This Text Adventure Game is definitely poisonous
Chapter 286 - 221: The Lost City of Dawn_1

Chapter 286: Chapter 221: The Lost City of Dawn_1

[You have allowed the beaver’s request to board the ship.]

[The beaver walked onto the deck, still dragging the small suitcase in his hand, and began to explain his intentions to you.]

[The Beaver Clan are innate seafarers, skilled at mapping the seas around the world. They are also devout believers in the God of Runes, collecting various magic scrolls and spell scrolls, drawing enlightenment from the magical runes within.]

[So, the Beaver Clan is both a mapmaker and scroll collector, willingly trading their maps with humans in exchange for various rune scrolls, considering these to be great works of art.]

[Seeing your ship, the beaver thought that a captain with a large ship like yours would likely need nautical maps, so it specifically chased after you. If you have any idle scrolls, it would be very happy to trade with you.]

[Do you agree to trade with it?]

"Emmm ..."

Looking at the game’s text prompts, Mu You’s face was strange.

The Beaver Clan, migrating and traveling on the sea all year round, was known for their knack for drawing sea maps. That made sense.

But a species of animal with a penchant for collecting human scrolls, and not for practical uses, but as collectibles...

That was very...beaver-like!

Mu You chose to agree.

He might lack other things, but he certainly had scrolls!

The ’Unceasing Trick’ and ’Wooden Clone’ scroll he got from a meeting before had not been sold yet. These were a mid-tier and high-tier spell scroll, both of considerable worth.

He had previously hesitated whether to continue listing them on Dragon Soars software for points. Posting them too frequently ran the risk of exposure, so it would be better to find another way to sell them.

But now, a self-proclaimed scroll collector, a raccoon, had come forward, offering to trade nautical maps, something vital for sailing...

Mu You decided to first look at the opponent’s nautical maps.

[You express your desire to first look at the other party’s goods.]

[The beaver happily agreed and opened its small, neat suitcase.]

[The suitcase was exquisitely glass-packaged in six scroll rolls of sea maps.]

[The latest version of the Lan Ai’er Empire’s Underground River Map: A map of the empire’s underground river was finally produced, made with the painstaking efforts of countless beaver explorers over the generations. This map is more accurate than any similar one in the world and reveals a large number of secret channels and strange places not found on other sea maps. Value: High-level Spell Scroll*1, or High-level Magic Scroll*3.]

[Distribution Map of the Nax Underwater Prison: A topographic distribution map drawn up by the Beaver Clan, who risked their lives sneaking into the legendary ancient prison. Made at the expense of a great number of clan lives. Value: High-level Spell Scroll*1.]

[Guaro River Map...]

[A fragment of a mysterious map...]

[The latest version of the Cook Islands Sea Map...]

[Basi Sea Area Map...]

Out of the six scrolls, all were sea maps. The most intriguing one to Mu You was undoubtedly the first one, the Empire’s Underground River Map.

He currently had an Underground River Map, albeit a rough one based on Vivian’s memory.

Vivian didn’t have an in-depth study of places like the underground river, so the map was not very accurate. Moreover, Vivian’s memory only went back a hundred years. Over such a long time, even ordinary river maps should have been updated several times over.

This map was quite useful for Mu You, not just for now. With this map, he could establish an exclusive shipping route under the empire anytime in the future.

Without further ado, Mu You chose to buy, but before the purchase, he firmly held the pocket watch.

[You give a ’Wooden Clone’ scroll to the beaver.]

[You obtained the ’Underground River Map of the Lan Ai’er Empire’.]

[Once the map is in hand, you immediately open it and take a look. The river map is filled with a dense array of annotations, even more detailed than you imagined, proving to be a map worth its weight.]

Mu You estimated the time, and when it was about to reach five seconds, he pressed the pocket watch.

[You utilised a brief two to three seconds to quickly memorize a small part of the map, and then reversed time, in a bid to get a free lunch.]

[Unfortunately, after the flow of time, you found that you couldn’t remember any part of the map that you had just memorized.]

"Oh?" Mu You was stunned. What was happening? The free lunch failed?

He didn’t give up and repeated the steps from just now to reverse time a few times, but the result remained the same, with each prompt saying ’empty mind’.

Now he sort of understood. These sea charts seemed to have some kind of measure on them that prevented memorisation.

"[In the turn of time, you didn’t rush to buy the sea maps, instead, you asked about the unique characteristics of the materials used in these maps.]"

"[The beavers told you that they had encountered some wizards with clairvoyant and precognitive abilities in the past at the sea map trading center, which led to large-scale zero-cost reproductions of their painstaking work, turning them into profit-making tools. Therefore, to ensure that their intellectual property is not stolen, the Beaver Tribe uses special anti-theft measures for future sea maps. Any map they produce cannot be captured by imaging devices. Additionally, those who attempt to duplicate a map will have their memories erased, and the duplicated map will automatically disappear.]"

