Chapter 241: Section 29: The Fundamental Root of All Wars
After a round of cannon fire, the Little Bird remained unscathed.
The Dragon-man youth’s face darkened as he issued another order. Sailors steered and pulled ropes as needed, the Justice turned around and sailed in a zigzag pattern, this time facing the Little Bird with its left side.
“Prepare the cannon on the port side,” shouted the Dragon-man youth, his voice clearly carrying.
Pirates on the cannon deck moved from the right side to the left.
Bai Ya and eleven other pirates strenuously pulled open the gun ports while others laboriously pushed the cannon out.
The cannon deck was unbearably hot and reeked of gunpowder. In just a short while, Bai Ya was drenched in sweat.
Feeling uneasy, he perked up his ears and listened for the command to fire.
However, the expected command to fire never came.
“Look, the enemy is surrendering!” Suddenly, a pirate shouted out, his voice loud.
Many leaned over the gun ports to look and then burst into cheers.
“Hurrah!”
“We won!!”
“The guys over there are cowards, ahahaha.”
Most of the pirates clustered around the gun ports dispersed, celebrating with dancing. Bai Ya saw a gap and also squeezed through to see.
Indeed, he saw the Little Bird flying a white flag, its speed gradually decreasing to zero, helplessly stationed on the water.
“Did we win?”
Bai Ya blinked in surprise. After a few breaths, he embraced the reality, joy clearly written on his face, his heart completely relaxed.
Only when he relaxed did he feel the pain in his body.
Firstly, his palms.
His hands had gripped the harsh iron ropes, and now, from exerting all his strength earlier, they were burning with pain.
And his arms were extremely sore.
Lastly, he felt the crowdedness of the cannon deck and wished he could immediately run to the first deck to enjoy the sea breeze.
“Reef the main sail, slow down!” commanded the Dragon-man captain.
Zong Ge added, “Don’t be careless, watch for the enemy’s tricks!”
Bai Ya tensed up immediately, and the other pirates, hearing this, stopped their cheering and returned to their posts.
The Justice carefully approached the Little Bird until both ships were closely linked by hooks and boarding ramps. Only then did the Dragon-man youth relax.
He continued to command from the Justice, while Zong Ge led a group of elite pirates onto the Little Bird.
The Captain of the Little Bird led the way by kneeling on the ground, surrendering very sincerely.
“A second-rate Silver fighter?” When he sensed Zong Ge’s Silver aura, he felt even more relieved about his decision.
The Little Bird was considerably shorter than the Justice.
The Dragon-man youth stood on the forecastle, looking down at the Little Bird being taken over by his crew, feeling a sense of dullness.
He had wanted to use the Little Bird to train his crew’s cannon firing skills, but after just one round of firing, the opponents had cowered.
The pirates of the Little Bird were rounded up, all bound and kneeling on the deck.
Once it was confirmed that nobody was missing, the Dragon-man youth grandly moved, amid his crew’s cheers and the enemy’s awe-struck gazes, and leisurely stepped onto the first deck of the Little Bird.
“Which bastard fired at me just now?” the Dragon-man youth deliberately asked in a coarse tone.
“It was me, sir,” the Captain of the Little Bird immediately tensed up, gritting his teeth as he answered.
“Good, sign this, and from today onwards, you are my main gunner,” the Dragon-man youth walked up to the Captain of the Little Bird, casually tossing a contract scroll.
Seeing the scroll roll onto the deck, the Captain of the Little Bird quickly picked it up to examine.
Initially, he went through it begrudgingly, but after looking through it, he was surprised.
The conditions on the scroll were much more generous than he had expected.
“This is the result of your knowing the times and surrendering on your own,” the Dragon-man youth explained at the right moment.
“Thank you, sir!” the Captain of the Little Bird hastily bowed his head, then channeled his Fighting energy and signed his name with his own blood.
The contract was immediately established.
It must be said, such Magic Contracts were convenient.
The Dragon-man youth absorbed all these pirates.
Of course, after careful examination, they were disbanded and reorganized.
Zong Ge led the Little Bird. The Dragon-man youth personally appointed a Half-Beast as the squadron leader. The expansion of the Justice Pirate Group had begun its first step!
“Do good work, and one day, you too might become one of my officers!” The voice of the Dragon-man youth inspired the pirates, causing their eyes to light up.
The Little Bird had hardly any damage, thanks to the rapid decision to surrender by the original captain.
The original captain’s name was lengthy and awkward, so everyone simply referred to him by his nickname—Little Bird.
As a Black Iron Level fighter, his cultivation belonged to the lower echelons of captaincy. It was difficult for a bronze level captain to maintain control over the scene among ships that sailed the seven seas.
Nightfall.
The sea breeze was gentle, blowing through the windows.
The captain’s cabin was brightly lit.
Dinner had already been eaten, and the Dragon-man youth sat at the desk, both feeling the breeze and flipping through the logbook of the Justice.
Today’s record included this minor battle.
The Dragon-man youth closed the logbook, leaned back in the leather chair, and began to close his eyes and ponder, summarizing the experience of this battle.
“Sea battles and land battles are quite different.”
