Warlock of the Magus World

by Stayrr

What happens when a scientist from a futuristic world reincarnates in a World of Magic and Knights? An awesome MC is what happens! A scientist’s goal is to explore the secrets of the universe, and this is exactly what Leylin sets out to do when he is reincarnated. Dark, cold and calculating, he makes use of all his resources as he sets off on his adventures to meet his goal. Face?

27. 819

Read Warlock of the Magus World - Chapter 819 – Merfolk Pirates online free - Light Novel Full

Merfolk Pirates

A pirate ship drifted quietly in the pitch black of the night. A crimson skeletal flag fluttered in the wind, holding an aura of death.

Within the captain's room, the rocking hull did not affect Leylin the least. He was now on the upper levels with Isabel, Robin Hood and a few others, discussing their current target.

"We have over fifty sailors, but their quality is…" Robin Hood shook his head, evidently not thinking well of the sailors that had recently pledged their allegiance.

This was the truth anyway. Without the threat of death, they would not have submitted so quickly. However, having them show their loyalty was practically a joke. If there was a chance, they would definitely betray Leylin and escape without hesitation, even plunge a knife into his and the others' hearts.

"I know this very well, but loyalty can't be developed in just a day or two. Time will also help us phase out the people who intend to disobey…" Leylin's voice was very calm yet held an exceptional callousness. Isabel and Robin Hood felt like they could see the near future of the many pirates, and their executions by Leylin for all sorts of reasons.

"I'm planning to develop a base to produce fish floss on Faulen Island. We'll need a lot of money and slaves for it, and it's too much to handle if we depend on our territory alone. We need to get this done, by hook or by crook." Leylin stuck a dagger at a point on the map.

The primitive method of the accumulation of wealth was a drawn-out process. If one wanted to speed it up, there would definitely be blood and sin involved. Leylin did not have the skills to slowly guide an industry. He would only go on raid after raid to quickly build up a production line. Marquis Louis hadn't given him much time, and he was running out.

Leylin never believed in random outside protection, believing that it would only bring about tragedy to entrust his life to someone else. Hence, he would rather take some risks to increase his strength, and expanding his trade profits was just one part of it. After this was done, he'd launch a series of attacks to set his opponents back in the region.

While Isabel and Robin Hood were unaware of Leylin's thoughts, the murderous aura that he emanated caused them to involuntarily shiver.

"This is… the Half-Merfolk Island!" Robin Hood was the first to recognise the name of the island that Leylin had his eyes on, and he gasped, "There's a famed group called the Merfolk Pirates occupying the place!"

"A group that Marquis Louis controls," Leylin added coldly. How could he not have pried open Steve's lips for such information? The man had been the captain of the Black Tigers, after all.

It was undeniable that a rank 10 fighter had a stronger will, but he was only able to hold on for half an hour longer than the assassin from before.

'Hehe… He's but a cripple in body and mind now. Even if Marquis Louis heals him, he'll have a headache over this!' Leylin snickered inside. If there were grades for torture and interrogation, he would definitely be a grandmaster.

Having gone through his hands, Steve had completely broken down. Perhaps even if the highest-ranked priest cast Regenerate and other spells on him, it would be difficult for him to return to his previous state.

Leylin suspected that Louis' side would just kill Steve right away, it wasn't worth inviting a high-ranked priest to cast divine spells. Even if many priests cast divine spells to heal others for a fee, it was very expensive to invite a high-ranked one. Even the sale of a rank 10 fighter couldn't cover such a cost.

"The outer seas right now are just being discovered and developed. There's no order here, only chaos…" Leylin's palm caressed the map on the table, covering a large area, "Numerous adventurers, nobles and pirates rush to this place, but they can't even get to developing 10% of the islands. Just 10% alone signifies an astonishing amount of profit and wealth!

"Our final goal is to subdue or eliminate all the pirates in this region, making us the undisputed kings of this dark world. Let all those of other flags end up struck down to the bottom of the sea!" Leylin's voice was low, but these calm words seemed to be filled with an allure that caused Robin Hood's breathing to grow rough.

In some areas, Leylin was even better than a devil at persuasion and negotiation. The promise of a beautiful future seemed to have moved the first mate.

"We have a huge advantage here, compared to those regions where the power struggle is complicated. There are no extremely powerful organisations to hinder us, only our greatest enemy in Marquis Louis." Leylin smirked.

Marquis Louis had control over the Baltic archipelago and practically over 60% of the new trade in this region. Hence, he'd become the rule setter here, and his profits were unimaginable to most.

Leylin's goal was to eliminate him and become the boss! The smart followed the rules, while the wise created them themselves. Leylin was going to completely destroy Louis, and make his own laws.

To attack Louis, it was necessary to first eliminate his subordinates and the pirates he commanded.

"Do you still have anything against my decision?" Leylin glanced at Robin. As for his cousin? As long as this had anything to do with Louis' family, she was likely eager to join.

"No, Captain! I obey your every command!" Robin Hood immediately bowed, pledging himself with a serious expression.

"Good! There are only three large pirate organisations in this region, the Black Skeletons, Tigersharks, and Barbarians. Once we annex the Merfolk Pirates, we'll be somewhat comparable to them." What Leylin did not make clear was that the two of these three pirate organisations were linked in countless ways with Marquis Louis, and the Marquis might even be the one in control from the shadows.

If any of them had been sent to attack Leylin's family, his only choice would have been to escape with Mistress Sarah. However, Louis had evidently underestimated Leylin's side. That was why Leylin had managed to seize such an opportunity. Things would not be as easy the next time.

"Black Tigers, Merfolk, Black Skeletons and Tigersharks. These look like all of the pirates that Louis' family has control over…' Leylin's eyes glinted, 'If two of them are taken care of at one go, I'm sure he'll have a spectacular expression on his face!'

Robin Hood was a very good navigator, and after Leylin sent down the order he immediately used the stars to determine the location of the ship. He altered the shipping route so that they headed towards the Half-Merfolk Island.

The Black Tiger gradually left the shallow seas in the tranquil night, heading for the more mysterious and treacherous deep waters.

'It'll take a day or two of travel to get to Half-Merfolk Island…' Leylin's eyes twinkled. With the help from the A.I. Chip, his calculative abilities still far surpassed his first mate and navigator even without a moving scale or any tools.

Just when Leylin was about to blow out the lights, a disturbance was heard. There were even sounds of weapons clashing, causing Leylin to frown.

"What happened?" Leylin furrowed his brows, putting on a coat and heading out. Isabel walked over from the room next to his.

When they got outside, the yells and curses grew even clearer.

"The sailors are rebelling?" Leylin indifferently walked with Isabel to the deck.

Many of the prisoners stood together on deck, holding machetes and all sorts of weapons. They had forced Robin Hood and a few soldiers into a corner.

Compared to the thirty to forty people here, Robin Hood's few subordinates seemed lonely and weak.

"How senseless!" Leylin flicked a finger, and a few pirates that were in the way turned into ice statues. The rest of the pirates moved away in fear, allowing Isabel and him to walk all the way to the deck.

"My apologies, young master! After hearing that we're going towards the outer seas tonight, the sailors all began to rebel!" Robin Hood's forehead was beaded with sweat as he explained to Leylin.

Many dangerous sea monsters liked to forage in the night, and unless they were exceptionally powerful fleets, nobody dared to head towards the deep seas now.

On top of that, these pirate captives weren't all that obedient from the start, and were full of rebellious spirit. They were also a majority, which meant that it wasn't unexpected for them to rise in revolt, especially with people deliberately stirring up the situation.

"Seems like Isabel and Robin Hood listening isn't enough to control them…" Leylin sighed from the bottom of his heart, and then walked ahead, "Put down your weapons, or you'll regret it. When it comes to the outer seas, I can ensure that your safety is guaranteed."

"Don't believe him! This son of a bitch and the woman from before just want us to die!" Just when the pirates were hesitant, a voice sounded from amongst the crowd.

"Come here!" Leylin's eyes narrowed, and the mooring ropes placed at the ship's railing seemed to gain lives of their own. They began to wave around, charging into the pirates like a python as they wrapped around one with triangular eyes, pulling him out.

"Vulgar maggot, did you think I can't do anything against you if you hide in the shadows?"

With a flick of Leylin's finger, a boiling hot fireball rushed out! It rumbled as it hit the bound pirate, lighting him up like a torch with sparks flying everywhere. Miserable cries sounded out, causing many pirates to retreat with fear on their faces.

"A wizard! It's a wizard!" The pirates exclaimed. Most of the pirates had melee professions. True tall, rich, and cool wizards were a rare sight even amongst huge pirate groups.

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Smash

Wizards were often more intimidatingly powerful than high-ranking fighters, knights and other such Professionals.

"I'll count to three, and if you don't put down your arms and kneel in surrender, you'll follow his example!" With a tug of the rope, the charred remains were immediately scattered into the ocean. This intimidating strength immediately made many pirates think of retreating.

It was a pity that this was the ocean, and they were surrounded by water as far as the eye could see. Even if they wanted to run, they had nowhere to go.

"One." Leylin's face twitched as he announced without any hesitation.

"Two." Two rays of ice flew out, turning the fleeing pirates into ice sculptures.

"Three!" Leylin's eyes were filled with a heavy killing intent.

These terrifying eyes finally led to the collapse of the pirates. They abandoned their weapons one by one, and knelt on the floor while weeping bitterly.

"Robin Hood, tie them all up!" Leylin rubbed his hands together. After all, he could not possibly kill all of these captive pirates. If he did, who would sail the ship?

In this world, a captain could only fight to the death in the face of mass mutiny. However, powerful people like him could put down their entire crew with a hand tied behind their back.

"As you command, Captain!" Although this was not the first time they had seen the young master's power, the soldiers' eyes were still filled with respect.

Given that those pirates didn't dare to rebel, the soldiers on the deck could easily control them. Even if there were troubles on the ship, Isabel would resolve them before Leylin could even grow impatient.

Isabel would've taken care of the situation this time even if Leylin hadn't. It was just that the situation would have ended up with many pointless deaths.

In the end, all of the captives who had taken part in the rebellion had been tied together and gathered on the deck. The soldiers and the rescued pirates who had not taken part in the rebellion erected several enormous wooden crucifixes there.

Leylin peacefully stood in front of the pirates, but he did not say a single world. However, this made the pirates begin to tremble in fear. Leylin was determined to go through with this purge, and did not have any intention of letting them off.

"Find me the leader of the rebellion!" With Leylin's command, as well as the pirates identifying each other themselves, several wild and untameable ones were pushed out from the crowd.

"There's only four or five? This is far too few!" Leylin shook his head, "Robin Hood, pick one out of every five to kill!"

Soon after, the remaining pirates huddled together in alarm. Robin Hood counted here and there, and every fifth pirate was immediately dragged out by the soldiers. This repeated until 5 poor devils had been chosen.

This was a method from Leylin's previous life, called decimation. It was a way of investigation, used similarly to what he had employed to execute criminals.

"This is your sentence." Leylin waved his hand, and his subordinates quickly swarmed around the criminals, binding them on top of the crucifixes.

Thud! Thud! Thud!* The other pirates were alarmed by the sounds as several nails were hammered into the offenders, even if they avoided the vitals. Drops of blood ran down the nails.

"Bastard! I won't let you off!" "Even if I die, I'll drag you to hell with me!" "My lord, please spare us! Please spare us!"

Blood-curdling screams rang out, intermixed with curses and pleas.

"Aren't you lively? I hope you can be like that tomorrow too!" Leylin smiled faintly.

This method of crucifixion was very inhumane. The targets inched closer and closer to death as they gradually bled out. The sort of fear it induced could lead to a nervous breakdown in normal people.

These physically strong people could perhaps stay alive until the second day. However, that was of no use; it only meant more insane pain and torment.

The violent sunlight of the sea would drain them of every drop of moisture in their body, until they were mummified. And in the end, they could only chose between bleeding to death, dying from sunburn, or dying of thirst.

Many of the captives who thought of this scene were so frightened that they couldn't help but wet themselves. They didn't even dare to meet Leylin's eyes; the smell of urine spread.

"As for the rest of you, I'll be gracious and show you mercy. You will only receive ten lashes. Now all of you, clean the decks immediately! If I see even a single speck of dust tomorrow, you'll have to lick it clean! Do you all understand?" Leylin shouted.

When grace was absent, the fear of death was an effective deterrent. Of course, the prerequisite was that one needed enough power. Still, who amongst Leylin's subordinates could surpass him in strength?

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!* Leather whips specially soaked in seawater were used to punish these pirates. On one hand, the salt in the water would prevent the wounds festering, but on the other hand, the pain would be even more severe.

These lucky pirates did not dare to grumble, and they began to clean up the deck even more quickly. Those who were currently crucified were deeply reminded of their betrayal.

'Fear me, respect me, hate me!' Leylin stood at the ship's bow like a tall mountain, filled with a deep and immeasurable strength.

'The hate and resentment of an ordinary person seem to result in some additional spiritual force and soul force emanating from them.' Leylin shut his eyes, sensing the respect from the pirates on the ship.

'What a pity… If this number was multiplied by a thousand times, and continued for over 10 years, it would be possible for me to comprehend divinity, and become a divine being.' The power of fear was a standard tool for demons and devils. It was very effective, a god only needed to absorb the energy of faith arising from mortal fear. His subordinates' shifting moods had allowed Leylin to touch on a path to divinity.

'Pity. This method is completely undesirable, not to mention what the churches would do once they discover me trying to spread fear to become a god. Perhaps their first course of action would be to come and destroy me…' It was very foolish to peep into the realm of gods without even becoming a Legend.

"Cousin, aren't you going to rest?" Isabel arrived at Leylin's side at this moment. She was the only one who would dare to do so.

At the same time, Leylin noticed that Isabel was looking at these condemned convicts with eyes filled with regret. Naturally, she wasn't regretting their deaths, but she felt it was a great pity to lose so many sacrificial offerings.

"My dear cousin!" Leylin began as he watched Isabel, "You shouldn't just act according to the other party's wishes when dealing with an abnormal life form. Sometimes you need to negotiate, and even refuse… Perhaps this can help you."

Leylin took out a black notebook and passed it over to her.

"Rules of Negotiation with Abnormal Entities- Demon Edition!" Isabel let out a low cry. This book contained knowledge about demons, and to the churches it was a standard demonic item.

"This is part of my teacher's collection, I copied it out using magic. Perhaps it can help you, don't let anyone else see it," Leylin smiled faintly. In fact, this was from Beelzebub's memories. After all, he was the commander of the devils' army, and he had a deep understanding of those demons that were his enemies.

At the same time, devils were also the greatest experts in deceit, threats, and modifying contracts. With Beelzebub's knowledge, the least it could do was to ensure that she wouldn't suffer too big a loss when making deals in hell or the abyss.

"Even if you sell your soul, make sure it fetches a good price. Don't be swayed by a few words and offer it up without thinking it through. That would simply be too foolish…"

"T-Thank you!" Isabel hugged the black notebook close, as if it was her entire world.

"Also, it seems like we won't get any rest tonight…" Leylin waved his hand and said to Isabel, "Be careful!"

"What should I be careful of… AH!" Isabel was rather doubtful, but she immediately felt a huge jolt. As she was still firmly holding onto the notebook with both hands, she almost fell to the deck.

At this moment, a pair of powerful hands held her up steadily.

"If you feel that the storm is too much, go back to your room and leave this place to me," Leylin's words were filled with self-confidence, and it seemed to give her a great sense of security. Isabel agreed in a rather foolish manner, and really walked back to her cabin.

Yet after a short moment, she'd changed into her leather armour and grabbed her longsword, rushing back out.

"I've put away the thing you gave me!" Isabel's face was flushed as she flusteredly explained.

At this moment, Robin Hood's voice rang out, sounding completely exasperated, "Tigershark! It's a Mutant Tigershark!"

The expressions of the people on the ship immediately changed greatly. The Mutant Tigershark was a type of deep sea monster. It possessed an enormous body larger than ordinary whales, and it had a savage nature. It particularly enjoyed hunting at night.

This Tigershark's body could easily flip over the Black Tiger. Such a thing was exactly why these pirates were so afraid of sailing at night.

"What are you panicking for? Calm down now!" Leylin's voice spread immediately, charged with a pacifying force. In just a moment all of the alarmed pirates calmed down.

The ship's hull was tilted to an alarming degree, and it was tipping further. It was like a powerful monster was shaking the bottom of the ocean. At this moment, everyone on the ship could only pin their hopes on Leylin, the wizard.

Isabel stood the closest to Leylin, and she discovered that he had a strangely excited expression on his face.

"Finally! I've been waiting for this. This opponent is mine, don't interfere!" Without even waiting for her to respond, Leylin immediately jumped off the deck of the ship.

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Level 1 Magic Weave

The bitterly cold seawater seemed to chill one to the bone as the mountainous black figure suddenly appeared in front of Leylin.

As the A.I. Chip finished scanning, the Tigershark's stats appeared in front of him. [Mutant Tigershark, Estimated Stats: Strength: 7, Agility: 2-4, Vitality: 13, Spirit: 3. Abilities: 1. Sharkskin: A Tigershark's skin has a slight resistance to physical and magical attacks. 2. Lesser Regeneration: Slight ability to restore a certain amount of life force.]

"Not bad, not bad. With this physique and abundant energy, it's worthy of being called a deep sea creature…" Leylin's eyes seemed to glow a crimson red.

Aquatic Swiftness! A glowing enchantment draped itself over Leylin's body, and he obtained greater speed in the water. It made him as nimble in the water as he was on land.

An enormous sound wave spread out, causing massive vibrations. The forcefield around Leylin's Mage Armour creaked, as if unable to bear the attack.

The Tigershark seemed to care very little for the insignificantly tiny Leylin, and it occasionally used its giant dorsal fin to smash against the Black Tiger. It looked like it wanted to flip the ship over.

In this situation, Leylin immediately arrived at the back of the Tigershark, and climbed up the coarse surface of the shark's skin.

"According to the perspective drawing on the map, it should be here!"

Numerous shadowy daggers suddenly appeared from Leylin's hand as he shouted, "Cloud of Daggers! Ice Knife!"

Shlook!* The ice daggers plunged into the Mutant Tigershark's back, making it suddenly swing its entire body around. Copious amounts of fresh blood poured out from its wounds. Its sharkskin seemed like paper under Leylin's attack.

Bang! Bang! Bang!* At this moment, the Mutant Tigershark's body seemed to become a burden to it. As it was so enormous, it could only violently shake its body and hope that this would throw Leylin far away. It was to the point where the Tigershark once slammed the part of its body where Leylin was against the ship. It seemed to want to crush Leylin to death.

However, long before that enormous collision could occur, a glowing dagger that was the colour of blood appeared in Leylin's hand, the Devilblood Dagger.

"Its artery is here!" Leylin's eyes seemed to glow, and he stabbed down.

The Mutant Tigershark bellowed with rage, and its movements momentarily stilled. Afterwards, it began to sway and twitch even more violently than before, which made Leylin feel like he was riding a rollercoaster.

Leylin used Adhesion, and was finally able to stick firmly to the Tigershark's body like a lizard. He felt a strong heat flowing from his palm, the dagger in it like a greedy devil that was relentlessly absorbing the Tigershark's life force.

Accompanying the absorption of life force by the Devilblood Dagger, the Mutant Tigershark's back began to atrophy first, exposing dried-up and eroded flesh. Following this, the corrosion began to spread. The Tigershark's death throes were extremely violent. It gave up on the Black Tiger, and began to travel at a great speed into the sea, swimming deeper without stopping.

However, Leylin remained unmoved by the situation. The Tigershark had such a powerful body that the boost he gained from it was very considerable. He listened to the A.I. Chip's constant prompts and saw his own slowly increasing stats, clearly feeling the surging life force of the creature constantly being drained. The Devilblood Dagger converted its life force into another form of energy, and transferred it into his body.

Finally, the Mutant Tigershark had one last spurt of movement before it stilled. Its malevolent eyes lost their lustre, and it slowly fell towards the seabed like a sunken ship, dead.

It did not end just like that. The Tigershark's originally glistening skin had completely dried up, now looking like ancient tree bark even as it had shrunk to half its former size. If it was dissected, then it would be possible to see that the Tigershark's internal organs had also lost all their life force and had become a pile of waste.

[Beep! Host has killed the Mutant Tigershark, and received a boost from the Devilblood Dagger. Strength has increased by 0.1, vitality increased by 0.3, spiritual force increased by 0.009.] At this moment, the A.I. Chip sent over its final summary, and Leylin noticed his updated stats.

[Leylin Faulen. Race: Human, Rank 7 Wizard. Strength: 2.6, Agility: 2, Vitality: 4, Spirit: 7. Status: Healthy. Feats: Sturdy, Erudite. Spell Slots: Rank 3(1), Rank 2(3), Rank 1(4), Rank 0(???)]

'This Tigershark seems to be much stronger than the assassin from before. However it only raised my stats a little, and the most it did was to raise my vitality by 0.3. My spiritual force doesn't seem to have changed…' Leylin's expression was a little gloomy.

As his stats increased, and every stat broke through 10, the Devilblood Dagger would grow less useful. He would eventually grow completely immune to its effects.

'However, the open sea is full of resources. Many drops of water make up an ocean 1, so it should be enough to let me advance to become a rank 9 or even rank 10 wizard…' Leylin's expression clouded over.

This was one of his plans. The Devilblood Dagger's flesh devouring ability meant that outside of high-level Professionals, the only place that had enough flesh to feed it was the open sea. The bodies of deep sea creatures were terrifyingly massive, and organisms full of life force could be found everywhere.

Naturally, these monsters all had their own intelligence and faith, so slaughtering them as one pleased would damage one's reputation and could even attract an intervention from the gods of other races. It could even draw the attention of druids, who were all lunatics and naturally hostile towards those who destroyed nature.

Now however, the blood on the Black Tiger had attracted the spontaneous attack of many monsters so it wasn't possible to give them preferential treatment.

One could imagine that in the near future, more than one sea monster would be attracted by Leylin, and all of them would become an unending stream of life force, pushing forward his advancement.

Leylin's body split open the surface of the sea with a loud splash, and he landed on the deck.

"Cousin Leylin! Are you alright?" Isabel looked at him worry in her eyes.

"I'm alright, continue sailing!" Leylin waved his hand, and all the sailors who heard his command suddenly became sluggish.

He was alright, but it was clear that the terrifyingly powerful monster from earlier was still howling unstoppably on the seabed. They could guess at the powerful battle that occurred after Leylin jumped into the sea, while standing on the deck.

It appeared like their captain could kill even a Mutant Tigershark!

Very quickly, even the most frightening pirates looked at Leylin with eyes filled with respect. They only admired the strong, and now that Leylin had revealed his savage nature, he had also exposed his own powerful abilities.

This carrot-and-stick method was enough to subdue these old pirates. The subconscious actions of theirs made Leylin smile at the scene that would occur many, many more times in the future.

After the battle of Half-Merfolk Island, he would possibly possess an army of pirates that only listened to him.Under the sunny and cloudless sky, Robin Hood's eyes were filled with unconcealed respect as he reported from behind Leylin. "Captain, we will arrive at Half-Merfolk Island in half an hourglass' time!"

"I know, pass on the order. Prepare for battle!" Leylin looked out towards the distance, and seemed to be rather distracted. Yet Robin Hood did not notice that, and immediately began to carry out his order.

In reality, Leylin was experiencing an enormous change at this very moment. Ever since he had fought that Mutant Tigershark, he had also attacked various other sea monsters. Under Leylin's Devilblood Dagger, they all became gifts of experience which helped his stats steadily rise.

The most important thing was that after the boost from this power, the A.I. Chip's rate of analysing the Weave had increased greatly. Many rank 0 and 1 symbols glowed in front of Leylin, as if forming the mystery of the universe in their array.

Only when he heard a sharp and clear ring did Leylin snap out of his trance-like state. The A.I. Chip displayed its newest progress in front of him.

[Beep! Rank 1 Weave has been fully analysed! Progress is 100%] [Weave Analysis Progress: Rank 0 Weave: 100%. Rank 1 Weave: 100%. Rank 2 Weave: 13.61%. Rank 3 Weave: 0.45%]

The higher the rank of the Weave, the harder it was to analyse it. This was especially true of the rank 3 Weave, the analysis of which hadn't even reached 1% yet. However, Leylin was already very satisfied.

[Beep! Rank 1 Weave has been fully analysed. The host now has all rank 1 magic models, and spells will not be deleted. Host is exempt from forgetting magic!] The A.I. Chip's prompts came incessantly.

Leylin now felt that a layer of the Weave had been uncovered, and many rank 1 spell models, from the most basic Alarm to the Endure Element spells and even frightening spells like the Necromancer's Ray of Enfeeblement were displayed before him.

After the breakthrough of the rank 1 Weave, not only did was he exempt from all the limitations of rank 1 spell models, he could directly use spiritual force to perform magic. It even gave him a lot of authority within the Weave.

It could be said that the benefits brought about by the advancement were of greater help to him than advancing to a higher rank as a wizard, especially when he was on the verge of attacking Half-Merfolk Island.

Leylin couldn't help but glance over his stats:

[Leylin Faulen, Race: Human, Rank 7 Wizard, Strength: 3.5, Agility: 3, Vitality: 4.5, Spirit: 7.9, Status: Healthy. Innate skills: Sturdy, Erudite. Spell slots: Rank 3 (1), rank 2 (3), rank 1 (???), rank 0 (???)]

Day after day of sailing, as well as constantly attracting sea monsters, had made enormous contributions to his strength.

1. Little things add up

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Dawn of War

'My spiritual force has reached another bottleneck. I might be able to break through after this battle.' A month had yet to pass since Leylin broke through to rank 7 as a wizard.

This frightening pace of advancement was something even your average genius wouldn't be able to match. His speed was absolutely monstrous.

Naturally, Leylin could only advance so quickly because of the Devilblood Dagger's work, and even more so because of his strong foundation. It was because of his foundation that he could control the explosive increase in his life force and stats. In his situation, Isabel would long since have gone insane or become a devil.

"There's a fleet ahead!" The pirate in the loft called out suddenly.

"I see the flag of the Merfolk Pirates, it's their battleship!" Leylin did not feel particularly alarmed by this news. This sort of sneak attack couldn't be successful over and over again.

The Merfolk Pirates would have long made preparations around their lair, and it wouldn't have been difficult for them to spot him.

"Call the sailors out, prepare for battle!" The most important thing about naval warfare was long-distance ranged attacks and boarding. Under Robin Hood's roar, tens of pirates and sailors stood out, their hands suffused in the blue light of weapons slicked with poison.

The Black Tigers who went up against the Merfolk Pirates had a look of great apprehension in their eyes. Only the weapons in their hands and Leylin's presence could calm them down slightly.

"These pirates need to undergo a longer period of training…" Isabel and Robin Hood came to Leylin with worried expressions.

"Don't worry, the battleground is the best teacher. Death will help weed out the trash. After all, if they still lose to the enemy even with the weapons I provided, then I won't care even if they die," Leylin's expression was completely cool.

"This type of weapon…" Robin Hood raised up the longsword in his hand. The edge of the blade was suffused with a blue glow, which was clearly a powerful toxin. He had personally tested this poison, and discovered it had a powerful paralytic effect. Even a shark could not endure it for more than a few breaths.

'This sort of poisonous weapon could fetch a price of more than ten gold coins in the black market…' Robin Hood unconsciously licked his lips. He had a quiver of poison arrows on his back, which when combined with his archery skills gave him the confidence to challenge a rank 5 fighter.

'I didn't expect the boss to have mastered alchemy as well…' Robin Hood glanced at Leylin with eyes full of respect. Such an achievement made him feel even more fearful. If he ever offended his boss, he probably wouldn't even realise how he died.

In reality, those poisonous reagents were a result of Leylin's boredom. He was already a grandmaster in the field, and after familiarising himself with the flora and fauna of the World of Gods over a few years, his experience naturally translated into results.

The raw material of these poisonous reagents was the juice of the most commonly seen pike fish on the Faulen Island. No matter who looked at it, they wouldn't associate that fish with deadly poison.

Even cousin Isabel envied Leylin's poison, and although she did not apply it to her own longsword, she still asked him for a small bottle.

"Isabel, Faulen guards!" Leylin commanded.

"Boss!" This group of people were small in number, but they had the highest loyalty towards Leylin. Once they heard his command, they immediately assembled by his side.

"Pick up your weapons!" Once Leylin issued his command, the guards brought out their longswords. The icy blue glow they emitted filled many pirates with fear.

"Although I've already boosted their damage once, it's better to have more insurance," Leylin pointed his finger, and a shining spell entered Isabel's black longsword.

This was Enchant Item, a rank 1 spell which could boost weapon damage as well as defence. Although Isabel had not soaked her own sword in poison, seeing her sword immersed in a layer of magical light caused a joyous expression to appear on her face.

After a weapon had been enchanted, even temporarily, its power far surpassed that of poisoned weapons. Of course, enchantments were more expensive as well.

However, Leylin's act did not stop there.

Enchant Item was cast again and again and again as Leylin added a layer of enchantment to the weapons of all his own guards.

"Cousin,will you have enough spells after this? Don't tell me you've used up all your spell slots to enchant weapons?" Isabel stood at the side as she watched the guards, and even the pirates, receive the same magical light to their swords. Her eyes were full of envy and she almost even drooled.

Enchanted equipment would increase an individual's battle strength by leaps and bounds. Imagine if you struck someone, and your opponent's weapon snapped in half, and even their armour would not be able to stop your sword. How would that make you feel?

With this support, those guards now had a lower chance of dying. This was Leylin's goal, as these talented people were his true capital and the core of his strength. Family was still family, and they would receive differential treatment right from the beginning. Leylin surveyed his surroundings and was very satisfied with the result.

"Did you see that? Demonstrate your loyalty to me in the future, and you shall have whatever you want!" Leylin shouted. Paired with his earlier use of magic, his voice was full of persuasive power.

At this moment, a small fleet appeared in the waters. It was a group made up of a battleship as large as the Black Tiger and two smaller boats, advancing in a threatening manner as they surrounded Leylin's ship.

One could even see numerous pirates on the decks, as well as a pirate flag of a merfolk skeleton on their flagpole.

"Welcome them on board. Prepare for a battle on the sea!" Robin Hood shouted. Many sailors could not help but firmly grasp their weapons, the only thing they could rely on to make themselves feel safe.

'The Merfolk Pirates are close to the Black Tigers in strength. However, they have nearly 200 sailors, including merfolk, shark people, and even other marine tribes…' Leylin's keen eyes allowed him to see farther than others, distinguishing the characteristics of the opposing marine tribes. His eyes glowed with interest.

'I wonder… What is the difference between the marine tribes here and the ones from the Magus World?' Leylin knew that this question would soon be answered. Because after this battle, he would have an enormous number of test subjects to experiment on.

Bang!* As soon as both sides were within a mile of each other, the opposing battleship let out a massive explosive sound. An enormously long harpoon was shot out towards them.

Shua!* The terrifyingly fast harpoon had immense kinetic energy, and only Leylin was able to see its orbit through the air.

Fresh blood flew into the air, and a great number of pained cries immediately rang out. The harpoon penetrated several of the less able pirates who didn't duck in time. It pierced through the Pirates, stringing them together like an iced candy haw on a stick1. It even pierced through the floor of the deck and embedded itself there.

Fresh blood flowed from the harpoon, and the more tenacious pirates still managed to issue cries of pain as they attempted to struggle. This made the other pirates retreat, their eyes filled with fear.

'These bastards! Luckily I never thought of depending on them!' The dismal performance of the pirates made Leylin shake his head. He then winked at Isabel, and used a Flight spell to soar into the sky.

Once Leylin got closer, he could hear the commotion on the opposing ship. "Wizard! The enemy has a wizard!" "Prepare your bows and arrows!"

Powerful spell casters had a strong reputation that spread throughout the continents of the World of Gods. Why a respected wizard would join the pirates and suddenly attack was something the Merfolk Pirates could not understand. However, the fear had already taken root, leaving them bewildered and open to attack.

The fluttering arrows soared into the sky, but lost their energy mid-air like kites with their strings cut. They swayed here and there as they fell.

At Leylin's height, if they wanted to really threaten him, they had to have a Professional who used bows, such as a Ranger or an Archer. However, it was obvious that the opposing group would have a limited number of these talents. The few times they tried to attack him, Leylin easily dodged them.

Once a wizard could fearlessly shoot his spells from the air, calamity would begin.

Fireball! Gust!

