After receiving a detailed map of the entire island, Alka immediately headed inside.
No one came to disturb him, knowing it was time for Alka to get back to work.
As for Pororo, he didn't rest in the room, spending half his nights at the harbor.
The only dangerous areas were outside the town; the town itself and the roads leading to the harbor were safe.
After all, if a dimensional rift appeared somewhere in the harbor and destroyed a ship, who would they turn to for justice?
Then, forget about returning to the island.
The islanders still used candles made from the fat of some fish, making the light in the room somewhat dim.
A floating lantern sat next to Alka, illuminating the room with a soft, white light.
And before Alka lay a detailed, perfect map of the island.
It marked all the dangerous areas they had encountered this time, even clearly indicating why they were dangerous.
It also included the various ruins they had already seen, some with large sections fully exposed, while others had only a few pillars of ruins protruding.
Some were activated, some activated and then deactivated, and some were unknown.
Everything was clearly marked.
Looking at the map, Alka took a deep breath and blinked.
With each blink, a different scene appeared on the map.
Dense white light spread across the entire map. Due to the scale of the map and the large size of the island, these white dots almost filled the entire island, leaving no space in between.
You didn't even need to count carefully; you could tell there were at least hundreds of them.
You could even say this island was overflowing with wealth.
Besides these white dots. There were even more blue dots than Alka had imagined—a full thirteen.
The first area they explored had only four, the second area had only two, and the third area, which took up half the island, had a full seven.
Most outrageous of all, there was an additional golden light further back in the third area.
Besides the first, unknown orange beam of light they had discovered, which seemed to represent a higher-level treasure,
Another golden light?Hiss~
Alka couldn't help but gasp.
What the hell was this island?
So many dots of light, plus the blue dots, plus this golden light.
It was enough to suggest that these ruins had probably never been excavated.
And coupled with their three days of exploration...
It was obvious.
These were the ruins of a complete city-state, sunken deep underground, perhaps never even explored.
For millennia, all the treasures remained within the ruins.
A dangerous material island?
No.
An island of wealth, brimming with treasure.
Correct.
Arka rubbed his hands together and, without hesitation, tapped on the golden light.
He wanted to see what treasures lay within this island.
Based on the information he had so far, the golden light shouldn't be completely empty.
He at least knew the name of the city-state these ruins once belonged to, and the name of the deity its inhabitants worshipped.
These two points alone were enough for these points of light to reveal some information.
The further one went into the treasure, the harder it became to obtain the necessary intelligence.
Revealing the treasure's location and revealing its nature is actually quite easy.
This was Alka's experience.
With the click of golden light,
Information was revealed.
[Direction is Supreme]
[Difficulty: Hunter (Phase 2)]
[Popularity: 0]
[Treasure Information: Enshrined in the Great Temple of Vastva, the object represents the Four-Divided God, representing one-fourth of his treasure.]
Although the information about the treasure was scant, it was at least not unknown.
The name was revealed, but judging from it, no information could be gleaned.
This treasure's name was arguably the most ambiguous of all the treasures Alka knew about.
The difficulty was within their acceptable range, at Stage 2.
The number of Stage 2 players in their team was increasing.
Aside from Juanlu, the others had either reached the second stage or were about to break through.
Information about the treasure was scarce. As the source of the information above indicates, it came from the four-part deity and the city-state name they had learned about in the temple.
The information also stated that it represented the power of one of the four parts of the deity.
A treasure related to a deity? That was a bit puzzling.
However, since they knew nothing about the four-part deity, they naturally couldn't discern the power of this treasure from it.
But this one treasure was enough.
Alka then began clicking on all the blue dots on the map, one by one, trying to understand the information within.
However, the treasure information these blue dots revealed was identical to the gold dots.
All of this information was derived from the name of the city-state and its worshipped deity that Alka and his companions had learned about.
Furthermore, the locations of these blue dots almost always overlapped with ruins clearly marked on the map.
Alka also discovered that over 80% of the treasure information within these blue dots was related to ruins.
This included ruins currently in operation, and even ruins that had already been cleared.
This precise correspondence made Alka slightly concerned.
Alka carefully reviewed the key information and difficulty levels of nearly all the treasure spots, discovering that a large portion of them were quite difficult.
Half of them were beyond their acceptable difficulty range, meaning they were at level three.
Only the remaining half required level one or two skills, or even no skill requirement at all.
They were within their acceptable range.
