Several hours passed. The environment didn't change much. Still black sea water. Still ominous red sky. Until a jagged shape loomed out of the distance.

It was an island. But it did not look like any Jack had seen in the mundane realm. it was a singular, massive pillar of rock. A tall cliff island that shot up hundreds of meters into the twilight sky. There was no beach. Just vertical stone cliff, uninviting and creepy.

"Is it here, Rune?" Jack asked.

Rune nodded its tiny head. Glowing even brighter golden. She pointed at the top of the cliff island. Indicating the location of the 'treasure'.

Jack looked at the cliff. Its peak was a daunting place to reach for a normal man. But they weren't normal.

"Look at the top, Dear!" Reina said. She was holding her steamrune binoculars. Observing the top of the cliff. "There seemed to be a tree there."

Jack pulled out his binoculars and adjusted the focus. At the very summit of the cliff, he could indeed see the top foliage of a tree. It looked like a banyan tree. But its leaves were a vibrant, shimmering blue. Not green.

"Reina! Leon! You are with me." Jack instructed. "Let's go and get the treasure up there."

He had immediately decided the landing party... He personally, Reina, Leon Drake, and Rune. The rest of the crew, would need to stay with the ship. Waiting for them there.

"Argust! Drop anchor! Stay in position! Keep the invisibility cloak up!" Jack instructed the navigator. "But if there is any danger, don't wait for us. Move. Rune and I can find the ship easily."

"Understood, Captain!" Argust Osprey's voice immediately replied.

The landing party gathered at the rail. Leon Drake, the treasure hunter, looked at the vertical cliff and complained. "That's a long way up, Captain."

"Then pull your wings and start moving!" Jack commanded.

Leon smirked. He tapped into his primal power. His body began to transform. Quickly covered by black draconic armor.

And then, with a heavy grunt, a pair of massive, leathery wings erupted from his back. He lowered himself and launched himself up. Taking off with a heavy beat of air. Soaring upward toward the summit.

Reina looked at Jack. "See you at the top, Dear."

She stepped off the rail into thin air. Before she could fall, her form flickered. [Absolute Blink]. She vanished. Reappearing ten meters higher in the air. Before she fell, she flickered again. Appearing in higher elevation. And again and again...

She made a series of rapid-fire teleports that bypassed the laws of physics. She moved like a ghost through the air. Climbing up the cliff with great ease.

Jack didn't have wings or teleportation. But he had steamrune engineering tools. He reached into his storage space and pulled out a sleek, dark metallic board covered in glowing blue runes. His steamrune hoverboard.

He stepped onto it, sparked the rune, and the board hummed to life. With a burst of steamrune energy, Jack soared upward. Following the other two to the top of the cliff.

Rune flew easily beside him. Her golden trail seemed to act as a guiding light.

They quickly reached the summit.

The summit of the island was surprisingly flat and covered in a thick, bluish moss. In the center stood a single huge tree.

It indeed looked like a banyan tree. Its roots were twisting over the rock like petrified snakes. Its leaves were a deep, vibrant blue. But the fruit it bore was what caught the eye. Heart-shaped fruits. The size of a man's fist. Glowing with a soft, internal gold light.

Jack stepped off his hoverboard, landed on the ground. He activated his [Eyes of Judgment] and focused them on a fruit.

[Object: Fruit of the Mystic Spirit]

[Type: Consumable]

[Source: Tree of Mystic Spirit] 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

[Effect: Permanently doubles the transcendent energy capacity of the consumer.]

[Description: A fruit produced by the Tree of Mystic Spirit, a rare plant-life anomaly found only in high death-energy realms. It is capable of doubling the transcendent energy capacity of the consumer, and the effect isn't affected by the type of energy the consumer possesses (mana, ki, eldritch energy, stamina, etc.)]

[Note: It can only be consumed once per individual.]

[Note: Its effectiveness fades 24 hours after being harvested.]

[Note: For an individual with multiple energy type, only the most dominant energy capacity would be affected.]

Jack felt a rare jolt of excitement. Increasing energy capacity was a game-changer. For a transcendent, energy was the fuel for everything... strength, magic, survival. And this fruit could double it, no matter what type of energy they had.

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"Leon! Reina! These fruits were the treasure." Jack said. Immediately summarizing the effects for them.

Leon whistled, retracted his wings, and also landed on the ground. "Double my mana? That's even better than any treasure I've ever encountered."

"A day shelf life is a problem though." Reina noted. Her eyes narrowed. "It means we can't take them out of this realm, and we need to use it immediately."

"It's enough." Leon replied. "Everyone can only use it once anyway. We need to get these back to the ship immediately."

Rune hovered near one of the fruits. Her body glowed bright in golden color.

"Can you consume it, Rune?" Jack asked. "Is it useful for you?"

Rune immediately nodded her head rapidly. Indicating that even a construct like her could acquire the effect of the fruit.

"The tree contains more than fifty ripe fruits, Captain." Leon counted. "How many should we harvest?"

"The ship have fourteen crew members." Jack said. "Added with Rune and Chloe's Sparkle, that would be sixteen. Let's just take that many."

