Witch, I'm really not an ancient god of the deep sea!

Chapter 242 The White Tower Hunter
A blank card... Chen Qi's eyes lit up.

Blank cards are often special drops from rifts in the realms of illusion, shadow, and book, and can serve as models for skill cards, class cards, one-time cards, and backpack cards.

Blank cards are essential for card makers to produce cards.

Ordinary card-making apprentices have the ability to mass-produce blank cards, but cards with elemental properties require specific monster drops.

The blank card emanating black energy has two possibilities: first, it is a blank card with the property of shadow; second, it is a card with the property of illusion.

Of course, there is another possibility...

Chen Qi stared wide-eyed.

Under his powerful inspiration, he could sense the incredibly suppressed spiritual power of the image and the incredibly calm spiritual power mixed together and constantly emanating.

This blank card possesses both genders.

Although it only adds one gender aspect, in terms of rarity, the rarity of a blank Phantom aspect card is fifty times that of a single-gender aspect skill card.

The Phantom Blank Card possesses powerful spatial attributes. When combined with the Creeping Shadow produced by the Witch Sea, a powerful territory card weapon, the Creeping Shadow Tentacle Forest, can be created with just an ordinary Book Hammer Card Maker Apprentice.

In the future, if one delves deeper into photography, one can also develop image interpretation techniques and touch the waves.

Third-tier Book Aspect, Hammer Aspect, and Mind Aspect transcendents have already begun to employ mass troop tactics, with Hammer Aspects using small steam-powered mechanical soldiers, Mind Aspects using hordes of beasts, and Book Aspect transcendents using territorial tactics.

Tentacle Wave is a very strong territorial card skill. With just one card, you can resist the attack of Shadow Beast monsters under the Laughing Moon.

The Phantom Image Blank Card is a special drop after Laughing Moon. It has a 1% drop rate when you kill a Book or Phantom Image monster with Tier 3 strength.

"It actually appeared here! Currently, many people probably don't know the value of this blank card..." Chen Qi, resting his chin on his hand, asked excitedly:
"I need that blank card. What level of mission do I need to complete?"

Captain Sea Serpent squinted and thought for a moment:

"A blank image card. The Shadow Tide is coming soon. Let me think, since you're a newcomer, you can go and maintain the Tentacle Grass, or help our Sea God Pirate Crew build fortifications to resist the Shadow Tide."

Captain Sea Serpent smirked, pointing to another reward:
"Why don't you try sea mud instead? It's one of our specialties, a mud-like creature that can attach itself to your entire body. Bathing with sea mud regularly will not only give you an unprecedented feeling of comfort, but it will also give you a special fragrance and make you less likely to be attacked by sea monsters."

As he spoke, Captain Sea Serpent hugged himself, his face flushed, and he showed a blissful expression!

"???"

"You can say whatever you want, but don't do such strange things..." Chen Qi glanced at the Sea Serpent Captain.

Besides the sea goddess on her back, this person's clothes also feature various pet patterns such as water sprites, tentacle plants, sea snakes, and baby seahorses.

This is a lover of marine-themed pets.

He was completely unaware of the special nature of the blank card.

Hmm, not even a hint of interest... Chen Qi thought for a moment and said:
"Let's take on the maintenance of the tentacle plants. I'll start with two."

Tentacle Grass is a special sea creature that is extremely irritable. In most people's eyes, it is an extremely dangerous job, as one could easily be bound hand and foot by its tentacles.

This is a tough job that requires real skill.

However, for Chen Qi, this was not as difficult as following the little crow to collect medicinal herbs from the sea beast.

No! He doesn't even need to do that.

He has six water sprites; one water sprite can maintain a tentacle grass territory.

He alone is enough to maintain six tentacles of grass!
No, considering the water sprite's characteristic that it only needs to rest for four hours out of twenty-four.

If he could squeeze the Water Sprites' rest time down to two hours, his Water Sprites alone could take over all the Tentacle Grass areas near Poseidon Island!

Chen Qi said without hesitation:
"I'll take two!"

"Two pieces, that will take you at least twelve hours, and it's hard work that nobody wants to do..."

This is physically demanding work... Captain Sea Serpent looked at him with admiration:

"Alright! Brother, considering you have marine mammal disease and have worked so hard, I'll give you the reward ahead of time."

"???"

Chen Qi stared wide-eyed.

Captain Sea Serpent puffed out his chest, said something to the person in charge, and then took out a blank card and handed it to Chen Qi:

"This card is useless to us anyway, take it! Work hard! From now on, if you follow us, you'll be family, and we guarantee you'll advance to the third tier!"

Captain Sea Serpent smiled inwardly.

His spiritual perception allowed him to clearly sense Chen Qi's spiritual energy field.

At the second tier, Chen Qi's spiritual energy field is already quite powerful.

Under normal circumstances, a blank photo card can sell for at most 100,000 coins!
Using 100,000 shell coins to make a big promise to a decent second-tier superhuman and increase his loyalty is a very worthwhile thing.

