In the dark night of the camp, the flames of the central hearth burned firewood, emitting a crackling sound. On the table next to the hearth...
Alka and the others sat around it.
Though everyone was gathered there, the expressions on their faces could be divided into two groups.
One group naturally consisted of Alka and his friends.
Alka stared at Jason with a frown, then glanced over his shoulder at Lucilia, who was looking up at the sky.
Sofia and the others stood by, silent and smiling, as if ready to watch a show.
Then Alka took out the map and spread it on the table, looking at another golden dot that had dimmed. And then there was the golden light with a circle drawn between it, flickering with dots of light.
Looking at the difficulty of that golden light.
[Child]
"Hmm..."
Child? Alka had never considered that Jason and his friends wouldn't be able to find the treasure.
But the truth was, Jason hadn't found it.
He couldn't quite wrap his head around it. He took Lucelia off his shoulder and placed her in his palm.
Even when Alka stared directly at her, Lucelia tilted her head, completely refusing to meet his gaze.
"Jason and the others didn't find it, that's fine. But what about you? Didn't you offer any useful suggestions?"
Hearing this, Lucelia knew she couldn't escape. She sighed, turned her head back to Alka, and said helplessly, "I did, but... we turned the place upside down, and we really didn't see anything."
Jason and the others nodded immediately. "Yes, you said it was in the field. We plowed it almost completely, but we didn't see anything.
We even searched the surrounding area for possible hiding places, but we didn't see anything either."
"Forget it. First, tell me your overall process."
Jason nodded and began to recount their journey. "The area on the map, the spot you marked, is a small forest. It's better than the surrounding area, much better than here.
At first, we thought it might be the small forest you marked, so we started digging there, using the trees as coordinates.
But after digging for a long time, we found nothing. Finally, we had no choice but to dig everywhere, but we didn't find anything special.
We started to leave the forest, exploring the surrounding area, even digging in places where something might be hidden."
This is why, even though they were much closer to the camp, they had simply arrived before Alka and the others.
As they spoke, the curtain of the sky parted, and daylight arrived.
After listening to the story, Alka felt that there wasn't a big problem, but why hadn't they found it?
Could the difficulty level really be deceiving?
Child.
If it were any other treasure, Alka wouldn't be so baffled as he is now.
But overthinking it was pointless.
He stood up and tapped the table. "Come on, let's go together. I want to see how deep this thing is."
With that, everyone quickly ran out.
Sofia and the others were curious, as they had asked before. Alka had clearly explained that the treasure Jason and his team were looking for was very easy to find, and that it was truly a lucrative find.
It was quite funny that they didn't find any money.
Pororo could be seen patting Jason on the shoulder and smiling at him.
Although they hadn't slept all night, it wasn't unusual for Alka and the others.
At their stage, even a long period without sleep wouldn't be too harmful.
Sleeping normally was just to maintain their condition.
They soon arrived at the golden spot on the map.
Just as Jason had mentioned, there was a small grove here, surrounded by lush weeds. Clearly, this place was much better than most desolate wilderness.
Besides the grove, there were only a few scattered trees growing around.
Inside the grove, you could see a few grayish-white birds nesting.
A closer look revealed that these birds were non-aggressive, their feathers perfectly smooth, and their bodies showed no signs of deformity. It was truly remarkable that they hadn't been corrupted by the Abyss.
Alka compared the area and concluded that the golden light must be within the grove.
He could also see traces of excavation around the area, as well as the soft soil of the grove.
Clearly, Jason and his team had, as they had said, turned the place upside down yesterday. Loosening the soil throughout the entire forest was clearly a massive undertaking.
Alka led the group inside.
They arrived at the area where the golden light might be.
He looked at Sofia.
Sofia nodded, and silver ripples began to penetrate the ground beneath his feet.
"There are fewer obstacles here, and the influence of the abyssal aura is weaker." Sofia came to this conclusion upon exploration.
This is why this place is at least better than other places.
The silver ripples deepened and expanded.
After a while, Sofia opened his eyes and shook his head. "Nothing. Apart from some rubble, there's nothing strange down there."
"You see, I'll tell you," Jason said from the side.
"Strange..." Alka frowned, somewhat puzzled.
