Chapter 294: Chapter 257: Giving the World a Jolt from the New Continent Part 2
"Rule two, one must restrain one’s Greed... otherwise, Greed will turn your blood into gold. In fact, that represents the great power of the Alchemy of Transmutation!"
"Rule three, the seven-colored rainbow light above the island will decrease layer by layer..."
"Then there’s the newly added ’Rule Four, Equal Exchange: The materials a person can take from Silvergold Island—including water, food, treasures, and so on—must not exceed their own body weight. It is most cost-effective to have a burly Transcendent of the Gladiator profession land on the island.’"
"Rule Five: In the insidious darkness, a person’s dark desires will be continuously amplified. The longer one stays on the island, the stronger their possessiveness will grow. One must carefully select crew members before landing; the more noble their character, the less likely they are to die an inexplicable death."
"Rule Six: When the cicadas cry, retreat immediately!"
These very few adventurers who managed to survive supplemented their Sailing Logbooks with more of the secret rules of Silvergold Island. Days later, they returned to shore with their Sailing Logbooks and a portion of the treasure.
No one will remember how many people died on this island, how high the danger level was, or how pitifully low the survival rate. Those who dream of striking it rich overnight will only remember these fortunate survivors who brought back vast treasures.
Then, at the next opportunity, they continue... rushing headlong once more! Fantasizing that they too will be that lucky one. Little do they know, this game was never designed to have such a ’victor’.
...
As the few fortunate treasure hunters bade farewell to the man-eating Silvergold Island and set sail for home, the [Contract Devil] that had escaped into the Sea of Origin Matter with one-third of the Faustian Contract also returned to the Material World through a World Rift wider than the one on Silvergold Island.
According to the Lighthouse Union’s rating system, this rift would undoubtedly be classified as a Level 1 Rift, already large enough for High Sequence Bizarre and Evil Spirits to pass through.
If this rift were to appear anywhere in the Old Continent, it would be enough to put the local Kingdom and the Church’s [Night Watch] forces on high alert. Yet here, strangely, not a single guardian could be found.
A dense fog permeated the surroundings, and the air, thick with a damp, sticky, fishy odor, sent a chill to the bone. It was still unknown what terrifying, deadly rules governed this Secret Realm.
Of course, such matters were beyond the [Contract Devil]’s consideration. As an Evil Spirit, it only wanted to devour humans!
Using a greedy soul in its perception as a beacon, it landed lightly on a stone path overgrown with eerie, hair-like moss, arriving in advance.
「Before long.」
A tall figure emerged from the mist. In the fog, where visibility was extremely low, stood what appeared to be a humanoid creature two meters tall. It had scales and fins, and its head was more fish-like than human.
It noticed the Faustian Contract on the ground at first glance and casually picked it up. It blurted out garbled, bubble-like sounds: "GURGLE GURGLE." Then, it continued forward. After only a few steps, it heard the roaring sound of waves crashing through the mist.
WHOOSH—!
At that moment, a sea breeze carrying a fishy stench blew past, and the dense fog before them thinned slightly. The [Contract Devil] looked up along with the strange figure. They discovered this place was an ancient city, partially submerged in seawater—cold, damp, and utterly unlike any location in the Old Continent.
The structures of the buildings were abnormal, completely contradicting the principles of geometry. Their unprecedented spatial architecture and dimensions elicited a strong sense of revulsion.
These edifices were built from colossal, slippery green stones that seemed to originate from the seabed. The city was filled with towering stone carvings that dazzled the eye, majestic statues, and ornate reliefs. However, whether on the Divine Statues or the reliefs, all were carved with repulsive, slimy tentacles, evoking the nauseating sensation of having fallen into a den of tentacles.
Besides that one figure, the vast city seemed lifeless—deathly still, chilling, and eerie enough to send shivers down the spine. Farther in the distance lay continuous mudflats, marshes, mountain ranges, and a boundless expanse of land.
There was no longer any room for doubt: this was the New Continent that countless Adventurers were desperately seeking!
When the Evil Spirit retracted its gaze, the strange figure, having finally emerged from the dense fog and the city’s confines, had quietly transformed. A top hat, formal suit, walking cane, and gold-rimmed spectacles—he was unmistakably a young gentleman of high society from the Old Continent. But even a fool would know ’he’ was certainly not human.
As the mist thinned further, a long coastline appeared before them, composed of mud, wetlands, and enormous, moss-covered stones. Through the milky-white fog hovering over the sea, an adventure ship of Old Continent design bobbed on the waves.
Clearly inscribed on the beautifully carved stern gallery, built in the style of the Kingdom of Castile, was the ship’s name—May Wind. This was the very [May Wind] mentioned by Governor Velazquez of Havana, the ship supposedly on the verge of discovering the New Continent!
Though an excellent adventure ship that had recently contacted its homeland, it now looked as if it had been shipwrecked and just dredged from the Deep Sea, covered entirely in barnacles and seaweed. The hull was riddled with holes, the sails tattered; the entire vessel was deathly still, devoid of any human sound.
Byron could never have imagined he might truly possess the gift of a great Prophet, for his words had become a grim reality. This pioneering adventure ship, led by a Fourth-Order Adventurer, had met with disaster at some unknown time.
The ’young gentleman’ in gold-rimmed spectacles strolled towards the exploration ship, spread his arms, and laughed with wild arrogance, "Mr. Balboa, convey to your compatriots greetings from us, the ’descendants of the Exiles’."
ROAR—!
The words had barely left his lips when the lifeless Wonder Battleship seemed to spring to life. Six enormous, blood-red eyes, like lanterns, snapped open in the holes along its sides. Beneath the stern, several thick, dark shapes thrashed violently, propelling the ship underwater like a great fish.
Then, a white wake cut across the gloomy sea surface, heading north towards the ’World Serpent’s Celestial Current Belt,’ and eventually vanished without a trace.
Evidently, who decreed that the Colonizers, infamous for their atrocities in overseas expeditions, would always encounter weak civilizations ripe for the taking? In the unknown dark forest, every silent civilization could potentially be a Hunter armed and waiting.
The Adventurers from the Old Continent wouldn’t even need to find the New Continent; they were about to receive a little ’shock’ from it first.
Watching the white wake recede into the distance, the ’young gentleman’ adjusted the gold-rimmed spectacles on his nose. Behind the gleaming lenses were eyes of a startling blue—the eyes of the native Bayfolk!