Treasure Hunting System： The Ocean Conquerer

Chapter 435: Chapter 228 Intelligence_2

He hadn’t been on this ship for long. So, in his impression, Jason was the jester of the ship, likely a ranged attacker who used guns. He gave off a rather unreliable impression. Not only did Alka think so, but Matilda, who had only been on the ship for a few days, felt the same way. This impression was even shared by Juanlu.

They were unaware that Jason’s true skill lay in gathering intelligence.

”I asked one of his subordinates, someone who just got a new tattoo a few days ago.”

”He just told you like that?” Simon asked, puzzled.

Simon thought such matters should be highly confidential; no one would disclose them to an outsider. Even though outsiders weren’t unusual in this town, necessary caution should have been maintained, especially by the Hunters patrolling it.

Hearing this, Jason looked at Simon with some surprise, sidled up to him, patted his shoulder, and said, ”Friend, he didn’t know he was telling me anything. We were just chatting.”

As he spoke, he winked at Simon.

So that was it. Jason had used some conversational trick to extract the information. The power of language, huh? Simon felt that he definitely couldn’t pull off something like that.

Jason continued his explanation. ”I’ve also learned about other patrol teams. In them, those in leadership positions mostly have few tattoos, while ordinary Hunters have many. The possibility of this isn’t low, but I can’t completely guarantee it.

”I even followed them around outside for a while and saw them fight.

”Those with few tattoos clearly use the power of Spells, while those with many tattoos use the power from the tattoos on their bodies.

”It’s obvious that those with few tattoos have very precise control over their Magic Power, just like us; they can precisely use Magic Power to enhance their attacks. Those with many tattoos can’t do that. They can only crudely use their tattoos, simply integrating Magic Power into them. If you wanted them to sheathe their hands in Magic Power or channel it into their weapons, they couldn’t do it.”

Jason had observed very closely; even seemingly experienced old Hunters couldn’t achieve this. This was obviously unreasonable, unless they were born with poor control over Magic Power. It was a problem caused by inherent limitations, not something experience could compensate for.

”Then,” Jason continued, ”I wandered around the town a few times and gathered that those with few tattoos are likely individuals enlightened by a Treasure; their strength is considerable.

”On the other hand, those with many tattoos exhibit poor Magic Power control. Without exception, they are all ordinary Hunters whose Magic Power has become active due to this high-magic environment.”

After listening to Jason’s complete intelligence report, Alka understood. He had been pondering this before.

If everyone in the Endless Sea had active Magic Power due to the environment, then wouldn’t an important characteristic of a Treasure—its ability to enlighten people into becoming Touchers—lose its significance? This would inevitably and significantly reduce the importance of Treasures. For some large factions, the number of individuals who could be enlightened might, at certain times, be more crucial than the abilities conferred by the Treasure itself. Yet, from what is known of the Land of Dreams, Treasures are still the core of any power, which clearly contradicted this deduction. But now, Jason’s information explained this discrepancy.

Ordinary people whose Magic Power became active due to the environment might have their physiques strengthened by it, but they had great difficulty controlling this internal Magic Power. If Magic Power was hard to control, they could essentially forget about using the Meditation Method to enhance their strength, relying solely on natural improvement. This was bound to be much slower than their rate of improvement in the Homeland Sea. In the Homeland Sea, they could still control their internal Magic Power, using the Spiral technique within their Circuits to accelerate its absorption. Here, ordinary people were obviously incapable of such a feat.

Although it seemed illogical—how could someone have poor control if their Magic Power had been active since childhood?—the facts suggested otherwise.

Yet, from some information obtained in the Dream Realm, it could be gathered that as they acquired more tattoos, their strength would naturally increase. Apparently, tattoos not only allowed them to use the power of specific Spells but also increased their total Magic Power reserves.

How this was achieved was clearly beyond their current understanding.

However, Alka was still keen to understand the essence of these tattoos; this way, he might be able to inscribe more effective Spells on his puppets.

Alka felt the two were interconnected.

The residents of this Island chose to use tattoos that could cast Spells to bolster their combat strength, a way to compensate for the gap between them and normal Touchers.

But clearly, there was a limit to this.

Those enlightened by a Treasure, however, did not have such shortcomings. Moreover, due to the high-magic environment, their strength increased with great rapidity.

A simple conjecture began to form in his mind regarding the hierarchy of strength in the town. Ordinary tattooed Hunters were at the foundational, or bottom, tier. Experienced tattooed Hunters could probably reach the middle tier. Touchers, then, were clearly the mid-level and high-level power on this Island.

It was uncertain just how many Touchers there were. If the exact number were known, perhaps he could deduce how many Treasures they actually possessed.

Even in the Dream Realm, Alka hadn’t been able to calculate it completely.

Alka then looked at the others.