Chapter 657-Not Princess but Queen
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
The imperial palace seemed extremely cold. Apart from a few guards at crucial locations, there was no one else.
When they passed one of the palaces, Ouyang Shuo could not help but ask, "Kalia, are you the princess?"
Kalia stopped; she turned around and said,"I was."
"Was?" Ouyang Shuo did not understand.
"Half a year ago, my sick father passed away, so I took over the position." Kalia answered emotionlessly.
"...."
So Kalia was not a princess but the queen of Atlantis.
"My condolences!" Ouyang Shuo was apologetic.
Kalia smiled, "My father went really peacefully; it could be said to be a form of release!"
Ouyang Shuo finally understood everything; she had the burden of the entire race on her shoulders. No wonder would possess such a demeanor despite her young age.
The two proceeded on in silence; soon, they entered a massive hall in the deep parts of the imperial palace. Who knows what button she pressed as the hall suddenly descended, and they entered a cave.
The cave was humongous; one could not see the ends of it, and the roof was around 20 meters high. The entire cave was extremely dark and humid; only the middle portion had a bright golden glow.
A golden lake sat at the center of the cave; its golden liquid seemed like it was about to run out. Above the lake floated a dust sized golden crystal, its shape the same as the purple crystal hung on her neck.
Like the purple crystal, the golden crystal was dim with no light; it seemed like it was about to fall into the water at any moment. The residual light shone on the water, golden and shiny.
Around the golden crystal were wooden shields, and each shield had a different face. They were like guards, loyally guarding this golden crystal.
Ouyang Shuo roughly estimated that the shields numbered at around 12.
"That is the magnetic ohlite; it is also the source of Atlantis’ energy. Ten thousand years ago, when the calamity stuck us, this magnetic ohlite’s energy barrier protected this small piece of land and buried us alone with the ruins." Kalia explained, "This is the lifeline of Atlantis."
"Then what about the one around your neck?" Ouyang Shuo asked.
"It is too." Kalia nodded, "The magnetic ohlite can absorb light and turn it into energy. From low to high, it can be split into white, green, blue, purple, and gold; there are five levels. The lower grade magnetic ohlites are born from the higher-grade ones."
"From the looks of it, the golden magnetic ohlite seems to be facing a situation?" Ouyang Shuo moved the conversational topic to the quest.
At the current moment, the voyage squadron was fighting for their lives. Every moment he wasted, they would face a bit more danger.
"That's right. The barrier it formed used up a lot of energy. After sustaining the barrier for so long, no matter how strong the golden ohlite is, it can't hold on anymore."
"Is there anything I can do?" Ouyang Shuo asked.
"Yes." Kalia nodded.
At this moment, a system notification sounded out in his ear.
"System Notification: Congratulations player Qiyue Wuyi for officially activating S Grade storyline quest, Lost City of Atlantis. Background: 10 thousand years ago, a titanic tsunami and earthquake destroyed Atlantis and sent it to the bottom of the ocean. However, a group of people actually survived under the protection of the golden magnetic ohlite.
“Quest requirements: fill up the golden liquid of the pool and charge up the golden magnetic ohlite, allowing Atlantis to rise back to the ocean surface and reappear.
Mission Reward: Unknown. Friendly Reminder: Choosing different branch quests will grant different rewards. If the quest fails, there may be punishments, so please carefully select your branch quest."
"Branch quest 1: Solo complete the storyline quest. After completion, awarded 1 top class Atlantis technology, 1 purple crystal, 50 thousand merit points, 150 thousand reputation, points and other rewards."
"Branch quest 2: Share the quest, invite other players to complete it tomorrow. After completion, awarded 1 intermediate class Atlantis technology, 1 blue crystal, 10 thousand merit points, and 30 thousand reputation points."
"Friendly Reminder: If player choses branch quest 1 and fails, 200 thousand gold, 100 thousand merit points, and 300 thousand reputation points will be deducted. If not enough, achievement value will be deducted; if still not enough, turn to negative points until it is paid up."
"If player chose branch quest 2, no punishment if fail to complete quest."
The two branch quests were basically the difference between heaven and earth in terms of both rewards and punishment.
