As they continued exploring the stalls at the Sea Market, the two discovered some unusual products related to the ocean. It seemed like you could find just about anything connected to the sea here.
Among all the stalls, Larry found two particular ways of playing the most interesting. These stalls didn't just sell items, they offered unique gambling games.
There were mainly two types: opening treasure chests and gambling on shells. Both were essentially games of chance, betting on the value of what might be inside.
The treasure chests all looked the same from the outside, and you'd pick one that caught your eye. Each cost 50,000 rings.
What you found inside depended entirely on luck, you might get C-level or even B-level ingredients that could multiply your investment many times over, or you might end up with a broken white stone or some rotten seaweed. The items varied greatly in value, but one thing was certain: everything inside was sourced from this sea.
Gambling on shells was a bit easier to understand. It worked like gambling on stones back on Blue Star.
You paid for a shell you liked, pried it open, and hoped to find valuable pearls inside. Compared to opening treasure chests, gambling on shells was usually more expensive, you could easily spend tens of millions of rings on a single shell. But with higher risk came the chance for a huge reward, and many people had struck it rich by finding top-quality pearls worth tens of millions.
These two games were the most popular ways to play at the Sea Market. While gambling on shells always yielded pearls, Larry was more intrigued by opening treasure chests, where the contents were a complete mystery.
A middle-aged woman sat quietly in front of a treasure chest stall, perched on a small stool and wearing a straw hat similar to Menchi's. Her head was slightly bowed, as if she were dozing off. Scattered across the stall were treasure chests, originally arranged in numerical order, but after some sales, only about fifty remained. As Larry scanned past several chests, his eyes finally settled on one that gave him an uneasy feeling, he sensed a dark aura surrounding it.
"Auntie, I'll take treasure chest No. 66," Larry said.
The woman snapped out of her daze, accepted his 50,000 rings, and handed him the key matching chest No. 66. There were a total of 100 treasure chests, each with its own numbered key.
When a customer bought a chest, Auntie gave them the key so they could open it right there. After the buyer took the contents, Auntie would restock the chest and continue selling. The chests themselves couldn't be taken away, only their items.
With a soft "click," Larry opened the chest. The humid seaside air had caused some rust inside, making the opening sound slightly different. Curious, Menchi leaned in, her eyes shining with anticipation. She wondered what Larry would find in his very first treasure chest.
As Larry looked inside, his breath caught slightly, his instincts had been right. The item inside was steeped in a deathly aura, exuding a dark breath that confirmed his suspicions.
It matched the information he had gotten. All signs pointed to one thing, the dark sonata was likely connected to this.
Fully opening the chest, the two of them saw the treasure clearly. "Is this… a pearl?" Menchi whispered in disbelief.
A pearl rested quietly inside the dark brown treasure chest, its appearance far from perfect.
If you want to sell a pearl for a high price, it has to meet certain standards, like shape, color, and size. The pearl inside the treasure chest wasn't big, and its shape was pretty rough, covered with tiny pits all over.
The only good thing about it was its color. It was a pure white with a slight shimmer, definitely top quality in terms of color. But aside from that, it wasn't impressive at all.
Clearly, Larry had spent 50,000 rings to buy this flawed white pearl. However, he wasn't bothered by its worn-out look. What really caught his attention was the faint presence of death aura lingering on its surface.
This strange aura looked like a little black snake, twisting and floating on the pearl's surface. The sharp contrast between the bright white and the dark death aura was striking.
Larry's instincts were right. Casually, he took out the pearl and tossed it into the shadows nearby. The calm shadow suddenly rippled like a stone dropped into a pond, and the pearl sank fast, disappearing as if it had been thrown into deep water.
After handing the empty treasure chest and the key back to the woman, Larry asked, "Aunt, where did this pearl come from? If we know where it was found, we might be able to pinpoint the location of the Dark Sonata."
She replied, "I picked this pearl up right here on the beach. It probably washed ashore with the waves."
'Picking it up on the beach... could it mean the Dark Sonata lies somewhere deep in the ocean?' Larry frowned, a troubling thought crossing his mind.
If it's deep underwater, finding it would be much harder. He scanned the other treasure chests but couldn't sense any trace of death aura. It seemed the influence was limited, only a few items here had been affected.
"Young man, the stuff here isn't very good. You should check out the auction house," the woman kindly suggested when she noticed Larry wasn't buying any more treasure chests.
Compared to the Sea Market, which catered to everyday people, the auction house dealt with more rare items. There, you could find high-grade ingredients favored by gourmet hunters or antiques salvaged from the ocean, many of which contained aura.
Since this place is close to the Dark Continent, unusual things sometimes show up here. Some bring hope and benefits to people, while others bring danger and disaster. Of course, nothing that appears here is as serious as the legendary Five Great Disasters, if it were, the V5 would have blocked it long ago.
One of the most famous oddities to surface a few years back was a blood-colored pearl that appeared at an auction house. Unlike regular pearls, which are usually white, purple, or other soft colors, this pearl looked like it was filled with blood, glowing with a deep red color.
Some people found it creepy and unsettling, while others were fascinated and thought it was incredibly beautiful. The pearl was enormous, about the size of a fist, truly a giant among pearls. Based on its size, the shell that produced it had to be huge, and indeed, the discoverer found a massive, beautifully patterned shell from which the pearl was taken.