Exploring Technology in a Wizard World
Chapter 446 - 445: The Treasure on the Island

Chapter 446: Chapter 445: The Treasure on the Island

"Twelve days after the full moon, during the day. Hmm, I... I survived. I must say, perhaps I really am the lucky Defoe, as there was indeed a huge treasure hidden beneath the iron cover. I don’t know who hid it here, but since I discovered it, it now belongs to me.

However, when I really think about it, even though I discovered this treasure... I can’t leave this cursed island, so what use is the treasure to me? I’d rather have some bread and dried meat. Never mind, I don’t want to think about this anymore, my stomach is hungry, I need to find something to eat, hopefully the traps I set yesterday caught some small animals. Best if it’s a rabbit, a fat and big rabbit!"

"Thirteen days after the full moon. Boring because the traps from yesterday didn’t catch anything, I had to eat wild fruits, so besides being bored, I’m also a bit down..."

"Fourteen days after the full moon. I lay in the treasure all day, I don’t know what to do because I am so bored..."

"Fifteen days after the full moon..."

"..."

"A full moon again. Hmm, it’s been two months already, I suddenly discovered yesterday that a few of the boxes in the treasure had some odd things inside, items like scrolls with writings. It would have been nice if they were entertaining stories, but unfortunately not, they are recorded with many things I don’t understand. For example, things like ’Transformation Potion’ or ’Fire Magic Glue,’ maybe these are experiment records left by a wizard? But they are really of no use to me."

"One day after the full moon, bored..."

"Two days after the full moon, bored..."

"Three days after the full moon, really, utterly bored. I actually spent a whole day in the treasure looking at those completely incomprehensible scrolls. I think in addition to being bored, I might also be going mad."

"Four days after the full moon, not only am I bored and mad, but also a bit dim because I read those scrolls again for a day and realized... I really don’t understand."

"Five days after the full moon, don’t understand..."

"Six days after the full moon, still don’t understand..."

"..."

"Twenty-two days after the full moon, I think I understand a little now..."

"Twenty-three days after the full moon, yesterday’s thoughts were clearly illusions, I’ll never be able to understand them in my lifetime, I’m just a fool..."

"..."

"The sixth full moon. Whew, it wasn’t easy, but I managed to understand a very small part of the content on the scrolls, but this is still of no use. I’m not a wizard, after all; understanding it doesn’t mean I can do it."

"One day after the full moon. Speaking of which... actually, I can try it out. Some of the materials mentioned on the scrolls can still be found on this island, and since I’m bored enough, having not spoken to anyone for six months, it’s good to find something to do."

"Five days after the full moon, all materials are ready, I will start testing tomorrow."

"Six days after the full moon, the test failed, unsurprisingly."

"Failed..."

"Failed..."

"The tenth full moon, partially succeeded, I feel I’m starting to understand the content on the scrolls, I’ll try again tomorrow."

"The fourteenth full moon, by the True God above, that rat stood up, this is a creature that I created!"

"The twenty-sixth full moon, had it not been for flipping through the diary before, I would’ve almost forgotten my name, I feel like a dead person. But at least the experiment is making a lot of progress."

"The forty-fourth full moon, caught a monkey, I’ll use it for experiments tomorrow."

"The ninety-third full moon, the experiments are becoming more successful, I seem to have found joy."

"The day after the ninety-third full moon. A ship came ashore, the people on board were shocked at my presence, kindly offering to take me away from here, back to the mainland. Should I leave? Maybe yes, I’ve been here far too long, it’s time to go home. This island was destined to be just my prison. But before I go, I want to hide the treasure well and take enough money, so I am not looked down upon by that miserly father of mine at home!"

"The ninety-fifth full moon. I came back, and I’m in a very bad mood.

The Captain is a good man; he actually took me back to the mainland, and I went home. But... it was only after I returned that I discovered, due to the plague a few years ago, my hometown was abandoned. Nothing else was left for me by my family, except for several tombstones in the cemetery. I don’t know why, but I am not sad about this.

I originally wanted to stay on the mainland, but after staying for a few days, I found it awkward—I’ve stayed on the island too long; I just can’t fit into the world of ordinary people anymore. They are too noisy, yes, just too noisy, and I am tired of them.

I miss the island—my island, I miss the creatures I created there. Luckily, I had another Captain bring me back here.

However, the Captain’s boat is still docked on the shore, they will rest for a night and leave tomorrow. So I must be careful not to let them discover the secrets of the island."

"The day after the ninety-fifth full moon. Damn! They actually deceived me, they’ve been scheming against me all along! Ever since they found out I had lots of gold coins, hiring their ship at a very high price, they suspected there was treasure on this island. They pretended to leave, then secretly explored. Well, they asked for it, coveting my treasure, so they can all just go to hell!"

