Chapter 139: Soaring Profits
Behind Celula, a series of splashes suddenly rang out.
The Elite Fish Fiend squad that Kevin had summoned was now busy fishing the corpses of the Eldritch Entities out of the water.
Three hours later, a huge pile of bodies and loot was stacked on the deck.
Nova and Luna directed the Elite Fish Fiends to strip the useful organs from the Eldritch Entities.
The remaining Eldritch Entity corpses were all dissolved by Luna using the «Demon Potion».
Soon, nearly a hundred Eldritch Artifacts appeared on the deck, all refined using the [Demon Potion].
Celula’s eyes lit up at the sight of so many C-Tier items. "Oh my god, Luna, your new potion is amazing. We’re getting at least ten times more loot than usual."
Luna laughed. "It’s all thanks to the Demon Potion."
Raphael stood to the side, quietly doing the math. "Based on our current pace, we hunt five waves of Eldritch Entities every day, with each wave having over ten thousand creatures. That means we kill nearly fifty thousand Eldritch Entities a day. That’s more than two hundred times what other fleets can manage. And the amount of loot we get is more than two thousand times what they get."
She paused, then continued, "Normally, a fleet would be lucky to get a single C-Tier item after killing a hundred or two hundred Eldritch Entities. But we’re getting four or five hundred C-Tier items a day. The gap is insane."
Kevin patted Raphael on the shoulder and chuckled. "Same rules as always. You girls split the loot among yourselves. Uncle Toti, if you need anything, just help yourself."
Toti grinned from the side. "Then I won’t be shy!"
Ever since Draven broke his arm, Uncle Toti had changed the direction of his enhancements.
Now, with Kevin’s [Mechanical Sovereign] talent, Toti had turned his body into a mechanical one. He kept his Eldritch powers while maximizing the use of mechanical force.
At this point, Toti had become a cyborg, with most of his original organs replaced by machinery.
Luckily, Kevin had once mastered the [Mechanical Sovereign] talent in his past life, so he was very familiar with the construction of various mechs. That experience helped him when he modified Toti’s body.
At this point, Uncle Toti was basically a humanoid mecha. He wasn’t afraid of Eldritch Entities that had physical bodies at all.
He picked out a few Eldritch Artifacts that strengthened the body, swallowed them down in one go. Then he chose a few more that could boost mechanical power and embedded them into his own body.
Like a DIY enthusiast, he happily modified himself, occasionally walking to the edge of the ship to check his reflection in the water. He was pretty full of himself.
After Uncle Toti finished picking his loot, the girls laughed.
Most of these items were no longer useful to them. They were more like resources to help them get stronger.
Especially now that each girl had chosen her own path. Aside from keeping an eye out for high-level gear and items, they were spending more and more resources on knowledge and experience related to their own fields.
For example, Luna kept buying potion master’s notes.
Amelia was always trading for rune stone enchanter’s journals.
Celula and Monchhichi were constantly collecting voyage logs and Eldritch records about this terrifying sea.
Kevin no longer had to worry about the girls’ gear or Eldritch Artifacts.
These girls were rich.
Kevin had once seen them secretly trading with Lilith for quite a few things.
Of course, as their companion, Kevin didn’t interfere too much with how they chose to grow stronger.
Sometimes they would spend a ton of resources on a piece of gear that looked beautiful but had pretty ordinary effects.
Kevin never stopped them. After all, with his current wealth, he could afford that kind of waste.
There were only nine people on his ship, counting Eliana.
The girls were all busy, and the loot sorting was soon finished.
In the end, thanks to the [Covenant of the Saint], the items returned to Kevin numbered over five thousand.
Most of them were C-Tier, but there were also some B-Tier items.
All together, they were enough for Kevin to exchange for ten S-Tier items from Lilith and Anne.
But Kevin wasn’t satisfied with the current situation. He thought for a moment, and a bigger ambition appeared in his eyes.
If he calculated the time, the next storm would arrive in about half a month.
If Kevin used the same strategy as last time, fighting alongside the other Survivors against the storm, he would at most kill three or four giant monsters.
That kind of result might be terrifying for a normal fleet, but for Kevin’s "Daddy" Cannon, it was nothing special anymore.
Over the past few days, Kevin had noticed that more and more teams were starting to form alliances with each other.
Kevin himself had even received many random invitations from Survivors.
