Chapter 287: Arrival
Jackman teased, “Oh, so there’s still something Wizard Heath doesn’t know?”
Although they hadn’t spent much time together, Heath had surprised Jackman more than once these days. Astronomy, geography, history, there seemed to be nothing he didn’t know. It was almost like a living encyclopedia. This was also the reason why he admired Heath and took the initiative to become friends with him.
Heath said, “I have never come into contact with the Golden Islands.”
Jackman nodded and explained, “Then I wonder, Heath, have you heard of the Heart of the Sea?”
Heath recalled for a moment and said somewhat uncertainly, “Could it be that it is a strange fruit that is said to grow on the bottom of the sea?”
He remembered that he had seen it in an anthology of myths about the West Coast of the mortal world. It was said that it was a strange fruit that grew in the depths of the sea. It was said that it could make people live forever, have eternal life, and had the power of the sea.
There seemed to be some legends about this fruit. It seemed that the Sea G.o.d would plant seeds in the sea every thirty years or something.
Heath had once speculated that if this fruit really existed, it was probably the same as the Immortal Spring of the Elves, which was a substance that increased life force.
Jackman’s next reply confirmed Heath’s guess.
He nodded and said, “Yes, there is indeed such a strange fruit growing in an area of the sea on our side of the Golden Islands. For us Wizards, this fruit is a rare treasure.”
“It can bring us an increase in spiritual power, an increase in vitality, an increase in the degree of soul alienation, and… the refinement of magic power!”
Heath’s eyes lit up. “Magic power refinement?”
Magic power refinement was a concept that only intermediate Wizards would come into contact with. It was an essential step for intermediate Wizards to become an advanced Wizard.
Jackman smiled. “Yes.”
After a pause, he explained in detail, “The Heart of the Sea will mature once every thirty years. After that, the Wizard organizations in the Golden Islands will hold a Wizard gathering, which is the Deep Sea Feast.”
“During this banquet, all the Wizard organizations will send outstanding Wizards to that area to collect the Heart of the Sea. This is the full picture of the Deep Sea Feast.”
So that was the case.
Heath could not help but ask, “Is this kind of Heart of the Sea not for sale?”
Such a powerful treasure should have been famous, but Heath had never heard of or seen this kind of material on the market, so Heath guessed that it might not be in circulation on the market.
Jackman nodded. “Not for sale.”
“The Heart of the Sea are too few in number, and there aren’t many fruits that ripen every time. Even the Wizard organizations of the Golden Islands can’t fully be satisfied, so it’s forbidden to sell it.”
Heath said, “That’s a pity.”
Jackman laughed. “Haha, if you really want it, it’s okay. I’ll just s.n.a.t.c.h another one for you later.”
“Uh… There’s no need for that.”
Although reason told Heath that this was a good opportunity, in case Jackman was really g*y, Heath thought about it and decided to forget about it.
…
The sailboat headed east. After more than a week of sailing, they soon arrived at the ‘border of the sea’.
On the vast ocean, a straight line appeared. This straight line separated the entire ocean from both sides. One side was blue in color, while the other side was darker in color.
The blue side was the common sea area where ordinary humans lived, while the darker side was known as the deep blue sea area.
In the world of mortals, it was a forbidden area for life. There were countless terrifying sea monsters, giant octopuses, giant whales, and even giant turtles the size of an island. They could easily tear people into pieces.
Only adventurers who didn’t care about their lives, pirates who had nowhere to go, and legendary Wizards would go there.
In some ways, most of the legends about humans were right. This was actually the border that the Seafolk Race and Wizards had jointly defined. The deep blue sea was indeed the territory of the sea tribes, and there were countless Sea Kings there, and those were very powerful existences even for Wizards. It was right for humans to describe them as sea monsters.
After arriving at the border of the sea, Jackman ordered the sailors on the s.h.i.+p to hang a blue sail. It was the flag of Deep Sea Kiss.
According to the agreement with the Seafolk Race, only those who hung this flag could sail freely in this area of the sea. Otherwise, if they were to take the normal route, it would take them at least two months to take a detour.
Of course, this was the territory of the Seafolk Race after all. If they wanted to pa.s.s through the territory of these disharmonious people, it was not possible to rely on just one flag.
On the way to the sailboat, they encountered several interceptions from the Seafolk, such as the Giant Hillman Octopus, the Lobster Man, and even the Charmer Catfish at Sea King level. They were powerful sea creatures that Heath had encountered before.
These monsters that blocked the sailboat had only one reason —
They wanted money.
In fact, they had already paid the toll fee for Deep Sea Kiss. For example, the flag they were currently flying was purchased from the Seafolk with a huge sum of money from Deep Sea Kiss. It was obviously not appropriate for them to ask for the toll fee now.
However, Jackman still satisfied the sea monsters’ appet.i.tes every time.
In his words, “It’s better to have less trouble than more trouble. If you reason with these brainless people, you will only end up losing out in the end.”
Jackman was indeed right. The Seafolk Race was famous for being a scoundrel among the Nine Great Races. Most of the entire race was non-intelligent species and sub-intelligent species that were brainless and unable to communicate. The few remaining intelligent species were also scoundrels that were used to running amok.
Because of these reasons, the conflicts between the Wizards and the Seafolk were not the first or second time. There were even many large and small wars.
In short, with Jackman’s coordination (money clearing the way), the voyage was quite smooth and did not encounter any trouble along the way.
Occasionally, some good-tempered Seafolk after receiving the money would even send some fish, shrimp, crabs, and so on around the sailboat to help escort them, at the same time giving them fis.h.i.+ng recreation, cooking, and so on.
The order of the Seafolk did not care about the lives of their families.
Therefore, in addition to training, Heath also took the fis.h.i.+ng rod to sit by the side of the boat with Jackman to enjoy the fun of fis.h.i.+ng.
There was also a small incident. One evening, when Heath was fis.h.i.+ng, he actually caught a bottle of wine. What was even more amazing was that after the cork was opened, a treasure map escaped from the bottle.
“When a s.h.i.+pwrecked pirate or sailor was in a desperate situation, they would draw a map of the place where they buried their treasure and stuff it into the last empty bottle of wine, letting the ocean deliver it to the fated person.”
This was a legend that had been circulating for a long time on the West Coast, but he did not expect to encounter it one day.
Of course, there were pirates who did it, but it was more of a prank played by some bored people based on this legend. Heath could not tell whether it was real or not at the moment.
Anyway, it was just an ordinary map that did not have any elemental particles attached to it. It was mostly from the human world. Regardless of whether there was treasure or not.
However, what made Heath more curious was that this treasure map was not like other legends, where the sailors’ own stories were left behind while the route map was drawn so that the bards could sing about it.
On the entire treasure map, other than a simple coordinate and a signature, there was only one sentence:
“Save me…”
Signature, Jeros Allitt.
…
A few days later, the sailboat successfully arrived at Deep Sea Kiss. This was the first Wizard organization Heath visited after coming to the Golden Islands…