Chapter 160 Ship Soul Level LV5! (Please Read! Please Subscribe!)

Seeing Shane's inquiring eyes, Joey took the initiative to explain.

"This is also the legend I read in that ancient book."

"It is said that before the great flood, there was a mysterious and ancient city called [Emerald Ancient City]."

"It is the birthplace of the current magic pattern technology."

- After Shane emptied the treasure house of Duke Nova, he obtained many ancient books that are not available on the market.

On the one hand, it is the demand of the [Scholar] Secret Path, and on the other hand, it is personal interest. Joey loves to read these ancient books when she has nothing to do.

At this time, she can naturally talk about these rumors.

"...However, after a terrible, unforeseeable volcanic eruption, the ancient city was submerged in volcanic ash, and no one in the city was spared."

"But it is precisely because of the existence of volcanic ash that the interior of the [Emerald Ancient City] is extremely well preserved. The buildings, books, and those precious relics with magic patterns all maintain their previous appearance."

"For a long time, this city has been a treasure land for archaeologists and explorers."

"But suddenly from a certain day, the number of people exploring the ancient city has greatly decreased. Until now, few people know about such a relic."

"That's right."

The village chief Ruhl laughed: "The little girl is very knowledgeable."

"What I want to say is that this [Emerald Ancient City] is in an ice layer not far from [Ice and Snow Island]."

"Huh? There is such a thing?"

Xia En's heart moved.

Since [Coral City] has been cleared, the subsequent benefits are not high, and he is now in urgent need of finding another place where he can [dive] for a long time.

This mysterious [Emerald Ancient City] may be a good target.

But the question is, why did the village chief suddenly mention this ruins?

As if seeing Shane's doubts, Ruel explained.

"Just three days ago, several young people on our island rashly went out to the [Emerald Ancient City] and have not returned yet."

"If possible, I hope Captain Shane can go to the [Emerald Ancient City], at least... confirm whether they are alive or dead."

"In exchange, you can make a copy of the nearby sea chart."

Hearing this, Gray's face changed slightly, as if he wanted to say something.

But under the eyes of the village chief, he still hesitated to speak.

And Shane's expression was a little strange.

From Ruel's words alone, it seems that there is no problem, just an ordinary "issue side quest" process.

But he always felt that Ruel's attitude was quite strange.

It's as if... this village chief is deliberately luring them to explore the [Emerald Ancient City]?

Could it be that this is actually a trap?

After hesitating for a moment, Shane said, "Deal!"

Even if there is no sea chart, after learning about the existence of the [Emerald Ancient City], he still needs to go to the ruins to explore.

As for the risks...

Is there anything in the world without risks?

Even if the [Emerald Ancient City] is really a trap set by the village chief Ruhr, Shane believes that he would never guess the existence of such a heaven-defying talent as [Deep Sea Diving]!

Soon, after getting a rough sea chart indicating the location of the [Emerald Ancient City], Shane left the house.

And a more accurate and wider sea chart needs to complete this "side quest" to obtain it.

At the door of the house.

Watching the backs of Shane and his group disappear from sight, Gray couldn't help asking.

"Old man, has anyone in our village been to the [Emerald Ancient City] recently?"

"Besides, you know how dangerous that place is...especially that kind of ember monster..."

Recalling the appearance of that monster, Gray couldn't help but flash a bit of fear in his eyes.

The way he talked to Ruel was different from other villagers.

The reason was simple. Gray was Ruel's son, and this house was actually their home.

"Of course I know how dangerous the [Emerald Ancient City] is."

Ruel said lightly: "Otherwise, I wouldn't let them go there."

Gray's face changed slightly: "Old man, do you want to..."

"Yes, I want to eat them up with the people and the boat!"

Ruel's turbid eyes burned with dangerous greedy desires, and he murmured.

"We have been on this damn ice island for too long. Isn't a ship that can sail far away exactly what we need?"

"And the woman on the boat is also a good trophy."

Gray's expression changed several times. He was not optimistic about his father's idea and tried to persuade him.

"What if... the monsters in the [Emerald Ancient City] fail to kill him?"

Ruel smiled and shook his head: "No matter what, a trip to the [Emerald Ancient City] will weaken their strength."

"By then, if we launch a surprise attack, no matter how powerful he is, he will definitely suffer a great loss!"

"And if they are really strong enough to leave the [Emerald Ancient City] unscathed, the worst that can happen is to pretend that nothing happened."

This old man is definitely not a rude and brainless reckless man.

He is as vicious as a vulture and as cunning as a fox.

In the end, it was Gray who was convinced by him.

