Chapter 592: Section 380: Acquiring a Silver Level Warship
On the Divine Wind, someone publically accused Lan Zao of killing a member of the Saber Gang.
A heavy feeling descended on Lan Zao’s heart, but his expression remained unchanged.
He had anticipated this situation, but he hadn’t expected it to come so soon.
“It seems I’m about to be exposed!”
“Now to fight all out and kill Ice Eagle?”
Lan Zao subconsciously looked towards Ice Eagle.
Ice Eagle had been watching him attentively.
When Ice Eagle saw Lan Zao being accused of murdering a Saber Gang member, his face showed no emotion.
But when he caught Lan Zao’s gaze, Ice Eagle actually nodded slightly.
“Why nod?”
“Do you want me to make a move quickly?”
“Damn it… Making a move on Ice Eagle now is nearly impossible.”
Lan Zao inwardly clenched his teeth, failing to grasp the meaning behind Ice Eagle’s nod.
Now, countless gazes from every direction were fixed on him, and his every move was being noticed.
Lan Zao knew that at this moment, the only person he could rely on was himself.
He did not give up. Chest thrust out, his gaze icy, he shot a contemptuous look at the gang member who was accusing him, his attitude revealing disdain.
“Today, indeed I have killed not a few.”
“So what if you were killed by me?”
“Courting death for blocking my path!”
Lan Zao’s demeanor was very defiant.
“You…” the accuser was furious, “you killed one of our own, our gang rules are clear, you must pay with your life!”
Lan Zao snorted coldly, arms crossed over his chest, showing an utterly disdainful stance.
This arrogant attitude had angered many in the gang.
Ice Eagle did not speak; instead, he looked towards the Human Race leader.
Among the remaining three gang leaders, Xiong Ju was a fierce general, Spring Boxer was too young, but the Human Race leader was experienced enough to understand the intent behind a gaze or nod from Ice Eagle.
The Human Race leader then chuckled and defended Lan Zao, “Our rules indeed prohibit fratricide within our ranks, but if it is an unwitting manslaughter, it can be forgiven.”
“My lord?!” the accuser was stunned on the spot, “Saying this, won’t you let us down?”
The Human Race leader just smiled.
Lan Zao huffed curtly, “All this nonsense, I don’t believe, in the chaos of the battlefield just now, that there wasn’t friendly fire!”
“I’ve already seen several cases of fratricide over the scramble for the ship.”
“If you want to seek revenge against me, then come on, let’s have a duel right here, right now!”
Lan Zao spouted several lines of nonsense, trying to take out the eyewitness.
The accuser was just an ordinary person and, of course, did not dare to accept Lan Zao’s duel invitation, who was a Bronze Level fighter. Instead, he turned his gaze towards a nearby Black Iron Fighter.
The Black Iron Fighter was also a gang member. He sighed and stepped forward, “You killed Old Dong and now call out an ordinary person for a duel? Isn’t that going too far?”
“I’ll accept this duel.”
Lan Zao laughed heartily, “Am I afraid of you?”
Before his sentence was completed, he drew his scimitar and charged straight at the Black Iron Fighter.
The Black Iron Fighter was caught off guard and hastily retreated.
But the deck was crowded, leaving no room to dodge, and he was quickly caught up by Lan Zao and slashed at several times.
The Black Iron Fighter quickly summoned his defensive fighting energy, rolling consecutively across the deck.
The pirates and gang members scattered around to make way, which finally allowed the Black Iron Fighter to roll towards the main mast.
He was battered and bloodied, but the wounds were only superficial. Enraged, he bellowed, “You despicable coward, how dare you ambush me!!”
Lan Zao inwardly regretted; just now was the perfect opportunity, but given his low cultivation and weakened state, even at his limit, he still failed to take down the Black Iron Fighter.
“You were the one who accepted the duel, how can you accuse me of ambushing?” Lan Zao shouted, “Die!”
He charged again at the Black Iron Fighter.
The Black Iron Fighter sneered, caught off guard the first time but now prepared, and was about to counterattack.
But in the next moment, Ice Eagle suddenly appeared between them, pushing both with his palms and knocking them to the ground.
“Have you had enough?”
“You’ve just been rescued and now you turn on each other? You might as well have died on the dock, at least you could have fought some enemies before dying!”
Ice Eagle reprimanded with a stern face.
“Old Gang Leader…” The Black Iron Fighter didn’t dare to move recklessly and pleaded, “This guy doesn’t abide by the codes of honor, he ambushed me, look at what he did to me?”
The Black Iron Fighter, covered in blood, was about to retaliate when Ice Eagle stopped him, feeling very frustrated.
Lan Zao glared at the Black Iron Fighter, still provoking, “You’re such worthless trash, if I had the same cultivation as you, you’d already be dead!”
He wanted to escalate the situation further, stir chaos, and shift everyone’s attention.
“Enough, if you continue quarreling, I’ll throw you both off the ship,” Ice Eagle said coldly.
The Black Iron Fighter could only shut his mouth.
But Lan Zao’s mind raced.
Throw me off the ship?
That would be too good!
He urgently shouted, “You cowards, you trash, if you’ve got the guts, keep on fighting! Jump off the ship and let’s battle on the water!”
