Treasure Hunting System： The Ocean Conquerer

These Thunder Elements formed into cloud clusters, their surfaces covered in electric light, and as they moved you could see long trailing tails of lightning.

The dark clouds mainly served to wrap around the core Thunder Element, letting the Thunder Element float, making it faster and less laborious to control.

They also increased the attack’s effective range at a distance, and might even provide some defensive function when coming under attack.

This was the external form Alka had spent the past year specifically adjusting and developing.

Strictly speaking, they could no longer be called pure Thunder Element, but rather Thundercloud Element.

Of course, in essence Thunder Element was still the core; it was just given a more useful outward shape.

It was equivalent to adding a layer of armor with peculiar functions.

After examining how the Thunder Element in front of him had developed, Alka tapped it, feeling the tingling electric numbness traveling up his fingertip.

It seemed there was no way to treat it like a pet.

Even if the Thunder Element itself had no intention of attacking, the Thunder around it would shock anyone who tried to touch it.

Not to mention Alka’s strength had already reached the Seventh Stage, and even he could feel this numbing sensation—so for someone whose body was weaker and at a slightly lower Level, it would basically be an attack.

Ordinary mortals would likely feel the Thunder Element stinging their skin just by approaching.

”Go on, head back.”

Hearing Alka’s words, this Thundercloud drifted up into the dark clouds overhead.

This Thunder Element was about the size of Alka’s head, but it was already the largest in the entire Thundercloud Tribe, occupying the position of leader.

The whole Thundercloud Tribe only had a little over ten Elements in total.

Most were still in a kind of fused, growing embryonic state; to fully mature the entire tribe would require much more time.

Slowly, then. Alka was in no rush.

...

The Sound of Dawn galloped across the sea, a gale jetting out behind the ship, and the whole vessel skimmed over the surface like a speedboat. The bow slashed the water, throwing up twin curtains of spray to either side.

Under the control of the water flow, even though the ship was racing forward, it didn’t give the Sound of Dawn’s passengers any sense of bumpiness; instead, it was remarkably stable.

With the two in tandem, the Sound of Dawn sped across the sea like a racing car.

All it left behind was a long white scar.

”A ship?” At the top of the canopy stood a treehouse woven from vines.

Jason was inside the treehouse, holding a telescope and watching the distance, unable to keep from speaking.

”Raise it up a bit.”

At those words, the branches beneath the treehouse began to grow, and the whole structure stretched upward into the sky.

The tree itself was already eight or nine meters tall, with the crown reaching more than ten meters. As it extended, it rose to a height of twenty to thirty meters.

From inside the treehouse, Jason could now clearly see the distant horizon from this height.

In the crystal-formed telescope he saw a sailing ship bearing down on their course; because it was coming in from the front at an angle, even with the Sound of Dawn’s speed, the two vessels were very likely to collide.

What surprised Jason most was that They could actually run into another ship in such a vast, empty stretch of ocean—it could only be called fate.

As he watched more carefully, Jason began to sense something wrong.

”Pass the word—there’s a ship approaching, and something’s off.”

Clanging alarms rang out across the ship.

In no time, everyone aboard had gathered.

By then, since the two ships were closing on each other and both moving fast, the crew on deck could already see the black dot of the oncoming vessel in the distance.

Soon the dark speck grew closer and clearer.

”Something’s wrong. Prepare for battle.” Jason’s voice came from above Their heads.

At that moment They could also vaguely make out the approaching ship’s appearance, and understand why Jason had said something was off.

The whole hull was a dark red, like dried blood.

The prow was a jagged spike formed from a heap of bones.

Three upright masts carried black sails, and on the black canvas a white emblem was scrawled.

The emblem looked like a child’s graffiti—strangely sinister and warped.

It somewhat resembled a skull, yet not quite.

In any case, the ship now made it abundantly clear to everyone that it was no ordinary merchant vessel.

Drawing nearer, They could see the decorations on its hull more clearly: bones plastered along the sides, and even corpses hanging from the flanks.

Many of the bodies were mutilated, some flayed to expose raw flesh; most had already rotted and swollen.

At this sight, Alka felt any desire to communicate with this ship vanish completely.

”Ready!”

As he spoke, Alka raised his right hand.

”Fire!”

At his command, a series of cannons extended from the ship’s sides—though their forms were entirely sculpted from vines.

What they fired, however, were one Fire Bullet after another: condensed Elemental Cannon shells.

Under the Sound of Dawn’s autonomous control, the bombardment was extremely accurate; the shells arced through the air in an instant and smashed into the enemy ship, igniting it at once.

The bow launched something sharp and shrill.

Then a spear formed from a hurricane of wind pierced forward, slamming through the enemy’s bow and leaving a deep, concave crater.