The Choice of Treasures
The smoke from the sixth team battle had dissipated, and Fa knelt on one knee, sharp pain spreading from her right eye throughout her body. Every breath tugged at the tearing agony. Arya's warm fingertips, carrying soothing life energy, touched her cold cheek, the elf's emerald eyes filled with worried tears. Zhamisi's heavy panting was right beside her ear, with remnants of dark green poisonous mist swirling uneasily around her.
On the high platform, the mysterious figure shrouded in shadows showed an obvious sway for the first time. That invisible pressure, like a punctured balloon, suddenly weakened a bit, replaced by an indescribable complex emotion.
"Whew..." A long sigh, as if accumulated over centuries, came from the shadows of the cloak, low and clear, echoing in the dead silent cabin, dispersing the last remnants of the battle's echoes. "Absolutely brilliant." The mysterious person's voice still carried a metallic texture, but it strangely softened, even revealing a hint of... fatigue and relief? "On this cursed, stagnant sea of death, it's been a long... long time since there's been such an absolutely brilliant competition."
With his words, a miracle occurred. The dense cold and decaying atmosphere in the cabin receded rapidly like an ebbing tide. Tens of thousands of ghosts surged from all directions, those densely packed, variously shaped undead passengers, emitting low and sincere congratulatory voices. They no longer radiated hostility and oppression; the hollow eye sockets held softly flickering soul fires in ghostly blue or pale white, converging into a silent, solemn gaze.
The opponents who had fiercely clashed with Fa and her group—the ghost gambler first mate, the sniper, the hunter and his falcon, the ghost chess player, and even the last three powerful ghost guardians—their shattered forms reconstituted in the light, becoming clear and stable. They floated among the numerous ghosts, their gazes focused on Fa and her party, without resentment, only a calm after enduring storms, and... a trace of acknowledgment.
The gambler first mate nodded slightly at the grinning Tisk. The sniper's cold, empty ghost eyes flickered at Rex. The hunter and falcon's figures paused before Salsa, the giant eagle letting out a short but no longer ferocious cry. The ghost chess player's fragmented energy body performed an ancient ritual belonging to elemental masters toward Yuyuer. The ghost guardians, like silent statues, cast respectful "gazes" toward the mutually supporting Fa, Arya, and Zhamisi.
The entire "Whisper of the Dead" seemed to come alive in that moment, no longer a coffin bearing grudges, but a hall that had witnessed epics and could finally rest in peace.
Fa lifted her head, steadied her breath, and politely asked, "May I ask who you are? Why hold these competitions?"
The mysterious person chuckled lightly, the cloak trembling slightly. "I am the guardian of this ghost ship 'Whisper of the Dead,' named 'Lakas.' I was once a mage, witnessing the rise and fall of countless civilizations. This ship was built with my life's effort, carrying the secrets and treasures of that era. I hold these competitions to find those worthy of inheriting these legacies. You have proven yourselves with courage, wisdom, and unity, deserving rewards."
His words carried vicissitudes and profundity, and Fa's group couldn't help but feel solemn respect upon hearing them. The ghosts who had fought them also murmured in agreement.
Lakas slowly raised his withered palm, fingers spread, palm downward. A profound darkness magic, like the night sky yet containing gentle vitality, flowed out like inky spring water, silently spreading over the entire arena area, gently enveloping Fa, Arya, and Zhamisi.
"Darkness is not only about devouring and destruction." Lakas's voice was like an ancient ballad, "It is also nurturing, awakening after silence, and... the peaceful unity of all things."