Excellent.
After reviewing the difficulty levels of these treasures, Alka could finally unfurl a smile.
This meant that these treasures weren't beyond their reach; at least half of them were within their reach.
The main reason was that this half contained the golden light; the remaining blue dots combined weren't worth as much as that single golden light.
As long as they continued to gather information about the ruins, they would be able to obtain these treasures.
Alka's biggest fear was that the strength required to obtain the treasures was too high.
After all, they had only just arrived in the Vast Sea, and their strength was relatively weak compared to the Vast Sea as a whole.
They would need to spend some time improving their strength.
Then Alka looked at the map in his hand, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, making a crisp sound.
He now needed to determine a target, their first target. After much deliberation, the blue dot was clearly the most suitable.
As for the gold and orange, the gold was still manageable, but the orange was beyond their reach. Take it one step at a time.
Alka believed that starting with the blue dots would allow them to gradually gather enough intelligence to fully reveal the information about the gold and orange dots.
It wouldn't be too late to pursue it then.
Safety was paramount.
Looking at the blue dots,
Based on the location of the blue dots, the distance between them, and the information revealed, Alka began to carefully select them.
After much deliberation, Alka finally came up with two promising targets.
He planned to tell his teammates about both treasure locations and let them choose the order in which to go.
The first blue dot was the area they had reached first. It was relatively safe, with few dangerous areas, and most of them were small.
There were many monsters active there, but they all had their own fixed territories and were not very powerful.
[Adra's Destruction]
[Difficulty: Striker (Phase 2)]
[Notability: 0]
[Treasure Information: Vastvar 1-9, buried deep beneath the temple ruins.]
This was the first one Alka chose.
The difficulty was appropriate, the location was appropriate, and the name seemed interesting.
For the second one, Alka chose the second area, the large area encompassing the town.
There are dangerous areas, but they are not large, and the monsters are not very powerful. The strong ones have fixed territories.
There are only a few blue points here.
Alka also chose a relatively reliable one based on the surrounding danger level.
[Concentrated Power]
[Difficulty: Cracker]
[Popularity: 0]
[Treasure Information: Vastva 3-6 Project, buried deep within the temple ruins.]
Alka's main attraction is its difficulty level, called Cracker.
It seems the location of this treasure focuses more on the method of cracking than the actual strength.
While it's safer, perhaps they can also gain more information about the city-state from the ruins,
allowing them to expand upon the information about other treasures and gain more useful information.
There are indeed no danger zones marked around the location of this treasure, and there aren't even any powerful monsters nearby.
It's arguably the safest treasure hunting location, perfect for initial exploration and to further their understanding of the island.
From the information about these two treasures, it seems that every activated ruin is a temple building, and most importantly, it has a project marker.
These project labels always made Alka feel like they were conducting an experiment.
Alka also examined all the blue dots. Of the dozen or so, ten had project labels.
These labeled projects even included a number of white dots.
Looking back, there were four project labels in total, each beginning with a number from 1 to 4.
As for what they specifically represent, that's unknown.
Speaking of which, the former civilization of this ruin seemed to have a special fondness for the number four, perhaps related to their deity.
After all, even the deity is called the Four-Fourth God. It would be strange if these mortals who worshipped the deity didn't have a special fondness for this number.
After confirming this, Alka left the front door of his house and went to the campfire outside.
Since the night was so long, and considering the daytime, tonight's night might have lasted up to 22 hours.
So no one present wanted to go to bed so early.
Seeing Alka emerge, everyone turned their attention to him. Now that they had a complete map, it was time to get down to business.
Alka came over and sat by the campfire.
Looking at the group, he said, "According to the map, all the treasures are related to the ruins and are likely buried underground."
"So we have to dig?" Jason asked from the side.
"Digging is inevitable," Alka said, but then shook his head. "But wait, I have two goals right now."
"One is somewhat dangerous, the other is not."
"Our primary goal now, besides finding valuable treasure, is to obtain information about these ruins. The more detailed and the better."
As he spoke, Alka looked at Lucelia, who was standing on the small wooden barrel.
After all, in their current location, only Lucelia could recognize the writing and understand the message of this unknown civilization.
Lucille nodded.
Then Alka said, "Then everyone, choose one."
"Since it's the first one, naturally choose the safer one," Simon said from the side.
He was a cautious person.
After all, the only information Alka had given was the degree of danger. To be on the safe side, of course, he had to choose the safe one.
