Julia now held an object crafted from a white shell, the very thing she had obtained from the mermaid.
Looking at the shell, Alka could clearly sense the faint magical energy emanating from it.
This was definitely a spelled item; Julia had never seen such an object before. This clearly indicated that it was a relic of the mermaid, the very object indicated by this treasure.
"So what is this?"
Upon hearing this question, Julia gently opened the shell in front of everyone.
But upon seeing the contents, everyone felt a slight sense of disappointment.
Inside was a round pearl, roughly the size of a thumb.
Its milky white color reflected a shimmering luster.
The shimmering light even shone with a multicolored glow.
Putting aside its function, the appearance alone made it worth a fortune.
But it seemed quite different from what Alka and the others had imagined.
"This is a music box. The pearl inside is a natural magical item that allows creatures that can't breathe underwater to breathe."
After hearing Julia's words, the land creatures immediately became interested.
Breathing underwater?
"Is it the kind where you have a bubble around your head?" Lucelia asked.
She was referring to an effect that also allows you to breathe underwater.
However, the duration of breathing is limited, depending on your proficiency in the spell and the amount of oxygen stored in the bubble surrounding your head.
Essentially, it's a makeshift oxygen mask.
This spell is relatively common, but not easily acquired.
At least, everyone knew it when Alka and the others were in the Home Sea.
Julia shook her head. "Not this kind. It's something that allows you to breathe in the sea like a fish."
Julia handed the pearl to Lucelia.
This thing was obviously useless to her; she could already breathe freely underwater.
Lucelia looked at the pearl between her hands and sighed helplessly.
"What a pity! I don't even need to breathe right now."
Hearing this, Alka silently took the pearl and placed it in his hands.
As he held the pearl in his hand, he clearly felt a difference.
A large stream of water gushed out from his other hand, enveloping his head as he controlled it.
Alka blew bubbles in the water; he could indeed breathe underwater.
This thing was like a magical filtration system added to a normal person's mouth, absorbing oxygen from the water with every breath.
This allows for underwater breathing without altering the normal human body structure.
Furthermore, the pearl consumes no magical energy at all; simply holding it allows one to breathe freely underwater.
Compared to the spell, its endurance is nearly infinite.
In this ocean world, this pearl must be worth a fortune.
After experiencing it for a while, he tossed the pearl to Simon.
This item was given to Simon, who would craft the appropriate equipment.
A melodious song reached everyone's ears. This song was distinctly different from Julia's, yet it was clear they shared a common heritage.
Turning around, they looked.
The shell music box in Julia's hand was the source of the sound.
If they were right, this sound was the song of the deceased mermaid.
However, the song sounded a little strange, not quite like singing. It was actually telling something, but in the form of a song.
‐‐though it was still quite melodious.
‐‐Julia closed her eyes and listened quietly.
‐‐Clearly, there seemed to be an unknown message being conveyed from the music box.
‐‐The others listened to the song and waited silently, unable to discern what the message was being conveyed.
‐‐Soon, Julia opened her eyes.
‐‐"The deceased merman was a Life Master."
‐‐They were familiar with the title of Life Master.
‐‐It was a title within the Seed of Life, a church organization that believed in life.
‐‐It could be roughly compared to the saints and virgins of the Church of Our Lady.
‐‐However, there was a difference, a significant one.
‐‐Life Master was more of an honorific title, a compliment to a person's strength and deeds.
This title signifies that those bearing it have achieved remarkable accomplishments in environmental conservation.
Hence, they are called Life Masters.
"She sought to understand the conditions at the boundary between life and death, and was invaded by the power of death. This land of living beings is extremely hostile to members of the Seed of Life, so she ultimately died there.
Before her death, she left behind some information and her treasures at the boundary between life and death."
Julia paused.
She looked up at the crowd and said, "Her strength... is at the sixth level."
"Sixth level?" Alka pondered.
Well, a sixth-level expert, even in the vast ocean, is considered a formidable force.
Such a powerful individual simply achieved the boundary between life and death.
It seems that without a seventh or eighth-level expert, exploring that place is a formidable undertaking.
A sixth-level expert, forced to wait for death in the sea due to the invasion of power.
It was truly despairing.
After a moment's thought, he asked, "Did she reveal anything about the boundary between life and death? For example, why she was so severely injured, and why she left her treasure there?"
Julia nodded.
"She said she had penetrated deep into the core area of the boundary between life and death, where the monsters were powerful. She was alone when she was ambushed, which is why she was severely injured.
