Chapter 3633: The Island
Chapter 3633: The Island
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Fang Heng looked up and asked, "Gaining the Empire’s trust? How does this mission need to be carried out?"
"Many ways. For example, by providing a list of materials the Empire requires, accepting missions published by the Empire such as salvaging sunken ships, mapping the surrounding seas, striking pirate groups in the Empire’s waters, building good relations with high-ranking officials of the Empire, and so on."
Gaining the Empire’s trust was a series of mission chains, and players only needed to choose the one they were best at.
Fang Heng thought for a moment.
So gathering resources could also count?
That was very simple.
"Then let’s collect resources," he said.
When it came to gathering resources, Fang Heng considered himself extremely skilled.
The others exchanged glances but did not object.
Even though, from their perspective, Fang Heng’s Licker combat ability was terrifying enough that he could have simply taken on escort missions to wipe out the Skeleton Guild pirates, or hunted down a few pirate crews, which would have been far easier.
Fang Heng looked at the group and asked, "Are there any resources nearby that the Empire needs that we can collect?"
Vice Captain Howell had his assistant bring over a sea map and laid it out on the table. "Commander, this is the sea area we’re in. Here’s our current position, and it marks all the resource points, indicated by red talismans. Generally, the higher the number, the greater the difficulty of extraction."
Fang Heng scanned the map, then pointed to the closest island with the highest-level resources.
"Then it’s this one," he decided.
The others’ expressions changed slightly.
The Sapphire Island.
Underneath the entire island’s ley lines lay a high concentration of sapphires. With the gemstones highly crystallized, from a bird’s-eye view the island looked like a dazzling sapphire, which was why it was named so.
But the sapphire veins were extremely hard, making extraction very difficult.
Moreover, its location was unfortunate, right within the Skeleton Guild’s controlled territory.
It wasn’t that no one had tried to mine there before, but nearly every attempt had ended with attacks from the Skeleton Guild.
Over time, no one dared to venture there anymore.
Howell’s expression darkened as he warned, "Sir, this area is already close to the Skeleton Guild’s territory. If we try to mine here, we will likely be attacked by the Skeleton Guild."
Hmm? There was a possibility of encountering Skeleton Guild attacks?
Fang Heng twitched his eyelid and looked at Howell.
What luck!
If the Skeleton Guild attacked proactively, wouldn’t he be able to wipe out a group of them and raise his reputation?
Right, defeating pirates was also a mission that earned points, wasn’t it?
Two sets of points at once!
Perfect!
"Let’s go. The commander has already given the order," Cao Ge said, rising and placing his hand on Howell’s shoulder to stop him from continuing. "Head straight to Sapphire Island, and take all the ships we just seized with us."
Howell nodded. "Understood. I’ll prepare immediately."
The fleet turned direction and sped toward the blue island.
Meanwhile, Ronan led a group of terrified, battered soldiers back to the Skeleton Guild’s secret stronghold on a remote island, rushing to report to the Great Commander.
"Nothing? What did you say? Less than five ships returned? And all your men are dead?"
The Great Commander, Drank, doubted he had heard correctly, staring at Ronan in shock. Since taking command of the Skeleton Guild pirates, he had never suffered such a defeat.
"Great Commander, we encountered a Bone Dragon of the undead, and creatures we’ve never seen before. Those creatures were terrifying; our men were no match for them," Ronan stammered, already in shock.
He had never seen anything like the Licker.
Invulnerable to weapons, and even the mages from the magic guild could not deal with them.
They were essentially demons!
"Useless!"
Seeing Ronan in such a dazed, broken state, Drank’s anger flared even more, and he scolded him fiercely.
"Sir, please calm down," said the red-haired assistant Dilia. "Duke Windy had already provided us with intelligence in advance, confirming that the ship’s defenses were insufficient. It shouldn’t have failed."
"What are you implying, Dilia?"
"Could it be that our intelligence sources were compromised? Perhaps this was a trap set for our pirate group?"
Ronan nodded desperately, looking at Drank with wide eyes.
Drank also sensed the faint trace of a conspiracy and suppressed his anger to think it through.
Right.
The intelligence had said this was the optimal time for attack.
Thinking carefully, Ronan was foolish, but his combat strength was still decent.
Could it be that they had been set up?
While he pondered, a subordinate pirate hurriedly reported, "Great Commander, we’ve spotted ships heading at full speed toward Sapphire Island. It’s Cao Ge’s team, and their fleet even includes the ships we captured."
Hmm?
Drank’s heart skipped a beat, and he glanced at Dilia.
What did this mean?
Normally, Cao Ge had already seized more than twenty small ships, making a huge profit. He should have returned to the Empire’s port, either selling the small ships for profit or recruiting new crew to expand his fleet.
Yet he didn’t.
Instead, he boldly brought so many ships to Sapphire Island?
For mining?
Ridiculous!
Why would mining require so many empty ships? And wouldn’t laborers be needed for mining?
There were barely any laborers on those ships!
Was it all meant to be a show, to provoke them? To lure them into attacking?
A trap?
Dilia also frowned, muttering, "Why would they go to Sapphire Island at this hour... and bring so many ships? It doesn’t make sense."
Drank looked at his guild strategist Dilia and asked, "What do you think?"
"I’m not sure, but I feel like it’s deliberately baiting us into a trap," she said.
Ronan reacted instinctively again, shouting, "Don’t go! Great Commander, you absolutely cannot go there! Those ships have monsters—we are no match for them. We would all die!"
Drank grabbed a wooden ornament by the chair and threw it at Ronan.
"Shut up!"
Ronan dodged to the side, clamped his mouth shut, and obediently stood aside.
Drank then turned to his assistant. "What about Duke Windy? Did he provide any intelligence?"
The assistant said, "We urgently contacted Duke Windy’s subordinates. They said the intelligence was reliable. They claimed that if this operation failed, it would be entirely our fault, and they told us to resolve it quickly. They also said..."
The assistant shrank his neck, choosing his words carefully, "They said that if we couldn’t handle it, they might consider replacing us."
"Hmph! Replace us? Who does he think he is?"
Drank snorted coldly. "Tell the duke we’ll handle it. And prepare the payment—we’re taking triple this time!"
"Understood!"
Dilia asked, "Great Commander, are you going to strike?"
"Of course. The enemy has already come to our doorstep. Can we really hide?" Drank’s eyes gleamed with battle intent. "I want to see how strong these monsters really are. Gather everyone on the island and follow me! We’ll fight them!"
In the Gulf of Ghana, the Skeleton Pirates had never feared anyone.