#269 - Section 269

“The Sick Siren: The reason why the daughter of the sea, an elemental lifeform, is sick is because the sea has developed a 'disease.' Cure the siren and understand the cause of the illness.”

“Reward: Experience * 300000, Dragon Scale Fruit * 30, Dragon Core * 1.”

“Dragon Scale Fruit: A fruit that can promote the growth of dragons!”

“Dragon Core: The purest crystal of dragon power, possessing immense dragon power. Placing it around a dragon can promote its growth.”

“Hint: The Merit Store has the Soul of the Sea, which contains the pure power of the sea and can keep the sea within a certain range from being polluted.”

“Sirens need to live in a pure sea to avoid secondary pollution.”

Looking at the side quest issued by the system, Allen's lips twitched slightly. He smelled a dangerous aura. The generous reward and the difficulty of this task are not at the same level at all... Moreover, Allen keenly noticed that the last two words of the system prompt were 'pollution.'

These two words sounded familiar. A few.

Chapter 384: Soul of the Sea! Undead in the Sea!

Pollution? Allen couldn't help but ponder, could it be that there is something similar to the Abyss beneath the ocean that is causing the pollution?

This time the reward is so rich, presumably the danger is not small, but this matter brooks no delay. Not to mention the huge income from the ocean, even the sirens cannot be lost.

Jennifer looked at Allen, who remained silent for a long time, and felt uneasy. It seemed to be a new crisis, but she believed that the Duke could solve it.

Investigating the ocean pollution will take some time, but I am afraid that these sirens will not be able to hold on for long. Fortunately, there is a solution in the Merit Store. It seems that the system does not think that I can solve this matter quickly.

With a thought, Allen saw the Soul of the Sea in the Merit Store. It was a small azure ball that seemed to contain extremely pure power.

“Nine-one-zero, take this.” Allen didn't hesitate too much and exchanged the Soul of the Sea from the Merit Store and handed it to Jennifer. “Duke, what is this? I feel a special power.”

But Jennifer asked curiously, she keenly felt that this power seemed to be related to the sea and the sirens.

“This is the Soul of the Sea.” Allen explained, “You should be able to feel the power of the ocean contained within. Putting it into the sea can keep the seawater within a certain range from being polluted, which will have some effect on the sirens' condition.” Knowing the effect of this Soul of the Sea, Jennifer couldn't wait to go back immediately to help the sick sirens recover their health. However, Allen asked, “Have you found the source of the pollution you mentioned?”

“Duke, please forgive me, the scope of this pollution is too wide, and this pollution is also very harmful to us. We have not found it yet, but we suspect that the pollution comes from the seabed.”

“The seabed?” Allen was stunned for a moment. This was troublesome. As everyone knows, the ocean is the most mysterious place on the continent. Even now, people have not successfully explored all the oceans, let alone the seabed.

What made Allen feel a little uncomfortable was that he still had some dislike for the seabed, because the last time they explored the seabed, they encountered some remnants of Abyss pollution.

“First take me to the place where the sea beast corpses were first discovered.” Allen thought for a while and said. “As you command, Duke.”

Soon, Jennifer took Allen to a calm sea area. The ocean here was even darker, and there were no fish or shrimps in the sea. The entire sea surface appeared lifeless.

Seeing all this, Allen frowned even more. I am afraid that before long, the entire ocean of the duchy will become a dead zone.

“Duke, this is where the sea beast corpses were first discovered. Later, sea beast corpses appeared here many times, until it calmed down a month ago. However, the pollution here is also the most serious.” Jennifer looked at the sea below, a trace of melancholy appeared in her eyes.

“Are there any unusual things about the corpses of those sea beasts?” Allen asked.

“Unusual things?” Jennifer tried hard to think. “I have only seen it once with my own eyes. It seems that there are some differences. There is also some faint pollution on the corpses of those sea beasts. Moreover, their wounds seem a bit strange.” “Strange?”

“That's right, the wounds of those sea beasts do not seem to be caused by the marine creatures I know.”

“Not caused by marine creatures?” Allen was a little confused. Are there non-marine creatures in the ocean?

“At least not marine creatures that I know of.” Seeing Allen's confusion, Jennifer also felt that her words were a little inappropriate, and hurriedly added.

