Brad turned his head to look around, finding everything normal. He could only assume the chill that had momentarily enveloped him was a figment of his imagination. Still, he remained vigilant, constantly observing his surroundings.
Ethan knew exactly what had just happened. When Auriel heard Brad talking about turning one of its internal organs into a device, it had subtly expressed its displeasure.
Continuing their earlier conversation, Brad explained why he had come to this sea region in search of creatures like Auriel.
In the Sea of Miracles, these creatures grow very quickly. By the time adventurers discover an island where one of them exists, it has already reached maturity and possesses powerful combat capabilities.
Most adventurers even have to actively avoid or retreat from them, and some of these creatures will even counterattack.
Ethan recalled how Auriel had ambushed him when it was still tiny. If Auriel had been larger—not even by much, just around his own size—it would have taken significant effort to deal with. At that time, Ethan's combat power wasn't particularly strong.
Compared to the Sea of Miracles, the probability of these creatures appearing in this sea region is much lower. However, due to some unknown rule, their growth rate is suppressed here. For example, when Ethan reached that island, Auriel was only the size of a small kitten.
If it had been the Sea of Miracles and such a creature appeared on an island that was already "fully developed," it would definitely have matured.
"So when you saw Auriel, you tried to buy it?"
Brad gave an awkward laugh. At the time, he hadn't just wanted to buy it. If Ethan hadn't quickly demonstrated his formidable strength, he would've even considered finding an opportunity to snatch the pet on the island. In this world, adventurers felt little moral hesitation about backstabbing others to steal treasures.
Ethan thought for a moment, then waved to Auriel in the distance. The little creature had been perched on Laura's head or shoulder. Although it was very close to Laura, the not-so-dull Auriel still knew who was in charge.
Summoned, Auriel immediately ran over, then climbed up Ethan's pant leg all the way to his shoulder. After giving Brad a fierce glare on the way, it obediently squatted beside Ethan's face.
"Can you sense the island's Magic Heart?"
Auriel lowered its head and remained silent for a moment, seemingly sensing something. Ethan could feel a faint, almost imperceptible fluctuation spreading from Auriel's body, radiating outward continuously.
After waiting a moment, Auriel raised its head again and shook it at Ethan.
Although it couldn't speak, Auriel could transmit its thoughts through mental fluctuations. Even Brent understood what it meant.
"It seems it's not nearby. We'll need to search around the island for a while."
Auriel's sensing range wasn't enough to cover this massive island, and their current location clearly wasn't where the Magic Heart was. Ethan thought for a moment. Their movements after landing had basically remained near the island's perimeter. The Magic Heart should be deeper toward the center.
But he wasn't in a hurry to go further inland. Instead, he made another suggestion.
"We should return to the coast first."
Everyone present already had a clear understanding of the island's situation. Without a certain level of strength, even moving around posed a huge threat. The pervasive negative energy was constantly eroding their bodies. The longer they stayed, the worse the effect.
From wounded crew members gradually turning undead, to some uninjured ones beginning to show early symptoms, continuing to roam the island was basically sending them to their deaths.
"Let's send everyone off first, then concentrate a group of elites to search for the Magic Heart."
Brad also agreed. He had come to this sea region to find creatures like Auriel, not to burn through his fortune. Veteran crew members who had followed him for years were the most valuable assets to a captain.
"Now that Beckford has his eyes on us, can we retreat smoothly?"
"No matter how many obstacles we face, we must return to the ship first."
Ethan's words gave Brent and Brad great confidence.
Ethan's previous magical attack had left a deep impression. In their eyes, no matter what trouble they encountered, nothing could withstand Ethan's power. Under his spells, all obstacles would turn into ice and snow.
What they didn't know was that Ethan's attack wasn't something he could use casually. Although it hadn't consumed his own magic power, the arcane energy stored in the Arcane Spring had been nearly exhausted. The reason he hadn't put the staff back into the storage space was to let it slowly recover arcane energy.
