Zyrus took out the trembling cube from his pocket, and in the next instance, an intense red glow filled his vision.
It was a familiar tab formed from the red motes of light. More than half a year had passed since he arrived at the sanctuary. He had spent six months on earth before coming to the sanctuary, thus, it had been almost a year since his regression.
A lot had happened in this short time. And the cube was at the center of it all.
Zyrus knew that the next words on the screen would determine the direction of his journey. And in the grand scheme of things, they would also determine the fate of Sanctuary.
[Mission: Gain the acknowledgment of ?????]
[You must reach the bottom of the ocean to meet ????]
[Reward: Obtain the talent “Devour (A rank)”, Obtain the ??? stat]
Zyrus was dumbstruck after reading the text. He had thought about a lot of possible missions and their rewards, but both were completely out of his expectations.
‘How do I gain the acknowledgment? And what with the new stat?’
He doubted his past knowledge after seeing the mention of a new stat. As far as he knew, no one in the sanctuary had an additional stat. Even if he did gain a unique stat, he was almost 100% sure that it would be nerfed in the sanctuary.
There was no way that the system would allow such a huge imbalance in power between him and the other players.
‘If I’m right, then the talent is nerfed as well,’
The one in charge of this mission should be as strong as or even stronger than Nidraxis. Zyrus was sure that someone who surpassed the limits of the sanctuary wouldn’t have a measly A-grade talent.
The only possible scenario was that the talent Devour was extremely specific. It might have a lot of restrictions as well.
Only then would its rating be justified.
‘No point in thinking about it now. At least the condition to activate the mission is simple,’
Zyrus put down the cube and took out the map. It was drawn by him according to his memories, and as far as he knew, the bottom of the ocean wasn’t far off from the next islands.
He didn’t know much about the terrain of the ocean surface. The ocean around the first three islands of Pisces archipelago was between 2000-3000 meters deep.
It was also because of this reason that many small fish lived in this area. But after the first three islands, there was a steep decline on the ocean floor.
The ocean after that was dark blue with a depth of ~8000 meters. This sharp downward slope was due to the continental shift.
The first island was on the map of Kyros continent for a reason. Before it became an island, it was a part of Kyros continent.
Zyrus didn’t care about how or why the land sank in the past. There were too many mysteries hidden in the sanctuary.
Even a millennia wasn’t enough to uncover all of them.
‘Looks like I’ll have to go back to earth before starting this mission,’
Zyrus purposefully didn’t raise his level in the last four months. The ocean was unpredictable, and thus, he couldn’t predict his exp gain on the journey to the second island.
He had a clear plan to conquer the Earth’s land in one fell swoop. But in order to accomplish that, he had to pre-plan his level up to lv 25.
Zyrus thought for a while about the nearby two islands. He more or less knew about their difficulty as well.
“All captains, assemble at the Dragon of War,”
One by one the players jumped on ropes like monkeys and reached the giant warship. Apart from the captains on the three galleons, Zyrus had appointed captains for each Viking longboat as well.
“First of all, memorize this map,” Zyrus called over a random player and gave him the map.
“…Yes, Your Majesty,”
“What, is there any problem?”
“N-No,”
Everyone held back their chuckles after looking at the ‘map’. Zyrus’s drawing skills were on the same level as a middle schooler, but it was enough to give them a rough idea.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“As you saw, there are 16 islands on Pisces archipelago. That crescent-shaped island is known as the Land of Farnakht. It’s a large island whose population equals to 10% of Kyros continent. However, we can’t go there now since it’s separated by the mist barrier,”
The players were awed by the new information. Unlike the 100 crown holders, the normal players hadn’t seen the Kyros continent’s map at the banquet. Just these islands on Pisces archipelago were huge in their eyes. Not to mention the land of Farnakht which was nearly 100 times larger than the island.
And that place’s population only equaled to 10% of Kyros continent. Just how big was the continent then?
“Back to the topic at hand, let’s talk about Pisces archipelago. We can divide these 16 islands into three parts based on the monsters’ level and the harsh terrain. Naturally, the deeper you go, the more dangerous the ocean will be.”
He waited for a while so that the others could digest the information and continued,
“First are the three islands which have the lowest difficulty. The average monsters here are around lv 25. As for the 5 islands that form a crown shape, they have the highest difficulty. There are natives as well as monsters living on that place. And most of them are above lv 45.”
Zyrus spoke the last sentence with heavy emphasis. What did it mean to have an average lv of 45 and above? It meant that even little kids living there could kill Camazotz, a field boss who nearly wiped out 6000 players.
“The time to conquer that place is still far off, so let’s focus on the present. We’ve already conquered one of the three easy islands. The difficulty for the next two islands is about the same. The one closest to us has more dangerous ocean surrounding it, while the other island is the habitat of some annoying monsters. We’ll be heading to the closest one first.”
