Treasure Hunting System： The Ocean Conquerer

"So that's what it means, that's what malleability signifies."

Alka, who had been obsessed with the transformation of the [Mirror] spell, had finally found where this spell had been altered.

"Have you discovered where your spell has strengthened?" Lucilia emerged from the mirror and asked.

Alka nodded.

"I discovered it. I never thought of approaching it from this direction before. It turns out my understanding of the spell was too limited."

The so-called enhancement of the malleability of the [Mirror] spell referred to the spell itself.

The Mirror spell was a rectangular block with an elongated capital 'I' inside.

The 'I' inside could be extracted and inscribed with other spells to enable fusion.

He had never thought before that this spell could change this way.

It could be combined and fused? It was practically modular!

After all, the pattern of the spell itself was not supposed to change; once changed, it would become another spell, and the effect would change accordingly.

For example, the ones they were using now were more inclined towards daily or common spells.

They were simplified and weakened from higher-level spells.

With Alka's still inadequate understanding of spells, he simply didn't have the capability to weaken and simplify an original spell.

Naturally, he had never thought in this direction.

Having reached a dead end, he finally considered this, though constrained by his insufficient capability.

In recent days, after studying with Gami, he had finally managed to extract the 'I' from the [Mirror] spell and inscribe a new spell inside.

Alka tried it.

The three excellent spells used by Jack couldn't be inscribed or supported.

However, simple ones like [Voice Bird] could be successfully inscribed; this was the first spell Alka had successfully fused.

The only regret was that the altered spell couldn't be drawn in mid-air; it had to be imprinted on other materials to be effective.

Drawing it in mid-air was like scribbling randomly; the spell would invariably fail, rendering it ineffective.

As for the reason why, Alka didn't know.

He looked at the pale card in his hand.

The back of the card was a faint white, while the front was outlined with black lines forming a small square frame.

Concealed within was the spell pattern: a rectangular frame with three vertical lines of varying lengths, neatly arranged at the center.

Lucilia, beside him, watched with wide, curious eyes.

Alka infused a trace of Magic Power into the card, activating it.

Releasing the card, it spiraled and landed on the floor. With a wave of transparent light, a full-length mirror emerged from below.

This mirror was distinctly different from the usual ones as soon as it appeared.

A normally produced mirror would be smooth, without any decorative patterns, simply an ordinary, basic Mirror Surface.

However, the current mirror had blue Rune lines along its edges resembling flying birds, with vine patterns drawn below.

And this mirror no longer reflected Alka's appearance.

Inside, a small bird appeared perched on a branch. It wasn't simply standing there but moving within, like a living creature.

It hopped twice on the branch, tilting its head to gaze at Alka.

Alka waved at the mirror and then said with a smile, "My name is Alka."

After speaking, he snapped his fingers.

The mirror instantly twisted into a swirl like a whirlwind, transforming into a peculiar, dazzling light. As the light faded, a small bird emerged.

The bird then spread its wings and flew to the table, looking at Lucilia.

In front of Lucilia, it shattered like a mirror, turning into a card.

"What does this mean?" Lucilia, who had watched all of Alka's actions, asked with some confusion.

"Infuse a bit of Magic Power into it."

Hearing this, Lucilia nodded, reached out, and tapped the card.

Although she couldn't touch the card, Magic Power surged out, entering it.

Of course, Alka supplied this Magic Power.

With just a touch of Magic Power, the card immediately transformed into a mirror, floating in mid-air.

Inside the mirror appeared the previous image of Alka; the mirrored Alka waved and smiled, saying, "My name is Alka."

Seeing this, Lucilia asked in surprise, "It can transmit images too?"

Alka nodded.

"Combining the two spells gives it the ability to transmit images as well, and the messages are delivered by an ordinary bird."

As for whether a line-drawn bird or a regular-looking bird was better, that was unknown.

One could only say each had its strengths and weaknesses.

Moreover, the transmission distance of this bird was the same as the distance the [Voice Bird] spell could cover.

Thus, whether the fused spell was powerful depended on the mastery of the spell embedded in the mirror frame, not on the mastery of the [Mirror] spell itself.

This was a limitation.

"And what else, what else?" Lucilia asked curiously from the side, wondering what other fusible spells would turn into.

Hearing this, Alka's expression became a bit awkward.

"What's wrong? Haven't had the chance to experiment yet?" Seeing Alka's expression, Lucilia asked.

She thought Alka had only experimented with this one fused spell.

Alka shook his head. "No, it's not that."

Another pale card appeared in his hand. This one, however, had a water droplet pattern within its black border, unlike the previous one, which had been blank.

"What spell is this fused with?" Lucilia asked curiously.

"Springwater."

It was the spell that could summon fresh spring water; Alka had learned it mainly in case he ever found himself short of water.

Moreover, this spell was simple and easy to learn, not requiring deliberate practice—one only needed to learn and master it.

