Zyrus walked past the numerous building sites and reached the training area. There, a squad of players was fighting against his summons. He had already sent Elsid back to earth in order to train the rest of his summons.
‘These guys are enough to train them for the time being,’
Zyrus nodded in satisfaction as he analyzed their mock battles. These players were the candidates for his crown’s authority- Appoint Knights.
He had one requirement on the basis of selection, and that was their loyalty. As he had told Kyle and Lauren earlier, he had enough plans to ensure their strength reached the appropriate level.
“Looks like I’m no longer needed here,” Zyrus spoke to Jacob who was walking towards him.
“Oh! Are you going out on the sea?”
“Indeed. And from your face, it looks like you wanted to do the same as well?”
Jacob was awkward after receiving Zyus’s knowing smile. Every leader was busy recruiting new players and developing their subordinates except for him. It wasn’t that he didn’t wasn’t to contribute anything. His introverted personality made the tasks assigned to him feel mentally draining.
Zyrus knew this from the start as well. It was for this reason that he assigned him to teach others the basics of using mana.
“Looks like it was too much for you. Don’t worry though, you won’t have to worry about this for a while.”
“Phew.. that’s great,” Jacob sighed in relief as he followed after Zyrus.
“Tell Shi kun to assemble the best shield warriors on the dragon of war. We’ll set off in the next hour,”
“Understood,” Jacob replied and left with energetic steps.
Zyrus’s next goal was to level up to 30 and obtain another trait via blood fusion. Then, he would conquer the third island before parting ways to clear the cube’s mission.
‘I can only hope that my plan works out…’
*Thunk*
He jumped on the dragon of war’s deck and started drawing a rough map. Often time these mundane activities were required to jog up his past memories.
Although the Pisces archipelago wasn’t explored in his heyday, its popularity didn’t fade even after centuries.
One of the main things that attracted countless players here was the rumored pirate cave. Yes, it was a cliché setting where a pirate’s hoarded treasure was found in an undersea cave.
But as expected from the sanctuary, this wasn’t a free meal given to lucky players. It was true that there was a treasure trove hidden between the second and the third island, but obtaining it was anything but simple.
It was to the point that this popular yet dreadful place wasn’t completely explored till the players reached the fourth ring.
Zyrus drew the Pisces constellation on one sheet and focused on the three islands on another one. The location of the cave was at the converging point of the three islands, a place which had an equal distance from all the islands.
The unstable space and chaotic water currents were problems he found easy to handle. The biggest threat was the monsters that resided there.
‘I recall countless people did on the exploration due to that…’
In all honesty, the risks weren’t worth the reward at the current stage. However, the treasures were merely a side dish in Zyrus’s eyes.
What he wanted was the trait of the monsters. Why were they called monsters and not fish or aquatic beasts? Because they were in fact monsters who once resided on the island.
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The most important trait Zyrus needed was also the most common trait that all fish had- the ability to breathe underwater.
How stupid would it be if he one day drowned despite having the talent of blood fusion? He could use mana to breathe and fight underwater, but such a process was very inefficient.
‘Besides, there are many skills and items that can interfere with that,’
Zyrus firmly believed that for him, removing his weakness was much more crucial than getting more offensive strength. Just his void laws and class were enough to reach the same height he had in his previous life. And this was him being conservative.
The key here was that he survived till that point. It wasn’t an issue on the sanctuary, but on earth…
Even at his peak powers he doubted that he could face against the whole alien invasion. Thus, it was better to escape into the depths of the earth and under the currents of the ocean to escape if needed.
‘And it’s not like there’s no way to get two abilities from a trait,’
[Talent: Blood fusion (S rank)]
Drink their blood and devour their souls, only the worthy deserve the crown of evolution.
Transcending your human roots, you have now become a Sylvarix, a species that has no limits for evolution. However, you still carry the lineage of Homo sapiens. May the mark of adaptation light your way to the stars!
Effect: Absorb your enemy’s vitality to regain your stamina.
CD: 10 min
Special Ability 1: Drink the blood of your slain foes to obtain their special traits. (1/10)
Note: This ability can be used once every 20 levels.
Note: The traits will be granted at random and they will be modified to suit your race.
Note: The obtained traits can be developed further with the race evolution.
Special Ability 2: Devour the essence of mythical creatures to obtain their traits. (1/7)
Note: The traits are fixed and cannot be improved.
Special Ability 3: (Locked)
The familiar status widow floated in front of his eyes. The effect of his talent was negligible due to his monstrous regeneration rates, and there was nothing new about the talent as well.
He believed that a significant change would occur once he fulfilled the cube’s mission. For now, his focus was on the third note- 'The obtained traits can be developed further with the race evolution'.
At first, he believed that this effect would trigger when he reached Rakt Gorge after every 20 levels. But now that he knew the truth behind it, he was sure that he didn’t need the so-called bloodline improvement.
His very own talent was made with Nidraxis’s blood essence. He didn’t need the system’s help to improve in this aspect.
‘Drink their blood and devour their souls’, this was an apt description. There were millions if not billions of species that had the underwater breathing trait. Among them all, Zyrus had selected the one which had the highest compatibility with the burrow rats.
“We’re ready”
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the player’s shout. Shi kun didn’t have the luxury to accompany him at a time like this, but he did his best to send the strongest shield warriors under him.
*Cluck*
Zyrus climbed on his favorite mast and looked at the horizon. An endless cyan stretched as far as his eyes could see.
“Hoist the Anchors,”
*Shhhk*
“Set sails,”
*Flutter*
The galleon hummed with the fluctuation of mana and sailed on the vast ocean. On this day, An expedition group of 252 players and numerous summons departed to the cave called the “Lair of Nidhogg,”
…
Adventures on the sea might seem exciting at first, but they were in fact rather boring. After the past ten days the players were drained of their initial enthusiasm. When they heard about pirate’s treasures and dangerous monsters, they were filled with a heroic spirit to fight.
Although it was dangerous, none were afraid of death when Zyrus was leading them. It was obvious that he wouldn’t bring the best players to die in the middle of the ocean.
But in order to accomplish their goal, they had to find the freaking cave before anything else!
They were going around in circles for the past three days in hope of finding the site Zyrus mentioned. It wasted their time and mana, and the annoying fish were adding salt to the wound.
A long school of non-aggressive fish were swimming around the galleon. Due to Nuckelavee’s aura and the players' strength, none of the small fries dared to attack the dragon of war.
This led to the current scenario where they were playing around in circles with a bunch of dumb fish.
“Yawn…Are you sure we’re at the right place?”
“Definitely,”
“Then why haven’t we found the cave yet?”
“What’s the rush? I thought you’d enjoy sleeping all day long,” Zyrus spoke as he gave Franken a side-eye.
“Well…I’ve found some interesting things on these waters. If I’m right, then we can improve our army’s strength by a whole level.”
“Oh! Go on then,”
“It’s only a guess. I can’t experiment before we reach there, so there’s no point in giving you empty hope,”
“Hmm… maybe we’ll reach there tonight. You can go on your own to deal with it,” Zyrus replied as he looked at the darkening sky.
Today was the day of full moon. Although he knew the cave’s location, he didn’t know how to find the entrance to the cave. It was only accessible to the players due to the chaotic space.
At present, there was no way they could go to an undersea cave.
‘If it’s related to gravity, then we should find an answer today,’
The entirety of this sea region was influenced by the lunar cycle. An upward and downward current was formed on the days of new moon and full moon. He knew about the location of both of these currents, but there were many such less potent streams that arose from the two.
They appeared with no rhyme or reason on this mysterious sea. And if his guess was correct, then this should be one such time and location.