The main problem was that this treasure had no name, no information about it—it was a three-nothing treasure.
They had no information about it.
Based on the location of the golden light and the difficulty of the child's search, Alka could only deduce that the treasure must be hidden in a very shallow place. It's very easy to obtain, but something's clearly amiss. If there's some information about the treasure, perhaps we can deduce its exact location.
If it's just a child, then the treasure isn't hidden very deeply, somewhere even a child can find.
It's not hidden very deeply, so there's no danger and it's easy to find.
Alka followed this line of thought and wandered around the forest.
A grayish-white bird flew overhead, constantly shifting its position as Alka and his group of uninvited guests approached, leaping from branch to branch and staring at them.
Suddenly, Alka noticed some of the thicker trees had hollows. Although small, could they possibly hold small items?
And tree hollows are probably what children enjoy exploring, aren't they? It's perfectly within a child's range.
The more Alka thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
"Look at the tree holes. Did you look for them yesterday?"
Hearing this, Alka and the others looked at each other in bewilderment. They hadn't noticed such places yesterday. They hadn't even considered them.
But since Alka had said so, they immediately began searching for trees in the forest, examining any holes.
Not every tree had a hole; only a few had, and they were neither large nor small.
Most were just small depressions.
And tree holes are usually found in thick trunks, making them very easy to find and examine.
After everyone, including the puppet girls, had found almost every tree hole in a short time and searched thoroughly, they all shook their heads.
Alka looked at the tiny tree hole before her, but found nothing either.
"Nothing..."
Leaning against the tree, she pondered.
As Alka pondered, the others wandered through the grove and beyond, searching for possible hiding places.
The girls, however, played in the woods, hopping from figure to figure.
The gray-white birds were dazed, seemingly unfazed. They even bumped into the puppet girls, who were about the same size.
They acted unfazed by the puppet girls' touches, even engaging in playful play with one another.
Suddenly, Alka, lost in thought, dodged to the side.
A ball of bird droppings fell to the spot where Alka had been standing.
Alka looked up and saw a gray-white bird playing with a puppet girl on a tree branch.
This bird really wasn't afraid of people.
Alka thought, and averted his gaze.
Wait…
Birds, birds…
If I were a child, Alka couldn't help but take a few steps back, looking at these tall trees.
The trunks of these trees aren't very tall, only about two or three meters, and no more than four or five meters at most.
They aren't particularly large trees. After four or five meters, the trunks and branches spread out, appearing dense and broad.
This makes the areas where the trunks and branches extend seem very suitable for nesting, and most birds build their nests there.
What do children like to do?
Digging in the mud, playing in the water, climbing trees, and…collecting bird eggs.
Since they're not in the mud, there's no river nearby, and they're not in tree holes either.
So, could they be in the trees? And the most common hiding places in trees are these bird nests.
This treasure might be a small object, used by birds to build nests, or something shiny.
Perhaps these birds simply enjoy collecting shiny things. Many creatures in nature possess these strange auras.
It's even possible that these birds sensed some aura from the treasure.
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Alka manipulated a mirror to lift himself up.
He lifted himself to a position where he could clearly see the bird's nest.
The people around him saw Alka take action and immediately gathered around.
"Do you think this treasure might be in the tree, among the nests?" Sofia asked, looking at the spot Alka was searching.
At this moment, Alka was examining a branch of the tree in front of him. There was a bird's nest there.
The bird that had just defecated on him must have lived in this nest.
But besides some loot and dirt, there were only nests made of branches and dead leaves, with no golden borders to be seen.
Hearing this, Alka lowered his head, looked at the people below, and said, "Yes, everyone, take a look to see if there's anything hidden in these bird nests.
And don't destroy other people's nests."
Hearing Alka's words, everyone immediately sprang into action, and the puppet girls leaped directly over.
They didn't jump directly into the nests, but simply watched from the side.
Some of these birds had built their nests securely, with some depth, and their nests were wide and thick.
Some nests even contained eggs, but nests with eggs were guarded by female birds, which made them slightly aggressive. They shouldn't get too close.
Even the puppet girls, who were of similar size, were forbidden to do so.
Of course, just casual observation; standing nearby was enough.
"Found it."
A voice came from a nearby tree trunk.
Hearing this, everyone gathered around.