A massive fireball flashed in Leylin's hand, and immediately exploded on one of the smaller ships' sails. Magic fuelled its flames, and the Gust spell caused it to spread. The entire ship went up in fire.

Splash! Splash!* The sailors who had been set on fire jumped off the ship one by one, and were struggling in the middle of the ocean.

By the time the other small pirate ship faced the same fate, some of the men on the main battleship had gone mad.

"Damn it! Where is this damn wizard from?" The Merfolk Pirates' leader was a strong man. Only the two faint traces of scales on both sides of his cheeks hinted that this person had once won the blessing of a devil, and possessed the power of a demon.

Currently, the pirate captain looked at how half of his force had been destroyed, and almost went mad. He would never have thought that he would clash against such a mighty wizard. Seeing that the wizard was able to fly and skilfully cast spells in mid-air, he had to be at least rank 7. He could even be a powerful rank 8 or 9 wizard!

With this sort of strength, he could become a noble on the continent. So why was this wizard coming here especially to bother him?

1. Red hawthorn fruit covered in liquid sugary syrup, with a stick piercing through the middle of 6-7 fruits. Street snack

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Bloodsucker

'I don't really want the other two ships, but this main battleship is rather good!' Leylin purposefully lifted the effects of the Flight spell, and landed on the Merfolk Pirates' deck.

"What? This foolish wizard dared come here by himself?" The captain of the Merfolk Pirates was overjoyed, "Get up there! Kill him!"

Two odd-looking pirates, with the heads of a crab and a squid, swarmed around Leylin and surrounded him completely. Their eyes were filled with ferocity.

Puff! Puff!* The air seemed to twist, and two sharp daggers which looked just like a pair of poisonous snakes appeared and bared their sharp teeth at Leylin.

"Mm! This Sneak of Shadows is comparable to Mankeh's…" Leylin had a ferocious smile on his face, "What a shame that you squids alone aren't enough!"

In a flash of blood-red light, the Devilblood Dagger appeared in Leylin's hand. As he held the dagger, he seemed to transform into the image of a night elf, his every act and every move seeming to be filled with a unique beauty.

"Shadow Dance!" With the A.I Chip's support, Leylin used a skill that could normally only be used by high-ranking rogues and assassins. The blood-red light turned into a whirlwind, immediately dragging the two assassins into itself.

The dagger's lifesteal greatly surpassed that of a vampire. Once stabbed by it, the two assassins were instantly turned into corpses, falling to the floor.

Bang! Bang!* Metal weapons clashed against each other loudly, and the mermen closest to Leylin fell to the ground. As traces of their blood-red energy was absorbed by Leylin's dagger, they completely lost all of their life force, to the point where their corpses would scatter into dust at the lightest touch.

"He's a devil! A demon from the abyss!" This horrifying scene scared all of the ferocious pirates so much that they wet themselves. All intelligent creatures feared the unknown. Although they could usually kill without even batting an eye, they had apparently never seen this sort of tragic manner of death before.

"As expected, personally harvesting lives myself is the most enjoyable experience…" Leylin's lips quirked up into a rather evil smile, "Bull's Strength! Cat's Grace!"

Two rays of magic light flickered, and after receiving the boost of strength and agility, Leylin seemed to become death incarnate, reaping the lives of all the pirates around him. While he was killing, countless rank 0 and rank 1 spells shot out from Leylin's hands without stopping.

The Devilblood Dagger was not some ordinary metal weapon. Of course, it did not have any effect on a wizard's spellcasting, but without the Weave impeding him, Leylin's movement was even quicker and smoother.

"As expected! On of a shipful of pirates, all of them have close-ranged professions, and there's not a single Conjurer…" Leylin was like a tiger amongst a flock of sheep. His eyes swept across the entire ship, as if he was hunting for prey.

If anyone of the Conjurer profession came out to fight, even if they only had the Web or Grease spells they would become rather troublesome.

However it was a pity. The Merfolk Pirates were secretly controlled by Marquis Louis, and he wouldn't put a Sorcerer or other high-ranked Professional with a bunch of pirates. Perhaps only the three largest pirate groups would have a Sorcerer in their midst.

"Did you see that? Our boss has already destroyed two of their ships, and there's only one left. Get up there and kill them all!" Robin Hood lay on top of a railing, and after seeing Leylin's success in battle, he roared loudly from the back.

At this moment, the pirate prisoners also let out a wolf-like howl, "Kill them! Kill them!"

The pirates who previously completely lacked morale now exploded forth with 200% of their fighting spirit and hot-bloodedness, loudly roaring at the Merfolk Pirates as they clashed in battle.

The battle between the ships would erupt at any moment, when they came side to side.

"We can't continue like this! Fuck, where are these pirates from? They're so strong and they even have a wizard supporting them, and they're still coming here to cause me trouble?" The Merfolk Pirate captain looked as the sight of his underlings being killed one by one, and the Black Tiger pirate ship advancing quickly ahead. His expression grew even uglier.

Yet at this moment, the wizard was clearly advancing with thoughts of destroying the captain, and whatever ideas or hopes he had were all for naught. This captain understood very well that even if he chose to surrender, perhaps the normal pirates would end up alright, but he and his confidantes would absolutely be forced to walk the plank.

At this thought, his eyes gleamed ruthlessly. He tore off the cloak on his body, revealing stainless steel armour beneath.

"Make way! Archers, prepare!" As he was forced to an impasse, the captain prepared to personally enter the fray. After all, as the captain of the crew he was very strong.

"Battle skill— Charge!" The pirate captain was completely wrapped up in a dense layer of qi. He charged forwards like a battle tank.

"He should be a rank 10 warrior, and his armour and ring…" Leylin quickly retreated, his gleaming eyes making the pirate captain shiver.

At this moment, the A.I. Chip had already collected the captain's stats and displayed them to Leylin. [Name Unknown, Sex: Male, Estimated stats, Strength: 11, Agility: 5, Vitality: 8, Spirit: 3, Predicted Fighter Rank: 11. Evaluation: Dangerous! Armour and ring are radiating magic, deduced to be magic items!]

After his Charge skill, the pirate captain swung from his waist, and the broadsword in his hand began to rotate like a windmill. "Ha! Battle skill— Whirling Slash!"

Bang! Bang! Crack!* The sword flew like the wind everywhere he went, slashing most of the deck open. Wooden splinters flew everywhere.

This battle skill was something the captain was very proud of, and something he had learnt very recently. He had to work hard under a Professional fighter's guidance for three years before he had managed to gain their recognition and tutorship.

However, this was all worth it. After learning this skill, he had used its terrifying revolving strength to kill several warriors of a higher rank than him, and finally gained the treasured position of the captain of the Merfolk Pirates.

Needless to say, his opponent was only a wizard, and even if he had the abilities of a rogue, he could not beat a warrior of similar rank to him.

The pirate captain's mouth split open into a wide grin. If the wizard was caught by Whirling Slash, then he could almost see his body being torn apart.

"You have a rather good battle skill there, it's a pity that you're too slow…"

Puff!* The sound of a heavy hammer hitting leather rang out, and a layer of protection suddenly burst from the captain's armour, offsetting the dagger's attack trajectory. Even so, the tip of the blood-red dagger left a very deep mark on his chest.

Seeing that his armour had almost been cut through, the pirate captain's face was filled with triumph at his luck.

'What a pity! If I hadn't used a rank 3 spell slot to memorise Flight, then one Dispel Magic could have broken through his defense just now and killed him.' Leylin's figure hadn't stopped at all, and he charged once again through the group of pirates. Several severed heads were sent flying into the air, and fountains of blood gushed out.

Before it had the chance to touch the ground, the blood was absorbed by the dagger in Leylin's hand. All the small cuts to his body healed immediately, as if they had never been inflicted in the first place.

"This ability… You're a vampire!" The pirate captain seemed to recall a rather unpleasant memory, which made him cry out in alarm. This ability to absorb life force and and his quick regenerative ability, was very similar to that of the rumoured vampires.

Bang!* A huge impact spread across the deck like a grade 8 earthquake.

Just when Leylin had single-handedly contained all the pirates, the Black Tiger smashed against the side of the ship. Many small boats hooked onto it, and pirates climbed the cables aboard. A great number of them waved their glowing blue weapons as they came on deck.

These weapons which had been soaked in Leylin's poison did a great deal of damage to the Merfolk Pirates. Even the tiniest cut would paralyze them and drop them to the ground, to then be killed by their enemies.

The magic weapons that Leylin had enchanted, used by the guards, were even more formidable. Isabel took the lead like a Valkyrie, and many Merfolk Pirates were killed so quickly that they died in confusion.

"What? Thinking of escaping?" Leylin's face was wreathed in smiles as he looked at the ugly expression on the pirate captain's face.

"Ha! Battle skill— Blast Slash!" It was clear that this pirate captain knew that unless he could thoroughly shake Leylin off his trail, he didn't have a single hope of escaping. After his expression changed, he charged forwards immediately, his broadsword shining like a blade of light.

Just as the captain was charging towards Leylin, the ring on his right hand suddenly emitted a beautiful burst of magical light.

"Swift Explosion!" The sudden blessing from the spell increased the captain's attack speed fivefold. If his enemy did not notice this, they were sure to regret it.

However, Leylin had long anticipated this. He only smiled at the pirate captain, and gave him a signal, "Grease!"

Clang!* The deck immediately became impossibly slippery, and the expression of the charging captain changed. He completely lost his balance.

"I already know about all your trump cards. Under these circumstances, you only have one fate, and that is to peacefully walk the path of death…" Leylin seemed as graceful as a dancer as he began to step out, his elegant figure flying over to the Merfolk Pirate.

A severed head flew high up into the air, and soon after blood rushed out from his neck.

The Devilblood Dagger let out an icy-cold laughter after it had feasted on the fresh blood, and its wings seemed to become even more true to life, as if the demon sealed within it had recovered.

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Chapter 824 Mermaid Island

Leylin put the Devilblood Dagger away. He sensed that he had absorbed an enormous amount of life force, and it had all been transformed into spiritual force. Having already reached the peak, this additional energy pushed him to a breakthrough.

[Beep! Host has gone through a battle. Devilblood Dagger has completed the energy conversion! Spirit 0.1]

[Host's spiritual force has reached 8, rank has increased. Host is now a rank 8 wizard.]

[Host has advanced to rank 8! Number of rank 3 spell slots increased by 1, number of rank 2 spell slots increased by 1.]

A few prompts jumped out all at once, and Leylin's mouth curved up into a wide smile in response.

Converting almost all of this Merfolk Pirate captain's flesh had given him an increase of only 0.1 in his Spirit stat. However, it helped him break through the threshold of a rank 8 wizard, something that many low-ranking wizards on the continent couldn't even beg for.

'However, it's better not to let others know about this strange way of breaking through. Otherwise I will definitely become a public target…' Leylin stood aside and watched the guards clear up the remnants of battle on the pirate ship.

In reality, after the Merfolk Pirates' captain had died, the battle could be said to have been decided. Many Merfolk Pirates suffered a collapse in morale, and they either tried to escape from the ship or threw away their weapons and surrendered.

Leylin did not take action again after that, but he coldly watched Isabel and the others clear up the last of the pirates.

"This time, we don't want prisoners. Archers get ready, kill all those pirates who jumped into the sea!" On hearing this cold command, the pirate crew's fighting spirit grew even more fierce.

Yet Leylin showed not the slightest concern. He looked at his status window which had changed. The A.I. Chip displayed the newly collected data.

[Leylin Faulen, Race: Human Rank 8 Wizard, Strength: 3.5, Vitality: 4.5, Spirit: 8, Status: Healthy, Feats: Sturdy, Erudite, Spell Slots: Rank 3(2), Rank 2(4), Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???)]

A rank 8 wizard did not have the ability to access a deeper level of the Weave. The only benefits Leylin received were two more spell nodes. What was more important was that the advancement had increased his contact and authority within the deeper levels of the Weave. This was bound to be of great help to the A.I. Chip's analysis.

As Leylin continued to advance in rank, the speed of the A.I. Chip's analysis would only increase.

'With the Magus World's standards, a rank 5 Professional is on the level of an acolyte. A rank 10 Professional is on the level of a rank 2 Magus, and someone at rank 15 compares to rank 15. A rank 20 Legend would enter the realm of Morning Stars…' After living in the World of Gods for so many years, Leylin had developed a very deep understanding of how ranks were calculated here.

'A rank 25 peak-ranked Legend is equivalent to a Radiant Moon Magus! If it's like this, then the divine would be equivalent to a rank 6 Breaking Dawn Magus. A demi-god here would be equivalent to a semi-rank 7 Magus, which is the same rank as my original body…'

'The weak minor gods are the same as rank 7 Magi who have comprehended laws, and the major gods are similar to Magi who have fused laws, and are rank 8 beings like the Mother Core who've found their own path…'

At this point, the entire power rankings of the World of Gods began to unfold before Leylin. Although it was possible that some ranks did not entirely correspond, but on the whole Leylin believed in his own deductions and the A.I. Chip's simulation had never been wrong. There were also no holes in its logic.

'Although this native body is making rapid progress, in reality my current strength is only equal to a rank 1 Magus of the Magus World…' This comparison rendered Leylin completely speechless. It seemed that he still had a long way to go on his path to becoming strong in the World of Gods

"Boss! We've cleared out this ship completely! Victory is ours!" Just at this moment, Robin Hood appeared before Leylin and reported with a face filled with excitement. He didn't seem to care about the traces of blood still left on his face.

"It's already finished? Have the casualties been counted yet?" Leylin had a neutral expression on his face. He had personally completely destroyed the most powerful opponents and even half of the normal crew. If his sailors couldn't achieve victory under these circumstances, then he would need to completely reevaluate his strategy.

"With the weapons you gave us, many comrades only received slight injuries. Three have died, and five were seriously injured. We've already eased their suffering and sent them on their way…" Robin Hood spoke with a trace of helplessness in his voice.

Severe injuries on the sea were like a death sentence in this era unless one was lucky enough to have a cleric or other precious healing skills or items on them.

"Mm, keep track of them. Calculate and distribute rewards accordingly when we're done…" Leylin suddenly hit himself on the head. "Oh right! After we capture Half-Merfolk Island, set out again and bring the family members of the pirates who surrendered to us to the Faulen Island. Give the families of the dead ones a pension."

This was really to cut off the pirates' escape route, and grasp their family members in his palm. With this, the chance of them betraying him was now very small.

"As you command, boss!" Robin Hood clearly understood Leylin's intentions, and nodded vigorously, not daring to object at all.

"We really do need a cleric to raise morale and heal wounds. It seems like we can't do with them."

"If you have no objections to rank, then I know a few…" Isabel came to Leylin's side at this moment, with a strange look in her eyes. Leylin scratched his nose, as he clearly knew why her expression was different.

It was easy for her to relate to what he had done before, and it was also the reason why he had ordered for there to be no captives, decisively slaughtering all the Merfolk Pirates in a hurry.

His subordinates, on the other hand, were still on the other ship and couldn't see his actions across the wide sea. Even though he had left those mummified corpses, a wizard had skills which could achieve the same effect such as Absorb, Vampire's Touch, and Life Drain, so nothing could be proven.

Although this could fool Robin Hood and the others, but it definitely could not fool Isabel, who was also a follower of a devil. Her expression showed that she'd discovered something.

However, they were both on the same boat. Leylin believed that Isabel wouldn't betray him, because the church would never accept her either.

"Take a group out to sail this battleship. We'll go together to Half-Merfolk Island!" Under Leylin's command, they rushed to clean up the marks left by battle. The two enormous ships then sailed towards Half-Merfolk Island together.

At this moment, the pirates' eyes were filled with fanaticism and emotion. After all, they knew very well that after Half-Merfolk Island had lost their entire pirate group, the defenceless girls would not be able to refuse their tyrannical advances. Also, the Merfolk Pirates had been in business for many years, and the wealth they had accumulated had made their eyes green with envy.

Before they reached land, Leylin gathered his troops together.

"I'll say this once again!" Leylin's gaze swept across the group of pirates. Through continuous shows of power, they did not dare to betray Leylin's slightest command, and their loyalty to him had even increased considerably.

"We currently need their wealth and their slaves to work for us! We even need them to join us and become fresh blood. If they dare to resist us then immediately kill them without discussion, but I need captives. Understood?" In Leylin's view, the family members that survived the pirates would be very rebellious, but they would make good slaves. Even if that wasn't possible, then they could still be sold for a tidy profit; so what was the point of killing them all?

Humans were a very valuable resource on the sea. Even island natives had special teams of slave catchers enter the jungles and brave the difficulties of disease and monsters. They would then bitterly struggle against different tribes to get their hands on some more slaves.

"Don't worry, boss! We know what to do!" Robin Hood began to laugh, and the sound of it was an ugly as an night owl's hoot.

Leylin nodded, knowing how his underlings, who were like complete animals, would behave after they took over Half-Merfolk Island. Perhaps they wouldn't murder the prisoners, but the islanders would suffer a lot of abuse.

Leylin decided to turn a blind eye to these sort of things. In any case, an appropriate amount of deterrence was necessary, and perhaps this would be beneficial to keeping his rule over them stable. After all, pirate women didn't have any chastity to speak of, and it was in their instinct to follow the strong…

Eagle Eye! After the spell took effect, half of the island appeared before Leylin's eyes.

'Mm, it looks like there are the beginnings of a small hamlet. Not bad!' In his field of vision was a tiny port, and next to the port there was a developing wheat field. The pirate captain that had died at his hand had some talent in running the place. Surprisingly, he knew to gather people to reclaim the wasteland, and he'd really produced results.

It was a shame that all of this had been so conveniently given to Leylin.

Seeing the Merfolk battleship return, and even bringing another ship back, the port burst into an uproar. There were even people who thought that it was the Merfolk Pirates returning victoriously, and began to gather at the port to welcome them back.

It was not until the ship drew closer that they realised that the deck had traces of a fierce battle. The flag which represented the Mermaid Pirates had changed hands. Only then did they cry out in alarm and scatter everywhere, just like wild ducks whose nest had been disturbed.

"Brothers, get to work!" Robin Hood's booming voice rang out, ushering in a burst of excited cries.

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Plunder

The afterglow of the sun slowly dispersed on the surface of the sea, making it look like a rippling golden scale. By sunset, the battle was already winding up.

It couldn't be really be called a battle.The elites of the Merfolk Pirates as well as the adult merfolk had all died in the earlier naval battle, and the only ones left were old, young, or female. Even without many pirates under his command Leylin's raid had been successful.

Once the sun had set completely, Leylin stood on the balcony of the two-floored house that had belonged to the pirate captain. He was watching the tiny spots of flames flickering in the port. Large-scaled arson would have completely destroyed the place, so Leylin had forbidden it before they completely looted it.

Robin Hood's face was flushed with excitement. He stood in the room with Isabel who did not participate in the plunder, reporting the results of the battle to Leylin. Leylin could tell that the spoils were quite decent just by looking at his face. A smile arose on his face as Robin Hood finished his report.

"Boss, we've struck gold!" Robin Hood had already grown to resemble a pirate more and more, or perhaps he had just stopped repressing his true nature, "Just the loot from the warehouse could fill half the ship; there's massive quantities of sugar, silk, and even pottery and woodwork!"

"We also found this inside the villa," Isabel added as she kicked open a black trunk next to Leylin's feet.

The wooden lid was covered in floral patterns, and a golden radiance poured out of the chest when it was opened. Robin Hood's eyes filled with greed, but he quickly suppressed it.

"That fellow hid his treasures very well, it took a lot of effort to find this," Isabel's eyes were also sparkling like little stars, as if she had also completely fallen in love with piracy.

This was just like what Leylin had read in one of the ancient tomes in this world: 'Gold! What a beautiful and adorable little thing. It can turn a coward into a warrior and evil to good. It can make rivers flow upstream, and such a tiny thing can send a damned soul to heaven!'

Even the churches needed wealth, and their requirement was massive at that. They needed it to influence their believers, and expand the scope of their power. This was especially true of Waukeen's, which hoarded more money than dragons. They stuck their hands in every source they could find to earn more money.

Inside the wooden trunk were stacks of gold, alongside a few precious gems which almost blinded Robin Hood. Isabel was more resistant to the allure, perhaps because she was a noblewoman. She still remained rational in the face of the riches.

"There are a total of 782 kronas, and each one weighs 18 grams. That's at least 1500 pieces of Dambrath gold! Adding on the precious gems, this entire trunk is worth over 2000 gold…"

Leylin picked up a single gold krona, which was heavier than the gold coins he was used to. The decorative designs on them as well as the portrait were completely different to those of the Dambrath Kingdom's coinage. "Mm. There's no need to exchange the kronas, they can still be used on the continent."

In the World of Gods, any organisation that was a duchy or greater in authority could issue its own coins, and this created many different metal currencies. But the church of the Goddess of Wealth was always dedicated to normalising their own gold coin, the krona. They wanted it to replace all other coins, becoming an official standard. Still, due to the secret resistance of many gods, they had never been successful. The gods believed such a thing would bring Waukeen many followers, so it would only be odd if they supported it.

Even though this was the situation, it was the Goddess of Wealth issuing these coins. All the churches serving her would vouch for them, so it was still the strongest currency circulating in the entire World of Gods.

'It looks like these pirates all hid their wealth in their homes,' Leylin thought of the captives he had— If he had directly murdered Steve in his home, and dug out his buried treasures, he would have certainly gained as many benefits as he had now. It was a pity that he didn't have the time back then that he did now.

"Putting the treasure aside, what about the people and the slaves?" With this funding, Leylin had the confidence to build a profitable industry centered at Faulen Island. The most important thing now was to be able to obtain enough human resources.

"Our force was too small to blockade the port immediately. Many of the islanders managed to escape…" Robin Hood's expression grew ugly when he mentioned this point. "We've managed to capture 90 people by now, most of them elderly, women, or children. There was also some retired pirate trash."

Robin Hood spat out, and it was obvious that he had suffered while capturing these violent old pirates. Becoming either physically handicapped or growing senile with age, these pirates had been forced to retire. However, their ferocious and bloody nature hadn't left them one bit.

"I hung them to the death." Robin Hood did not dare to conceal anything in front of Leylin.

"Mm… Even if they are captives, there are many ways to distinguish them. How many of the captured ones are merfolk, how many human? How many of them were originally slaves?" Leylin clearly did not plan to pursue those problems, and he instead directly asked about his biggest concerns.

"The merfolk resisted most violently, and many of them fled. We've only managed to capture 19 so far, the other 71 are humans and natives. All of them seem to have been slaves." Although he didn't have the definite details on the numbers, what Robin Hood did have was enough to satisfy Leylin.

"Very good. There are different classes and ranks even amongst slaves. The merfolk were originally the highest class here, and now that we've killed their families and stripped them of their wealth we'll have gained their enmity. They won't put their faith in us, so just kill them all.

"As for those other humans and the native slaves, take all of them away and slowly screen them." From his own life as a human, Leylin had deeply understood the feeling the rest had: 'If they're not human, they won't think and act like us.'

On the other hand, Robin Hood didn't think of those Merfolk Pirates as the same as him either. He immediately agreed to leave and slaughter them.

"Wait, why don't you hand all those captive merfolk to me?" Isabel stepped out at this moment, her eyes filled with a bloodthirsty gleam.

"That's acceptable," Leylin nodded immediately. Demons all loved chaos and massacres, and her acts of piracy had most likely given Isabel many benefits.

Night fell, and the whole port wept after it was ravaged by the invaders. Smoke was still rising from it on the next day.

"The goods have all been transported to the Scarlet Tiger, boss!" Robin Hood respectfully reported.

"Very good, sound the bugle!" Leylin stood on the deck of the newly christened Scarlet Tiger, and issued the command with a peaceful expression on his face.

This Scarlet Tiger was the same as Black Tiger from before. Leylin had just decided to massively refit the ship, and he'd additionally decided to change its name.

He could imagine the name of this ship spreading across the entire Dambrath Sea in the future, accompanied by his cousin's reputation in battle.

The deep bugle horn sounded, and after a night of wreaking havoc, a whole bunch of sailors with dark and heavy bags under their eyes scattered out of the islanders' homes in twos and threes, gathering on the deck.

"Listen!" Leylin opened the treasure chest filled with gold kronas in front of the pirates, and the golden glow made their eyes light up with greed.

Yet, looking at whom the foot currently stepping on the gold coins belonged to, they immediately withdrew their greedy gazes. Over the voyage and their battles, Leylin had already used countless lives to demonstrate his savagery that exceeded theirs.

Sweeping over all the pirates with his gaze, Leylin was satisfied with the bowed heads that didn't dare look him in the eye. Only then did he continue, "Everyone here will get three gold coins, and those who've killed an enemy get yet another. Professional kills will be counted separately."

Many pirates immediately cheered at this news.

Leylin was very satisfied with this atmosphere. Just using military force to intimidate these pirates was not enough. It was necessary to demonstrate that, with him, they could snatch more things and gain more benefits. Only then would they follow him even to hell.

From now, these pirates would probably take some more initiative in battles.

After he had distributed everything, Leylin immediately issued a new command, "Set this whole place on fire! Afterwards, we sail!"

Dense black smoke quickly rose from the port as it was engulfed in raging flames. The fire quickly spread. The two pirate battleships laden with riches and slaves slowly left the port, and some of the pirates still had looks of regret on their faces.

'The terrain and condition of the place was very good, and there was a neat foundation as well. Such a shame, it was an excellent base…' Leylin looked on as the fire lit up the dock's sky, but his expression did not change.

He had always planned to burn down Half-Merfolk Island. It wasn't just the island, even the Black Tigers' stronghold as well. These places did not belong to him, and the pirates had been subordinate to Marquis Louis. Even if he occupied this place, Leylin would perhaps soon attract the attention of the Black Skeletons and Tigersharks.

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Pirates' Cove

The only thing Leylin could do now was hide somewhere secret, where his enemies could never find him. Only a fool would jump about shouting when he was weak.

"Isabel, Robin Hood!" he suddenly called out.

"You were looking for me, boss?" Robin Hood respectfully arrived in front of Leylin. After the battle, this first mate seemed to have changed dramatically.

Leylin stretched his hand out on the map of the ocean. "Mm, the two of you take the merfolk ship and bring the slaves to the pirates' families."

Be it Faulen Island or Marquis Louis' fiefdom, the Baltic archipelago, they were all new discoveries in the waters surrounding the Dambrath Kingdom, and that was also the only characteristic they shared. New, uninhabited islands seemed to emerge endlessly one after the other, full of both wealth and dangers. It was simply too easy to find a temporary base for his crew.

Of course, the condition was that Leylin could deal with the dangerous beasts in those territories, and they could brave the harsh weather and environment.

Taking into consideration that Robin Hood had the other sailors' loyalty, Leylin intentionally sent his cousin Isabel over as well. With her there, even if he couldn't control the entire ship, he could presumably intimidate the disloyal ones without much problem.

As a matter of fact, Leylin had plans to nurture this cousin of his. After all, he couldn't remain here commanding the pirates forever, so Isabel would serve as his stand-in. Although Robin Hood was more suited to this role, he was too feral. Leylin could not give this fellow too much space to make decisions so early on in his venture. It wasn't because he was scared that Robin would betray him, but it was just that Robin didn't have the instincts of a superior.

On the other hand, Isabel did not possess much authoritative power, but what she did have was enough to cow these pirates into submission.

Watching the merfolk ship leave, Leylin waved his hand. "Set off, we're going to Pirates' Cove!"

Pirates' Cove was a port that provided services for pirates. It could be called the gathering part for the shady figures of the seas.

The port sold intelligence, goods, and even top-grade elven slaves. Of course, one needed to have the courage to take the risk and buy something; as a port where pirates disposed of stolen goods, the things they sold were definitely unclean in origin. Even Marquis Louis, who controlled the Baltic archipelago, did not allow too many stolen treasures pass through his territory, regretfully giving up on the profits that came to Pirates' Cove.

As for the port's location, many of the old pirates under Leylin knew of it. The route wouldn't be a problem at all, but there were several dangerous areas they had to pass through.

"Are you sure the route won't have any problems, Cyclops?" Leylin opened up the map of the ocean as he called over a one-eyed pirate. The sailor had a courage bred from years of killing, and although he had only one eye its gleam caused others to tremble with fear.

It was only at this moment that a flower-like smile bloomed on Cyclops' stubbled face. He revealed his few yellowing teeth, "Don't worry, Boss. I've sailed to Pirates' Cove with Steve a few times, and at that time I was even the navigator's assistant. I can get there with my eyes closed!"

"Very well, you're now the ship's navigator. If you do well, you'll be the Scarlet Tiger's first mate once we reach the port." This was the promise Leylin made to this pirate in whom he had just placed his trust.

"Yes, boss!" A first mate would receive a greater share of the booty than the other pirates, and would also have authority over the others. Cyclops' remaining eye gleamed with excitement.

"Very well, you can leave now. Send Giant over!" Leylin waved his hand and watched Cyclops' back as he left. His eyes showed that he had fallen into deep thought.

Although he was giving these defeated pirates positions one by one, he hadn't completely let his guard down against them. For example, he couldn't trust that Cyclops wasn't deliberately leading the fleet into dangerous waters. He had already obtained the coordinates of Pirates' Cove through other means, from merchants and pirates.

'He told me the correct location, and also suggested the most efficient route. It looks like he's truly pledged his allegiance to me.' Cyclops didn't know that he had just narrowly avoided death's door. On the contrary, he was in good spirits from Leylin's promise, and he quickly executed the tasks that Leylin had asked him to do.

"Boss, lookin' fer me?" A deep, coarse voice sounded as a heavyset man walked in. He was more than 8 feet tall, and he had to lower his head to enter the captain's cabin. His flesh trembled with every step he took, like he was some sort of half-giant.

"Yes. Giant, I want you to lead the Scarlet Tiger's battle squad. Choose ten men for now, wait until we reach Pirates' Cove and recruit more." Leylin told him the plan with crossed arms.

The leader of the battle squadron was often the right-hand man of the captain. The battle squad was also at the forefront of every fight, so the position of its leaders had rather stringent requirements on strength.

Leylin had personally tested the might of this pirate that was called Giant. Not only did he have boundless strength, but he also had unparalleled talent in cultivation as a fighter. He could already release his qi and use martial techniques. Other than Leylin himself, only Isabe; could match him in close quarters combat.

Furthermore, this Giant had a straightforward personality; after numerous losses while dueling Leylin, he became more obedient and was easy for Leylin to control.

"Just pick anyone, huh?" Giant asked, clearly thinking of putting his own men into his team. However this was normal, otherwise even if he was strong as an individual, he would still be crushed by the other pirates.

"Yes, the sailors on the Scarlet Tiger, be it my sailors or the captured pirates, are all for your choosing," With regards to this point, Leylin turned a blind eye.

"Aye, I'll go and wake them up, and choose them one-on-one!" Giant looked extremely excited.

"As you wish!" Leylin didn't have anything to say about Giant's method of recruitment, and just waved him away.

As the leader of the battle squadron, if there weren't a few trusted aides on the battlefield to take a knife for him, then perhaps he wouldn't even be able to survive a single battle. It was necessary to allow him to choose his aides.

Furthermore, Leylin also believed that Giant wouldn't dare to betray him. He was confident that the cost of rebellion was so incredibly high that it would eliminate all thoughts of betrayal…

The endless voyage, the battles and the struggle, challenged them over and over again. Leylin was confident that this journey to Pirates' Cove would whip his crew into shape.

'On the whole, even a well-known pirate crew on the outer seas needs about a hundred pirates,' Leylin traced his finger on the map carelessly, 'Take the Black Tigers, or even the Merfolk Pirates which we just destroyed; normal pirate crews all have more than a hundred people, and their captains are even rank 10 Professionals with exceedingly good equipment.'

'Truly large-scale pirate crews need at least 300 pirates and above, and also need a number of ships. If I want a main battleship, it will have to be magically refitted or receive a cleric's blessing.'

Such a crew was configured like the small coastal fleet of a minor coastal duchy. If he had such strength, Leylin would be able to find a rather good position amongst the continent's navy, or even that of other countries. Who, then, would fight him without good reason?

As a result, there were only three truly large scaled pirate crews in the Dambrath Seas: the Black Skeletons, Tigersharks, and Barbarians.

Two of those pirate crews were even under the control of Marquis Louis. In addition, the other fleets owned by the marquis could not be underestimated. One of them was a professional slavers' fleet.

This fleet had always been at the forefront of clashes with the natives, and Marquis Louis had used a lot of gold coins to arm it. It was even more powerful than the kingdom's elite navy!

