After discussing the upcoming mission with everyone in the captain's cabin, the others left.
Alka and Simon remained in the cabin, still making some plans based on the divine essence everyone had obtained.
"We can wait until Urulius wakes before deciding on Jason's." Alka said, temporarily crossing out Jason's name in her notebook.
Then he looked at the names listed below.
"Do we have enough materials to complete Julia's project according to her requirements?" Alka asked, looking at the records in the notebook.
Almost all the ship's forging materials were stored in the treasury, and Simon was responsible for most of the inventory and maintenance.
After all, he was an expert in this field.
The notebook also contained a detailed record of Julia's divine essence.
The phonograph—this was the treasure foundation that Julia's divine essence needed to be paired with.
Divine Essence can store sounds and the power they represent, looping them when needed and releasing that power simultaneously.
Under normal circumstances, this function is peculiar but useless, but it suits Julia perfectly at this stage.
Through the divine essences of everyone, Alka has essentially confirmed that the Tower of Trials currently has a rule of equivalent exchange.
It's likely that existing divine essences can be exchanged for those suitable for everyone, in accordance with the rules.
These are all low-value, but given to the right person, they yield high-value divine essences.
This rule is undoubtedly very useful in this situation.
As Julia put it, it allows different musical scores and instruments to be combined in battle to create a combination of sounds, achieving multiple and comprehensive benefits.
It can also collect the power of sound, meaning that if the sound waves can cause an attack, the effect can also be achieved.
Even the sound of Julia's amplified harp could be channeled.
Once released, it also played over a wide area, capable of being heard from afar.
And the Voice of Dawn could sing, too, and her voice was magical. She had long ago learned this technique from Julia.
Now, you can play with Julia and record your voice.
"I checked, and the materials aren't enough. To achieve the effect we designed, we must purchase rare and exotic materials from the Twin Islands."
Simon, also in front of a small record booklet, glanced at it and said.
Alka nodded, circled Julia's name, and looked at the next one.
Next was Pororo's name, and Pororo's divine essence was somewhat peculiar.
It was a function Alka and the others had never imagined. Simply put, it allowed all of Pororo's melee attacks to be effective within a certain range. For example, Pororo's attack with this artifact made of divine essence is primarily a melee attack. However, it can be redirected beyond a certain range, transforming it into a ranged attack.
As for the extent of the range and whether the resulting attack will be attenuated, the effects will only be known after the artifact is crafted.
As for this artifact, Pororo wanted it to resemble a pair of arm armor.
"What about Pororo's arm armor?" Alka asked, looking at the rough design in his hand.
Simon nodded and said, "We have the materials on board right now and can manufacture them."
Essentially, because Pororo's equipment is similar to Sofia's earrings, the material requirements are relatively low. As long as the materials are suitable and the quality of the carrier is adequate, there's no need to consider anything else.
Since it was feasible, Alka selected the item.
Then he looked at the name he had just written: Lucilia's. Lucelia's divine essence was only briefly understood before boarding the ship.
Just like Lucelia's, it was a treasure related to the soul. Furthermore, its effects were particularly vague.
Even when Alka brought the divine essence into his dreams to examine it, he could only understand that it affected existing souls.
It was so abstract that even with his eyes that could see through secrets, Alka couldn't grasp it in detail.
Therefore, Lucelia's request for this treasure was that it be crafted into a single orb.
"As for Lucelia's treasure, we still have the materials on board. We're lucky we didn't use up all the materials when we crafted the doll girl and her body.
Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to find it even on the Twin Islands." Simon said with some relief. After all, soul-related materials are indeed very difficult to obtain.
Most of these materials can only be found in relatively extreme environments.
It just so happened that when they crafted Lucelia's new body and the puppet girls' soul cores last time on the Isle of the Dead, they had already obtained enough materials, and they hadn't used them all.
This meant that this treasure could be put on the production schedule right away.
Alka nodded, looking at the small notebook in his hand.
"So, during this voyage, our mission is to create Lucelia and Pororo's treasures."
Simon nodded at this. His own treasure, like Alka's, was also facing the problem of insufficient materials.
This time, they would definitely need to purchase a large amount of materials when they returned to the Twin Islands.
...
The Voice of Dawn sailed across the vast ocean.
