“What did you say?!” Luca’s eyes nearly bulged out when he heard the black skull’s words.
Levin Barnes? Wasn’t this guy already dead over a decade ago?
“No need to be so surprised,” the black skull—now identified as Levin—said, sensing Luca’s shock. “Right now, I might as well be dead. If I were to leave this ship, my consciousness would vanish completely.” Levin gestured at the decaying wooden walls. “This ship saved me once, but it also trapped me in the Underworld, preventing me from returning to the real world.”
“If it weren’t for all the noise you guys made, I probably wouldn’t even have known that such a major change was happening outside.”
It seemed that Levin was already aware of what was going on in the world outside.
Luca suddenly remembered something and asked, “So, you were the one who saved Ellie and the others?”
“Yes,” Levin nodded. “You’ve seen the power of the Sea Lord. That thing is not something you can deal with, so I opened a door to the Underworld and brought you all here.”
“Thank you,” Luca exhaled a deep sigh of relief. He had thought that Ellie and the others had been killed by that terrifying creature. He was grateful that Levin had intervened in time. If not, just thinking about it made a chill run down his spine.
“Are Ellie and the others on this ship? Can you send us back?” Luca asked. The situation outside wasn’t looking good, and this wasn’t the time to waste any more of it.
“They’re not on this ship.” Levin scratched his bald skull, his tone calm. “Since there were too many of you, I could only bring you into the Underworld for now. I’m unable to send you back at the moment.”
Luca was stunned. Wouldn’t it have been better to just let me die out there? At least when the time came, he would’ve been revived.
Sensing the sudden shift in Luca’s mood, Levin cleared his throat. “Well, it’s not completely impossible. The Underworld has nodes that connect to the real world. Once I find Ellie and the others, I can use these nodes to send you back.”
Luca’s thoughts shifted, and he let go of the idea of giving up.
At that moment, he followed Levin out of the cabin. What greeted him was still the same endless gray mist. The sea was also black, almost identical to the Sea of Mist.
However, unlike the Sea of Mist, the fog here was filled with numerous green flames, and the atmosphere was saturated with an eerie sense of death. Just taking a breath, Luca felt his vitality being suppressed.
Another difference, as they sailed across the sea, was the water’s surface. The pitch-black waters were no longer empty. Instead, they were filled with rotting corpses and stark white bones. They floated densely across the sea, their bodies mostly incomplete, constantly struggling in the water, their mouths emitting endless wails. Even those with only half a body left still tried to crawl, using their arms and legs, onto the nearby skeletons.
The stench of decay filled Luca’s nostrils, and combined with the ghastly scene, it gave him the feeling of having stepped into hell.
Strictly speaking, the Underworld was indeed the hell of the Eternal World, located right next to the Abyssal Demon Realm. The Dead Black Sea was the Underworld’s Sea of Sin in the real world, an image of what it truly was. These were the words Levin had shared with him.
“These people all committed unforgivable sins in their lives. Don’t waste sympathy on them,” Levin said, his green flames flickering calmly in his eyes as he gazed at the struggling skeletons and monsters in the sea. “In their past lives, they raped and plundered, killed and burned, extorted and oppressed. There was nothing they wouldn’t do. This sea was formed by the very sins they committed.
“They reveled in the rewards of their crimes while alive, and now they drown in their own sin after death. The law of the jungle is natural law, and so is karma.”
Luca nodded slightly. He turned to Levin and asked, “So how do we find Ellie and the others next? Are we supposed to just fish them out of the Underworld’s vast ocean?”
The Underworld was much larger than the real world. Trying to find two ships in here would be as difficult as him searching for the Celestial Pearl in the Western Sea by chance.
Levin shook his head. “Don’t worry. I’ve marked them. When I brought them into the Underworld, I made sure to choose a spot near the Sea of Sin. It won’t be long before we find them.”
Luca sighed in relief. As long as Sophia and the others were safe, that was all that mattered. After all, compared to him, a player, they didn’t have the ability to resurrect. If they died, they’d be truly gone.
According to Levin’s markings, the positions of Windrunner Ship and Black Thorn weren’t far from them. It would take a few days of sailing.
The Underworld was even more dangerous than the Sea of Mist. Without wasting time, they quickly set course toward the sea where Sophia and the others were located.
Along the way, Luca encountered many strange and bizarre undead creatures. There was a Skeletal Dragon, its entire body engulfed in black flames; islands made of flesh and blood, formed by countless people; a mage tower built from skeletons; and giant beings without heads, their bodies easily a hundred meters tall—likely the extinct titans.
Among these undead creatures were monsters that reached the Superclass and even Transcendent tiers. Luca even saw, on a high platform made of white bones, a woman dressed in a red gown, with long white hair.