A wondrous warm current instantly surged through the three's bodies. The soul-tearing burning pain and almost bursting swelling in Fa's right eye were extinguished like cool spring water, rapidly subsiding. The blood-red and blur in her vision quickly dissipated, restoring clarity, even sharper than before. The wounds on Arya from shadow arrows grazing her, and the internal organs shocked by explosions, were purified as necrotic tissue peeled away under the dark magic's touch. Fresh flesh regenerated and healed at a visible speed, and even fatigue was swept away. Zhamisi felt itching at the bone fractures from massive impacts; the broken bones rapidly reconnected and strengthened under the dark nourishment, and the scales burned by corrosive backlash renewed their tough luster. In just a few breaths, all pain and fatigue on the three vanished, their states even fuller and more vibrant than before boarding!
"This..." Arya joyfully moved her fully healed arm, feeling the surging life force and magic within. Zhamisi clenched her fist hard, sensing the strength in her bones, her dark green vertical pupils shining brightly: "Good stuff! This blackish energy is top-notch for healing!"
Lakas withdrew his hand, and the gentle dark magic enveloping the cabin receded with it. Facing the group, his voice carried a solemn declaration: "The wager is fulfilled, victors enjoy glory. Now, it is time for you to claim your spoils. This ship has been silent for too long; perhaps there are things in its treasury that can aid your journey. Each person may select one."
As soon as the words fell, the deck beneath everyone's feet emitted a low rumble, the central area slowly cracking open. A staircase flickering with ghostly blue, deep purple, and dark gold lights extended downward, a mix of dust-sealed ages, powerful magic fluctuations, and... an indescribable tempting aura surging up from below.
"Treasures!" Tisk was the first to roar, the dwarf's beard trembling with excitement, swinging his Earthshaker warhammer with whooshing sounds. "I knew it! This trip wasn't in vain! Let's go, let's go!" He stepped forward with his short sturdy legs to charge down, but was steadily blocked by Rex's mechanical arm.
"Calm down, Tisk." Rex's electronic eyes scanned the staircase, "Energy readings are complex, with multiple unknown force fields. Suggest orderly entry, maintain vigilance." His analysis was as rational as ever.
"Treasures? Then I gotta pick carefully!" Salsa's soul body excitedly circled Arya, her amber eyes shining, "Maybe there's a lost ancient necromancy spellbook!" Her mechanical cat shell also let out expectant "meows."
Kayla rubbed her shoulder, previously severely injured by the duplicate but now fully healed, grinning: "Winning the fight is the best reward! But hey... getting treasures is even better!"
Yuyuer nervously yet expectantly swished his tail, his exoskeleton emitting faint hydraulic sounds, clearly full of interest in mysterious knowledge-type treasures. Zhamisi boldly patted Yuyuer's back: "Come on, I'll help you choose!"
Fa and Arya exchanged a glance, the elf's eyes questioning. Fa nodded lightly, a silver gleam flickering in her right eye, confirming no malicious trap energy fluctuations below the staircase. She took Arya's hand and stepped first onto the mysteriously glowing staircase. The group followed closely, each with their own excitement and anticipation, entering the dust-sealed core treasury of the "Whisper of the Dead."
The treasury's space was vaster than imagined, like a miniature starry dome. Countless light orbs floated quietly, each sealing an item emitting unique magic or tech auras. There were weapons and armor flowing with elemental radiance, thick tomes inscribed with ancient runes, intricately structured mechanical constructs with cold metallic sheen, and even exotic plants or ores sealed in crystals.
"Whoa!" Tisk let out a dwarven exclamation, his bell-like eyes barely enough to take it all in. Like a child in a candy store, he shuttled between items emitting metallic luster and powerful energy waves, his rough fingers carefully stroking various oddly shaped warhammers, axes, and unfinished mechanical components. "This pattern... this forging technique... definitely a master's work! This star-patterned steel, oh my, I've only heard of it in legends!"
Finally, his steps stopped at an unassuming corner. There floated a dark red light orb, inside quietly lying a hammer of extremely ancient, even somewhat crude design. The hammerhead presented a dull lava color, with magma seeming to flow slowly inside, the handle a deep brown wood with textures like earth's veins. A heavy, scorching yet immensely steady aura emanated from it.
