Kano hesitated a few moments, reciting the command he was going to give his ability over and over again, he wasn't satisfied but he felt the time was right to activate his ability soon after.
Grechen, Theno and Timo noticed his abnormality and were calling out to him repeatedly, but he ignored their cries.
Condensing his thoughts, he quickly poured his mental energy into the blank paper in his mind.
While the mental energy produced by the 'Basics of Mental Energy' was truly the lowest level possible without any strong points except for it is free to everyone, this mental energy was enough to activate Kano's special ability.
Hum~
A low chime with a mysterious ripple of energy poured onto the blank map, like an army of ants returning to their nest from all directions; landmarks, seas, rivers, and so on decorated the map, and dyed the blank canvas in an array of colors.
Seeing the detailed map of the surrounding seas inside his mind, Kano was over the moon, he had been to none of those places, yet the map was already so detailed!
Even without the main ability, just this basic map without treasure was immeasurably valuable for navigation. Such maps already existed for many sea areas, but those sea areas had naturally been explored and robbed of treasures. Yet those maps were worth tens of thousands of gold crystals!
Even without explicitly marking out treasure, you could get a vague idea of where to go searching based on such a detailed map. Most importantly, he was currently in uncharted waters which were largely unexplored!
However, Kano's eyes grew solemn at the moving places and areas along with the water. Several black spots dotted the map and sometimes moved, and he knew instinctively what were. Death pits, at times you could be sailing and the next moment you were dead, your ship swallowed by the darkness and destroyed. Despite this, they were actually not among the most feared misfortunes at sea but the map actually depicted some of those worthy of 'fear'.
Seeing these various moving sea calamities and dangerous currents dotting the map, Kano realized this map ability of his was worth far more than he had imagined, if you were to put a price on the map without the treasure seeking function, depicting the changing locations of all those calamities would be priceless!
This was a map on the level of a national treasure in a duke's vault!
With this he wouldn't even have to waste time on a navigator, the most troublesome crewmember to trick and obtain, like scholars they needed decades of knowledge to be well-read enough to be a true navigator, they were also the most expensive crew member to upkeep. Unless you had unimaginable charms and they pledged to you for free.
Sea calamities huh, they remind me of my own player calamity which should be in 3 days. It's already been 4 days since I entered this world although I spent most of my time unconscious.
Players or Flagbearers enjoyed great blessings yes, but they also had several curses and calamities. They had a higher chance of encountering weird and weird liked their auras as well, so they were the preferred food, puppets, vessels and so on.
Those were just the mere joking ‘debuffs’ which many called these subtle curses.
There were more explicit calamities such as the novice areas 'Three Deathly Trials', occurring on the first week, first month and the final month.
He had not planned that far ahead but now was not the time to worry about such things.
The main event was nigh, Kano felt something and immediately refocused on the map, afraid to miss a single detail.
Flash~
Sss~
Another ripple spread across the map like the fluttering wind.
Several symbols with three different colorful glows then appeared on the map, marking out different locations flamboyantly, 24 purple gold, 7 golden white, and a single colorless symbol.
Each shape of symbol had a different meaning, so did each glow. There were symbols for equipment, professional scrolls, cursed spaces, crew members, ship materials, blueprints and so on. Several locations even had more than one symbol! and as if this distinct feature with individual symbols wasn’t cause for celebration enough.
There are actually 24 Starry Legend items!
7 items of the rank above it! Saintly Epoch
And there's even another rank above that! Grand Myth
Seeing that his bet bore fruits, Kano was still in slight disbelief himself, but the glows on the map snapped him out of his reverie, beckoning him to them.
He immediately focused on the colorless symbol of a trident; this location was a cursed space with a unique symbol specific to it alone, but it also had other more common symbols as well. A skull, a treasure chest, professional scrolls, blueprints and so on, for a total of 9 different symbols!
Most notably was the treasure chest! This was the only sub symbol actually emanating a colorless aura, the others were of different colors even some purple gold items could be found there based on the symbol, separate from the others marked specifically on the map.
A cursed space didn't produce only a single quality of items, such was the case universally with little exceptions, the colorless glow merely signified the highest ranked items within the space that could be obtained!
Based on the principle we were taught, treasure chests are the rarest and most sought-after things in Endless Seas for flag bearers, as it guarantees three items of its rank! And typically, even the other rewards are great. So, there are at least 3 of the highest ranked items in that chest!
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Wait… cursed spaces usually have guardians and other weird things within, how am I supposed to get to these treasures? The danger of such a high ranked cursed space is no joke!
Kano quickly focused on the other abilities of his map, worried he was seeing a pie in the sky and unable to eat it. That would be the colossal joke of the century.
‘That shouldn't be the case, right? My command was specific enough with the words 'that I am capable of obtaining and using.'
He then realized a few sub symbols were dim but fortunately not the most important one.
There were also several completely blacked out symbols but those referred to other parts of the tomb, he only had access to a few.
Kano held back his excitement and first concentrated on the main symbol.
Several powerful words carved out of glittering gold sprung into existence.
[ Divine Tomb of the Boundless Kingdom of Primeval Waters, Nu]
[The ancient kingdom of Nu was built by a king who had received the blessings of a great god of water. He built the kingdom from nothing before the era when the outer gods invaded and distorted the world. This divine kingdom was so powerful that the era was named after it. However, their dominance of an entire era was ended with the black invasion, as the brightest light in the world they were the first target of the evil gods.]