Leylin's elimination of the Black Tigers and Merfolk Pirates would at best be him taking out the marquis' trashe. He couldn't be considered to have encountered the marquis' main force.

Only once he was able to destroy the Black Skeletons, Tigersharks and the slavers' fleet in one fell swoop would he be able to deal a fatal strike to the Baltic archipelago's trade. However, this was almost impossible. Leylin could only continue to act from the shadows, and first clip the marquis' wings.

It was very unrealistic for Leylin to fight against a Marquis of the kingdom now. However, Leylin was not an ordinary person. He would use any means necessary to accomplish his goals, without fear of the consequences.

He was the sort of person that could described as a reasonable lunatic, or perhaps he was the most insanely reasonable man.

"I'll need many men to accomplish this goal… Or allies," Leylin naturally would not be stupid enough to act against the marquis alone.

Furthermore, fighting Marquis Louis was one thing, but Viscount Tim was another. Although Leylin had targeted Marquis Louis all along, the one who would bear the brunt of it was still the Viscount who coveted the Faulen lands.

Leylin wasn't sailing to Pirates' Cove for no reason. Besides recruiting the men he needed, he was preparing to look for more supporters. Marquis Louis would have offended quite a few people with his dominant character, even if he had done so unintentionally, and Leylin wanted to round those people up and take advantage of their power.

Leylin pressed his fingers heavily on the mark of the Pirates' Cove on the map, his eyes regaining their previous calm.

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Barbarians

This was Pirates' Cove!

It was rumoured to be the holy land of pirates on the outer seas, where one could dispose of any problematic goods in exchange for attractive gold, or anything else your heart desired. They had the best women and the best rum, but only if one had enough gold. If anyone dared to cause trouble in the port, the enforcers would make them rue the day they were born!

As the most diverse place in the sea, where honest men and crooks mixed with each other, it was awash with information.

Quite often, a plump and juicy target passed by and one could see the magnificent sight of thousands of sails spreading open.

Many pirates spontaneously formed privateering operations, and disguised among the myriads of ships were a few powerful battleships armoured with magic. There were also a few unsinkable ships blessed by the Emperor of the Sea. Naturally, there were also much smaller boats that could only accommodate a dozen people, and even a few small canoes owned by the pirates.

The Pirates' Tide had occurred once, over 50 years ago, and they'd damaged a duchy's navy in the process of plundering a massive amount of wealth. The story became an excellent way of enticing ignorant fishermen's children into become pirates.

However, once Marquis Louis' Baltic archipelago rose in power, Pirates' Cove had grown weaker day by day. Once two of the great pirate crews were roped in by the marquis, the place grew to no longer be as prosperous as before. It slowly turned into an ordinary den of pirates, where they fenced their stolen goods.

Even though it had become like this, the background of the port was still extremely important. Not only had it established a town with an air of importance, they had won over many churches as even pirates needed the healing of the gods or the comfort of a priest.

Furthermore, the evil gods would not deny pirate believers; some perhaps even schemed to become the gods of piracy…

One morning, a fleet with a bizarre flag entered the docks. The crew could be considered large for its kind, and they seemed to have experienced many intense battles. The hull still had marks of battle, slashed by swords.

'This looks like the main battleship of a crew… Why don't I recognise the flag?' The clerk who was responsible for registering ships on the dock rubbed his eyes in disbelief. He could confirm that he'd never seen that bright scarlet flag in his career, with its sinister lifelike skull and dagger.

It was at this moment that a group of pirates came down from the pirate ship, and the clerk welcomed them with a professional smile, "Welcome to Pirates' Cove, here we have—"

Before the clerk could finish speaking, the young man just waved him away with the toss of a golden coin.

The gold coin that the young pirate had used wasn't a Dambrath coin, but it was the even more valuable gold krona!

'Is this youth the captain of these pirates? What a dangerous man…' The pirates standing behind the young man had an aura of death about them, especially the giant who was over two metres tall. He could've been mistaken for a small mountain.

However, these fearsome fellows all acted like fluffy little white rabbits behind the young man, which made the clerk's heart jump into his mouth. He came to realise that the man he faced was possibly a very extraordinary person.

"I know all the rules of this place, isn't it 5 coins to anchor our fleet here for a day?"

The clerk was a former pirate himself, and subconsciously assessed others in strength. The internal injuries which forced him to retire still persisted, forcing him to take up clerical work.

In truth, Leylin felt like the clerk was a very interesting person. Very few in the World of Gods received an education, and a pirate who could write was as rare as the mythical phoenix. Still, he didn't have the heart to discuss anything with him after the long journey. They violent storms and sneak attacks from the other races had fatigued him a little.

"Recommend the best inn, and tell me where I can recruit some sailors. You see the ship behind me, no? It needs to be reworked heavily." Leylin immediately tossed out these requests, and before the clerk could show his dissatisfaction, he immediately added, "If your recommendations are good, then this will be yours."

Another gold krona glowed brightly in his palm.

"Aye, your lordship! There is no one more familiar with Pirates' Cove than me!" The clerk unwittingly swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat.

He simultaneously shot a glance at the signature that Leylin had left, the beautiful cursive making his heart jump, before he noted the information written. 'Scarlet Tiger pirate crew? I've never heard of it before, has it just sprung up out of nowhere?'

Small pirate crews were born frequently in these waters, and death was frequent as well. Nobody would raise an eyebrow at a new pirate crew that relied on fishing to make a living in peacetime, only turning to amateur piracy when their options ran out. These weaker pirate crews were like ants and could perish at any time, but more pirates would emerge the next year.

The treasures of the outer sea, the frequent wars on the continent and its politics, as well as the persecution from the church… All these caused many adventurers, unbelievers, and even those faithful to demons and devils stream into these seas.

The sea was a place where good Gods had little influence, and the few strong evil gods did not mind them. It only rendered the place even more complicated.

The Dambrath area was only a tiny part of the outer seas, and it was still in the early years of development. As a result, no especially strong organisations had formed, and Marquis Louis, with the kingdom's support, had become the strongest person here.

"If you would like me to recommend an inn, then the ones opened by the Barbarians are the best choice!" The clerk immediately answered without hesitation.

"Barbarians…" Leylin's mouth curved into a smile as he thought of the crew. They were part of the big three.

The Barbarians were different from the other two crews, the organisation was made up purely of a single race. Made of barbarian warriors and priests, they were the only ones who had not been reined in by Marquis Louis.

The Barbarian crew shared a deeply hostile relationship with the Black Skeletons and the Tigersharks, and seemed to launch a large-scale battle with them every few years. They were the current head of Pirates' Cove, and the other free crews had formed the Dark World organisation to protect them. There was nothing wrong in saying that this place was the base camp of organisations who opposed Marquis Louis.

The inn opened by the secret master of Pirates' Cove was naturally the safest place in the whole area.

"As for sailors, just shout out in any random tavern and ten pirates will run up to you. How you choose them is up to you, and of course you need to settle the tabs of those you hire at the bars…" As expected, the clerk was extremely familiar with the Pirates' Cove, and he even fervently recommended a certain shipyard to Leylin. That shipyard may not have a high degree of credibility, but they were certainly good enough to do some routine maintenance on a pirate ship.

Leylin silently remembered the address of the shipyard, but he did not choose to go there directly. Instead, he brought his men to the barbarian inn recommended by the clerk.

On the way, Leylin wordlessly assessed those around him.

Most of the people who were able to live in Pirates' Cove were retired pirates or others of that ilk. Although some were too weak to even stand up to the wind, and some were even disabled, they all had one or two skills that kept them going.

Of course, many more were prostitutes in revealing clothing, directly soliciting customers. Although Leylin didn't think much of them, there were a bunch of animals following behind him who were clearly unable to hold back. If it wasn't for Leylin's command, a majority of them would have broken formation.

'They even have a Thieves' Guild!' Leylin looked at the crossed dagger symbol on a street corner thoughtfully. He did not feel worried as he had plenty of time left, and still needed to arrange a place for a large group of men.

The barbarians' inn was in a prime portion of Pirates' Cove, and there were even two armed barbarian warriors standing guard at the door. It made everyone feel exceptionally safe.

Leylin did not trust in the law and security of Pirates' Cove, and did not want to cause any trouble. Even if it cost a bit more money, staying there was an excellent decision.

'They're actually using two rank 5 Professionals to guard the place— is this pirate crew very strong? It's not surprising that they can contend against the two large pirate crews propped up by Marquis Louis,' Leylin assessed the two barbarian guards with interest.

The barbarians were scattered throughout the World of Gods, much taller than ordinary humans with light green skin and muscles that were as solid as granite. Whether male or female, they were all muscle maniacs.

Rumour had it that they were mentally challenged and were even more stupid than orcs. As a result, only a few uncivilised gods preferred to favour them, and they occupied a weak position in the civilised world. In many places, mercenary associations were periodically tasked with clearing up barbarian bandits and tribes.

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Inn

'A.I. Chip, scan their stats!' Leylin commanded inwardly.

[Beep! Establishing mission, initiating scan.] Invisible ripples swept across the area, and the stats of one the barbarian guards were soon displayed.

[Name: Unknown, Race: Barbarian Warrior, Rank 5, Strength: 5, Agility: 2, Vitality: 4, Spirit: 1. Feats: 1. Strong: Barbarians possess increased strength and vitality. 2. Berserk: When they hit emotional extremes, some barbarians have the ability to enter a berserk state of violence, increase strength by 1 and reducing agility and spirit by 0.5.]

The A.I. Chip scanned the other barbarian as well, and he had similar stats.

'These two barbarian warriors both have Berserk abilities?' Leylin secretly compared them to his own men, 'If they really fight, then even Cyclops can't beat them. Perhaps Giant could get in one strike if he risked his life, but after that…

'After all, it's rumoured that barbarians are very well suited to be warriors, but the intelligent ones amongst them can also learn spells, and are capable of using magic…'

This sort of magic ability which was linked to the bloodline was different from that of wizards, somewhat similar instead to the powers of Warlocks. However, their magic was rather restricted, and only a select few were able to use it.

Not even the elite troops of the continent dared to provoke barbarian clans with members who had the ability to use magic.

'It is generally understood that with the scale of the Barbarian pirate crew, the number of women and children that they have to feed must be even greater. On this basis, it's normal for them to have a few magical Professionals. No wonder they were able to resist Marquis Louis for so long…'

All of these thoughts whirled through Leylin's mind in the blink of an eye. To anyone watching from the outside, it looked like he'd merely glanced at the warriors before sweeping past them into the inn.

A dense odour of rum mixed with tobacco smoke welcomed him inside, causing him to wrinkle his brows. Many other travelers were seated in the inn's reception, and the tables there were heaped with a mountain of roasted meat and fruit. Barrels of rum were opened directly, despite a number of drunkards next to them glugging them all down.

Many scantily dresses maids flitted like butterflies through the main hall, occasionally felt up by various customers. They cursed at it, but still laughed all the while.

One really could not ask for more from an inn which specially catered to pirate customers. Fortunately, Leylin's earlier frown was just a natural reaction from many years of living like a noble. His years of enduring hardship still allowed him to endure the vile environment he was now in.

It was clear that his group had attracted the attention of the other customers when they suddenly burst in, especially since Leylin was such a pretty little thing. There were even some reckless fools who wolf whistled at him.

"Giant!" Leylin said in a low voice, shaking his head.

"Do you want to die?" Giant emerged from the shadows. His enormous muscles and the faint traces of scars on them gave him an incredibly oppressive aura. The pirates jumped in surprise, and Giant disdainfully spat a mouthful of saliva at them and drew a line across his throat meaningfully.

"Well? If you're not happy, then let's take it outside," Giant clearly knew the rules, and Leylin nodded at his words inwardly.

The pirates looked at Giant's enormous body as well as the intensely dangerous feeling he gave off, and immediately sat down obediently like a bunch of small chicks, not daring to utter another word.

It was absolutely necessary for a pirate to have an instinct for danger. One look at Giant was enough to know that he was not to be trifled with, forget Leylin who was his master.

The pirates were beginning to secretly regret their earlier blunder, but there were naturally a few whose eyes gleamed with sinister intentions. One could not dominate Pirates' Cove with strength alone, and every day there were several reckless and arrogant novices whose bodies were chucked into the sea.

Leylin was very happy to see the pirates developing plans to provoke him. When the time came, he resolved to teach them the true meaning of fear.

The hall remained silent for only a moment before returning to its normal uproarious state. No one wanted to break the rules laid down by the Barbarians and offend the crew.

"What can I do for you, guest?" As Leylin came to the counter, he found that the boss was a tall and beautiful woman who wore a scarlet low-cut dress and a fur shawl.

Her long red tail naughtily swept across her waist. She shot Leylin a sugar-sweet smile, and the mole at the edge of her mouth grew animated. The boss of the inn was a fox girl, and a stunningly top-grade one at that. Leylin could almost hear his men salivating from behind his back.

"I have 23 men here, are there enough rooms for them all to stay?" Leylin asked immediately. His eyes swept over the fox girl, but his gaze did not linger for too long. There was a flash of surprise in the fox girl's eyes at his attitude, as it was very rare that a young man like him could resist her allure.

"Haha… Of course there are enough! I just need to know what kind of rooms you need," the fox girl changed her strategy, slowly shifting her sinuous waist and revealing her beautiful curves, "We have ordinary rooms here that can fit 5 people. They cost 2 silver bars per night. The medium-ranking rooms are for 3 people, and costs 5 silver bars. What do you need, little brother?"

Her eyes sparkled brightly as she looked at Leylin appraisingly, "Of course, a young nobleman like you would want our best rooms. Not only will it be for you alone, but you will also have an enthusiastic maid serving you. It's not too expensive, and it'll only cost you two Dambrath gold coins per night…"

Leylin clearly felt the power of an enchantment coming from her eyes, but it was completely useless. His spiritual force had already reached 8, and this was nothing.

"I need a single room. Giant, Cyclops and Hulk will have a medium-rank room. The rest will all stay in ordinary rooms," Leylin confidently gave himself the best room, and placed his two officers as well as a soldier from his family into the medium-ranked room. The rest were given ordinary treatment. This was only right, it wasn't like gold fell from the sky.

The bunch of common pirates were already grateful to have the chance to stay in such a luxurious inn. If Leylin wasn't afraid that he would find all his men's corpses in a dreadful ditch on the second day, he would have planned for them all to stay in the Scarlet Tiger itself.

"You can all leave after you receive your room number and key. I have have one requirement: you must all return at night!" Leylin's announcement immediately attracted a burst of cheers from the pirates behind him.

After the period of killing, and the battles with the wind and waves, these pirates had long been physically and mentally exhausted. They wished to let off some steam.

"If you have any requests, remember to call for me." The fox girl boss twisted her slender and supple waist as she brought Leylin to his room, leaving behind a string of coy smiles as she left him at the door.

Cyclops had his ear pressed against the door, and nodded after a moment, "Boss, she's gone."

Leylin was rather speechless at his method, but this was Cyclops' territory. There were too many methods and means to obtain information, and he didn't particularly care to dispel the enthusiasm of his men. He simply nodded and said, "Do you know why I called all of you over?"

"Boss, if you have an order then just tell us!" Giant scratched his head. His coarse face made him look a little foolish, but Leylin had once seen him sturdily squeeze the heads of two enemies until they directly exploded. He wasn't fooled by his appearance whatsoever.

"Mm, the men have gone out to indulge in drink and pleasure. Watch them closely, and don't let them stir up any trouble. This time tomorrow, I want all the information on Pirates' Cove here, understood?"

"Aye, boss! I'll watch those scallywags!" Cyclops licked his lips, smiling sinisterly.

"Very well, go out and have fun!" Leylin threw three small money pouches to them, and the experienced Cyclops immediately knew it was the merry clinking of gold coins.

"Blimey! There's a bonnie gift, boss, thank you!" After opening the money pouch and seeing the golden light that spilled out, Cyclops seemed to forget himself. Even the silent Hulk had a different look in his eyes.

Even though he put overwhelming pressure on them, he still had to fall to using money to bribe them in the end. Leylin did not have any other ideas; he needed special means to build a pirate crew that was capable in battle.

Leylin only rose to his feet after the three had left, and began to appraise the room with his hands held behind his back. The deluxe room was worth its price of two gold coins a day. Not only was it very spacious, with rather opulent decor, it even had its own washroom with a gleaming white porcelain bath crafted by elves, a precious luxury even on the mainland.

"May I ask if the guest is here?" Just when Leylin was preparing the bath, the tender voice of a girl came from outside the door, making Leylin furrow his brows.

"What's the matter?"

"I-I've come to pour hot water for you," the girl outside the door seemed to be rather uneasy and disturbed, which made Leylin feel rather curious. There seemed to be many maids who engaged in part-time work at the inn, but this maid's performance was particularly interesting.

"Come in, the door is unlocked." As the door opened, a half-elf girl in a maid outfit walked in, with wheat-coloured skin and a tall and slender body. She wore a pair of black silk tights, and looked extremely suggestive.

'A half-elf? No, this is…' Leylin's eyes suddenly narrowed.

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Cry for Help

Elves were a populous intelligent race that all lived a secluded life on an enormous island. There were however remnants of some branch families on the mainland. They lived well under the protection of the elven god, and were blessed with good talent and long lives. Many of them made prominent contributions to the arts.

Naturally, elven slaves were highly sought after. Despite the protests and warnings of their race, their price had only increased, with wave after wave of adventurers hunting for them.

Half-elves were more common than purebloods. They still inherited the elfin beauty and elegance, and most of them stood out in terms of appearance, which had led to several disasters. It was not particularly surprising to see a half-elf maid in Pirates' Cove, but Leylin's expression had changed in spite of that.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Karen, respected young master!" The 'half-elf' forced a smile. It appeared that she was not very well trained, and could not properly display her bodily assets to her customers.

"It looks like you haven't been doing this for very long, how much are you for one night?" Leylin asked directly.

This sort of sudden humiliation made Karen want to clench her teeth, but she held herself back and revealed a dazzling smile, "One Dambrath gold coin…"

The price was a little high, but Leylin still nodded, "It's a reasonable price, especially for a half-drow like you…"

The moment he called her half-drow, Karen rose up angrily. She was like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on.

"How do you know that?" she blurted out. She immediately covered her mouth, but clearly realised that she'd already all but confirmed it.

"Your eye colour. The colouring agent you used to stain it can't fool me. You ears are also pointier than normal mixed-bloods by 12.4%, and they are slightly concave…" Leylin lightly pointed out the gaps in her disguise. His sharp observations made Karen subconsciously take a few steps back.

The corner of Leylin's mouth tilted up in a smile as he saw Karen's stats:

[Name: Karen, Rank 5 Assassin, Race: Half-Drow. Stats: Strength: 1 (3), Agility: 2 (5), Vitality: 0.5 (2), Spirit: 3, Feats: 1. Night Vision: Dark elves have the ability to see even at night. 2. Shadow Perception: Dark elves are sensitive to shadow particles, and are innately gifted assassins and pirates. Status: Poisoned by unknown toxin, causing strength, vitality and agility to fall!]

Karen's physical stats somewhat surprised Leylin. She even had the abilities of a rank 5 assassin, but some unknown poison had taken control of her, locking half of her strength away.

It was very clear that the person who controlled Karen from the shadows only thought that she was an ordinary half-elf, otherwise they would never have let her come here. Would that not be like sending someone out to assassinate himself?

Leylin smiled faintly. This rank 5 assassin could not touch even a hair on his head.

"Haven't dark elves always lived underground? How could you appear here, and even take up this line of work?"

Dark elves were a type of elf which were rumoured to live in the darkness. They had awoken the dark nature in their blood, becoming extremely brutal. They longed for violence, blood and chaos, and had separated from the regular elves to move underground. Some rumours said that their gifts in bed could make both men and immortals die of pleasure, that it was comparable to charm and pleasure magic.

"I'm a halfblood. I moved out from the underground with my clan, but we were all scattered in an attack. When I woke up, I was on a trading ship which was later attacked by the Barbarians…" Leylin's eyes seemed to be filled with magic charm, and Karen could only helplessly tell her story.

'No wonder… Half-drow really don't differ too much from half-elves, and only a specialised scholar would be able to tell the difference. She's a rank 5 assassin, and she did not have enough power to fight back against the entire Barbarian pirate fleet, not to mention that she was affected by the toxin's restrictions… Of course, an assassin's camouflage and disguise abilities could let her fool others, so that they thought that she was an ordinary half-elf.'

Something dawned in Leylin's eyes as he said, "And after that you were controlled by the pirates, and now work for them as a maid?"

"Yes…" Karen nodded, and her eyes seemed to fill with momentary hope. She immediately knelt on the ground, looking up at Leylin, "Sir! I beg you, please save me from this hellhole!"

"Save you?" Leylin had an evil smile on his face as he sat back down, "Why would I save you? Give me a reason."

Even Leylin had to admit that Karen was a rare beauty, especially with her eyes which were like the ocean waves. Her unique charm gave him a subconscious favourable impression of her.

"I…" Karen bit her lip, "I'm a rank 5 assassin. If you can save me, I'm be willing to serve you for a hundred years. I swear it in the name of the Dark Maiden!"

The Dark Maiden was a god who tended towards the good alignment, and could not be reconciled with the gods that other dark elves believed in. If Karen believed in this god, then perhaps this was the reason why she had been driven away from the underground.

"Why would you do that? Can't you save up money to buy back your freedom?" Although she seemed rather out of practice, this was clearly not the first time she had done this sort of thing. This sort of life wasn't completely unsuitable for a half-drow, and Leylin couldn't think of why she would want to pay such a huge price for freedom.

"Is their price very high?" Leylin could only guess.

"No!" Karen's lips curved into a rather heartbreaking smile, "They won't ever let me go. As a slave, I don't have the authority to buy my freedom. After I can't be a maid anymore, those barbarians will sacrifice me to their gods…"

Leylin realised that the barbarians had saved her for some bloody and violent sacrificial rituals. Seeing Karen in that state, perhaps she had recently seen this happen several times, and so she began to plan her escape, begging Leylin for his help.

Even though she was pleading for help, she would meet an even worse fate if she asked the wrong person. Leylin seemed to have an air of nobility about him, and Karen was sure that he was not a pirate.

As a result, after realising that her cover had been broken, Karen immediately asked him for help. She almost did not mind promising to become his slave instead.

'He's a young man after all, if I could charm him…' her eyes were filled with anticipation.

As a half-drow, she was born with the knowledge of how to handle males, and did not require further education on that matter. Although Leylin did not look too easily charmed, she was quite willing to at least try. When she thought of this, Karen's heart seemed to be fired up, leaving two faint traces of a blush on her face. She appeared even more charming and lovely.

"A rank 5 assassin?" Leylin looked as if he was thinking over the matter with some difficulty, making Karen reluctant to mention her thoughts.

"You… Do you know anything about sailing?" After a long moment, Leylin stopped pondering and asked this question.

"Sailing?" Karen was shocked dumb. She originally thought that Leylin would come out with an outrageous request, but she had long made her mind up to use all her techniques to mesmerise him. She never thought that he would ask such a completely irrelevant question.

"Yes, I am a pirate captain, and I'm in need of sailors to be my underlings." Leylin waved his hand and seemed to admit it very reluctantly. There was a trace of humour in his eyes, as if he was playing a joke on her, and Karen immediately knew that he had seen through all her plots.

"I… Honestly I don't, but I will work hard to learn. I beg you, Sir," Karen wanted to come up to Leylin and hug him, but Leylin nimbly dodged her.

"Then it looks like you aren't much use to me," Leylin said, making Karen's heart completely sink.

"However, since you're a dark elf, and you lived in the Underdark before, then you're slightly worth something," Leylin continued, his voice drifting into Karen's ears and raising a thread of hope once again.

"Tell me, Karen, are you willing to become my dagger in the shadows, to help me dispatch my rivals, and drink the blood of my enemies?"

An invisible hand tilted Karen's chin upwards, making her eyes widen considerably. "Mage Hand! You're a wizard!"

This nobleman had come to a port where pirates fenced their goods, and although she did not know why, all Karen could see was opportunity! "I'm willing! In the name of the Dark Maiden I swear this— I will become your sharpest dagger!" Karen respectfully knelt down on her knees, making a strange gesture with her hand.

"Very well," Leylin nodded. He really had recruited her on the basis of her being a half-drow assassin.

After all, he currently lacked a spy network and assassin group. Since Karen had recently lived in the Underdark, she would have good experience and knowledge in torture and interrogation as well as assassination. As a rank 5 professional assassin, she was just barely good enough to be of use…

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Tillen

"Very well, I'll speak with the boss later about the issue of your ransom," Leylin promised, rubbing his hands together.

"Many thanks, master!" Karen immediately began to address him differently. Although she currently looked like a weak little elfling, Leylin knew that once he cured her of her poison and armed her with a sharp dagger, this half-drow would immediately become a powerful god of death in the shadows.

After she had thanked him, the room's atmosphere immediately grew awkward.

"Master… Would you like me to call my sister maids over?" Karen twisted the corner of her skirt, and looked extremely embarrassed.

"There's no need. Didn't you come to help me pour the hot water?" Leylin smiled faintly. The bloody battles and the accumulation of a great deal of life energy had left a fire in him that needed quenching.

"Yes, master!" Karen's lips curved into a charming smile, and the entire room was soon enveloped in a layer of youthful lust.

Breakfast in the Barbarian Inn was a rich affair. The staples of fluffy and soft wheat bread and milk were present, and the intoxicating aroma of cheese and fried eggs was in the air. There were even several strings of juicy berries in a rattan basket nearby, to tempt one's appetite.

There was a white napkin around Leylin's neck as he enjoyed his meal with fluid movements. Karen sat on his side and occasionally stole a few glances at him with a blush on her face. These gestures made Leylin smile inwardly; she was a very lovely creature indeed, and he had exceedingly enjoyed his stay last night.

The half-drow seemed to have special talent in that area, but Leylin was not some incapable youth himself. His strength was too much even for a dark elf.

At this moment, Cyclops' voice came from just outside the door, "Boss, can we come in?"

"Enter!" With Leylin's command, Cyclops, Giant and Hulk entered the place all at once.

Looking at the massive dark circles and bags under their eyes, it was easy to tell that what kind of merriment they had gotten up to last night. Even after they had diligently cleaned themselves, Leylin could still smell a strong stench of alcohol and perfume on them.

Cyclops and the others noticed Karen by Leylin's side, but the three pretended as if they hadn't seen her, their eyes filled with a rather questionable smile.

"I'll leave for now, master," Karen said after seeing the others enter. She knew that Leylin had things to discuss with his subordinates, and smartly prepared to leave despite not finishing her breakfast.

"No need. You're one of us now, so you should stay and listen," Leylin said, motioning for Karen to stay.

Cyclops was shocked at this action, and he looked over the girl in appraisal. She was certainly just an elfling girl, and also a part-time prostitute, so why would she be recruited by the captain of their crew? However, since this was Leylin's decision, they could not object to it.

Leylin picked up the white silk napkin and wiped the corners of his mouth before turning to Cyclops and the others, "So, how was last night?"

Cyclops knew that Leylin was naturally not enquiring about what mischief they had gotten up to. He cleared his throat, and began revealing the information they'd found, "Boss! I've already fully found out…

"In Pirates' Cove, there are several merchant families that are interesting in our goods. However, our biggest patron is the boss of this inn… Haha."

"That fox girl?" Leylin nodded, "What offer has she made us?"

"860 Dambrath gold coins for the whole lot! This price is rather average amongst the offers we have received, but it would be the safest option," Cyclops spat fiercely before continuing, "Other families may have offered us a higher price, but I can tell with just one eye what they are planning. Those fuckers!"

Cyclops was a pirate after all, and he subconsciously exploded into foul curses. However, Leylin did not mind the merchants. Pirates' Cove had a mixed bag of characters, and it was not surprising that a pirate would have their own ideas and want to devour their fleet and their goods all in one go.

Compared to this, as the Barbarians were the biggest players in Pirates' Cove, it was entirely normal for them to take in these stolen goods to sell them for a profit.

"Mm, this price isn't bad." Although Leylin had buckled down on a pile of sugar for himself, the rest of his goods were worth at least 3000 gold coins and above. Since they were stolen goods and therefore 'dirty', Leylin would be satisfied with a small profit after it had changed hands a few times.

"This is a detailed map of Pirates' Cove, including the locations of all the churches!" Hulk respectfully handed a sheepskin scroll to Leylin, and also brought a reply from the shipyard, "The shipyard's owner has already had a look at the Scarlet Tiger, and has said that there shouldn't be any problems repairing it. However, the owner said that it would be impossible to magically refit the ship. As for the cost, he will need at least 300 gold coins more…"

"Our little bunny rabbits played hard last night, but nothing big happened. They only had a fight with a few other drunkards," Giant triumphantly announced, and just looking at his face one could tell that he did not lose the fight.

"Mm, we'll rest here for 5 days. Hand the maintenance duties over to the shipyard owner, and ask him to finish the work as quickly as possible. We can make some concessions on the price." It was only routine ship maintenance, and was not as if the ship's entire keel was being replaced or massively refitted. In this world of extraordinary ability, if the shipyard master could put in all his effort to quickly complete it, there should virtually be no problems.

"Rest assured, boss!" Cyclops beat his chest confidently, taking control of the task. Hulk, who stood at his side, had a rather gloomy expression on his face.

Leylin pretended not to see this sort of infighting amongst his men's factions. As long as it didn't interfere with his or the others' ability to fight, he didn't particularly want to intercede.

"Mm, so Cyclops can sort it out. Hulk and Giant, come with me to get rid of the goods and hire some men as well."

"Alright!" "Yes boss!" Since Leylin had issued the command, everything proceeded as expected.

The main hall of the inn was not as noisy as it had been last night, but there were bits of debris on the ground, and even drunkards on the floor.

"All of you, take this drunkard who can't pay my money back to the docks. Put him in hard labour, and give him a harsh whipping every day until he pays back his debts. Don't let him leave until then," the fox girl boss from yesterday ordered the two barbarians from behind the counter, her hands on her hips.

"Oh, young master! Why have you gotten up so early?" After seeing Leylin, her expression quickly changed. She eyed Karen who was standing to one side, and under her piercing gaze, the elfling couldn't help but unconsciously shrink back.

"Unless you're dissatisfied with Karen's service, in which case I'll swap her for someone else for you!"

"No, no need. She's very good," Leylin scratched his nose, "I still don't know my lady's name?"

"Haha, my name is Tillen. You can call me Madam Tillen!" Madam Tillen smiled amorously at Leylin, a smile filled with the charm of a mature woman.

"Mm. Dear Madam Tillen, I want to talk about our transaction, and about this maid's ransom as well," Leylin said directly.

"Ransom?" Tillen swept her eyes across Karen, her eyes filled with a special look, "Well, it looks like our Karen has satisfied the young master well…"

Tillen seemed to yawn lazily. "This isn't the place to talk, follow me!"

She swayed her sinuous hips as she left, leaving behind the strong fragrance of her perfume. Leylin smiled a little before following Her into a small room.

Madam Tillen brewed a floral tea that was said to come from the elves, and waited until white steam had risen before a shrewd expression appeared on her face. "You've asked me for my name, young master, but I don't know how to address you."

"You can call me Leylin," Leylin replied with a smile. Since he wanted to form an alliance with her, trust was crucial. She was only asking for his name, which she could have easily found out later with some investigations.

"Alright, young master Leylin!" Madam Tillen crossed her long, slender legs, her fiery fox tail caressing her supply waist.

"I can take charge of the negotiations for the goods, but Karen is a slave of our inn. If it's to do with her, I don't have the authority to deal with this matter."

"I know everything here is the personal property of the Barbarians!" Leylin smiled as he rubbed his hands.

Crackle!* A powerful electric current flashed, filling the room with a piercingly bright light.

"Since it's like this, call the person who can make a decision here." He followed up in a deep voice, his powerful magic force lingering near his body.

"Wizard! You're a wizard!" Madam Tillen's voice grew somewhat shrill, and it was clear that she had not discovered Leylin's identity.

A noble wizard was very rare in the outer seas. On top of that, Tillen realised that the energy undulations rolling off of Leylin put his strength higher than rank 5. A wizard of that level was a decent adventurer, and could even have a stronger master backing them!

'A wizard named Leylin… That's enough for me to find out who he is!' Unless he used a fake identity, Tillen was certain that Leylin would not be able to escape her information network.

"I never thought that my guest would be such a powerful wizard," Tillen clasped her hands to her bosom, inadvertently revealing a wide and creamy expanse of her delicate skin.

