Chapter 29：Rewards for the Trial

I'm back? Da Fei felt like a long time had passed.

Yes, I'm back. It's a shame that my Sea Anemone Hive was left behind in the Undead World forever. I think I could've sold it for a couple hundred thousand dollars. Forget it, let's look forward.

—System Message: You completed Trial Quest, "Assist the Captain in Battle". You received 20,000 EXP.

—System Message: Congratulations! You have leveled up to Level 15. You received 1 Assignable Attribute Point, 1 Skill Point, Health +2, Command Power +1. Additional Reward: Base Damage +1.

—System Message: You received B-class Strategy Treasure, Captain's Sword!

—Captain's Sword: B-class Strategy Treasure, Quest Item. Attack +1, Defense +1, Damage +1, Attack Speed +1. All effects from the sword are doubled when used at sea.

—System Message: You received the possession certificate for the large sailing ship.

Da Fei laughed as he watched all the System Messages pop up!

Strategy Treasure, the quest reward is a B-class Strategy Treasure! These were different from normal personal equipment. They were treasures that could boost the entire army. Furthermore, their equipment slot was separate from the normal gear. Hence, even if Da Fei was a Pikeman who could not use swords, he still could equip this treasure.

The most common one on the market right now, and also the most hyped and overpriced item, was the C-class Strategy Treasure "Blood Claw Necklace". It only had one attribute, Troops Damage +1! That's right. The same effect as Attack Skill sub-skill, "War Maniac". Players all knew how important +1 Damage was in the early game for those low-level troops with 1-4 Damage. This treasure had the same effect as a hero who leveled up ten times!

A treasure could be labeled C-class just for +1 Damage. As for this Captain's Sword, it doubled to +2 Damage when used at sea! Terrifying! If that boost was not limited to the oceans, this would definitely be A-class! As for the other attributes, they were like freebies. Good sword! Seriously good sword! It's basically a god-tier weapon for low-level soldiers!

This was a tiring night. Da Fei was fully satisfied as he equipped the longsword. Then, he excitedly checked his attributes.

…

Player's Level: 15

Reputation: -160 (3 Kills)

Attack: 10 (6 Assignable Attribute Points yet to be used)

Defense: 4 (Broken Armor's 3 Personal Defense points, Treasure's 1 Strategic Defense point)

Magic: 0

Knowledge: 0

Basic Damage: 7-9 (1-3 at spawn. Sea Anemone enchantment +1, Achievement +1, Reward from System every 5 levels, so +3 at Level 15, Captain's Sword +1. Of course, only the +1 from Captain's Sword can be applied to the entire army.)

Health Points: 48

Attack Speed: Normal, 11. (Captain's Sword +1)

Movement Speed: 10

Morale: 1

Luck: 0

Command Power: 14

Stamina: 100

Skills: Elementary Nautical Skill, Advanced Reconnaissance Skill (Hidden Movement, Intelligence Gathering), Intermediate Study of the War Machines Skill (Master of Ballista), 6 unassigned Skill Points.

…

Da Fei felt very accomplished as he looked at his attributes. Then, he suddenly felt empty. After all, he was used to being able to kill a Level 4 soldier with one strike under the leadership of a powerful hero. Now that he had returned to his old self, he felt a little uncomfortable.

Wait! This is the evil intent of the game developers! This temporary mission gives you a taste of what it's like to be a high-level hero, so that you will be addicted and throw money at the game! Damn! I came here to earn money, not to spend! I won't fall for this trap!

It was time for him to look at his own ship now.

…

—Possession certificate for the large sailing ship. (Quest reward, untradeable)

Original Name: St. Anthony (Changeable)

Captain: Da Fei

Ship Dimensions: Large, 4-mask 3-deck high-speed sailing ship. (Note: High-speed sailing ship, also known as clipper or tea-shipper. The ship's body is narrow, and its load capacity is small. However, it has excellent upwind navigation capability. It is way faster than mainstream galleons. As for why sailing ships can sail upwind, complex aerodynamics concepts are involved. If you are interested, you can conduct your own research.)

Ship Special Skill: God's Blessing (Sailors' Luck +2)

Ship Freight Volume: 1,000 Units

Minimum number of sailors needed: 30 (The ship's normal capabilities cannot be unlocked if the crew number is less than that)

Ship durability: 2357/3754

Time in use: 10 years.

Ship Armor Defense: 80

Ship Speed: 10 (Note: In order to align with the speed settings of the different troops, the speed of ships will not be measured in "Knots". 10 here refers to a maximum sailing speed of 10m/s. In the sailing era, sailing ships have maximum speeds between 10 to 20 Knots. 1 Knot = 1.8km/h. 20 Knots equal to 10m/s. The hero's Nautical Skill can further raise the ship's maximum speed.)

Sea God Insurance Level: 0 (Note: Ships are considered important and valuable possessions. A player will suffer great losses if his ship is sunk. Hence, there are insurance levels available in this game. In large cities with Sea God Temples, a player can make offerings to the Sea God in exchange for high-value insurance. Once the ship sinks, the Sea God's powers can teleport the ship back to its original port. However, all cargo and sailors will be lost. At the same time, the ship's max durability cap will decrease. In other words, the ship can be revived. Level 1 insurance will allow 1 revive. Level 2 insurance will allow 2 revives, so on and so forth.)

Ship's current conditions: Bottom of the ship is damaged, unable to sail. Cursed by bad luck (Sailors' Luck -3)

…

Da Fei sighed. Finally, I got my ship ready. Turns out this ship can't just be sailed away like that, you need this certificate. That makes sense though. Without a certificate, this will be an illegal ship, and the marines will probably confiscate it. Captain, you're the best, you've given me a license.

