hands, she flipped open the book.
"According to the records, the materials the Vastva people acquired at the time were essentially obtained through exchanges with gods or related races that possessed death and similar powers.
In short, these materials aren't naturally found; they only grow in extremely specific areas.
Or perhaps they were artificially manufactured."
Lucelia was referring to the materials they had obtained from the island.
The materials on the island were essentially related to life, death, and the soul—exactly what they lacked.
After all, they grew on such a crown-level treasure, so it made sense.
"So we infer that the island must have something special. Why are you leaving so quickly?" Sofia asked curiously. This wasn't something Alka would do.
The others also looked at Alka curiously.
They had collected enough materials that morning and left without even delving further into the island's secrets.
Alka would never do such a thing. After they uploaded and searched for more information, they discovered many noteworthy details about the island.
‐‐Alka looked at them, thought for a moment, and said, "That entire island is a crown-level treasure."
‐‐Alka's sudden words stunned everyone.
‐‐Then they fell into deep thought.
‐‐"You mean that the island is a treasure?" Jason thought for a moment and repeated.
‐‐Alka nodded again, "Yes, the entire island is."
‐‐"That would explain why that island is so unique, and why so many deaths are missing around it," Julia said.
‐‐On the island, Julia continued to explore the surroundings more carefully.
‐‐She sensed that it wasn't that the death in that area was missing, but rather that the world was compensating for the death here, but that the death here was left elsewhere and then disappeared.
It now appears to have flowed into this island.
"So you've concluded that this island, or this treasure, is beyond our reach?"
"Indeed."
Then he stopped talking and turned his attention elsewhere.
As he spoke, Alka turned his gaze towards Lucelia and Simon. "Now that we have all the materials, are you ready?"
Lucelia nodded. "No problem, I've been preparing."
Simon also nodded. "We've already started forging the vessel. It shouldn't take long."
With the materials complete, they naturally began working on the items they had already prepared.
First, they would forge a vessel to temporarily store Lucelia's power.
Then they would smelt her treasure, extracting the appropriate materials to forge something more suitable for her.
Better materials and a more suitable appearance might allow Lucelia to obtain a more suitable treasure.
Both Lucelia's treasure and her actual body were completely obsolete.
Lucelia's treasure was originally a tattered flag infused with divine essence. Lucelia's soul puppet was crafted during her time in the Home Sea.
Bound to the treasure, she gained the ability to increase her strength.
But fundamentally, the change wasn't significant.
Both had problems, limiting Lucelia's power gains.
Lucelia, who should have been keeping up with the main force, had been slowed down, now even the weakest on the ship.
Even Juanlu and Matresa were one or two spirals stronger than her.
After obtaining the two treasures, the two had been rapidly increasing their strength, catching up quickly.
Others were three or four, or even seven or eight, stronger.
Alka was even more than ten.
If they didn't change, they would only be further delayed, especially as the Magic Gathering Stone was undergoing specialized transformation.
It also prevented her from possibly acquiring more treasures.
Based on Lucelia's current situation, Alka, Lucelia herself, Simon, and Mathilda—the four of them—had come up with a more detailed and improved plan.
This was practically the best plan they could come up with. Now that they had the materials, they had to implement it. They also needed to refine the plan based on the materials they obtained to achieve perfection.
After all, this depended on Lucelia's future.
"Okay, then, let's get ready and begin."
...
About a week passed.
All preparations were complete.
Everyone gathered on the deck. Something like this should have happened in space, but the magic concentration there was not very high.
It wasn't suitable for such an operation.
Under everyone's gaze, Lucelia stood beneath a large tree. "Are you ready?" Alka asked, looking at Lucelia.
Lucilleia nodded.
Seeing Lucelia nod, Alka reached out and held out a round, spherical object, made of something unknown, which Alka pressed into the tree.
Then Lucelia's soul floated out, and her body instantly transformed into a puppet.
The treasure's flag also remained within her body, and the puppet's power remained the same as Lucelia's.
The problem was that they were going to destroy the flag and extract the divinity within, which would likely sever the connection to the flag within a short period of time.
This would cause the power in Lucelia's puppet to quickly dissipate.
Even if Alka and the others had already forged the treasure, the moment the divinity separated, it would merge with the treasure, allowing Lucelia to regain control.
But that would also likely dissipate a significant portion of their strength, which was acquired over a considerable amount of time.
Therefore, a method was needed to preserve their strength for a certain period of time.
This would also allow for the creation of more suitable treasures, and even produce superior designs.
The puppet was swallowed by the tree before everyone's eyes. Then, a massive surge of energy surged through the tree. The entire tree radiated an extremely bright light, imbued with an incredible amount of magical power.
After all, that was a full four stages of magical power, flowing through a single branch, and then a crystal-like crystal grew.
Nearby, Urulius could be seen presiding over a ritual, but it wasn't the puppet girl who was assisting.
Instead, it was Sofia and the others, as all the puppet girls were now comatose.
As the ritual progressed, all the magical power flowed smoothly from the tree into the crystal, and the entire crystal fully formed, like a fruit. A massive magic crystal the size of a head, its magical power surging with a terrifying intensity.
Simon immediately grabbed a massive magic battery nearby, but it was empty.
The crystal instantly fell, landing directly inside the empty battery, which Simon then immediately sealed.
