Chapter 42: The Treasure in Hand

Following the system's detailed guidance, Gunie closed his eyes and moved forward cautiously.

From the sound of his footsteps, Gunie could roughly judge that he had entered a cave within that mysterious and terrifying towering structure.

And the Ancient Shadow Gate and the Holy Shadow treasures were not far ahead.

“I wonder if the Ancient Shadow Gate has much connection with this terrifying towering structure.”

“But the system hasn’t given much warning about danger either.”

“Apparently, taking these treasures shouldn’t affect this towering structure.”

“Even if there is an effect, that’s a matter for later.”

“However, speaking of this Shadowy Island, even if I take the Ancient Shadow Gate and these treasures, this massive towering structure remains here, still not something ordinary people can approach.”

“Seeing those black reefs only caused some physiological reactions like nausea and dizziness.”

“Seeing this towering, terrifying structure directly triggered psychological suggestion.”

“Even when landing on the island to collect wealth from the corpses, one must not go too deep; after seeing these reefs, one should retreat.”

“Otherwise, even if not devoured by those reefs, one would become part of this terrifying structure under strong psychological suggestion.”

“The perpetual darkness and mist on this Shadowy Island might not be a bad thing for the creatures of this entire area.”

“If the mist truly dissipated, any creature seeing this terrifying object from over ten nautical miles away would die, not to mention the Yasha fishmen living on the east side of the Misty Shadow Archipelago.”

“If the mist cleared, they’d be wiped out on the spot, more effective than a nuclear bomb. Indeed, often ignorance is a kind of happiness.””

While Gunie was pondering this, he had already followed the system’s guidance to a certain spot in the cave.

The system’s annotations did not clearly indicate that he could not look here.

Fortunately, Gunie knew the consequences of looking for a long time; a brief look was still fine.

Gunie quickly opened his eyes and looked around.

What met his eyes was an exceptionally dim and tranquil ancient altar space.

The altar was not tall, only about twelve or thirteen meters.

At the core of the altar, an arched door about two meters high stood quietly, as if it had weathered countless ages.

Inside the doorway was thick, impenetrable shadowy mist.

About a meter in front of the Ancient Shadow Gate, two items floated.

One was a “Holy Shadow Magic Stone” the size of a fist, seemingly condensed from mist.

The other was a hazy and illusory inheritance crown, gray-black with a hint of golden luster, containing the “Holy Shadow Rune.”

After a brief look, Gunie quickly closed his eyes again.

Just from that short look, nausea, dizziness, and mental agitation had already begun to surge.

With his eyes closed, Gunie followed the altar steps and ascended to the altar.

Gunie did not rashly touch the Holy Shadow treasures.

Instead, he placed one hand on the “Ancient Shadow Gate.”

As the touch-magic contact channel was established, Gunie began to chant the peculiar three-hundred-syllable incantation.

The system clearly indicated that the Ancient Shadow Gate must be closed first to ensure that no anomalies would occur when Gunie touched the two Holy Shadow items afterward.

Moreover, once the Ancient Shadow Gate was closed, all the shadow beasts on Shadowy Island would disappear.

Only then would the island become a relatively safe area.

Of course, this was limited to the outer areas.

The inner walls, the reef-like monoliths, and the vast, towering mysterious peaks that could only be glimpsed in part were not to be touched lightly.

After Gunie finished chanting the spell for over seventy seconds,

he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“There should be no problem now, right?”

Then Gunie quickly opened his eyes and looked at the Ancient Shadow Gate.

He saw that where the doorway of the Ancient Shadow Gate had been filled with dark, swirling mist, it was now empty; through the doorway, he could clearly see what was behind the gate.

The Ancient Shadow Gate now looked like nothing more than an ordinary door frame.

Gunie did not spend much time pondering over the Ancient Shadow Gate.

“Collect!”

With a thought,

the Ancient Shadow Gate vanished directly, replaced by its appearance in Gunie’s system space.

Then Gunie looked at the two Holy Shadow treasures.

Reaching out gently, he grasped both treasures in his hands.

“It feels very illusory, as if I’m not touching anything.”

“But the treasures are indeed in my hands.”

“Holy Shadow series treasures are truly extraordinary.”

After placing both treasures into his system space, Gunie did not linger there any longer.

These reefs and this bizarre, majestic, miraculous structure exuded danger and fear at every turn; it was truly no place to stay.

“Let’s go!”

With his eyes closed, Gunie once again followed the system’s adventure guidance to move outward.

That was the thing about the adventure system: as long as the adventure event was not yet concluded, even after completing it, the event would continue to provide guidance for a long time.

For example, where danger lay, where one could not go.

Which path to follow to safely reach a secure area.

A few minutes later, Gunie had already crossed the wall-like giant reefs.

When he turned back to look at the dark peaks,

the mist obscured everything, revealing no anomalies.

Even though Gunie had taken some of the treasures, Shadowy Island remained in its original state, with no unusual occurrences.

The only difference was that the shadow beasts had disappeared.

Others landing on the island would no longer die inexplicably, but if they got too close and saw things they shouldn’t, that was another matter.

With the treasures secured, Gunie was now completely at ease.

As the reefs disappeared from his sight, Gunie also felt the faint, life-threatening bizarre anomalies gradually dissipate.

“The system is reliable.”

Slowly withdrawing his gaze from the colossal object, Gunie thought to himself.

While walking toward where he had stored his shadow, now at ease, Gunie took out the two treasures.

He first took out the “Holy Shadow Magic Stone.”

The touch-magic channel was quickly established, and information about the Holy Shadow Magic Stone entered Gunie’s mind.

A moment later.

“Eh!”

A look of surprise appeared on Gunie’s face.

“Just absorb it directly?”

“And it only takes a few minutes to complete the spatial phase transformation?”

Immediately, Gunie began to think rapidly in his mind.

“I’ve been out for less than an hour in total; it’s still early before the Yasha fishmen launch their attack.”

“Hmm, let’s absorb it first and see the effect.”

“After all, the sea journey back takes over ten minutes.”

“If it doubles my speed, the time to get back might be even shorter than running directly now.”

He walked forward for another minute or two, passing through a shrubby beach area overgrown with grass and coconut trees.

Ahead, a tranquil, natural sandy beach came into Gunie’s view, and the sound of waves could be faintly heard.

He even saw the footprints he had left on the sand earlier.

Before, this place had been fraught with deadly danger.

But now, it was arguably the safest spot in this entire sea area.

Looking around, Gunie sat cross-legged on a dry patch of sand.

He looked at the Holy Shadow Magic Stone in his hand, the size of a fist, seemingly condensed from black mist, with no tangible substance at all.

“I hope your effect is as formidable as the legends say.”

After saying this softly, Gunie calmed his mind and directly established a touch-magic channel to begin communicating and absorbing.