Three days later.

Duke had been wandering in this sea area for half an hour without seeing even a shadow of a Shadow Squid.

He caught three in the past two days, but today he couldn't see a single one.

The number of Shadow Squids themselves is relatively small, and those active in this area have basically been cleared out by Duke.

If he wants to catch more Shadow Squids, he can only venture deeper into the sea for better gains.

Duke thought about it and decided to explore further, willing to take some risks.

Refining Shadow Water still requires a lot of ink, and more Shadow Squids are needed, so advancing is a must.

Duke followed the seabed forward, noticing that the terrain was getting progressively lower, indicating that the water ahead was getting deeper.

If he ignored these waters, where he stood was actually a mountaintop, with a long slope ahead.

Duke stood at the seabed, looking around carefully, searching for signs of Shadow Squids.

Following the slope down, he lightly tapped the water and drifted downwards, moving swiftly with the current.

At the foot of the mountain was another flat area, scattered with huge boulders everywhere.

Duke perked up upon seeing these rocks, as he had become familiar with the habits of Shadow Squids during this time.

These rocks are the Shadow Squids' favorite places to stay.

A glance ahead and Duke sharply spotted four Shadow Squids, with two quite close to each other.

He observed the positions of these four Shadow Squids and planned a capture scheme to ensure he could take all four.

Duke slowly approached the two closer Shadow Squids, silently conjuring seven or eight Water Shields to block their escape routes.

Simultaneously, two hands formed from the water stealthily approached the two Shadow Squids.

Controlling so many Water Shields and hands at once, Duke felt some pressure; his other Spiritual Power was somewhat strained.

Moments later, after some small splashes, the two Shadow Squids entered Duke's Space Ring.

He kept the noise minimal, not disturbing the two distant Shadow Squids.

Meanwhile, information came from the Skill Tree.

[Hunting level increased, gained free attribute points +1]

[Hunting: LV5 (Trait: Lurking)]

[Lurking: Can reduce one's presence to some extent while hunting]

Duke hadn't deliberately focused on grinding proficiency in the hunting skill, as hunting tends to be time-consuming.

He felt that grinding ordinary skills now yielded too little improvement, and with limited time, he couldn't allocate too much to these skills.

Duke had inadvertently maxed out his hunting skill proficiency during this period of capturing Shadow Squids.

He sensed the Lurking trait and found it equivalent to a method of concealing oneself, blending seamlessly with the surrounding environment.

It would be hard for the average person to notice without careful observation.

Of course, for Wizards, the effect of this trait is quite limited.

However, for ordinary magical beasts and animals, this trait is a great tool for hunting.

Duke quickly tried it out; after blocking a Shadow Squid's escape route with Water Shields, he stealthily approached it.

Even when his face was almost touching the Shadow Squid, it still hadn't realized his presence.

Shadow Squids don't rely on vision to observe their surroundings, which is a characteristic of many deep-sea creatures.

This makes it impossible for the Shadow Squid to detect Duke at such a close range.

Duke reached out and directly tossed the Shadow Squid into the Space Ring, as easily as picking up a stone.

He then used the same method to pick up another Shadow Squid.

Now he didn't even need the Water Shields, as the Shadow Squids couldn't detect his presence until they were captured.

As Duke picked up Shadow Squids while moving forward, he found quite a few of them here, capturing five in no time.

"What is that..." Duke paused, hiding himself behind a large stone, observing ahead.

In front of him stood a broken stone pillar, with some chains entwined around it.

It seemed the chains were originally binding something, possibly a person tied to the pillar.

But now, the pillar was half broken, and the chains were severed into several pieces, drifting like seaweed in the water.

What caught Duke's attention was a groove on the pillar's surface, embedded with a ring-like object.

Since it was a bit far, he couldn't see it clearly.

But Duke could sense it was a Demonized Item, feeling its faint aura.

He hesitated for a moment, considering whether to go retrieve the item.

Normally, obtaining a Demonized Item would be excellent.

Especially for Duke, every Demonized Item is precious.

Moreover, in such a place, an embedded Demonized Item in the pillar was likely to be extraordinary, possibly something valuable.

Judging from the surroundings, it vaguely appeared to have been a plaza long ago.

Whoever built such a plaza at the bottom of the sea and tied a person to a pillar is anyone's guess.

This is what puzzled Duke: he didn't see anyone tied to the pillar.

He looked around but didn't find anything unusual.

"After so many years, even if there were someone, they would have been devoured, and not finding remains is normal," Duke thought.

He gritted his teeth, deciding to take the risk and try; it was right in front of him, with no apparent danger, worth a try.

Then Duke entered Lurking mode, with his Spiritual Power highly focused and several Water Shields floating around, ready.

Additionally, he also prepared to activate the Brass Ring at any moment.

On high alert, Duke silently approached the pillar, smoother than expected, without any incident.

Standing before the pillar, looking at the groove's ring, he discovered it was actually a silver bracelet.

He gently hooked it with a finger and unhooked the bracelet.

The pillar seemed to have stood there for many years, internally corroded by the seawater.

As soon as Duke unhooked the bracelet, the pillar crumbled like tofu, falling into countless fragments and drifting with the current.

Having obtained the bracelet, Duke didn't examine it closely, tossing it directly into the Space Ring before leaving the area.

On the way back, he picked up another three Shadow Squids, cramming the Space Ring with a pile of them, nearly out of room.

This Space Ring's space was small to begin with, cramming so many Shadow Squids was a bit forced.

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