"This is it!" Tisk's eyes burst with fanatic light, almost pouncing over. The light orb dissipated upon his touch, the stone hammer falling into his hand. A warm power surged up his arm into his body, making him feel an unprecedented close connection with the earth beneath his feet and the pulse of flames. "'Lava Core Forging Hammer'! Haha, great name! Never wears out, constant high temperature, and boosts affinity for metal and fire magic! With this, my craftsmanship can go up ten levels! Those precise ancient constructs, watch me hammer them out!" He fondly stroked the hammer body, as if caressing a lover's cheek.
On the other side, Rex acted like the most precise scanner, pausing and analyzing before items emitting high-energy reactions and complex geometric structures. He had little interest in those flashy magic items; his electronic eyes locked on mechanically complex cores, energy modules, and data crystals emitting ghostly blue or silver auras. Finally, a dodecahedral core bound by multiple energy fields, its internal structure constantly shifting and rotating like a miniature universe, attracted him. It floated quietly, emanating tech fluctuations beyond current era understanding.
"Detected ultra-high density energy source, structure matches 'Titan-level' interstellar engine theoretical core features... Data interface mode unknown, but compatibility simulation up to 97.8%." Rex's electronic eyes brightened a level, his mechanical voice with rare fluctuation, "This is it. 'Void Singularity Core.'" He extended his mechanical arm, precisely penetrating the field, grasping the cold and heavy core. The core's surface lights instantly accelerated, as if activated, producing a faint resonance with Rex's internal energy circuits. He immediately began attempting initial data linkage, countless tiny data streams flashing rapidly on his retinal projection. "...Incredible energy conversion efficiency... Prototype of space-folding algorithms... This will be the key to unlocking the next stage of 'Leaper' armor, even building a true starship!" He immersed himself, the surrounding treasures seeming to no longer exist.
Yuyuer wandered in the ocean of knowledge. He was interested in orbs and staves containing strong water element fluctuations, but ultimately was drawn to a crystal ball suspended in a light blue water curtain. The crystal ball's interior was not static but like a living ocean, countless tiny light points—representing currents, schools of fish, sea beasts, even continental shelf veins—flowing, birthing, and dying within, forming a dynamic 3D map covering most known seas. As he approached, the crystal ball's light flickered slightly, some points representing hidden vortices, ancient sea beast lairs, or suspected sunken civilization ruins becoming especially bright, while a gentle water element affinity enveloped him.
"Deep Blue Vision Sphere..." Yuyuer murmured softly, his webbed palm carefully passing through the water curtain, cradling the warm crystal ball. The moment his mind connected, vast and detailed ocean information flowed into his mind like gentle waves. "Amazing! With this, we'll be like fish in water at sea! Routes for finding the 'Light Feather Dome' and star fragments can be optimized countless times! It can also warn of sea beasts and dangerous areas!" He excitedly looked at Zhamisi.
Zhamisi grinned, revealing sharp venomous fangs: "Great stuff! From now on, we'll dominate the seas!" Her own goal was clear. She headed straight to an area in the treasury wreathed in dark green poisonous mist. There floated a sac-like organ specimen shaped like some deep-sea giant beast's venom gland. The specimen was petrified but still emitted heart-palpitating terrifying toxicity and vast vitality fluctuations, slightly distorting the surrounding space.
"Abyss Lord Venom Gland Crystal!" Zhamisi's eyes flashed with wild light, unhesitatingly reaching out to grab it. The dark green poisonous mist not only didn't harm her but merged into her scales like fledglings returning to the nest. As she gripped the cold crystal, a violent and ancient venom origin power instantly resonated with her internal water and poison magic! Her venomous curved blades hummed, the poison glow surging, the color becoming deeper and darker, even tinged with a soul-devouring purple. Her surrounding poisonous mist barrier also became more condensed and active, faintly emitting shrieks. "Ha! This toxicity packs a punch! Next time we meet troublemakers, one spray of poison mist, whether ghost or living, they'll turn into a puddle of dead water!" She demonstratively swung her blade at the air, brimming with confidence.