Although Gray sympathized with Shane and others, he was after all the son of Ruel and a villager of this village. He should stand on his father's side in terms of emotion and reason.

……

……

At the same time.

Shane had brought Joey and others back to the coast.

But this time, he did not see Yan Yan, who was like a torch. Perhaps he was hiding in a corner and autistic.

Shane had to return to the [Black Swan] and head towards the direction of the [Emerald Ancient City] according to the rough sea map.

The distance between the ruins and the [Ice and Snow Island] is indeed not far, plus the high speed of the [Black Swan].

In just one day.

A thick layer of ice appeared in the eyes of Shane and others.

"Is the [Emerald Ancient City] just under this ice?"

Joey looked at the ice curiously: "This ice doesn't seem to be anything special?"

"Besides, there seems to be no trace of other ships docked nearby."

Shayen touched his chin and thought: "Is it just an excuse?"

Joey was a little stunned: "What do you mean? What excuse?"

Feiya, who had been on the island with him before, had already noticed it and said: "The village chief's excuse is too bad."

"Or rather, this is actually a naked conspiracy."

"After all, after hearing the news that the [Emerald Ancient City] is nearby, any ambitious captain would probably want to take a look."

Hearing this, Joey realized it belatedly, and her beautiful eyes widened slightly.

"The village chief wanted to harm us!?"

As soon as the voice fell, Joey blushed.

She quickly realized that she was the last person to realize this.

In fact, before becoming a crew member of the [Black Swan], Joey was very vigilant.

But after following Shane, perhaps because he was protected too well, his vigilance naturally relaxed.

Joey calmed down and asked, "Captain, what should we do now?"

The other crew members also looked at Shane, waiting for his order.

Shane chuckled and said, "Since we are here, we can't return empty-handed."

"But before that, I have to make some preparations first."

"You stay on the deck and notify me immediately if there is any abnormality."

After that, Shane returned to the captain's room.

Sitting in the familiar captain's chair, Shane closed his eyes.

"Submerge, start!"

Consciousness penetrated the cold and clear sea water, and strands of coldness penetrated into the soul.

The next moment.

Shane opened his eyes.

A magnificent water world under the ice appeared in front of him.

The sunlight from above penetrated the ice crystals on the sea surface, and the texture was like light fog in the sea.

In addition, the extremely clear and transparent waters of the [Leng Leng Sea] add a bit of dreamy atmosphere to this sea.

And below him, a dead, gray-black city is quietly sitting there, waiting for the visit of outsiders.

"Is this the [Emerald Ancient City]?"

Xia En thought to himself.

Judging from the appearance alone, this city has no connection with "Emerald", and the surface of those buildings is covered with a layer of gray-black solid matter.

That is probably the volcanic ash that submerged the city.

This dust is insoluble in water, and in the absence of ocean currents, it naturally presents a solidified state.

But after a little observation, Xia En frowned slightly.

"This place is a little wrong..."

The biggest abnormality is that this sea area is a little too clean.

This "clean" not only refers to the sea water, but also to the marine life in the sea water.

Looking around, there is no trace of any sea beasts in the surrounding sea water, not even a small fish!

The sea is a place where life is born. No matter how clean the sea water is, there should be life.

Unless...

Something wiped out all life!

Xian En was extremely alert and swam towards the city below.

A moment later, he came to the top of a street.

Thick volcanic ash piled up on the buildings, and people could only barely see their outlines.

Before Xia En could control the sea water to disperse the volcanic ash on the surface of the building.

A dark red light gradually lit up in the dust not far away.

Then, a dark red figure stood up from the volcanic ash and walked towards Xia En step by step.

Its body was made entirely of ash, and it was still twisting and wriggling.

In its body, a dark red fire was burning.

Even the cold sea water cannot extinguish it!

And in the ashes floating in the sea water, there were faint, continuous and overlapping murmurs.

"I don't want to die..."

"Someone come to save me..."

"Mom..."

These strange voices penetrated the sea water and directly entered Shane's ears, making him a little creepy.

To this day, Shane has seen quite a few strange existences.

However, this burning ash monster still frightened him secretly.

In just a few moments.

The murmurs and cries for help from the ashes turned into roars one after another, mixed with resentful curses.

"It's a living person..."

"Why is he still alive?"

"Kill him! Kill him!"

These ember monsters obviously have a strong resentment towards the living.

In the streets and alleys, more and more ashes and smoke were wriggling and undulating, and dark red flames rose from everywhere, attacking Shane with great momentum.

Shane drew out the Blood Demon Sword and slashed it tentatively.

Swish!