However, today's Voice of Dawn was slightly different, as a magical vortex composed of mana appeared once again on the ship's roof.
Clearly, someone was about to achieve a major breakthrough; this was how a magical vortex was created. Everyone on the ship was waiting around the deck. The one currently breaking through was none other than Jason.
In terms of apparent speed, Jason and Urulius were only second to Alka.
They were the second fastest in the team, followed by Sofia.
"How long will it take you to advance to Stage Five?" Alka asked, looking at Sofia next to him.
Sofia thought for a moment and said, "I'm only at 79 Spirals now, two more to reach Stage Four perfection.
Then it will take another month or two to break through. Perhaps after we obtain the Twin Islands and complete your treasure, I might be able to break through to Stage Five."
Hearing this, Alka nodded. It shouldn't take long; time was already very fast for them. Then he shook his shoulders.
"What about you?"
Lucille, sitting on his shoulder, swayed as he spoke. "It's still early for me. It'll take at least half a year."
Lucille's current meditation speed is average for the entire team, but before that, it was below average.
She's only at 77 spirals now, and it'll take more than half a year for her to advance to the fifth stage. This is because Alka will be crafting a new artifact, giving her a sense of the future.
Based on everyone's progress, everyone will gradually break through to the fifth stage within the next year, and Luille will be among the last.
But at least before leaving Gemini Island, they will all reach the fifth stage.
There are so many artifacts that need to be crafted recently, including Alka's own scepter-level artifact, which will take a lot of time to create.
Creating this artifact and making it function perfectly is extremely difficult.
Not to mention they didn't have enough materials yet, and they still had to purchase some on the Twin Islands. It wasn't like they could just get them whenever they wanted; they had to wait and reserve them, and all of this took time.
They expected to spend the entire next year on the Twin Islands, completely absorbing the gains from this voyage.
The magical vortex that had suddenly formed vanished, and magic began to refill the surrounding void.
Apparently, Jason had successfully advanced to the fifth stage.
As expected, as soon as this was completed, Jason jumped down from above.
"Congratulations, how do you feel?" Alka asked with a smile.
Jason smiled and said, sitting next to him, "I don't think the improvement in strength from the third to the fourth stage is as significant."
"Isn't that nonsense?" Alka said.
Based on their current experience and knowledge of strength advancement, the improvement in strength at even-numbered stages is the most significant.
For example, there are stages two, four, and six.
Starting at stage four, one can master scepter-level artifacts, and by the way, can also perfectly master holy grail-level artifacts at this stage, which is naturally a significant improvement.
The same applies to the corresponding stage six.
This is also Alka's greatest experience of his dreamlike strength.
In the dream, Alka can only be considered to have reached the full form of a Dream King when he reaches a strength roughly equivalent to stage six.
From then on, his strength in the dream increases, and he begins to grow stronger from a Dream King.
"If I had to say anything else, it's that I'm currently feeding Urulius more strength, after all, she hasn't advanced yet.
As for what level of power she'll reach after this, we'll have to wait until Urulius reaches the same level to know."
Hearing this, Sofia, who was standing beside him, immediately asked impatiently, "So, how long will it take for Urulius to advance to the fifth stage and awaken?"
"Soon. Based on my current power, it should take less than two weeks."
Everyone nodded in agreement, not just Sofia.
Jason glanced at them all with a strange look. He didn't know why, ever since Urulius fell asleep, they had been inexplicably hoping for Urulius to awaken soon.
Just then, Alka interrupted, "That won't be long. Now that I think about it, it's going to be difficult to operate without Ululius."
"Lucilia's treasure requires a ritual to perfectly integrate the soul with the divine essence. Without Ululius awakening, I can't guarantee a perfect ritual.
My treasure also requires Ululius to perform a large and complex ritual, and I'll have to ask her opinion.
It's only two weeks away. I'm really worried she'll be like the other dragons, sleeping for years."
Hearing Alka's words, Jason nodded in agreement. Indeed, it was.
Ululius had fallen asleep at a perfect time, just when everyone needed her help.
The doubts he had just had were instantly forgotten.
Lucilia, sitting on Alka's shoulder, gave him a thumbs-up. "I'm done talking to you. I need to go back to my room and practice my upgraded powers. It'll take some time to get used to them."
