The Miraculous Treasure Hunting System

Chapter 162. Finally Achieve One Spiral

"The only downside is that my soul strength isn’t enough to control the doll for very long, and it can’t speak."

A look of regret crossed Lucilia’s face.

She had only been inside the doll for less than an hour, an hour that felt far too short, passing in the blink of an eye.

For the first time, she felt time fly by too quickly.

Moreover, this doll had been used for a long time and wouldn’t last much longer before breaking down.

"It’s alright, don’t worry," Ed comforted her, looking at the booklet in his hand. "It contains the method for making this kind of doll and some research insights. I’ll study it and learn. Maybe I can make an even better one for you in the future."

Of course, he has no mood to make this anytime soon, at least not before he can find a girlfriend on the ship who can take Lucilia’s place in his time of need.

"Really?" Lucilia’s emerald eyes seemed to sparkle.

Ed nodded affirmatively. "Of course. These materials aren’t extinct and can still be bought. It just needs time to study." A lot of time, he added the last part silently in his mind.

Lucilia nodded vigorously. "I will help you too. If there’s anything I can do, be sure to tell me."

"Of course, there are quite a few things I need your help with."

Especially toward modifying the doll’s body parts. There’s no way he is letting Lucilia have a doll with flat chest and buttocks.

You see, Lucilia’s knowledge could be described as vast. Ed had never specifically asked Lucilia’s age before her death, but she was an elf, which alone hinted at her longevity. She had absorbed knowledge from her family’s library since childhood.

In Lucilia’s words, in the Demon Region, apart from sleeping, if she was bored she would constantly recall knowledge from the books she had read to consolidate it and pass the time.

This ensured that the knowledge in Lucilia’s mind was firmly imprinted on her soul.

Much of it was knowledge that, let alone Ed, perhaps no one in the entire world still knew. You could say she was truly worthy of being Ed’s second treasure chest.

After all, she had lived in ancient times, and her family was extraordinarily powerful. The knowledge treasured by such a long-lived lineage was certainly not useless information, things most humans could never even touch.

Ed didn’t know the specifics of what it covered, but now, some of his meditation methods, magic spells, identification knowledge, and languages all came from Lucilia’s teachings.

There were even long-lost spells and ones that had never been recorded.

After a while, the excitement subsided, and Lucilia’s expression showed obvious fatigue.

"I’m a little sleepy. I’m going to rest in the Magic Mirror for a while." With that, she vanished into the mirror.

Watching Lucilia disappear, Ed looked at the booklet in his hand.

The method of making this doll was to fuse some peculiar materials together and inscribe two spells to activate the effect:

[Minerale Merge ] and [Soul Link]

Ed had seen the [Minerale Merge ] rune in books and had also learned about it from Bobby. Gami now knew this spell as well.

Its main effect was to activate the unique properties of certain magical materials, allowing them to function better. It was a spell that blacksmiths and engravers had to know.

[Soul Link] was a spell Ed had never seen before, not in any books. It was likely unique to a particular individual or faction.

The booklet contained methods for learning both spells.

Using various soul-related materials, one could create a doll, then engrave [Soul Link] to allow a soul to control it.

From the writing, it was clear the maker was dissatisfied with the finished product. He wrote of his hopes for research and improvement, and where to begin the next step.

However, it stopped there. It was unclear whether the researcher had died or if the book was incomplete.

It doesn’t matter, they’re all from hundreds of years ago. Even if the researcher hadn’t died back then, they’d be ashes by now.

Looks like I have another mission now. I need to find Gami and learn some alchemy techniques. I don’t need much, just enough to properly create a good doll, one whose body parts I can shape, and with increased softness in certain areas.

This doll was called a [Soul-Holding Doll], a rather lame but straightforward name.

He placed the book and the doll into his inventory, lay down on the bed, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

...

As they began their return voyage, they entered the most tedious, yet unavoidable, phase of their journey: sailing through the pitch-black sea.

Ed hurriedly carried Gami from the cabin and quickly took him to the infirmary next to the captain’s quarters. He watched as Vanessa treated Gami.

Just moments before, Ed had been in the cabin learning forging techniques with Gami and researching and improving the [Soul Doll]. They had been working together like this for some time, finding something to do during the boring hours at sea. Then, Gami heard a murmuring sound, and given his already weak constitution, Ed carried him to the infirmary.

"We’ve been in the Dark Realm for too long; everyone has been affected to varying degrees," Jason said, arriving beside Ed.

He had heard the murmuring sound a second time yesterday, but fortunately, Vanessa was nearby and quickly treated him. This also meant they couldn’t stay in the Dark Realm any longer and had to get out as soon as possible.

Ed nodded and said, "Fortunately, we’re already on our return journey. We’ll be out soon."

If it weren’t for Lucilia’s ability to enter his soul space and help him resist the darkness’s erosion, coupled with his already powerful soul, he would have been the first to be mentally defeated. After all, he was very attractive to darkness, which seemed to have taken extra notice of him.

"We’re lucky. By normal standards, given the time we spent in the Dark Realm, we should have heard more than three whispers on average," Vanessa said while healing him.

