Chapter 100: The New Ship
Darius pointed at the black knight and said with a smile, "Come over here, Aaron. Let me introduce you to the teammates for this mission."
Aaron, the black knight, walked up slowly. He glanced at Joseph and Justin, the two brothers, with disdain and said disappointedly, "They’re too weak. They don’t deserve to come with me."
Justin immediately exploded with anger. He couldn’t stand being looked down on and shouted, "Who the hell are you talking about?"
As soon as he said that, Justin’s body swelled up like a wild beast, and he lunged at Aaron.
He had killed a lot of Eldritch Entities and been tempered by endless Eldritch energy. His body was now far beyond what a normal human could handle.
But even so, Aaron just raised his wrist lightly, dodged Justin’s fists with ease, and grabbed him by the neck. "Arrogant fool. You’re too weak."
Aaron swung his arm and slammed Justin hard onto the ground.
Justin felt like his insides were about to shatter. Fear finally showed on his face. "How can you have so much strength? Who are you on the leaderboard?"
"Hah, I don’t mind telling you. I was number thirty on the last leaderboard," Aaron said as he stepped on Justin’s stomach, making him cough up blood.
Joseph and the others had never heard of a "last leaderboard" before.
He stared at Aaron with fear and caution, and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? My brother was once a Survivor ranked third on the leaderboard. There’s no ’last’ anything."
Aaron spat right onto Justin’s face. "With him acting like this, third place? Looks like you batch of Survivors aren’t much either."
Joseph’s face turned cold, and his aura suddenly surged.
Then, runes began to glow all over his body—exactly the same as the ones that appeared on Justin when he used [Resonance Amplification], except they were mirrored on the opposite side.
Aaron paused for a moment, then smiled. "Interesting. Twin Talents. Looks like you batch of Survivors aren’t completely useless."
He lifted his foot and walked straight up to Joseph.
Joseph’s throat tightened. Cold sweat ran down his face as he watched Aaron with caution.
But Aaron only stopped beside Joseph for a second, then arrogantly walked around him and headed straight for Bella.
"This woman is good-looking. We don’t have women like her in my batch of Survivors anymore." Aaron turned to Darius. "Old man, I’m doing you a favor this time. Let her be my servant and keep me company."
Before Darius could answer, sharp tentacles suddenly shot toward Aaron.
"Try touching Bella, and I’ll kill you!" Keston’s eyes were bloodshot, filled with insane murderous intent.
Aaron didn’t expect Keston to have such an Eldritch sneak attack. He was a little careless, and a tentacle cut a thin line of blood across his cheek.
"You’re asking for death!" In a rage, Aaron swung his arms, grabbed a bunch of tentacles, and yanked hard.
Keston felt like his tentacles were caught by a train. His whole body was dragged along the ground, scraping deep red marks behind him.
Joseph shouted: "Attack together!"
Justin got back on his feet.
He wiped the blood from his mouth, and the fire of refusal to give up lit up in his eyes again. "I’ll fight you to the death!"
For a moment, Joseph, Justin, and Keston—three of the best Survivors—joined forces to surround the black knight Aaron.
But even then, they could only cause him a little trouble.
Most of the time, Aaron was beating them all down.
Darius stood by, making no move to stop them.
Bella stepped forward and said coldly, "Is this how [The Eye of Tarot] treats its customers?"
Darius didn’t even look up. "You gave us the sacrifice. We kept you safe from the storm and the giant monsters. We’re even."
Bella’s face turned cold. "So now you’re just robbers, right?"
Darius coughed lightly. "Ms. Bella, watch your tone. You’re not in a position to speak to me like that."
Bella let out a sharp laugh. "You think you can judge my position? Let me tell you—if anything happens to the child in my belly, all of you will pay with your lives."
Hearing that threat, Darius glanced sideways at Bella’s belly.
His pupils glowed with the black light of Eldritch energy, and soon his brow furrowed. "Who is the father of this child?"
Bella let out a sly laugh and silently mouthed a name to Darius, without making a sound.
But Darius quickly figured out the name she was saying. His eyes went wide. "What are you saying? The child in your belly is from the Grion family?"
Bella raised her chin proudly. "What, you don’t believe me?"
"No, no, no. Dear Ms. Bella, this is all a misunderstanding." Darius quickly wiped the sweat off his forehead and immediately shouted at the black knight Aaron. "Stop! Aaron, this isn’t the Second Sea. You’d better watch your temper!"