Those Survivors didn’t even know who Kevin was, yet they still took the initiative to invite him to join their big ship alliances.
Thinking about this, Kevin let out a sigh.
Forming big ship alliances was something that happened about half a year after the Eldritch arrived in his past life.
But now, it had only been a little over a month, and fleets were already starting to organize large-scale alliances. This would clearly speed up the changes in the power structure of the First Sea Area.
Kevin believed that soon, the entire First Sea Area would be controlled by a few major alliances.
If he wanted to stay independent and keep his edge among these alliances, Kevin had to make the "Daddy" Cannon and his crew stronger, far ahead of everyone else.
With that thought, Kevin’s eyes grew sharper.
Since staying on an island would only let him kill three or four giant monsters at most, he might as well not land at all.
He shared this idea with Toti and Raphael and the others. Everyone’s eyes went wide.
"Captain, are you crazy? If we’re still sailing when the storm hits, the risk is way too high." Toti’s voice trembled. His experience during the last storm still haunted him.
Raphael nodded silently beside him.
Even though she was now Kevin’s covenant-bearer, her rational mind told her that Kevin’s decision was dangerous.
"Darling, do you have a new plan?" Nova stood beside him and gently hugged him. "I feel like you’re under a lot of pressure."
Kevin let out a quiet sigh. He really was under a lot of pressure.
After all, every Survivor out there was growing fast.
In the next two to three months, the Survivors who survived would generally reach a pretty high level of power. Normal Eldritch Entities would no longer be a threat to them.
By then, the First Sea Area would definitely enter an era of Survivors fighting each other for dominance.
Thinking about this, Kevin felt an even stronger sense of urgency.
He looked around at everyone and patiently explained, "We have to stay ahead. That’s the only way we can survive safely on this terrifying sea. During the next storm, the other big ship alliances will gather on the islands to fight off the giant monsters. At that point, our results won’t be as impressive compared to theirs. If we want to completely leave them behind in terms of rewards and resources, we have to hunt giant monsters out at sea. Only then can we kill ten, twenty, or even more of them."
"Oh my god, you’re crazy." Celula couldn’t help but let out a gasp.
Then she realized she’d said the wrong thing and quickly covered her mouth, waving her hands. "I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just... this decision is way too crazy."
Monchhichi nodded along. "Those giant monsters are at least Lord-level. Against them, our "Daddy" Cannon won’t be able to hold up. If they get close, the "Daddy" Cannon could capsize or even get sunk at any moment."
Kevin nodded, his eyes sharp. "That’s exactly why I’m going to put all our resources into upgrading the "Daddy" Cannon."
Hearing this, the girls were stunned.
They knew that in just the past day, Kevin had gotten over five thousand pieces of loot from the reward system.
And Kevin and Nova had been hunting Eldritch Entities non-stop for five days using their current method. That meant Kevin had at least over twenty thousand pieces of loot on hand.
With that much wealth, Kevin could have armed an entire big ship alliance all by himself.
But instead, he chose to pour everything into upgrading the ship.
That made the girls secretly excited.
Kevin looked around at everyone and nodded. "So next, we’ll head to the nearest island to dock. While we’re sailing, everyone should gather as much shipbuilding material as possible."
With that, Kevin handed half of his resources to the girls.
The girls immediately got to work. They traded raw materials, products, and advanced machinery through various channels.
Meanwhile, Kevin summoned Anne and Lilith and traded with them for a large amount of rare materials and tech blueprints.
Luckily, all of these things were available on the black market.
Kevin even managed to buy the design blueprints of the British Royal Navy, which included almost every type of ship.
From patrol boats to frigates, to destroyers, and even battleships — everything was there. He even managed to get half of an aircraft carrier design.
But Kevin didn’t expect the prices for these blueprints and raw materials on the black market to be absolutely outrageous.
Over ten thousand C-Tier items, and Kevin still had to rely on a discount just to afford those blueprints and raw materials.
Of course, to make sure Kevin felt like he got his money’s worth, Lilith threw in a full set of carrier-based aircraft and submarine blueprints as a bonus.
Only then was Kevin satisfied with the deal.
For that, Lilith and Anne gave Kevin a very generous reward. Twice.
Thanks to this transaction, Lilith and Anne’s standing in the Eldritch business circle and the black market skyrocketed.
"Darling, next time we meet, maybe we can trade some SS-Tier items," Lilith said, blowing Kevin a kiss before they parted ways.