However, Leylin made very clear the division between business and pleasure, "When is your boss coming over?"

"Don't be in such a hurry! The latest you'll meet him will be tonight," Tillen threw a flirtatious glance, "Before that, our store has many things to pass time with, does my guest care to have a look?"

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Thieves' Guild

"No need, I still have matters to attend to. I'll return at night," Leylin got up to reject her, ignoring Madam Tillen's resentful expression behind his back.

"Master, where are we going?" Karen stood next to Leylin, as well-behaved as a maid. Although the talks had not even begun, she acted as if she already belonged to him.

Hulk and Giant stood further away like a pair of loyal Imperial bodyguards.

"Call a few over to come with us and recruit the sailors," Leylin said. Be it the Scarlet Tiger or the merfolk ship, they currently had a severe shortage in sailors. As a result, they needed to recruit a great number of sailors as quickly as possible. Pirates' Cove would always have plenty of these fellows, one only needed to carefully choose from them.

'Whips and Whiskey!' Leylin looked at the tavern's name rather speechlessly, but still opened the wooden door. Although it was still morning, the tavern was filled with people doing business, as well as many hungover drunkards.

"Boss! We found some people last night, and they're all waiting here for you!" Giant smiled in his simple manner, suddenly hammering on the surface of the counter. It made all the hanging beer mugs shake chaotically with an ear-splitting sound.

"So it's you, the fellow from last night! Hurry up and settle your bar tab!" A bleary-eyed old drunkard crawled out from the small door behind the bar, glaring at Giant with disdain. Once he saw Leylin however, his eyes seemed to brighten up considerably.

Perhaps he had seen the beautiful clothes that Leylin wore, and reckoned that this was the golden benefactor who could settle the bad debt.

"Greetings, dear customer!" The old man bowed deeply, smiling until his eyes almost seemed to disappear into his wrinkles.

There was a huge gap in his treatment of Leylin and how he had treated Giant before, but Giant only muttered a few words under his breath, and did not dare to say anything else.

After all, he had tasted Leylin's methods before.

"What would you like?"

"A glass of rum! The rest of you are free to choose your own!" Leylin waved his hand and sat next to the counter, "Where are the people you found? Call them out and let me have a look at them."

His standards were not too high at the moment, and ordinary pirates would suffice. Death would help him select the cream of the crop.

"Wait, boss!" Giant scratched his head, and rushed to gap between a few sofas like a hurricane, and began to beat the sofas up with kicks and punches. Loud curses could be heard from inside the sofas.

After a few seconds, over ten badly battered pirates with swollen faces and bleeding noses were driven out by Giant. Although they were wounded, these pirates had a rather lively temperament, which was beyond Leylin's expectations.

"Giant, are these the people you fought with last night?" Leylin suddenly had a premonition.

"That's right, boss!" Giant laughed in his simple manner, "These fellows are pretty tough, and they can hold their own against my beatings. I think they would do well in the battle squadron…"

Giant's gifted strength was already on the level of a rank 5 Warrior, and he would not do badly against rank 6 or rank 7 Warriors either. For him to give this evaluation, the men must be rather powerful themselves.

At that point, they also knew that Leylin might become their employer, and they looked uneasily at the big fellow standing in the middle amongst them.

"Mm? What's your name?" Leylin looked at the fellow that was obviously their leader. He had a bearded face, and a pair of eyes that looked half-asleep, which glimmered with intelligence from time to time.

"This is a fellow with a lot of stories to tell!" Leylin judged him on his very first glance.

"Ronald! My name is Ronald, my lord!" His tone of voice was very respectful and decorous, and he even seemed to have learnt a little noble etiquette.

"Can you read?" This sort of subtle distinction aroused Leylin's interest.

"I previously spent some time in the Tillen scholars' family learning how to write," Ronald was very humble, and although they had only just met, he had immediately realised that Leylin was not an ordinary youth.

Not only could he subdue a subordinate like Giant, his temperament was different.

Only a life of abundance, and a long period of etiquette and culture lessons could nurture such an awe-inspiring presence, and an air of nobility.

In these times, a man like him represented hope!

"Very good! Ronald, are you willing to swear loyalty to me?" Leylin smiled, requesting loyalty rather than employment. This was clearly the invitation of a noble, and Ronald was stunned by it.

He was only startled for a short moment however. Ronald clenched his teeth and asked, "I want to ask my lord if you're part of the Louis family? If so, then please forgive me, as it would be difficult for me to agree!"

"Why is that? Are they your enemies?" Leylin asked with great interest. He immediately saw a trace of hatred within Ronald's eyes.

This complex change in emotion surfaced only for a moment, but it could not be concealed from Leylin's gaze.

"Yes," Ronald clenched his teeth and took a gamble. After all, if Leylin was a young master from the Louis family, then this situation would not end well for him.

At this moment, the atmosphere became rather delicate. The ten pirates next to Ronald glared at Leylin and his men, as if they were ready to leap into action if the response was unfavourable.

The boss of this place had long hid under the counter, and was obviously experienced with these abnormal situations.

"Haha… Haha…" Just when the atmosphere grew so tense that time almost came to standstill, Leylin suddenly laughed. His rippling laughter disrupted the heavy atmosphere, just like a rock being thrown into still water.

"I'm not one of Marquis Louis' cronies. On the contrary, my family has a grudge against him," Leylin spoke slowly, "After all, even if the Marquis needed men, it would be impossible for him to come and recruit here in the Pirates' Cove, wouldn't it?"

"Then, this Ronald is willing to accept your employment, my lord!" He skillfully answered Leylin's previous question, and clearly did not put any heart into his reply. However, that was normal.

Leylin was not brain-dead enough to think that once he exuded his oppressing aura as a hero, subordinates would come running over to worship him.

Perhaps only after he had lead Ronald to begin taking action against Marquis Louis, would he be able to obtain true loyalty from him. Only once he had destroyed Marquis Louis would Ronald be willing to die for him.

'However, having this sort of effect at the beginning is already good!'

"Very well, from now on you will be a sailor on the Scarlet Tiger ship. Ronald, you are my second officer!" Since there were many available positions now, he needed to fill the gaps quickly.

"Haha… This fellow, welcome to the family! Boss, bring the rum!" Giant firmly slapped Ronald's back, making him stumble.

"No problem!" The boss who had previously hid under the counter immediately stretched out his hand, a cunning expression on his face, "Only… Shouldn't you clear your bar tab before you continue drinking? Since you've already been hired by someone, doesn't that mean you'll have money very soon? Poor old Fade can't stay afloat any longer…"

After he finished, he even winked at Leylin several times and squeezed out a few drops of crocodile tears.

After he heard this, Ronald and the others bowed their heads, and their faces flushed in shame.

'It looks like these people all didn't have enough to pay their bill, and were locked up here last night,' Leylin grudgingly sighed.

"Tell me! How much money do they owe you?"

After walking out of the bar, the group of men behind Leylin's back still looked rather ashamed.

"I've given you the criteria of the men I'd like to recruit, so now it's up to you to recruit people. I need 100 men!" Leylin said to Hulk, after they had walked for a while.

"Don't worry, my lord!" As a guard of the Faulen family, Hulk's loyalty towards Leylin was very strong.

"Mm, go and attend to your business. There's no need to follow me," Leylin waved his hand to dismiss the others behind him.

"Master!" Karen followed behind Leylin with a worried expression on her face.

"Don't worry, once I make a promise, there is no way that it won't be fulfilled," Leylin said in a gentle voice, but Karen involuntarily trembled.

"Alright. Please be careful, Pirates' Cove is extremely chaotic…"

"Mm, I know," Leylin nodded, disappeared into an alley on the side of the street.

Pirates' Cove had a complex labyrinth of back alleys, and each one could allow only one person to pass. It was obviously crowded and chaotic and the floor was filled with slop and filthy things, making it smell absolutely awful.

However, Leylin's gaze was fixed on a unique symbol in a corner of the alleyway. It was a symbol of two crossed daggers, which faintly pointed towards a certain direction.

"The Thieves' Guild!" Leylin smiled, and immediately walked in the direction that the daggers were pointing to.

In the World of Gods, more and more people were able to advance into a profession. However, the one's that attracted the most attention and had endured the longest were the three guilds- the Thieves' Guild, the Warriors' Guild and Wizards' Guild!

These three guilds would frequently issue missions, which would bring great benefits to adventurer groups.

In the World of Gods, the number of shrines and whether the three major guilds were hosted there, was a major indicator of the prosperity of a city.

Pirates' Cove naturally did not host the Wizards' Guild, but Leylin had seen the Warriors' Guild as their symbol had been very striking.

The Thieves' Guild was an enormous organisation which had been secretly hidden in the dark, and their missions tended towards secrecy. Most of them were requests for assassinations or theft.

However, it was this dark network that seemed to permeate the entire continent, and rumour had it that they had the blessings of many gods.

Yes, the three great guilds each had the backing of more than one god!

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Underground

As he walked in the direction that the daggers pointed, his surroundings became increasingly remote. The liveliness of Pirates' Cove was gradually left behind, and Leylin began to feel a pervasive sense of eeriness and desolation.

This feeling grew even more obvious after he walked down a flight of stone stairs. The terrifying senses of wizards allowed him to notice that there were three pairs of eyes spying on him in the shadows.

"It really feels like I'm walking down to hell!" Leylin chuckled. The sun was covered by vast dark clouds, projecting tremendous shadows.

He pressed his palm onto a gray rock covered in moss, and a gap immediately appeared in a wall nearby. He did not hesitate as he quickly ducked into the gap, simultaneously feeling many astonished gazes directed at him.

There was a very short path behind the wall, and at its end was a wooden door with an iron ring.

Thump! Thump!* Leylin used the ring to knock loudly on the door, and it let out a distant sound.

The door creaked open slightly, revealing the face of an old man holding an oil lamp. He had practically no facial muscles anymore, looking like a withered corpse under the flickering light of the lamp. His two eyes looked dazed, the eyeballs completely motionless.

"The night is always lonely," The old man said in a hoarse voice, as if he had not spoken for a long time.

"For those who are seeking brightness and hope!" Leylin smiled slightly, a dagger flying into his hand and beginning to dance through the air as elaborately as a butterfly.

The old man gave Leylin a probing look and opened the wooden door, "Come in, brother from the Underdark!"

With the light from his oil lamp, Leylin could see a deep and pitch-black passageway that seemed to go all the way to the core of the earth. A distant sound increased in volume as he made his way across it, until it turned into what seemed like a market bustling with life.

Pak!* Two enormous gates opened, revealing an even more expansive underground world.

What entered his sights was a hall formed from a deep cave, with sinkholes in the floor and underground streams trailing off to numerous others. People from all walks of life populated this area, most strangely covering their faces with shrouds. Only pairs of vigilant eyes were revealed.

In the distance were a few wooden constructions and a large announcement board towering ahead. Below were many masked people gesticulating at it. While they tried to lower their volume, the sounds of discussion from the whole crowd joined to form a buzz.

"Welcome to the Thieves' Guild! Is this your first time, kid?" A slender and tall person like a bamboo stick closed in, trying his best to create a stiff smile, "Need a guide? I…"

"No!" Leylin rejected resolutely.

This was the dark world of Pirates' Cove. How could there be good people here? Even if one looked to hire people, just showing the slightest of weaknesses would cause these people to pounce on you like wild wolves, dividing everything amongst themselves after murdering you.

"Mister… I…"

"Scram!" Leylin glared at him, and the murderous aura born of indiscriminate slaughter forced the man several steps back.

Having killed people meant nothing. Everyone here had the blood of at least one or two people on their hands themselves, but Leylin's own murderous aura was far more powerful than that. It was that of someone who's truly honed themselves on a bloody battlefield, not someone to be trifled with.

An important part of being a thief was knowing oneself well. The slender bamboo stick of a man laughed awkwardly and disappeared into the darkness. He had a feeling that if he were to continue staying here, what happened next would be something he would regret.

"Is this darkness…" Feeling the blood and violence lingering in the air, as well as the pure malicious intent, Leylin revealed a nostalgic look. He was originally a dark Magus after all.

He ran his eyes over his surroundings casually, and began to head towards the large announcement board. The thing seemed to grow bigger the closer he got, until it was the size of a small hill.

Numerous enchanted words flickered on it; just maintaining this effect would require at least tens of gold coins everyday. The extravagance caused Leylin to nod to himself.

'Mission: Track down whereabouts of a batch of silk cloth!'

'Mission: Investigate reason and happenings for the fall of the Half Merfolk Island!'

'Mission: Assassinate Viscount Lorraine's wife!'

'Selling information: The recent shipping route of the cargo ships of the Heigel chamber of commerce!'

'Selling recipe for poison: Tears of Molin! Interested parties must come for a face-to-face meeting!'

All sorts of information and news flickered on the announcement board. The missions for investigation and assassination caused Leylin to let out an involuntary sound of surprise, 'I didn't expect news of Half Merfolk Island to travel here so quickly, and… Missions for the assassination of nobility put out here in public…'

The only impression that Leylin got was that as long as money was involved, these assassins could do anything. He gazed steadily at the board as the A.I. Chip rapidly scanned everything, collating the information on all these missions into one system.

While it was only the names of the mission, Leylin grew to understand the outer seas better from it.

'Crimes and chaos… I like it…' Though he only saw a corner of this dark world, Leylin knew that things were definitely not all quiet and tranquil in the region.

Many rebellious powers lay low in the shadows, preparing to deal Marquis Louis a fatal blow at any time. This would completely destroy the market dominance that the Baltic archipelago enjoyed, allowing them to plunder the riches and resources there!

Once the A.I. Chip showed a prompt that it had recorded all the information, Leylin walked straight to the wooden house at the back.

Many roads immediately showed up like a dense cobweb. Some fellows with dangerous auras occasionally appeared in Leylin's senses, but there was only a very fuzzy image of them there.

'This feeling… Is it a protective layer due to some divine force? In addition, this seems to be from a god I know well…' Leylin snickered and strode inside.

Pila!* The void was torn open at this moment, and an icy glint of steel was aimed straight at Leylin's neck like a poisonous snake's tongue.

The rank of this assassin seemed to be rather high, and he had almost escaped Leylin's senses. It was only at the moment of the other party's attack, that instant when their murderous intent surged out, that Leylin located them.

'Mage Armour! Fragile Barrier!' Two layers of protective spells immediately appeared with a thought.

But at the same time, he saw an icy look in the assassin's eyes. The rays of light from a divine spell shone out.

Dispel Magic! Under the glittering light, Leylin's protective spells instantly crumbled, revealing his astonished gaze. The dagger in the assassin's hand ruthlessly swiped at his neck, and he evidently would not stop until it was all over.

Most wizards would need a period of time to recover their senses and contact the Weave after being hit with Dispel Magic. This slight moment would be enough for the assassin to carve Leylin into multiple pieces. After all, a wizard that had lost all ability to cast spells was just a regular human.

[Beep! Host affected by divine spell, suffering a temporary loss of ability to sense level 2 and 3 Weave. Countdown: 5 seconds!] The A.I. Chip's prompt arrived in that instant, but strangely enough, there was no mention of the level 0 and 1 Weave. Leylin could sense that his ability to use that still existed.

'I see. So after I complete the analysis of the Weave, I'm immune to isolating skills?' Leylin could now cast rank 0 and 1 spells in an instant, drowning this assassin. However, he immediately gave this idea up.

An ability that was too unexpected would give rise to suspicions, which was not beneficial to him at the moment.

'Since it can seal the magic abilities I have, then…' A magic scroll instantly appeared in his hands, emitting terrifying light.

"A rank 4 spell!" The assassin produced a sharp cry. Meanwhile, he could feel his dagger piercing into what seemed to be the most solid granite, unable to penetrate through it even by an inch.

"Rank 4 magic, Stone Skin! You despicable maggot, you even made me use such a precious scroll!" Leylin feigned fury as he was completely covered by a layer of stone skin, as if he now wore armour of stone. This was Stone Skin, a rank 4 spell. Its defensive power was outstanding even among other spells of its kind.

This scroll was something that Ernest had given Leylin while he had still been in the manor just in case. He hadn't used it during the previous times of danger, but he'd done so now.

This was a rank 4 magic scroll! Even if its value wasn't enough to equal that of a city, it was very precious, and the fury on Leylin's face was understandable.

"You should not have come here!" The assassin's voice was hoarse as he hurriedly retreated.

"Trying to leave now?" Leylin's expression was filled with fury as he swung his fist.

Thud!* The tip of the dagger was broken off by the stone fist, but it did not stop there. It crashed into the assassin's body with great power.

Crack!* A layer of his defence was destroyed, and the assassin's body was sent flying backwards, the imprint of a fist clear on his chest.

"Never… Never has someone been able to treat me this way. I will kill you…" The assassin pulled his mask down, revealing a sullen face, with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"Let's see who dies first!" Leylin strode closer, a murderous aura apparent on his face.

"Esteemed guest, please forgive him!" At some point, a figure dressed entirely in a black robe came to the centre, a streak of divine force flying to the assassin's body.

Under the light, the assassin's wounds healed at a startling rate.

"Cure Serious Wounds! A rank 3 divine spell!" Leylin's eyes narrowed as he saw the emblem on the other party's chest.

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Conference

"A priest of Cyric?" Leylin stepped backwards, "Since this is what the God of Murder's pries wants, then I'll forget it…" He had no plans of killing people here, he was in their territory after all.

"Lord Priest, please let me…" At this moment, the assassin on the ground began to crawl, eyes full of hatred for Leylin.

"Enough, fall back!" The voice yelled at the assassin without favouritism, causing him to freeze.

"You just wait!" The assassin glared at Leylin, drawing a finger across his neck before disappearing into thin air.

"Hehe… Little Cly was far too reckless and impulsive. Esteemed guest, please come with me!" The priest politely gestured at Leylin to move on. Leylin rubbed his nose and walked with him.Leylin left a long while later, having acquired what he needed. This priest then turned here and there in the underground world, and finally left the Thieves' Guild and arrived in a secret room.

The flames around them flickered sinisterly. At the very centre of the place was a shrine to the God of Murder.

In front of the figure was an old man with wrinkles all over his face, praying as powerful divine force rippled forth from his body.

"Lord Bishop!" The priest from before bowed respectfully.

"Is that person gone already?" The old bishop opened his hazy eyes. They somehow held a lustre that could see through one's intentions.

"Yes, he has already left. He bought a lot information regarding Marquis Louis!" The priest did not dare conceal anything, and stated all of Leylin's activities.

"I saw it. He will be the source of chaos in the future. His many murders and the chaos he brings will definitely bring joy to our master!" The bishop muttered.

"Then what should we do? Help him?" The priest asked, confused.

"There's no need for that… Keke… Just be neutral. If required, he will definitely seek our help…" Lord Bishop snickered, "In addition, gift the news of him coming here to the Barbarians. Also, warn Cly not to interfere with the Master's great work just because of a brother's death, or I will put him on trial…"

The God of Murder's punishment was notoriously brutal, and even this priest began to tremble in fear once it was mentioned.

"I understand! Our Master's glory will definitely spread across the lands!" The priest said a prayer, and then left respectfully…

'The God of Murder? How interesting!' Leylin evidently realised that today's incident had to do with the wave of assassins he'd faced before.

However, assassins were people who worked for money. Mahnke might have sided with Marquis Louis at the beginning or had been hired by him, but he had already been turned into a pile of bones. Leylin could not be bothered with him. Rather, a high-ranked assassin like Cly was a threat he could not ignore.

"Seems like this Thieves' Guild is neutral. It's under the rule of the Barbarians, but also has connections with Marquis Louis…" Leylin smiled grimly.

Churches always saw things from their own point of view, the conflicts of mortals transient like fleeting clouds. As long as their own rule wasn't affected, they didn't care about the king. It was so with the church of knowledge, as well with the church of murder.

'The exploration of the sea started recently, but the place has already entered the sights of the gods. I need to step up my plans…' Leylin's expression could not help but darken, but after he returned to the inn he had calmed down, not revealing any hint of what he'd felt before.

"Boss!" Giant and Hulk stood up in the inn's main hall, accompanied by the tens of pirates they'd brought. Ronald was also there amongst them.

"Mm!" Leylin's eyes swept through this group of pirates. All who met his gaze felt a piercing feeling in their eye, and had no choice but to lower their heads.

"Tell them that I'll get the bill for the roasted meat and rum over these few days!" It had to be said that Leylin had a pretty good impression of these people. At the very least, these pirates were more ferocious than the rest.

Of course, that was the extent of it. It wasn't easy to recruit Professionals at or above the middle grades.

"Master, Madam Tillen has invited you to the back!" Karen noiselessly appeared behind Leylin, her footsteps incredibly light like those of a seasoned thief. She no longer showed any signs of her previous weakness.

"Has the poison from your body been removed?" Blue light flashed as Leylin asked in surprise. He only needed a bit of effort to obtain a cure for Karen's poison, but Madam Tillen had already taken care of it. It showed her favourable attitude.

After all, she had the Barbarians backing her. It was currently the only organisation that could contend against Marquis Louis in the outer seas.

"Yes! She's already removed my slave contract. Henceforth, I serve under you, Master!" Karen had already removed that maid uniform that gave rise to wild thoughts. She was now clad in black leather attire, a black leather holster for her dagger on her thighs that were as thick as ivory. It made her seem even more gallant.

"Good. Lead me there!" Leylin knew that Madam Tillen had already reported everything about him to the Barbarians, she was a part of them after all. They were now looking for him to lay all their cards on the table.

It was the same room as it had been in the morning, though there was now another giant in there.

This was a barbarian with green skin, sitting on the large sofa nonchalantly and with a great aura to him. The floorboards beneath him had slightly sunken under his heavy weight. He wore a cow-horn helmet made of wrought iron, and revealed a fine and solid upper body. His fierce looks were coupled with a pair of shrewd eyes.

At his right hand was an exotic saber 1 at a position from which it could be brandished most easily. Its sharp edge held a magic glow to it, evidently a result of it being enchanted by an alchemist.

"Hehe… the young master of the Faulen Family!" Madam Tillen now sat on the thigh of the barbarian, beaming up at Leylin.

Her fiery-red tail brushed against the barbarian from time to time, giving off an untameable feeling that was very tempting.

The two sat together, and Leylin suddenly had a bizarre feeling that this was rather similar to 'Beauty and the Beast', but Madam Tillen did not seem to think so. Her eyes were full of love as she stared into his eyes.

"Hehe… I never thought that young master Leylin, the heir of a Baron, would become a pirate!" Madam Tillen now sized Leylin up and down, eyes emanating a beautiful luster, "That's not all. I've heard about young master's talent in magic that even makes your mentor feel ashamed of himself. How extraordinary…"

In just a few sentences, she'd revealed that she now had all the information regarding the current Leylin.

"And so? Nobles will never admit it, and I obviously won't!" Leylin chuckled and sat on the sofa on the opposite side. Karen stood behind him, her body involuntarily trembling as if it had evoked some past trauma.

The Barbarians would've been too stupid to hold influence over the outer seas if they couldn't find information on him given his name and the fact that he was a wizard. The sincerity was a requirement of an alliance.

"Nice! Young master Leylin's words are completely different from those dignified nobles," Madam Tillen's tone seemed to conceal some hatred, "They appear to be openhearted and benevolent, but in reality they're worse than beasts…"

The barbarian warrior did not utter a single word all this time, but the pressure he gave off made him seem like a mountain, constantly attacking Leylin.

"This is…?" Leylin asked Madam Tillen bluntly.

"Oh, look at me!" Madam Tillen patted at her bright forehead and gave him a flirty look, "Let me introduce. This is Ogde Battlehammer, my lover! He's also the captain of the Barbarians!"

As she introduced him, Leylin's eyes flickered. The A.I. Chip's robotic voice sounded, and part of the information was projected before him.

[Name: Ogde Battlehammer. Race: Barbarian. Strength: 15. Agility: 10. Vitality: 10. Spirit: 9. A warrior above rank 15, extremely dangerous!]

Beside the numbers was a 3D image of him, including the magic saber. Just from the image, Leylin could tell that he had numerous magic items on him.

'A high-ranked warrior above rank 15, with a bonus in strength as a barbarian! Even on the continent, this strength would bring him fame. Even if it's the Marquis, with help from the barbarian race, Ogde should not be on the losing end in a battle against the Marquis.'

Leylin found that he had to recalculate the strength Marquis Louis had. In the World of Gods, Professionals between ranks 5 and 10 were elites. Those above rank 10 were great in their own right, and as for rank 15s and above, they were respected throughout the kingdoms and treated very well.

However, even a high-ranked warrior like that, with the power of his whole race on his side, was on the losing end against Marquis Louis. How powerful was the noble? At this moment, Leylin felt lucky that he'd left immediately after taking care of Half Merfolk Island.

As these thoughts flashed past, Leylin nodded at this high-ranked barbarian captain, "Nice to meet you, revered exemplary!"

Comprehend Languages flashed, allowing Leylin to understand what the Barbarian meant.

1. a single long broad blade, and a long handle suitable for two-handed use. Dating from Emperor Cheng of Han, made to slice through horse's legs (hence the literal translation of the term, Horse Beheading Sword)

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Alliance

"Foreign wizard! I can sense an aura emitting from you, that only clan priests possess!" The high-level barbarian warrior, Odge, had his eyes fixated on Leylin's hands, "In addition, you're also a soldier worth respecting!"

His astonishing sharpness allowed him to sense Leylin's accomplishments as a warrior.

"Then… Speak your purpose in coming here!" After Odge spoke, the fox lady Madam Tillen immediately stood obediently as the side, as though she was a maid showing respect.

Leylin took a deep breath, then said his request, "I would like to join forces with the Barbarians' to attack the Baltic archipelago!"

"Are you crazy, young lad?" Even the fox woman couldn't listen to such a fantastical plan. She stood up as her chest heaved violently, "Do you know how many Professionals Marquis Louis has under him? You actually want to rope us in as his enemy? Don't think we'll think highly of you because you exterminated the Black Tigers and Half Merfolk Island. Wait till you've gotten rid of the Black Skeletons or Tigershark Pirates, before saying that again!"

"But… you're ALREADY enemies with the Marquis. I'm just offering a helping hand, am I not?" Leylin shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile.

"Good lord! To think that I actually know a chap like you who doesn't understand the complexity of the situation…" Madam Tillen was so furious that her entire body started to tremble, and she was close to chasing him away immediately.

But at this very moment, an enormously powerful pair of hands stopped Tillen from taking action. "Let him continue!"

"Odge… You…" The fox lady turned around and saw the interested expression in the barbarian's eyes.

"The enemy of our enemy is our friend!" Leylin smiled and spoke frankly with assurance. "Not only can the Faulens offer you support as a noble family, I am also a wizard, with a formidable tutor as my backing."

The power of magic was the eternal sorrow of these barbarians. Odge's expression changed greatly in response. Even though there were a few barbarian priests who had inherited magical abilities, they were always at a disadvantage compared to human wizards.

Upon seeing this, Leylin became more confident. "I presume… that you also know how powerful magic can be, right?"

"Yes, we will require the assistance of formidable magical power to aid us in defeating Boruj!" The Barbarian Warlock nodded.

"Boruj… Is that the chief wizard of Louis' family?" Leylin quickly recalled the information he had purchased at the Thieves' Guild.

"That's right! I can tell you for definite that he's a high level wizard above rank 15! Without him, if they relied only on Black Skeletons and Tigershark Pirates, I'd have ripped those two pirate crews into shreds a long time ago…"

"A wizard above rank 15!" Leylin exhaled deeply. Such high level wizards often had great mastery over powerful plane transmission spells and life spells, which made killing them exceptionally difficult.

"Such wizards are probably few and far between even in the Dambrath Kingdom, right? Why would he agree to work under Marquis Louis?"

If it was him that was the marquis of the empire, there would still be a possibility of attracting a high-level wizard to work for him. But Marquis Louis evidently didn't have this qualification. In the entire Dambrath Kingdom, the only person who had the ability to recruit a high-level wizard would only be His Majesty.

"As a matter of fact, I know a little about this…" Seeing that Odge didn't reject the alliance, and even appeared to admire Leylin, Madam Tillen took a deep breath, no longer looking down on Leylin.

"According to my intelligence reports, that marquis apparently promised to build him a wizard tower, and used this to pay for the wizard's assistance…"

"We absolutely must not let him successfully build a wizard tower!" Without waiting for Madam Tillen complete her sentence, Leylin had already made up his mind. Even it was a wizard tower of the lowest standards, the amount of wealth required was astronomical. Two million gold coins was the most basic requirement, and they had to be kronas.

With such a huge temptation, it was no wonder that Boruj would cast himself as one of Marquis Louis' subordinates. It was also not surprising that his table manners were exceptionally unsightly 1, as he was a person who wanted any kind of benefits.

But the more it was so, the more Leylin wanted to destroy their alliance.

No one else understood the terror of a wizard tower more clearly than a wizard himself. A low-ranking wizard tower was equivalent to a rank 15 wizard, the sort that did not need to rest day or night, with boundless energy. Once he successfully constructed his wizard tower, the entire Baltic archipelago would be so sturdy that it would be impenetrable under Boruj's supervision.

With the wizard tower, not only would Boruj take a step forwards to advancement, it also meant that he could groom a steady flow of wizard apprentices!

It only took a few reminders from Leylin before Odge's eyes shone with resolution.

"But… According to our intelligence reports, Marquis Louis is already secretly buying mithril and refined gold in bulk, and they even increased the intensity of their slavers' fleet. He even sent people to the mainland to acquire high-grade construction blueprints…"

"The more he moves forward, the more we cannot let them succeed, or else his will be the only voice in the outer sea in the future!" Leylin's expression was serious, "I'll incessantly raid his shipping routes from now, I'll need your cooperation for intelligence reports and to fence stolen goods."

Hearing Leylin's simple yet crude plan, Madam Tillen had a rather thoughtful expression on her face. What he offered was something the Barbarians themselves could not do.

Were they to do such a thing, it would mean the start of a war! The Marquis' powerful fleet of ships would arrive at Pirates' Cove in the blink of an eye, but it was different for Leylin. He was executing this in private, but still had the identity of a noble on the surface.

Even Marquis Louis would not dare to commit the heinous crime of attacking another noble family's territory without any evidence. Besides, only a wizard like himself would be able to avoid the detection and predictive spells of the wizard working under Louis.

As for dispatching pirates and the like, did he think the other nobles were fools? There was a church on Faulen Island as well.

As long as the high-level wizard Boruj was not around, Leylin dared to join up with the Barbarians, and make sure that Boruj would walk the path of no return.

Many thoughts passed through the barbarian's mind. One should not be baffled by his appearance; although he was a barbarian, his ability to hold the throne of leadership showed that he was no simple character.

Moreover, no matter how he looked at it, the one taking the risk would be Leylin and his family. There wouldn't be any gains or losses on his part. This was what Leylin had planned long ago, and it would soon bring sorrow to his weaker opponents.

"Madam!" At this instant, there was a light knock on the door.

"What's the matter? Didn't I say before that you can't approach the lord if there isn't anything important?" Madam Tillen scowled, but continued to swing her hips as she opened the door by a small crack.

"Madam!" A maid with extremely clever eyes lowered her head and secretly scanned her surroundings, before whispering something in Madam Tillen's ear.

After closing the door, Madam Tillen returned to her seat. She looked at Leylin oddly. Her facial expression changed a few times, before she leaned forward on Odge's shoulder and said a few words to him.

"You're good!" Odge gave Leylin a profound look. He then whispered urgently and hastily in Madam Tillen's ear.

A high-ranking warrior of Odge's level could already manifest their qi into the external environment. Isolating an area from detection was simply a piece of cake for him, and even Leylin couldn't hear anything they were discussing.

"Alright! Our chief has agreed to form an alliance with you, and even share our intelligence reports and the channel where we dispose our stolen goods with you!"

Madam Tillen grudgingly shot a bitter glance at Leylin, as though he had gotten some huge advantage, "However, we want half of the benefits of your profits every round!"

"Ten percent at most, or else I will not be able to pay my subordinates!"

Once they were back to this matter, Madam Tillen seemed to have returned to being that shrewd wife. Leylin couldn't give them his benefits just based on a few sentences she uttered, and they settled on the criterion of thirty percent in the end.

Since the leaders of both parties had already confirmed their inclination towards a collaboration, the rest of the matters could be settled by their subordinates. Odge stood up, causing a slight tremor in the process.

"Nobleman from the outer seas, wizard Leylin! Are you my friend?"

"Of course. May our friendship last for a long time, and even carry over to our descendants!" Leylin solemnly made a promise.

