Chapter 345: Riddle Treasure (2)

The group quickly opened the chest.

[You have opened the Riddle Treasure]

[Acquired: Heart-shaped Coral Block (Quest Item)]

[Acquired: Wax Oil ×50]

[Acquired: Battle Ash·Scatter]

[Acquired: Magic·Water Flow Arrow]

[…]

The Treasure Chest gave some Wax Oil, Skills, and a set of light armor suited for a ranged archer. While the haul was generous, for Prison Players like Li Miao, it was clearly a bit lackluster.

“That’s it?” Shore sounded a little disappointed.

“This is a treasure from the world map. It’s obviously meant for everyone, so for other players, this is actually pretty good.”

Storyteller rolled his eyes.

To be honest, he wasn’t the least bit surprised by this loot.

After all, to put it bluntly, anything from the world map could be obtained by any player, so balance had to be a consideration. A treasure near Candle Island couldn’t possibly contain a Weapon used by a Fire Worshipper. That would be far too game-breaking.

Besides, the treasure wasn’t bad, strictly speaking. It only seemed that way because their Levels and gear were high in comparison.

“I’m going to turn in the quest.”

Storyteller set sail. He didn’t have high hopes for the Sea Star Merchant’s trades, but he was quite interested in any background story the merchant might reveal.

“I’ll go with you.” Li Miao was clearly interested as well and decided to join Storyteller.

As for the others, after discovering this hidden update, they didn’t invest any more energy into it and went off to do their own things.

“Oh, right. Did you see what got updated in the Spirit Candle Shop?” Li Miao asked.

“I did. They just changed the permissions. The shop content you can unlock now depends on your Tier and Level,” Storyteller said. “But the biggest change is that Spirit Candle’s Blessing is now available in the Contribution Store.”

At this, he stroked his chin.

‘No wonder the Candlekeeper told us to save up our contribution points. So this is what he was waiting for…’

“This game is so interconnected, it’s almost no different from real-world logic.”

Storyteller marveled.

“Oh, right, one more thing. They’re selling something new in the dungeons now, called the ‘Wood Spirit Contract’,” Storyteller said, looking at Li Miao. “If you infuse it with Warfire, you can summon a Wood Spirit Merchant, one of the same race as that Lu Tan you met before.”

‘Looks like in the background story, or the dynamic plot, the Candlekeeper learned that Spell.’

As he spoke, he drifted back to the topic of the plot. He thought of something amusing and couldn’t help but laugh.

“But the merchant doesn’t show up every time, and if a player doesn’t have any Spiritual Material to buy anything, they even get chewed out. HAHAHA…”

Li Miao couldn’t help but laugh as well.

But after laughing, he couldn’t help but ponder something.

‘Did I just change the course of Candle Island’s future?’

‘I guess so?’

Unconsciously, Li Miao suddenly felt as if he were shaping the world, a very strange and wonderful feeling.

“What about the Spirit Candle Buildings?” Li Miao asked.

He was treating Storyteller like a living search engine.

“Damn, can’t you go look for yourself? You keep asking me.”

Storyteller was speechless but told him anyway.

“The Sin Furnace has been upgraded to Tier Three. You can now farm Enhancement Stones 1 through 6 in the areas surrounding dungeons anchored by the Sin Furnace. Ordinary Weapons can be enhanced to +6, but the drop rate isn’t high.”

After a pause, he added.

“You should go check out the Candle Spirit Tree. It has a new function called [Enhanced Skills]. You can use it to enhance things like Combat Magic. No one has tested how high a Tier you can raise them to yet…”

Hearing this, Li Miao gave him a strange look.

“You’re probably overestimating me. I don’t have that much Wax Oil to test something like that.”

“Well, I’ve told you about it anyway. Whether you go or not is your business,” Storyteller said with a sly grin.

Li Miao didn’t say anything, but he could feel a phantom ache in his liver.

Spirit Candle wasn’t a pay-to-win game, but it was certainly a life-to-win one.

As they talked, the two of them arrived at the Sea Star Merchant’s location.

