Treasure Hunting System： The Ocean Conquerer

"Jason, what are you thinking about?"

On a ship with gold and green livery, bearing the emblem of the Holy Mother Church, Jason leaned against the railing, gazing at the pitch-black sea surrounding them.

Hearing a voice from behind, he turned his head.

It was the captain of the ship.

"I was wondering how Alka and the others are doing."

Upon hearing Jason's words, the middle-aged man standing there couldn't help but say, "I think they should be fine. You don't need to worry too much about them."

Jason waved his hand in response. "I'm not worried about their safety," he said in a light-hearted tone. "I'm worried that they've gotten too strong. If I'm too weak when I meet them, I'll definitely be laughed at."

"Hahaha, then you better work hard."

Jason chuckled and then said, a bit helplessly, "Why don't Alka and the others just use the Sword of Love?"

Hearing this, the middle-aged Church Knight could only shrug helplessly, indicating that he couldn't understand it either.

He had been drifting in this eerie place for half a year, yet Alka still hadn't used the Holy Sword, which would have enabled them to pinpoint his location.

It had also been nearly half a year since they began the assault and encirclement of the Prayer for the Dead Pirate Gang.

In the earliest months, they truly had the Pirate Gang completely sealed within the Realm of Pitch Darkness, almost starving them to death inside.

After all, the Prayer for the Dead Pirate Gang wasn't just any small gang; it was a fleet composed of several large ships along with numerous escort ships.

Some small countries' maritime forces might not have been as numerous.

The total number of pirates exceeded 3,000, and their daily consumption of supplies was not insignificant.

On top of that, with deliberate ambushes and traps, the Church had almost managed to destroy the flagship of the Prayer for the Dead.

In the end, it slipped away, but they had at least destroyed two large ships of the Pirate Gang, taking out at least 600 pirates.

Since then, the Prayer for the Dead's activities had become dispersed, and they communicated among themselves using [Voice Birds].

This method of communication was occasionally intercepted by Church ships.

The flagship was said to have ventured deeper into the central region, with nearly half of the pirates operating there.

The remaining pirates were scattered on the outskirts, drawing the Church's attention.

In addition, to muddy the waters, this group of pirates spread rumors.

They claimed to have discovered traces of Treasure in the Realm of Pitch Darkness, which was why the Prayer for the Dead Pirate Gang and the Holy Mother Church were in conflict there.

A claim that already held a sliver of possibility gained even more credibility when coupled with the visible conflict between the two sides.

This attracted countless people to head towards the Dark Realm, including numerous pirates and Treasure Hunting Teams dreaming of striking it rich.

Conversely, the major powers who knew the underlying reasons did not get involved.

However, it had to be said that the arrival of these assorted groups forced the Church to slow its encirclement and eradication of the Prayer for the Dead Pirate Gang.

Still, the Church was a formidable force. Even with the slowdown, a majority of the Prayer for the Dead Pirate Gang's ships and crew were eliminated during their flight through the Realm of Pitch Darkness.

Even if they successfully escaped afterward and returned to their former pirate lair, it would still take them a considerable amount of time to recover.

There was no way around it. As long as their Pirate Captain, who held the Treasure, remained alive, the Pirate Gang could always resurface.

From these captured crew members, the Church learned a great deal about Alka and the others.

This included Sang Kaka's death and Andre's capture and imprisonment on the flagship.

They learned that Alka's group, consisting of three individuals, was battling the pirates in the Realm of Pitch Darkness. They also discovered that the pirates' true target wasn't the Holy Sword, but Alka himself.

This led to a change in the Church's operational strategy.

Instead of deploying countless ships to encircle and explore with small squads, they switched to deploying several elite teams to penetrate the central region of the Realm of Pitch Darkness.

While striking at the pirates, these elite teams also searched for any trace of Alka and his companions, aiming to reduce the pirate forces pursuing them.

From various fragmented pieces of information, they also learned just how resilient these two young Treasure Hunting Team members and that mysterious merman were.

This also led many Treasure Hunting Teams and pirates to begin operating in the center of the Realm of Pitch Darkness as well, seemingly convinced there was Treasure to be found there.

From Alka's perspective, of course, there indeed was Treasure here.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, Alka quietly began meditating on his bedroll in the corner, striving to break through to Two Spirals within two days.

Chadite, having become an Explorer earlier than Alka and having already spent a year at One Spiral, had entered Two Spirals a month ago with the help of the Meditation Method.

As for Alka, although he was behind Chadite, it was because he had come into contact with Extraordinary Power relatively late.

Thanks to his notably faster-than-average meditation speed, he was quickly catching up.

The pirates already patrolling the surrounding seas posed no significant pressure on Alka or Chadite.

This was because upon entering the central region, Alka knew his father could only faintly sense his position, and even that connection was intermittent at best.

This was something they had briefly tested before.

This significantly reduced the advantage of his father's bloodline-linked tracking method.

Even if the pirates were in the surrounding seas, unless they got lucky, it would still take them a while to find Alka.

Not to mention, due to the oppressive darkness, the pirates had to frequently return to the peripheries to rest, moving between the outer and central areas.

