Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1110 - 223 Lake of Termination

Chapter 1110: Chapter 223 Lake of Termination

On the clear lake surface, a large wooden raft parted the waves, gliding smoothly at high speed. The raft was large enough to carry the weight of seven people along with all their gear. Theoretically, a raft of this design, although capable of carrying a substantial load, tends to be quite cumbersome on the water, making it difficult to maneuver. Yet, the raft in question was special; it moved and turned swiftly on the lake, much like a nimble small boat.

In fact, this was because the raft’s construction was unique. According to Pannis, it was built using the shipbuilding techniques of the land-dwellers from the Sea Kingdom of Casa, allowing them to easily traverse among the numerous islands within the Sea Kingdom. The top half of the raft was not much different from ordinary rafts—several gray-blue trees, which were relatively light and ideal materials for making rafts and boats, were felled. Cut trunks of these trees into segments every five meters, each was fashioned into cylindrical shapes laid in parallel. The raft spanned nearly eight meters in length, and every one meter, a metal cord was threaded through the center of the cross-section, securing both ends to form a raft eight meters long and five meters wide. The unique aspect was the alignment of the wooden materials, which were placed perpendicular to the direction of movement, in contrast to other rafts where materials were aligned to facilitate travel, giving it an odd appearance.

However, whether the orientation was vertical or horizontal didn’t matter much because the most critical part was the bottom half of the raft. While everyone collaborated to build the raft, Pannis alone fell a scented badger tree, which typically exceeded one meter in diameter and boasted very heavy wood. Even with Pannis’s strength, transporting three eight-meter sections of the scented badger tree required considerable effort.

Thus, after everyone had spent two hours panting and securing the raft, they turned around to find that Pannis had carved out three eight-meter long, pointed-bottomed small boats with his one-handed sword, well, just the bottom halves. Upon securing these three hollow, pointed-bottomed halves beneath the raft on the left, center, and right, a large wooden raft in the style of the Sea Kingdom of Casa was complete. Although this raft looked like a typical one, actually, the upper wooden deck barely touched the water surface; the only parts that resisted the water were the three pointed-bottom boats. Consequently, whether advancing or turning, everything could be flexibly controlled by Pannis.

"It may look simple to operate this raft, but it requires high skill. It’s not that easy to steer it in the desired direction, and it can easily veer off course," Pannis explained while standing at the stern of the raft, holding a trunk as thick as his wrist. With just a light push in the water, the raft shot forward a great distance. Facing the oncoming wind, Pannis said, "I was very curious about their ferries during my time in the Sea Kingdom, so I specifically learned this skill of propelling boats. However, my technique is still far behind. If a person from the Sea Kingdom were to propel the boat, the speed could increase by at least a third, and there wouldn’t be any worry about colliding with the Twisted Souls on the lake surface. Those land-based ferry operators can control the huge raft as flexibly as their own fingers."

"I think it’s already very fast." All the girls sat on the raft, even the scorpion-tailed lion Dillie was sprawled at the bow, but even with all their gear, under the support of the three small boats, the raft didn’t touch the water surface. Catherine, rubbing her sore wrists, said, "If it were faster, I’d worry we wouldn’t have enough time to clearly see what’s at the bottom of the lake."

Not just Catherine, but each girl felt exhausted. Building such a large raft within two hours was a strenuous task even for a group of Legendary professionals. However, despite their fatigue, Catherine still took on the task of observing the lake water, as did Freya and the scorpion-tailed lion Dillie.

Someone had to watch what was beneath the surface, because the lake was not calm. Within this Forbidden Land of Living Souls, although the lake lacked any living creatures, it housed numerous Twisted Souls. To these entities, the lake water was no obstacle; they floated in it just as they did in the air, undulating like corpses in the water.

Theoretically, as long as these Twisted Souls didn’t protrude above the lake surface, they posed no threat to the passing expedition team. However, they were not static; they constantly moved up, down, and sideways. It was possible that a Twisted Soul could suddenly emerge from underneath and collide head-on with the raft just passing by; therefore, the three observers kept a close watch on the lake surface, fearing something might slip their attention.

"Actually, the chance of a Twisted Soul suddenly popping up and hitting one of us is really small," Pannis said while propelling the boat, "Although there are many Twisted Souls, the lake is also exceedingly large, which means they are sparse in each location, even fewer could emerge and hit us."

"And you dare jinx us, damn Kyle," Dillie growled discontentedly. "If we really do collide, I’ll throw you overboard."