Thump!* Two fists, one large and one small, collided, producing a light crack. This was a contract of their alliance and a pledge between men.

Of course, how long this would be maintained was a question that Leylin found hard to confront. However, before the fall of Marquis Louis' influence, their relationship as allies would be relatively solid.

After Odge left, the fox lady moved next to Leylin. Her petite frame which could light up a fire in most men was almost completely leaning against his body as she said in a feminine voice in his ear, "Hehe… Odge seems to like you very much?"

"My apologies, Madam! It's about time for me to leave!" Leylin pushed her away courteously and got up to take his leave.

Hearing his words, a trace of disappointment flashed across her eyes, although it wasn't clear if it was genuine or false. "Your behaviour really does deeply wound me! However, elder sister still has two gifts for you!"

"Karen! You belong to Mr Leylin from now on. You need to satisfy all of his demands, understand?"

"Understood, Madam!" Karen agreed like it was a conditioned reflex, before a hint of shame and fury flashed across her face, as though she had come to a realisation.

Although he was fully aware that Madam Tillen was being generous, at least she had gotten the approval of the barbarian, or else she definitely wouldn't have dared to free Karen of her imprisonment. Leylin thanked her anyway.

1. Acting tastelessly and greedily

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Establishing Might

"And the other gift?" Leylin looked at the appealing fox lady in front of him. There was a glimmer of anticipation on his face like that of a little boy-next-door.

Such an attitude made Madam Tillen blush instantly, and her heart almost could not take it, "Although I know perfectly well that you're just putting on an act, I still was nearly captivated by you…"

Tillen swayed her hips. Her fiery-red fox tail drifting gently with the wind, "The second one is an intelligence report. It's about the God of Murder's church."

Leylin's expression turned solemn as he listened carefully.After several days, the Scarlet Tiger had been repaired at the pier of Pirates' Cove. The blood-red flag with the skull and dagger motif fluttered in the wind.

The damage to the ship's hull had been completely mended, the bottom of the ship polished, and even the bow of the ship had been replaced. The entire ship seemed to have been given new life, making Leylin feel deeply moved and feeling that his gold coins had been well-spent.

Now, Leylin was standing at the front of the deck with his hands behind his back, looking down at more than a hundred pirates.

These men were all recruited at Pirates' Cove, and would make up the members in his future pirate crew.

Although Hulk and Giant had diligently attended to the matter, Leylin still had a glimmer of dissatisfaction due to the short period of time they had.

It could not be said that he was discontented with these pirates below him. It would be a wonder if these stubborn and unruly pirates submitted immediately upon discovering that their boss was a youngster. Thus, Leylin was not upset about that. What made him unhappy was how weak these pirates were.

The number of Professionals were so low that it could be counted with his fingers, and not a single one was above rank 5. Ronaldo's group was already considered the cream of the crop, but they had at least seen bloodshed before, so they wouldn't be lenient during a battle.

Furthermore, the few who had pretty decent strength seemed to be up to no good. They didn't even have the inclination to lay low for a while, which made Leylin shake his head inwardly.

'Forget it, an elite pirate crew isn't made in one or two days. Hulk and Giant have done quite well.'

Leylin sighed secretly, then stood in front of everyone, "I am the captain of the Scarlet Tiger and will be your captain in the future. Does anyone have anything to say?"

He roared loudly all of a sudden, and his voice even made the pirates' eardrums hurt, "I know many among you are unwilling to obey me."

Leylin slowly ran his eyes through the crowd, seemingly able to read every single pirate's heart, "Some of you have your eyes on the handsome pay. Others are here purely to have some fun. Furthermore, some of you, perhaps, simply harbor prohibited thoughts and wish to kill me and seize control of the boat at sea."

An uproar came from the pirates below, but Leylin's voice was loud enough to repress it.

"But it doesn't matter, I can put all that aside. However, if you disobey my orders on the ship, or are unable to complete even my most basic requests, I will wring your brain out and stuff it up your anus. Do you understand?"

This arrogant threat immediately created a commotion among many of the pirates. Even Ronaldo was slightly displeased.

"Ya tender white swine! How dare ye speak to adults like that! Be a good lil' boy and run back to yer mommy's bosom to drink her milk!"

A jarring voice sounded from the crowd and hoots of laughter instantly erupted.

"Stop hidin', Damphair Aeron. I can see ye. Get out here!" Giant and Hulk were rather furious.

"Hey! Hey! Mateys! Are we gin' let a mischievous imp climb over our heads?" The crowd parted. A pirate with a fake eye and yellowing teeth walked out with more than a dozen men behind him.

"Browntooth Torworld, Pinchface Jon Myre, Red Oarsman Lucas Codd, Quellon Humble…" Giant's expression grew worse as these names were called out one by one.

These were all famous pirates. Most of them worked alone, but they still were forces to be reckoned with.

Moreover, they had great popularity among the various pirates. Even Cyclops felt that this wouldn't be easy to settle.

"Finally, you appear." Leylin shook his head, "Then what do you plan on doing? Don't forget we are still at the pier."

Leylin was speechless regarding how those few had appeared all of a sudden. Even if they were just being compliant on the surface, but were secretly conspiring to seize control of the authority, Leylin could still use them temporarily for a period of time. It was better than disposing of them immediately.

"Nothin', respectable young master!" Aeron snarled, making his yellowing teeth even more conspicuous, "I'm just hopin' that young master can appoint me and these mateys as assistants onboard. This way, we'll be able to pass on a portion of the benefits to ye. A person with such honorable status like yourself can refrain from headin' out to sea and takin' risks. Ain't that reasonable?"

"Is this what all of you think too?" Leylin looked down at the newly recruited pirates.

At this point, even Giant, the most slow-witted of them all, understood that they were plotting to seize control. He immediately stood behind Leylin, along with Cyclops and the other older pirates. Their gazes were filled with pity.

Based on what they knew of Leylin, they instantly predicted that this was the beginning of a show of force and massacre.

The majority of the pirates lowered their heads, but a few jeered rowdily. The crowd still showed tacit approval on the whole.

The loyalty of pirates was as chaste as prostitutes.

"Aeron! You're too much!" Ronald stood apart together with his brothers, drawing the boundaries with him.

"A silent majority, and a handful of rebellious people?" Leylin laughed while looking at Aeron, who seemed to be at a loss of what to do. His eyes were filled with panic.

Upon seeing Ronald step out, he evidently understood that the situation had escalated to a point where it would be difficult to tell what would happen.

At first, they had more than a dozen brothers that were not inferior to Leylin's men. While the remaining newly recruited pirates wouldn't have helped an outsider.

But now, the tables had turned. Since Ronald decided to defect while bringing some people along, the tides turned immediately. The number of people in Leylin's team rapidly increased, which intimidated majority of the remaining pirates.

Aeron deeply understood that, with his reputation, it was possible to get some of these pirates to fight for him. However, it would be impossible for Ronald to fight for Aeron as if his life depended on it.

"Damn it Ronald, ye made me lose such a huge juicy sheep! Watch out!" Aeron cursed and moved to leave with his subordinates. Death, however, was already knocking on his door. A nimble black silhouette suddenly appeared out of thin air.

"Shadow Stealth!" The figure that had appeared was an assassin. Her dagger slashed an elegant arc across his neck.

Assassin skill— Cutthroat!

A great amount of fresh blood splurted out. Aeron covered his throat with both hands, and struggled as he collapsed on the floor. His death was quick.

"Anyone with the audacity to offend my master, will die." Karen stood behind Leylin, wielding the dagger.

After the poison was expelled from her body, Karen finally returned to her original strength as a rank 5 assassin, which immediately intimidated a few people.

Now, she faced these pirates with the blade of vengeance.

"A rank 5 assassin! Mateys, charge! Avenge Aeron!" A red-haired pirate, who had been standing behind Aeron, immediately yelled out as a layer of qi burst forth from his body.

"Don't move, all of you!" Leylin raised his hands and stopped his subordinates from causing trouble.

"Perhaps you once heard how the captain of the Scarlet Tiger was a powerful wizard but, upon seeing me, you instantly thought it was only a rumour," Leylin strolled in front of those traitors. What he said made their expression change drastically and, at this point, many of them were already secretly regretting their actions.

"But let me tell you that, unfortunately, your guesses are wrong." A refined and courteous smile was plastered on Leylin's face. What he did next, however, wasn't so civilized.

"Fireball!" Two balls of fire shot out, and the red-haired pirate was instantly torched.

The powerful force of the spell immediately made numerous pirates retreat one by one, a look of respect emerging on their faces.

"Animate Rope!" Leylin pointed his finger. The once useless cable suddenly started moving about, as if it had a life of its own. It nimbly bound the rebellious pirates together, and hung them upside-down on the deck.

The numerous ropes resembled the tentacles of a formidable monster as they danced around continuously, while Leylin looked like the powerful wizard who tamed the monsters of the sea only found in legends. Many pirates couldn't help but kneel down.

"Ah! Release me! Release me! This is the Pirates' Cove, ye can't do this! The Barbarian Pirates crew ain't gonna let ye off!"

A few pirates were still putting up their final struggle. Their high-pitched voices pierced the air, attracting a team of barbarian guards.

There was a glimmer of hope on the faces of the captive whey they saw the guards. However, it was unfortunate that their hopes were immediately smashed to smithereens.

Upon seeing the flag of the Scarlet Tiger, these barbarians left immediately, not even bothering about the tragedy that was taking place.

"This treatment! It means there's an alliance with the Barbarian Pirates crew! Boss has already made an alliance with the Barbarians!" The numerous pirates immediately began to heartily surrender. With the assistance of the prestigious Barbarian Pirates and his own formidable strength, Leylin knew that he had finally established a definite amount of trust with these newly recruited pirates, at least for the time being.

"Boss! Please spare us!" "Respectable and powerful Lord Wizard! Red Oarsman Lucas Codd is willin' to pledge loyalty to ye!"

At this point, the pirates hanging upside-down sank into despair, and many began begging for forgiveness.

"Traitors must be dealt with strictly and severely. That way, the others can witness how high a price one must pay for betraying me!" Leylin's indifferent tone sent a chill through the hearts of the other pirates.

Following his orders, the cable ropes suddenly tightened, forcing out copious amounts of blood.

Thump! Thump! Thump!*

Splashes of blood burst out. The gazes of the other pirates were filled with fear; right now, Leylin looked like the king of all devils.

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Reward

"Master! Your beautiful strength is like a resplendent jewel, brimming with a dazzling brilliance!" Karen, who was standing beside Leylin, immediately complimented him. As a half-drow, she seemed to have regained her natural instincts after being liberated. She was gradually recovering her darkness and thirst for blood, which was characteristic of the drow.

"Alright, get up."

Cyclops and the other pirates who had long pledged their loyalty were already aware of the outcome, thus they didn't appear to be flabbergasted. The new pirates, on the other hand, were all frightened out of their wits, especially Ronald and his group.

"So, what do you think? Does anyone else have any objections?"

Leylin ran his eyes over the crowd. The other pirates didn't dare meet his gaze, yet their eyes were brimming with reverence.

"Excellent! I like the respectful look in your eyes." Leylin nodded. His subordinates immediately pulled out two trunks of silver kronas and copper coins.

This was the only payment he had obtained from selling the majority of goods he had on hand. Madam Tillen had ruthlessly cut the prices, probably in an attempt to vent her anger.

However, this much was sufficient to maintain the pirate crew for a few months. As for the months after that? Why would he still worry about providing for his men after getting a hold of the riches of the entire sea?

"The pay I promised earlier will not be reduced." Leylin opened the chest. The twinkling radiance of the silver kronas blinded the eyes of numerous pirates.

"Each buccaneer of the Scarlet Tiger will obtain a fixed salary every month, in addition to the loot plundered," Leylin announced loudly. This policy was quite different from the usual pirate way, and it instantly received cheers from the pirates.

Although it was akin to opening a huge hole in the finance department, Leylin needed to create a strong pirate crew as fast as possible, and he couldn't care less about anything else.

After all, immense pressure and death threats were insufficient to govern a huge group. A system that gave encouragement through incentives had to be established. Otherwise, why would they join a crew with a temperamental captain like Leylin, when there are so many other pirate crews?

As soon as news of this spread, no matter how savage Leylin would be rumoured to be, he probably would still have enough manpower sources. Perhaps he could even attract a few Professionals, which would be incredibly amusing.

'As expected, these pirates don't have a single bit of loyalty.'

After giving out the money, the newly recruited pirates were immediately in high spirits. They looked as if they had completely forgotten what had happened earlier. Leylin secretly shook his head.

However, this was the objective truth, and there was absolutely nothing that could change that. Leylin could only take a laissez-faire approach.

After all, the control that any pirate captain had over his men was always the same. Unless authority was rooted deeply after long periods of time together, and trust was established through continuous victories, this was all it would amount to.

If it was not like this, Leylin wouldn't have been able to subdue the Black Tiger crew previously, and set up a new crew with them as the first few subordinates.

'These incentives… It seems like it is still not enough.'

There was a flash in Leylin's eyes as he stood on the platform, "Giant!"

"I'm here, boss!" Giant immediately half knelt on the floor. His body resembled a small-scale mountain.

"You killed more than ten enemies when you accompanied me last time. You're also the Professional with the highest rank among all my men. I want to reward you."

Leylin waved his hands and a piece of leather armor, that resembled a singlet, flew in front of Giant. There was an armor plating in the most crucial body parts, offering better protection.

Giant put on his sleeveless leather armour. His face, however, changed when a magical brilliance burst from his armour. He couldn't help but shout in surprise, "This is magical armour!"

"What? Magical armour?" This immediately attracted envious looks from the other pirates.

Even though it was the cheapest of all magical goods, it had to be supported by primary smelting spells, and was worth hundreds of gold coins. Furthermore, a life-saving item such as this one was priceless.

"Yes. It has been reinforced by the "Hardness Spell" three times. Even a heavy hammer would be unable to break through your defense with a single blow."

Actually, the raw material of this leather armour had been looted from the captain of the Merfolk Pirates after the battle. Leylin had found it to be beneath him, thus he decided to modify it for his men to equip.

Giant didn't know what else to say and could only scratch his head as he smiled foolishly, while attracting a few jealous looks.

"Also, Ronald!" Leylin turned his gaze to Ronald.

"Young master! You called for me?" Ronald knelt on the floor with one knee, with a strange feeling in his heart.

"Yes! Your earlier actions attest to your loyalty! This rapid explosion ring is yours!"

This had also been a contribution made by those unlucky Merfolk Pirates. Leylin did not feel a tad bit embarrassed.

"Many thanks!" Ronald felt as though he had been struck in the chest by a heavy hammer/

While knowing that he had only coincidentally been there when Leylin needed to point out role models amongst the new pirates, he was still elated.

This was indeed a magical item! It was so valuable that it could be a family heirloom for commoners, knights and lords.

"I will always be loyal to you!" Ronald kissed the ring on his finger, and solemnly accepted this precious treasure into his embrace, also attracting many envious stares. Mainly, many of the new pirates had flushed faces. They gazed at Leylin as though they were looking at a god.

As long as they worked hard , there would be hope. As long as they put in the effort, there would be reward.

More often than not, the people of the lower classes only hoped for so much, yet the upper classes cruelly deprived them of even this slight hope.

But now, Leylin showed them hope of being able to completely change their fates. This alone was sufficient to arouse their enthusiasm and will to fight.

"Raise the flag! Set sail!" Seeing their boosted morales, Leylin loudly announced his command.

"Aye! Aye!" The multitude of pirates immediately started to get busy. Under the directions of Cyclops, Hulk and the others, the Scarlet Tiger was quickly driven out of the dock.

At this moment, the bishop and priest from the God of Murder were silently observing the situation from the shadows, until the ship departed.

The bishop spoke after a long silence, "What do you think?"

"He's firm when dealing with issues, determined and unscrupulous. It's hard to believe that he is only fifteen!" The priest seemed unwilling to admit it, but eventually admitted.

"But even so, we don't have to tell him about 'that', right?"

The bishop replied with a cold snort, "Cly has already violated the teachings of our master, and is bent on avenging his brother who betrayed the church long ago. He must be punished for such conduct."

However, these were just excuses, The pivotal point was that Cly was a hindrance to his own plan.

For a person with great influence, disposing of a small pawn was nothing in the face of the bigger picture.

As long as the glory of the God of Murder continued shining across the seas for eternity, what was the worth of a few highly-ranked assassins?

"I'm looking forward to what will happen to him" The bishop smiled as his silhouette slowly faded into the darkness.

The priest's eyes were filled with shock. As the bishop left, he started understanding that the bishop actually placed great importance on that young nobleman.The Scarlet Tiger sailed on under the azure skies, although it appeared to be moving slowly, it was travelling at high speeds.

"Five hundred metres ahead! I spotted an unknown ship without a pirate flag!" The mariner on the observation deck called out.

"Boss!" Giant immediately appeared behind Leylin, donned in his newly-attained leather armour.

Cyclops also appeared next to Leylin and reported softly, "I asked around beforehand. A bunch of scurvy dogs are coveting our booty and ship."

"Organisations that have been blinded by greed?" Leylin suddenly raised his brows, "Their vessel doesn't look too shabby. We are still lacking a few buccaneers and slaves, aren't we?"

After hearing Leylin's words, Giant and the rest were already dedicating a moment of silence in mourning for the pirates on the other ship. They would never know what a terrifying chap they had provoked.

"Prepare for battle. I want to check out the strength of these men," Leylin instructed Ronald, who was standing behind him.

"On it, young master! You will see it!" Ronald retreated respectfully.

With such a formidable wizard on board, he couldn't see the slightest possibility of them being defeated.

The two ships came into contact. Without the slightest bit of hesitation or shouting, they both launched their attacks.

After the whistling of the harpoons and numerous rounds of feathered arrows flying back and forth, they immediately jumped aboard each other's ships and descended into a chaotic battle.

Giant laughed maniacally as he brandished the enormous claw hammer in his hand. He was covered in the enemy's blood and resembled a fiend emerging from the abyss as he charged forth in the frontline.

Behind him, Ronald commanded the new pirates, and assembled them into a few simple formations, obtaining favourable results. He felt as if he possessed an irresistible force, especially with the weapon infused with poison that Leylin had provided.

Seeing his fluent commanding skills, Leylin couldn't help but be fond of him, 'Who would have thought that Ronald would be a military genius?'

"You guys attack them as well. I'm going to meet with an old friend." Leylin waved his hands and flew out of his ship, landing onto the opponent's deck.

Ray of Frost! Fireball!

A hell made of fire and ice spread across the ship, along with the ghoulish wails and painful howls of numerous pirates.

"He's a wizard!"

The powerful force generated by the spells instantly dealt a huge blow to the morale of his opponents. The situation seemed to be tipped in favour of Leylin and his party.

At this moment, however, several secret conscients with the intent to kill approached from the darkness. Their keen aura had the characteristic of highly-ranked assassins.

"It's indeed you guys!" The corners of Leylin's lips curled into a gentle smile as he tore open the magic scroll in his hands right away.

"Ice Storm!" The snow attack covered an even larger area, and had the powerful might of a rank 4 spell. Leylin's surroundings instantly turned into a land of ice and snow.

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Return Home

Plunk!* A few figures were forced out of stealthy advancement, and their bodies bore the traces of having been frozen.

"How did you find us?" Cly's face was now filled with disbelief.

"Dead men don't need to know anything!" The blood-red Devilblood Dagger appeared in Leylin's hand, making him look more evil.

Whoosh!* He turned into a phantom, pouncing towards these few assassins.

"Damn it…" Feeling sluggish from the frost, Cly's expression was incredibly sinister. Somehow, he already knew who had sold him out.

In the end, all he saw was a dazzling blood-red.

Pu! Pu! Pu!* Making use of the hindrance from the ice storm and the poor visibility, Leylin took care of the assassins in an instant. The many enemies with immense injuries caused by the ice storm finally lifted their white flag to surrender.

However, Leylin was disinclined to bother with matters like his subordinates looting and taking prisoners. He looked at the prompt his A.I. Chip gave him.

[Beep! Host has been enhanced by the Devilblood Dagger. Agility has increased by 0.3!]

'0.3? Not bad. If that's changed into spiritual force, that might be even less than 0.0001!'

Leylin was very satisfied with this. He had far too much spiritual force, and slight increases like this meant nothing to him. Hence, he focused on his shortcomings.

Making use of the ability of the Devilblood Dagger, he was confident that he could develop his stats in an all-rounded way to become the perfect existence!

Though that was only for perfection below rank 10.

His stats had turned into: [Leylin Farlier. Race: Human. Rank 8 Wizard. Strength: 3.5. Agility: 3.3. Vitality: 4.5. Spiritual force: 8. State: Healthy. Talents: Sturdy, Erudite. Spell Slots: Rank 3(2). Rank 2(4). Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???)]

At this moment, Karen came beside Leylin. "Master, all the remaining people who resist us have been purged!"

"Good! Send news to the Church of Murder to say that I have already received their goodwill!" Leylin now had a satisfied grin on his face.Faulen Island, in the temporary camp that Leylin had first built.

Jacob, who was patrolling the area, suddenly heard his subordinate reporting to him in panic. "My lord, there's an unknown fleet nearing us!"

"What? Are they pirates? Be on the alert!"

Jacob's expression was solemn. On the outer seas, pirates would never go extinct. They were like a pack of ravenous wolves, attacking any ships or ports that would bring them wealth.

A bell rang urgently, and with the soldiers urging them on, the slaves hid within wooden houses. The rest of the soldiers took their weapons and watched the sail in the distance.

However, even Jacob involuntarily gaped, unable to say a word.

Large. It was much too large! There were three huge ships with densely packed human figures atop them, causing Jacob to say bitterly, "These numbers are probably enough to attack the whole Faulen Island. Could this be the three legendary large-scale pirate groups?"

"It's the time to show your loyalty to the family till the end!" Jacob gripped the weapon in his hand tightly and yelled.

"Long live Faulen!" "Long live!" Many soldiers yelled together, but their voices were filled with immense fear. A few soldiers were already looking out for escape routes. Not everyone could view death with equanimity. Under the threat of death, too many things could happen.

The three huge ships did not hesitate as they drew closer. However, there were no pirate flags at the top. Could this instead be three large merchant ships?

Merchant ships? How was that possible? Jacob was completely confused.

At this moment, a figure flew like an eagle from the ship, heading in his direction.

"That's Fly! It's a mid-rank wizard spell, could it be…" Jacob's expression changed, eventually turning into one of anticipation and elation, "It's young master! Young master is back!"

As the streams of air dissipated, Leylin's figure stopped in front of Jacob, "You did well with the camp!"

He'd taken a quick look at this camp from the skies and found that Jacob had completed everything according to his plans. It already was in a good state, able to take in a new population and slaves, which would help him with his trading plans.

"Many thanks for your praise! It's actually thanks to the slaves. They work diligently everyday, but it's a pity there are too few of them…" Jacob placed his right hand on his chest, bowing respectfully.

"You don't have to worry about the slaves. I brought a lot… and there are other surprises as well! Prepare to dispatch people to take them." Leylin had a trace of a smile on his expression. A huge flame flew from his hand, forming an obvious signal.

The three ships began to move slowly, releasing countless little boats that rowed in their direction like ants.

"Three ships…" Jacob's eyes widened.

"Hehe… These are ships of the Rhodes Merchant group. I made a deal with them and bought large numbers of slaves and coarse sugar…" Leylin watched the many little boats, frowning slightly.

"Here!" He pointed to a coastal area, "We'll need to build a new dock. Of course, there were far too few people before, but this won't be a problem now…"

Seeing the unending stream of slaves and baskets of coarse sugar, as well as other construction materials unceasingly being sent ashore, Jacob clenched his fists. His face flushed.

While he had no idea how this mysterious young master had gotten a hold of this, that had nothing to do with him, did it? As a subordinate, all he needed to do was carry out his superior's orders. That was enough! Just seeing how much Leylin had spent, it was obvious that he was planning to go big.

"Jacob! Make arrangements for the slaves being shipped over. Males and females are to be separated and watched. Don't let them get up to anything funny!"

Leylin's blueprint had been very large, and he had even especially left out blank spaces in it. Hence, it was not an issue to take in hundreds of slaves.

Besides the unskilled labourers, there were many confused faces. The sickly slaves who were chased into a camp barricaded with pointy wooden fences.

There, Nunooker, whom Leylin had appointed as head of the slaves, had already commanded the older ones to bring out pots of mashed fish soup to share with the newcomers. He then darted to Leylin upon catching sight of him, kissing the soil under his feet, "Respected master, Nunooker expresses his reverence for you!"

"I heard you managed the slaves well. Good job!" Leylin nodded. Nunooker had already put on linen clothing and looked somewhat like a commoner now. There was even a lash hung at his waist that seemed rather worn out, making it look well-used. His clothes and whip all showed the rise in his authority and status.

"Do it well. After this, I'll remove your contract as a slave and free you. I'll even give you some land!" Leylin was never stingy with those who sided with him, and this would also set an example for others.

"Oh, great master, I praise you! Your benevolence is as vast as the ocean!" Nunooker knelt down once more.

A manager clad in silk clothing with gold threads on his cuffs came beside Leylin, "My lord, the goods have all been received. There are a total of 275 slaves and 5000kg of coarse sugar! There are also other goods as well. This is the bill for your account…"

"Mm, the numbers are right!" Leylin took a glance at him, knowing that he had not done anything fishy with them. The manager wouldn't dare to anyway, since Leylin was a channel to dispose of stolen groups belonging to the Barbarians.

It was understandable why he feared Leylin. In addition, even if they were to practice fraud, this would not be able to trick Leylin. Hence, Leylin quickly signed his name after looking at the bill, then stamped it with a special ring of his.

This was a dagger and skull, the mark of the Scarlet Tigers! This ruby ring could be opened at the top, and it held Leylin's pirate imprint inside. This was also proof that he had dealings with the Barbarians.

"Alright, you have already paid for the goods before. The deal has been completed successfully. Thank you for your cooperation!" After seeing Leylin sign his name, the manager sighed in relief and then revealed a genuine smile.

"Thank you for your cooperation!" Leylin's eyes moved swiftly away, thoughts already on other matters.

Once he had left from Pirates' Cove, Leylin had wiped out a few pirate groups who had wanted to take advantage of them. Once he had established his reputation and secured his status, he met up with Isabel and the rest at a place they had previously arranged.

Due to the many battles and prisoners, Leylin's pirate group had already changed greatly by the time he met up with his cousin and the others. He now had a tremendous organisation, with three battleships and over two hundred pirates under him!

Though they seemed like nothing more than a mob, it wasn't as if there weren't any talents amongst them. If Leylin was counted as well, this new crew was the strongest one out of the big three. He even had the capital to challenge the larger pirate groups!

What happened next was obvious. With information from the Thieves' Guild and Barbarians, Leylin brought his subordinates and plundered countless merchant ships that belonged to the Louis Family, killing all of the passengers. The goods were naturally mostly sold to the Rhodes Merchant group using the Barbarian Pirates' connections, and in return he earned many slaves and resources.

Following that, the pirates that had endured countless battles needed to rest and reorganise. Leylin seized this opportunity to let his cousin Isabel take over, announcing her the acting captain with Hulk, Cyclops, Giant, Karen and Ronald assisting her. Meanwhile, he returned to his own family's territory.

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Sugar Cubes

There were a few special little families in this batch of slaves, those of the Black Tiger pirates who were no more. Leylin planned to integrate them into his people to fill up the population here. At the same time, they could be treated like hostages; any pirate that pledged his life to him at the start would no longer need to be doubted.

Without any major changes, the possibility of their betrayal was at their lowest.

'When it comes to the accumulation of resources, plundering is truly the fastest method!'

Of all the resources this time, there was a special batch that was the spoils of war that Leylin would keep for himself. This included the crude sugar obtained on Half Merfolk Island, as well as items that were difficult to dispose of.

After all this privateering, it could be said that the basic conditions to build the production lines were already in place. The next step was to attempt to produce the items themselves. Had he used the normal method of having his family invest capital into the project, he would have to slowly buy slaves and make attempts to produce the product. He would have suffered difficulties even in the beginning!

"No matter what kind of production it is, privateering is the key part…"

Leylin sighed, "It's a pity that after Marquis Louis' organisation dispersed, I can't go on being a pirate. After all, then I would be viewed as an enemy by many, and there would even be people who have formed grudges against me…"

Destruction and plunder easily gave rise to hatred. At the same time, it had the quickest results, which was why people could not give it up so easily. Leylin being able to make this decision showed his foresight and wisdom.

The pirates would not give up, and that led to the entire region of the sea being abandoned by merchants. Only massive growth of trade would serve as a source of wealth, which was why Leylin wanted to create a sugar and fish floss trade.

Of course, this did not mean that Leylin would disband the pirate group.

In reality, he had already thought of the alternate route for the Scarlet Tigers in the future. They would no longer engage in piracy, instead they would share their ill-gotten gains from collecting protection fees and naval escort services, for instance.

In essence, they would be taken from exploiting others openly, to exploiting them from the shadows.

Leylin was very ambitious! To do this, he had to first become the king of the outer seas, or at the very least, the king of the dark world and possess the power to draw up rules and regulations!

That would also be the rise of his power over the seas! If all went well, he might even be able to create a powerful country based on this sea!

Leylin would not reject the chance to gain power in the secular world. Rather, that was what he was working hard and making preparations for.

As the gods of this world needed the faith of mortals, especially for the newly-advanced gods, having a stable foundation for faith as well as their own territory was far too important. This was what could be relied on to protect and prevent the fall of their divine nation.

The gods were far-sighted. Leylin could not steal the followers of the old gods, because that would only result in a terrifying battle with a god!

His way would be to develop a new territory of his own, and expand the population to gain faith.

Any issues when it came to the time it would take was never a problem for gods.

Three ships steered away from the port under Jacob and the others' watchful eyes. Leylin clapped his eyes, smiling at Jacob, "Alright! What happens next is our responsibility. How are things on your side?"

Jacob looked startled, "Please come with me!"

Leylin opened the wooden door to one of the little storehouses in the camp and was met with the smell of sea salt and fishiness.

There were rows of wooden frames inside, where a large quantity of fish floss were tightly sealed well in porcelain jars.

"Based on the method Young Master taught us, the fish floss we created can be kept for over a month. If we use this method of storing it, it can last for over half a year…"

Jacob sounded excited, "With this shelf life, we'll be able to sell the fish floss to the continent…"

"Mm! The key now is to have a small profit but rapid turnover!" Leylin nodded.

Techniques to create fish floss were not all that meticulous. What was important now was upscaling and industrialising it, which would reduce costs.

Even so, there were a limited number of consumers. At the very least, Leylin could not place his hopes on the farmers and tenants in villages

All they could squeeze out of them was meagre, and they'd be happy if they just got to eat black bread.

Leylin's target market lay in the larger cities. There were handicraft workers, free citizens, many adventurers and mercenaries, who Leylin were counting on.

The villages in the World of Gods were never places where wealth gathered. The cities were the only places with the greatest profits.

He didn't need much. As long as he could break into a few cities near the shore, the profits alone would make Leylin smile brilliantly even in his dreams.

"As for the sugar refinery, due to the lack of acid and activated carbon that Young Master spoke of, we have only stockpiled a batch of raw materials in storage…"

Jacob brought Leylin to another warehouse. Sealed under dry conditions, the sugar was piled together, with some yellow and even black inside.

This was coarse sugar that was even slightly bitter. However, the bit of sweetness within was already a pretty good luxury for the nobles.

However, as this was the outer seas, the moisture in the air caused the white sugar to show signs of coagulating into clumps despite methods that attempted to rectify it.

"It doesn't matter for now, since there will still be another process. The fine white sugar created after that will need even more attention though!"

This was the greatest wealth that Leylin had gotten for himself.

Fish floss would garner small profits but a rapid turnover and thus expand production. However, methods to refine white sugar would have to be kept a secret. This way, he had control over both high and low-end markets, and if he was lucky, this might be able to keep the Faulen Family rich for centuries!

Leylin was rather ambitious about this.

In his plans, this place would become the Faulen Island's most important port, and even the core of the island!

Of course, before either of these two were developed, Leylin would keep all these plans deep inside his heart.

Though it looked more convenient and safer to plunder another island, Leylin was unperturbed.

The problem here was the feudal fiefdom!

In theory, the outer seas of the Dambrath Kingdom naturally belonged to the king. Once unclaimed lands were occupied, that would imply losing protection from the kingdom and would stir up hostility!

