CHAPTER 498: CHAPTER 249: AFTER 160 DAYS AND NIGHTS_2

"Really? It’s finally here," Alka said happily, sitting across from them.

Many ideas were hard to realize due to a lack of materials. Moreover, the arrival of this final material was crucial for those Puppet Girls.

Jason also nodded, expressing his anticipation.

"The exploration list for today includes Juanlu, Pororo, and Julia."

The individuals whose names were called nodded; they had already been informed yesterday and had prepared accordingly.

"Are we still going to dig today? With such heavy snow, maybe we should postpone it for a day," Jason, who had just entered, remarked while glancing at the snow outside. "In such heavy snow, even if we go digging, efficiency will drop, and there will be certain risks. It might not be worth the effort."

"This snowstorm won’t last long. It already blew for half the night yesterday, and by dawn, it had lessened significantly. It probably won’t last more than another hour or two," Julia said, looking at the weather outside.

As her powers grew stronger, Julia became more sensitive to her surroundings. By the time she reached Nine Spirals, she could even make simple weather predictions, especially for extreme weather.

Hearing this, Jason nodded and took a bite of the fishcake on his plate.

"Oh! This is nice. What was used to make today’s breakfast?" Jason asked in surprise.

"Pororo caught it last night. It was some Sea Beast I’ve never seen before, but it was very strong," Juanlu replied upon hearing Jason’s compliment. "Looks like its meat is pretty good."

Hearing this, Jason looked at Pororo. Pororo’s upper arm was still bandaged, and some lacerations were visible on his body, though they had long since stopped bleeding. The fact that they hadn’t healed yet indicated the injuries had been severe.

"What kind of Sea Monster was it? You look like you were pretty badly hurt last night."

"Just a Sea Beast that had just reached the Third Stage, Ten Spirals," Pororo said with a relaxed expression.

Hearing this, Jason disdainfully curled his lips. He could already sense the smugness in Pororo’s voice.

"Did you reach Nine Spirals yesterday?"

"Uh-huh!" Pororo confirmed.

"Damn," Jason muttered.

Among the crew, those who controlled Treasures had all reached Nine Spirals. With the aid of Magic Gathering Stones and Treasures, their power levels in the Endless Sea surged rapidly.

This was especially true for Alka, who possessed two Treasures. He had reached Nine Spirals early on and was now even progressing towards the Third Stage.

Besides him, there was Simon, who had already reached Seven Spirals and also possessed a Treasure. He might progress to the Third Stage even faster than Alka in the future.

Of Julia, Jason, Juanlu, and Matilda, who didn’t possess Treasures, Matilda had already reached Nine Spirals. Julia would likely reach it in just a few more days. Jason might reach Seven Spirals in a few more days as well, while Juanlu had only recently stabilized at Six Spirals.

Given the current situation, it likely wouldn’t be long before they left this Island, as most of the ruins on it had already been excavated by them. The only exceptions were those with a Difficulty rating equivalent to the Third Stage.

However, Alka had never entertained the thought of exploring ruins with a Difficulty rating at the Third Stage. After all, none of them had reached the Third Stage, and the power gap represented by Spirals at the Third Stage was significant. The Third Stage encompassed powers ranging from 10 to 27 Spirals. Who knew what specific dangers lurked in those Third Stage ruins?

They could probably hold their ground against a Third Stage opponent with only one or two extra Spirals. However, a mid-to-high-level Third Stage opponent could likely defeat them without much effort. Taking such unnecessary risks was pointless.

Alka ate the fishcake in his hand while looking at the map spread on the table. There weren’t many illuminated spots left on it—only eight blue dots and around thirty white dots remained. Among these, only three blue dots were explorable by them, and fewer than ten white dots were left.

Their excavation progress had been severely impacted, mainly due to the arrival of winter. The soil was frozen as hard as iron blocks, drastically reducing their digging speed. Even their enhanced strength hadn’t increased their excavation rate by much.

"I didn’t expect there to be seasonal changes in the Endless Sea," Julia commented while eating her food. She had thought that in such a hellish, chaotic place, there wouldn’t be any seasonal changes.

"If jumping directly from spring to winter counts as a seasonal change, then yes, indeed," Chadite quipped upon hearing Julia’s words.

Indeed, eighty days and nights ago, they had still been experiencing spring, and their powers were generally at Six or Seven Spirals. However, the arrival of one particular night brought with it a ferocious blizzard, and within that single night, spring had turned into winter. This abrupt change made them, who hailed from normal seas, feel extremely unaccustomed to the conditions.

Fortunately, they were aware of some information obtained from the town, which indicated that this was a normal phenomenon. They had entered a long winter, which might last for a very long time, possibly even hundreds of days and nights. Moreover, this winter was apparently confined to this Island and its surrounding waters.

They didn’t really care about such circumstances anymore; they had grown numb to the peculiarities of this place. Even if the sky suddenly tore open a hole in the Endless Sea, they wouldn’t be too surprised.

At this moment, Sit, who had been perched on Matilda’s shoulder, suddenly jumped off.

"What’s wrong?" Matilda asked, turning her head.

Everyone else also looked over curiously.