More importantly, repairing a single tentacle plant is actually quite difficult, requiring 100,000 coins.

In total, he earned 100,000 shell coins for free.

You have obtained the Phantom Image Blank Card.

This was given to him... Chen Qi was incredulous and accepted the card.

The Sea God Pirates were unaware of the immense value of the items in their shop.

The Sea God Pirate Crew is indeed a huge makeshift operation… Chen Qi accepted the card and went straight to the point:
"By the way, Captain Sea Serpent, to be honest, I want to become a third-tier Lantern Keeper. Is there any way to do that?"

"Lampkeeper... let me think... hmm?"

Captain Sea Serpent suddenly widened his eyes.

The hunter before me actually wants to become a lamplighter!

Every lightkeeper is an important part of the island's security force.

Especially after the Laughing Moon, the Shadow Tide struck, and dangerous whispers could be heard from time to time in the darkness.

The status of the lamplighters was elevated to an extreme degree, and their power determined the safety of Poseidon Island at night!

You could even say that the lamplighter is the gateway to the island!

This position is even higher in status than his pirate captain position!
Captain Sea Serpent's grin vanished:

"You're not a spy sent by another pirate group, are you?"

Without the watchful eyes of the lamplighters, their meticulously arranged tentacled grass array, black mud trap, and sea vortex trap could be dismantled by hostile forces at night.

Handing over the position of lamplighter to an outsider is like handing over the key to your house to an outsider!

Ultimately, Chen Qi was just a newcomer with an unknown background!

Chen Qi said sincerely:
"How could that be? I am an extraordinary being of the Law of the Lamp. What I want is not the position of Lampkeeper, but the Lampkeeper's job card. To be honest, I have been stuck at the second level for too long and urgently need a path to advancement."

"The path to promotion..."

Captain Sea Serpent pondered for a long time and said:

"Hunter from afar, after Laughing Moon, the value of a Tier 3 Lamp Phase class card has exceeded your imagination!"
Unless you have connections, you can only rely on yourself to achieve it, and the only way I can think of is to defeat the madman—the Shadow of the Lantern, but the chances of that are extremely slim, and your strength is insufficient to do so…”

In the current environment, without the support of a third-tier transcendent being, a second-tier transcendent being simply unable to obtain a third-tier professional card… Captain Sea Serpent added:

"Of course, there is another option: you can officially join the Sea God Pirate Crew and work for them for three months. After three months, depending on your performance, perhaps the Lord will grant you a Lantern Keeper's professional card."

Chen Qi asked:

"A madman? A lantern-wielding shadow?"

Without a doubt, this lantern-bearing figure is the target he has been longing for! A mad lantern-keeper!
When this person was mentioned, Captain Sea Serpent frowned:
"He was originally the lighthouse keeper of our Stone Lighthouse, but twenty days ago, after he prophesied the imminent arrival of the Laughing Moon, he went mad. He abandoned his faith in the Goddess of the Sea and turned to the God of Death with the Lantern."

"Before he left, he swore that after Xiaoyue, he would kill everyone on Seagod Island. And just yesterday, he and the Shadow Beast hunted down a merchant ship in the dead of night, causing us to lose 50 million shells, 30 crew members, and five second-tier superhumans like you..."

"Furthermore, he swore that once the Shadow Tide descends, he will make Seagod Island experience the fear of the Shadow Tide!" As he said this, the Sea Serpent Captain's pupils contracted, revealing a serpentine and intimidating look, trying to dissuade Chen Qi from his idea.

The BOSS within the Shadow Tide... Chen Qi pondered.

Shadow Tide is a unique natural disaster that occurs after Laughing Moon.

Simply put, it's because the Shadow Beasts, who are afraid of light, gathered together after being unable to find food and launched a terrifying all-out attack!

These shadow beast tides were enormous in scale.

Their attacks are often directed at densely populated and brightly lit areas, with islands in the ocean becoming the core targets of the Shadow Beast Tide.

A powerful horde of shadow beasts is capable of destroying a city; it is an extremely terrifying natural disaster.

The Shadow Tide on Poseidon Island, due to its combination with a C-level Shadow Rift, is the largest Shadow Beast Tide in the month following Laughing Moon!
The Shadow Tide that combines with the Crack is essentially a special type of Crack!

"A massive film craze..."

He frowned as he opened his eyes in the morning.

Captain Sea Serpent crossed his arms and said:
"Yes, a massive Shadow Tide. Otherwise, why do you think our Sea God Pirate Crew would recruit so many mercenaries? Undoubtedly, that guy will appear during the Shadow Tide, if you're lucky enough..."

"No, give up! Brother, you're just a second-tier transcendent; you can't possibly outmaneuver the hundred-plus third-tier hunters we've hired!"

"Stealing monsters..."

Chen Qi closed his eyes.