What would it imply, for the outer seas without land held by nobility, with no shrines, churches or priests?

Terrifying diseases could not be healed with divine spells, and could only be endured. People also had to deal with the ferocious natives and terrible climate.

In the deep seas, there were also numerous terrifying monsters, with some able to massacre a whole island!

Every year, the number of people who died while trying to break into the outer seas was a number that would cause one to tremble in fear.

Hence, as the Faulen Island had been cleared and cultivated, with a great port, people and church as foundations, it was inevitable that Viscount Tim coveted it.

However, Leylin had long since treated Faulen Island as his own, which determined the pitiful fate of the poor Viscount.

"Jacob, send down the order to give the slaves another meal tonight. We begin training tomorrow, where we are going to prepare the selected outstanding artisans to take part in the production. The rest of the slaves will extend the camp. Whatever it is, we can't have them idle!"

The method to create fish floss was extremely simple, but the method to refining sugar was something Leylin was planning to keep a secret for a few years. While he would be left with no choice but to hand over the techniques later, the immense profits before that happen were going to be terrifying.

Leylin was already planning to sternly exercise control over the artisans, and even set out individual residential areas that would be monitored.

Leylin was the worthy master of this land. Once he made a decision like this, it would be enforced without question.

When Baron Jonas arrived, what he saw was an area buzzing with activity.

"Such a huge camp with so many slaves, wouldn't that cost thousands of gold coins?"

Baron Jonas walked along the streets in disbelief, carefully sizing up the camp. The ground was tidy, and there were spaces at both sides meant for shops, blacksmith stores and tailor stores. It was clear that Leylin had planned this out very carefully, and had built this place up like a little town.

"Yes, master! To create this camp and purchase the slaves, it would be possibly only if we invest months of profit from our entire port…"

Leon's eyes betrayed his shock, especially after he saw the many slaves being managed by Leylin in such a clear and orderly fashion. His eyes flashed and he looked on speechlessly.

Only he, as the main housekeeper, knew how difficult it was to tame so many natives!

The young master, who was able to do this, was truly the treasured child of the gods!

At this thought, Leon could not help but to say a prayer.

But this was just the start. After seeing the completed product that Leylin spoke of, Baron Jonas and Leon were even more shocked.

"Is this… truly cane sugar?"

Eyeing the snow white sparkling cubes that were reflective like mirrors, Baron Jonas picked up a cube in disbelief.

Such a translucent luster was mind-blowing to him, "It's too- too beautiful! It's like a crystal. This is a work of art!"

Baron Jonas mumbled as he tossed it into his mouth, and a sweetness then exploded in his mouth.

Such a sweet taste caused Baron Jonas to be so moved that he could not even speak.

"I can tell you for sure…" After a long while, Baron Jonas huffed out, "The sugar cubes will definitely be a luxury that the nobility long for. Without it, those extravagant banquets will lose much splendour…"

"You are right, Father!" Standing at the side, Leylin revealed a smile.

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Venus

Leylin put down the plate that contained the sugar in his hand and looked at Baron Jonas, "Father, how much do you think I can sell these refined sugar cubes for?"

Baron Jonas closed his eyes for a moment and answered with certainty, "It should be at least ten times the price of coarse sugar! If we weren't afraid of someone backstabbing us or coveting this, we could perhaps sell it at even twenty times."

Leylin smiled and nodded. "Then I'll leave the avenues of selling it to Father!"

The moment the method to create such refined sugar cubes entered the market, it would have a huge effect. How could Leylin match up to Baron Jonas in behaving appropriately, finding backers, transferring profits, and building profitable partnerships and the like? His father was a very experienced trader.

"I've just seen the fish floss jars, and they're not bad!" Baron Jonas looked at his son, his eyes full of indescribable emotion, "Sigh… You've really created a difficult problem for your father! Such immense profits…"

While he was sighing, the Baron still could not conceal his smile. Leylin always seemed to be able to surpass his expectations in unimaginable ways.With enough manpower and physical resources, the fish floss and sugar trade that Leylin was anticipating finally began to take shape. Baron Jonas knew full well that such immense profits were something that his family could not handle alone, so he made use of the two items to rope in a few other noble families that had their lands in the outer seas. He also got in touch with the local forces, and gave them a large portion of the profits. This way, there were a lot of people he could drag into deep waters to bear the brunt of the backlash with him.

The moment Faulen Island's refined white sugar entered the market, the effect even surpassed the baron's imagination.

Its pure taste was as sweet as heaven, and immediately conquered many nobles. They rushed to find this luxury item like they'd been driven insane. Just the profits from the first month reached a startling 2000 gold coins!

The fish floss was not as popular, but the market's reaction was not bad. Its characteristic of being convenient food as well as the benefit of being able to store it for a long period of time made it popular among mercenaries and adventurers. Even the military of the kingdom expressed their interest.

The profits of this becoming military rations… was there more to be said?

Making use of these two items earnt them tons of wealth, the Faulen Family began to grow at a rapid rate. Leylin had to even open up a few production lines in order to match the insane market demand!

Of course, this couldn't have been done without the Scarlet Tiger pirates investing a lot of funds. With Leylin controlling everything from the shadows and the aid from the Barbarians, the Scarlet Tiger Pirates had gone all out, attacking numerous ships that belonged to Marquis Louis under Isabel's lead.

Leylin waited on Faulen Island, like nothing had to do with him. The Barbarians were also exceptionally quiet, making the marquis unable to find any evidence. He could only grit his teeth in the shadows, preparing to exact revenge.

Nearly a year passed in the blink of an eye. The camp that Leylin had constructed had now turned into a bustling harbour with limestone floors and tiled houses. There was an imposing aura in the area, and the port was arranged very logically. Security was very good, and there was not a trace of trash on the ground.

When compared to other ports, this was unimaginable. They were nasty and filthy, and usually the sources of diseases and epidemics. Leylin obviously would not tolerate this. Furthermore, a clean, tidy, and orderly port was unimaginably attractive for sea merchants.

With the fish floss and the refined sugar cubes dominating the markets, the port was now a money-making area. A lot of ships stopped at the pier every day, loading up completely on goods before leaving. Even at night, the labourers would still work with much clamour; the place looked prosperous.

Leylin named the place Port Venus, an allegory for a rising star. And indeed, once it was constructed it attracted many merchants into frequenting Faulen Island, and it silently became another trading hub of the outer seas.

Originally, The Baltic archipelago and Pirates' Cove which belonged to two different powers dominated the scene, but Port Venus marked the rise of a third power. Such a huge change obviously attracted the attention of intelligent people.

"My lord, here's the latest news!" A middle-rank warrior in exquisite chainmail armour respectfully passed a letter sealed in wax to Jacob.

Jacob hastily opened it up, and after skimming through a few lines his expression changed, "This is… I'll tell young master myself!"

Once they left the room, two rows of elite warriors followed behind him, all of them with a strong and bloody aura. Their eyes even seemed to glint, they were naturally elite warriors who had activated their qi.

After walking out of the city hall, Jacob mounted a handsome black stallion. While he could use a horse carriage as a public security officer, his fighter habits made it such that he preferred to ride horses himself.

Glancing at the luxurious and imposing city hall at his back, the many middle-ranked warriors behind him, and the eyes of people on the roads looking to curry favour with him, Jacob was slightly absent-minded.

'Everything has really changed!' Jacob sighed. When they came into their wealth, Leylin and Baron Jonas did not hoard their gold like greedy dragons. On the contrary, other than to construct more production lines and Port Venus itself, Baron Jonas had the great vision to take out almost all his savings to increase the power of the Faulen Family.

Exquisite chainmail and stainless steel longswords replaced the leather armour, metal forks and wooden pikes from before on a large scale. He even recruited huge batches of Professionals. While it wasn't quite possible to get high-ranked ones at rank 15 and above, the middle-ranked ones and especially close combat warriors just could not reject the conditions the Baron had offered.

After serving here for a long time, many of these with professions fell in love with the atmosphere and brought their families here, becoming free citizens of Port Venus. Leylin was extremely welcome to the idea, and was generous in his treatment and the promotions. This formed a virtuous cycle, which helped his subordinates get even stronger.

Jacob knew that there were already Professionals over rank 10 siding with Leylin. If not for him following the Baron around since childhood and working hard for the family, his own position would long since have been filled with someone else.

Even so, the sense of danger kept lingering in his mind.

'I need to train even more. I have a feeling that the bottleneck that's been bothering me for years should be able to be broken this time!' With the rise of the Faulen Family's income, Jacob and those of his batch naturally benefitted.

Their salaries rose sky high, and Jacob felt that he was not deserving of this. Not only did he use this money for lessons from scholars, but he also sought powerful warriors for their advice. He had now reached the peak of rank 7, and was a step away from rank 8.

The new wheat farms met him outside the port, the green wheat filled with vitality freshening up the air. Jacob couldn't help but take in several deep breaths.

Those farming here were the farmers who had migrated over from Faulen Island, and there were also slaves that had been released and the families of pirates.

Leylin especially made it a law that as long as slaves worked hard, they would regain their status as free people after a certain number of years, and would acquire 0.6 hectares of land. After paying three years of taxes, they could go to the city hall and apply to redeem it at a low price and become farmers of their own plots of land. The promise of becoming free men motivated the slaves to work with all their might.

Leylin knew that no matter how human society changed, a hierarchy would always remain. Allowing mobility between the levels would give those at the bottom hope, and was the only method that would ensure the vitality of both the organisation and government.

Past the wheat fields were even more guards. Jacob could sense knight-errants, thieves and even assassins spying from the shadows as the farms gave way to an industrial zone. This was where the fish floss and sugar were produced.

Ever since his first trade profits made their way into his hands, Leylin had shifted his production line to the area to give the port more space. It was also convenient to supervise it and ensure the secrecy of the place.

With the expansion of the profits from trade, the issue of security became increasingly serious. It was at the point that Leylin and his master Ernest came here personally to take charge of it. Most of the Faulen Family's elite forces were here, which frightened off numerous spies. However, as long as there were huge profits, the spying would never end.

Leylin's villa was next to the factories. He was never one to mistreat himself, and the villa took up a lot of space. He had even brought over his servants from the manor, including the housekeepers. Of course, Clara and Claire came as well.

Jacob only saw Leylin after two rank 10 warrior patrols. His sixteenth birthday had passed, and Leylin now seemed more mature. His curly blonde hair was like the sunlight, and his blue eyes like the sea. Every inch of his musculature was perfect, which made one feel that his proportions were in perfect harmony. Rather, with his current appearance he seemed like the ideal lover for a noble princess.

The sisters' eyes showed how intoxicated they were by him; they hadn't even noticed Jacob's entrance.

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Closer

"Young master, we've received news that a Gold Priest of the church of wealth would like to meet you. He'll reach Venus Port in the next few days."

Claire and Clara blushing brought Jacob a goblet of mixed fruit juice after waking up from their reverie. This was a drink of the elves that Leylin found delightful.

"Gold Priest? Just having a Silver Priest coming over would already be enough…" Leylin half-reclined on the elven rattan chair, looking languid, comfortable, and not ruffled at all.

Waukeen's priests were divided into a few ranks, the highest of which was the current Patriarch. The rest of them were arranged according to currency, copper being the lowest and gold the highest.

A Gold Priest was equivalent to an archbishop, a status that greatly exceeded that of Bishop Tapris from the church of knowledge. Even if Tapris was converted by Waukeen, he would only be a Silver Priest.

The church of wealth sending out a Gold Priest showed that Faulen Island's trade volumes had reached a terrifying level. It was to the point that it even attracted some attention from the Goddess of Wealth!

"Understood. Tell them to give him VIP treatment!"

While this was important, Jacob felt relaxed after hearing Leylin's instructions. It was like he believed that as long as he did as Leylin said, things would go well!

This was the prestige that Leylin amassed over time, and at times, had the ability to reverse the trend of events.

After watching Jacob leave, Leylin pursed his lips and took a drink of fruit juice, a strange grin emerging on his face, "The Goddess of Wealth? Not bad…"

Port Venus was like Leylin's personal fiefdom. While it belonged to Baron Jonas in name, Leylin held the real power here, and had tight control of the management of the port. He had not constructed any churches here, much to Bishop Tapris' chagrin.

But neither Leylin nor Baron Jonas wanted the church of knowledge to solely occupy Faulen Island. And besides the God of Suffering, the Goddess of Wealth was the god that was most worshipped by nobility.

The nobles held the most faith in their own benefits and power. Of course this led to them believing in the Goddess of Wealth. After all, who could resist those adorable and dazzling bundles of gold?

Baron Jonas had long hoped to be able to attract the church of wealth into building a shrine to their goddess here. However, the Faulen Family had been too poor before, and the church of knowledge had obstructed it. However, this was now a request from the church of wealth themselves, and with a Gold Priest being sent over it was obvious how serious they were.

Leylin welcomed the church of wealth's presence here. The benefits it would bring to the region's development were obvious.

The priests of wealth were amazing at making profit. They didn't limit themselves to business; even with their gamut of profitable ventures there was nothing they did not do. From storing precious items, to remitting gold, to converting money between the different metals, they even provided high interest loans— as long as it was profitable, there was nothing they wouldn't dare do.

However, it could not be denied that with the church of wealth would partially take over the role of a bank, and there would only be advantages in trade and economic development.

Since this was a request from the other side, how could Leylin let go of such a great chance to rip somebody off? He could also take this opportunity to take revenge on what they had done in the past.

At this thought, Leylin's smile widened. He took a look at his stats.

[Leylin Faulen. Age: 16. Race: Human, Rank 9 Wizard. Strength: 4.5. Agility: 5. Vitality: 6. Spirit: 9. Status: Healthy. Feats: Sturdy, Erudite. Spell Slots: Rank 4(1), Rank 3(3), Rank 2(5), Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???)] [Progress of analysis of the Weave: Rank 0: 100%. Rank 1: 100%. Rank 2: 25.17%. Rank 3: 8.89%. Rank 4: 0.001%.]

This past year, Leylin had secretly worked to help the Scarlet Tigers eliminate their enemies. Isabel now had the nickname of the 'Scarlet Witch' and was notorious in the outer seas. Half of that was thanks to Leylin.

The Devilblood Dagger also took this opportunity to drink the fresh blood of enemies, pushing Leylin to rank 9.

A rank 9 wizard was an existence that could make contact with fourth level of the Weave! At this point, Leylin had basically graduated from his study under Ernest. If not for Leylin's continuous motivation, Ernes would've been embarrassed to see his disciple. He had spent a lot of effort and broken through all the way to rank 10.

"Now that I can cast rank 4 spells, master Ernest has nothing to teach me anymore…" Leylin sighed. He could now cast rank 4 spells, and due to his specialisation, Ernest rarely learnt spells out of Abjuration and Evocation. Leylin felt like it was a great pity.

He now spent most of his time in self-study. Of course, with the Faulen Family's current wealth, buying some foundational spell models and scholarly volumes was no problem. However, what vexed Leylin was that the kingdom's wizard guilds were useful for low-ranked wizards, but spell models at rank 4 and above, including research, were kept a tight secret and not sold publicly.

As for information for high-ranking wizards, or even about Legends, it was the most taboo of all and was protected quite well. There was no way for Leylin to see it.

"Master Ernest has already given me a letter of recommendation. With this, I might be able to get the qualifications to get into a wizarding guild in the Dambrath capital…" Leylin's eyes were half-closed, and his brain continued to ponder different ideas.

"It's a pity that the outer seas cannot operate without me. Marquis Louis' patience must be at its limit, and his attacks of vengeance can come at any moment. And then there's also the partnership with the Barbarian Pirates…"

After a long while, Leylin sighed deeply. He obviously could not leave now. At the very least, he had to give Louis' family a firm push, but the day was near for that. Leylin's eyes blazed…"Trash! You're trash!" The ink, quill pen, parchment and all the miscellaneous items on the table were flung onto Viscount Tim's body.

"A year has passed! A whole year has passed, but what have you done? Not only have the few ships you have been sunk by him, he's taken most of our trade! How did I get a son like you?" Marquis Louis exclaimed, the veins bursting out on his forehead in his fury.

"Father! My investigations show that there's a large possibility that Leylin, the son of Baron Faulen, is the person behind the Scarlet Tigers. We can ask for a trial from the kingdom and catch him on charge of being a pirate… And then there's the Barbarians. As long as we amass all our strength and attack Pirates' Cove…"

Tim lowered his head, concealing the icy glint in his eyes and trying his best to persuade his father.

He hated Leylin and the Scarlet Pirates to the bone. Leylin seemed to have become his nemesis. Ever since the incident with the Black Tiger Pirates, the few shipping routes in his control had been fiercely attacked, and his few attempts at revenge were seen through when he was trying to implement them. He had metaphorically been slapped in the face, and the organisations under his control had all been mostly or completely lost.

He had lost the favour of his father, and even the servants began to treat him with less importance. Of course, there was also his most hated big brother, who ruthlessly poured salt on his wounds and took the opportunity to take over much of the businesses he had possessed. His brother was even brazenly recruiting his men!

Boom!* A black crystal ink bottle was thrown at Tim's head. Ink flowed down Tim's forehead, mixing with blood and leaving him frozen.

"Are you stupid? Guilty of being a pirate? Do you have any evidence, or do you want to implicate us too?"

Marquis Louis' yells were even louder, "And attacking Pirates' Cove? That's the biggest joke I've heard all year! That's the place where all the dark organisations in the outer seas gather. Even if we attack, what good is it for us? We'll even have to take on their counterattack…"

"Father!" At this moment, a gentle voice could be heard from behind the door. Marquis Louis immediately regained his calm, and the light in Tim's eyes dimmed.

The door pulled open. His brother, who seemed to have been blessed by the gods from birth and possessed all the fortunes of the world, walked in.

"William!" Seeing the son of his first wife walk in, Marquis revealed a rare smile.

"My men have already found traces of the Scarlet Tigers, but they seem to be very alert and don't stay on an island for long…" William smiled while he announced this, and Tim who was nearby felt like his face was burning.

"That's normal. They have a powerful wizard who even escaped Boruj's scrying and probes," Marquis Louis muttered to himself, "It's rumoured that Baron Jonas' son, Leylin Faulen, has a wizard behind him. I suspect that the wizard could be part of the pirates!"

"Father, please give me control over the Black Skeletons. I am confident I'll be able to destroy the Scarlet Tigers in 3 months!" William bowed, dealing Tim the final blow.

"Don't underestimate them," Marquis Louis regained his previous expression of a scheming man with deep foresight after his moment of rage had calmed.

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Goddess of Wealth

"We are all nobility, and can only follow the rules of the game between nobles…" Marquis Louis spoke slowly, "The Faulen Family was very weak before and had no real backing, which was originally a very good opportunity for us, but…"

Having said this, he glared at Tim, resulting in Tim lowering his head further.

The Faulen Family used to be like duckweed floating through the air 1, but even then Marquis Louis did not dare to deal with them out in the open. He'd only sent out pirates in secret.

Furthermore, if those pirates had succeeded, the family would be annihilated!

But things could no longer be played that way. The Faulen Family now had more connections in the region, as well as backers. The strength they possessed was rapidly increasing. If he did not use all the strength he had at his disposal, Marquis Louis was not confident that he could wipe them out.

But was this possible? Even as a marquis of the kingdom, he could not attack the territory of another noble for no reason.

When it came to pirates, even with both the Black Skeletons and Tigersharks working together, Marquis Louis was still not confident, especially since the opponent had a church on their island.

With such a large-scale pirate invasion. It would be hard to avoid confronting the church.

Furthermore, for those on the outer seas, who did not know that these were the two most powerful pirate groups under Marquis Louis? His goal was far too obvious.

"The timing's gone! We've already lost the best time to attack…" Marquis Louis sighed, "The profits from these two goods, sugar and fish floss, really do measure up to the slave market…"

"Don't worry, father! I'll definitely get those two techniques!" William spoke with confidence, "The current situation is that we have many ships and shipping routes out in the open, but the Scarlet Tigers hide in the darkness where they have freedom. They can be the eyes and ears of the Faulen Family. On the surface neither side can make a move, and only rely on battling it out in the shadows. I'll definitely annihilate the Scarlet Tigers and break off the opponent's eyes and claws that exist in the darkness!"

Such profound insight immediately had Marquis Louis nodding.

"Very good. I'm relieved that you thought of that! Besides the Black Skeletons, I will order the Tigersharks to listen to you as well. The military fleet will await your orders at any time. You must destroy our enemies!"

At this moment, Marquis Louis' ruthlessness in staking everything on this was shown.

"Understood, father!" William's voice trembled slightly. To be able to have so much support made it clear that his status as the successor was unshakeable, and this was already the beginning of the shift of power.

"Also, the opponent has a powerful wizard. We can't ignore that! Wizard Boruj!"

"Lord Marquis!" An old man wearing grey wizard robes walked out from the shadows, eyes glinting with wisdom. The magic rays around him made those around him feel suffocated.

William and Tim hastily bowed towards the chief wizard of their family. Even Marquis Louis did not dare treat him with disrespect, "We will have to trouble you for this matter!"

"No problem!" Boruj's voice was hoarse, with the trace of a foreign and exotic accent, "I've long since wished to have a duel with that old rival whom I have yet to meet…"

"Henceforth, Wizard Boruj will accompany you until the Scarlet Tigers have been annihilated!" Marquis Louis stated.

"U-Understood!" This abrupt but pleasant surprise made William feel dizzy, and even his voice slightly trembled.

"Good! The future of our family will lie with you. Don't disappoint me…"

Tim was standing at the side. Seeing the pretty picture of the father and son together made him feel like an outsider. He was roaring inside crazily, but could only put on a calm expression, not daring to show any of his resentment on his face.A giant golden ship slowly sailed to the dock of Port Venus.

This large ship had extremely extravagant decorations, and there was even a layer of metal that emitted golden luster. From afar, it looked like a ship made entirely of pure gold.

At the ship's bow was a large emblem made of pure gold that shone with dazzling light. This was a symbol of the Goddess of Wealth, taking the form of a huge gold coin.

'They're truly nouveau riche! It would be a disservice for them if they didn't ruthlessly spend this money.' Although he thought this, Leylin didn't dare show anything on his face. On the contrary, he had no choice but to put on his friendliest smile and welcome them.

There were others beside him. Baron Jonas, Madam Sarah, housekeeper Leon… Basically all the respected people here showed up. It was obvious how mind-blowing it was for them to see a Gold Priest.

"Welcome to Port Venus. We hope you like it here, beautiful madam!" Against Leylin's expectations, the Gold Priest who had arrived was a female!

She looked to be about 17 or 18, and her eyes seemed to be shining brightly. They held hints of the shrewdness unique to merchants, and her skin was as exquisite as ivory. She had a tender and splendid smile about her lips that made her look like the little girl next door. Her appearance made it difficult to associate her with the profession of a priest.

However, her brilliant high-ranking priest robe with vibrant colours as well as her powerful divine light, made her status clear.

"Hello, Sire Leylin! My name is Xena. This is a port brimming with hope. I sense the flow of a great origin of wealth…"

As was expected of the priest of the Goddess of Wealth, this was the first thing she mentioned.

"Haha… It's great that Mistress Priest likes this place!" As the successor of the Faulen Family, as well as the delegate to represent her, Leylin elegantly extended his right hand helped her down.

"Powerful! Is this the power of a high-ranked priest?"

The instant their skin made contact, Leylin seemed to see a body brimming with godly luster. All sorts of power from divine spells converged to form a high-pressure electrical network that kept her safe within it, giving off a sense of danger. This was the path of a priest. High-ranked priests prayed devoutly and borrowed the strength of gods to purify their souls, achieving the effect of existing in harmony with god. There was even the possibility of becoming a holy spirit!

Even the A.I. Chip was unable to scan her exact stats, and could only give the conclusion that she was extremely dangerous.

'Rank 15! She's definitely a high-ranked priest who's at least rank 15!' Leylin went on his guard. Meanwhile, she seemed to have noticed him spying and shot him a dark look.

"Oh, my apologies!" It was only at this point that Leylin realised he was holding on to her hand. This was rather impolite. However, as someone who had gone through various worlds, he could adapt quickly and immediately took care of the awkwardness.

After the banquet, Baron Jonas returned to the manor, which left Leylin alone to entertain the Gold Priest.

"It's rumoured that Baron Jonas thinks highly of his first son and has been giving him more authority lately. Seems like it's true!" Xena, who was on a mission set by the church, watched Leylin sitting opposite her, her eyes flashing with interest.

He seemed to have a unique temperament and a lot of confidence. The fact that a mere 16 year old could have such a presence astonished her. Of course, he seemed to be a decent wizard, though it wasn't much in Xena's eyes.

For the rich and overbearing church, cultivating a few spellcasters was no issue. In the Goddess of Wealth's church, there was no lack of legendary wizards.

After all, for the wizards who readily spent gold coins at every turn, there was nothing more comfortable than being able to embrace the church of wealth's golden thighs.

"This porcelain is very high quality!" Xena looked at the cup in her hands. It had many complicated and intricate flower patterns, showing the exquisite craft of the elves.

"How about trying the cocoa from the eastern archipelago? It's said that this marvelous plant has the amazing effect of perking one up without harming the body…" Leylin smiled while pouring her a steaming hot cup of cocoa.

Xena had naturally seen this drink before. The production of cocoa beans was meagre, and on the continent it was sold at an astronomical price. Of course, what shocked her even more was Leylin's capability.

'Does that mean… he's already built up a connection with the eastern pirates?' Xena's eyes shone, and she then put down the beautiful porcelain cup in her hands.

"Mister Leylin, I'm sure you know my intentions in coming here. May I know what you think of establishing a church on the port?"

"I'm definitely not opposed to you joining in, but there's actually a plan already for the Port Venus. Every plot of land has its own function… of course, it's not a problem to squeeze out a section, but…" Leylin had a standard smile on his face.

"The Goddess of Wealth will not mistreat any follower of hers!" Xena placed a golden card on the table, "This is a proof for the withdrawal of money. With it, you can exchange 10 000 kronas from any church of wealth. Treat it as the capital for buying this land!"

Rich and overbearing, Leylin now knew what rich and overbearing truly meant! The church of the Goddess of Wealth was truly rich, unlike the stingy Tapris who probably wasn't even willing to pay rent.

Of course, this was a problem left behind from Baron Jonas' time. This would not happen again with Leylin in charge.

"Then there aren't any other problems. The city hall will mark out the land tomorrow!" Leylin smiled gently, a hand taking and keeping the golden card on the table without batting an eyelid.

The Goddess of Wealth generously contributed her own divine realm, providing currency storage services. With her divine force as a mark against fraud, trying to trick anyone in this was just shooting oneself in the foot.

However, with this, there were fees to pay if people wanted to store their money with her. Then again, this was to be expected from a goddess even greedier than a dragon.

1. Uncertain, no good foundation

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Agreement

"Apart from the issue with the church, there is also another matter which is related to why I came…" Xena's gaze pierced straight into Leylin.

'Finally, here it comes,' He thought inwardly. He had long felt that as his profits from his two avenues of trade grew greater and greater, he would eventually attract the attention of larger organisations.

As this moment had come, his earlier alliances to protect his profits were no longer of any use. In reality, Leylin had already planned in his heart to exchange his techniques with them. He'd long since understood the rules of the game in this world, and that he could no longer maintain a monopoly by virtue of his own strength.

He was already surprised that he was able to gobble up a year's worth of profiteering. Now, he would need to find a sufficiently powerful backer to sell his techniques to. From this point of view, the church of wealth was evidently a rather good option.

"Is it the fish floss and white sugar?" Leylin directly pointed it out.

"Yes, as well as you!" Xena's eyes were filled with humour, "Compared to those two techniques, the person who invented them is much more worthy of our consideration. You have Midas' touch!"

"Me!" Leylin pointed at himself, feeling a little ridiculous. Secretly, however, he was constantly on guard and a little apprehensive. It looked like he had been acting too conspicuously recently.

For now, Xena was only interested in his mind, but what if she discovered more things about him?

As he thought about it, Leylin suddenly made up his mind. After he resolved the issue with Marquis Louis, he had to disappear for a while. Otherwise, once he received the attention of even more deities, his troubles would certainly grow.

"These two techniques came about due to luck. I have always loved reading books, and discovered the invention from the writings of the ancients by chance. I'm also very thankful to my father as well, as he allowed my nonsense and even specially bought some craftsmen slaves for me…"

Leylin felt a magic undulation sweep across him, clearly trying to find out whether he was lying. Although Xena's action was performed in secret, how could he possibly not notice it? He raged in his heart, but on the surface he did not make a single sound.

His expression made Xena rather suspicious, and as she felt the feedback from her divine spell, she grew even more confused.

'It can't be, he's telling me the truth?' Xena felt a little disappointed, but did not continue to discuss the matter of the two trades with Leylin. No matter how one looked at it, the profits from the fish floss and white sugar were absolutely mind boggling. If she could not stick her hand in these two trade rivers which were overflowing with gold, she was sure to lose Waukeen's favour, and would be replaced with other priests of gold.

Leylin's nature and the A.I. Chip's adjustments were more than enough to hide information from a high-ranking priest. Looking at Xena's crestfallen face, Leylin inwardly smiled to himself, but his expression was still as serious as ever.

"Then, let's discuss the issue of the the two trades."

"Say it! How many gold coins do you want to give me the techniques?" Xena said with a rich and powerful air, suppressing her emotions completely.

"The entire curing process of fish floss, as well as the can sealing method and even the skilled craftsmen can all be given to you for 100,000 gold pieces!"

For Leylin, it was necessary to mass produce things like fish floss. The greater the volume he was able to sell, the more lucrative it would be. The capital and investment necessary was enormous, and the technique was not particularly sophisticated. After a few years it was sure to be imitated, so it was better to sell it off in one go.

"100,000 gold pieces?!" Xena bit her lip.

From her view, this price was on the high side. However if skilled craftsmen and the sealing technique were included, then it was much more worth it.

The crucial point was the sealing technique that Leylin used. Xena could immediately see the advantage in using the sealing jar to preserve food for a long time. Even if it wasn't used for fish floss, it was enough for her to make a profit.

So what if this industry needed a lot of initial investment? For the church of wealth who threw money at all their problems, that would never become an issue.

"This price is really far too high, unless you include the technique used to refine white sugar as well…" Although she had already inwardly agreed to the deal, she had a forced smile on her face, and on the surface she looked like she was moments away from throwing a tantrum.

"The white sugar purification technique?" Leylin muttered to himself. This was a different technique to the fish floss, and he was secretive about it as there were several key steps to making it.

Additionally, it did not require a big production line or much investment, and it was a business that he could continue in the long-term.

The white sugar trade brought in over half of the Faulen Family's income, and was like an inexhaustible gold mine! As their profits grew, naturally the number of sharks that were attracted by it also grew. This was something that Leylin understood very well.

"Well?" Xena clearly seemed to understand the difference between the two techniques, and her eyes flashed in anticipation.

"This is…" Leylin's expression looked as if he was mired in difficulty, and his fingers began to involuntarily drum on the table. Xena's heart seemed to also throb along to the rhythmic tapping sounds.

'Why… Why did I do that?' Xena's face seemed to flush red as she inwardly chastised herself.

However, Leylin looked at her softly. "The purification technique for white sugar cannot be sold to you. However, can we discuss the matters of the church of wealth?"

"The church of wealth?"

"Yes! For example, how many priests you will dispatch here, how many paladins, and other matters like that…" Leylin smiled like a crafty fox, leaving Xena feeling as if she had met the most unreasonable devil in her career.

After a while, Xena bid farewell and left, looking as if she had been driven to distraction.

"I'll need to carefully consider your proposal!" were the words she left behind.

As he watched many priests and paladins escorting the figure below him, Leylin's lips slowly curved into a smile.

As a matter of fact, his proposal was not complicated. It was only to allow the church of wealth to become a partner in the business, and gradually pass on the technique over three years, enough time for the Faulens to fill their own coffers.

Leylin had additionally emphasised a clause in their agreement— If Faulen Island came under attack, the church of wealth would have to send out priests and paladins to fight alongside his guards.

This was practically a request for the church's protection. Even if they only sent out a low-ranking priest, it would be enough. After all, even Marquis Louis would not dare to declare war on the church of wealth unless he was tired of living.

Leylin had also heard several rumors which made it necessary for him to protect his own lair. Binding the church of wealth to his chariot of war was undoubtedly the safest thing for him to do.

Naturally, he would not have unrealistic expectations of the church protecting the Scarlet Tigers as well. Even if Marquis Louis wanted a truce, Leylin was not willing to agree. Without enough enemies and flesh, how could he fulfil the Devilblood Dagger's needs and quickly advance?

