Chương 17: A hearty reward

Nihil's body felt heavy just by standing there. Not in a metaphorical way either. All of the mermaid's weight had been converted into biomass. Originally he'd weighed around 75 kilograms. A rather average weight for a man who was 5'11 feet tall and had some amount of muscles. He'd estimate the mermaid to have been around 50. This meant he'd almost doubled his weight. Accordingly, his strength and vitality had increased while his dexterity and agility had gone down. It was noticeable too.

He'd felt himself become slower from one minute to the next. However, the weight wasn't important right now. He was unwilling to let go of any until he gained the next skill on his agenda. Black Thread Inventory which would cost him an entire 2002 experience. After that, he could balance out how many threads were best to maintain combat efficiency. Until then he'd just hold on to as many as he could so as to increase survivability. Bending down he picked up the algae-covered chest and looked at the rusted lock.

A simple flick of his thumb on the iron broke it and the chest popped open revealing its contents. Nihil furrowed his brows as he looked inside. Obviously there were limited things he could have expected. After all, the chest had been kept underwater for who knew how long. There were a limited amount of materials that could survive that and still retain their usefulness. That was why he hadn't expected a book or a treasure map. After all, both those things would have long since disintegrated in the water.

However, reality always had a way of surprising those who lacked imagination. Opening the chest revealed a sealed bottle, containing not liquid, but rather a rolled up piece of parchment.

"If this is another ' Maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way' I'm going to kill someone," Nihil muttered as he stood underneath the jungle canopy in solitude and carelessly broke the seal on the bottle to extract the parchment. He unfurled the yellowed artefact and furrowed his brows. If you're reading this then I have already perished. To think that the greatest pirate in history would meet such a fate. Dying of old age on a deserted island after being betrayed by his own crew.

Regardless, the lineage must continue and while that traitorous pack of rats might think that they have taken all my treasure, my most valuable possession has never left me since the day I carved it out of the body of my master all those years ago. I don't like the idea of drying out in the sun while being nibbled on by bugs so I buried my treasure and cast myself into the sea, returning to whence I once came from. As for finding it and seeing if you can tame it… All I can say is, you're welcome to try.

If you fail, you simply weren't fated. I hid it under that most special place where the sun pierces the earth. Nihil stopped reading, memorised the words, before stuffing the parchment into his dimensional pouch. No map. He wasn't bad at riddles per say, but that didn't mean that he had to like them.

"Whatever," he muttered. There were vast areas of the island he hadn't explored yet. After all, the fishmen had occupied nearly half of the island territory before their expatriation. As for the place where the sun pierced the earth, it would probably come up eventually. For now he had to regroup with Kevin. -/- Traversing the jungle now that the fishmen were well and truly gone was remarkably easy.

Where before Nihil had to move stealthily, taking care not to disturb anything, now he simply rushed through like a bull. Branches broke beneath his weight, animals fled and footsteps echoed as loudly as cannon shots to Nihil's ears which had gotten used to moving stealthily but also weighing significantly less. One benefit of the entire thing was that despite his agility having decreased, he still reached the middle of the island faster than if he'd been trying to remain stealthy.

It was like this that he rushed into the empty clearing around the stagnant pool of seawater in the middle, like a wild boar rushing through the thicket. Kevin didn't startle, thankfully, although he did give him an odd look when Nihil emerged from the forest.

"Did you gain weight?" Kevin asked curiously from where he was crouching down next to an extinguished campfire in the middle of some simplistic huts that the fishmen had erected right beside the medium-sized pool of water they'd inhabited. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Nihil glanced around, not bothering to answer the question. Visually, nothing about him had changed. He was just denser. What he saw were ten huts, made with the simplest of techniques.

Branches strung together in a pyramid structure and covered in woven palm leaves until no light peeked through. The earth inside was stamped flat and seemingly even baked.

"Too coincidental," Nihil determined as he stepped up to Kevin and handed the man the parchment. Kevin didn't answer, starting to read, while Nihil continued exploring the clearing. Quite frankly, there wasn't much. The huts seemed completely uninhabited by anyone in the past or present. The fishmen likely hadn't used them for anything other than maybe storing some objects that they couldn't keep underwater. All gone now. Nothing left. Just the huts, the large firepit and the pool. Well, there was one thing.

A rather large grey rock jutting out in the middle of the huts. About as tall as two men and just about as thick. There was a hole hewn into it at the very top. Someone had seemingly used rather primitive tools, likely just another stone, to carve it. At least that was what the scratches indicated. There were only some faint indentations in the ground around the rock, as if stones had been placed there a long time ago.

"An art installation?" Nihil muttered curiously.

"If so it's not a very good one," Kevin said jokingly.

"It insists upon itself."