Even with their superior numbers, they still couldn't do much against the trio.

However, recently Alka had also noticed more and more peculiar ships and forces appearing in the central region.

These were clearly not after him, but Alka hadn't interacted with them, nor did he know why they had come here.

But this was all good. The more people there were, the easier it would be for them to hide.

It was hard to tell whether it was midnight or dawn.

Pororo was swimming on the sea's surface, training while keeping watch.

Chadite was by the stove, painting, occasionally glancing at Alka, who was in the process of breaking through. She remained vigilant, wary of any issues if the oppressive darkness were to surge unexpectedly during this critical time.

Besides the two of them, a palm-sized, chibi-style gothic lolita doll wandered the room, exploring and touching everything.

Finally, she even approached the stove, her head twitching as she impulsively reached out to test the temperature inside.

Seeing this, Chadite immediately reached out and nudged her back.

"Lucilia," Chadite said helplessly, "you're in a doll's body now. Don't touch the fire; it will damage it."

The doll, Lucilia, standing on the ground, looked up at Chadite's words, waved her arms twice, and then ran away.

Watching Lucilia run off, Chadite saw the doll quickly shift her attention, picking up a rock and tossing it around.

Chadite helplessly rubbed her forehead.

She really couldn't understand.

In her soul state, Lucilia was so elegant and beautiful, exuding a fascinating scholarly charm.

Why did she seem like a different person once she entered the doll's body?

She was like a curious child fascinated by everything.

Sometimes, she would perform slightly dangerous actions, like touching fire, digging into holes, or even jumping from heights.

She had even asked Alka to make her a fitting miniature glider, wanting to try flying a little.

However, Chadite had become thoroughly acquainted with Lucilia's presence over the past six months and understood some of her circumstances.

Alka had recently managed to collect the materials and restore this doll body.

Lucilia could stay in this doll for an hour each day; that was her daily limit for movement.

However, it seemed she had been able to stay longer recently.

At this moment, Lucilia, who was originally running around playing strange games, suddenly sensed something.

Her tiny legs moved quickly; though small in stature, her actions were exceptionally agile.

After a few strides, she arrived by Alka's side, who was meditating.

Seeing this, Chadite lifted her head too.

A faint Magic Power erupted from Alka. Then, the Magic Power in the surrounding air, as if attracted by something, began to surge into Alka's body.

Seeing this and sensing the change in the ambient Magic Power, Chadite couldn't help but smile.

This meant Alka had officially completed his breakthrough, constructing the second Magic Power Spiral Circuit within his body.

Opening his eyes, Alka panted heavily. A towel appeared in his hand, and he wiped the sweat drenching his forehead.

The Meditation Method accelerated the consumption of stamina, and breakthroughs were especially taxing.

The doll at his feet jumped onto Alka, scrambled up to his shoulder, and then leaped off.

Alka adeptly cupped his hands, catching the doll as it fell.

He said with a smile, "Finally, my strength has reached Two Spirals."

"You should learn Spiritual Protection first," Chadite said with a smile, sitting back down to continue her cartography work.

After Alka rested for a while, the doll in his hand went limp. Lucilia's soul slipped directly into the Magic Mirror to rest.

Lucilia always insisted on playing until she was so exhausted she could no longer control the doll's body; only then would her soul emerge to rest.

Alka tidied up the limp doll and hung it on his waist. A piece of sun-dried fish skin, now a Spell Material, appeared in his hand.

Holding the fish skin, he closed his eyes and began to comprehend the Spiritual Protection Spell.

A black aura from the fish skin swirled around Alka before flooding into his body.

With his eyes tightly shut, Alka's lips made soft BLUB, BLUB, BLUB sounds, like a fish blowing bubbles.

This behavior might enable him to resonate more quickly with the Spell Materials, speeding up his learning of the Spell.

According to Lucilia, the resonance method for using fish skin or fish bones as Spell Materials typically involved mimicking certain fish behaviors.

Lucilia wasn't familiar with this specific Spell Material either, so Alka could only try this clumsy method.

The method Chadite had previously used—visualizing herself as a fish—hadn't succeeded.

Mimicking bubble blowing also failed. Alka resigned himself to proceeding step by step, using the most conventional method for the Spell Materials.

「As time passed.」

Alka successfully learned the Spiritual Protection Spell. The original fish skin had turned semi-transparent and crumbled in his grip.

After quickly familiarizing himself with the Spiritual Protection Spell, he activated it, "hanging" it beside one of the Circuits in his body.

When the Spell was "hung" beside one of the Circuits, it would continuously absorb Magic Power from that Circuit. Even if Alka didn't deliberately activate it, it would function automatically.

In this way, the Spell became permanently active, constantly protecting his spirit.

Since he now possessed Two Spirals, Alka also "hung" the Dark Vision Spell beside another Circuit.

This way, he no longer needed to deliberately expend extra Magic Power to maintain Dark Vision.

His eyes could now naturally discern his surroundings in the dark.

Of course, not every Spell could be "hung" permanently in this manner; it required various conditions to be met.

There were specific requirements regarding both the Spell itself and the individual's own strength.