Ethan’s Blessing

Blade turned to look around and found everything normal, so he could only dismiss the chill that had enveloped him a moment ago as an illusion. Even so, he remained alert and kept an eye on the surroundings from time to time.

Yinsen knew what had happened. When Little Ou heard Blade talking about turning one of its organs into a prop, it had expressed its displeasure in its own small way.

Continuing their earlier topic, Blade explained why he had come to these waters to search for creatures like Little Ou.

In the Sea of Miracles, such creatures grew extremely quickly. By the time adventurers discovered them on an island, they had already reached the Maturity Stage and possessed formidable Combat Power.

Most adventurers had to take the initiative to avoid them, and some of these creatures would even attack adventurers in turn.

Yinsen recalled how Little Ou had ambushed him when it had still been tiny. If Little Ou had been enlarged—not excessively, just to about his own size—it would have taken quite a bit of Kung Fu to deal with the little troublemaker.

If it had been even more exaggerated, several times larger than him, he would probably have had no choice but to run. At that time, Yinsen’s Combat Power had not been particularly strong.

Compared to the Sea of Miracles, the chance of such creatures appearing in these waters was much lower. However, restricted by some unknown rule, their growth was suppressed here. When Yinsen had arrived on that island, Little Ou had been only the size of a kitten.

If it had been in the Sea of Miracles, then a creature of this kind appearing on a fully developed island would definitely have already reached the Maturity Stage.

"So when you saw Little Ou, you offered to buy it."

Blade smiled awkwardly. At the time, he had not merely wanted to buy it. If Yinsen had not quickly displayed such formidable strength, Blade had even considered finding an opportunity on that island to steal the pet. Adventurers in this world felt no psychological burden over things like stabbing someone in the back to seize treasure.

Yinsen thought for a moment, then waved at Little Ou in the distance. The little creature had been lying on Laura’s head or shoulder the whole time. Although it was now very close to Laura, Little Ou was intelligent enough to know who truly called the shots.

At Yinsen’s summons, Little Ou ran over at once, climbed up his pant leg all the way to his shoulder, shot Blade a fierce glare, then obediently crouched beside Yinsen’s face.

"Can you sense this island’s Magic Heart?"

Little Ou lowered its head and fell silent for a while, seemingly sensing something. Yinsen could feel a faint ripple spreading from its body, continuously expanding outward.

After waiting a moment, Little Ou raised its head again and shook it at Yinsen.

Though it could not speak, Little Ou could convey its thoughts through mental waves. Even Brent understood what it meant.

"Looks like it isn’t nearby. We’ll need to search around this island for a while."

Little Ou’s sensing range was not enough to cover the enormous island, and the area where they currently stood was clearly not where the Magic Heart was located. Yinsen considered their route since landing and realized they had been circling around the island’s outskirts. The Magic Heart should be closer to the center.

But he was in no hurry to head deeper inland and instead made another suggestion.

"We should return to the shore first."

Everyone present had learned enough about the island’s situation. Without sufficient strength, even simply walking across the island posed a tremendous threat. The Negative Energy everywhere was constantly eroding their bodies, and the longer they stayed on the island, the greater the effect became.

At first, only the wounded had gradually turned into undead. Now, even some uninjured sailors were showing early symptoms. Continuing to wander around the island in this state would be sending those sailors to their deaths.

"Get everyone out first, then gather some elite fighters to search for the Magic Heart."

Blade agreed as well. He had come to these waters to find creatures like Little Ou, not to squander all his family fortune. Experienced old sailors who had followed him for a long time were a captain’s most precious assets.

"Now that Beckford has his eyes on us, can we really retreat safely?"

"No matter what difficulties we face, we have to get back to the ship first."

Yinsen’s words gave Brent and Blade ample confidence.

Yinsen’s earlier magical attack had left a deep impression on them. In Brent and Blade’s eyes, no trouble could stop them. Under an attack like Yinsen’s, every obstacle would turn to ice and snow.

They did not know that Yinsen could not use that attack whenever he wished. Although it had not consumed his own magic power, the Arcane Energy stored in the Arcane Spring had nearly been drained dry. The reason he had not put the wand directly into the Storage Space was to let it recover some Arcane Energy.

