When night fell once again, Alka and the others had already arrived at the place called Broken Town.
In the northeast corner of the town, there was a cluster of vacant triangular houses.
This area belonged to the rulers of Broken Town, specifically designated as a place for outsiders to live.
One house cost one silver snake per week.
Considering the surrounding environment and the size of the house, such rent would be considered robbery in the Home Sea.
But this was the Boundless Ocean.
What Alka hadn't expected was that even the people on this island would use silver snakes for transactions.
Just as the book said, almost everywhere traded in these three currencies, almost to the point of universal currency.
Of course, this refers only to the town's leadership.
For the town's residents, barter and distribution were more common.
This was Alka's takeaway from the day in the town.
They rented four rooms in total, enough for all of them.
"Pororo, this largest house is for the two of us," Alka said, looking at the house before them, which was more than twice as tall as the surrounding ones.
It would take two silver snakes to move around this room.
It couldn't be helped. Pororo was much larger than a normal human.
He was the size of a small giant.
Of the four houses, the large one was specially provided for Pororo and Alka.
Xadaiti, Julia, and Matresa shared one.
Jason, Simon, and Juanlu shared one.
The four puppets shared one.
Alka looked around and saw that this area was reserved for rentals to outsiders.
But now, there were only four of them here.
Perhaps considering they were traveling together, the townspeople thoughtfully built a bonfire in the open space between their four houses.
The crackling of burning wood and sparks drifted out.
After a quick inspection of the room, Alka and Pororo sat down by the bonfire.
Pororo sat back, moistening his skin with the running water.
The daylight hours were long today, and he hadn't been in the sea for a while.
Slowly, everyone packed up their temporary shelters and sat down by the bonfire.
"Everyone's been separated today, wandering around this town for most of the day. Did you gain anything?"
Alka asked, looking at the group.
After being brought to Broken Town by Shiraishi's patrol team, they were allowed to wander freely.
Just as they'd dreamed, there was nothing strange about outsiders. As long as they didn't disturb the residents and didn't cause any conflict, no one would bother them.
They were also told where to rent a house if they wanted to rest temporarily.
Arka had previously thought their town had something like an inn.
"Everyone here possesses magic, at least one spiral," Jason said, pawing at the campfire.
However, Arka had already received this news in his dream yesterday and briefly shared it with everyone.
Although they were prepared, they were still a little shocked.
They had never seen so many magical people gathered together in their entire lives.
Jason continued, "Those whose magical powers are activated by the high-magic environment around them are completely different from those who become touchers after touching a treasure."
"The survival rate of newborns born to ordinary people whose magical powers are activated by their environment is not high.
Even if their constitutions have long been altered by generations of living in such a high-magic environment, their children will not be born with the ability to withstand the surge of magical power within them.
The mortality rate for newborns is high, but the exact rate is unknown.
Furthermore, the damage caused by magical power will put these children at risk until they are five years old. Among those who survive, some with weaker constitutions may die of illness."
When Jason finished speaking, everyone looked at him.
Huanlu scratched his head, confused.
"Did we really enter this town at the same time?"
Why did it feel like Jason had been here for a while? How could he get this news so quickly?
I don't understand. "Hmph, I haven't finished yet," Jason snorted proudly.
"I've discovered that someone in this town, whether it's the leader or someone else, definitely possesses the treasure."
"Oh, why do you say that?" Alka asked curiously.
He had deliberately asked in his dream, but no one had told him, so he didn't know if anyone on the island possessed the treasure.
"You said that the means by which they wield power is through the tattoos on their bodies, right?" Jason asked, looking at Alka.
Alka nodded. This was indeed the information he had received in his dream and had shared with everyone before.
"But I discovered today that this person named Bai Shi is definitely stronger than me, right?"
Julia, beside him, nodded and said, "He gives me a sense of danger. He should be on the same level as me."
Okay, so he's around the sixth spiral, or even a little higher.
Upon hearing Julia's response, Jason clapped his hands. "Yes, he's very strong, but he has only a few tattoos, just one."
"How did you know that?" Simon asked curiously.
He hadn't been on this ship long.
So, in his mind, Jason was a bit of a clown, someone who probably used a gun for long-range attacks.
