I Contracted All Ancient Divine Artifacts

Inside Saint-Teres Port.

"What’s going on, why is there some commotion among the guests?"

"I saw many guests running out in a hurry, not sure what they heard."

"Could it be about a big storm coming?"

Han Zhan turned towards the window following the sound.

Indeed, the sky was dark, heavy clouds gathered,

and even the hydrology within Saint-Teres Port started changing.

Compared to the previous drizzle, it seemed like another torrential downpour was starting, with an overwhelming sense of flooding the entire Saint-Teres Port.

"This isn’t a big storm."

At this time, a man appeared at the entrance of the "Feast of Gluttony" shop, wearing a black wide-brimmed hat that hid half of his face.

Raindrops stuck to him, as if he had traveled a long way in the rain.

Upon seeing him, the Contracted Spirit Girls immediately became alert.

They remembered this very man had attacked the "Gray Sparrow" in the Level 5 Mutated Sea Area, nearly freezing the entire ship into an ice sculpture.

How could he be so relentless, chasing all the way here?!

Unlike the Contracted Spirit Girls’ sense of crisis, Han Zhan greeted the man:

"Come in, there’s no rain inside the house."

"There will be soon." The visitor said something ambiguous, then walked inside.

Quite a few guests had already left the room, and the man casually found an empty table and took off the wide-brimmed hat on his head.

Han Zhan also sat across from him, scrutinizing him.

"Should I call you Admiral Beifang or North King, or... the former captain of the ’Gray Sparrow,’ Jian Beifang?"

Upon hearing this address, Jian Beifang slightly curved his lips into a smile.

"Seems like you’ve guessed it all."

"It doesn’t matter, names are just labels; you can call me anything you want."

"I’m here to find you about something today."

Jian Beifang said straightforwardly: "I want to ally with you."

Ally?

Quite a surprising request.

"The weather you see is not just normal weather, but a method of the ’Weather Mage.’ It’s a unique ability of the West King’s ’White Shark,’ controlling storms and waves on the sea."

"Are you saying the West King’s ’White Shark’ controls the storms and waves in this sea area?"

Jian Beifang nodded slightly, "Not only that, but the East King’s ’Skull Splitter’ has also arrived at Saint-Teres Port."

"They all came for you." Han Zhan suddenly spoke.

He’s not foolish; he understood just from Jian Beifang’s brief description.

As someone who should have died, the revived North King is akin to a rebirth from chaos, what more would make the remaining three kings uneasy?

Hence, they dispatched the elites under their command to Saint-Teres Port, determined to nip the threat in the bud.

But what does this have to do with himself?

Seeming to guess Han Zhan’s thoughts, Jian Beifang continued, "It’s intentional."

"Without using such a method, we couldn’t enter the Central Sea Area."

"Because of insufficient Reputation Value?" Han Zhan quickly understood.

"Exactly. The entry condition for the Central Sea Area is being a Level 9 Sea Adventurer. In the Water Planet Great Sea Navigation World game, you must have also realized that truly managing to become Level 9 Sea Adventurers are few and far between."

"Don’t mention Level 9 Sea Adventurers, even Level 8 or Level 7 are extremely rare."

"Reputation Value looks like an insignificant restriction, but actually, it blocks most people’s path to advancement."

If that’s all, it seems incomprehensible.

Although it’s hard to earn Reputation Value, if you spend enough time, it will eventually increase.

"It’s a tacit understanding between the three kings." Jian Beifang explained by seeing Han Zhan’s confusion.

"If we treat Water Planet as a game, then the three kings and Central Sea Area are the game’s final bosses. They don’t want a new king to be born."

"To prevent this, they control the high-risk sea areas in their hands and use rules to recruit those High-Level Adventurers and NPCs."

"The entry requirements for the Central Sea Area are thus lowered. Any adventurer joining the three kings’ forces has the qualifications to enter the Central Sea Area."

This change seemingly lowers the threshold but secretly lays hidden dangers for the entering adventurers... Han Zhan pondered.

Indeed, Jian Beifang’s words confirmed his suspicions.

"Why has the battle between the three kings never ended for hundreds of years?"

"Because they never intended it to end."

"By allowing these High-Level Adventurers to fight each other, eventually dying under the Meat Grinder of the Central Sea Area is the true purpose of the three kings!"

Unavoidable and inevitable.

If Han Zhan wants to continue rising, he must inevitably have more contact with the three kings’ forces.

Should he join the three kings’ forces or oppose them?

Over a hundred years ago, Jian Beifang made his choice.

"After hearing what I said, do you still think you can stand aside?"

"Your Talent, the three kings have already noticed it, the East King and West King’s siege today targets me, and you as well!"

...

"This time, the East King issued a kill order, demanding the sight of two corpses." Zhang Yi spoke as the "Skull Splitter" sailed closer.

The "White Shark" accompanied alongside, its hull exuding a pale glow, like a pure white storm eye.

"Besides Jian Beifang, who else?" Li Minghong curiously asked.

"An adventurer with exceptional Talent, with the potential to become a Sea Legend. He unwilling to submit to our king, is an unstable factor."

Zhang Yi’s words rendered Li Minghong silent.

Once upon a time, they too were ambitious adventurers, but in the face of reality and survival, they chose to submit.

"If they kill us for Reputation, won’t that make them qualify as ’new king’ under the rules?"

"No, the number of warships dispatched this time and the Reputation Value has been meticulously calculated. Even if they manage to annihilate all of us and massacre the entire Saint-Teres Port, it’s only enough for them to advance to Level 8 Sea Adventurers."

In this aspect, as Jian Beifang stated, they planned very carefully.

"Level 8 Sea Adventurers cannot enter the Central Sea Area."

"By the time they try every means to increase their Reputation to Level 9, the battle of the Central Sea Area should have reached its end?"

At this point, Zhang Yi and Li Minghong on their respective ships suddenly locked eyes.

A peculiar and inexplicable smile emerged simultaneously.

Meanwhile, the besieged Saint-Teres Port, its entrance gates gently opened.

A fleet sailed out from the sea path within the port.

Lo and behold, it was Chen Yuan’s "Lone Wolf" fleet!

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