"Follow me."
The little crow said, she, as the ship's doctor, often walked in the middle of the team.
And as an attendant, Chen Qi should stay close to her during this process.
"Hmm."
Chen Qi followed the little crow to the bow, then along the rope ladder, and reached the crack on the island.
On this silent island, the crack looked like a giant monster's mouth, silently waiting for everyone to walk into its trap.
As the captain, the Black-eyed Captain held the black knife and charged into the giant mouth without hesitation.
Spurred by the Black-eyed Captain's speech, everyone except Chen Qi and the little crow was filled with excitement and passion.
If the hunter's treasure truly existed, then this crack must hide terrifying dangers...
Chen Qi took a deep breath and reminded himself to stay vigilant.
Even though the Deep Sea Affinity could make him immune to sea beast attacks, there were still many non-sea-beast monsters in the ocean.
"Don't be afraid, nothing will happen..."
The little crow, ahead, cast a glance at the giant crack and said to Chen Qi, then slowly walked down.
Chen Qi also carefully descended along the rugged stone wall.
The surrounding vision grew darker, and the entrance became narrower and narrower, faint sounds whispered by his ears.
This was not a limited-number crack, nor did it have special enlightenment, it was the most ordinary crack... Chen Qi thought.
According to the setting of New Sun, many cracks would provide different information based on the level of inspiration.
Some cracks would limit the number of people and have unique rules.
Generally, cracks without rules were the best places to hunt monsters.
As he went deeper, a hint appeared.
[You have entered the Sea Beast Cave.]
Chen Qi looked up slightly, and a cave appeared before his eyes.
The space inside the cave was exceptionally spacious, the stones on the ceiling flickered with a crystalline blue light, and the inside was filled with a salty sea breeze mixed with the stench of marine creatures.
It seemed as though he could still hear the faint roars of sea beasts.
[Your inspiration is being identified...]
In the crack, if the inspiration was higher, there was a chance to obtain special enlightenment hints, and thus acquire clues to clear the crack.
His initial inspiration was slightly higher, at 35, more than three times that of an ordinary person.
[Identification successful.
Sea Beast Cave:
Crack Deformation: 0% (This crack has been treated, no deformation or expansion into the world possibility)
Nature Form: Null (This cave is already damaged and seems to have no value for exploration)
Introduction: A sea beast cave, inhabited by monsters between the deep sea and the land, this is their monster nest.
Inspiration Enlightenment: In your inspiration, you vaguely see at the far end of this cave, under the scarlet eyes, a cyan box emitting a special aura.]
Just like a game instance description... Chen Qi's eyes lit up, although he had seen similar panels in many games.
When they appeared in reality, it was unavoidable to feel surprised.
Crack Deformation Zero...
In New Sun's setting, the initial deformation probability of cracks was around 10%, and it would decrease with each clearance until it reached zero.
This meant that many powerful individuals had explored this crack on the sea.
Even so, no one had obtained that box despite multiple explorations by predecessors...
The box that appeared in this enlightenment was probably the Deep Sea Hunter's treasure mentioned by the Black-eyed Captain.
Chen Qi thought as he followed the large group forward.
"How do you feel entering the crack for the first time? How is your inspiration? Did you feel any special enlightenment?"
The little crow turned her head and looked at Chen Qi, who was deep in thought.
"Yes... I sensed some enlightenment, and a monster's roar..."
Chen Qi whispered, not hiding anything, it wasn't something that needed to be concealed.
He could clearly hear more and more breaths.
Moreover, these sounds were getting closer and closer to him.
"I can feel it... Your inspiration is quite high."
The little crow was slightly surprised, her new subordinate always managed to give her unexpected surprises,
"High inspiration is a good thing.
If we can go back smoothly this time, I can teach you a meditation technique. This technique can further enhance your perception and even enable you to have a third eye."
The little crow smiled slightly, already thinking about matters after leaving the crack in just a few steps!
Please stop your jinxing behavior!
In such a creepy environment, Chen Qi felt a foreboding listening to the little ship doctor's words.
"Ship Doctor Sister, is there some kind of sound around us..."
Chen Qi whispered, trying to interrupt the little crow's jinxing behavior.
"Don't worry, this is your first time entering a crack, you're lacking experience, this is a 0% deformation crack.
Usually, the entrances of such cracks are safe, and my inspiration tells me..."
Wow!
In an instant, before the little crow finished speaking, a bat with a head-sized body screeched loudly and charged at the two of them from the stone wall!
Danger triggered the combat instinct!
Chen Qi quickly pulled out the Collector and shot the bat!
Bang!
The bronze bullet shot out, the immense penetrating power pierced through the bat, and scarlet blood exploded in the air.
It was just an ordinary monster bat, not a sea beast, and its combat power was not too strong.
Chen Qi watched the smoke rise from the gun barrel and breathed a sigh of relief.
[Killed a small bat, gained 7 Spiritual Points.]
Looking at the hint before him, Chen Qi felt joy in his heart.
In "New Sun's" setting, killing monsters in cracks granted special resources called Spiritual Points.
Essentially, it was like the experience points in typical games.
Consuming Spiritual Points could upgrade the transcendent skills on the panel.
Unfortunately, he currently did not have a Transcendent Occupation Card, nor did he gain special transcendent skills through other means, and Deep Sea Affinity was clearly not a skill that could be upgraded using Spiritual Points.
Thus his Spiritual Points temporarily had no use.
Unlike typical games, the Spiritual Points awarded for killing monsters in cracks were not much, and killing monsters too far above one's own level would not grant any Spiritual Points either.
Of course, there were special circumstances, some cracks with the [Blade Phase] tag would provide large kill bonuses.
More Spiritual Points acquisition relied on the occupation tasks of transcendent occupation cards.
For instance, a Doctor's Apprentice could gain Spiritual Points by treating patients and learning medicine, thereby upgrading their transcendent skills.
However, for the current Chen Qi, 7 points weren't bad.
This gun packs a punch, truly a divine artifact for pioneers... He looked at the Collector in his hand.
"Of course, my marksmanship isn't bad either—"
This was his first time using the gun in actual combat and he managed to act so swiftly and accurately.
At this moment, Chen Qi glanced at the little crow.
"Nicely done, just as I anticipated..."
The little crow smiled slightly, masking the embarrassment from her recent words about there being no danger.
However, she had seen Chen Qi defeat the black bull while also taking yellow needles, so his quick shooting didn't surprise her.
"..."
Chen Qi felt a bit speechless.
The bat threat was not a big deal for these bloodthirsty pirates.
The real terror lay ahead with this cave's master—the Sea Beast.
They continued dispatching bats as they carefully proceeded deeper into the cave.
In less than ten minutes, the bat swarm was driven back, losing their desire to attack.
Going deeper now... Chen Qi held his gun, staying alert.
But as the bat swarm retreated, more strange sounds echoed through the cave.
Crash!
Hiss hiss!
Chen Qi heard these sounds by his ears and couldn't help but look around. In the darkness, he seemed to see shadowy figures.
They were waiting for an opportunity—
The sounds came more frequently and densely—
Chen Qi looked towards the front of the team, they were the main combat force of this expedition.
At the forefront, the Black-eyed Captain frowned, drew his precious black knife, and shouted loudly,
"Follow me, speed up, they are here already..."