The crystal floated within the empty battery, its magical power securely stored within.
Arka looked at Lucelia's soul nearby.
Lucelia's soul was now the size of a normal human. A flag floated from her body.
Arka took it and vanished with the flag, entering a dream.
Once inside, he immediately left his dream bubble and approached the furnace.
Shadow Robe, who had been waiting there for a long time, took the flag.
"What a... crude combination," he grumbled, then controlled the flag and tossed it into the molten flames.
"How long will it take?" Alka asked from the side.
"A very crude combination, only three days."
Shadow Robe's words were reassuring.
Alka nodded, vanished from the spot, and returned to the outside world.
Lucille had already slipped back into Alka's body.
He emerged from his chest with his head. "It's been a while since I've had such a magical experience. Hahaha, I kind of miss it."
He sank his head back in. Then, spirit-like hands emerged from Alka's armpits.
Alka instantly transformed into four arms.
"Matlisa, look!"
Watching this, Matlisa couldn't help but smile.
Then he burst into laughter.
Alka rolled her eyes helplessly, turned her attention to Simon, and asked, "How are the puppet girls?"
"No problem, it's been taken care of."
"Now we have some work to do. First, we'll create the new body plan for Lucelia that we designed earlier.
Then we'll begin to make the components for the puppet girls."
Simon nodded, and soon Matresa joined them. Only Lucelia had to stay inside Alka's body to carry out some of the work.
Only four people on the entire ship began to work frantically. Even if the others wanted to help, they had no idea how to start, after all, they couldn't even understand what was going on.
This busyness continued until the third day.
Until the divine essence was separated.
Now was the most important thing.
Everyone gathered on the deck once again. In addition to Alka and the others, Urulius, along with Sofia, Julia, and the others, conducted another ritual nearby.
The deck had now become a stable realm of souls.
The crystal containing Lusilia's power floated in the air, next to a divine essence.
Besides these two, another carrier of the divine essence was located on the other side.
It was a higher-level soul puppet.
What was striking was the round hole in the center of the puppet.
This time, the puppet looked more like... a corpse, or perhaps a fetus.
"Begin!"
With Alka's voice, Lusilia's soul emerged from his body.
The soul, having emerged, entered directly where the puppet was.
However, the puppet's appearance remained unchanged, remaining the ordinary, unremarkable white puppet.
Watching the scene unfold. Alka controlled the divine essence and the puppet to merge into one.
They abandoned symbolism in favor of pragmatism, adopting a treasure image more suited to Lucilia.
As the treasure merged, fine red lines began to appear on the blank puppet, spreading across the entirety of the puppet.
As the red lines spread, it felt as if blood were flowing through the puppet.
Then the blood transformed into veins, bringing forth more flesh.
Watching this scene, Alka smiled. As expected.
In fact, the puppet held even greater symbolic significance than the flag.
The true divine essence in the bloody team flag was more symbolic of connection and flesh, not the team's flag.
The divine essence was not a realm of war, but rather a realm of flesh and life.
It symbolized the connection and transmission between flesh and life.
This is why the main body's strength can be shared with other beings, allowing them to rapidly improve.
Correspondingly, the main body has complete control over the split.
The flesh and blood began to adhere to each other, and then the entire figure became a combination of muscles, blood vessels, and mucous membranes.
It formed into a fleshy mass, looking slightly disgusting.
"How disgusting! How long will this form last?" Lucilia asked.
Her voice now emanated from within the fleshy mass.
"It's a bit disgusting, but bear with it," Alka said, controlling the orb of power and squeezing it firmly.
A large amount of pink mist enveloped the crystal stone representing power, forming a cocoon as Alka squeezed it.
The cocoon then began to shrink, until the orb was only the size of a thumb, and then burrowed into the bloody hole in the fleshy mass.
As the gem entered, Alka immediately said, "Lucili, control the connection."
One by one, strands of flesh and mucous membrane began to firmly adhere to the gemstone, eventually filling the entire hole.
Magic power began to flow into the fleshy mass.
The ritual to stabilize the soul was instantly reversed.
It began as a strengthening ritual, but the target of the strengthening was Urulius.
Her eyes blazed with intense light as she breathed fiercely at the flesh ball.
The exhaled energy infused it, not as an attack, but as a form of envelopment and freezing.
The entire flesh ball was frozen into crystal, completely encased, transformed into a columnar crystal.
"Alright, it's done."
With that voice, the ritual concluded. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The flesh ball within the crystal remained encased, but even within this envelopment, it seemed to be undergoing transformation.
Lucilia was completely frozen within. During this period of freezing, she needed time to control the final fusion of the treasure within and the crystal.
"How long will this form last?" Sofia asked, gazing at the crystal.
"It won't be long. It should be ready tomorrow."
Hearing this, Sofia nodded.
Arka walked over and moved the crystal to the side of the tree. Then, he wrapped more vines around the crystal and tied it securely to the tree.
Ensuring its safety.
"Thank you all for your hard work. Now you can rest for a while."
Arka said to everyone, dark circles under his eyes. Simon and Mathilda were in the same state.
They'd been incredibly busy these past few days.
Finally, they could rest. After a good night's sleep, Lucilia should be able to present herself to everyone with a brand new look tomorrow.
Thinking of this, Arka returned to his room and fell into a dream.