Chapter 432: Section 219: Buy a Demon Energy Ship
Water Pigman slaves were the most important trade item for the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
This deal being settled, both the Dragon-man youth and Zong Ge breathed a sigh of relief.
Next, they headed back to the docks to inspect the ships.
The docks had once been a major battlefield, and now they were a ruins, a ghastly sight to behold.
Many ships were moored at the docks.
The origins of these ships were complex.
Some came from the Mercenary Group, some from the Guild, and some were pirate ships.
Hun Tong, in the last stages of the melee, had used beam cannons to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy. Many pirates were eradicated, leaving behind numerous ships.
Some ships had sunk, but most could be salvaged and had been dragged ashore.
The ships varied in the extent of their damage, some could still sail, while others required major repairs. Some had damaged dragon bones, needing assessment and calculations; if the repair costs were too high, they would be abandoned and either rebuilt or replaced.
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps had a significant need for ships.
During the melee, their ships had mostly stayed at the docks, unlike those of other Mercenary Groups or Guilds, which had sailed out.
Of course, the latter’s outcome was not good.
They first encountered Magic Traps and then fiercely battled with the Vinegar Jar Pirate Group. During this period, they were harshly backstabbed by Hun Tong, which was tragic.
Regardless, the ships of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps were mostly affected.
When they first arrived at Twin Eyes Island, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps possessed 12 ships, including 2 medium-sized ships, with the rest being small ones.
During the defense against the Beast Tide, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps lost 5 vessels.
After the melee at Twin Eyes Island, only 2 small ships that survived were still usable.
Fortunately, there were many unclaimed ships at the docks.
Before negotiating with Hun Tong, the survivors had already targeted their desired ships.
The market price for an ordinary ship averaged around 50 Gold Coins. The size of the ship influenced its price, with smaller ships generally costing less than medium ones. Different marine environments also affected the prices. Additionally, the structure of the ship was another important factor, including the number of masts, sails, the size of the cargo holds, the quantity of cannons, and so on.
Hun Tong did not need these ships; not only were they useless to him, but they also came with substantial maintenance and repair costs.
In the previous melee, the Patrol Fleet suffered minimal losses.
“One-Eye’s” strategy was to bombard, then bombard again.
Being cowardly had its benefits; it preserved the strength of his own fleet.
The downside was that “One-Eye” had almost no remarkable performance on the battlefield.
Hun Tong now did not lack ships but money, and he intended to sell these ships for a high price.
He spoke with a smile, endlessly dishing out business rhetoric in an unbroken flow without repetition, demonstrating true “bargaining prowess.”
The Dragon-man youth’s group was overwhelmed in number.
Previously, Hun Tong had undersold the Water Pigman slaves due to Zi Di’s schemes.
Had Zi Di been present, she could have competed with Hun Tong, or Fat Tongue as well.
But the current group truly was no match for Hun Tong.
Zong Ge remained silent, understanding this was not his forte of battle.
Menshi stared, astonished at how the sly and cunning Human Race noble, Hun Tong, could eloquently argue his case.
Chi Lai kept silent.
The Dragon-man youth could only reluctantly step up, and unexpectedly ended up at a disadvantage.
“May I say a few words?” Mu Ban suddenly interjected, during a difficult moment.
Seeing an ordinary person interrupt, Hun Tong felt puzzled, frowning slightly.
What was his status?
He was a Golden Level, a noble of the Empire.
Honestly, conducting business with someone like Long Fu, a Silver Level mercenary, was already somewhat degrading, and now an ordinary person was interrupting.
This was an offense.
However, Hun Tong endured.
Had this been his man, he would have punished him severely on the spot.
He looked to Long Fu.
But the Dragon-man youth’s eyes sparkled.
He had enough trust in Mu Ban.
On Mysterious Monster Island, they had faced hardships together and fought against strong enemies, proving reliable comrades who could watch each other’s backs!
“Go on, let’s hear your ideas,” the Dragon-man youth supported Mu Ban.
Mu Ban took a deep breath, starting somewhat nervously, then began pointing out flaws in each ship.
