The Waterlogged Bronze Treasure Chest

Aboard the "New World Fleet," Hope.

Captain Shawn Campbell spent a considerable amount of resources and food, along with a rare relic, to exchange for the pirate ship blueprint.

"Boss, why not just meet the guy and steal it directly?" A burly, scar-faced, bald man asked.

"Steal! Steal! Steal! All you ever think about is stealing!" Shawn Campbell snapped, tapping the man's bald head. "If I ever hear you mention stealing again, I'll throw you overboard to feed the fish!"

"You're right, boss, I won't say it again!" The man quickly responded.

"Then why the hell are you still talking about it?! Someone, throw him into the sea to feed the fish!"

No one needed to force the issue; the bald man, Zhao Tie, the captain of the "Iron Head Ship," took it upon himself to jump into the water.

"Alright, when you're sober, get back to your Iron Head Ship!" Shawn Campbell cursed in frustration.

In truth, he himself had considered meeting Lucas Hall.

However, Lucas was very cautious. He wouldn't even add anyone as a friend, so a face-to-face meeting was out of the question.

Shawn glanced at the pirate ship blueprint in his hand.

"How should I use this?" He pondered.

He had no intention of using it for himself, as the pirate ship captain's image didn't align with the leadership persona he wanted to project. On the contrary, a more common ship would make him seem more approachable.

What he aimed to create was an empire on the sea.

The first step in doing so was establishing a virtuous, just leader image to help recruit followers in the early stages.

One day later, aboard the "Nightmare Star."

Lucas was fishing.

[You caught a long-legged sardine.]

[You caught a long-legged sardine.]

[You caught some rotten wood.]

[You caught an eyeball fruit.]

[You caught....]

[....]

Lucas tossed his fishing rod aside in frustration, lying on the deck next to a pile of long-legged sardines and eyeball fruits.

Why were all the fish junk?

He began questioning his life choices, but after a few moments, he shook it off.

After fishing for so long, Lucas had figured it out.

Fishing in this area mostly resulted in long-legged sardines, with a low chance of catching eyeball fruits or cystic pufferfish, and an extremely low chance of catching red-lipped eels.

"Maybe I should try the deep water area?" Lucas thought, taking action immediately. He hooked up a long-legged sardine, removed the bobber, and started fishing for deep-sea fish.

He had previously caught a hammerhead devil shark, and if he caught one again, he'd make a nice profit.

Those were all gacha items!

Now that he had upgraded his ship, along with Seraphina's archery skills, dealing with these fish was no problem at all.

While waiting for a bite, he browsed the world chat to see if he could buy fire-starting tools. These tools were in high demand at the moment. He had seen them pop up twice but had been unable to grab them.

Meanwhile, several organizations were recruiting new members.

For example, the "Sakura Ship" had formed an organization called the "New Humans," recruiting mostly people from Sakura Country.

Then there was "New Rome," "Eden," and other organizations, which seemed to be mostly foreign.

Lucas had checked the coordinates posted by Eden, but they were far from him.

It seemed that people from different regions were born far apart, and they wouldn't meet for a long time.

Unable to grab the fire-starting tools, Lucas posted a buy request:

"Paying a high price for fire-starting tools, also buying down jackets or other warm clothing."

Not long after, he received private messages, but they were all offering clothing.

"Down jackets for 150 cloth per piece, four pieces for a 5% discount!"

He didn't bother with these prices.

More private messages followed.

After checking them, he found that the cheapest down jackets were 120 cloth per piece, and four pieces would cost 480 cloth.

It would be cheaper if he bought big padded jackets, but Lucas was willing to pay for good quality.

Since it was still early, Lucas decided to wait a few days to check the prices again.

Suddenly, his fishing reel spun quickly—something had taken the bait!

Lucas quickly tightened the fishing line and yanked the rod.

It wasn't a massive creature, so the struggle wasn't too intense.

In less than eight minutes, Lucas hauled the fish aboard.

It was a headless octopus, or more precisely, a human-headed octopus. The head was a mimic, and the tentacles were underneath.

"Sir, could I trouble you for a few minutes of your time..." it began, but before it could finish, Lucas stomped on it, killing it instantly.

"Damn it!" Lucas swore, then re-baited the hook with a long-legged sardine and resumed fishing.

Fishing in the deep water was much slower.

By the end of the day, Lucas had caught three items from the deep water area:

A human-headed octopus, a red-lipped eel, and a bronze treasure chest.

Normally, catching a bronze treasure chest would be considered a big haul, worth celebrating.

But Lucas was on guard.

He had caught dead creatures before, like the "Peasant Woman's Three Punches."

Dead creatures don't struggle or pull the line, so when he saw the chest struggling and pulling on the line with some force, he became suspicious.

He thought he had hooked a big fish and struggled for nearly half an hour before finally reeling it in.

The chest was about half a meter wide, covered in thick copper rust with signs of seawater corrosion, and one corner was even growing red coral.

He checked the chest's information:

[Name: Waterlogged Bronze Treasure Chest]

[Type: Treasure Chest]

[Description: It may contain treasures... but it could also....]

It looked a lot like the waterlogged rotten wood chest he had opened before, which had released a human-headed octopus that had startled Lucas.

So, this waterlogged bronze chest could also contain a monster.

Lucas was cautious and didn't open it immediately.

He noticed that the fishing line was connected to the chest, meaning the bait had been eaten by it!

He took a step back, holding his flintlock in his left hand and using a wooden spear in his right to pry open the chest.

"It's so tight!" He muttered.

The spear tip didn't open it, and it broke.

Lucas quickly tied the "Sea Serpent's Tooth" to the spear and continued trying to pry it open, stabbing it through the gap.

Suddenly, he felt something give way, and the chest let out a strange sound, opening wide.

A jet of black water shot out from the chest, but Lucas had already anticipated this and sidestepped to avoid it.

"What the hell is this, a treasure chest monster?" He swore.

[Shocked, Sanity -5]

Inside the chest was soft, white flesh. He seemed to have struck something earlier, causing the chest to start struggling wildly.

After shooting the water jet, the chest didn't close again, seemingly dying.

To make sure it wasn't faking death, Lucas stabbed it a few more times. Clear liquid oozed from the wounds.

Finally, the chest monster stopped moving.

That water jet had been its only attack, and it was corrosive, leaving white smoke as it burned on the ground.

[Name: Chest Mussel]

[Type: Food]

[Description: A species of mollusk that likes to inhabit treasure chests as a shell. It can spit out corrosive acid and prey on small fish. It collects shiny objects from the sea floor, and inside it, you can find conch coins and other shiny treasures. Non-toxic and edible after removing the internal organs.]

"It's just a mussel..." Lucas said, using the Sea Serpent's Tooth to slice open the mussel meat and began searching inside.

The mussel meat was thin, but underneath it were all the shiny objects it had collected, including a pearl the size of a fist.

[You obtained Conch Coins*600]

[You obtained Healing Pearl]

[You obtained Crystal*50]

[You obtained Stone*20]