Arya's gaze was drawn to a place in the treasury center emitting soft white light. There floated a pigeon-egg-sized, irregularly shaped milky white stone. It looked ordinary, without astonishing energy fluctuations or ornate appearance. But as Arya approached, her Storm Bow resonated lightly, the five-colored lights on the bow body becoming exceptionally gentle and peaceful. What made her heart race was that when she gazed at the stone, deep in her soul she could faintly sense a trace... belonging to Fa, that profound and warm aura from the star eye? It was like resonance, or a call.
"'Star Resonance Stone'..." Arya softly recited the ancient elven script appearing beside the stone, a hard-to-describe throb surging in her heart. She extended her slender fingers, gently touching the warm stone. A warm feeling, like a soul embrace, instantly flowed through her body. She felt her connection with the Storm Bow in her hand tighten, the bowstring like an extension of her nerves, elemental flows more intuitive. More wonderfully, she seemed able to sense Fa's emotional fluctuations more clearly through this stone, a subtle soul-level link beyond words. She clutched the stone tightly in her palm, pressing it to her heart, her gaze toward Fa gentle enough to drip water.
Inheritance and Awakening
Kayla circled among various weapons and armors emitting powerful force fluctuations, finally shrugging and picking up a wristguard carved with a roaring beast head, containing pure lightning energy, weighing it before putting it down. "Not bad, but feels less handy than my Thunder Claws!" Her gaze finally turned to Lakas on the high platform.
Salsa's soul body floated around the treasury, seeming uninterested in those shiny things. She floated straight to Lakas, her amber soul eyes flickering with unprecedented seriousness and longing, her mechanical cat shell also tilting its head, emitting "meow meow" calls. "Um... Senior Lakas!" Salsa's voice carried tension and determination, "Your power... controlling life and death, commanding undead, so profound and strong! I... I want to become stronger! Like you! Please... take me as your disciple! Teach me the true mysteries of the undead!"
The shadows under Lakas's cloak seemed to shift, gazing at Salsa's pure soul fire. After a moment of silence, a light sigh, as if with a smile, came. "The path to pursuing power is filled with thorns and temptations; a slight misstep, and you'll lose yourself in the mists of death, becoming a slave to power rather than its master... Are you sure, soul one?"
Salsa's soul body glowed brighter, her voice unwavering: "I'm sure! No matter how hard, I want to walk it! I want to become stronger... to protect my companions, they're like my family!"
"Very well..." Lakas slowly raised a finger. A point of profound darkness, like the end of the universe yet purely incomparable, condensed at his fingertip. "This wisp of 'Breath of Annihilation' contains a trace of the undead origin's true essence, and my insights on soul and negative energy transformation. Whether you can comprehend it, how far you can go, depends on your own fortune." The black glow, like living, gently floated toward Salsa's soul body, instantly merging in.
Salsa shuddered violently! Her soul body erupted in intense dark light, countless arcane fragments of knowledge about soul structures, negative energy control, undead will communication, even touching life-death boundaries, flooding her consciousness like a torrent. She grunted, her soul body uncontrollably retracting into the mechanical cat shell. The cat eyes' light flickered intensely a few times, finally settling into a profound calm, as if sinking into deep meditation. A more condensed, more dangerous shadow aura faintly emanated from the small shell.
Seeing this, Kayla strode to the platform, her voice booming: "Senior Lakas! I have a question too! How can I defeat that mirror version of me? We have the same power, speed, moves; fighting a hundred times would still be a draw!"
Lakas turned to Kayla, the "gaze" under his cloak seeming to penetrate her flesh, seeing the ancient power dormant deep in her bloodline. "Your confusion stems from the forgetting of your bloodline." His voice carried a vicissitude tracing back to antiquity, "In the distant era when the earth was young and thunder tore the skies, your beastman ancestors were true children of the earth. Their blood surged with primal power, allowing flesh and will to resonate and transform at deeper levels—four-stage transformations, even five-stage, not legends."