'The clause is not too harsh, and I believe that in the end, this Gold Priest won't be able to withstand the temptation…' Leylin's eyes continued to flash, 'Once the church of wealth puts down their roots here, perhaps my plans can begin…'

After returning to his villa, Leylin waved his hand at Claire and her sister, who had faces full of anticipation, "I won't need you here for now, leave first!"

"Y–yes, young master!" The sisters had a secretly bitter expression on their faces but did not dare to say much as they meekly left the room.

"Come out!" Leylin looked towards the window sill. For a moment, it seemed as if no one was there and the window was tightly shut, without even a small crack.

However, a shadow slowly emerged from the darkness, and the outline of a curvy body could be seen. The owner of this body was a half-drow, who wore the tight-fitting clothes of an assassin and a thief. "Master!" she immediately knelt down.

"I'm afraid that your stealth is no worse off than some middle-ranking assassins!" In the World of Gods, a middle-ranked class was a formidable Professional of over rank 10. Such an assessment coming from Leylin was indeed high praise. Perhaps this half-drow had practised like she was mad after shedding her past humiliating identity, and made great progress.

Karen currently had the heavy responsibility of communicating between Leylin and the Scarlet Tigers.

"Master, we looted two more merchant ships from the Baltic archipelago this month, the estimated profits are about 5000 gold pieces. Additionally, Miss Isabel has acted according to your plan and begun to intentionally leak our whereabouts…" Karen reported respectfully.

"What about the Barbarians?"

"I have already notified them and they have promised to act when the agreed time comes." How could Leylin not take advantage of the assistance the Barbarians could offer to recklessly fight Marquis Louis?

"Mm, even so, we would increase our success rate if we could plant a high-ranking spy in their camp…" Leylin said, seemingly with a sigh.

"Master! This humble servant deserves death. The thieves and spies that were previously sent to the Baltic archipelago in the past all seemed to have been uprooted, and the ones that are left can only divulge ordinary information…" Karen immediately begged for forgiveness. Only after working for Leylin for so long did she realise how deeply terrifying he was.

Compared to this master, those pure-blooded drows in the Underdark seemed extremely kind-hearted!

"The reason I said that was not to blame you," Leylin shook his head, thinking that his servant's cowardice was not a good thing at all.

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Mouthpiece

"Set out immediately towards the Baltic archipelago, and find someone for me," Leylin could not help but to get Karen's attention, as he saw the bewildered expression on her face.

"Who?" Karen was surprised. Could it be that the master had made other preparations over there? Did this mean that he had lost trust in her? Once she thought of the consequences of being abandoned, Karen involuntarily began to tremble.

That display made Leylin inwardly laugh to himself.

"Go and find Viscount Tim, and tell him the truth about who you are. In addition, tell him that I am willing to form an alliance with him and help him become a marquis!" Leylin laughed coldly, as if he were the devil.

"Viscount Tim?" Karen was shocked, and couldn't help but to lift her head up. She had heard many times about the Faulen family's affairs after joining Leylin's troops, and she certainly knew that Viscount Tim had been the main ringleader in coveting the Faulen Island's territory.

This viscount was also the Scarlet Tigers' biggest enemy right from the start, so how could they suddenly shake hands and talk of peace?

"Carry out the order," Leylin waved his hand. Karen respectfully bowed, disappearing into the darkness.

"That's politics for you… The enemy of my enemy is a friend, and no matter how one fought to the death against the other the previous day, to the point of wanting to directly kill each other, one must join hands against the common enemy all the same…"

Although the ambushed spies in the Baltic archipelago could only divulge the most basic of information, Leylin could still see a lot of things in them. For example, the discord between Marquis Louis and Viscount Tim, as well as the eldest son William's outstanding performance.

According to Leylin's understanding of human nature, he had over a 50% chance of success to rope in Viscount Tim., a chance great enough for him to try and grab.

Even if he failed, he would not suffer any losses, right?A few days later, The Gold Priest Xena eventually accepted Leylin's conditions and signed the agreement. She received the sugar refining technique under the condition that they would protect the Faulen family for 3 years.

Both sides were very satisfied with their deal, and perhaps it would take a long time for both their profits and losses to come to light.

When all of these matters had been accomplished, a resplendent church had been erected at Port Venus.

As she had money, Xena, that prodigious bitch, seemed to simply use gold coins to accelerate the progress. Naturally, it had shockingly good results. The main body was up within ten days, several times faster than Leylin's construction of the city hall.

Naturally, this could not have happened with the efforts of the priests. As they could recover their divine skills just by praying every day, they were not afraid of generously using their skills to support the construction. Leylin could only look on in envy.

On the day that the construction was complete, Xena personally prayed and brought down the divine grace of the Goddess of Wealth.

Although the goddess herself did not appear, just being able to give all her followers in the port some additional luck and eloquence, as well as quick calculation abilities, was enough for those fellows to earn enough to fill their coffers in the future.

Naturally, the divine grace which was as boundless as the sea, and the imposing divine might, left a deep impression on Leylin.

The Goddess of Wealth was just a mid-ranked god, and shared the same status as a rank 8 of the Magus World. However, the feeling she gave Leylin was far more terrifying than many rank 8 entities.

Perhaps this was because it was her home turf, but it still gave Leylin an enormous shock. The powerful qualitative change that occurred when the power of faith was united with the body's power of laws greatly inspired him.

There were still a few discordant voices in the crowd.

The priests of the God of Suffering did not say much; his believers were of the lower classes, such as slaves and labourers, as well as others like farmers. They simply did not care about a goddess of merchants, because in reality the total of their belongings did not even add up to a single gold piece!

However, for the Bishop of the God of Knowledge, Tapris, having priests of the Goddess of Wealth stationed here was a great challenge. Although he still sent people over to congratulate them, he turned a cold shoulder to Baron Jonas.

Leylin and Baron Jonas completely ignored his attitude. As a representative of the nonreligious royalty, there were some essential benefits that they would never relinquish, and would even defend to the death.

Leylin stayed there for a while, until the transaction involving the fish floss technique had been completed and Port Venus was back on track. Only then did he retreat back into his laboratory.

The azure sea sprayed stinging salt and a soothing sea breeze at the same time. A black shadow whizzed past, leaving ripples on the sea surface behind it on its way.

An enormous fleet of pirate ships was quietly moored on the horizon, a terrifying skull and dagger flag the colour of blood on their flagpoles. The Scarlet Tigers had made a name for themselves in the nearby region, and their strength began to approach that of the three great pirate crews.

It was rumoured that the captain of that pirate crew, the Scarlet Witch, was from the abyss of evil, and even enjoyed bathing in the fresh blood of her enemies. Just the mention of her name could make small children cry fearfully at night.

However, the rumoured Scarlet Witch, Leylin's cousin Isabel, stood with the other high-ranking pirates on the deck, as if waiting for their true captain to appear.

"You've worked hard!" Leylin's figure slowly descended in the howling wind. He first nodded at his pirate crew, then turned to face his own cousin. Afterwards, his brow slowly furrowed.

As she had sacrificed a great deal of blood and flesh, Isabel's power had improved very quickly, and she was now almost a rank 15 high-ranking Professional. She was the number one combatant under him.

At the same time however, Isabel's demonisation had also grown even more serious.

Although her appearance was still human, occasionally she emitted an extremely demonic and icy aura, which was terrifyingly evil. It was enough for weaker people to fall into a dead faint if they got too close to her.

As a result, even the most ferocious pirates did not dare to get close to Isabel.

"Our people have all been set up according to your plan," Isabel had no interest in the fearful gazes from the others, and arrived at Leylin's side.

"You've done very well," Leylin captured Isabel's small hand. Although it was as cold as ice, there was a touch of warmth to it that still belonged to the living.

"Ronald, come to the captain's room. I need to hear your latest report," Leylin looked towards Ronald, who immediately bowed and obeyed his order.

Of all the mates, he was the one with the best foundation. He even had some ability at leadership, something that had caught Leylin's attention. His current position had slowly been elevated above that of Cyclops, and he had become Leylin's top talent apart from Isabel.

Naturally, Leylin did not treat his old subordinates badly, and had given them a ship and 10 pirates. They were promoted to middle-ranked leaders and had awe-inspiring prestige, but now that their status had been upgraded, their thoughts also seemed to change a little.

After the pirates on the deck all left after reading the mood, Leylin spoke in a low voice to Isabel, "If you make the decision, then I still have ways to get rid of the demonic transformation of your body. However if you really wait until the transformation is complete, then I fear you will directly descend into the abyss, and your soul will never receive salvation…"

Isabel played with her long hair. Only in front of Leylin would she do these little feminine actions.

"After I give up my power, how do I get revenge on my enemies? I made a vow, that every day I live I will seek the deaths of my enemy to comfort the souls of my family…" Listening to what Isabel said, Leylin could only fall into a gloomy mood. His cousin's character was so strong that it could give him a headache.

"Alright, since we have nothing left to do after this battle, we can take our time to consider how to resolve it. I only hope that we aren't too late…" Leylin looked towards the sky where clouds were slowly gathering, heralding the arrival of a storm.

"My sword has long been thirsting for blood…" His cousin stood next to him just like a valkyrie."Damn! Damn! Damn!" Viscount Tim cursed as he slammed the bedroom door handle, holding an bottle of empty bottle of rum.

Those serving maids? He had long roared at them to leave.

"One day! One day, I'll make all of you who despise and insult me pay the price!" Thinking back to those looks of contempt he had received recently, Viscount Tim's mood became even worse.

"Mm? Who is it? Didn't I say before, to all get out of my sight…"

Viscount Tim's voice stopped, because the person he had discovered standing in his bedroom was not a maid, but a thief.

"The Scarlet Tiger pirate crew gives you our greetings!" This thief had a sweet voice that was pleasant to the ears, and her figure was very good.

Viscount Tim looked at her from head to toe, and his expression changed completely. He even looked like he had woken up from his drunken stupor. Scarlet Tiger? Were they not his enemies?

"Haha… Are you here to take my life?" Tim took a few steps back, and his dark heart was filled with hate. If it was his father and William's place, that thief would been chopped to pieces before she could get this close to them. Only here in this neglected second son's house could an assassin easily step through.

However, if he could fight for a little more time, the guards would notice something was amiss and immediately rush through.

"No, we're here to help you! You, do you wish to become a Marquis?" The temptation of a devil poured out from Karen's lips.

"Marquis?" Tim's expression changed greatly, and he immediately shut his bedroom door with a dark expression.

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Pirates Tide

"Go on! You were sent by William, weren't you. What are you plotting?" Tim immediately sat down to one side.

"Haha… I'm afraid that your brother can't order me around. If you want to confirm my identity, how about this?" Karen lifted her hand, and a scroll covered in the Scarlet Tiger's skull and dagger seal flew directly to Tim.

"It really is you people…" Tim touched the unique imprint on the parchment in disbelief, his eyes slowly growing as round as saucers.

"What do you want?" Without quite knowing why, Tim's heart began to beat wildly.

"Didn't I say before? We're going to help you become the marquis, my lord," Karen smiled.

"What sort of joke is this, William is still here, and apart from him there's still…" Tim mumbled.

"Then just let them all die," Karen's words were filled with venom.

"Let them all die!" Tim bonelessly flopped onto his chair as he heard her speak his mind, but his eyes actually shone brightly.

"You want me to work undercover and sell out my own family?" He asked slowly.

"That depends on your decision. What do you want, a broken family? Or the glory and power that your brother William currently holds?"

Karen could tell that Tim never really had a choice.

The night wind blew through the window, and the curtains continued to wave in the breeze. However, there was someone missing from their earlier position in front of the window. After a long time sitting uneasily in his chair, Tim felt dizzy and confused. However, an idea had seeded itself deep within his mind.

'That's right. If I can't have it, you can't either! I'll destroy everything, this entire Baltic archipelago should belong to me!'Under the moonlight, Tim's back seemed to have twisted demonically."Master, everything went smoothly. Tim also gave us the route maps of the Black Skeletons and Tigershark Pirates." Tim had completely revealed Marquis Louis' plan to them; the forces he was mobilising, William's route, even the news of the wizard Boruj's return.

"Ah, is this Tim crazy?" Isabel stood next to Leylin, looking at the final part of the parchment which held the map of the entire Baltic archipelago. He had completely betrayed his family and even given them the defenses of the marquis' house.

"Desperate and crazy people can be unreasonable like this. He clearly knows that his family is the only thing left that he can rely on, but he willingly wants to destroy it. It's really too funny…" Karen knelt down even lower, and did not dare to look Leylin in the eye.

Although she had a rather intimate relationship with this master of hers, she realised that she couldn't even begin to understand Leylin yet. For the sake of benefits, even his enemies became his allies, and the ability to accurately grasp someone's heart made him seem like a demon wearing human skin.

Indeed, a demon! In Karen's heart, perhaps only the Archdevil of the 9th level of hell would have such a cold and cruel mentality.

"What, are you afraid of me?" Even this light thought was discovered by Leylin, and his casual way of asking made Karen tremble all over.

"No! No, your servant was just concerned that Viscount Tim would go back on his word. After all, nobles are not to be trusted. Even if we succeed, I fear that he will act as a witness against us…" Karen immediately replied.

"Before William dies, the likelihood of Tim going back to their side is very small," Leylin did not get angry after discovering his servant's fearful state of mind, it was a very normal reaction.

Only in front of the Scarlet Tigers did Leylin abandon his aristocratic airs, showing his true self to the crowd. Because of it, he had earned the other pirates' genuine awe and fear. Were Isabel not slowly transforming into a demon in body and mind, perhaps even she would feel fearful and alienated by him.

"After we succeed, whether Tim will ask for help from the Dambrath Kingdom or testify against us…" Leylin laughed gently, "Did I let you leave behind any evidence or information that points towards me?"

"No," Karen dimly began to realise.

"So from beginning to the end, this entire matter is only related to the Scarlet Tigers and Tim. Is Tim willing to gamble away his future and be hanged for the crime, just to testify against a bunch of pirates?"

"Master is wise!" Karen only understood at this moment how deeply Leylin had thought about everything.

"Not only that… Louis and William are the marquis and the marquis' heir, even containing royal blood. The Baltic archipelago is the marquis' fiefdom, do you really think we can go swaggering in after disposing of them both and take it over?"

"If that happened, the king would lose his mind and attack us!"

"That's right, so we should at least support a puppet agent on the surface, and Tim is rather suitable, is he not?" Leylin folded his hands, "With him there, then we can cover up the whole matter as a fight between a noble family's sons, and isn't this sort of thing common in the Kingdom?

"This would let his majesty and the royal family save face, and although they will continue to resent us, the possibility of them wasting manpower and resources to exterminate us will be very low."

"Your servant understands…" Karen's face was still rather shocked as she respectfully withdrew. It was clear that Leylin's view extended further into the future than she had realised.

'Don't tell me that all humans are as full of convoluted schemes and foresight as him? The extent of this plot, perhaps even those Matriarchs of the Underdark…' Karen left with a heavy heart.

Leylin was comforting his cousin, "I know your family's debt of blood includes Tim's. Don't worry, when the time is ripe he WILL pay the price…"

"There isn't a trace of doubt in my mind," Isabel looked deeply into Leylin's eyes, "Additionally, I would like to finish him off myself…"

"No problem, I can leave William to you," Leylin's eyes flashed coldly, "Notify the Barbarians as well, this time we will eliminate their naval force in one fell swoop!"

A grey falcon with a scroll tied to its leg disappeared into the sky, as quickly as a flash of grey lightning. With this sort of raptor-like speed and flight, it would only take half a night to reach Pirates' Cove.

A strong breeze flowed past, lifting the heavy curtains.

"What an adorable little fellow, haha…" Madam Tillen caressed its ash-grey beak, and retrieved the message tied to its feet. After glancing through the message, she turned to the Barbarians' captain in her room, "The operation can begin!"

Several loud grunting sounds could be heard. An enormous hand attached to an arm the size of an entire baby was grasping a huge goblet filled to the brim with golden spirits.

Odge's throat was gulping down the drink, and occasionally some liquor would leak out from the corners of his mouth and flow down his prickly beard.

"Boruj, Boruj, Boruj! I'll turn your skull into a wine glass!" Odge growled, snatching up the enormous saber. A powerful spell glinted on the swordpoint.

"Send the order, we act now!" Odge roared, and the two barbarian warriors outside immediately flew out.

Pirates' Cove immediately burst into a flurry of activity. Under the command of their captain, teams of barbarian warriors boarded their ships in an orderly manner, amongst them shamans who wore colourful feathers and had painted faces.

They were the rare spellcasters of the barbarian tribe, and one could tell Odge's resolve and caution from how all of them had been dispatched.

"The Pirates' Tide! It's similar to the last Pirates' Tide that happened decades ago…" The barbarian pirate crew did not consist solely of barbarians. As the head of the Dark Alliance in the outer seas, they had many pirates under them of other races which were all currently taking action with them. Several thousand ships sailed out from Pirates' Cove, which gave off a rather chilling feeling.

"I smell killing, and the plot is afoot… This festival will please our lord greatly!" In a dark corner, the Cyric priest murmured to himself, next to him the bent figure of the bishop from before.

"Prepare your men to assassinate the leaders of both sides, and let the chaos grow even more turbulent!" After this reshuffling of the pirate organisations, the situation in the outer sea would change greatly. However, this bishop's purpose was greater than that.

All he asked was for there to be chaos! After the chaotic battle, no matter who rose to the top, they would represent order. However, this would clearly displease the God of Murder, as he only wanted an endlessly chaotic outer sea, full of all kinds of murder and conspiracies.

Murder and plots were Cyric's most favourite things. If they could accomplish this, then he was bound to receive the grace of his god. He would advance by 1 or 2 ranks as a priest at the very least, and even receive other advantages. Compared to that, how could allowing the entire outer sea wither even compare?

"As you command!" The priest now understood the tip of the bishop's plot. Neither their past neutrality nor the current assassinations mattered, all that was left was a sacrifice of chaos and death!

These sorts of methods obviously brought great pleasure and excitement to him. With high spirits, the priest's body slowly melded into the shadows, leaving behind the bishop who watched the sails alone.

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Dawn of Battle

"Young master! We've received word that those Barbarians at Pirates' Cove are acting strangely!" It was very unlikely for such a large-scale shift in manpower to be hidden from other organisations. William got a report quite quickly.

"The Barbarians? Get me a map of the sea!" William put down the copper telescope. The feeling of possessing so much power left him in a marvellous mood.

Under him was a huge three-masted ship that was over 300m long, able to displace 500 metric tons of water when sailing. The terrifying battleship, its deck and hull coated in magic armour, was a symbol of invincibility and tyranny in the outer seas.

A flag with a sinister black skull on it flapped around in the wind, the mark of the Black Skeletons. This was one of the three great pirate crews of the outer seas of Dambrath, with over 300 elites and ten large battleships. Their flagship had been remodelled with magic!

At this moment, a young pirate walked over, opening up an intricate map next to William.

"You've worked hard, Captain Crowe!" William nodded politely.

Captain Crowe had translucent fair skin and a tall forehead, the bridge of his nose long and straight as a snowy mountain. His eyes were long and narrow, as were his proportionate eyebrows, and he had a delicate yet seductive aura.

However, William did not dare underestimate him. Crowe was a high-ranked Professional exceeding rank 15, his outer appearance only the effect of his bloodline.

Indeed, this was someone with a bloodline. His powers stemmed not only from his Profession, but also his innate constitution. The power he inherited from his bloodline allowed him to possess greater vitality than the average human, and the bloodline itself would awaken spell-like abilities as he grew.

However, bloodlines had limitations as well. He could only cast from a limited pool of spells, and there was a limit to the number of uses.

However, even the simplest rank 0 spell was useful for high-ranked warriors. On top of that, his bloodline allowed him to cast spells so quickly that defending against them was pointless.

It caused many to describe bloodline holders as lucky people who possessed gifts from their ancestors. Crowe himself had a high grade of bloodline ,but he was also a knight that was over rank 15. Still, the influence of his ancestor's bloodline naturally lent to a savagery and violence that was in his very genes. He was like a devil king in the outer seas.

However, the Black Skeletons were subservient to Marquis Louis, and Crowe had a great attitude towards William. It could have to do with the high-ranking wizard by his side.

While similarly ranked as Professionals, a wizard far exceeded knights and bloodline holders in power. Perhaps, given time to prepare, a high-ranked wizard could contend against several enemies of their rank.

As a nobility of the seas, William knew these basic things well. After using a vernier caliper and making marks, he stowed the map away. "They set off from Pirates' Cove just yesterday. Based on the distance, it'll take them at least two days to reach the battlefield. We should be able to exterminate the Scarlet Tigers in that time…"

"When the time comes, please leave the Scarlet Witch to me!" Crowe bowed elegantly, seeming like a refined noble. It was impossible to connect him to piracy on the seas.

"No problem!" William frowned, but quickly smoothed out his expression. He stood on deck, watching the over 30 battleships behind him, "Send down the command that we are to increase our speed, we should strive to annihilate the Scarlet Tigers within a day!"

The flag bearer immediately got up to the observation deck and sent down the order. The vessels sped up, creating a spectacular sight. Most of the ships belonged to the Black Skeletons, and only a few were marked with the symbol of the Tigershark Pirates.

However, William would not underestimate them because of that, There were many white lines next to the fleet, the dorsal fins of many tigersharks. They looked like innumerable fish scales that emitted a dark luster in the sunlight.

This was a group of tamed tigersharks, the main force of the Tigershark Pirates! A formation of them spelled disaster in the deep seas, easily able to flip ships over and rip the flesh off their enemies from the waters.

"Keke… seems like Citamo's little darlings are already impatient, or am I wrong?" Crowe coquettishly greeted a sharkman behind him.

"I want to rip off every bone of the body of that Leylin, inch by inch. I'll then let my children share every drop of flesh and blood on his body…" Citamo was a hybrid between a shark and a human. His outer skin was like the solid cartilage of a shark, and his smile revealed a row of sawtooth-like teeth. The corners of his lips extended all the way to his ears.

Such a huge mouth could easily swallow a full-grown man.

William gulped, "It's rumoured that the Tigershark Pirates and Merfolk Pirates have connections. After the Merfolk Pirates were annihilated, Citamo even tried to cause trouble for the Scarlet Tigers, but the opponent fled…"

"The captain of the Merfolk Pirates was a bastard of yours, no? Don't worry, the enemy won't be able to run!" Crowe's eyes had a bloody glint in them as he ruthlessly revealed the secret.

"Crowe! Once the battle's over, I'll wring your head off!" Citamo widened his mouth, revealing a terrifying tongue with sharp barbed tips on them, "I've long since wanted to taste a bloodline holder…"

"Enough!" An aged voice sounded just as William furrowed his brows and was about to stop the fight. Boruj slowly strolled to the deck, leaning on a slender magic staff.

While he looked like a shrivelled old man who already had a foot in the coffin, and there was only a little bit of light in his eyes, Crowe and Citamo both did not dare underestimate him. This was a high-ranked wizard, a spellcaster who possessed immense strength! No matter where he went, he would be greeted with reverence.

"Master Boruj, you're just in time!" With Boruj's arrival, William was more confident.

"I hope you can use Sending to inform the naval commander that he doesn't need to come over here. He'll just have to carry on stalling that trash at Pirates' Cove for a while…" William's eyes now held rays of wisdom, "Though they definitely won't be able to make it to the battle, I still feel uneasy…"

Sending was only a communication spell that high-ranked wizards used. The distance it allowed and its convenience far surpassed old methods. Of course, Leylin was still unable to use this as he was still too low-ranked.

"Don't worry," Boruj looked hard at the two pirate captains and headed back to the hold of the ship.

"I still have some thoughts on the upcoming massacre, I invite the two of you to discuss this together…" As if not seeing the dark look in their eyes, William put on his sincerest smile and called for Crowe and Citamo.As they were planning for the battle, Leylin's various channels gave him an unceasing stream of intel.

"Mm. William's main force is two large pirate groups. He's protected by the high-ranked wizard, Boruj, and they've already reached the Strait of Storms?" Leylin looked at the gigantic map on the wall and stuck a few flags on it.

"Yes. Marquis Louis' slaving fleet has already shifted towards the Hygar Islands, blocking the path that the Barbarians are sure to pass by. It'll take a long time for victory to be decided between them…"

Only Isabel and Ronald were beside Leylin, even Karen had been sent out. Evidently, this was a military meet for those of high rank..

"Good. As we expected, they sent out their last resort…" Leylin clapped his hands, "Is that stuff prepared yet?"

"We've already made contact with the people there. They delivered all the goods right away once we paid them their gold. We're currently storing it here…" Ronald's voice trembled slightly as he said this. While he had talent as a commander, he was still shocked by Leylin's risky actions.

"Act based on the plan. Remember to keep it a secret! Let's go out and see the leader of the other pirates…" Leylin clapped his hands and decided the fate of many people, and then walked out as if it was nothing at all.

"With a wave of his hand, he can take the lives of tens of thousands at one go and even show no remorse. Is this the way the truly powerful behave?" Ronald muttered to himself as he followed Leylin.

Lights illuminated the hall atop the Scarlet Tiger. Numerous pirate leaders stood at the two sides of the long table, with the elites and trusted aides behind them.

"Boss!" Boss!" After having brought Isabel and Ronald inside, Leylin occupied the host's seat as he took a quick look around. The Scarlet Tigers had grown to over 500 men strong in the past year, even if they didn't have many elites. Many familiar and unfamiliar faces appeared in front of him.

"I've gathered you here today because we are going to deal with the Black Skeletons and Tigershark Pirates!" Leylin's voice was low as he announced his objective.

The moment the words came out, there was a slight commotion below. One-eyed Dragon, Hawk, and the rest that Leylin was more familiar with merely whispered, while the rest of the pirates grew noisy.

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Barren Island

"Boss, why do we have to go against the Black Skeletons and Tigersharks? Marquis Louis and the Baltic archipelago are behind them, and we're no match for THEM… Isn't it better to stay out of the way like we did in the past? The sea is so vast. They can't find us…" A pirate who looked kind stood out.

"Are you questioning my decision, Stalker?" Leylin's voice was low, immediately causing the hall to turn chilly.

This was the disadvantage of staying at Port Venus and avoiding trouble. Since he controlled the pirates from the shadows most of the time, he still didn't have enough of a grasp on them. This was especially true of those like Stalker who'd just joined. He'd originally commanded a few ships himself, and had never experienced how brutal and callous Leylin could be. There were things he did not understand.

Stalker froze, but still mumbled everything out anyway, "I obviously wouldn't want to do that, but we have to worry about our brothers…"

"Wouldn't want to? So that means you'll still do it?" Leylin chuckled, a flash of lightning shooting out of his hands.

With his strength as a rank 9 wizard, plentiful battle experiences, and excellent techniques, taking care of a Professional merely about rank 10 could be done in an instant.

Crackle!* Amidst the fierce electric currents, Stalker turned into a few portions of charred ash.

"Ah… Head!" "What are you doing?"

The trusted aide standing behind Stalker brought out his curved knife in his grief, but was immediately drowned out by Ronald's underlings.

Leylin played with the electric currents that struck fear into the hearts of the pirates, leaving them trembling in their fright. He then ordered in leisure from his seat, "Ronald, go and take over their ship!"

"Understood, Captain!" Ronald immediately brought his men and left, leaving behind a group of pirate leaders quivering at their seats. It was only at this point that they remembered the Scarlet Tigers had been established with the captain's ruthlessness and cruelty.

They had to carry out his orders with determination. The only other option was being purged callously!

Shouts could be heard, and there was some chaos in the distance but Leylin didn't care. Sensing the wordless communication amongst his subordinates, He snickered inside, 'As expected, the truly troublesome ones aren't hot-blooded. There are more of those who only pay lip service…'

After a year of work, the batch of people under Leylin had all grown rich, gaining control over certain sections. They were now smalltime leaders themselves.

Due to a shortage of manpower, Isabel and Ronald had no choice but to hand over some power to others, which then led to a few other hidden leaders amongst the pirates. Leylin kept them under control by pressuring them with his power. While this made sure that they wouldn't dare rebel, the hatred in their hearts increased by the day.

After the fools who had the guts to speak out all died, the only resistance was left hidden in the shadows. It was alright if they only paid lip service, but how many out of these people had contact with Marquis Louis and betrayed him, turning into spies?

Leylin sneered on the inside. On the surface, the opponent's strength far exceeded his, even in terms of his noble status.

This was the loneliness at the top of the pyramid. Worldly matters were like water that would wash away the people beside him, the mere thought of like-minded companions from the past difficult to remember.

'But even if you work from the shadows, you can't stop me.' Leylin was unfeeling and merciless.

"Captain! Stalker's ship has been cleaned out!" At this moment, Ronald pushed the door open and walked in hurriedly, bloodstains still on his body. "We found some assassins from the church of murder on it, and this too!" A few noble emblems with blood on them were flung to the long table.

"This… It's the family emblem of Marquis Louis!" Someone who recognised it yelled.

"Hang all the assassins. Kill all of Stalker's assistants. Let them know what the punishment for treachery is!" Leylin instructed calmly, deciding the life and death of tens of people in an instant.

"Now, do you have any other opinions?" Being glanced at by Leylin's lightning-like eyes, the many leaders immediately lowered their heads, having no courage to meet his gaze.After the meeting was adjourned, Leylin might have used his might to forcefully allocate tasks, but the undercurrents still flowed. A few suspicious figures sneakily met up at the bottom of a ship's hold in the deep night.

"Nondetection" An expensive scroll was torn, and once the rays of light from the spell filled the area, the people finally heaved a sigh of relief.

"Is this place safe?" One of them asked with a rough voice.

"I spend a lot of money to get this magic scroll. Even a high-ranked wizard might not be able to find us!" Another voice sounded exasperated.

"Fine, stop quarrelling!" An old and hoarse voice sounded, immediately suppressing the dispute, "I believe Liberty—"

"Didn't I tell you not to call me by my name? Not even my nickname!" The voice from before sounded again immediately.

"Fine, sorry." The elderly voice halted, and then continued, "There are now tens of ships. We have people keeping watch over the Scarlet Tiger, and there's the power of magic involved. He definitely won't discover us, so we can discuss at ease…"

"The captain's been getting more ruthless lately. Stalker merely said a word and was killed by him just like that. Even his underlings weren't spared…" A voice of indignance could be heard.

"Did he discover something?" This was the worried person.

"The reason us brothers are banding together is for our own benefits, but now the captain wants to go to war on those two huge pirate groups. Tell me, what are our chances of winning?"

The elderly voice replied, "Actually, if the captain's still like before and lets us loot and plunder as we like, while he's in charge of disposing of the stolen goods and distributing profits, I have no issues with that. The issue is that things are different now. He wants us to risk our lives! Even if we get rid of the Black Skeletons and Tigershark Pirates, they still have the Marquis and Baltic archipelago as their backing and can quickly regain their strength. What about us? On top of that, they have a tremendous slaving fleet…"

At the end of that, the elderly voice suddenly grew louder.

"Then what do we do?" The reason they had gathered was not because they truly had plans to start a rebellion, but were merely agreeing on an alliance in order to protect their own interests.

"We're pirates. How valuable could trust be? If put in a spot, we can just rebel against him and side with the other pirate groups. Whether it's Marquis Louis or the Barbarians, anything can be considered…" The aged voice held hints of resentment.

Eyes full of wit shone in the dark room like a pack of wolves."Reporting! Traces of the Scarlet Pirates have been found!" A pirate respectfully reported.

"Follow them, follow them! Keep a tight hold of them!" William's eyes brightened.

The huge ships pulled at the sails, and they formed a huge arc in the strong wind. The entire fleet began to sail at a terrifying speed.

'This is all thanks to master Boruj!' Experiencing the strong winds in his face, William could not help but take a look at the high-ranked wizard next to him in admiration. The Breeze spell he'd cast had raised the fleet's speed more than twofold.

Wizards could adapt to all sorts of complex environments. With the numerous types of spells they could cast, they were useful in all sorts of abrupt situations. In his opinion, the Scarlet Tigers would not be able to escape.

"An island has been discovered up ahead, and there are ships anchored there!" At this moment, the sailor at the observation deck exclaimed.

"What?" William immediately darted to the railings, using the telescope to observe. A huge barren island appeared in his line of sight. There was a series of pirate ships anchored at the side, the flag of the Scarlet Tigers extremely obvious on them.

