Treasure Hunting System： The Ocean Conquerer

"An atlas? What kind of atlas?" Alka turned his head and asked curiously.

"It's an atlas of all sorts of strange and wondrous creatures! Since you need to simulate these creatures, you'll have to catch and dissect them, and even observe their habits. After simulating them, you can personally experience their abilities. We can then record these abilities along with the creatures' appearances and some of their habits. How about it? Isn't that interesting?"

Upon hearing Lucilia's proposal, Alka couldn't help but rub his chin before finally nodding. He was quite interested; he already kept a little notebook to record the creatures he had simulated. Now, he just needed to organize it more carefully into a proper volume.

"Sounds good. How about we call it the *Monster Atlas*? It'll only record odd and rare creatures."

"Perfect, let's do it! Now, quickly get out your little notebook so we can rewrite it. I know you have one; I've seen you writing in it."

Hearing Lucilia's words, Alka nodded. The two went straight to the small table beside the observation room window and began writing.

Nearby, Chadite shook his head helplessly. He stood by the window, surveying the surroundings and occasionally glancing through a telescope. Then he eyed the enormous Compass nearby. This enormous Compass was connected to the Dawn Sound's detection Spell formation. Any creature of a certain size detected by its scans would be indicated on it. This allowed them to better anticipate the appearance of enemies.

The entire observation room fell silent, broken only by the occasional patter of raindrops against the glass, the rumble of distant thunder, and the occasional murmur of Alka and Lucilia's conversation.

Before long, the thunder subsided, the raindrops gradually thinned, and the churning sea began to calm. The sky started to clear, and the surrounding waters brightened.

"The rain has stopped," Chadite said, taking out his telescope to look at the distant island.

At this moment, they were less than a kilometer from the island and could clearly see the ships around it.

The two, who had been compiling the atlas, also packed up their things and came to the window to observe the island's surroundings.

The island wasn't large, perhaps just a little bigger than Golden Wheat Island. But the waters around the island were packed with ships; they counted at least twenty or thirty. And none of these were ordinary vessels; their appearance and the designs on their flags made that clear. They were at least mid-to-low-tier Spell Ships. Alka even spotted several Pirate Ships with black sails among them. Yet they were all anchored peacefully side by side.

"Let's go down and inform everyone," Lucilia suggested, perched on Alka's shoulder.

Alka and Lucilia nodded, and Chadite started down the stairs.

As for Alka, a Mirror mask materialized on his face. Then, his hands were enveloped in a liquid of shattered Mirror fragments, transforming into a pair of enormous wings. The wings were white, with faint blue tips on their flight feathers. Each feather was extremely broad, and each wing, transformed from an arm, was larger than Alka's entire body.

He flapped his wings twice, leaped off, and glided, circling twice in the air before landing steadily on the deck. Lucilia also slid down from Alka's head to sit on his shoulder.

Chadite, who hadn't even started climbing down yet, watched their antics and grimaced helplessly. He had no choice but to trudge obediently down the stairs.

After landing, Alka retracted the mask, and his wings reverted to hands. These wings were modeled after a bird capable of long sea voyages. Such birds rely mainly on their giant wings and the sea winds to glide, only occasionally flapping to fly. Alka had chosen to simulate their wings for precisely this reason. If the wind was strong enough, he could glide a medium distance by leaping from a height and riding the current. This was one of the abilities he had acquired recently. However, this bird wasn't considered a rare creature; it was rather common over the sea.

Once on deck, Alka waved his hand, and a clear bell chimed. Soon, everyone emerged from their cabins. From the deck, they could now clearly see the distant island.

"We're almost there! I didn't expect so many people. Are they also teams leaving Home Island?" Jason asked, leaning on the ship's railing and gazing at the distant scene.

Alka joined him at the railing and nodded. "This Day of Convergence is sixteen years after the last. Sixteen years... The Homeland Sea is so vast, yet only twenty or thirty ships have gathered. That's quite a small number."

At least, that's what he believed. The Homeland Sea was certainly large. Even if it consisted only of islands and no continents, meaning the population wasn't excessively large, for only twenty or thirty ships to want to leave over more than a decade... that truly was a low count.

As they drew closer, the true gateway appeared before their eyes.

Two gigantic stone pillars stood amidst the reefs where waves crashed and frothed. Each pillar soared hundreds of meters high, seeming to pierce the sky. They were engraved with massive Spells that glowed faintly in the wind and rain.

Previously, such a huge structure hadn't been noticed from afar. Why was that? Yet it was visible up close.