This would also help them understand the main structure of the ruins.
Seeing that everyone agreed, Alka nodded.
"Okay, then this is the safer one," he said, turning to Jason. "Have you gained any information about these ruins?"
Jason nodded, then shook his head with some regret. "Yes, I do, but I don't think it will be of much use to you."
Jason then briefly recounted the information he had gathered about the ruins.
After hearing this information, Alka casually tapped twice on the map. Sure enough, there were no updates on the treasure.
Because all the information Jason had gathered came from the island's residents.
And their descriptions of the ruins were all about "maybe," "perhaps," "probably," and "so and so said."
It was almost completely vague, but the universal rule was to avoid talking around the ruins, lest they activate them.
It could be said that the islanders had no knowledge of the civilization that existed within them.
Even if they did, it was clearly beyond their current knowledge, held by those with greater power.
"Then it seems we'll have to rely on ourselves."
Then, along with the others, they listened to Jason's summary of the intelligence he considered most important.
After listening, Alka clapped his hands and said, "Now that we've determined our target, let's all get some rest. We'll set out at daybreak."
...
The curtain opened.
Everyone was already prepared.
They left the town through the main gate, but didn't see Bai Shi among the patrols along the city walls.
It seemed he wouldn't have to guard the gate today.
Arka, holding the map, took a look at their target.
He led everyone on a circuitous route, just like Bai Shi, avoiding dangerous areas as much as possible.
With the map, all the dangerous areas were basically marked.
Soon, they arrived at the area where the first blue treasure was located.
It wasn't that Arka didn't want to search for the orange and gold treasures.
The problem was that there was too little information.
At least let them start with the safe blue treasure and gain more information about the entire city-state, so they could unlock more treasures.
For example, in the area where the orange treasure was located, they activated the ruins and were transported to the hall they had been in before.
There was almost nothing to be found there.
Even if they went now, they wouldn't gain much.
Looking at the ruins before them.
Like the temple, these ruins were also buried deep underground, with a portion exposed above the surface.
They looked no different from the temple.
After all, the materials used were almost identical, and there were some vague patterns and inscriptions on them.
After arriving here, everyone briefly examined the surroundings and found nothing.
Danger.
"Lucille, it's time for you to get to work," Alka said with a smile.
Lucille had already arrived at the ruins and began studying the patterns and text.
Meanwhile, Sofia also squatted on the ground, pressing his hands against the ground.
Silver ripples began to spread downward.
"We can detect those man-made ruins underground, but they've mostly collapsed and been buried."
As he spoke, Sofia shook his head. "It's been completely buried by the earth. If we really want to find the ruins below, we'll have to dig hard."
In other words, there are no holes or tunnels below.
Alka nodded. "Don't worry, let's see if Lucillia has any results."
Soon, Lucillia had exhausted all the information available on the ruins.
The exposed stones were severely damaged, and the information on them was scattered.
"This is a temple. It's probably called the Blue and White Stone Temple or the Blue and White Gem Temple. I don't know what it's specifically for. This is the only useful information I've gained."
Lucelia dusted herself off and said.
Hearing this, Alka glanced at the map in his hand and casually touched it.
He clicked on the blue dot where he was.
As expected, the treasure information had been expanded; Lucelia's information was correct.
[Treasure Information: Vastwa 3-6 Project, located in the Blue and White Gem Temple, project results completed.]
In other words, the original name of this ruin should be the Blue and White Gem Temple, a completed project.
Could this treasure be the result of this completed project?
Alka looked at the ruins and pondered.
Now he had two options.
Dig down or activate the ruins.
Based on the overall analysis of the island, ruins like this could definitely be activated.
But the problem was, they didn't know the specific purpose of the ruins. If they activated them and caused danger, the consequences would be disproportionate.
There was only one option left.
Having made up her mind, Alka immediately began assigning tasks: "Xadaiti, determine the specific geographical structure of the ruins and find a good excavation site. We'll have to get down to business."
"No problem," said Alka, approaching the ruins, placing her hands on the ground and beginning a careful exploration.
She needed to study the ruins' structure and determine how to dig efficiently without collapsing the entire structure.
They also had to ensure their excavation reached the desired location.
"Simon, get some tools. The others, stand by with their tools. Also, clear out any nearby monsters that might disturb us."
Following Alka's orders, everyone began to move.
Simon took out a large pile of scrap iron from his pocket ring and began to control the smelting.