He gave off an unreliable impression, and it wasn't just him. Mathilda, who had only been on the ship for a few days, felt the same way.
This even included Juanlu.
They didn't know that Jason's true strength lay in his intelligence gathering.
"I asked one of his subordinates, a man who had just gotten a new tattoo a few days ago."
"He told you just that?" Simon asked, puzzled.
He felt that matters like this were confidential, and no one would share such information with an outsider. Even for this small town, outsiders weren't surprising.
But necessary vigilance shouldn't be lacking, especially for the hunters patrolling the town.
Hearing this, Jason looked at him in surprise. He came over, patted him, and said, "Friend, he doesn't know he's told me. We were just chatting."
He winked at Simon as he spoke.
I see. Some kind of rhetoric, the power of words?
He had no idea he could do it.
Jason continued, "I've also looked into other patrols. Most of the leaders here have very few tattoos, while the average hunters have many.
It's possible, but I can't guarantee it."
"I even followed them around and saw how they fought."
"Those with fewer tattoos clearly use the power of spells, while those with more use the power of their tattoos."
"Those with fewer tattoos clearly have extremely fine control over their magic, just like us, able to precisely use it to enhance their attacks.
Those with more tattoos can't do that. They can only simply manipulate their tattoos, integrating their magic into them. You can't expect them to wrap their magic around their hands or let it flow out onto their weapons—they can't."
Jason observed carefully, and even the veteran hunters, who seemed to have a lot of experience, couldn't do it.
This clearly didn't make sense, unless they were born with a poor grasp of magic.
This is a problem caused by rigid conditions, and experience can't compensate for it.
"Then I wandered around town a few times and learned that those with fewer tattoos are likely those who have been enlightened by the treasure, and they're all very powerful."
"Those with more tattoos have poor magic control. Without exception, they're all ordinary hunters whose magic is invigorated by this high-magic environment."
After listening to Jason's complete intelligence, Alka understood.
He had been thinking about this before.
If the people of the Vast Sea are all magically active due to their environment, then wouldn't the treasure's crucial ability to enlighten people into touchers be meaningless?
This would inevitably lead to a significant decrease in the treasure's importance.
For some large forces, the number of people who can be enlightened may, at some point, even outweigh the power of the treasure itself.
However, in "Dreamland," we learn that treasures are still the core of a power, which clearly contradicts what we already knew.
Now, this point has been explained.
For ordinary people whose magic power is active due to their environment, while the magic power within them can strengthen their physique, they find it difficult to control it.
With magic power difficult to control, meditation is essentially out of the question, and they can only rely on natural growth.
This is certainly much slower than their growth rate in the Home Sea.
In the Home Sea, they can control their magic power, spiraling it in a circuit to accelerate its absorption.
This is obviously impossible for ordinary people here.
While it doesn't make sense logically—after all, how could their ability to control magic be low since childhood?—it's true.
However, from some information in the dream, we can see that as their tattoos increase, their strength will naturally increase.
Apparently, tattoos not only grant them the power to cast certain spells, but also increase their overall magical power.
How this is achieved is clearly beyond their current comprehension.
However, Alka still wanted to know the true nature of these tattoos, perhaps so he could better carve more effective spells on the puppets.
Alka felt there was a connection between the two.
The residents of this island choose to use tattoos that allow them to cast spells to enhance their combat effectiveness.
To bridge the gap between them and those who possess normal magical powers.
But this obviously has its limits.
Those who are enlightened by treasures do not have this disadvantage. Moreover, due to the high magical environment, their strength increases very rapidly.
To put it simply:
The power structure of the town.
Ordinary tattoo hunters are at the base of the power structure, or the bottom, while experienced tattoo hunters can probably reach the middle level.
The Touchers were clearly the island's middle and upper echelons of power.
It was unknown how many Touchers there were.
If we knew the exact number, we might be able to deduce how many treasures they possessed.
Even in her dream, Alka couldn't have fully calculated it.
Then Alka looked at the others.
To see if they had any more information.
"Does it count if the crabs are indeed delicious?" Juanlu thought for a moment, then replied awkwardly.
Apparently, not everyone had obtained useful information. Especially since among them, only Alka, Sofia, and Jason had previous experience in treasure hunting.