Moreover, that blizzard had placed quite a burden on Loki. Although he had suffered no backlash, another use would make backlash unavoidable. With Loki’s personality, he would never invite trouble for himself over a group of irrelevant people.

Considering that this island could only trap most ordinary people here but could not trap Loki, he had even less reason to act without holding anything back again.

Still, Yinsen believed Beckford would not have time to deal with them for the moment. Otherwise, what had appeared earlier would not have been one of Beckford’s undead avatars, but Beckford himself.

Many people had come to the island this time. Even after getting separated, many captains still led their crews around the island. Beckford had likely appeared here because Christina had been Instant Killed by Yinsen, and he had come specifically to investigate.

After learning what had happened and realizing that Yinsen’s group was not easy to handle, Beckford would shift his attention to the others. Once he had dealt with the easier targets, he would turn back and focus his firepower on Yinsen.

Though it seemed somewhat unfair to the other captains, Yinsen’s group had indeed gained some time because of them, allowing them to return to the shore in relative safety.

Because they had made a circuit over land, they reached the shore some distance away from where their ships were anchored. Still, walking along the coast made everyone feel more at ease.

Compared to the island’s interior, the concentration of Negative Energy at the shore seemed a little lower. The conditions of some people who had begun showing symptoms eased slightly.

They did not know that Selene had secretly intervened. After personally witnessing one "companion" after another turn into undead, the vampire who had lived for several centuries had begun to worry as well.

After reaching the shore, everyone began drawing seawater and using purification magic stones to extract drinkable fresh water. It was then that Selene finally thought of infusing the water with the power of Holy Light to suppress the Negative Energy inside everyone’s bodies.

The method was simple and crude, with no technical difficulty at all. It suited Selene perfectly, since she had mastered Holy Light but could not use it very skillfully. Furthermore, Holy Light Energy naturally restrained Negative Energy. Even if it could not completely remove the Negative Energy from everyone’s bodies, it could still delay their transformation into undead.

Given everyone’s current condition, as long as they could get away from this place, the Negative Energy inside them would eventually dissipate in a normal environment. At worst, they would suffer a serious illness. Compared to becoming undead who had lost themselves, that was nothing.

Selene made sure that every person drank the specially enhanced fresh water before finally letting out a long breath.

Perhaps because she had used it so much, Selene felt that the Holy Light within her had become even stronger?

"Because what you did just now aligned with the Path of Holy Light."

Yinsen had seen everything Selene did and had noticed the changes in her Holy Light even earlier than she had. Of course, he knew the reason, and it was also an important reason why he had never dared to truly incorporate Holy Light into his own body.

This type of energy was extremely polarized. Holy Light imposed no requirements or restrictions on the user’s identity. Even an undead creature could become a believer in Holy Light and wield its power without any obstacle.

However, a user’s character and actions determined their affinity with Holy Light. This directly affected their command of Holy Light and the effectiveness of the spells they cast.

Yinsen did not consider himself a person of noble character. If he used this kind of Holy Light Energy, he suspected he might not even be able to bring out half its original power.

Yet people of noble character could multiply Holy Light’s power several times over. Such an enormous disparity left Yinsen helpless, so he had continued diligently researching his own Holy Light—Holy Light Energy with similar effects but without such harsh moral requirements, allowing its proper power to be used normally.

Although it was a pity that this Holy Light lacked that nearly terrifying Burst Power, Yinsen did not think himself the Son of the Plane. He knew that every benefit could not possibly fall into his lap. Being able to wield power equal to the original Holy Light without following the "Path of Holy Light" was already good enough.

Even so, he did not dare to incorporate this energy into his own magic power too early. Holy Light’s energy attribute was already rather extreme, and before he fully understood and mastered it, the moment he converted it into his own magic power, all the magic power in his body would instantly transform into Holy Light Energy.

If that happened, he definitely could not continue being a mage. He could consider whether to become a priest or a paladin instead.

Of course, Yinsen would never let that truly happen, but that did not stop him from temporarily playing the part. When they finally arrived at the place where the warship was anchored, Yinsen gathered everyone together and announced that he would bestow a blessing upon them all.