Chapter 456: Thunderstorm Re-gathering? Very Close.
Chapter 456 -454: Thunderstorm Re-gathering? Very Close.
After finishing lunch, Faye Yardley was in a great mood to start opening treasure chests.
She had certainly accumulated quite a few of them.
In addition to the ones she’d fished up herself, there were also those that Lucy White and the others had salvaged for her, which she had been saving up.
She habitually rubbed her hands together. Looking at the pile of Wooden Treasure Chests and Iron Treasure Boxes before her, Faye Yardley felt much calmer than usual.
Even her little chant wasn’t as heartfelt as it used to be.
“Sky is vast, Earth is vast, but the system is the vastest of all! Great system, please bless me with good loot!”
[Obtained wood x50, lightning rod x1, stones x10, iron blocks x10]
Talent triggered… Rewards doubled.
[Obtained Beast Repeller x1, wood x20, Rice Balls x2, Pure Water x5]
Talent triggered… Rewards doubled.
Opening chests really was a delightful experience.
Opening one after another, she always managed to find things she’d never seen before.
It seemed many of the items were related to the current thunderstorms.
The most practical of these had to be the lightning rods.
From this round of chest openings, thanks to her Double Good Luck Talent, she obtained 54 lightning rods alone.
She kept 14 for herself and traded the other 40 to Eleanor Jonas.
It was easy enough for large guilds to assign members to focus on fishing for treasure chests.
So, as time went on and the thunderstorms intensified, they paradoxically caused less damage than before.
Anyone who had a moment to breathe felt like a survivor of a catastrophe.
Of course, no one dared to fully relax; the severe weather hadn’t passed completely, after all.
Still, there were those who found the time to fish for treasure chests, gritting their teeth and persevering even as Thunder Strikes rained down around them.
As long as they could endure the first, most difficult wave, things would become much easier afterward.
After all, how could anyone who had survived this long be a complete, naive coward?
Anyone with even a shred of ambition wanted to be in the spotlight.
Was it for a lack of wanting?
“Whew, finally finished opening all the chests.”
Faye Yardley broke down all the empty chests into materials and stored them in her warehouse.
This round of openings had finally replenished her stock of basic materials.
Although her island didn’t need any new structures for the time being, it was always a case of the more materials, the better.
Besides, ordinary humans weren’t unique to Aquaria.
Faye Yardley realized that ever since she started meeting more Otherkin and humans from other planets, she had stopped thinking about questions like whether human civilization would survive.
Not that she had ever been particularly worried about it before, of course.
Even if all the original humans from Aquaria perished, the human race itself wouldn’t be wiped out.
Besides, for those still on their rafts, Aquaria had effectively ceased to exist. The Sea Survival System was now their greatest lifeline.
CHIRP CHIRP~
Faye Yardley turned to look at the door leading to the small balcony. Sure enough, Jade was perched at the entrance, not daring to fly inside without permission.
She waved it over, and the Goldfinch’s plump little body flapped its wings, WHOOSHING inside to land on her shoulder.
Great. Now, in addition to Blackwood, she had another little creature that liked to perch on her shoulder.
“What is it, Jade?”
CHIRP, CHIRP.
Faye Yardley shrugged and held out her hands, showing that she had no idea what it was trying to say.
Seeing that she didn’t understand, Jade chirped a couple more times, gave Faye Yardley a huge eye-roll, and then flew off.
‘Did I just get dissed by my own pet?’
Faye Yardley went to her workbench and crafted some Blood Replenishing Pills and a few handcarts.
After asking Willow to keep an eye on things, she went back to fishing for treasure chests.
While waiting, she pulled up the system panel to check her raft’s course. To her surprise, she was very close to the marked location of a Silver Treasure Chest in the waters near her island.
The choice was obvious. She adjusted the raft’s course and pushed forward at full speed.
The closer she got to the Silver Treasure Chest’s location, the choppier the sea became, and dark clouds began to gather in the sky once more.
‘Is a new thunderstorm brewing?’
Faye Yardley didn’t pay it too much mind, but the obstacles in her raft’s path seemed to be increasing.
She started catching more seafood than treasure chests.
Meanwhile, Bramble began to retract all its roots and vines from the deep sea, and Faye Yardley could feel its excitement.
It was hard to imagine a plant feeling such intense excitement.
‘What could possibly be making Bramble so excited?’
Faye Yardley had the system break down a parrotfish she’d just caught, stored the materials in her warehouse, then put away her fishing rod and stood up.
Not only had the sun vanished, but monstrous waves were rising and falling, and the dark clouds massing in the sky grew ever thicker.
A frigid, howling wind seemed intent on whipping the waves higher, as if to halt the progress of any vessel.
The raft continued to press on in its set direction, but its speed had slowed considerably.
She had already installed the lightning rods on her raft.
Lucy White and Cole Kensington had already returned to the raft due to the drastic change in the waves.
A massive wave crashed toward them, cresting even higher than Goliath’s head, threatening to smash the entire raft to pieces.
The Energy Protection Shield activated automatically.
When the raft could no longer advance another inch, the sight of the waves, each one higher than the last, was terrifying.
It was just past three in the afternoon, but with the sun blotted out by dark clouds and the sea churning violently, it truly felt like the end of the world.
It was only then that Faye Yardley noticed the seawater had, at some unknown point, turned the color of ink.
‘Black seawater?’
‘Is this why Bramble is so excited?’
“Faye, this place is really strange… I want to go down and take a look…”
Faye Yardley wiped the wind-blown spray from her face. “Let’s go. We’ll check it out together. Just keep an eye on the duration of your Water-Repelling Pearls.”
Lucy White nodded quickly. “Thanks for the reminder, Faye. I’ll keep track of the time.”
Bramble had already shrunk down to the size of a bracelet, wrapping itself around Faye Yardley’s right wrist.
The moment Faye Yardley jumped into the sea, Bramble sprouted a dense layer of leaves, forming a green coat over her.
Even with the Underwater Breathing Skill, navigating the churning sea was difficult. The currents were strong enough to sweep a person away, pulling them back in the opposite direction.
Spending too long in the black water could make a person feel restless and irritable.
But the protection from Bramble’s leaves seemed to block out these agitating, negative feelings.
Instead of fighting the current, Faye Yardley swam straight down, deeper and deeper into the ocean’s depths.
The raging turmoil on the surface had no effect on the deep sea. It was like another world down here—utterly calm and peaceful.
Luminescent jellyfish brought faint flickers of light to the pitch-black depths.
Tiny, transparent deep-sea fish drifted near the jellyfish.
Faye Yardley had no time to stop and admire the scenery. She had the system guide her as she swam quickly toward the Silver Treasure Chest.
However, the closer she got to the chest, the blacker the water became. When she took out a Luminous Pearl, she felt as if its light was being devoured.
Visibility was dropping rapidly.
It gave Faye Yardley the sudden urge to turn back and catch a few of the luminescent jellyfish to use as a light source.