Chapter 23：Skill Book in the Crew's Room

—System Message: You have purposely launched a hostile attack against a player from the same faction as you, Raging Sea of Blood. You lost 60 Reputation points! You became a Red Name!

—Novice Guide: Red Names can confess and repent in churches, donate to officials, or obtain more reputation to clear their names. Red Names with low Reputation points because of team-killing will find it difficult to enter cities. Please cherish your own reputation.

—System Message: You have leveled up to Level 10. You are now able to change your occupation. Please proceed to a Skill Mentor to apply. Human players can change occupations to a Knight or a Priest. After you've changed your occupation, you will receive one Assignable attribute point and one System-assigned attribute point. The Knight occupation system will automatically assign Defense points and the Priest occupation system will automatically assign Knowledge points.

—System Message: Your progress in "Lonely Hero 10 Straight Wins" improved to 8/10.

…

Da Fei had no time to read the huge influx of System Messages as he instantly adjusted his ballista to aim at the small zombies. The ballista only had 30 HP remaining after Raging Sea of Blood's interruption. Despicable! Even worse, he made me a Red Name! Even though I prided myself on being a Red Name back in the day, things are different now, alright! I'm a professional player. I want to earn tons of money by being a model citizen and a merchant!

Da Fei was conflicted as he looked at his heavily damaged ballista and the new Skill Point he just received. Should I upgrade my Study of the War Machines Skill? F**k. Forget it. What point is there in upgrading such a heavily damaged ballista? I'll save some Skill Points and decide on what to do with them later.

However, not everything was bad. The biggest takeaway was that he understood the Demonized Venom Sea Anemone King's paralytic toxin effects now. Reduce all attributes and restrict movement temporarily. This skill is indeed eerie and powerful! From the duel just now, this effect prevented one extra hit on me. He only got to strike four times. In other words, my damage taken was reduced by 25%! Furthermore, I got to land an extra strike on him. That's an increase of 25% in damage inflicted! One simple enchantment has such amazing effects? Are there other restrictions? I can tell that sea anemone enchantments are ineffective against the Undead.

Judging by how many tentacles the Poisonous Sea Anemones had, all of them will continuously attack the prey the moment it becomes paralyzed. Won't the prey be tortured to death that way? In other words, you can't even touch them at all? Doesn't that make them invincible plant monsters in close combat? If that's the case, isn't a sea anemone Unit Resource Base unbelievably valuable?

Haha! I got lucky! Da Fei was instantly cheered up.

When the last zombie fell down, the ballista was only left with 8 HP!

Da Fei immediately started stripping down his ballista. God knows if that asshole will come seek his revenge once he respawns?

Wait! I can't strip this yet! I'll take ten minutes to strip the ballista, and he needs ten minutes to recover from his Weakened State as well. I've spent some time fighting zombies too. If he rushes over to seek revenge once he recovers, I'll be at a huge disadvantage if I'm stuck stripping my ballista!

This dude behaves like me a few years ago. If I was him, I would seek revenge too. I only won just now because of the level up and the HP regeneration. I can't possibly level up as and when I want, right?

Hence, to play it safe, Da Fei pushed his ballista into the cabin, then turned it around and aimed at the staircase.

Come on, I'll wait for you!

Time ticked by slowly. After ten minutes, he heard some hurried footsteps from above again! Oh yeah! You're right on time! Once you reach here, your Weakened State will end, right?! You timed it well. I wasn't wrong about you!

Plop! Raging Sea of Blood jumped down the stairs with murderous intent.

Da Fei, who had been well prepared, laughed loudly. "Hello! Goodbye!"

—Boom! Boom! Accompanied by two explosions from the ballista, Raging Sea of Blood cursed as he faded into a flash of white light again.

—System Message: You have purposely launched a hostile attack against a player from the same faction as you, Raging Sea of Blood. You lost 50 Reputation points!

Damn! You cost me some Reputation again. You're nasty! Eh? Why was it 60 points just now, but only 50 now? Did he drop ranks? Eh, that's so embarrassing? Wahahaha!

As for now, I can finally strip my ballista.

…

In a luxurious bedroom, Raging Sea of Blood angrily took off his helmet and threw it to the ground. "F**k!"

Smashing the helmet alone was not enough relief for him, so Raging Sea of Blood continued to kick over a few pieces of furniture! Then, he took out his phone. However, as he dialed, he thought for a while and canceled the call. He was playing an online game, not fighting someone in the same city. What good would making some calls do him? Furthermore, today was Day 1 after the launch of this game. His friends were still busy purchasing accounts. If he told them about how he got dominated, wouldn't he be asking to be made fun of?

Anyways, I have to get revenge here by myself. As long as I get that Magic Book, I won't be afraid of any paralytic toxins from him. As for the ballista? That's a huge issue. However, the ballista won't fit anywhere on the first level below deck. That's my turf!

I'll endure this! Level up and kill the BOSS! Once I form my own studio, I'll hunt you down across the entire server!

…

After Da Fei disassembled the ballista, he felt much more at ease. There's probably another level below this. Let me go check it out.

Da Fei arrived at the staircase near the end of the cabin. All he could see was water!

No way? It's flooded? Seems like this ship really got some holes in it? What am I supposed to do now?