"They've abandoned their ships and landed? Have they gone mad?" While still in disbelief, William gritted his teeth, "Go! Sink them!"

Whatever it was, he needed to sink the opponent's ships. This way, they would be completely trapped. The offensive went smoothly. Not many had been left on watch, and Crowe and Citamo hadn't even needed to act. Their first and second mates had taken along some people and seized the thirty pirate ships.

All the pirate ships that Leylin had spent a year seizing with his own pirate crew now fell into William's hands. The process was so smooth-sailing that it was difficult to believe. The merfolk's ship, and even the Scarlet Tiger with its blood red flag were at his disposal.

"His ships were all very clean and had no traps. Based on the information from the slaves, this is a temporary stopping point for them, and they've built a few simple defenses…"

Crowe fiddled with the black curved knife in his hands, "So? Should we sail them away?" Such a huge fleet was worth at least tens of thousands of hold, an impressive amount of wealth. Even large pirate groups would go green in envy at it.

William muttered to himself, and then gritted his teeth. "No. Sink them all! Even if they've done anything to the ships, it shouldn't affect us."

After all, there were a few terrifying toxins and curses that could be hidden from the senses of magic, and even divine force. He had come out to obtain a beautiful victory to secure his position as the successor. Nothing could go wrong.

"Master Boruj, what do you think?" William did not forget to ask for Boruj's opinion at this point.

"Alright!" The wizard nodded, causing Crowe and Citamo to curse inside. As expected, wizards were all spendthrifts!

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Attack And Defence

Chaotic sounds rang out, and the bulk of the ships sank down into the sea one by one. William, however, had a blank expression on his face while he watched the Scarlet Tiger sinking. The largest ship of them all was being swallowed by the merciless waves.

"Is this… victory?" This presented him with an even greater enigma, which was whether to proceed with ground warfare or not.

"What should we do now?" William turned to look at Boruj rather awkwardly.

"I can feel a huge amount of life energy on the island. If I'm not wrong, he should still be there. But I can't probe further into the details, and there are also disturbances deterring my predictions. After all, they have a wizard with them too…" The radiance of spells shone over Boruk as he shook his head with a bitter smile.

"Why would we attack? We can just patiently surround the island here, it'll be impossible for anyone there who isn't of a high rank to survive the loss of the ships…" Crowe's expression was specific to the craftiness of a pirate.

"That's a pretty good idea, but there's another thing we have to consider. They might be trying to stall us here, I'm worried about the other fleet…" As loyal as the bribed pirates could be, they were nothing compared to the dogs they raised. William was aware of that.

Moreover, loyalty and trust weren't words in the pirates' dictionaries anyway. They were merely instinctive loonies that sought refuge from the strong!

The sudden blinking of a communication spell cause Boruj's face to drop.

"I've just received news that Pirates' Cove is immensely determined this time, and they even sent out the Pirates' Tide. The slaves' fleet has suffered great losses, and a few high-ranking captains were even murdered. We suspect that the God of Murder's organisation is behind it…"

"The God of Murder? Damn it!" Nobody who heard the name off this crazy deity would be too happy. William was about to implode. At the same time, he felt some sort of change in the eyes of the two bulky captains beside him.

The main reason why the Louis' family could terrorise these pirates was because of their enormous military fleets. If they lost too much power now, even without the Scarlet Tiger keeping them in check it was possible that these pirates would mutiny. Common countermeasures were useless against the pirates if they were set on betrayal.

"My Lord! The pirates that we've sent out have come back!" A subordinate announced as he led in a rogue dressed in black skintight clothes.

"My Lord, this is the information from 'Night Owl'!" The rogue presented a letter to them. William slightly jerked his head to the side, signaling for his grey-haired butler to receive the letter and put it through a thorough check.

"No anomalies," the butler reported after scrutinising it. He then passed the letter to William, who took his time to absorb the information.

His expression grew progressively better, "I've decided! We're gonna land immediately and ambush the Scarlet Tigers!"

'Has he had a spy among the Scarlet Tigers for a while?' Crowe watched everything quietly, but something flashed across his eye.

William looked at Crowe. "They have around 500 pirates, if we were to face them head on, do you have the confidence to defeat them all, Captain Crowe?"

"Without any confirmed numbers of professionals over there, they are just merely just 500 midgets to me! My subordinates can finish all of them by themselves!" A sinister smile flashed past Crowe's face.

The look of bloodlust induced some fear inside of William, 'It's been rumoured that most bloodline holders are nuts, and are easily aggravated or have extreme bloodlust; seems like it's true!'

"It's decided then! Captain Crowe will bring some men alongside me to the land and Citamo will guard this place!" William commanded. Most of Citamo's main power was still within the tigersharks, so only a small number of people could help on land.

'I need some deeds to prove myself. As long as Master Boruj is here, everything should be alright!' William glanced at the expressionless wizard at the side and cheered himself on.

Very quickly, an elite team led mostly by the Black Skeletons with some of William's guards and the Tigershark Pirates reached the island.

The team had a manpower of around four to five hundred, but in terms of skills they were far better than whoever Leylin had under him.

"They've built a simple campsite here and stored a minimal amount of water and food, enough for more than two months. Also, they've also set up many traps, a majority of which are venomous snakes, in the canyon."

William's informant seemed to have given him more than enough intelligence, and he even provided a rough map.

"We'll be fine as long as we have this!" Crowe's bloodlust-filled smile widened, and it was indeed intimidating.

With the informant's report and their own pirate scouts, they successfully passed the trap-filled canyon and arrived at the pirate campsite. The wooden fence was sharp, and in front of it were some ugly pagodas. Many were looking at these, secretly letting out fearful gasps every now and then.Isabel walked into the center of the campsite, "The enemies have made it past the venomous snake canyon, I was right about them having a mole in us. And the spy is at least a middle-ranked one, god damn it!"

"This is nothing out of the ordinary. You can leave for now." Leylin waved his arm, and a dispirited pirate leader walked out.

"You used Dominate Person?" Isabel asked. Although the pirate leader didn't look like he was in his best condition, it didn't look like he was controlled either.

"Nope, just a simple psychological hint. And with those kinds of spells, even if spell slots weren't taken into account I don't have enough power and spirit to control so many intelligent creatures right now." Leylin shook his head. "Survival is the first instinct of all creatures, and to be able to leave a spiritual imprint on this base nature is very difficult. On the other hand, it's easy to give them a lasting hint, furthermore…"

"My Lord!" Ronald came in on time, and knelt down respectfully, "All the preparations are done!"

"Great! Let us go welcome them, or else they wouldn't launch the attack at all." Leylin stood on top of the fort with Isabel and Ronald by his side, directly looking into the eye of a young aristocrat in the opposite force.

"Is that Leylin Faulen? The son of the the Baron?" William was looking at them too.

"Yes, I've checked! It isn't any illusionary spell or camouflage. The Scarlet Witch is there as well." Boruj confirmed.

"The rest is up to you, Captain Crowe!" William looked at Crowe beside him, the man's eyes already filled with killing intent. Blood vessels were popping up on the man's eyes.

"No problem, but that Scarlet Witch is mine!" Crowe growled, "Black Skeletons, follow me!"

"Animate Dead!" "Strengthen Undead!" "Skeleton Call!"

An array of spells launched from Crowe's body, forming a bone armour around his body first of all. It caged him securely. The ground then bulged, small bones jutting out as skeletons crawled their way out. They seemed to come from hell, holding rusty axes and broken swords as they rushed towards the campsite.

"Undead creatures!" "It's the undead!" The pirates in the campsite were in chaos. If it weren't for Leylin's early preparations, it might have sparked a rebellion.

"It has been rumoured that the Black Skeletons' captain is a bloodline holder, and is able to call upon the dead, looks like the rumours are real!" Even though low-ranked skeletons like this would not cause much trouble, it was a huge blow to his men's confidence. Leylin furrowed his brows, sending out a few spells.

"Berserk!" "Blizzard!" "Resist Energy!"

Under the influence of Berserk, many low-ranked pirates started yelling as if their bodies were filled with immense strength. Bows were continuously in action, the arrows they shot out turning the skeletons to dust.

"These spells, we can already confirm it's him." William nodded his head as he watched, feeling a little upset. Even though his opponent had a good affinity for spells, to waste his slots from the start made him no different from those stupid and rash bloodline holders.

'Alright. We can end the war if we capture him, but on top of that we can even blackmail Baron Jonas for the refined sugar and fish floss techniques.' William was extremely jealous of these two money-makers and started growling, "I will bestow 1000 coins upon anyone who's able to capture that wizard. You can also do whatever you wish to the captured women!"

All the pirates got excited at the great rewards, and started charging madly towards the fences.

"Our low-ranked pirates are of such inferior quality, they couldn't improve much even with the enhancement of the spells. And my spells are limited in time and scope." Leylin laughed bitterly to Isabel as he looked at the pirates who were starting to give way. Both of them retreated from the frontline and came to the hall.

"Prepare to leave!" Leylin signalled with his hand, and Ronald started moving away the obstacles to reveal a passageway in the corner of the hall. This was a passageway that Leylin had made when he built the campsite back then, its existence was known to only about 3 people. Ronald had only found out about it today.

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Explosion

"Brothers, we can't risk our lives for that wizard who fled and left us all behind!" An unexpected figure stood out in the front line.

Cyclops growled, "If we surrender, they'll overlook all the sins we committed against them. He's a viscount, mateys! What are you sprogs still waiting for?" This pirate, one of Leylin's first subordinates, betrayed him in the blink of an eye. Cyclops had even established contact with William some time before.

As they realised that Leylin was indeed absent, the morale of the other pirates was greatly affected. They were shaken by the suggestions of their leader, and many decided to throw down their weapons and surrender.

The door of the campsite was thrown open, and Cyclops stood aside respectfully to let Crowe and his gang in. Even if they still had any last remnants of resistance, it was of no use in this current situation.

"You've done well, I will put in a good word for you to my father!" William patted Cyclops' shoulder contentedly, which made the pirate looked very touched.

"Where are Leylin and the rest?"

"Don't worry, we've already sent our men to block off their paths, they won't be able to escape!" Cyclops proceeded to welcome William into the meeting chamber, while the summoned skeletons were disposing of a handful of pirates that were still putting up a fight.

"What's going on? What happened to all of you? I thought we had come to an agreement!" Cyclops raised his attention as he saw a few of the pirate leaders who had conspired with him grouping together.

"Be careful! I felt uneasy the moment I stepped in here." Boruj whispered to William as he cast some spells.

"Mage Armour II!" "Detect Danger!" "Eagle Eye!"

Soon after, his expression grew dark. "Shit! Run!" A teleportation gate appeared and Boruj pulled William with him as he threw himself into its depths.

"Come and see the fireworks." Outside the campsite, Leylin and Isabel stood next to each other and watched the camp near them.

Boom!*

Dazzling sparks of flame emerged from all around the campsite, and immediately encircled the pirates within.

Cyclops was at a loss. Before he could even figure out the situation, an immense force ripped his body apart.

Terrifying explosions sounded, and a mushroom cloud soared into the sky. The resulting shockwaves were so strong that even the trees near Leylin were uprooted. Earthquakes ensued, the ground seeming to let out a deafening lament as it split wide open.

"With the money from the fish floss as well as some money borrowed from the church of wealth, I bought goblin explosives. What a scene!" Leylin commented as he observed the scene unfolding itself from afar.

Ronald stood behind Leylin, shock was written all over his face. Only his psychotic leader could think of a plan as crazy as filling the campsite with dynamite to send both his enemies and his own men to hell, hand in hand.

"But, even though we used a big amount of dynamite, this impact is just too big. This is as powerful as a rank 9 area of effect spell. Actually, it might even be equivalent to a legendary spell!" Ronald muttered, without noticing he had just voiced his opinion out loud.

Leylin smirked. In reality, the credits weren't solely to the dynamite. He had added his own techniques and the A.I. Chip's processing, enhancing the explosives and and increasing their damage.

Furthermore, Leylin made meticulous preparations, using many concealing spells to avoid the enemies' suspicion.

Well, at the very least, the Black Skeletons became history. This plan ended up creating a huge hole in his wallet and exhausting him to the bones, but the results were satisfying. As for Boruj, Leylin did not plan on keeping the wizard around.

A bad thing about high-ranked wizards was that it got increasingly difficult to eliminate them once they grew familiar with teleportation.

But the rest of the people on the campsite were not so lucky.

"Be prepared, out men will soon catch up to us." There were still around a hundred elite pirates under Leylin's control.

These were Leylin's true subordinates, the loyal ones that he chose through many bloody battles. Even their families had been sent to the Faulen Island to be supervised.

"Kill everyone in the campsite. No exceptions," Leylin commanded icily at the crucial moment. He could not spare any time to care about collateral damage.

He knew that, even if it was stunning, this enhanced explosion's damage was still limited.

After all, at least the rank 15 Professional Crowe would be able to run a few hundred meters away before the explosion, leaving the area with highest damage. However, he would still be severely injured. In addition, Professionals at or above rank 10 would still have a high survival rate. The deciding factor would be their injuries.

Others, however, would have no chance to live. Leylin had added some special elements to increase the damage, contaminating the campsite with large amounts of neurotoxins. With the explosion, the toxic gas would finish off any remaining people.

This was Leylin's niche, so he was obviously confident about it. As for his current subordinates, they had already received their doses of antidote, so there was no need to worry. These trained pirates charged into the hellish campsite and started attacking every person and creature in sight.

Every Black Skeleton survivor was severely injured, and was no match for these guys. Thus, there was no way of resisting their fate. On the other hand, Leylin and Isabel were able to locate Crowe through their spiritual force and stop him from going any further.

"Captain Crowe, please be on your way soon. I'm extremely busy today." Leylin spoke politely while he scanned the severely injured Crowe. He meant what he said. After all, once Crowe was dead, Leylin would have access to a huge number of ships.

The deaths of those stupid pirates meant nothing. As long as his 100 elites remained, he could have as many men as he needed. Of course, if the Black Skeletons' magic battleship was included, then that would be a perfect ending.

However, Crowe suddenly did something out of the blue.

"My young lord Leylin! Please let me off! I promise you my loyalty and all of the Black Skeletons' fortunes!" He got onto his knees with a thump and buried his head in the mud. This arrogant pirate had actually surrendered.

'Really?' Leylin looked at him with an undecipherable expression. Crowe's condition was obviously not at its peak, but Leylin could feel that he still had the power of qi.

"This comes from the bottom of my heart! Furthermore, the ships are still being watched by the sharkman Citamo, I can kill all of them for you, my precious Lord!"

"It's unbelievable that our cruel and merciless Black Skeleton Pirate captain still had this side to him!" Leylin smiled, "But I won't be fazed by this little bloodline trick. You can stop your performance right there."

'He noticed!' Crowe raised his head, while spell power glowing on his body.

But Leylin was faster. A crimson shadow flashed, and the Devilblood Dagger was pinned onto Crowe's head in no time.

Crowe's expression was weird as his body slowly fell. All the spell rays on his body broke into pieces. This brutal bloodline pirate, and high-ranked knight, ended up dead.

Loud gurgling noises could be heard. The Devilblood Dagger was glistening with blood, numerous blood vessels emerging and coiling around Crowe. Everything was sucked from him, causing the demonic skull to emit an excited growl.

After all, it had never encountered a creature of this strength. An immense power spread from the dagger, and Leylin felt a little uneasy.

[Beep! Host body enhanced by Devilblood Dagger! Strength0.7, Agility1.5, Vitality0.3] The A.I. Chip's alerts made Leylin realise his stats had updated once more.

[Leylin Faulen. Age: 16 Race: Rank 9 Human Wizard. Strength: 5.2. Agility: 6.5. Vitality: 6.3. Spirit: 9 Condition: Healthy. Feats: Sturdy, Erudite. Spell Slots: Rank 4(1), Rank 3(3), Rank 2(5), Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???)]

"You really live up to the fame of a high-ranked Professional. Look at the extent of this enhancement." Leylin smiled with satisfaction as he felt his limbs become more nimble and light.

Crowe's high rank was no joke. The enhancement he brought upon Leylin was great. He wasn't interested in spirit enhancement from the man, given that everything he had would only raise it by 0.2, but there were better candidates to harvest spiritual force from anyway.

The A.I Chip flashed another prompt. [Beep! Target hods the 'Wolf Skeleton' bloodline, 12.19% compatible with host's body. Begin absorption?]

"No, extract the bloodline instead!" Following Leylin's command, a dark drop of blood appeared from Crowe's forehead, seating itself inside a black bottle that Leylin was holding.

Leylin had no interest in this sort of bloodline power, but it would be useful to give to his subordinates so he could create a few bloodline holders.

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Two-Legged Wyverns

"Is that the item you made a deal with the devil for?" Once everything was over, Isabel walked in slowly, eyes focused on the bloody knife in Leylin's hand.

She'd known something was off about her cousin from the start, and that he was evidently hiding something. In addition, Leylin hadn't tried to hide anything from her just now. Hence, Isabel knew that Leylin's quick rise in strength definitely had to do with a devil. However, even if she found out, she had no plans to divulge it.

Part of it was because of their relationship from childhood. On the other hand, they were all in the same boat. Although demons and devils shared a completely antagonistic relationship and were two opposing forces, there weren't many differences in terms of their followers.

Isabel was rather worried, because making deals with devils usually meant giving up one's soul. On top of that, devils liked to use all sorts of plots in order to nibble away at the contractor's soul, causing them to completely become depraved.

It could be said that for those who were experienced, devils were far worse than demons. Of course, due to devils keeping to their side of the deal even more strictly, there were even more believers praying to devils than demons in the World of Gods.

After seeing Isabel's gaze, Leylin could tell what she was thinking.

"Don't worry. I didn't deal with my soul!" Leylin launched a fireball from his hands, burning the withered corpses on the ground to ashes. Though there was nothing much to hide from his cousin, it was still better to keep some things secret from his underlings.

"Be careful. The devils' cunning is famous even in the vast multiverse." Isabel went silent after the warning, her eyes now filled with some sort of determination. Once they were back to the camp, Ronald and Robin Hood, who had not been seen for a long time, welcomed them.

"My lord, the whole camp has been purged!" Robin Hood reported respectfully. It had originally seemed like he'd been demoted, and few paid attention to him. The truth was that he'd been hidden in the shadows, helping Leylin manage the true elites in his forces.

"Good! Let's go to the fleet. Things should be lively there…" Leylin's face lit up with a smile.A while earlier. At the seaside, on the Black Skeletons' ship.

A teleportation gate burst into existence, and Boruj and William stumbled out pathetically.

Without high-ranked Mage Armour, William had been affected despite having escaped quickly. A large portion of his handsome hair had already been burnt off, and it was now like a bird's nest. There were burns all over his body.

"What's going on? What's that?" Terrifying explosions could be seen even on the shore. William grabbed onto the railings looking dazed, crying out maniacally. The feeling of having a brush with death left fear in his heart.

"It should be the explosions, but the power has increased by quite a bit! My men are going to be annihilated!" Boruj was completely fine, but his brows furrowed while looking doubtful, "Why didn't I find anything? Is this some sort of new concealment technique, or the effects of a large-scaled spell formation?"

"Something's off." All of a sudden, Boruj's expression changed, and a ring on his hand exploded, producing a powerful magic barrier.

Mage's Sword! A magic sword appeared, colliding with a huge metallic flying hatchet. A huge crash could be heard in the air, the resulting undulations causing several huge pits to appear on the deck.

"An enemy! Who is it? Where's Citamo? Show yourself!" William had noticed something was off too. The large explosion from before had attracted their attention, but he had not found anything strange in his surroundings.

It was far too quiet on the deck, and all the pirates who had stayed behind to guard it had disappeared.

"Are you looking for this?" A huge shark head was tossed to the ground. This was the head of a sharkman, and one that William was very familiar with.

Citamo looked to have suffered before death. The area under his neck still had blood dripping unceasingly, and it looked like his neck had been squeezed off him while he was alive.

A huge barbarian appeared in William's line of sight, his footsteps thudding on the ship's deck. He raised a huge saber, the bloody injuries on his body already healing quickly in demonstration of his astounding life force.

'It's Ogde, the captain of the Barbarians! He sneak attacked the guards who stayed behind!' William immediately guessed at something.

"It turns out that Hygar Island was just a facade. You'd already left… Everything was a trap!" It would take two days to rush here from the battlefield, but if there was a batch of elites that had set off earlier, this would be easy to conceal from others.

William's lips quirked bitterly. Most of his family's power was destroyed, and he might even be in huge danger. This would also be a huge blow to his status.

'Without our men coordinating with them, this plan would never have worked. Who was it?' William roared inside.

"Be careful! I might not be able to protect you in a bit!" Boruj's voice rang, causing William to look even more bitter.

"Hehe… Young master of the Baltic archipelago, we finally meet!" An alluring fox lady walked out from behind Ogde, with tens of barbarian warriors above rank 5 with her.

"What about those Tigersharks? Why did they come here so easily?" William was in denial that the whole Tigershark Pirates had been wiped out. After all, it was a large-scaled group comparable with the Black Skeletons, and even had a huge group of Tigersharks. In the seas, they would definitely be the king.

"You mean those little fish? I'm afraid they've sunk to the bottom of the sea. Someone provided Tears of Tigersharks to us, and the effects are pretty good!" Madam Tillen produced an exquisite crystal bottle and shook it, looking innocent and flirtatious like a little girl who had gotten a beloved toy.

William stared at her blankly, beginning to lose focus in his eyes.

"Be careful! This is a bewitching spell by a bloodline holder!"

Calm! A huge sound boomed by William's ear, allowing him to regain his senses, no longer daring to take another look at the fox lady.

"Boruj, high-ranked wizard Boruj. I will chop off your head and use it as a wine cup!" The leader of the Barbarians huffed roughly, eyes turning red as if he had seen a foe.

As Marquis Louis' leading wizard, Boruj had worked hard when expanding in the outer seas. The number of Barbarian Pirates who had died at his hand were innumerable, and the relationship between them was completely irreconciliable.

Ogde snarled, his saber emitting sparks that flew for a few meters. Looking nonchalant, he slashed at Boruj.

As the light burst out, even the deck that had been remodelled and covered with a layer of magic seemed to be plowed through by something ruthlessly, revealing huge 'bruises'.

Boruj looked solemn and serious after witnessing the terrifying offence by the Barbarian, the spell slot in his memories breaking out.

Arcane Hand! A huge magical palm reached out, clashing with the blade to form a terrifying explosion.

Once the undulations had passed, the sharp saber light cut the huge palm into several fragments, its own radiance dimming. However, it still proceeded towards Boruj.

Boruj frowned and pointed towards the ground. "Wall of Iron!" A thick, metallic wall appeared, blocking the blade. Still, there were now terrifying streaks of injuries on him.

"This can't go on!" Boruj watched the elite barbarian warriors surrounding him, especially with Tillen who could use magic and a few barbarian priests, already having thoughts of retreating.

With a shake of his sleeve, an intricate spell scroll fell to his hand. Gazing at it, a rare expression of heartache appeared, but he still tore at it.

Bang!* A dark green mist spread above the deck, and the barbarian warriors who were affected immediately collapsed, bodies still twisting unconsciously.

"Be careful, this is a Death Cloud spell!" Madam Tillen's voice sounded. Afterwards, a few roars could be heard from within the mist, bringing a horror with them.

Roar!* A few huge dark green monsters pounced from the mist. They looked like giant lizards that had meaty wings on their backs. Their bodies were covered by a layer of scales and they spat out bundles of corrosive fluids.

High-grade Monster Summon! Just as these few two-legged wyverns began to trouble Ogde, another even more enormous two-legged wyvern spread its wings and flew away with two people in tow.

"Ah…" Seeing the two-legged wyvern agilely avoiding the long-distance attacks by the archers, Ogde thundered, breaking the neck of a wyvern in front of him.

"Master, why aren't we teleporting away?" While on the expansive back of the two-legged wyvern, William grabbed onto a scale and made an enquiry.

"I only memorised one teleportation spell. After that, I'll need to use scrolls…"

Boruj had a wry smile, "I'm not sure if the enemy will still chase us, so we need to conserve our strength!"

"Damn it! Damn it!" Thinking back to the failure this time, William's facial muscles began to contort.

"That Leylin and the Barbarians! One day… one day… All the humiliation I have suffered will be returned to you!"

"I'm afraid you won't get that opportunity!"

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Destruction

Purplish black light glinted off a blade that brought demonic strength with it as it descended from the sky in an instant.

The source was a nimble body that emitted the terrifying aura of a high-ranked Professional, the long sword in its hands beamed with the bright radiance of qi.

The sharp longsword broke through the two-legged wyvern's scales, carving down in a perfect curve.

Boom!*

First there was a sea of blood, then the creature's gigantic head came crashing down from the horizon, like a meteor.

"There's an enemy!" A teleportation scroll appeared in Boruj's hand, ready to be used.

[Dimensional Anchor]!

At this moment, a flying black figure dove down like a falcon. The rays of light in its hands interrupted Boruj's teleportation spell with perfect timing.

"A rank 4 spell! He's already a rank 9 wizard!"

The shadow belonged to the high-ranked fighter from before, and a youthful, handsome face was revealed. It was Leylin.

Isabel's arm was covered in demonic scales. Making use of Leylin's power, she struck out with another attack in midair.

Purplish black qi slashed through Boruj's high-grade Mage Armour, resulting in a horrifying wound.

Splash! Splash!* Boruj let out a blood-curdling screech as he fell into the icy-cold seawater together with William.

Following them into the sea, Leylin and Isabel looked like two nimble fish, easily swimming their way towards their target.

The wizard Boruj, who had always lived the pampered life of a prince, began struggling as large amounts of cold seawater entered his nose and mouth, and intense pain afflicted his chest.

Especially after he caught sight of a shadow of a soul out of the corner of his eye, their fight intensified.

Crimson rays surged out from the seabed. With frightening sharpness, the Devilblood Dagger broke through the multiple temporarily activated layers of magic defense, piercing into Boruj's shoulder.

Feeling the immense life and spiritual forces gushing out as if a dam had just been opened, Boruj could only smile wryly as he observed the calm expression on the young wizard's face.

A 16 year old rank 9 wizard with such meticulous strategies and absolute calm in battle. Marquis Louis had gotten himself a terrifying enemy.

While he desperately wanted to escape and warn his master, all his spiritual force was sealed the moment he was stabbed by the Devilblood Dagger. His limbs could only flail instinctively.

Large amounts of energy coursed through the dagger and entered Leylin's body. Its smooth and unhindered flow made him want to shout at the top of his lungs.

However, he forcefully suppressed the desire. He did not relax his grip on the dagger until Boruj turned into a withered corpse.

As a high-ranked wizard, Boruj's highest attribute was his spirit. Based on Leylin's calculations, his spirit stat should be above 15, and Leylin was conveniently getting all of it without much effort.

Pure spiritual energy was transformed by the Devilblood Dagger and greedily absorbed by Leylin. With his experience of the law of devouring in his main body, Leylin had proficiently grasped this conversion process.

Soon enough, a prompt came from the A.I. Chip.

[Beep! Host has gone through enhancement by Devilblood Dagger. Spirit 1.]

In Leylin's stats, it could be seen that his spiritual force attribute had finally reached 10. As soon as that threshold was broken through, Leylin experienced a strange transformation.

His soul ascended without limits, and it was as if he could see an even more terrifying layer of the Weave. However, his spiritual force had not reached the requirements yet, and thus he could only shrink back helplessly.

'Level 5 of the Weave? It's a pity, but I can't go in yet!' Leylin sighed.

[Beep! Host's spiritual force has broken through to 10 points. Analysis of the Weave is now faster.] The A.I. Chip's prompt sounded, as it continuously refreshed.

[Beep! Host's spiritual force has broken through. Wizard ranking has increased. Now a rank 10 wizard.] [Beep! Host has advanced to rank 10 wizard. Rank 4 spell slots increased by 1, rank 3 spell slots increased by 1, rank 2 spell slots increased by 1.] [Beep! Change in host's stats. Recalculating.]

Soon enough, Leylin's stats were being recalculated.

[Leylin Faulen. Age: 16. Race: Human, Rank 10 Wizard. Strength: 5.2. Agility: 6.5. Vitality: 6.3. Spiritual force: 10. Status: Healthy. Feats: Sturdy, Erudite. Spell Slots: Rank 4(2), Rank 3(4), Rank 2(6), Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???)] [Progress of analysis of the Weave: Level 0 Weave at 100%! Level 1 Weave at 100%! Level 2 Weave at 36.29%! Level 3 Weave at 15.50%! Level 4 Weave at 1.96%!]

'As expected, a wizard's rise in rank is useful for the analysis of the Weave.' Leylin studied his new stats and the progress of the analysis of the Weave, as a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

[Beep! Detected that host's spiritual force stats reached threshold. Triggered reaction. Devilblood Dagger's enhancement to increase of spiritual force is now weakened!]

'So the day has finally arrived.' Leylin looked at the A.I. Chip's last prompt and could not help but sigh.

10 points of spiritual force was really the threshold. From hereon, the dagger would be less effective.

Killing a high-ranked wizard had allowed him to raise his spiritual force by 1 point. Next time, however, it might not even be enough to raise it by 0.1.

'This is just a passing phase, so I cannot rely on the dagger too much. However, I can still use it to raise all other stats to 10. I have a feeling that if I'm able to get everything to the threshold, something incredible might happen.'

Leylin had always believed in his premonitions.

On the enemy's corpse, there were a few items that were sparkling with a magic lustre. A high-ranked wizard's equipment was invaluable, and also very suitable for Leylin. His eyes shone.

After Boruj was almost completely skinned, Leylin destroyed the corpse and floated up quickly.

'Even with the power of magic, I'm no divine being. I still need oxygen.' Leylin flung off the beads of water on his hair and looked towards Isabel, who had also resurfaced.

"How is it? Everything's taken care of?"

"It's just noble trash. How hard can it be?" Isabel had a dazzling smile on her face. This expression of hers was rare after she'd demonised. After exacting revenge, at least in part, something that had been binding her down seemed to have disappeared.

"Good. William, Boruj, Crowe, and Citamo are all done for. I'm actually interested in Marquis Louis' expression after hearing this."

"That old fool won't have long to live!" Isabel declared his death.

"Exactly. What's pressing us right now is the meet up with the Barbarian Pirates and the destruction of the slaving fleet to completely destroy Louis' influence on the sea."

Leylin grabbed Isabel's hand and, as rays of a flight spell flickered, the two of them soared into the sky.

Once they were back on the Black Skeleton Ship, Ronald and Robin Hood hurried over just in time, along with Leylin's subordinates. They separated out into an entirely different group from the Barbarians.

"Hehe, we meet again, young master Leylin!" Mistress Tillen whipped her fiery-red tail, smiling as she greeted him. The previously stiff atmosphere immediately turned warm.

"I really need to thank you for the Tigershark's Tears! I never thought this kind of poison has such great effect on the schools of Tigersharks." Tillen's beautiful eyes sized him up, as if wanting to pry into his heart.

"This is a potion my master made. He has great knowledge in poisonous concoctions and alchemy." Leylin spouted lies with a straight face, intentionally or otherwise raising the status of his master.

In reality, Ernest only dipped slightly into alchemy. It would be a dream to be able to brew such high-grade poisons. Leylin, however, didn't mind labelling and giving him a more terrifying fame.

As expected, after hearing Leylin's mentor was a terrifying master of poisons, the other elite barbarian fighters had a sombre look in their eyes.

They had witnessed the scene before. Just using a Tigershark as bait made the entire group go berserk, and they even began to kill each other. Their blood also turned into a frightening poison that infected the others.

If a poison like this, that targeted species, was used against barbarians… Just the thought of it caused a chill to run down Tillen's spine.

"Based on our agreement, the Black Skeletons belong to me and the Tigersharks go to you. Any objections?" Leylin focused on the captain of the Barbarians, Odge.

Currently, Odge had less than 50 men, and there were many casualties. Leylin's 100 elite members were completely fine.

However, Odge's higher-grade military power was intact. Therefore, both sides were evenly matched.

"You are… great!" Odge glanced at Leylin, voice sounding like metal rubbing against metal.

"Let's go!" Odge's gigantic figure left first, followed by the other Barbarian fighters.

"Handsome little young master, don't forget we still have another agreement!" Mistress Tillen was the last to leave, prompting Leylin with meaning.

"Don't worry, I would never forget." Leylin watched them as they left the Black Skeleton Ship. From then on, this huge, magic-modified warship belonged to him. That was not all. The other large warships that Crowe had built with his blood and sweat were now Leylin's as well.

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