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Danitz enthusiastically embraced Ferran, leading him away from the captain's cabin and into his own room within the ship's hold. Danitz stood at the doorway with a constipated expression, looking at Ferran, and said through gritted teeth, "Wait here, don't run around. I'm going to get the money."
A moment later, the door opened, and Danitz walked out holding a small box, his face full of reluctance.
Ferran's eyes lit up, not caring about anything else. He reached out to take the box but grabbed air. Danitz skillfully pulled the box back and took out an IOU from his Arms. He handed it to Ferran and said,
"Words alone mean nothing. Write your name on this IOU. You have to pay me back 450 pounds next month. This is what you said yourself."
Ferran readily wrote his name on the IOU and snatched the small box from Danitz's arms. Looking at Danitz's reluctant gaze, Ferran coughed lightly:
"It's only 400 pounds, and I'm not saying I won't pay you back. Next month you'll earn an extra 50 pounds. Shouldn't you be happy?"
Danitz snorted, offering no explanation.
As the fourth Sailor of the Golden Dream, even though the fleet didn't plunder merchant ships and focused more on seeking treasures, the wealth he had accumulated over the years was considerable.
However, most of his assets had been converted into real estate; numbers 12 to 16 Aromatic Tree Avenue in Bayam were all his houses. Danitz only kept 430 pounds in cash on the ship, money he had intended to spend during his vacation in Bayam after this mission was completed.
Thinking of the beauties at the Red Theater in Bayam, Danitz sighed and turned to close the Door.
Ferran returned to his room, hugging the box. Looking at the 1000 pounds in cash placed together, he felt joyful. Although he was burdened with a 450-pound debt, the thought of acquiring the Seafarer Beyonder characteristic tonight made him inexplicably excited.
Just as he finished putting away all the money, Ferran was considering whether to borrow some books from the captain's library to gain more knowledge when he heard the noisy shouts on the deck: "Found it! Found it!"
As soon as Ferran arrived on deck, he saw a group of people standing around Captain Edwina Edwards, their faces filled with excitement, staring at a strange compass-like Mystical Item in the captain's hand, where a spot of light was flickering.
As a new crew member, Ferran was participating in a treasure hunt for the first time. The past few days of learning had been mostly theoretical training, and he didn't know much about other things.
Just as he was about to find someone to ask, a familiar and annoying voice sounded behind him, "Hehe, you don't understand, do you? Newbies are just newbies, and they still need me to guide them."
Danitz slowly emerged from the ship's cabin with an irritating expression and explained:
"That's the 'Guiding Compass,' a Mystical Item personally crafted by the captain, specifically for tracking treasures. It can even sense approximate locations underwater and can also serve as a medium for various ritualistic magic."
Combining it with the commotion just now, Ferran's eyes instantly widened. Could it be that the captain had found that treasure?
"Ferran, Danitz." A cold voice sounded. Ferran immediately snapped back to attention and, along with Danitz, ran to the captain's side. First Mate "Gourmand" Bru Walls and Second Mate "Singer" Orpheus, a total of 5 people, stood by the ship's side.
A glimmer of light flashed in Edwina Edwards's light blue eyes, which were like clear spring water, and a light blue membrane covered everyone.
Ferran felt a strange sensation enveloping him. As a Sequence 8 Folk of Rage, he already possessed excellent underwater mobility. Now, he felt this ability had been significantly enhanced.
Based on his understanding of the captain during this period, Ferran speculated that this should be a partial ability Analysis and imitation of the Sequence 7 Seafarer, the greatest practical use of which was the ability to move freely underwater for more than half an hour.
Not far away, the group jumped into the water, moving flexibly underwater, and quickly reached the Sea floor.
What came into view was a massive multi-masted sailing ship, hundreds of meters long. The surface of the sailing ship was broken and battered, with signs of breakage everywhere, and most of the hull was already embedded in the mud on the Sea floor.
An almost transparent eye appeared on Edwina Edwards's forehead. It had no eyelashes and was cold and emotionless; it was precisely the "Eyes of Mystery Prying" that she had analyzed and imitated.
That eye without eyelashes looked around, paused on the right side of the cabin, and then moved its gaze away.
After confirming there was no danger, Edwina was the first to float into the right side of the cabin, and the scene before her made her stop.
On the already decaying inner wall of the cabin, a large Door over 10 meters high was drawn with something unknown. This Door was mainly blue-gray, with many symmetrical symbols, marks, and patterns engraved on both sides, both solemn and mysterious.
It seemed that the arrival of Edwina and the others triggered some change. The large Door, originally drawn on the inner wall of the cabin, detached from the cabin and floated in mid-air.
In the dim Sea bottom, the light of dusk suddenly appeared. The light vaguely shone through, giving this double-Door a distinct sense of decay, as if the day of the entire world was nearing its end, and eternal Darkness was about to arrive.
The change came very suddenly, and everyone failed to react. When the light disappeared, the large Door on the inner wall of the cabin had already vanished.
The pair of eyelash-less, almost transparent eyes reappeared on Edwina's forehead, staring intently at the inner wall of the cabin, but finding nothing.
Ferran, standing slightly behind, looked down at his feet. Seeing the thick mud, he immediately felt something subtly amiss.
Phantoms of light emerged on his body, and invisible waves surged towards the mud beneath his feet. Such fluctuations naturally attracted the attention of the few people around him.
Danitz was about to remind Ferran not to disturb the captain's thoughts when he saw a large, black-iron key-shaped object exposed beneath the mud.
Edwina's eyebrows twitched slightly. With a wave of her hand, a large, iron-black key, as big as a zither, immediately detached from the mud and floated into her hand. Looking at the exaggeratedly shaped key in her hand, which had no trace of rust, Edwina fell into contemplation.
First Mate "Gourmand" Bru Walls looked at the large black-iron key in the captain's hand and said with barely concealed excitement:
"Could this be the legendary 'Key of Death'? The key that can open the treasure left behind by Death!"
Everyone recalled the most famous treasure legend on the Sea, and their eyes burned as they looked at the massive black-iron key, which did not seem to be for human use.
Edwina looked back at the excited crew members and, with a calm and concise tone, interrupted their fantasies:
"This is not the legendary 'Key of Death,' or to put it more precisely."
"The 'Key' is a revelation, a symbol. What opens the Death's treasury is most likely not a key-shaped object, but a certain Beyonder characteristic, a certain bloodline, or even specific individuals and their descendants."
She paused, without a hint of regret, but rather with increased interest, adding:
"This key should belong to a much older era, at least not to humans."
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