Zyrus concluded in a composed tone. Even though the journey to the next island would be risky, he was confident in dealing with any incidents.
The captains nodded at him and left one by one. Only Ria and the galleons’ captains remained to chat longer.
“What is your plan for the middle islands?” Ria asked him out of curiosity,
“Can’t you guess?”
“Looking at the map, I bet you’ll separate us into two groups to fight on both sides,”
“Close enough,”
Zyrus did plan to separate them, but they will be fighting on three sides. Or rather, he would be fighting the third side on his own.
The group parted ways after an hour of small talks. Zyrus reminded them of the dangers on the journey and the ways to deal with them.
Nothing unexpected happened in the rest of the day. Hours went by as the ships sailed at moderate speed on the Cyan Ocean.
*Buuuuuuu*
Zyrus yawned after waking up from the bugle’s sound. It was the same bugle that the goblin riders used in the first ring. But instead of attacking the players' camp, the goblin riders were now acting as a watchguard.
“Deactivate the speed runes, keep the barriers active and preserve your mana. Also, make as little noise as possible,”
A silent yet heavy atmosphere surrounded the fleet. The ocean was eerily quiet as the sun dipped below the horizon.
The endless sea was terrifying to look at the night. Light and land were the cornerstones of everyone’s lives. The players felt an instinctive fear at the absence of the two.
“Prepare to activate the night’s blessing,” Zyrus's voice resounded across the fleet. The words were like the devil’s whisper in the players' ears.
The environment was dark and creepy enough as it is, was there a need to activate the night’s blessing at this time?
Of course, there were just the thoughts in their heads. No one had the guts to say that out loud.
‘‘Huu.. finally, it’s time. That ‘thing’ always attacks the first ship at night.’
Zyrus wasn’t the only one who thought of conquering the ocean. Before the players’ arrival, many others on the continent had similar ideas. However, all of them were thwarted by a single entity.
Before his regression, countless fleets were destroyed before they saw the next sunrise on the ocean. No matter where or when they sailed from, it would appear on the first night and sink all the ships.
It took a lot of coordinated effort to defeat that ‘thing’. Only after players defeated the monster with the system’s assistance did the northern marine routes open. This was one of the many reasons why the natives couldn’t unify the whole continent and the third ring.
It was impossible without the crown and flag’s authorities. Zyrus didn’t have any offensive authority, but he had enough cards up his sleeve.
“Activate the night’s blessing, and Drop the anchors!”
*Plop*Plop*
The ocean gurgled as the anchors sank into the dark waters. A similar dark fog seeped out from ships, shrouding the entire fleet.
[Night’s blessing (Rare)]
A ring forged with the power of darkness.
Durability: 100/100
Effects: Shrouds the user in a mist of dark mana.
These were the original stats of the rings. And Zyrus had placed thousands of such rings all over the ships.
Forget about the fish in the ocean, even the players were unable to differentiate between the dark water and nearby ships. If not for the barriers that were still emitting a faint halo, they would’ve gone mad from fear.
*Thunk*
Zyrus jumped down from the mast and landed beside Franken. The one-eyed reindeer had completely taken over the role of the helmsman.
“Why didn’t you tell the players beforehand?” Franken asked with a strange smile.
“Don’t you know that thing’s specialty?”
“I’m not an encyclopedia like you arcanists. I only remember what I find interesting,”
*Kreeeak*
Croaking sounds echoed below the fleet as the duo were chatting. The boats started to sway as if they were sailing under a thunderstorm, but strangely, not a sound was heard apart from the eerie croaking.
“Well, you’ll know the answer in a while,”
There was a very good reason why Zyrus didn’t tell anyone about this. Their opponent was someone who preyed on other’s fears.
It was something that even a group of lv 50 players couldn’t defeat with brute force. There were only two ways to defeat the monster that haunted the oceans of Kyros continent.
The method used by players in his past life was rather straightforward. Every player who participated in the raid had to be strong and fearless. Just having a bold personality wasn’t enough. The players needed achievements that were related to mental fortitude as well.
But Zyrus couldn’t use the same method. Fortunately, one of his arcanist friends had created another strategy. It was unverified since the monster was a unique existence, but still, he was sure that it would work.
The whole strategy could be summarized in one word: Ignorance.
*Gurrrrg*
“Brace for Impact,”
*Bang*Thunk*
Zyrus’s words were right on time as the ships barely avoided crashing into one another. Even then, nearly half of the barriers had cracks on them due to collision.
*Tok*Torrrukk*
While everyone was guessing what the hell was attacking their ships, a sudden light filled their vision.
[You have encountered Nuckelavee: The warden of the sea]
[Mission: Survive until sunrise or defeat the Nuckelavee]
[Rewards: The Ocean's Testament, Ring of Sebek]
[Penalty: Death]