[The ancient king and his apostles predicted the end of their divine kingdom and encased themselves in a tomb with their possessions intending to preserve the fate of his kingdom, so it may one day resurface. However, the evil gods led by the Great Terror Al Saar noticed this plan and attacked them mid completion, the King and his Apostles were able to slay many evil gods and forcefully advanced the sinking of the tomb, preserving the core of their inheritance containing many items with the blessings of their god and of other lesser gods which they had plundered and slain. The Great King and his apostles sunk the tomb into the sea and hid it into another dimension, they also laid out their divine beast guardian as the outer vessel of the tomb so that it may wander amongst dimensions, never staying in one place for long]
Nu? Divine Kingdom? Sounds amazing but that's not what's important right now, Kano felt the suspense strangling him and seeing as that was all for the main symbol, he focused on the bright treasure chest icon emanating a colorless aura.
As expected...
The location of the key to enter this tomb and where to find it, most importantly, was a direct path to the treasure chest!
Kano waited a while but as he thought, no more words appeared, he could only go where a single treasure chest in the whole tomb.
‘Well, I could go elsewhere without the guide of the map but…I enjoy living. No need to be greedy.’
A tomb of a divine kingdom that ruled and era, attacked by evil gods. The instructions were already elaborate enough for a single room, just using them as the foundation could surmise the great threats he would encounter when inside the tomb. For instance, he was to close his eyes for an hour whilst walking on a corridor, and he was to have the scent of rotting fish to avoid waking something at another junction.
‘I knew the never before seen EX rank ability wouldn't show me a death wish.’
The treasure chest was likely to contain God's treasures! The best even in the entire tomb! Grand Myth level items.
Kano knew when to be satisfied, just a God's Treasure, if released would cause the seas to be dyed in blood for several years until the victor was decided, that victor would have to give up many things as well in the war and only then would he gain such a treasure. That was the tale of the first complete dragon corpses obtained by man, they had killed each other and their bodies lay still in the sea, even the water not daring to go near them.
When word got out hundreds flocked to the site, then thousands, then tens of thousands, the hundreds again. All of these were high level professionals yet their blood mixed with the sea just the same.
But he was practically whoring for nothing as no one knew of this treasure but him!
A never before seen Godly Treasure no less! Two ranks above the highest ranked items obtained by man.
***
"You shouldn't just not answer when someone is calling you y'know, its rude. Look Timo drew a monkey butt on your cheek while you were playing dumb. You looked kinda zoned out. Where did you go? the past. Grandpa likes saying that, whenever he's zoning out, he says he's gone to the past. It's getting a bit late; I already told her we would come by 3. Hmph, now you've made me liar. If you hadn't woken up, we would have to knock your eyes shut and drag - carry you to her anyways since she's the doctor here well the chicken head old man priest is the doctor, but she can do it as well. Last time I got sick I went to the old man because she was not there, he gave me some bitter herbs with a lot of water and hung me upside down atop a fire saying it will draw out the sickness with fire, the old quack, it worked but sister says it’s not a traditional method and is actually an elaborate way to get the same effect, like taking the really really long way around instead of going straight to something. I put-"
Grechen was very upset and was pulling Kano's ear. He was irked at first but his temper had dissipated so he just surrendered without a fight, as a serf at the bottom for so many years if he was truly a hundred percent hot headed then he would be dead, in jail or in a gang by now, and he would never had even got the opportunity to forcefully align his stars at the school to pass over into this sea of opportunity and wealth. The stress, anger, pain, and discomfort from all his years alive had merely come gushing out like an unblocked spring.
"Hey Kano, tell us a joke." Theno and Timo who were giggling turned to him, even Grechen pulling his ear did the same.
What the? A joke...
"I don't know any." He replied sourly. He did in fact know many. A side effect of being near middle aged and elderly drunkards.
"C'mon at least try." Timo said with a nudge.
A joke is funny based on delivery, not the joke itself. That's why retelling a joke makes the magic disappear.
Kano kept silent and acted like he was deaf and sure enough they let the matter rest.
“I should thank that uncle robin of yours.” Thinking of his new gains, he turned to Theno with pure smile.
"Uh, Why?" Theno asked in confusion.
"Just something he said is all."
"Something he said?" Theno said suspiciously.
Grechen then shouted, "We're here! Finally."
Seeing her sigh of relief, Kano felt the same way. Her monologues were practically a special ability that had the effect of slowing down time itself, it felt like hours before they arrived here.
Huh?
He gasped in surprise and came to a halt, a few moments later when he heard the calls ahead of him, he unconsciously followed like a zombie.
They made it up a hill where a large white cathedral with three towers and rusted iron doors welcomed them.
"Sister Quellis!" Grechen shouted while running towards a figure.
A blonde woman dressed in a white cassock decorated in light gold, opened the door. Her beauty was truly something of legends, a femme fatale like no other. Her golden hair seemed to have each strand carved out of gold, and they captured sunlight within them, they were neatly combed under her golden crown dotted with blue gems that complimented her eyes. A light blue like the sky which you lost yourself in. With her benevolent gaze and slight smile she was indeed like an angel come to earth, a Saintess.
Her beauty did indeed catch Kano off guard as his eyes glimmered upon meeting her with his jaws were agape. But it wasn’t her beauty which had him dumbstruck but each step she was taking to meet Grechen’s outstretched arms.
More accurately was the map that was inside his mind.
It was now magnified several times in the surrounding area and on that map was fluttering crimson-blue symbol. When he focused on this symbol some words appeared which made his jaw drop all the way to the floor.
This…This was allowed!?
Going over those words, and the symbol reflecting her movements in reality, a sudden realization hit Kano over the top of his head.
My ability seems a bit TOO…broken.