A Comprehensive Network: An Endless Adventure Begins as a Wanderer

Shara peeked out from behind the ship's wheel, her face pale.

"Is that a sea monster?"

"No," Cheng Yi said, "that was just an appetizer."

Karen, standing to the side, had a furrowed brow.

"The state of that water elemental just now was very strange; its core was extremely unstable."

"It's like there's an external force controlling it, but the two forces don't mesh."

Cheng Yi stood up, sheathed his short sword, walked to the ship's side, and looked at the distant lighthouse.

The fog thickened, and the lighthouse's light flickered in the mist, like someone holding up a lamp that was about to go out in the distance.

"Let's set sail." Shara lit her cigar again and gripped the helm with both hands.

The ship continued forward.

The fog grew thicker and thicker, and visibility gradually decreased to less than ten meters.

Shara took the cigar, damp with mist, from her mouth, stuffed it into her pocket, gripped the steering wheel with both hands, and stared straight ahead, not daring to be distracted.

Then the lighthouse suddenly lit up, as if someone had turned the light on to its maximum power.

A beam of light pierced through the thick fog, shining on the deck at the bow of the ship and casting long shadows on everyone.

The outline of the dock emerged from the fog. The wooden planks were blackened by the seawater, and in some places they were even rotten.

There were no boats on the dock, only a lone mooring post with a broken rope wrapped around it.

The four people disembarked. Shara leaned against the gunwale, changed her cigar, and lit it again.

"I'll be waiting for you here," she said.

Then he took a deep drag and slowly exhaled a smoke ring that was almost invisible in the mist.

"If you don't come back in two hours, I'm retreating."

Cheng Yi nodded and turned to look at the lighthouse.

The tower is very tall, about sixty feet by sight.

The stone wall was slippery and covered with moss and seaweed. Grayish-green moss grew out of the cracks in the wall, like a layer of fine down.

The door, made of cast iron, was half-open. A damp, musty smell wafted from the crack, mixed with the salty tang of seawater and a kind of rotten sweetness, like the smell of dead fish and seaweed that had been left to dry in the sun for days.

He drew his short sword.

"Stay close to me."

As the four people reached the top of the stairs, Karen stopped. He raised the holy emblem and murmured a prayer.

"Detection magic," he said.

"No response. There's no magic on the door, and none in the tower. At least not on the first two floors."

"Is the absence of magic a good thing or a bad thing?" Ignatius asked.

"It's hard to say." Karen tucked the holy emblem back into her robe.

"Then I'll go scout ahead."

Cheng Yi said that under the cover of thick fog, the light was dim, barely qualifying as a dimly lit environment.

Inside the tower, presumably it was pitch black, a natural hunting ground for him. And the darkness inside was enough for him to move freely.

Be careful.

Cheng Yi nodded and disappeared from the stairwell.

Shadow teleportation.

His figure emerged from the shadows inside the tower gate, his feet lightly treading on the damp stone slabs without making a sound.

The tower was pitch black.

A gray and white world unfolded before Cheng Yi's eyes.

The foyer was large, with wood chips and rags scattered all over the floor, and a torn tapestry hanging on the wall with a nautilus pattern on it.

To the left is a spiral staircase that ascends and disappears into the darkness. To the right is a half-open wooden door, behind which lies a larger space.

He didn't rush upstairs; he wanted to figure out the layout of the first floor first.

Cheng Yi pressed himself against the wall and silently passed through the wooden door.

The hall was larger than he had expected. A long table stood in the center, with chairs scattered haphazardly around it.

Where paintings used to hang on the wall, only empty nails and faded marks remain.

Six creatures sat around the table.

Their skin was grayish-green, appearing as if coated with oil in the Night Eyes' vision. Their dorsal fins were high and pointed, extending from the back of their heads all the way to their tailbones. They held harpoons in their hands, the harpoon heads resting on the ground.

[Level 4/Eel Hunter]

The advanced version of the Murloc: the four-swinging eel!

Four of the eels sat on either side of the table, while two stood at either end.

They were talking in hushed tones, their voices muffled and hoarse.

Cheng Yi crouched in the shadows by the door, took a throwing knife from his scabbard, and then put it away.

He needs more information.

He opened his right hand, palm facing up.

A small spider crawled out of his palm.

The touch of crawling.

The spider climbed up the wall to the ceiling, hanging down a thin thread above the eel man's head.

Cheng Yi closed his eyes.

The spider's vision entered his mind.

A gray and white world, devoid of color, yet with clearly defined outlines.

The strongest one sat in the main seat, its harpoon was a size larger than the others, and a seashell was tied to the head of the harpoon.

But the language spoken by the eels was completely foreign to Cheng Yi.

illiterate.jpg

But don't worry! We have an expert in languages!

Cheng Yi focused his mind and silently recited the incantation, then cast the spell again.

Fluent in languages.

He silently chanted the incantation, and magical power surged forth, a cool current enveloping his ears.

The ambiguous syllables in the eel language began to become clear, as if a layer of gauze had been lifted.

"...The door to the lamp room can't be opened," a raspy eel-man said. "That old geezer cast a spell inside; touching the door will burn you."

"Then let's wait," the other said. "Without food and water, he won't last more than a few days."

"We can't wait any longer," the one in the main seat spoke up. Its voice was lower than the other eels, carrying an undeniable sense of oppression.

"Lord Calamity told me that the old fellow is a druid, so he won't starve to death."

"We'll climb in through the window tonight. That old bastard's magic is pretty good, but he's old and slow. We'll rush in and finish him off with one strike."

"What about the water bowl?" one of them asked.

"The water basins are fine. There's enough for humans for now, twice a day. Once we take the lighthouse, we can use that ship to transport the goods out."

Having received enough information, Cheng Yi didn't wait any longer.

He quietly retrieved the spider.

Despite using it many times, the feeling of turning one of my hands into a spider still felt somewhat strange.

Cheng Yi flexed his wrist, activated the Blood Blade, and disappeared from the shadows by the door.

Shadow teleportation.

A figure emerged from the shadows behind the eel-man in the main seat, and a short sword pierced its nape.

The eel-man's body stiffened abruptly, he leaned forward, and his face slammed onto the table, the harpoon slipping from his hand with a clatter.

Then its body began to glow.

Thin, bluish-white arcs of electricity emanated from the gaps in its scales, as if something had exploded inside.

Cheng Yi's pupils suddenly contracted, and he vanished from his spot.

His figure had just appeared ten feet away when a muffled thud came from behind him, like someone slamming their fist on a table.

Blue and white arcs of electricity exploded outwards from the eel-man's corpse, striking the chairs on either side, breaking off their legs and sending splinters flying.

"So it's an electric eel?"

Cheng Yi was dumbfounded.

But the remaining five eel-men had already reacted, and they simultaneously raised their harpoons.

And battle is about to break out.