A crazed lamplighter, with his current strength, defeating his opponent would not be a problem.

The key point is that, in the Shadow Tide, the Lantern Keeper, who is the BOSS, is very likely to be killed by other hunters.

At that point, this issue will become a problem of competing for kills!

Is there any way...? Chen Qi thought for a moment.

It's very simple. Just kill the boss when he appears in front of the Shadow Tide.

Chen Qi said quietly:

“Captain Sea Serpent, you seem to be worried about Shadow Tide. I would like to request a mission to investigate the origin of Shadow Tide.”

Upon hearing this, the hunters resting nearby and the pirates of the Sea God Pirate Crew all cast surprised glances at him.

"what?"

Captain Sea Serpent looked on incredulously.

Infiltrating the origin of the Shadow Tide to conduct reconnaissance is an extremely dangerous yet important mission, much like a lowly soldier infiltrating the enemy's headquarters.

However, this task is also extremely important, as it is crucial to detect the scale and attack route of the Shadow Tide before it arrives.

Therefore, the difficulty will be greatly reduced when facing the tide of shadows.

Assigning dangerous and arduous tasks to inexperienced newcomers is Captain Sea Serpent's style, but at this moment, he couldn't help but ask:

"Why? Are you crazy?"

“I am a Light-type Transcendent, possessing the ability to deal with Shadow Beasts, and I myself also need a large amount of Creeping Shadow material.”

Chen Qi said expressionlessly:
"If I want to become a true luminary, I must have the courage to ignore difficulties and delve into the darkness."

As he spoke, Chen Qi added, feigning seriousness:
"And I think that if Poseidon Island becomes my home in the future, then I must also have the courage to protect my home."

Home… Captain Sea Serpent didn’t know how to control his expression for a moment.

He simply saw Chen Qi as a sucker with no connections to be exploited, intending to entrust him with dangerous and difficult tasks to squeeze every last drop of value out of him.

However, he never expected that before he even started brainwashing, Chen Qi would already regard Poseidon Island as his home!
And they are willing to venture deep into the origin of the Shadow Tide to investigate enemy activities for the sake of this family!
"He's such a good man. I misunderstood him..." Captain Sea Serpent thought with deep emotion.

The surrounding hunters couldn't help but show expressions of admiration and whisper among themselves.

"A second-tier superhuman dares to do such dangerous work."

"Who exactly is he? A defector from the Belgrade Meteorological Bureau?"

"He seems to be a chef, a newcomer..."

"A second-tier newbie dares to enter the Shadow Beast Tide? Aren't you afraid of dying? The origin of the Shadow Beast Tide has at least 100,000 Shadow Beasts! Maybe even a million!"

"A newbie, huh? Has he been brainwashed by the Sea God Pirates? That leader is really a menace."

"Keep your voice down."

The crowd shook their heads, but most of the hunters also wore expressions of support.

The more information they have about the Shadow Beast Tide, the safer they are!
Captain Sea Serpent stood in awe and placed his hands on Chen Qi's shoulders:

"Brother, what's your name?"

Chen Qi said:

"start."

Captain Sea Serpent's tone was full of gratitude:

"Qi, brother! You've got guts! I'll give you the origin of the Shadow Beast Tide right away. To be honest, according to our weather tower, the Shadow Tide will launch a full-scale attack on our Seagod Island within three days!"

Only five people participated in the reconnaissance!

Your intelligence could save thousands of our lives!

"Hmm, what reward...?"

Chen Qi asked.

Captain Sea Serpent's tone became agitated:
"A reward of three million shells! Brother, in addition, I'll give you the forbidden knowledge of our Sea God Pirate Crew!"

Three million shell coins, not bad... Chen Qi was secretly pleased; he didn't have much money right now.

Captain Sea Serpent added:
"By the way, my brother, if you really finish this, I'll give you the sea mud I use for bathing every day!"

Is this a pet that can be given away...? Chen Qi asked:

"Need not."

"Then I'll give you the sea mud that our Sea God Cult's holy maiden uses for bathing..."

"Hmm... that's not necessary..."

Do you guys have some kind of obsession with sea mud? Chen Qi was speechless.

Without hesitation, Captain Sea Serpent handed Chen Qi the nautical chart marked with the place of origin.

There's a little danger here. I wonder if Fen has left yet... Chenqi took the map and planned the itinerary.

Just then, a slightly teasing female voice interrupted his thoughts:

“Little brother, if you can really provide information about the Shadow Tide, our Tower of Books is willing to make cards for you for free.”

That sound… Chen Qi looked toward the source of the sound.

The woman speaking sat on a high stool, swirling her wine glass and looking at him with a smile.

She had silver hair, long white eyebrows, and a straight nose. She wore a common, simple white hunter's uniform, but she looked exceptionally noble and elegant.

Beside her sat five hunters in identical white uniforms, their faces cold.

White Tower Federation, Hunters of the Tower of Books.

(End of this chapter)