Aaron kicked Joseph, Justin, and Keston away and snorted coldly. "Darius, you’d better have a good reason for this."
Darius could see the bruises all over Aaron’s body. He knew that even if Aaron could kill the three of them, it would cost him.
So he quietly walked up to Aaron and whispered the name of the Grion family into his ear. Aaron’s eyes widened in shock.
Then Darius warned again, "If you don’t want to get dragged into trouble, you’d better apologize to Ms. Bella and her companions right now."
Aaron took a deep breath, turned around, walked up to Joseph, Justin, and Keston, and bowed deeply. "Fellow Survivors, welcome to this terrifying sea. I, the black knight Aaron, apologize for my earlier offense. I hope all of you, especially Ms. Bella, can forgive me."
Just moments ago, Aaron had been shouting threats and trying to take Bella for himself. Now he suddenly changed his attitude and put on a gentlemanly act.
This sudden shift was hard for Joseph, Justin, and Keston to accept.
They looked at each other. Compared to Aaron’s bruises and scratches, they were really banged up.
Keston had a dislocated arm.
Joseph and Justin each had three broken ribs.
If the fight had gone on much longer, they would have been dead for sure.
So even though they knew Aaron was wrong, they didn’t dare to push it.
At that moment, Darius stepped in to smooth things over. "Everyone, it was just a misunderstanding. Aaron just came back from the Second Sea. He wanted to see what kind of fighters you batch of Survivors are."
The Second Sea?
Joseph frowned at the unfamiliar term.
Darius chuckled lightly and explained, "Just as you think—you’re not the first batch of Survivors on this terrifying sea. There have been many before you. As for exactly where the Second Sea is located, you’ll find out once you’ve grown stronger."
Though Darius didn’t go into detail, Justin understood.
The reason the black knight Aaron was stronger than him was simply that he had arrived on this terrifying sea much earlier.
"Tch, and here I thought he was some kind of genius. Turns out he just got here a few days earlier. Once I grow strong enough, I’ll kill you first." Justin pointed right at the black knight Aaron’s nose and made his vow without holding back.
Aaron’s mouth twitched. He barely suppressed the urge to kill Justin and bowed again. "Everyone, I was summoned by the High Priest to carry out the mission of capturing Nova alive. I’ll need you to lead the way."
"As a reward, I can share some information with you. Trust me, it’s the kind that could save your lives. If you make good use of it, maybe we’ll even meet again in the Second Sea."
Joseph wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He was about to respond when Bella’s voice rang out again. "We can lead the way. But when you take the person, their ships, weapons, and Eldritch Artifacts all stay with us."
Joseph didn’t expect Bella to make such an excessive demand. He was about to explain when the black knight Aaron suddenly nodded and accepted the condition with gentlemanly grace. "As you wish, Ms. Bella."
"Wait, how can you change your face faster than flipping a book?" Joseph stared at the black knight Aaron, completely unable to understand his motives.
But Aaron couldn’t be bothered to explain to Joseph and the others. He simply pulled out a length of rope, tossed it to their yacht, and tied the other end to a small boat.
"Call me when you find them. As long as I’m here, no Eldritch Entities will attack you." The black knight Aaron sat down in the small boat, crossed his arms, and began to meditate.
On the other side.
Kevin sat on the ruins of the distant-sea fishing vessel, having finished scanning the last instrument panel. "Good. The steam engine and the positioning device are still intact."
With that, Kevin closed his eyes and focused his attention on the central plaza of the Mechanical Kingdom.
At that moment, the dozens of production lines that had been lined up side by side were all cleared, leaving only a massive shipyard.
Docked at the center of the shipyard was Kevin’s newly designed and built ship. It was a full 98 meters long.
Kevin added the blueprints of the steam engine and positioning device he had just scanned into the ship’s design, and soon blue light flickered across the plaza.
A full steam power system and a star-track navigation device appeared inside the ship. Pipes and compartments shifted around like Transformers, adjusting into place.
Soon, the big ship Kevin had carefully designed was finally complete.
[Current Ship: Iron-Wood Hybrid Ocean Sailing Ship (Medium)]
[Power Type: Three Masts, Twin Steam Engines]
[Speed Range: 6-20 knots]
[Hull Structure: Steel Frame, Ancient Wood Planks]
[Ship Durability: 2500/2500]
Kevin looked at his creation and grinned. "Too bad. If I had enough iron, I could’ve built a big ship. This’ll have to do for now."
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