High risk high rewards; low risks, still sizable rewards.
If one was not a crazy gambler, they definitely would not choose the first choice. Just thinking about the difficulty of completing an S rank storyline quest, soloing it was pretty much impossible.
In the last life, Pick had struggled and gave up on the temptation in the end.
If Ouyang Shuo did not have the advantage of his past life, he definitely would not have chosen such the 1st option. However, now was different, and he had the ability to complete this branch quest.
"Choose branch quest 1."
"System Notification: Branch quest chosen, cannot be changed."
The moment the system notification sounded it was like Gaia had received certain instructions as she continued, "The golden pool liquid is actually composed of gold, and one gold coin can form five drops of this liquid."
"Wow…"
Even though Ouyang Shuo had mentally prepared himself, he still sucked in a deep breath.
Based on his calculations, a liter of gold liquid had around 10 thousand drops, which would require two thousand gold. The pool was one meter deep and could fit one thousand liters of the golden liquid.
This also meant that around two million gold was needed to fill up this pool. At this stage of the game, it was likely that only Ouyang Shuo could directly take out two million.
One had to say that in the last life, Pick had made the right decision. No wonder this quest had wrapped in 100 thousand plus players. Depending on one person to fill this up pool was nearly impossible.
However, Ouyang Shuo was going to turn the impossible into a possibility. He believed that Gaia would not push out a quest where players would lose money from. With such strict settings, the rewards after completion would similarly be great.
"Understood!"
Ouyang Shuo nodded; he took his storage bag and aimed it at the pool. Suddenly, gold coins flowed out like a flood, gathering into a gold stream.
The golden stream of coins transformed into the gold liquid when they entered the pool under a mysterious power. Then, the gold liquid started to flow at the bottom of the pool. The golden light was alluring and incredibly tempting.
When Kaila saw this scene, her eyes lit up.
In truth, Atlantis was extremely rich, so its treasury definitely contained more than two million gold. Even if they did not currently possess such an amount, with the passage of 10 thousand years, they definitely could gather such a sum.
Who knows how many shipwrecks there were, and how many riches were buried along with these sunken ships.
With the underwater breathing device, as long as the Atlantis people were patient, 10 thousand years were enough for them to comb the entire Mediterranean and even the entire Red Sea.
Unfortunately, coins from natives were useless.
Gaia created such a setting to create problems for players.
If they chose the 2nd branch quest, they must do more than just obtain an underwater breathing device, and they must go through many tests to enter this land of fortune.
When they arrived here, they had to complete daily quests to increase the good impression the Atlantis people had toward them before obtaining the rights to enter the imperial palace. With that, they would finally have the right to throw gold coins into the pool.
Gaia created such settings to increase the player participation rate in the storyline quest. Secondly, it wanted to use this chance to advertise the lost Atlantis and warn them.
After all, human civilization on earth was totally lost.
Perhaps their generation could be considered the 5th generation of humans. After a few thousand years or even tens of thousands of years, the magma flow would have stopped and cooled down, allowing life to appear once more.
At that time, maybe humans would reappear and become the rulers of Earth once more.
At that time, what they left on Earth would become ancient texts for the new generation of humans and seen as acts of gods.
……
The golden stream continued and did not stop.
Ouyang Shuo looked at his gold amount in his stat page; it was jumping at an indiscernible rate. Despite this, his heart remained tranquil.
No matter what, he needed to spend this two million gold.
In Friendship City, Ouyang Shuo had spent one million. In Atlantis, he would spend two million. With that, he would only be left with one million in his storage bag.
It fit the saying, ‘Money comes fast and goes fast.’
Under the massive injection of gold, the golden liquid was filling up the pool at an observable rate, and it continued to rise and create a golden steam.
The golden magnetic ohlite started to activate its vacuum mode, and it sucked up all the golden streams.
The dim stone started to slowly emit an eye-catching glow, becoming more and more bright.
It was like the shields around it had felt some sort of mysterious power leading them, and the patterns started to light up and spin around the magnetic ohlite.
The longer this went on, the faster they spun.
At the later stages, Ouyang Shuo could only see afterimages and the middle of the shields emanating an eye-catching golden light, charging straight for the skies.