"Two days after the ninety-fifth full moon. Hmm, they’re all dead, with the help of my experimental creatures, not one is left. I killed so many people and surprisingly felt no disgust, it’s a bit strange. Oh well, it doesn’t matter, I’ll bury their bodies and forget about it by not seeing them."

"Three days after the ninety-fifth full moon. I am really foolish, really foolish, how could I bury the bodies? Such good materials! I need to dig them up and use them, hopefully, they aren’t damaged."

"The one hundred forty-fourth Full Moon. A shipwreck brought new bodies, but too few. I need more bodies."

"The one hundred eighty-sixth Full Moon. The experiments are becoming more successful, but I realize the more I know, the more I don’t. Nevertheless, I believe if I keep studying, I will eventually understand everything. Also, I really need to get some fresh bodies."

"The two hundred fortieth Full Moon. Feels great, a whole ship full of bodies! Although they are still alive right now, they will die soon, and then they’ll be fresh."

"The three hundredth Full Moon. It seems there are always rumors about the Ghost Ship, Undead Island, Death Mage. Hah, a bunch of foolish bodies, I haven’t even forgotten my own name, and you dare call me Death Mage? Fine, from now on, that’s the name I’ll use."

"The three hundred and sixtieth Full Moon. Eternal life! Immortality! Agelessness! I got it, this is the knowledge in the scrolls! I must figure it out, figure it out! I need more and more bodies! Yes, more and more bodies! No one can stop me..."

"..."

"Tap tap tap," Richard finished reading all the Death Mage’s diary scrolls, and then returned the scrolls to their original place and rubbed his temples, digesting the information.

The contents of the scrolls were very detailed at first, increasingly concise towards the end, and sometimes, only a few words represented a whole year. Despite this, it was still possible to figure out how Defoe gradually became the Death Mage.

This resolved the previous confusion about the Death Mage’s peculiar research methods.

Why didn’t the Death Mage research the core knowledge but only explored superficial applications?

Because he learned the core knowledge from elsewhere and even had difficulty understanding it, how could he research it?

It’s like a dropout who, barely self-taught Newton’s three laws of motion, uses them to solve some mechanical physics problems which is already the limit, asking him to research how Newton developed these laws and further refine the derivations of solid mechanics and fluid mechanics is simply impossible.

The Death Mage was just an ordinary person, um, Death Mage Defoe was just an ordinary person who was played by fate, stranded on this island, living in loneliness for decades. If it hadn’t been for discovering the so-called treasure, he might have ended up committing suicide out of loneliness.

In other words, if someone other than Defoe had survived the shipwreck, like David or Luxius, they too had a good chance of becoming the Death Mage if they found the treasure.

In summary, the Death Mage was ordinary, Undead Island was ordinary, even the Ghost Ship was all ordinary, perfectly replaceable—the names, the rumors, most were created by people out of fear.

In the whole event, the only thing that was not ordinary was the treasure hidden on this island; it was the origin of everything.

It was on this island, thus there was an Undead Island.

If it had been in some desolate mountain, there would have been an Undead Mountain. In a valley, it would be Undead Valley. In a hill, it would be Undead Hill...

Everything changed because of the treasure, everything was different because of the treasure.

So, what exactly was the treasure? According to what the Death Mage Defoe wrote in his diary, a scroll containing vast mysterious knowledge, but where exactly was it placed?

Richard’s mind raced as he stood in the Death Mage’s bedroom on the second floor of the Stone Building, looking down.

He believed that the Death Mage did not choose this location for the Stone Building in the middle of the island casually, because the terrain here was not very good, even quite bad.

Did that mean the entrance to the treasure was hidden somewhere in this Stone Building?

The next moment, the Energy Elements wandering inside Richard surged, releasing the spell he had obtained from the Black Spirit King’s Treasure in the cemetery of White Stone City.

Eye of Gaze!

His pupils slightly constricted, all objects in Richard’s view faded bit by bit, became transparent, and only simple lines remained at last.

"Tap tap tap..."

Richard walked down the stairs to the first floor hall of the Stone Building, his eyes locked onto the bottom of the huge Stone Table.

"So it’s here, truly well hidden, if it really was an ordinary person, even knowing it exists wouldn’t allow them to enter," Richard murmured to himself, blinking his eyes back to normal, stopping the Eye of Gaze.

"Huuh—"

Then Richard took a deep breath, releasing new spells.

Spell·Wind Lord!

Spell·Wind Force!

The air surged, Richard felt enveloped completely, he reached out and pushed the huge Stone Table.

"Creeeaaak..."

A grating sound echoed, the Stone Table was pushed more than a meter away, revealing a downward entrance, with a metal cover at the entrance.

Without much hesitation, Richard opened the metal cover and walked in.

...