Leon and Reina moved with efficiency. They harvested sixteen fruits first. One for every member of the expedition. Including Rune and Chloe’s lightning kirin cub, Sparkle. Everyone would get a share. A stronger crew meant a safer journey.

He handed all the sixteen fruits to Leon. "Get these down to the ship. Tell everyone to eat them immediately. No exceptions."

Leon nodded. His expression was serious. He knew the value of what he was carrying. He took the bag, flared his wings, and dove off the cliff. Angling toward the direction of the invisible Silent Mermaid anchored below.

Reina looked at Jack. "You're staying here, Dear?"

"I want to check the tree a little more." Jack said. "Just go down. Help Leon manage the crew. Some might be hesitant to eat strange glowing fruit from a ghost sea."

Reina nodded. "Don't be too long." She blinked away. Appearing ten meter below in an instant. Before disappearing and reappearing somewhere else.

Jack was alone with Rune. The wind produced eerie whispers through the purple leaves. There were still many fruits left on the tree.

He tried to call on the power of his secondary class, the Treasure Hunter. But, looking at the tree and the fruits, Jack immediately sensed that they wouldn't allow him to generate spellcards from them. It was either they were not unique enough to classify as inspiring treasures, or there was something in this place that restrict him from doing that.

After contemplating for a while, Jack abandoned his intention of acquiring spellcards from them. Instead, he reached out and plucked four more fruits.

He wasn't just Jack Night, the human mercenary. He had his other incarnations... Judge Jack the black rakshasa. Jack Mystery, the mysterious specter. Racer Jack, the kamaitachi speedster. And the Jack Lantern, the devil-puppet puppeteer.

Each of these forms had their own attributes that were completely different. He would need to check later whether consuming a fruit in one incarnation affected the others or not. If it did, the four additional fruits would be useless. But if it didn't, then he could consume a fruit for each incarnation.

Jack put the four additional fruits inside his [Spatial Bag]. And then, using his steamrune hoverboard, her returned back to the Silent Mermaid.

...

Later, Jack sat down alone in his cabin. He looked at the [Fruit of the Mystic Spirit] in his hand. It felt warm. Its inner golden light were pulsing like a slow heartbeat.

He took a bite. The fruit didn't taste like food. It tasted like pure, distilled energy. It dissolved on his tongue. Turning into a liquid fire that raced down his throat and expanded in his chest.

He immediately looked at the mirror and used his [Eyes of Judgement] to observe himself. Focusing on his mystic energy capacity. Visualizing it as a mana bar.

The original amount of mystic energy capacity he had was already impressive. But then, it began to stretch. The visualized mana bar in his vision grew. Pushing past its previous limits. Doubling in length at the end.

It did work. Jack smiled joyfully. But he didn't stop there. He activated his [Incarnation Shift] and transformed.

His human body blurred and expanded. The cabin seemed to shrink as he transformed into the huge black rakshasa. His skin turned a deep, reddish black color. And his muscles swelled until he turned into a hulking giant in blazing armor.

Jack re-activated his [Eyes of Judgement]. The rakshasa's primordial energy capacity didn't seem to be affected by the mystic energy increase of his human incarnation.

He picked up the second fruit with his big hand and plunged it into his mouth. The Rakshasa's innate pool of primordial energy seemed to roar in response. The power surge was so violent that the bed he sat on seemed to crack.

This one also worked. Through his [Eyes of Judgement], Jack could see that the capacity of his primordial energy doubled in size.

Next was the turn of the kamaitachi. He shifted and was instantly shrunk. His body became lithe and covered in sleek grey fur, with scythe-like blades on his limbs. A tiny monster wearing a pair of goggles and a fur coat.

In this form, he swallowed the third fruit. The phantasmal energy that fueled this incarnation immediately became twice as big in capacity.

Then came the jack-o'-lantern devil puppet. A tiny form with a carved pumpkin head, wearing a wizard hat and tall collared mantle.

The devil puppet tilted its head and absorbed the fourth fruit through the flickering orange glow in its mouth. The soul-fire within seemed to flare brightly. Turning from orange to a deep, burning gold for a few seconds.

Another success. The puppeteer bizarre energy instantly doubled in capacity. And there was even a bonus improvement. A system notification appeared...

[BIZARRE ENERGY IMPROVED SIGNIFICANTLY...]

[BIZARRE PUPPETEER POWER STRENGTHENED]

[NUMBER OF CONTROLLABLE PUPPET INCREASED BY TWO]

Jack Lantern, the pumpkin-headed puppet, grinned. He could now control seven puppets simultaneously. He could activate all of his seven-sin bizarre puppets at the same time. That was an amazing bonus.

But he hadn't finished yet.

Finally, Jack morphed into his mysterious specter form. The tiny devil puppet disappeared. Replaced by a spectral, translucent stage magician wearing top hat and plain mask.

Jack absorbed his final fruit. He immediately felt... full. His mana reserves for the specter were now incredibly high. He needed to inscribe higher level magic spell in his spectral grimoire now, or remodel his old spells.

If he kept using his old spells, the drastic increase of mana would be severely under-utilized.

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