He was a seasoned Woodcrafter, skilled in creating Crossbow Arrows. Initially unfamiliar with ships, but since leaving Mysterious Monster Island, he had studied many relevant books on ships.
These materials came from the War Merchant’s repository and were very detailed and valuable.
Mu Ban had not only acquired this knowledge but also put it into practice.
When the ships were sailing, he also doubled as a repairman, conducting repairs on the ships.
Thus, Mu Ban was very familiar with the structure of the ships.
“This rowing sailboat is a typical Tarida ship. The rowing indicates that more sailors are needed, which brings logistical and sustenance pressures, making its endurance hardly comparable to a true sailing ship.”
“This ship may look good with its ship’s stern, but it’s actually a modified Nef ship. Initially, Nef ships were small coastal fishing and trade vessels. Although this one has been modified and enlarged, with three masts added, it is very cumbersome due to design flaws in the hull.”
“This Cog ship does indeed look good. Upon close observation, it uses oak wood, and its construction employs lapstrake. But it is too old. Look at the moss at the bottom and the attached shells. Although it wasn’t much damaged in the melee, it could at best sail for a few years, and any major storm could diminish its limited lifespan.”
…
Hun Tong was left speechless.
Mu Ban grew more confident as he spoke, feeling increasingly accomplished, “To think there’d come a day when I could refute a Golden Level noble of the Empire, a real Lord, face-to-face?”
With Mu Ban’s help, the Dragon-man youth finally steadied his position in the negotiation.
“Your corps indeed has many talents,” Hun Tong said with a smile, his words carrying deeper meaning, “and quite bold as well!”
He had to admit, this ordinary person in front of him did have some talent.
But talented ordinary people were plenty, and they all lived at the bottom of society!
In this world of the strong, what truly determined a person’s status was the amount of personal power they wielded.
For an ordinary person like Mu Ban, speaking up in such a setting was perhaps the highlight of his life.
The most important thing was that the dragon-man youth allowed him, giving him the opportunity and space to perform.
In the end, the dragon-man youth successfully bought 7 sea ships.
Two medium ships, which were the command ships of the dragon-man youth and Zong Ge. The rest were 5 small ships.
It was not advisable to only buy one type of ship.
There needed to be a mix of ship types.
Just like in an army where troops are divided into long-range and close combat, each performing their respective roles and cooperating with each other. The same applied to the fleet of ships.
Small ships were often swift and agile, while large ships had more firepower and defensive power, and medium ships were the backbone of the fleet, more balanced.
The fleet size of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps wasn’t large. Buying large ships would have only dragged down their speed; medium ships were enough.
Another reason was that the large ships available for sale on the docks were rare and of poor quality.
After discussing the purchase of the seven sea ships, Hun Tong earned several hundred Gold Coins.
He was still not satisfied and continued his sales pitch: “There are many sea ships here that I can’t use. Here is the deal, Long Fu commander. The more ships you buy, the bigger the discount I’ll give you. The 8th ship will only cost you 45 Gold Coins, the 9th only 40 Gold Coins, and so on.”
The dragon-man youth gave a wry smile and shook his head, “The remaining sea ships are heavily damaged; even if we buy them, we still need to repair them.”
“Considering the cost of repairs, what’s the difference between buying here and buying at the standard market price?”
Hun Tong laughed, “But your group has Alchemy Puppets, right? They can repair these sea ships.”
Survivors had once used Basic Repairers to repair their own ships.
This information had leaked and was collected by Hun Tong.
The dragon-man youth shook his head, “Activating these Alchemy Puppets requires consuming Mana, including the cost of repair materials.”
Hun Tong thought for a moment, “How about this, I’ll reduce the price by another 5 Gold Coins on top of the previous offer.”
The dragon-man youth paused for a moment, did the calculation, and was tempted.
In the end, he bought three more sea ships, all small ships with minor damage.
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps had lost many members in the melee and would definitely need to recruit more.
However, the dragon-man youth did not plan to recruit on Twin Eyes Island.