He infused Magic Power into it, and another mirror appeared before them. This time, however, it also didn't reflect their appearances.

The mirror showed a scene of a mountain spring: a pool of clear water lay in the center, surrounded by mountains and vegetation.

Clear spring water continuously gushed forth, gurgling as it flowed outward.

"Can we drink the spring water from in there?" Lucilia watched this and couldn't help but guess aloud.

Alka shook his head and said awkwardly, "It's just... like this."

"What do you mean?"

"You can only look at it."

"..." Lucilia was silent for a moment.

Then she asked cautiously, "So, it just lets you look at a scene like this? There's nothing else special to it?"

Alka nodded.

"..."

Lucilia fell completely silent.

Isn't this a completely useless ability? And it can be fused like this?

"COUGH, COUGH!" Alka cleared his throat and explained, "After all, not every fusion can produce something useful, right? With so many ordinary spells, it's understandable that fusing some would result in a few duds."

"The fusion of spells also depends on a degree of compatibility."

Lucilia nodded in agreement. "You're right. You should try other spells; you might fuse something powerful."

"But you'll have to consider it carefully. After all, learning too many spells isn't necessarily a good thing."

Alka nodded. "Don't worry, I know how to pace myself."

After all, whether the fused ability was strong also depended on Alka's mastery over the spell being fused.

The more proficiently he mastered the spell within the mirror frame, the better the effect of the fused spell would be.

So he had to make some trade-offs and, before attempting a fusion, consider whether it would even be useful.

It was best to find spells that clearly paired well with the Mirror spell, though, of course, it essentially still relied on luck—like a lottery.

Albeit a lottery that followed certain patterns.

Perhaps, Alka thought.

Thinking of this, Alka said, "Let's go to the library to see if there are any interesting spells."

"No problem, I'll offer you some suggestions."

With that said, the two pushed open the door and walked outside.

"By the way, Lucilia, would you like to meet everyone?"

It would be too lonely for her if she only knew me, Alka thought.

"Ah? I... I... I need to prepare. It's too sudden. Let's wait until I'm mentally ready."

"It's okay, no rush. Take your time; we have plenty of time."

"Mm, thank you."

...

「The ship advanced slowly through the Realm of Pitch Darkness.」

At this point, it had been over half a month since they left the central area.

Based on some Island features and distance calculations, they were soon to reach the edge of the Realm of Pitch Darkness.

Reaching the edge was almost equivalent to exiting the Realm of Pitch Darkness.

At the edge, one no longer needed to fear the mental impact of darkness; though it was still pitch black, the Energy of darkness was negligible here.

Alka was steering the ship, learning under Andre's guidance.

Andre looked at the sea chart in his hand.

Presently, the clouds parted, and faint moonlight spilled down, reflecting on the sea surface.

This indicated that it was nighttime outside, and as it happened, the moon was directly above them.

They had reached the edge and were about to approach the boundary between day and night; flashes of light from beyond had begun to appear more frequently.

The sea chart in Andre's hand was the map they had obtained earlier, marking the safe navigation routes.

It was by relying on these safe routes that they were returning faster than they had on their outward journey.

They didn't even encounter any Sea Monsters along the way.

"It seems the routes on this chart are still usable. Indeed convenient and fast."

Andre said, rolling up the sea chart and handing it to Alka, who promptly stored it in his ring.

Alka, who was steering, suddenly felt his left arm grow warm. He let go of the helm and instinctively shook his arm.

"What's wrong?" Andre, standing beside him, asked, noticing Alka's strange behavior.

Alka frowned, looking at his left arm.

His left arm was burning up for some inexplicable reason.

"CLANG! CLANG!"

Suddenly, a bell sounded from the lookout tower, indicating the crew member on watch had discovered something unusual.

Chadite poked his head out, shouting loudly, "A fleet is approaching us! It's too dark to see their flag; we don't know if they're friend or foe!"

Upon hearing this, Andre immediately sprang up, nimbly climbing the rigging to the lookout post.

A monocular telescope appeared in his hand.

He raised the telescope and peered into the distance.

Because of the ringing bell, the ship's core crew members all came onto the deck.

Hammer, who had been getting some fresh air on deck, walked up to Alka's side.

"What's happening? It's too dark here, I can't see a thing. This place is really tough on ordinary folks."

Alka, still at the helm, shook his head, indicating he didn't know either.

Just then, the clouds in the sky parted, and faint moonlight spilled down.

The light shone diagonally ahead of their ship, perfectly illuminating the fleet sailing towards them.

As the moonlight illuminated them, several large ships came into view, their black sails and the pirate flag above them clearly visible.

A scythe stabbed into a skull.

Seeing this scene, Alka's eyes widened.

It was the exact vision he had seen while holding the Sword of Love.

"Watch out! Dodge!"

A piercing whistle tore through the air.

Before Alka could react, he saw Hammer, who was right in front of him, explode into a cloud of blood mist.