"Hilarious," Nihil retorted with a wave of his hand.

"Find anything?" Kevin spread out his arms, encompassing the huts and the pool in his gesture.

"Look upon my work ye mighty and despair."

"Nothing then," Nihil said, before going to sit down at the fireplace. He poked around in the cold ashes to see if he could find anything. Still nothing. Just burnt bones and coal that crumbled under the slightest touch.

"Why did you show me this?" Kevin suddenly asked, stepping up to Nihil and returning the parchment.

"You'll get experience from a treasure hunt, you can invest it in your skills," Nihil said dismissively as he considered his next steps.

"You do know I'm simply taking another door out of this level and leaving you behind right?" Kevin said bluntly.

"Good," Nihil replied.

"I don't get it, I thought I was your employee."

"I'll find others," Nihil said.

"You have experience now. Experience and a useful skill. Go be a calming presence in the next level and try to prevent anyone else from dying a stupid death." He still needed to maximise the amount of lives saved before he got to be a necromancer again. It would increase the chances of having someone to team up with on level 99 while also saving up potential corpses for the future. After all, anyone that died now would simply stay behind.

"All right," Kevin eventually determined, seemingly confused.

"What now?" he then asked.

"The other survivors will likely arrive here and claim this space. We could co-habitate with them quite easily, but I don't see the point. They're annoying," Nihil said bluntly.

"So, we should just test our altitude theory and then start looking for the treasure?" Kevin proposed. Nihil sighed. There were still two weeks that he had to spend on this island. He'd use it to find this treasure spoken of in the note, but otherwise he was honestly starting to get a bit bored. It wasn't generating that much experience anymore either. The truth of the matter was that he wasn't some idiot who needed a full month to pick what skill to take or how to develop it.

Thankfully he wasn't really losing anything by staying here, other than some patience. Quite frankly, it wasn't like the next level would be particularly exciting either.

"It seems like it," Nihil said, before holding out a hand towards Kevin.

"Bird," he said simply. Kevin nodded instead of acting confused, indicating that he had indeed practiced the aerodynamics of his creation to ease upwards flight. The very next second he drew something on the ground before promptly picking up the resulting creation and handing it over to Nihil. Nihil looked at the lopsided creature. It wasn't as much a bird as it was a black spiralshaped bud in the shape of a bird. It looked like it would spin when thrown, potentially propelling it further up?

"Alright, let's do this," Nihil determined before turning around and walking towards the large rock in the middle of the clearing. One arm shot up and found a hold on the top upon which the rest of the body followed. The maneuver wasn't that easy anymore now that he was so much heavier, but it still worked and a second later Nihil was standing atop the monument and rearing back his arm. He contorted his body, utilised all of his strength before hurling the creature in his arm as high as he could.

The small bird started spinning violently the moment it left his hand and shot straight upwards like a thrown javelin. It was hard to guess how high he'd managed to throw it, but Nihil estimated that it was at least 50 meters. He watched on top of the rock as the bird then unfurled its wings upon reaching the maximum height and started spinning in a slow descent. Instead of getting down Nihil remained on the rock, just in case they needed to repeat the operation.

He watched as the bird slowly sank down faster and faster before eventually reaching the ground. Then, when Kevin wanted to say something he held up a hand, eyes caught on the sun which was slowly dipping towards the horizon to signal the end of the day. He looked down at the rock he was standing on, or rather, at the hole hewn into its top. Then he turned around and looked to see if his guess was correct. A first floor riddle, it still wasn't that difficult for him.

He promptly found that the sun lined up perfectly with the hole in the rock, shining a needle of light directly in the middle of the camp through an otherwise perfect shadow. A second later the sun dipped too far and the shadow disappeared amongst the trees. Nihil jumped off the rock and started walking towards where the sun had pierced the earth.

"What did you see?" he asked Kevin as he idly started digging with his hands. Kevin frowned.

"It was odd. In every direction it was the same. One large landmass. But it doesn't make sense. Wouldn't that technically mean we're on a lake?"

"Or rather the administrators want everyone who sails out to reach the same place," Nihil theorized as his digging promptly unveiled a mushy something. A mushy something that was moving. Nihil looked down at the lump of earth in his hand before slowly starting to remove the clumps to reveal bright red beneath. It had been buried about a meter deep. The reward for this level. A beating heart buried in the ground. The Heart of Water A heart that can be transplanted into one's body with ease!

Even a rusty knife will do! This artifact allows the user to roam the deep waters of the world undisturbed by its creatures while breathing seamlessly. Hope you have the stamina for a long swim though!

"So?" Kevin asked.

"What do we do?" Nihil stood up and looked down at the beating human heart in his hand. He turned to Kevin.

"We build a boat," he said simply.