He pointed his withered hand and made a vague gesture in the air. An image formed of pure shadow energy appeared: a blurred beastman figure roaring, his body expanding and morphing in battle, from humanoid to giant leopard, to a colossal beast entwined with natural element storms and lava, and finally even a colossal beast manipulating soul with flesh! Each transformation brought qualitative leaps in power and form!
"Technology brings convenience but dulls your perception and excavation of your own bloodline power." Lakas's words struck Kayla's heart like heavy hammers, "The sleeping power in you is far wilder and deeper than you know now. Don't settle for superficial beastification. Listen to the thunder in your blood, feel the earth's pulse in your bones, seek what anger and guardian will can touch... deeper forms! When you touch the edge of the fourth-stage transformation, defeating that mirror will no longer be difficult. The path is under your feet, and more so in your bloodline and will." He withdrew his finger, the shadow image dissipating.
Kayla stood stunned as if struck by lightning, her bell-like beast pupils flickering with unprecedented light. She looked down at her hands, as if truly recognizing the power in her body for the first time. Deep in her bloodline, something seemed to... awaken faintly under Lakas's words and that glimpse.
Lakas's Advice to Fa
Finally, Lacas's "gaze" swept over everyone and landed on Fa. That gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, becoming incredibly profound and solemn.
"As for you, observer and... interferer of fate, you need no treasures." Lakas's voice lowered, carrying unprecedented seriousness, "Your right eye is the key, and also Pandora's box. It can glimpse cracks in reality, briefly freeze flowing time, even let you touch spatial folds. You've begun to touch its boundaries, which is good, but extremely dangerous."
He paused, the treasury's atmosphere solidifying with his words.
"Remember, every time you forcibly stagnate time, every time you tear space to teleport, it engraves indelible marks on your soul's origin. Overuse, at best soul exhaustion and eternal fall into void, at worst..." Lakas's cloak shadows seemed to deepen, his voice like a whisper from the abyss, "...it may trigger chain collapses in spacetime structure, dragging everything you cherish, the world line you exist in, into irretrievable turbulence and end. You need none of the treasures here, for you yourself carry the 'possibility' sufficient to reshape the world or push it to destruction. Use it wisely, or... seal it forever. This power far exceeds your imagination."
Upon hearing, Fa's heart shook, her face instantly paling, a slight throb coming from her right eye. Lakas's words, like cold daggers, pierced her slight confidence after gaining power, laying bare the terrifying responsibility and cost behind the star eye. She subconsciously gripped Arya's hand tighter, the elf's warm and firm return grip giving her some support. Fa solemnly said, "I will use it cautiously, thank you for the reminder."
Lakas nodded, saying, "Travelers, you have all received rewards, now you may leave. May your future journey go smoothly." His voice returned to initial flatness, yet with a farewell tone, "The 'Whisper of the Dead's' gifts have been delivered. Fate's voyage ultimately relies on you to steer... May your will pierce the storms ahead."
Fa's group thanked Lakas and the ghosts, leaving the ghost ship with their treasures. After leaving, Lakas's figure began to become transparent and blurred, like merging into the surrounding black mist. At the same time, the entire treasury, along with the massive ghost ship body outside, began to vibrate, emitting soft, ebbing-like ghostly blue light. The figures of tens of thousands of ghost passengers also became transparent, silently giving a final salute to Fa's group.
The Whisper of the Dead, this ghost ship carrying countless legends and secrets, after fulfilling its final agreement, was about to return to silence, disappearing into the depths of the endless sea's mists. And Fa's group, with rich harvests and heavy responsibilities, would have to set sail again, continuing toward Lairis Island. The future is full of unknowns and challenges, but they believe that as long as united, they can overcome everything.