As the Captain now, I must inspect my own ship. There's still an annoying guy onboard, right? Haha, I'm sorry, this ship is now my turf. He won't be welcome here anymore. Especially that BOSS with the Magic Book. He can't lay his hands on that.

…

In the corridors, Raging Sea of Blood was tirelessly slaughtering zombies. After a whole day of highly efficient fighting thanks to his Master-level sub-skill Cleave, Raging Sea of Blood leveled up to Level 10. He received another Basic Damage point reward from the System.

It's time to make a move on that BOSS now. If that trash didn't distract me, I probably would've killed this BOSS already.

Raging Sea of Blood angrily rushed towards the BOSS's room. Suddenly, all the zombies disappeared! What's going on? Did the BOSS stop summoning zombies?

When Raging Sea of Blood arrived at the BOSS's room, he was indeed no longer summoning zombies.

This must be a cutscene triggered by progression in the game. That trash must've done something! He was deeply worried. However, he did not overthink things. Isn't this BOSS useless if he can't summon anything? I'll get his Magic Book first!

Raging Sea of Blood embraced all the curses against him and started slashing the ghost BOSS. The BOSS grew weak. Even though the Magic Book glowed and continuously sent magic power to heal him, it finally dimmed after a while. The BOSS could not stand up to this difference in strength! He could no longer heal!

Haha, ran out of tricks, right?! As he was finally about to obtain the desired Magic Book, Raging Sea of Blood excitedly shouted, "Die!"

Just then, Raging Sea of Blood felt a familiar numbing sensation from his butt!

—System Message: You were attacked by player Da Fei's hostile attack. You may counterattack!

Raging Sea of Blood was stunned and turned around. Da Fei!

Da Fei smiled sinisterly. "You've worked hard! Goodbye!" After another strike, 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. Reputation -100.

Humph, humph! This is my ship, so all the things here belong to me. Don't even dream about stealing my boss. However, this loss of reputation really makes my heart ache.

Da Fei was very different from the player he was a day ago. This dying BOSS did not suddenly regain all his HP. There was no more suspense in this duel. Perhaps, the destruction of the Cursed Space weakened him greatly.

—System Message: You killed the Ghost of Doom. You received 250 EXP! You received "Markal's Dark Magic Skill Book". You received the Ghost of Doom's Soul Crystal.

—System Message: You received the Ghost of Doom's incomplete information.

Da Fei was stunned! So little EXP? Is he not a BOSS? Dark Magic Skill Book? Not a Magic Book? What's going on? Da Fei hurriedly checked his item bar.

—Markal's Dark Magic Skill Book: Dark Magic Skill Book with Markal's study notes. During Markal's research into magic, this book inadvertently absorbed plenty of Markal's meditation magic power. Now that the magic power has been used up, the Magic Book has turned into a normal Skill Book. You can spend 1 Skill Point to learn the Elementary Dark Magic Skill.

—Elementary Dark Magic Skill: Able to learn and use Level 1 Dark Magic

—Ghost of Doom's Soul Crystal: Unknown item.

Cough! Da Fei spat out a mouthful of blood! I knew it. How can this kind of advanced Strategy Treasure appear in a Beginner's Village with a small ghost?! So it's actually just a boosted Skill Book! In other words, all the magic power has been wasted by this little ghost? So, under normal circumstances, players should have cooperated to take down this little ghost together and preserved the magic power of this Magic Book, so that they can take on the BOSSes later?

Sigh, if I knew this, I wouldn't have had to worry about this book falling into Raging Sea of Blood's hands. I worried for nothing. However, what's going on with this Ghost of Doom? Wasn't it still an Evil Spirit back then? From the incomplete Information Card, it seems slightly stronger than a normal Evil Spirit. Is it an upgraded form of an Evil Spirit? Elite troops like Evil Spirits can still continue to upgrade? What is this Unknown Item, Soul Crystal? Quest Item? Forget it, I won't worry about these strange Undead creatures.

The important thing is that even common items like Skill Books can have special editions. That's worth looking into. Da Fei flipped to the first page of the book with interest.

—Life is unexpected, full of chaos, filth, and pain. Death means tranquility, eternity and orderly beauty!

What the heck. This opening is so different! Continue to flip! Oh yeah, so many words! Does this Markal like to doodle on his books?

—Life follows God's law of creation. It's relatively perfect, but its growth is also destined to be limited. On the other hand, the Undead possess the possibility of infinite growth. Zombies and Ghosts are the purest representatives of the Undead corpses and souls, respectively. They're also the Undead races that are most likely to produce their own leader units. Until now, no sorcerers have been able to manually create an Undead Leader Unit. This is because the sorcerers have little knowledge about the Undead's evolution from common units to leader units. In my opinion, this is not a simple process. Instead, it will span many different stages.

—Ironically, legendary heroes from the Elf Race had been able to train ordinary human archers and elf archers into powerful phantom archers. These elves had been mocked and despised by sorcerers for their lack of room to grow. However, they had been able to cross the boundaries between different organisms and species in these trainings. Hence, it's obvious that, for both the living and the Undead, we're all governed by God. We're still elementary school kids in this field. We should be more cautious and respectful. I want to start my experiments from the simplest Zombies and Ghosts.

Da Fei's eyes widened! This Markal had great ambitions. His goal was to manufacture BOSSes in bulk? In other words, all those zombie BOSSes in the cabins were produced by him? Could this book provide information about another god-tier Skill?

Just then—"F**k you!" Raging Sea of Blood's angry cursing could be heard.

Da Fei put down his book and took a look. That's right, that guy couldn't even wait until his Weakened State wore off before climbing on board to seek his revenge. Did he turn stupid or insane because of his anger?