"Really? Then we’re quite lucky," Jason said, unable to contain his relief.

Idiot. It’s not because you’re lucky, but because you have a scapegoat next to you who has taken all the attention of the darkness. You bastard should give me extra money for this, Ed cursed angrily in his heart, but sadly, those things couldn’t be said openly.

In Lucilia’s words, the stronger the soul, the more it attracts these dark elements that want to invade it; he was a prime example. This caused the surrounding dark elements to prioritize Ed over others. Therefore, the chances of others being attacked were naturally very low.

If I were in some kind of wizard-related novel, this could be very beneficial to my growth, but here... Sigh, it’s nothing more than trouble. Ed shook his head, sighing helplessly.

"Ed, once you break through to the second spiral, you won’t have to fear the mental attacks from the darkness here anymore."

Hearing Lucilia’s voice, Ed didn’t comment. He waved to the others and left the infirmary, heading toward his room, not caring about this. He hadn’t even reached the first spiral; only God knew when he would reach the second level. This was too far ahead to think about.

Back in his room, he asked, "Why do you say that? Didn’t Andre just suffer his first whispering attack a few days ago?"

"There’s a spell called [Mental Shield] that strengthens mental defense. According to written records, although you’ll still be vulnerable to darkness after learning it, you won’t suffer much damage."

Hearing this, Ed understood. Lucilia knew this special spell, which she obviously wanted to teach him. However, he asked somewhat strangely, "Why does it have to be the second spiral?"

After all, he had never heard of any spell requiring a certain level of strength to learn. This seemed to be a special rule for all spells in this world—as long as you had the capability, you could learn any spell.

"While there’s no requirement for strength to learn spells, sometimes you need sufficient magical energy to unleash their full effect. With your current strength, learning this spell will only provide temporary mental protection—barely a few seconds—and will suck away all your magic power in a snap. But once you become a Double Spiral Toucher, this spell will become permanent, providing constant mental protection."

Hearing this, Ed understood. At the end of the day, it was all about having enough energy to run the spell, not that he wasn’t qualified enough to use it.

He sat cross-legged on the bed. The runes appeared in his mind and then entered his body. Magic power began to circulate rapidly.

As the magic power circulated rapidly, the magic circuits seemed to be subjected to excessive vibration. The runes glowed slightly, and all the magic power seemed to have a support structure supporting the high-speed circulation.

As he meditated, large beads of sweat began to fall from Ed’s head, quickly soaking his clothes. This was one of the simple, acceptable problems that meditation brought; compared to the other benefits, this drawback was insignificant.

The magic power circulation formed a clear circular circuit within Ed’s body, seemingly both physical and imprinted on his soul. The formation of the circular circuit caused this magical circuit to begin its own spiraling operation, automatically absorbing the surrounding magical energy. No longer requiring Ed’s control, the magical energy in the air began to slowly gather around Ed and flow into the circuit along its rotation.

Ed opened his eyes, wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead, and took a deep breath.

"You’ve achieved a spiral?" Lucilia in the mirror seemed to notice Ed’s change and poked her head out to ask.

"I achieved a spiral?" Ed looked at himself with a face full of disbelief.

He looked at the head protruding from his chest and awkwardly touched his head. The posture was somewhat peculiar and deformed, but it didn’t matter; no one could see it anyway.

After understanding and realizing that he had indeed become a spiral toucher, he nodded, a smile forming at the corner of his face.

Lucilia crawled out and sat down beside him, beginning to think, calculating in her mind.

"It took you two months to achieve a spiral, which is significantly faster than average. Not bad. It seems your strong soul has given you a certain advantage."

Generally, using meditation, achieving a spiral takes two to five months, with an average of about three and a half months. Ed belonged to the group of gifted individuals, which Lucilia believed stemmed from his super-strong soul—significantly stronger than that of ordinary people. Although his talent was average, because he had a strong soul, he could meditate much longer and speed up his cultivation.

"Now that you have reached the first spiral, your magical power will increase, and the speed of magical power recovery will greatly accelerate. Even if you don’t meditate, your strength will begin to slowly increase over time."

The so-called first spiral meant that the magical circuits within your body had formed a circle, achieving a "circuit." This circuit could then operate on its own.

Besides what Lucilia mentioned, it could also enhance the power of some of Ed’s spells. Furthermore, with a circuit, magic became easier to control, increasingly effortless.

Ed opened his palm, and a swirling ball of magic appeared within. A palm-sized mirror materialized. Looking at the mirror in his hand, as his power reached a new level, Ed gained a new understanding of the spell [Mirror].

"Have you gained a new understanding of this spell you know?" Lucilia asked curiously from beside him.

Ed nodded, then turned curiously to Lucilia and asked, "Why do you think that?"

"Spells learned from treasures like these usually allow you to gradually use their greater power as your strength increases. However, there’s a degree of randomness involved; it depends on whether the spell you learned is the core ability of that [treasure]."

Hearing this, Ed’s face lit up with curiosity. He’d never heard of this before. "Tell me more."