“I want to go down and take a look.” Allen looked at the blue sea, which seemed to hide a huge mystery.

“Duke, you must not.” Jennifer hurriedly stopped him, “This is too dangerous, let others go down and explore the way first.” If others knew that they let the Duke go into battle himself, and something went wrong, they would tear themselves apart.

What a joke, what reward can I get if others go? Allen rolled his eyes imperceptibly, waved his hand, with an awe-inspiring look. “No need to say more, I have made up my mind. As the Duke, I have an obligation to protect my people, you just wait for me here.” Allen said, ignoring Jennifer's words, and fell directly into the ocean.

As soon as he entered the ocean, Allen felt something unusual... The ocean was filled with a large amount of pollution, drilling into Allen's body.

This pollution is different from the pollution of the Abyss, and seems to have the aura of the undead.

“That's not right, could it be that the pollution of the ocean is caused by the undead?” Allen was a little puzzled.

He dived all the way down, the more he went down, the more pollution there was, and the greater the pressure of the sea.

After diving for several kilometers, he still found nothing. Allen's heart was also a little drumming, now the pressure and pollution of the ocean have put a lot of pressure on him.

Just as Allen was about to go back, he suddenly saw that the front seemed to have reached the seabed. He gritted his teeth and accelerated again, falling towards the seabed.

When he arrived at the seabed, Allen found something unusual. In this dark seabed, he didn't know if it was his illusion, but he always felt like someone was spying on him, making him feel very uncomfortable.

Suddenly, something seemed to be approaching quickly from behind. Allen hurriedly turned around, not daring to be careless, and struck out with all his strength.

Allen heard a shrill cry in his ear, and the thing that attacked him also shattered.

Only then did Allen see clearly that it was a skeleton, but he didn't know how many years he had been dead, and it had become very dilapidated.

“Hiss!” Seeing the scattered bones on the ground, Allen felt a little scalp numb, could it be that a ghost attacked him?

As Allen shattered the skeleton, it seemed like he had poked a hornet's nest. Screams came one after another from all around. I don't know how many monsters there are in this seabed.

“Damn it.” Allen's face changed, and he was about to return to the surface, but his eyes inadvertently swept across the bones on the ground, and he found something unusual.

“What is this?” Hearing the screams getting closer and closer, Allen didn't dare to stay any longer, hurriedly went over to pick up the thing, and then swam upwards quickly.

Before long, Allen reached the surface.

"Huff-- huff--," Allen leaped out of the ocean, landing on Jennifer's boat, panting heavily.

Jennifer, who had been anxiously waiting for Allen, was overjoyed, "Duke, it's so good you're alright!"

Chapter 385: Epic Quest Triggered! The Undead of Ates!

"Go back quickly!"

Allen said without a doubt, looking at the seabed below, his face serious.

Although Jennifer didn't know what had happened, she obediently listened to Allen's words and steered the sailboat away.

The sailboat quickly moved away from that sea area. Allen stood at the bow, his expression uncertain, playing with a token in his hand, the very thing he had brought up from the seabed.

Allen had carefully examined it before, discovering that the token was made of an unknown material and seemed to have weathered a long passage of time, appearing very ancient.

The patterns and decorations on the token were very different from those of today, practically two different styles. Allen was even more confused by some of the text on it.

However, he was certain that these characters he didn't recognize were definitely not the languages of any present-day country, and might even be from a different era.

In that case, this token was very likely a product of ancient civilization.

As for what exactly it was, Allen had a guess in his mind, but he would have to wait to return and ask Cecilmina to be sure.

Allen returned to the waters near the Duchy of Allen, summoned the Sea Demons, and used the power of the Mind Dragon to completely remove their pollution. Although this pollution was different from the Abyss's pollution, it was also similar.

The Mind Dragon's power could completely remove this pollution directly, but the Sea Demons were daughters of the sea and closely related to it. This illness was due to the sea's mutation.

After removing the pollution, only the Essence of the Sea was needed to maintain the purity of the surrounding waters to temporarily maintain the Sea Demons' physical condition.

"Ding, side quest 'Sick Sea Demons' completed. Reward: Experience Points * 300000, Dragon Scale Fruit * 30, Dragon Core * 1."

After completing the quest, the system issued the rewards.