Moreover, that blizzard had also heavily taxed Loki. Although there had been no backlash this time, another attempt would almost certainly result in one. And given Loki's personality, he wouldn't risk himself again for a group of insignificant people.
Considering this island could only trap ordinary people, not Loki, he had even less reason to act without restraint.
However, Ethan believed Beckford wouldn't have time to deal with them for now. Otherwise, the one who appeared earlier wouldn't have been an undead clone, but Beckford himself.
Many people had come to the island. After being separated, many captains were still here with their crews. Beckford had likely appeared because Christina was instantly killed by Ethan, and he had come to investigate.
After realizing that Ethan and the others were hard to deal with, Beckford would shift his focus to easier targets. Once those were dealt with, he would then turn back and concentrate on Ethan.
Although this was somewhat unfair to the other captains, it did buy Ethan's group valuable time, allowing them to return to the coast relatively safely.
Since they had taken a roundabout route, although they had reached the coastline, they were still some distance from where their ships were anchored. However, walking along the coast made everyone feel more at ease.
Compared to the island's interior, the negative energy near the sea was noticeably lighter. The conditions of some crew members who had shown symptoms even improved slightly.
They didn't realize that this was due to Selene's secret efforts. The vampire, who had lived for centuries, had been secretly anxious after witnessing one companion after another turn undead.
After reaching the coast, when everyone began drawing water from the sea and using purification magic stones to extract fresh water, Selene suddenly had the idea of infusing the power of Holy Light into the fresh water to suppress the negative energy in everyone's bodies.
The method was simple and crude, lacking technical refinement—perfect for Selene, who had mastered Holy Light but wasn't particularly skilled at using it. Moreover, Holy Light naturally suppressed negative energy. Even if it couldn't eliminate it entirely, it could delay the transformation into undead.
Given everyone's current state, as long as they left this place, the negative energy within them would gradually dissipate in a normal environment. At worst, they'd suffer a serious illness. Compared to losing oneself and turning into an undead creature, that was nothing.
Selene ensured that everyone drank the specially "enhanced" fresh water. Only then did she breathe a long sigh of relief.
She wondered if it was just because she had used it more, but Selene felt that the Holy Light within her seemed to have grown stronger.
"Because your actions just now aligned with the Way of Holy Light."
Ethan had seen everything Selene did and had noticed the change in her Holy Light energy even before she did. He naturally knew the reason, and this was also a key reason why he had always been hesitant to truly incorporate Holy Light into his own body.
This energy was inherently extreme. Although Holy Light had no requirements or restrictions on the user's identity—even undead could become followers of the Holy Light and use its power.
The user's character and actions determined their compatibility with Holy Light. This directly affected their mastery and the strength of their spells.
Ethan didn't consider himself a person of noble character. If he were to use this kind of Holy Light energy, he suspected he might not even be able to unleash half its power.
However, some individuals with righteous hearts could amplify its strength many times over. This massive disparity deeply frustrated Ethan, so he had always been researching a personalized version of Holy Light—one that shared similar effects but didn't have such strict character constraints and could function normally.
While it was a bit regrettable that this Holy Light lacked the original's terrifying burst potential, Ethan didn't see himself as some "Child of the Plane" and didn't expect all benefits to fall to him. Being able to unleash Holy Light's effects without following the "Way of Holy Light" was already quite good.
Even so, he didn't dare to integrate this energy into his magic power too early. Because Holy Light's energy attribute was relatively extreme, if he carelessly converted it into his core magic power before fully understanding it, it could immediately transform all his magic into Holy Light energy.
In that case, he definitely wouldn't be a mage anymore. He could consider becoming a priest or paladin instead.
Of course, Ethan wouldn't let that happen. But that didn't stop him from temporarily acting as a substitute. After finally reaching the location where the warships were anchored, Ethan gathered everyone and announced that he would bestow a blessing upon them.
(To be continued.)
***
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