Endless Ocean: Survival Begins with a Dugout Canoe-Chapter 122 - 120: The "Great Treasure" in the Sea Area
The Abyss-Probe descended rapidly, passing over the summit of Mount Olympus.
Far in the distance, the dilapidated Temple of All Gods came into view.
During the age of land, the Temple of All Gods had undergone multiple restorations. For its most recent renovation, its foundation walls and dome had been cast from the sturdiest granite and a concrete mix made from volcanic ash, claimed to be able to last a thousand years without decay.
Yet now, after a mere thirty years submerged in the sea, it was already nothing but broken walls and crumbling ruins, utterly decayed.
"So this is the Pantheon? It’s simply a miracle!"
Standing inside the protective shield, the young girl Yize gazed in awe at the historic monument—once magnificent, now slumbering eternally beneath the waves.
She was born in the Wandering Era and had never seen humanity’s golden age, so she was incredibly curious about everything before her.
"The Pantheon... *Sigh*. To think, I visited this famous historical site when I was young. The memory of it is still as clear as day..."
The old gentleman, standing ramrod straight, couldn’t help but sigh as he gazed at the sunken temple before them.
"You’ve been to this Divine Hall before, Elder Chuan?"
"Yes," Elder Chuan sighed wistfully. "Back in the day, I climbed Mount Olympus one step at a time. There were no Awakened back then, and the three-thousand-meter climb completely exhausted me... Now, to see it, you don’t climb up from below. You have to look down from above..."
"Your wealth of experience is truly enviable, Elder Chuan!"
Shi Ming added in agreement.
"Heh, my friend, this Pantheon isn’t much to look at. Just a bunch of pillars! What gods? What Zeus? Has anyone ever really seen them? It’s all just for show. After this mission is over, why don’t you come to the African Union? We can grab a few friends and go explore the sunken Pyramid, how about it?"
"It’s got a Pharaoh’s great treasures in there!"
"’Great treasures?’"
The pre-battle tension was thick, so to liven things up, a few of them started chatting on the deck.
The current topic of conversation was which sea region had "great treasures."
In their eyes, only something that could be ranked on the so-called Curio Leaderboard deserved to be called a "great treasure."
However, the vast majority of those present had never actually read the Curio List, so their ideas about such items were nothing more than empty speculation.
"Heh, don’t listen to his nonsense. What kind of treasure could a Pyramid possibly have? Even if there was something, it would’ve been cleaned out long ago. You’d have an easier time convincing people if you claimed there was a great treasure buried in the Sea of Silence in the Sahara region."
Reyno retorted.
The Sea of Silence is one of the few hot seas, located in the Sahara region of Africa. The water temperature in that area is significantly higher than in normal sea regions, making it a paradise for heat-loving sea beasts. The concentration of powerful B-rank and higher sea beasts there is more than three times that of the European Sea Region.
Even with the King-level Wandering Ship, the *Black Gold*, standing guard, the sea beasts are so aggressive that ordinary wandering ships dare not approach.
Although dangerous, the Sea of Silence is rich in unique resources, and its concentration of Sea Crystal Stones is ridiculously high. Therefore, it always manages to attract powerful Awakened to explore its depths.
"The Sea of Silence? That’s hilarious. What would a little blondie like you know?"
"If you ask me, the great maelstrom at the old site of Peacock Country is where you’ll find a real adventure! Do any of you dare to explore it?"
"The great maelstrom? I bet there’s no adventure to be found, just a super sea beast stirring up trouble! Peacock Country called itself the fourth-greatest nation in the world, but wasn’t its entire population displaced by that maelstrom? They have no sense of unity now. Not long ago, their ship, the *Ganges*, was nearly sunk by a sea beast. These days, they’re doing even worse than Ba Country, which relies on Dragon Country for support!"
The battle was imminent, and shooting the breeze was a way to relieve the pressure.
But of the eight people on board, four were the stern, unsmiling type.
Wright was as composed as ever.
Mr. Lei was a man of few words.
Iwami didn’t say a single word.
Yize seemed lost in thought.
That left only Shi Ming, Reyno, Elder Chuan, and Iruka to chat occasionally, lending a bit of life to the gloomy depths and making the atmosphere less oppressive. But while he chatted, Shi Ming would, from time to time, surreptitiously observe his seven "companions."
He was very curious about the identity of the so-called "Miss Yan."
Aside from Yize, everyone else present had distinctly masculine features—prominent Adam’s apples and plenty of facial hair. Outwardly, not a single one of them displayed any female characteristics.
’Could it be that this Miss Yan is actually a man?’
’But in their communications, Lighthouse and the *Divine Comedy* used female pronouns for her.’
’Hmm...’
’Perhaps the Eye of Intelligence can give me a useful hint.’
’A great battle is imminent. Might as well give it a shot!’
Shi Ming closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
’Eye of Intelligence, acquire intel!’
Only he could see the information displayed by the Eye of Intelligence. No one else, even if they stood right in front of Shi Ming and stared into his eyes, could glimpse a single character of it.
[BEEP~ BEEP~]
[Organizing intelligence...]
[Searching. Confirming host’s detailed coordinates... Search successful. Summarizing intelligence... Intelligence generated!]
[Curio: Taunt Stone.]
[You must prioritize attacking the taunted Awakened!]
[Taunt Stone: A Curio ranked 176th in the Endless Sea Region’s Compendium of Curios. It looks like a mirror-like stone. Anyone reflected by this Curio will emit an aura that sea beasts find repulsive, causing them to prioritize their attacks on that person for a short period.]
[It is worth noting that humans cannot perceive this aura.]
[The Taunt Stone can only mark one person per day. The person marked by the Taunt Stone cannot remove the mark for that entire day.]
Oh?
Shi Ming blinked.
A Taunt Stone?
The intel from the Eye of Intelligence was almost always highly relevant to his immediate location and circumstances, unless there was truly nothing of note nearby—in which case, the Eye of Intelligence would add the line, "No relevant intelligence found in the surrounding sea region."
The absence of that line meant that there was something related to the intel near Shi Ming.
This time, the Eye of Intelligence had provided intel on the "Taunt Stone."
This most likely meant—
—that one of the seven people here was carrying this treacherous artifact. The person marked by it would, at the critical moment, draw the attention of the Deep Sea Titan, becoming a human shield or a sacrificial pawn!
’Tsk, tsk, that’s just too insidious!’
’If you really got hit by that thing, you’d probably die without ever knowing why.’
Shi Ming couldn’t help but click his tongue and sigh to himself.
This thing would most likely be used at a decisive moment on the most threatening "companion."
Or, in a life-or-death crisis, it would be used to divert disaster onto the nearest "companion."
Although he hadn’t figured out who Miss Yan was, this piece of intel was also very valuable!
Shi Ming decided that in the coming battle, he would hold back and not draw attention to himself. That way, he could avoid being seen as a threat by the item’s owner and getting marked by this so-called "Taunt Stone"!
...
"Everyone."
"The Cave Mother Insect is located 800 meters below us."
"Please maintain a level-one alert..."