As she was about to escape, she realized she might not survive, so she left her treasure at the border of the boundary between life and death.
She said her treasure could leave a fixed point at the boundary between life and death, but its specific purpose is unknown.
I hope whoever finds her body can bring it back... to the Seed of Life."
Everyone fell silent after hearing Julia's last words.
Julia could now be considered an apostate.
Letting an apostate go to the Seed of Life church is no different from seeking death.
"I'll leave it to you then."
Everyone nodded at this.
"Alright, we have another destination to visit."
Arka said, re-piloting the Swallow and leading everyone to the treasure vault.
That was the focus of their trip.
The treasure that truly deserved their attention, time, and effort.
Luckily, the treasure vault wasn't very far from where they were. After about an hour's drive, they reached the point of light.
It was also endless here, save for a forest in the distance.
It seemed that the forest in the distance might be the reference point for the treasure vault.
Of course, it was just a simple guess.
However, their location was at least a kilometer away from the distant forest.
"Is this it?" Pororo asked.
Alka nodded, jumped off the boat, and stepped into the water.
Then he stamped on the vines below.
"It should be down here."
"Then I'll go down and take a look," Pororo said. He found a weak spot, tore a hole, and crawled down.
He began searching below for something suspicious, a possible treasure vault. Treasure vaults are generally large and difficult to hide.
Not every place is like Vastva's.
After a while, he crawled back out.
"It's so well hidden," Pororo exclaimed, climbing out.
Clearly, he had found it.
Upon hearing this, Alka asked, "Have you found the treasure?"
Pororo nodded. "The vines in this area sink very deep into the seabed, dozens of meters deep.
The treasure is hidden in this area, entwined with vines, making it very well hidden."
In short, if Pororo hadn't known there was a so-called treasure hidden in this area, he wouldn't have discovered it at all.
Even if he were to come and go in this area, he might not have noticed it.
Hearing this, Alka paused for a moment.
Then he said, "Juanlu, Jason, and Urulius. The three of you and the puppet army will stay up there, and the rest of you will follow me."
After assigning the teams, everyone nodded.
Each of them prepared their own means of underwater breathing and descended through the hole they had just come from.
Jason and the others remained on guard above, guarding against any sneak attacks or ambushes.
Although it was highly unlikely, necessary caution was essential.
As soon as he entered the water, Alka shuddered. It was truly cold down there.
The chill felt unlike normal seawater.
It was pitch black, and dense, drooping vines swayed with the current.
The sun shone through the surface, penetrating the cracks in the vines, casting tiny beams of light down.
These beams of light didn't add much to the area.
Honestly.
This place could be used to film a horror movie; the environment alone is incredibly creepy.
Pororo swam ahead, waving at the group.
Everyone immediately followed him.
They dove directly into the vines.
The vines were incredibly entangled, some even covered in sharp thorns.
It swung left and right with the current, even trying to bind them.
Everyone swam closely after Pororo for a long time before finally seeing him stop.
But where he landed looked no different from the surroundings.
There were countless drooping vines.
He reached out and parted the vines in front of him, revealing what looked like a stone gate.
"This should be the entrance to the treasure house. There's a wall around where the vines are wrapped."
Everyone swam up and examined the pattern on the circular gate.
It was made of some strange stone. The circular gate had two circles and a keyhole in the middle.
Everyone began to circle the entire treasure house, examining it individually.
Simon took out a modified patrol plane capable of swimming underwater, and the two patrol planes began to scan the entire area.
Sofia attempted to use silver ripples to penetrate the vault's material, understanding its structure and interior.
Lucille began examining the patterns surrounding the vault, examining whether there were any inscriptions.
Everyone began their work.
Alka stood before the gate.
Those two circular grooves were definitely not useless; the keyhole in the middle must hold the final key to the three conditions.
This meant the vault had a triple authentication mechanism.
Or three "locks."
Alka reached out and touched the circular groove on the top layer, examining it carefully.
Finally, he sniffed it gently.
"The smell of holy light."
Alka nodded in agreement. This meant that the power required to unlock the smaller groove inside was the so-called power of life and death.
They should be opened in the correct order.
It's basically certain that the outermost grooves require some kind of holy light, or even just a high concentration of holy light.
The problem then lies with the key and the power: where to obtain the key and how to acquire the power of life and death.
With this in mind, Alka reached out and knocked on the circular door before him, as well as the stonework of the entire treasure vault.
He could sense that this vault wasn't as simple as it appeared.