The greatsword, as always, carried great force, tearing open the sea water and the bodies of the ember humanoids.

But such a physical attack could not extinguish the flames burning in the ashes.

In just a moment, the ashes in the volcano condensed into a human form again, roaring and screaming in pain while rushing over.

"Is it really not possible?"

Shane's heart sank slightly.

He had previously guessed that this kind of ember monster might not be able to be killed by conventional physical attacks.

And now the attempt has proved this guess.

To be honest, the current situation is quite unfavorable to Shane.

This kind of physically immune enemy actually restrains his fighting style very much.

In simple terms, it's like a numerical monster encountering a mechanical monster!

Unless Shane uses the special skill [Sword of Judgment], there is really no way to completely kill them.

"Then... what about [Chaos Magic Pattern]?"

Shane's mind moved, and he thought of this newly acquired talent.

Do it when you think of it.

As Shane's mind urged, his body surface quickly showed ice-blue magic patterns.

He stretched out his hand and gently pointed forward.

In an instant, dark blue ice crystals formed in the sea water, quickly freezing one of the ember humanoids.

Then, Shane chopped with a sword, and the ice crystals and the ember humanoid shattered together.

The strange flames in its body were extinguished!

[Kill the ember humanoid! ]

[Detected the presence of "Secret Sea Crystal" in the corpse, do you want to absorb it? ]

Seeing the words appearing on the panel, Shane's eyes lit up.

"It works!"

Moreover, this kind of monster can also explode experience points!

Shane's eyes changed instantly.

He looked at the ember monsters all over the city, as if he was looking at a huge experience pack, and his mouth was almost watering.

But right now, there is a serious problem...

The good news is that [Chaos Magic Pattern] is very effective against [Ember Humanoid].

The bad news is that the magic pattern on Shane's body does not store much secret power at all!

After all, he has just obtained this talent, and he has not even had time to cultivate it to [Ordinary] quality.

Just after destroying three [Ember Humanoids], the icy secret power in Shane's magic pattern has been exhausted.

And looking at the front, countless groups of ashes are coming like a wave!

"Hiss..."

At this critical moment, Shane's mind still remained highly calm, and a flash of inspiration came up with a bold idea.

"The essence of [Chaos Magic Pattern] is to absorb other secret powers and release them when necessary."

"Since the icy secret power can be absorbed, can this strange flame on the [Ember Humanoid] also be absorbed?"

If it were normal, Xia En would definitely not try it rashly.

But now, the threat of the ash wave is imminent.

Besides, even if the absorption fails, it will only make the projected body suffer.

Thinking of this, Xia En did not hesitate and stretched out his hand to touch the nearest ember humanoid.

The burning pain came from the palm of his hand immediately.

At the same time, some weak ember secret power was also absorbed by the magic pattern in his body.

In an instant.

The surging heat raged in Xia En's body and quickly spread to his whole body.

This was a feeling he had never experienced before.

It was as if the illusory blood, muscles, bones, and even every smallest component unit in the projected body were ignited by this secret power.

The huge, heart-wrenching burning pain clearly acted on Shane's body, causing his brain to go blank and unable to think at all.

However, his body was not a real flesh and blood body after all, so it did not really burn.

[Ship Soul Power -3! ]

[Ship Soul Power -2! ]

[……]

Only the power of the ship soul that kept falling from the panel proved that the projection body was continuing to suffer terrible damage.

In the intense pain, Xia En's consciousness gradually regained clarity.

"So, this is the feeling of being on fire..."

At this moment, he seemed to understand the pain of these ember humanoids.

At the same time, he also had a sincere admiration for Yan Yan.

Xia En looked at the ember waves around him, and a red flame burst out of his pupils, muttering.

"In that case, let me give you relief."

He opened his arms to the endless ashes.

The surging heat flowed into Xia En's body through the orifices of his body.

The chaotic magic pattern began to shine, widen, and extend, from the main trunk of the chest, to the limbs, to the head, and then to the fingers at the end.

[Talent: Chaos Magic Pattern (Inferior) → (Ordinary)! ]

[Ordinary → Rare! ]

It's not just the quality of this talent that is constantly improving.

As the ember dolls passed the heat to Shane one by one, the embers in their bodies were extinguished and converted into experience points.

[Ship Soul Experience +0.2%! ]

[Ship Soul Experience +0.8%! ]

[Ship Soul Experience +0.3%! ]

[…]

Although each doll did not give much experience, their huge number made up for it.

I don’t know how long it took.

Accompanied by a low humming sound, it was as if some invisible barrier was broken.

[Ship Soul Level: LV5 (0%)! ]