“Then how did they upgrade their shelters?”
The Sun was curious.
If they never left their homes, they could forget about gathering resources in the early stages.
Under such circumstances, how did they survive those difficult initial days?
“By trading food with others. Someone in their district could trade across regions. That was the case before The Fool found the Empress; after that, they mostly traded with the Supreme Council.”
Oho, cross-regional trading.
Looking at it that way, wasn't that person Shang Chuan's rival?
However, now that the regional barriers had vanished, that person's advantage would be significantly diminished.
“Alright, is everyone finished eating?”
After resting for a while to replenish their energy and buffs, the group tidied up their trash and stood up, ready to get to work.
“But the fire is still raging. How do we get in?”
Looking at the unextinguished flames before them, the High Priestess asked, her small face flushed from the heat.
“Leave it to me. As a chef, fire control is a basic skill.”
With a laugh, Gu Xiaobei raised her hand and brought out her torch. Suddenly, the burning flames gathered toward the torch like fire snakes responding to a whistle.
Eventually, the roaring fire within the ship graveyard—which had been so intense that one could feel the heat from a distance—vanished without a trace.
All that remained were the charred hulls and rising black smoke, silent witnesses to the massive fire that had just occurred.
“Nice!”
The Sun clapped enthusiastically for Gu Xiaobei.
“Even though I know where we are, I can't help but comment: this is so damn magical.”
The High Priestess shook her head as she looked at the scene.
A chef controlling fire... that was indeed a basic skill.
“Once we're inside, let's not set fires randomly, okay?”
The eight of them walked slowly across the scorched ships as the Hierophant spoke.
“Why?”
“Because we're inside now. If it catches fire, we'll be char-grilled along with everything else.”
“Haha, isn't Gu Xiaobei here? She can just control the fire.”
“Wouldn't that reduce our damage output?”
Lan Qingyou noticed a minor issue.
“Yes. I can only control the fire for one minute, and it has a ten-minute cooldown,” Gu Xiaobei answered with a nod.
“Ten minutes should be enough, as long as Death doesn't go around fanning the flames.”
“Oh right, we have Death. Can't he just use wind to control the fire and keep it from burning toward us?”
“You guys make it sound so easy. That level of wind element control is very taxing.”
“It's fine. We'll take turns. As long as we aren't surrounded by fire, it's not a big problem. Worst case, we'll have The Tower throw some Frost Potions every now and then to freeze the surroundings.”
“Perfect. The Sun has filled in the last piece of the puzzle. That's how we'll fight.”
Lan Qingyou didn't complain about being assigned a task.
Frost Potions were simple enough; throwing them and forgetting about them wouldn't take much effort.
After all, for an alchemist, “all battles are prepared long before they even begin—by Albert.”
And so, as agreed, Gu Xiaobei set the fires, Li Huai fanned the flames, and then they worked with Lan Qingyou to control the blaze.
With their previous experience and subsequent discussion, their coordination was much smoother this time. About two and a half hours later, they finished off the second wave of skeletons and ghosts.
“I feel like this wave was a bit different,” the High Priestess murmured during their break.
Lan Qingyou gave her a look. “Isn't that obvious? That batch was C+ rank; their health and mana were about 20% higher than the first wave.”
Gu Xiaobei, the gamer, added her own insight: “The first mobs in a dungeon are always the weakest. That's a universal truth no matter where you go.”
“That's not right. Didn't you say earlier that this is reality?”
At that moment, the Wheel of Fortune spoke a very philosophical sentence.
“No matter the rules of the world, weakness is the original sin.”
The group's laughter paused for a moment, then they all burst into laughter again.
“Haha, that's true.”
“Being bad at something isn't scary, and liking to play isn't scary. It's being bad and still insisting on playing that's scary.”
“It's been months since the transmigration. Those kinds of people should have all died out by now.”
“Biodiversity is vast. Who can guarantee they're all gone?” the High Priestess joked.
To everyone's surprise, Gu Xiaobei followed up with something unexpected.
“At least in District 666, a group of fools who were once enslaved by the demons Justice mentioned are still alive.”
“I've heard of that. It's someone named Sherlock, right?” The Sun looked like she had just realized something.
Gu Xiaobei asked, “The word has spread that far?”
“Yeah. I heard he ran off to some other district and gathered a bunch of people, claiming he's going to make a comeback. He was even shouting on the world channel earlier. Didn't you see it?”
“Haha, I haven't looked at the world channel in ages. And that guy was driven out of our district by Boss Lan after she blasted him with a bunch of bombs!”
As the one who knew the situation best, Gu Xiaobei laughed wildly while recounting Lan Qingyou's grand achievement.
“So he was driven away by The Tower? Then his talk of seeking revenge must be directed at The Tower.”
“He didn't even mention the word 'Witch'?”
Lan Qingyou found what The Sun said a bit strange.
What did she mean by 'his talk of seeking revenge must be directed at The Tower'?
Did revenge need to be so vague?
“No. He's probably afraid you'll hunt him down. After all, there are no regional barriers now. Or maybe he's afraid of being seen by other witches. Who knows?”
“Hmph, he really is just vermin.”
Lan Qingyou snorted coldly.
People like that were like parasites; without help from others, they were even worse than vermin.
They chatted for a while, and once they were rested, they followed the previous steps: Gu Xiaobei retracted the flames, and they continued deeper into the graveyard.
Before they had even finished crossing the scorched area, they saw a large platform ahead made from two ship bows joined together.
It was about two hundred meters long and twenty meters high.
Of course, that wasn't the important part.
The important part was that it actually had stairs—wooden stairs that they could walk up.
“It looks just like an altar,” the Wheel of Fortune remarked.
An altar? It really did have that kind of feeling.
The others nodded silently in agreement.
The High Priestess asked, “Tower, is this the innermost part of the dungeon you mentioned earlier?”
Lan Qingyou replied, “I'm not sure. I can only see the description, and you know descriptions are usually just a general idea.”
Gu Xiaobei said, “Then what are we waiting for? Let's head up first.”
“Wait a moment. Let me scout it out first.”
Since they couldn't see what was up there from below, Lan Qingyou stopped Gu Xiaobei, preventing her from being reckless again.
“I also think scouting first is a good idea.”
Agreeing with Lan Qingyou's caution, Li Huai began preparing to use his wind magic to listen to the wind, but the Wheel of Fortune stopped him as well.
Rate on N.U.