After all, it looked as if it could be breached by force.
But Alka could clearly sense that it was incredibly sturdy. He doubted that the vault of a powerful family wouldn't be protected by spells.
Attempting to forcefully open it from the outside would likely be counterproductive.
It would be disastrous if, after all the effort, they managed to open it from the outside only to damage the treasures within, causing it to self-destruct.
It was perfectly normal for a treasure vault like this to self-destruct after being violently breached.
Alka didn't dare bet on whether he had such a power.
At this moment, Matresha swam over and tapped Alka.
"There are two bodies up there."
Hearing this, Alka immediately followed Matresha upstream.
The entire vault was actually densely entwined with drooping vines, practically hanging beneath the vines.
Above the vault, Matresha parted the dense, stretched vines.
Two bodies were revealed.
The degree of decay on the bodies indicated they had been dead for a long time.
There was no flesh left on their bodies, only skeletons that had been corroded and distorted by their long stay in the sea.
Some marine life was still clinging to the bones.
Some ornaments and clothing remained.
Arka approached the two corpses and examined them carefully.
"These two corpses must have reached the third stage of perfection in their lifetime."
Arka nodded at Matresa's words.
From the attire of the two corpses and the icons on their belongings, it was clear that they were members of the Nafas family.
They died here at the same time, likely at the same time as their family's death decades ago.
They must have once been the guardians of this treasure vault.
Arka pulled a nearly useless spell item from their hands.
It lacked a blue border.
This indicated that it had been considered part of the treasure vault.
However, it wasn't of much use. Arka examined it carefully and concluded that it was probably some kind of message-transmitting device.
This was why the two guarding the vault were only at the third stage of perfection, as they could send messages and call for backup at any time. After all, it's such a valuable treasure trove.
It's a shame no one will receive the message now.
According to the defensive measures included here, only the two of them need to send a message when they encounter danger or the intruder is irresistible, and other family members will naturally rush to the scene.
After reviewing this, Alka checked again, making sure there were no items before leading Matresa back to the gate below.
By this time, everyone had finished their respective checks and returned.
After confirming that there was nothing left to check,
Afterwards, they all returned to the surface.
Everyone returned to the surface.
They began to discuss their thoughts.
"If you want to open the gate the right way, three conditions must be met.
The power of Holy Light, the power of life and death, and the key of Esteel."
When everyone had just descended, they had seen the two grooves in the gate and the keyhole in the center.
It was easy to understand what these three conditions represented.
Though I didn't know how Alka had understood it so clearly all of a sudden.
"I understand the power of Holy Light, but the power of life and death won't send us to the border between life and death, right?" Simon couldn't help but ask from the side.
Alka shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either.
He also didn't understand what the power of life and death meant.
"Can it be opened violently?" Jason asked from the side, not descending.
Simon shook his head.
He then extended his palm, and lines of magic formed a structure resembling a treasure house.
The treasure house was a circular stone structure with a circular gate at the front.
"This treasure house is forged entirely from a type of sea steel. This mineral is extremely strong in the ocean.
If it remains submerged in seawater, it will distribute the force it bears to the water, making it even stronger."
Simply put, brute force isn't impossible, but it's extremely difficult.
At this point, Sofia walked over and pointed at the treasure pattern in his hand.
"There's a layer inside. A treasure house like this can't possibly be without spells; the spells are engraved within the layers."
Simply put, brute force is impossible and extremely risky.
"But how can these three conditions be met? And it's very likely that everyone who knows how to achieve them is dead," Jason said helplessly.
After all, a secret concerning the family treasure trove could only be known by important family members, but unfortunately, all of them were dead.
As everyone was discussing, the map reappeared in Aka's hand.
He directly clicked on the blue dot representing the treasure trove to see if there were any additional information about the newly revealed treasure.
Generally speaking, those who have already arrived at the scene can obtain some relevant treasure information through on-site analysis.
[Treasure Information: The Nafas family's treasure trove, used to store family treasures, contains the family's accumulation over centuries.
With the family's sudden demise, a vast fortune was left behind.
To access the treasure, one must open the treasury's door.
Light of the Mother of God, Power of Life and Death, and Key of Egang.
Light of the Mother of God: Pure power of the Mother of God, capable of eliminating all evil and protecting oneself.
The Power of Life and Death: A power at the border of life and death. The Nafas family's unique constitution causes them to perpetually hover between life and death.
Esteel Key: A key forged from a precious special steel.
Expansion has indeed occurred.