The Queen of Scrolls never admits defeat

Chapter 553 Shipwreck Treasure
This is a habitat for jellyfish monkeys.

The seabed is covered with glass bottles filled with seawater.

With transparent skin and an eerie glow in its internal organs, the jellyfish ape's arms, which stretched and contracted like tentacles, rummaged through colorful glass bottles.

These glass bottles are all from the collection of jellyfish monkeys. Some were discarded by humans, but most were stolen by them.

Moran once read a book called The Witch's Travels, which mentioned this peculiar habit of jellyfish monkeys.

She was a witch who always came back empty-handed when fishing, and who had lived on the island for several years without ever actually catching a single fish.

For a while, she developed a liking for a type of wine that came in glass bottles. After finishing the wine, she would pile up the empty bottles outside, but they would always disappear without a trace.

She was all alone on the island, and she almost thought there were ghosts there.

Later, they waited patiently and discovered that it was all the work of the jellyfish ape.

As if they could smell the glass, no matter where she hid the empty bottles, as long as it wasn't inside a house protected by a magic circle, the jellyfish apes would sneak ashore under the cover of night and steal her bottles.

Later, the witch became an expert at fishing and fell in love with the activity.

However, they were only catching jellyfish monkeys.

She used empty glass bottles as bait to fish by the sea, catching jellyfish every time, and never missed.

Unfortunately, jellyfish monkeys are not edible; even if you catch them to tease them, you can only release them back into the wild.

The treasure map indicates that the treasure is located in this habitat of jellyfish monkeys.

All the treasures in the shipwreck treasure map will have a Mermaid Tavern mark, which is the mermaid pattern on the signboard, making it easy to identify.

Moran surveyed the seabed but found no trace of the tavern.

If the location on the treasure map is accurate, then there is only one possibility: the treasure is hidden in these glass bottles.

This is a bit of a headache.

With so many bottles, the treasure, whether it's under the bottles or inside them, is not easy to find.

Let's try using precognition first!
Moran channeled his magic, and a dark green glass bottle bearing the logo of the Mermaid Tavern appeared in his mind.

"Could the treasure be this glass bottle?" Moran suddenly had a bad feeling.

But since she's already here, she can't give up without looking for her.

Moran remained hidden. She swam slightly towards the jellyfish ape, but then cast a large-scale mental illusion spell, a peak-level mage spell.

It shrouded all the jellyfish apes in an illusion, making them believe that a glass bottle mountain had appeared in the distant trench.

No jellyfish ape could resist the temptation, and they all swam into that trench.

In the dark trench, a socially anxious coral polyp, secretly performing a robotic dance, immediately hardens into an ordinary coral upon seeing the excitedly charging jellyfish ape: "You can't see me~ You can't see me~"

The jellyfish apes are at most mid-level magical beasts. These jellyfish apes in front of her only have the advantage in numbers, and they can't escape her mental illusion at all.

Moran safely infiltrated the jellyfish ape's glass bottle "treasure trove".

The dark green glass bottles here are relatively rare and quite eye-catching. Moreover, the glass bottle she saw with her precognitive abilities was long and slender, with a very unique shape.

The obvious features made the search easier for her.

Even so, it took her an hour to finally find the dark green glass bottle buried at the very bottom of the glass bottle mountain.

The bottle's appearance, and even the Mermaid Tavern sign on it, were exactly the same as what she had seen in her precognitive spell. Moran was certain that it was just an ordinary glass bottle, possessing no magical properties whatsoever.

She shook the bottle; it was full of seawater, and she couldn't tell if there was anything inside.

This glass bottle also has a stopper, which is also made of glass and the same color as the bottle. I guess it wasn't thrown away by the jellyfish ape because they are both made of glass.

The bottle stopper is engraved with a circle of small characters in the common language of Valencia.

"Your courage has been taken by me. Please redeem it with this bottle!"

Moran: "..."

This feels even worse. Could it be like the treasure chest filled with seawater that Rose and the others found—a complete joke?

She peered into the bottle, and thanks to her dark vision and the jellyfish ape's enthusiasm for cleaning the glass, the water inside was clear, and she could see what was at the bottom of the bottle.

It looks like a key!
Thankfully! It's not just the so-called "essence of the sea".

She withdrew her mental magic and returned to the sea with the bottle.

Once she was on her flying broomstick and in the air, she carefully poured out the seawater from the bottle.

A key covered in patina fell into her palm.

"What is this?"

There are no signs of alchemical treatment, and the materials are not particularly precious. By any measure, it cannot be called a treasure!

However, Moran sensed a trace of death energy on the key, wondering if it had anything special about it.

Fortunately, the Mermaid Tavern still offers after-sales service for the shipwreck treasure map.

She returned to Moon Harbor with the glass bottle and the key.

As the sun set and the Mermaid Tavern rose from the seabed, she landed on the largest starlight giant seashell.

"Moran!" Aquinas's eyes lit up when she saw her, and she took out her communication card: "Quick, quick, add me as a friend! I forgot last time because I was busy."

Moran nodded. Having a friend was indeed convenient; at least after digging up the treasure, he could ask Aquinas online what exactly it was.

After adding each other as friends, Moran took out the glass bottle and the key inside: "Aquina, is there anything special about the key in here? I seem to sense a bit of death power on it! But there are no traces of alchemical treatment on it, which is a bit strange."

Aquinas took the glass bottle and looked at it closely: "It looks familiar!"

The glass bottle spun around and saw its own tavern's logo: "Huh? Our bottle? No, it's so dark, you can't even see the beautiful liquid inside. I would never use a bottle like this."

She even sniffed the bottle opening with great seriousness: "This bottle isn't anything special, just an ordinary bottle, but the wine that used to contain it was a bit unusual, probably magic wine... It smells familiar! Where have I drunk this kind of wine before..."

Moran looked at her muttering to herself, her face full of exasperation, and said, "This is the treasure found in the treasure map of the sunken ship! You haven't forgotten, have you?"

How many treasure maps did she make, and how many random "treasures" did she put in them, to be so unfamiliar with the things she handled!
"Huh?" Aquinas was taken aback: "Treasure?"

She examined the bottle more closely, and this time she saw the small writing around the stopper: "I remember now! This is the treasure I put here a hundred years ago!"

"Is it a real treasure or a fake treasure?"

Moran has given up all hope; she is only driven by curiosity to get to the bottom of things.

Aquinas is so unreliable!