It was worth noting that another player was already there, apparently trying to get a quest by persistently pestering the Sea Star Merchant.

“Big bro, your shoulders must be tired. Let me give them a massage…”

“Big bro, want some dried fish…?”

“Big bro, is there anything you need help with…?”

This player was being extremely solicitous, leaving the Sea Star Merchant completely bewildered and at a loss for words.

“This… uh… esteemed Warrior, you don’t have to do this…”

“I don’t need any help right now. After some time, perhaps I will…”

The member of the Sea Star Clan People under the black robe wiped away his cold sweat.

‘These Warriors of Lord Luo Ge’s are so strange.’

‘They seem incredibly fixated on the notes Lord Luo Ge arranged for me to give out.’

‘After I handed out the three notes, this Warrior who arrived a step too late has been sucking up to me constantly, making me feel really uncomfortable.’

‘I’m out of notes, big bro! What are you even after?’

The member of the Sea Star Clan People was truly puzzled.

Seeing this, Li Miao and Storyteller, who had just arrived, looked at each other and could barely keep a straight face.

As players themselves, they naturally knew what this newbie was after.

The Sea Star Merchant was obviously a quest-giving NPC, so of course he had to be buttered up.

However, the notes were gone, and that was that. The member of the Sea Star Clan People couldn’t just magically produce another one. They were from Lord Luo Ge; how could he mess with that?

So, the newbie player could only watch helplessly as Storyteller turned in the quest.

“Er…” Seeing the two of them arrive, the Sea Star Merchant composed himself before reciting his lines: “Ahem. Since you have brought back the item I require, I can now trade with you.”

As he spoke, the Sea Star Merchant brought out a chest from the side.

This made the newbie standing by even more envious and resentful.

He had seen that chest long ago, and when he heard there were no more quests, some bold ideas had even crossed his mind.

However, he was restricted from any acts of Attack in the vicinity of this island.

Storyteller glanced at the items in the shop.

As expected, it sold some Weapons, equipment, Combat Skills, and other items. Nothing was particularly powerful. The only difference was that this gear didn’t exist in the Spirit Candle Shop, and some of it looked quite nice.

Storyteller bought out the entire stock.

Seeing the newbie player watching him with a pitiful look, Storyteller spared an item or two and sold them to him, which finally offered the newbie some consolation.

Immediately after, Storyteller began to ask the Sea Star Merchant about his connection to the Sea Star Race.

The Sea Star Merchant didn’t deny it. He stated directly that this was the Will of the Spirit Candle, which hoped the Candle Spirit Warriors would possess an exploratory spirit.

He also mentioned that he himself was once a member of the Sea Star Race and even said he had some impression of Li Miao.

“Huh? Me?” Li Miao was pleasantly surprised. He hadn’t expected the NPC to offer such a nice little surprise.

‘Holy shit, it’s just like the real world!’

“Yes, you are a respectable Warrior,” the Sea Star Merchant said to Li Miao with a smile.

This made Li Miao involuntarily straighten his back with pride.

Storyteller, however, just nodded thoughtfully.

‘It really is all connected. It seems that, in the background story, the Spirit Candle brought these Sea Star Clan People to Candle Island…’

…

Watching from the shadows, Luo Ge glanced over before looking away.

These riddle treasures were, of course, something he had designed together with Noxia and Burton to fill out the “game” with more content and make it more interesting.

After all, there originally weren’t many treasures to be found around Candle Island, making the area feel rather empty and desolate—not much like a game.

Quite a few players had complained on the forums that the Spirit Candle map was too empty. It was just monsters after monsters, with too little content in the sea.

However, Spirit Candle’s strengths in other areas overshadowed these shortcomings, so the players didn’t have any major complaints.

Now that Luo Ge could freely alter Candle Island, he had taken the opportunity to add a few surprises for the players, which also served to encourage them to explore the sea.

However, since these were rewards that any player could obtain, Luo Ge set them to refresh with a small update every three days, and he handed the design work over to the little Witch, Noxia.

In any case, it was just some simple puzzles and fetch quests, and changing the terrain was also very easy.