Jason said, about to stand, but Alka immediately patted him and pulled him back.
"Don't worry. I just created Pororo's treasure today. Don't you want to see it?"
At this, Jason immediately stopped and sat back down.
Pororo, who had been leaning against the side of the boat, turned around in surprise; he hadn't even known about this.
After Alka finished speaking, he reached out and opened a spatial portal, then pulled out a box.
Although treasures couldn't be stored in the spatial ring, they could be stored in Alka's other dimension. Alka's other dimension, let alone treasures, was a world unto itself.
Even crown-level treasures could exist within it, even though this dimension was essentially a scepter-level treasure.
But the two aren't mutually exclusive.
As Alka took the box out and opened it,
Inside was a gray-blue arm armor, made with a structure similar to soft scales. It looked like soft armor, with fish-like scales intertwining and overlapping.
He pushed the box toward Pororo.
"Come, try it on and see if it fits."
Pororo looked at the fish-scale arm armor inside the box and eagerly took it out. He then applied it directly to his arm. Its unique structure allowed it to cling securely to his forearm, wrapping around it and tightening.
With it applied, it looked as if Pororo's forearm had grown a metallic fish scale, and it had a matte finish.
Looking at the arm armor on his arm, Pororo shook it twice, feeling very satisfied.
He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Magical power flowed directly through his arm and into the arm armor.
With the influx of magic, he began the process of mastering the treasure, and the matte color of the arm armor itself reflected a metallic luster.
The fish-scale armor covering his arm began to sway like waves.
One could feel some invisible wave spreading around, but the naked eye could not see anything special. Aside from the metallic luster of the scales on his arm armor, everything seemed so quiet.
This invisible wave was indeed present, and it was clearly felt, which was an eerie feeling.
The entire control process seemed so ordinary, without the slightest bit of special features.
Until Pororo opened his eyes, no one saw a single special effect. This was clearly different from the previous times they mastered the treasure.
The special scene when mastering the treasure was so exaggerated that it could directly change the sky.
A more low-key one would at least have emitted a corresponding radiance, unlike Pororo's, which emitted nothing but some invisible ripples.
As Pororo opened his eyes, he raised his hands, seemingly lost in thought.
He waved his hands, seemingly sensing something.
Under everyone's gaze, he turned and suddenly snapped his fingers, aiming them at Jason.
Jason, watching him, suddenly sensed something and dodged to the side.
But he'd obviously dodged too far, seemingly unable to fully grasp the power of his recent advancement. He dodged and collided with a pillar, nearly falling to the ground and losing his balance.
However, nothing unusual appeared where he dodged.
"Were you attacking me?" Jason asked, puzzled.
Pororo remained silent, turning his attention to Juanlu. Juan Lu, still at the fourth stage, clearly lacked the sharpness of Jason, who had just advanced.
He was directly knocked off the flower bed by the invisible attack and tumbled into it.
He quickly stood up and touched his head.
Everyone could see a distinct red mark on Juan Lu's forehead.
"Invisible attack?" Sofia asked.
This attack was very similar to the ones they had encountered before, where the attack could generate invisible pressure.
It felt like the same sensation as when he attacked Creel.
Juanlu touched his forehead and shook his head, saying, "No, I didn't feel anything different until the touch and pain appeared on my forehead."
This was different from Creel's. When the wave reached him, he could feel the pressure coming towards him, very, very clearly.
At this moment, Pororo's body was wrapped in lightning, and he suddenly swung downward.
The lightning flashed, an annihilation attack capable of inflicting extreme damage.
However, the attack didn't change anything in the air. Instead, the sea surface in the distance suddenly exploded.
Lightning inexplicably appeared on the sea surface.
It was clearly another attack from a distance.
Pororo's voice rang out, "This artifact allows my attacks to reach a certain range. This range should be able to be increased. Currently, it's only 20 meters, but I can direct my attacks in directions 20 meters away from me.
My control is still a bit imprecise; I'll need some practice to accurately target them where I want them."
Hearing this, it became clear that the artifact granted by the Trial Tower was indeed suitable.
Pororo's problem was that once his first attack landed, the enemy would try their best to dodge subsequent attacks, even creating a considerable distance between them.
In short, avoid direct confrontation with him.