The generous rewards made Allen's expression slightly better. This was probably the only good thing he felt.

Finding a hidden room, Allen's mind stirred, and he appeared in the Dragon Nest. The dragons in the Dragon Nest saw Allen and happily crowded around him.

Allen placed the Dragon Core in the Dragon Nest. Immediately, the dragon power within the Dragon Nest became several times more concentrated, and the eight dragons looked very excited.

"As expected of the Dragon Core, the concentration of dragon power has increased several times. My dragons' growth rate should be shortened by half, or even more."

Allen then fed the remaining Dragon Scale Fruits to the eight dragons, and was satisfied to see their bodies grow even larger before leaving the Dragon Nest.

Allen didn't stay on the sea for too long. At the same time, he had Jennifer recall the fishermen at sea and the surrounding civilians. The Essence of the Sea could maintain the purity of the surrounding sea and resist pollution for a while, but the undead under the sea would not give up advancing because of this.

Previously, Allen had also discovered many undead skeletons on the seabed.

Although there was still a long distance from the Duchy of Allen, it was enough to make Allen cautious.

Before he left, he had explored the surrounding sea, and most of the seabed did not have undead.

It seemed that not all sea areas were full of undead, which made Allen slightly relieved, but at the same time, he also became slightly nervous.

After all, since the sea had already been polluted, then this meant that the number of undead was definitely not small.

Allen felt that the ghostly things he had just encountered were only a very small part of them, like a vanguard exploring the way.

This made Allen extremely uneasy.

Soon, Allen rode Safi, taking Marco away from the sea and returning to the palace. Allen then had someone call for Saint Cecilmina.

"Allen, did you miss me?"

Cecilmina quickly came to Allen and sat directly in his lap.

"Yes, Cecilmina, do you know what this is?"

While Allen held Saint Cecilmina, he handed the token in his hand to Cecilmina.

Cecilmina took the token, pondered slightly, and replied, "Oh? This should be a high-ranking knight's identity token from the Ates Empire. It also has the text of the Ates Empire on it."

Sure enough, Allen breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he had tried his best to avoid thinking about this, what was coming was still coming.

"Ding, Epic Quest triggered: The Undead of Ates, countdown three months and eight days."

"The Undead of Ates: An exploration has revived the empire that slumbered beneath the sea. They bring with them resentment and madness. Their bodies have long rotted, but their souls have been cursed by the Abyss and the Gods. They wallow in the darkness, but they have not passed away. The long years have eroded their reason, leaving only endless resentment and anger."

"Perhaps, this is Pandora's box left by the Gods. Once opened, it will surely be a disaster of doomsday."

"History, appearing as the undead, behind this, perhaps is the mockery of the Gods. Resist them, and liberate this group of cursed undead."

"Quest Reward: Experience Points, Sub-Profession Level Up Scroll 1, Ates's Treasure 1, Ates's Blessing 1, Golden Behemoth Secret Art 1, Body of the Sea 1, Title: Legendary Hero, Sea Mine 20."

"Ates's Treasure: The treasury of the ancient magical empire, the pride of the Emperor of Ates, a place of endless wealth and treasures, possessing legendary items, and also some extremely mysterious collectibles, perhaps things that even the Gods crave?"

Allen's expression changed slightly when he saw this. He saw the special colored font that the system had prompted when he saw that mysterious map back then.

Very conspicuous, this treasury perhaps, no, it should be said that it definitely has clues to the Forbidden Dragon!

Just this one reward was enough to make Allen excited.

Only after mastering the power of the Forbidden Dragon can one understand its power.

Just like the power of Mind and Nightmare that Allen has mastered, this is an extremely powerful power.

He can easily manipulate anyone. After the Mind Dragon grows up, even the Gods can be played with in Allen's palm.

Even if Allen wanted to, he could instantly establish a connection with anyone's mind. He can pry into everything, and at the same time, he can change everything. He can travel between the two worlds of mind and reality.

He can easily obtain endless knowledge from others. He can easily change anyone's thoughts.

This power is too strong, so strong that Allen has enough confidence to challenge the Radiant Empire.

Of course, if possible, Allen would rather develop in a low-key manner.

"Ates's Blessing: A blessing from the magical civilization. Under the blessing, the probability of children born in the territory with magical talent is increased by fifty times!"