Sofia thought for a moment and said, "Due to the language barrier, it's extremely difficult to get any information from these people."
She had also tried to gather some information, but the language barrier made it difficult for her to do so.
The residents here, in particular, have almost never left the island. Even if outsiders did come, no one would have the patience to teach them a foreign language.
And they clearly weren't in the mood to learn.
Upon hearing this, Jason added, "Yes, I've noticed this, too. Those who can speak the Home Sea language are mostly hunters, and even among them, only a small fraction can."
If it weren't for the language barrier, Jason would have been able to obtain even more intelligence.
"And these hunters who speak the common language are very adept at answering questions."
At this point, Sofia smiled and said, "Luckily, Lucilia came with me, so I did gain something."
"The residents of this island actually have a regular trading fleet that arrives every 30 to 50 days and nights."
"A day and night is their method of timekeeping. It can be simply understood as a day, but the length of each day is not equal, and the length of the day and night varies."
Hearing this, Simon nodded.
They had spent a long time wandering around this town during the day.
Today's daylight hours totaled 18 hours, surprisingly less than last night.
Sofia continued, "Most of the goods they traded were daily necessities not found on the island, while what they sold were materials from the island, particularly the bones, fur, and other spell materials from their prey."
The large number of magical beasts on this island seemed to be a specialty of the island. There were a lot of them."
She wasn't entirely sure.
Alka nodded and continued, "The reason so many bizarre magical beasts appeared on this island was because of the activated ruins."
After all, he was the leader of this team, so he had met with the town's leaders today.
Just by looking at him, Alka could sense the danger he posed.
His strength was definitely above the second stage.
He was communicating with the island's leaders, and they were very relaxed in their responses to his questions.
They knew this was Alka's first visit to the island. "It's been 36 days and nights since the last team arrived. A trading ship might arrive soon," Sofia said, indicating that this was all the information he had.
Then Alka looked at the others. They all shook their heads slightly at Alka's arrival, indicating they hadn't gained any useful intelligence.
Even if there was any, it had already been revealed by the two previous people.
"Well, then, tell me what I know."
"This island is dangerous, as you all know. If you want to explore, avoid those dangerous ruins they've fenced off."
These ruins are patrolled and guarded, but whether they are truly dangerous is unclear.
"And don't speak their language outside. It's dangerous at night, so it's best not to go out. That's about it."
Then Alka got down to business: "After daybreak, I'll have the Voice of Dawn come directly to the port behind the town. Arriving ships usually dock there."
"Then let's talk about what we'll do after daybreak."
Hearing this, Sofia smiled and said, "Draw a map?"
"Yes, but this island is quite large. We don't necessarily have to map it all at once. We can find a guide to take us around in a safer area first."
Alka had tried this before. A map doesn't necessarily have to cover the entire island; it's also feasible to just map a certain area.
It's simply because mapping the entire island directly gives us a clearer idea of where the treasure is, saving time.
"Then send another team to meet us in the town, guarding the ship and gathering more intelligence."
As if fearing the others might not understand, Alka pointed to the houses around them.
"See how many houses there are? It means outsiders often come to this island. A group just left the day before yesterday."
Not to mention there are houses specifically reserved for larger individuals like Pororo.
While this was thoughtful, it also indirectly demonstrated the high number of strangers visiting this island.
And to be honest, they had only just arrived in the Vast Sea, so their knowledge of the entire Vast Sea was quite limited.
However, the problem was that the ordinary residents of this island had never left the island, and even fewer of the hunters had left or traveled.
But there were some.
These people were also the source of Alka and his team's general intelligence on the Vast Sea.
For them right now, information about the Vast Sea as a whole was countless times more important than information on this small island.
All of this needed someone to manage it.
Similarly, this island needed to be mapped, as it truly did have ruins.
Though he didn't know how much the islanders knew about these ruins, he knew from the one they had just left.
Many ruins remained unopened, and they were afraid to open them.
Ancient ruins could even be opened using a special language. It was hard not to connect them with treasure.
Since they had all arrived on this island, they naturally had to do a thorough treasure hunt.
So a map was essential.
Though their numbers were small, they were enough to split into two teams and proceed on two fronts.
After sharing some of his ideas with everyone, they began to discuss.
Quietly waiting for daylight to arrive.