Ah, wait, there are repair tools and materials upstairs. I even got a toolbox from killing the zombie BOSS. These are obviously signs asking me to repair the ship! I'll wait until the low tide tonight. The water should go away from the bottom cabin, right?

As for now, of course it's time to check out the upper-level cabin rooms. I got six room keys from killing BOSSes just now! These zombie BOSSes must be strong warriors who were leaders on this ship before they died, right? Who knows what treasures are inside their rooms?! Wahahaha!

Da Fei activated Hidden Movement and returned to the top-level cabin. He heard some faint fighting noises from the deck outside. Oh, he's so ashamed that he's training hard to level up now? Same as me a while ago. Haha!

Da Fei tested the different keys in the first room from the staircase. Then, with a clicking sound, the door opened and he caught a whiff of a moldy and dusty smell. Alright, as long as there are no rotten bodies inside. Da Fei sneakily walked in.

The room was not big, around seven to eight square meters. There were only a few things inside. A single bed, a study table, a chair, a small closet, a bookshelf, and an item shelf. The space was tightly-packed yet neat. It was a typical cabin room on a ship.

Da Fei hurriedly rummaged through the bookshelf. A golden-colored book appeared in front of him! Da Fei's eyes widened!

—System Message: You received a Defense Skill Book. Spend 1 Skill point to learn Basic Defense Skill!

—Defense Skill: Reduce the damage taken by the hero and his troops. Additional 10% reduction for every upgrade of this skill.

I see! I knew it. Although there aren't any mentors or NPCs here, there are Skill Books! Since there's a Skill Book in this room, there must be one in the next room, right? Furthermore, there should be equipment rewards for novices, right? Da Fei rummaged through the rest of the drawers. I don't believe it. How can an important leader not have any equipment?!

Voyage journal, oil lamp, cup, fountain pen, poetry novel, harmonica. Damn! This zombie was an artsy youngster!

Oh! Found it!

—Sailor's Ceremonial Uniform: Sailors only wear this uniform during official ceremonies. Formalness: 80, Disguise: 50, Durability: 96/100.

—Formalness: How formal the clothes are. You will not be able to communicate with certain NPCs or enter official residences or palaces if your formalness is too low.

—Disguise: Able to cover some of your flaws. Even if you are a poor sailor, wearing this will make you appear slightly more respectable.

Da Fei was stunned. Just like that? Not even any Defense? What the heck! I don't need this stuff now. I need huge Defense boosting armors! As a Defense Skill Sailor, don't you have any backup metal armor?

Da Fei continued his search, yet came up empty. Actually, sailors don't wear metal armor, right? If they get knocked into the sea while wearing that, they're screwed. Leather armor will probably break down really last. Forget it. If a normal piece of equipment is so hard to find already, strategic treasures will probably be impossible to find here. Never mind, I'll check out the other rooms.

Da Fei left the room and locked it quietly, before sneaking off to the other rooms.

After a whole day's search, the results were out. Just as Da Fei expected, there was only a set of useless ceremonial uniform in each room. Apart from that, he received a few Skill Books: Attack Skill Book, Logistics Skill Book, Command Skill Book, Luck Skill Book, and Archery Skill Book!

All the basic combat skills and adventure skills were there! The Light Magic, Destructive Magic, and Arcane Magic Skill Books are probably in Markal's room. Anyways, all the skills that an ordinary novice can learn in the Beginner Village are probably all here! In conclusion, apart from not being able to change my occupation, this place isn't that different from normal Beginner Villages. The necessary skills to learn are all available.

Da Fei helplessly looked at the bundle of Skill Books on him. He did not share the same excitement as when he first found the Reconnaissance Skill Book.

When he had no skills at all, he craved for Skill Books madly. However, now that he had a whole range of them, he felt helpless. So what if I have books? Which player doesn't want to max out all his skills? However, I need to have Skill Points to learn them, right?! I need to painstakingly kill BOSSes here just to learn a skill, while ordinary novices can just find mentors to talk to! This is useless! Do I have to search through their Voyage Diaries again to search for random stuff? Please stop torturing me! At least the seafarer Juan and the Artillery Chief Grint were named NPCs. These six bosses don't even have names. I don't believe they had any research projects going on.

Wait! Where's the Captain's room?

These normal officers don't have any equipment or treasure, but the ultimate BOSS like the Captain probably will have some, right? Where's the Captain's room? The upper-level cabins? However, the Captain's room is very special. It's the private territory that only belongs to him, similar to properties that players can buy in this game. Unless the owner authorized someone to go in, nobody will be able to enter. Even if you sink the entire ship or dismantle the structure, you still won't be able to enter. Nothing can override control over private properties.

The sky was turning dark now and the low tide was here again. Da Fei planned on checking out the basement cabin first.

He made his way back. As expected, the water was no longer there and Da Fei caught a whiff of the salty smell of seawater. What can be down here? If I encounter a BOSS, what can my ballista with 8 HP do? However, since it's filled with water here, judging by the normal environment settings of the game, any monsters living here should probably be sea monsters, right?

Whatever, I'm all the way here already. Da Fei inhaled deeply and activated his Hidden Movement.

Once he entered the cabin, he saw a huge crowd of glowing red lights. Da Fei was stunned. This… old friend, sea anemone brothers!