Since they were going to Ice Sculpture Island, the personnel on that large island were undoubtedly more excellent, with a wider range of choices.
Considering this, it made sense to buy some more sea ships in advance to accommodate more mercenary personnel in the future.
The opportunity offered by Hun Tong was rare—the more one bought, the cheaper the price, following Hun Tong’s pricing scheme, the price of sea ships could drop to zero!
But this was actually a trap.
On one hand, the members of Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps were limited and couldn’t manage so many sea ships.
On the other hand, after several actual battles, the dragon-man youth had realized: normal sea ships were at most a consumable in sea battles. What really reliable were demon-energy ships!
“Wouldn’t you buy a supply ship?”
“Look, this large ship is so suitable!”
“Once you leave the island, too many accidents can happen at sea, having one more supply ship loaded with food and freshwater is very secure for sailing.”
Hun Tong was still not satisfied and vigorously promoted the best quality large sea ship.
The dragon-man youth shook his head: “We’re not planning to voyage far, and we won’t need that much supply.”
Hun Tong suddenly laughed, “There is one ship that I believe you would be interested in. But it might be somewhat troublesome, I don’t know if you dare to buy it.”
Hun Tong used reverse psychology, which made the dragon-man youth and his companions interested.
What kind of ship could make Hun Tong say such things?
The deal with Hun Tong was completed in the morning.
After officially obtaining the ownership of the sea ships, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps again used several Basic Repairers to quickly repair the ships.
Hun Tong personally witnessed the performance of these Alchemy Puppets and was quite moved.
He found that the working efficiency of these Basic Repairers exceeded the normal models by 30%.
He immediately proposed to the dragon-man youth to purchase one or two units.
But he was politely refused by the dragon-man youth.
The Basic Repairers came from the War Merchant, and the survivors did not want these Puppets to fall into other hands, lest they become a risk-inducing flaw.
Just after 12 noon, the fleet of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps set sail and slowly left Twin Eyes Island.
They had a total of 11 ships.
Those repairers were still on the ships, knocking and repairing.
The dragon-man youth stood on the dock, making his final goodbye to Hun Tong.
“Lord,” the dragon-man youth expressed his gratitude, “thank you for sending your subordinates to directly transport a large amount of supplies to the ship’s hold. This has saved us a lot of time.”
Hun Tong reached out, wanting to pat the youth’s shoulder, but due to the height difference, he could only manage to pat his upper arm: “We have fought side by side, as comrades. Remember, Twin Eyes Island always welcomes you. I also look forward to having deeper cooperation with you.”
At that moment, a group of people burst onto the dock, furious and cursing loudly.
“Our flagship has been taken!”
“That’s our ship!”
“Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps! Do you want to start a war with us, Bandage Mercenary Corps?”
“Lord Hun Tong, how can you privately sell someone else’s ship?”
The dragon-man youth was startled, his brow immediately furrowing, “Lord Hun Tong, did you not say that the White Bandage was already yours? The trouble I thought of and now are completely different.”
Hun Tong laughed heartily, casually saying, “I defeated the strong enemy, drove away the pirates and Fishmen, otherwise the Bandage Mercenary Corps would have been annihilated.”
“So, the White Bandage is naturally my war trophy!”
“Of course, I admit, these mercenaries are somewhat stubborn in their views.”
“No worries, this transaction is absolutely problem-free. I will handle these matters well.”
“Let’s go, the ship has already departed.”
The dragon-man youth looked at the angry Bandage Team mercenaries, feeling a twinge of guilt, but as Hun Tong had said, the ship had already departed.
He could only grit his teeth, leapt up with a burst of strong jumping power, and landed on the last ship.
Standing at the ship’s stern, he looked at Hun Tong’s figure on the dock and his impression of the latter worsened.
“Bandage leader died at the hands of Hun Tong.”
“Bandage Mercenary Corps, without their only Silver Level, probably won’t last much longer.”
“For his own interests, Hun Tong started targeting such forces.”
“This was not a righteous act, this kind of behavior is simply too unseemly.”