"And who will propel the boat if you throw me out?" Pannis retorted, rolling his eyes, "Actually, without these annoying Twisted Souls, this lake would feel really comfortable."

Indeed, after enduring the stifling heat of the Forest of Death, suddenly coming to a vast lake, fully enjoying the cool breeze and fresh air, letting the sunlight fall on them, dispelled the persistent dampness clinging to their bodies. Looking around, their eyes met nothing but the rugged light play on the water; no longer were their views obstructed by trunks and tree crowns, but an unbounded open water surface instead. For people who had hustled through the extremely dense Forest of Death for more than half a month, this feeling was almost irresistible. Especially the clear water of the lake made one want to jump in to cleanse their sticky bodies, but unfortunately, the presence of the Twisted Souls made this nothing more than an inaccessible wish.

"Actually, I find it very strange." Lina stared at the lake, curiously asking, "Pannis, you see, there are no creatures in the lake, right? No, I should say no animals. Logically, in such waters, because no animals eat the aquatic plants, it should be full of aquatic vegetation; it shouldn’t be so clear as it is now. Now in the lake water, there are not only no aquatic weeds, but even the commonly seen duckweed is absent, which obviously isn’t normal."

"Someone else had the same doubt before." Pannis suddenly lay down on the raft, dodging a low-flying Twisted Soul, then said, "Vivian should know."

"Yes, indeed, probably more than four hundred years ago, when Mr. Zeus was still alive, there was a human who was almost as powerful as Mr. Zeus, who also explored the Lake of Termination." Vivian crawled to the edge of the raft, scooped up a handful of lake water, and sniffed it, explaining, "He must have had the same question as you, Lina, so he brought back a can of lake water, hoping scholars could explain the secret behind the sparse water in the Lake of Termination."

"What happened then? What happened?" Lina’s eyes began to sparkle, asking eagerly, "They must have found an answer, right?"

"Yes, there was indeed a result," Vivian nodded and said, "The scholars believe that the sample he brought back contains a large amount of Earthfire Stone components, possibly, many, many years ago, there was an Earthfire eruption here. The dissolved Earthfire Stone in the lake water accounts for 7.5 percent, the acidic Earthfire Stone content is as high as 28 percent, and the metal content even reached..."

"Stop, stop, stop." Lina, feeling a headache, raised her hand, stopping Vivian’s increasingly excited explanation: "Tell me something I can understand; what you’re saying now, aside from making me more confused, is of no other use."

"Well, just think of this lake water as very special," the mage girl interrupted by Lina suddenly lost interest, her head, which had been lifted in excitement, dropped down, and she said weakly, "This water is very unsuitable for the growth of plants, the vast majority of plants cannot survive in it, but there are exceptions."

"Exceptions? Such as?" Lina pressed on, "I didn’t see any plants."

"No, you couldn’t have missed them, unless you’re not only a fool but also blind." Vivian ignored the priest girl’s angry gaze, pointing towards the back of the direction they were headed, "Those reeds over there."

"Ah, I actually forgot." Lina, annoyed, slapped her bald head, saying, "Those certainly count as plants too."

"Not just them, if you look down at the bottom of the lake, you can see that occasionally some moss grows on the rocks there; those are also plants." Vivian beckoned, and Lina slowly crawled to the edge of the raft, and the two girls together were not as heavy as a fully equipped Catherine, so they had no worries about shift in the center of balance. The girls peered out, and Vivian pointed to the bottom of the lake, saying, "Look, there, that pile of blue, and over there, that pile of purple, no, not the one you’re pointing to, you’re pointing to a Twisted Soul, it’s quite far from there, yes, just that one, it seems only these few types can be found around here, oh, and that black one over there, wait, that’s not right, Hawkeye Spell, that’s definitely not a plant, Pannis, can you stop the boat for a moment?"

Vivian suddenly stood up from the raft, thankful her height was quite short, no matter what, she didn’t have to worry about a Twisted Soul floating over her head. The mage girl pointed under the surface of the lake to Pannis, saying, "Take a look, I’m afraid I saw it wrong, that seems to be a..."

The mage girl’s sudden excitement startled everyone; Pannis dipped his wooden pole into the water a few times, bringing the raft to a halt at a safe spot, walked over, and looked in the direction the girl was pointing for a moment, thoughtfully saying, "You indeed didn’t see it wrong, that’s definitely not a plant, it looks like it might be a... backpack?"