Chapter 57 - 54 Assassin or Mover
Chapter 57: Chapter 54: Assassin or Mover? Chapter 57: Chapter 54: Assassin or Mover? Editor: Atlas Studios Close! Master-level Reconnaissance Skill not only allows one to see the opponent’s level, but also to remotely check the equipment worn by the opponent.
—Player name “One Sword Westward,” Level 20, Level 1 Elf Clan Dual Blade Warrior Wind Dancer, outfitted with complete store-bought gear! Under his command are two Apprentice Sailors, troop Morale +1, unknown goods on board amounting to 10 units.
What’s this? I can’t make heads or tails of it. Could there be a Magic Scroll or something on him to one-shot Brother? Can’t see through it, but Brother neither has the interest nor the time to figure it out.
A pro, right? Let’s see them perform a bit of water floating.
Da Fei waved his hand, immediately commanding a sailor to take position at the Crossbow Cannon in the Gun Cabin.
For a Crossbow Cannon Player, if one has troops, a small soldier (must be a medium or small humanoid creature) can operate the Crossbow Cannon, with the damage counted as the hero’s own, and no special Skill Attributes required from the soldier. Of course, a warship can be equipped with over a dozen Crossbow Cannons, but only the one used by the player can be freely assigned to a small soldier. Other Crossbow Cannons won’t benefit from the player’s War Machine Skill unless you hire an artilleryman with high attribute points. Vice Heroes are, of course, a different story.
One Sword Westward’s boat has come within range, no more need to talk, just bomb it!
—Boom! Two shots from the Crossbow Cannon, wooden planks from the small boat splinter as it shudders explosively.
One Sword Westward cries out in a panic, “Brother Fei! Don’t attack yet! I’m here to deliver goods to you! Let me finish delivering the goods, then you can kill me, it won’t be too late!”
Da Fei is momentarily startled, what is he talking about? Brother didn’t catch that!
One Sword Westward continues yelling: “Brother Fei, don’t fire! If you do, it’ll sink! There was a big boss who spoke up on the channel just now, asking us to bring you heads and red envelopes. I’m a businessman driven by profit, of course I had to come. It’s not like I’m intentionally making trouble with you, Brother Fei. Even if I didn’t come, others would have, they’re right behind me. So I might as well deliver the goods as a favor, if it sinks, the goods will be gone, and you, Brother Fei, will be at a loss!”
Da Fei suddenly understands. What does sending heads and red envelopes mean? Obviously, it’s these fools forcing Brother to kill, making Brother’s crimson name grow even more notorious. He’s dead anyway, why is he still nagging and begging to hold off?
Of course, there’s a difference between sinking a ship, drowning the person, and directly chopping him to death—the fall in reputation is significantly different. What’s the difference? Simply sinking the ship is just a malicious attack on merchants, but if someone falls into the water, it’s not Brother’s problem because falling into water doesn’t equal drowning, right? They can still hold onto a piece of wood waiting for someone else to pass by and save them or drift back. This logic is like leading monsters to harm others; factually, the person indeed dies because of Brother, but the system can’t determine Brother as the murderer since Brother hasn’t touched him at all, right? Who knows if he just fell into the water by accident?
But if you directly chop someone to death, that’s murder plus malicious attack on merchants, two crimes and a much larger loss in reputation.
That so-called big boss is definitely paying based on reputation, huh? A Level 1 head’s red envelope is different from a Level 20’s, Level 1 is only a 10-point reputation drop, but Level 20 is 200 points, can the price be the same?
Damn, Brother thought he had encountered a master who could take a city alone! Turns out it’s a shrewd calculating merchant! Fine, it’s a fair exchange for both parties, let’s part on good terms and I’ll spare your life for now.
Da Fei squats on the gunwale and shouts, “Alright, come over here!”
One Sword Westward hurriedly responds, “Understood! Understood!” Meanwhile, he feels secretly delighted inside, seeing a chance!
One Sword Westward is an ordinary Elf Clan merchant, originating as a common Level 1 Wind Dancer, with a native professional specialty “Wind Dancer Instructor” – every 2 levels increases the Attack and Defense of Wind Dancers in the unit by 1 point each. The skills he learned were just the standard Attack Skill and Luck Skill.