“Firstly, securing the upper wind is very important. We did well on this point. With the upper wind, our shells could be fired further than in calm or headwind conditions. This is the advantage of terrain. Just like shooting from a higher mountain in a land battle. Battling against the wind is like attacking from below, which is very disadvantageous.”
“Secondly, the quality of the equipment greatly affects the outcome of the battle. Our ability to secure a quick and decisive victory is due to the superior class, tonnage, gun positions, and the grade of the cannons of Justice surpassing those of Little Bird. The most threatening strike from Little Bird was the Eagle Soaring Bomb, as it was a Black Iron Level bomb.”
Of course, with Little Bird’s surrender, these bombs had also become the spoils of war for the Dragon-man youth.
“Lastly, the most influential factor in the outcome of the battle was the people! The enemy’s Eagle Soaring Bomb was launched by Little Bird himself. The person intercepting the bomb was me. If I had not intercepted it and allowed the main mast to be damaged, Little Bird might have escaped.”
Justice was a Black Iron Level Magic Energy ship, but it was bulky and easily damaged.
In comparison, a Black Iron Level fighter was much more agile, making it easy to switch between offense and defense. Taking Little Bird as an example, he was a Black Iron Fighter. If the youth’s side lacked a Black Iron Level fighter and only had a Black Iron Level Magic Energy ship, Little Bird might have swum across the sea and led a group to board and attack. Even without hand-to-hand combat, Little Bird firing cannons could have threatened Justice.
The youth couldn’t help but recall the battle with Rou Cang.
A Gold Level fighter like Rou Cang, with his power alone, could dominate the battlefield, regardless of how many pirates had been destroyed by the previous fleets under the names Shewoman and Big Chin. The outcome of Rou Cang’s battle with the youth, Zong Ge, and the grey-clad fighter decided the result of the confrontation.
Thus, the Dragon-man youth had a profound realization: “Whether it’s land battle or sea battle, all wars fundamentally boil down to a competition between people.”
Therefore, if one possesses resources, the priority should be to invest in people first, and then in external things, such as equipment or ships.
True power should be vested within oneself for the greatest benefit.
With the same resources, training a fighter to Black Iron Level or possessing a Black Iron Level Magic Energy ship for an ordinary person, the former is certainly the better choice.
It’s like the fourth King of Pirates who seized the Pirate’s Divine Seat; because the divine power was not truly his own, or rather, not fully converted for his use, he was assassinated.
But this matter is not generalizable in practice.
Because people have limits.
Almost everyone’s aptitude is fixed, whether good or bad. Therefore, all cultivators have their own ceilings.
However, when the investment of resources approaches the limit of one’s bloodline and talent, the increase in cultivation becomes minimal, and the return on investment becomes lower.
At that time, investing in external things becomes the better choice.
“It’s unavoidable.”
“Just like the members of the Hundred Needle Family, unless there’s an accident, their ultimate strength and potential are destined to be legendary from birth, no matter how hard they try. This is actually quite an enviable fate, as most people in the world can only be ordinary mortals.”
“But I am different!”
“I have the Blood Core.”
The more he cultivated, the more the youth felt the terrifying power of the Blood Core.
The Blood Core could absorb the essence of external lifeforms and graft their bloodline onto his own. This meant that the youth’s talent and potential were variable, almost limitless!
Why had the youth’s cultivation of the Blast Fighting Spirit advanced so rapidly in these past few days?
The foundation of Bai He’s Fighting Spirit was only a secondary reason; the real reason was that he possessed the legendary bloodline of the King of the Flame Dragon!
As long as he had this bloodline, even if the youth started his cultivation of Fighting Spirit from scratch, he could make rapid progress, advancing at an incredible rate.
Under other equal circumstances, as long as others had a weaker bloodline than his, his cultivation efficiency would be ten, a hundred, or even a thousand times higher than theirs.
This was not an exaggeration.
Many geniuses became Gold Level fighters at a young age.
While ordinary people could never reach the state of being Extraordinary in their lifetimes.
“Perhaps, this is the correct way to use the Blood Core?” A spark of inspiration flashed through the youth’s mind.
He had roamed around Mysterious Monster Island, collecting and transforming Magical Beasts, absorbing bloodlines, resulting in various mutations.
Now, he could repeat this process, absorbing various stable life forms that could harmonize his own Magic Power naturally.
Yet in reality, low-level Magical Beasts could only offer him some peculiar skills at most.
The most beneficial use, it appeared, was in his current approach.
Absorbing high-quality bloodlines and then undertaking Extraordinary Cultivation to grow rapidly.
After all, his essence was human.
Transforming into other forms necessitated a lot of practice for the youth to possibly master their use, which would consume a massive amount of his time and energy.
Maintaining a humanoid form, the life form the youth was most familiar with, required no reacclimation.
Moreover, both Fighting Spirit and Mana had high growth potentials.
The variety of Combat Skills and Spells was vast, a tremendous wealth.
While the innate magic of legendary Magical Beasts was convenient and quick, it could be counted on one’s fingers.
“And randomly using the Blood Core to manifest various mutations is far too conspicuous.”
“It would certainly draw suspicion and scrutiny, possibly endangering others and revealing the identity of the Beastification People, as well as the secrets of Mysterious Monster Island.”
Originally, the youth’s desire to capture the bloodlines of natural Magical Beasts had been strong, but now it had somewhat diminished.