A winged puppet girl flew down.
She held aloft in her hands an ordinary, round stone with orange-yellow lines on its surface.
You could see the lines forming a rough pattern resembling a sun.
"Is this it?"
And to Alka's eyes, the object indeed had a golden outline.
It's really in the nest.
He nodded and took it from. As the stone fell into his hands, he could clearly feel its warmth.
The warmth spread from the stone to his body. No wonder the birds had carried it into the nest.
"It's really in the nest!" Jason said helplessly.
He hadn't considered this at all.
Simon and Lucilia, standing nearby, also looked somewhat helpless. They hadn't expected the treasure to end up in the bird's nest either.
"Okay, we've found it. Let's go back."
With that, everyone began to return to the camp.
They soon arrived back.
Holding the two treasures in hand, Alka entered a dream.
Through the dream, Alka was able to gain a deeper understanding of the two treasures' abilities.
The ordinary dagger's ability seemed somewhat unrelated to the weapon.
It seemed to repel... or isolate.
Alka examined it carefully. It seemed to be able to repel something, or to isolate a zone where only the treasure was allowed to enter.
He couldn't fully grasp the treasure's functions, but from this, he had a general understanding of its capabilities.
The first thing that comes to mind is that if you're in a poisonous area, you could use this artifact to isolate the poison and keep yourself within a safe range.
Thinking this way, this function could also be used underwater, creating a waterless environment.
Perhaps it could also block sound, flames, and so on. Thinking that way, this artifact is quite powerful.
Of course, thinking that way, this artifact has a wide range of applications, but it's completely incompatible with his current carrier, the dagger.
Perhaps it could be made into a shield or something, rather than a weapon.
And that's what Alka named the Sun Stone he had just obtained. Although the stone appears only slightly rounded and smooth, the orange pattern on it naturally forms a rugged pattern resembling the sun.
And since it's still warm to the touch, it suggests this artifact's abilities might be related to fire or temperature.
As he examined it closely, he realized, as he had imagined, that this artifact was related to temperature, and that it was likely heat.
Unlike fire, which directly creates extremely high-temperature flames to attack or shape objects, if it were simply heat, it should be able to generate high temperatures.
I just don't know if this effect would be compatible with this stone.
Alka still couldn't tell if the treasure's carrier and the divine essence within it were perfectly compatible; he needed more study.
Finding Shadow Robe, he asked him to help examine it.
He first looked at the dagger, shook his head in disdain, and said, "The carrier is crude, and its meaning is unclear."
Clearly, this artifact was a very unsuitable one, the kind that could be easily separated.
He looked at Alka's other treasure, the Sunstone. "The carrier isn't good enough... but this stone holds faith, an ancient faith born of ancient worship. The appearance is rather fitting.
It's a shame, though. The carrier is truly not good enough; it's just an ordinary, material world stone with a strange pattern. Even if it holds faith, it's a stretch."
Given the uniqueness of this stone, coupled with its ancient worship, if it weren't for the divine essence, it might be a rare and mysterious material.
In short, the divine essence and the treasure carrier are both excellent separately, but together they're somewhat less than ideal.
It's one of those things that's not quite suitable.
"Your Majesty, do you want me to separate them?"
Alka thought for a moment and nodded.
"Okay, then, help me separate them. Don't worry. You can experiment with them slowly. As long as they don't destroy them, it'll be fine."
After all, they weren't short of treasures right now.
Shadow Robe nodded, showing great interest. He took the two treasures and left.
Alka returned to reality.
He informed everyone that the two treasures were unsuitable and that he was going to separate them into the divine essence.
Then he said to Simon, "We can begin crafting containers specifically for storing treasures and divine essence." "
After all, from now on, they no longer need any of the Holy Grail-level treasures they've acquired, so they need a good container to store them. This is especially true for things like divine essence, which could easily merge with strange objects in reality.
Simon nodded at this, then thought, "But there are still some materials on the ship."
Arka paused for a moment before saying, "Let's pack up and leave, returning to the harbor. We'll gather some necessary information while we're there. There are also many books on the ship, and we need to go back and look for relevant records."
This includes information about Greyfar's family, the Moon Cult, and the lighthouse.
All of this needs to be found and examined.