She lay silently on the platform, her eyes shut as if in a deep sleep. Yet, the terrifying aura radiating from her made Luca’s hair stand on end. This woman was at least at the peak of the Cataclysm level, and she was only a step away from breaking through to the Divine Realm!
In terms of the number of powerful beings and monsters, the danger of the Underworld was no less than that of the Abyssal Demon Realm. The difference, however, was that it seemed to operate under its own set of rules, unlike the Abyssal Demon Realm, which was chaotic and disorderly.
For example, one could not attack the Ferryman, and ordinary undead creatures had to follow certain laws, or else they would be erased by the system.
Along the way, Luca also learned a bit about the history of Farlenben from Levin. His main goal was to confirm whether the forbidden power that sank Farlenben was indeed the Celestial Pearl.
What Levin said roughly matched what Jell had told him. According to the Barnes family history, it wasn’t the Barnes family who caused Farlenben’s downfall, but rather the king himself.
After being severely wounded by Barnes’ ancestors and rebels, the king used some forbidden power to extend his life, which led to the fall of Farlenben and turned its entire population into monstrous beings, neither human nor undead.
While it sounded plausible, Luca didn’t fully believe it. After all, he knew that history could be fabricated.
For instance, why did the Barnes family rebel? Was it really to save the world? After all these years, the Barnes family knew full well that the Mutated Mermen had deep animosity toward them, yet they still chose to venture into the Sea of Mist. Why risk it?
Levin was clearly hiding something. Many of Luca’s questions could only be answered if he personally visited the Fish Human Race.
Additionally, Luca found the Soulforge Stone aboard the Ship of the Dead, an essential item used to restore Fratis’ memories. This Transcendent-level material had been carelessly tossed into a pile of decaying garbage. If Levin hadn’t pointed it out, Luca might have never found it.
With this, he had obtained two of the three most crucial materials for forging Soulwater. The last one he needed was Soulgrass, which could be found on the coffin lid of a Lich Lord.
The Celephais High School node could lead him to the Mountain of the Dead in the Abyssal Demon Realm, but Luca didn’t yet have the strength to go there and retrieve it. So, for now, he had to set that matter aside and figure out a solution later.
After reaching level 70, he needed to complete his second Class Awakening in order to continue leveling up.
Now that he had some time, Luca returned to the ship’s cabin and prepared to begin his second awakening trial.
Before clicking to start the trial, he suddenly thought of something.
With a flick of his hand, he took out the Fate Dice, ready to roll it once before beginning the trial.
The last trial had left a strong impression on Luca. If it weren’t for the Solar Divine Spear stepping in, he might not have even been able to complete the trial task. So this time, he was determined to prepare fully.
The black twelve-sided dice was casually thrown into the air by Luca.
The twelve random fate signs continued to shift and change, before finally one side came to a steady halt in front of Luca.
Buzz! A simple, sketch-like rune emitted a brilliant purple light, then shot directly toward his forehead.
[Ding! You have used the “Fate Dice,” congratulations! You have obtained the fate “Luck Surpass the Conventional (Divine Level)”!]
[Luck Surpass the Conventional (Fate): Special Status, Precious Divine Level. Your Luck attribute receives a 100x increase, lasting for 12 hours, with no side effects!]
Luca froze for a moment, staring at the notification, almost thinking he had seen it wrong.
When he confirmed he wasn’t mistaken, he immediately took a sharp breath.
Find adventures on empire
A 100x increase in luck?! Wouldn’t that mean his 10 points of luck would instantly be boosted to 1000?!
Trembling, Luca opened the game panel and checked his Luck attribute.
[Luck: ???]
“???” Luca’s face also displayed three question marks.
His original Luck attribute had already surpassed 1000 points, so after a 10x enhancement, it should have been 100,000. Why was it showing as “???” instead?
“Could it be that it’s beyond the calculation range…” Luca vaguely remembered hearing about this in his previous life. When a player’s stats exceeded the calculation limits of Eternal Game, the data would turn into question marks. In simple terms, his Luck attribute had become overpowered.
This situation wouldn’t affect the attribute’s effect; it was just that it couldn’t be calculated.
With that thought, Luca wasn’t worried anymore. He decisively started his second Class Awakening trial.
Come on! Let’s see just how insane this 100x luck boost can be! he thought excitedly.
[Evaluating player’s trial level, please wait…]
[Ding! Player’s trial level evaluation failed. Your trial level cannot be evaluated!]
[Awakening Instance: Abyssal Demon Realm]
[Awakening Difficulty: ???]
[Mission Requirement: Survive for 12 hours!]
[Mission Reward: ???]
…