But there is an extraordinary aspect about him not known to others – his professional specialty as a Ranger. During the job change trial instance at Level 10, he discovered a hidden quest and completed it outstandingly, thus obtaining the Hidden Professional Specialty, Revenge’s Fury! When the hero is attacked by an enemy, he can consume 50% of Stamina and strike back with a hit dealing 3 times the damage.
Once luck strikes, that becomes 6 times the damage, enough to instantly kill someone; even if it doesn’t kill, it’s still a significant advantage. What does this mean? It means ordinary people are no longer ordinary. Of course, even Master Level Luck Skill has just a 10% chance of dealing double damage, which obviously isn’t reliable. Thus, treasures are needed to increase it, such as the most common Clover luck +1, Luck Card luck +1, and of course there are also superior treasures like the Golden Horseshoe luck +2, Velvet Cloak +2, and even the elusive premium treasure, Lionheart Head Crown with +3 to both luck and morale, and so on.
To buy a full set of these luck-enhancing treasures, to fulfill his own path of instant kills, One Sword Westward, a merchant who knows neither Sailing Skill nor Accounting Skill, embarked on a trading career. Soon, One Sword Westward found that trading was actually quite leisurely and enjoyable, not to mention selling goods grants Experience and money, and selling goods that are in high demand in the city might also bring additional rewards like more Experience, prestige, equipment, and even treasures.
All in all, One Sword Westward believes his hidden trick can change his fate, and he’d eventually have his moment of glory.
And opportunity only comes to those who are always prepared, so for this day, he kept a bottle of health potion from a quest reward and a bottle of stamina potion on him. In this game, potions are crucial items that can change the outcome of a battle, and they are not cheap compared to other games. With these two potions, One Sword Westward is confident enough to take on two enemies at once!
Not only that, every time before setting sail, One Sword Westward would worship at the city’s Goddess Altar to gain a temporary luck bonus of 1-3, so today, with his Master Level Luck Skill, his luck value is 8, giving him a 16% chance of dealing double damage. And since Wind Dancers are Dual Blade Warriors, each blade’s strike could be lucky, so his chance of dealing double damage could be simply estimated as 32%, which is quite high.
Today, while on his trading route, the local area’s business channel exploded as the famous Brother Cannon’s fleet was raided by the infamous Da Fei. Who is Da Fei? One Sword Westward has heard of him. In fact, trading as a merchant can be dull, so most merchants let NPC sailors handle the sailing while they browse forums, watch movies online, and chat on channels. It’s impossible not to know about Da Fei, as merchants are sensitive to infamous characters.
One Sword Westward longs for fame, and he too desires to be known across the national service like Da Fei. However, he certainly does not wish to become famous in the same way as Da Fei.
Then, the big boss made his offer – anyone who goes to deliver their head and a red packet to the enemy would be compensated with a bounty to offset the drop in reputation. For a merchant, this calculation is very straightforward and worthwhile. But even if the big boss is trustworthy, the question remains: can a merchant’s small ship catch up to a large one? And if it does catch up, what could a small ship really do against it? If it neither catches up nor inflicts any harm, wouldn’t it just be a waste of time without collecting the bounty?
While others were still hesitating, One Sword Westward, the merchant unskilled in sailing, made a quick decision to strike first.
This might just be the long-awaited opportunity to change his fate!
If he succeeds and devastates this notorious player, he could rise to greatness instantly. Failing, he merely gets killed and goes back to collect the bounty, which means in any case, he wouldn’t lose out.
And now, the other party has agreed to let him approach, marking the first step to success! Opportunities need to be created slowly.
Approaching, surrounded by twenty or so small ships laden with goods, several NPC sailors busily hoisted the cargo up and down. That legendary notorious figure squatted on the side of the large ship, gazing down high from above at One Sword Westward on the small boat, behind him the sun casting his dark silhouette and that despicable glance that made One Sword Westward unable to face directly.
He chuckled and said: “Brother, can you help me out? You see I’m short on crew here, could you start by helping me move these goods?”
(Requesting all kinds of tickets)