"Erase memories automatically? Erase duplicates automatically?"

Mu You was surprised. This Beaver Tribe was quite interesting. They said they couldn’t perform magic, yet they were able to come up with such marvelous anti-theft measures. The effect was almost comparable to Lu Yao’s invisibility ability.

Once he confirmed that he couldn’t get anything more for free, Mu You stopped attempting to leverage the deal and directly swapped for this underground waterway map.

With this, only one intermediate scroll was left. Mu You browsed through the remaining sea maps.

However, the other sea maps were a bit too far a reach for him. Even if he got them, he wouldn’t be able to reach them in a short period, so there was no real point in swapping them.

Just as Mu You was thinking of ending the trade, a message popped up in the game.

"[The Beaver saw the other Unceasing Trick Scroll in your hand and since you couldn’t make up your mind, recommended another item from the chest—a mysterious map fragment (part two).]"

"[The map was not drawn by the Beaver Tribe, but a fragment of a map it picked up during a voyage. It’s only one-ninth of an entire map, and the map is shrouded in a mysterious mist, making the content inside indistinguishable.]"

"[According to the analysis of the elders in the tribe, this map seems to be specifically made for a fool. Only a fool can see through the dark mist and perceive its content.]"

"[Since they can’t see the content, the Beaver Tribe cannot estimate its value, so they sell it temporarily at the price of an intermediate level scroll.]"

"[The reason why the beaver recommends this map to you is because it recognizes your identity as a fool and believes that this map is the most suitable item for you.]"

"A map specifically for a fool?"

Mu You looked a bit weird, thought for a moment, decided to exchange it first, and used the Omniscient Crystal to check out the description.

"[Map Fragment (part two) of the Ancient City of Dawn: a dwelling place of one of Fool’s Ancestors, the lost ancient city, a map fragment of the ruins of the City of Dawn. Collecting at least three map fragments will reveal the map content, which is visible to the Fools only.]"

What? It’s a dwelling place of Fool’s Ancestor?

No wonder, it’s only visible to Fools!

The confidentiality measures applied to this map seem to be much more clever than the Beaver Tribe’s anti-theft technique, not only allowing it to be seen by specific races but also requiring at least three pieces of the map to reveal the content.

This unique thing, whether it’s useful or not, definitely needs to be exchanged, for just an intermediate scroll. If it falls into the hands of other players and you wanted to get it back, the price would be far from this!

"[You exchanged the map fragment with an Unceasing Scroll with the beaver and asked if they had similar map fragments.]"

"[Unfortunately, each of the Beaver Clan has its own territory to oversee. At least within the boundaries of the Lan Ai’er Empire, it hasn’t come across any similar fragments.]"

"So there aren’t any after all..."

Mu You quietly lamented, but this was quite natural. If these fragments could be easily obtained, then he would have had to question their authenticity.

"[You asked the beaver to keep an eye out for similar map fragments in the future, and then you concluded the trade.]"

"[The beaver expressed its gratitude for your business and gave you a special whistle as a farewell gift. If you need to trade for more spell scrolls in the future, just blow the whistle and one of its clansmen will arrive within the day.]"

"[You obtained a ’Beaver Whistle’*1.]"

...

Watching the beaver jump off the Ghost Ship and sail away in a small boat on the screen,

Mu You only then looked carefully at the two sea maps he just obtained.

Both are square maps, but significantly different in size. The underground waterways map is as big as a tablecloth, while the map fragment is only as big as an A3 sheet of paper.

When compared, the fragment really looks like one-ninth of a full map.

Indeed, a layer of gray fog envelops the map fragment. Mu You tried all the means available to him, including unveiling, dispelling, Omniscient Crystal, Pumpkin Lantern, etc., but none could penetrate. It seems you really need at least three fragments to reveal its content.

Having stashed the map fragment, Mu You then spread the river map over the table and began to observe it carefully.

This river map was indeed incredibly detailed—from the underground rocks and ores to the wells casually dug by residents of various cities, all were depicted clearly. The dense network of waterways and all kinds of messy annotations made Mu You’s head spin at first glance.

Mu You patiently observed and quickly found his own location and the location of the Imperial Capital. The combination of routes linking the two was as numerous and intricate as capillaries.

The Ghost Ship is currently on a relatively short navigation route. Mu You didn’t rush to change routes and continued to observe the surrounding area when he quickly noticed a spot.

Stanlo Freshwater Lake.

A large lake near the Imperial Capital. This place is where Green Frog mentioned in a previous letter that he was trapped, so Mu You paid special attention to it. As a result, he immediately discovered a problem as soon as he saw it.