Everyone was shocked as they looked towards Lan Zao.
Was this Bronze Level fighter being too reckless, shouting challenges even as the old gang leader made his appearance?
And you’re on the weaker side; do you really need to be that brave?
The Black Iron Level fighter was so angry he was grinding his teeth.
The Human Race leader snorted coldly, pointing at Lan Zao, “Young punk, you’d better know your limits.”
Ice Eagle also looked at Lan Zao, softening his tone as he soothed, “Alright, calm down.”
The Black Iron Fighter looked at Ice Eagle and thought: Old gang leader, can you please not make such an obvious difference in your tone and attitude towards us?
Lan Zao didn’t care about these things; he was thinking about being thrown off the ship.
He hadn’t expected this chance to escape to present itself so readily.
Naturally, Lan Zao was determined to seize it.
But just as he was about to continue his provocations, he suddenly saw darkness, lost consciousness, and collapsed onto the deck, fainting.
Everyone was startled.
Ice Eagle hurried over to check on him.
He first made sure Lan Zao was still breathing and breathed a sigh of relief. But when he touched Lan Zao’s forehead, it was frighteningly hot.
Ice Eagle quickly called out for Feng Lian’s help, “Lord Feng Lian…”
Feng Lian nodded and barked an order, “Get the ship doctors here to treat the wounded!”
The Divine Wind and the other two leading pirate ships had been moored for half an hour, taking away all the members of the Saber Gang, before finally departing with composure.
As they left, the Mage Tower let fall several purple lightning bolts that exploded behind the Divine Wind and the other ships, as if to signify that they had done all they could given the limited range.
The City Lord of Snowbird Port had his own plans, and the Dragon-man youth had already acted stealthily.
Disguised as an Alchemy Puppet, he had left his true self behind to maneuver the Deep Sea Monster Fish, secretly embarking from the ocean floor to follow the Divine Wind.
That night.
A small fleet entered the docks of Snowbird Port.
One of them was the retired warship purchased by the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
Zi Di and the Alchemy Puppet, disguised as the Dragon-man youth, boarded the ship together.
The warship was white all over, 112 meters long, and 31 meters wide on average. The entire ship was nearly twice the size of the Deep Sea Monster Fish.
There were two masts, the Main Mast located in the center of the ship and the mizzen mast.
The lookout towers atop the masts were intricately designed Alchemy Components; the Main Mast featured a Silver Level casting platform, while the mizzen mast had a Black Iron Level long-range shooting platform.
The sails on the Main Mast were square rigged, while the mizzen mast carried triangular sails.
The warship had a total of 74 cannon ports, 36 on each side of the hull, and one at the bow and stern.
The cannons at each position were common items, not even one of Bronze Level.
In fact, the sails were the same.
The original sails of the warship were all Silver Level, and the cannons were all alchemy cannons. However, these items had been dismantled and used on new warships or as military supplies.
The main selling point was the warship itself.
There were four main Alchemy Components within the warship.
These were the Sea Lion-type kinetic engine, Ice Elemental Mana Pool, Cold City Armor, and Snow Honey energy storage.
After inspecting the ship, Zi Di and the “Dragon-man youth” made their evaluation.
“The Sea Lion-type kinetic engine is an enhanced version of the Sea Lion kinetic engine used on assault ships, emphasizing acceleration, but its top speed, endurance, and energy consumption are all mediocre.”
“The Ice Elemental Mana Pool isn’t small, specialized in converting ice elements into Mana. The advantage of such specialized elemental Mana Pools lies in their high conversion rates for a single element.”
“The Snow Honey energy storage is for endurance. ‘Snow Honey’ is a peculiar resource; humans can eat it to not only stave off hunger but also replenish Fighting energy. Similarly, it can be used on ships where it’s converted into Mana when dumped into Mana Pools, though at a lower conversion rate than ice elements.”
Zi Di, by now, knew a lot about the information of the Ice Sculpture Kingdom.
Snow Honey wasn’t a specialty resource, but due to its high practical value, it had long been standard equipment for both the army and navy of the Ice Sculpture Kingdom.
“Among the four main Alchemy Components, the most valuable is the Cold City Armor. This alchemy technique is a third-generation military technology of the Ice Sculpture Kingdom, and its performance on the battlefield has always been stable. It mainly provides physical defense and is almost never sold separately in the market.”
Besides, there are casting and archery platforms on the two masts which are also Alchemy Components. However, they were minor and could be easily dismantled.
In fact, they were considered consumables on the battlefield.
Zi Di gradually understood the purpose of this warship.
“The Snow Elf’s warship, with only 74 cannon ports, is too few for a ship of this size.”
“They rely mainly on the mages accompanying the ship for long-range attacks.”
“For us, it’s not quite suitable.”
“First, replace all the ordinary cannons, then buy two sets of sails, at least Black Iron Level.”
“Can we use this ship to chase the Divine Wind Pirate Group?”
A thought flashed through Zi Di’s mind.
But then, she dismissed it.
A new and unfamiliar warship would take time for the mercenaries to become accustomed to before they could fully harness its power.
Even mounting Gold Level cannons would take time.
At last, they had a warship with Silver Level demon energy; the Cold City Armor could protect the Gold Level cannons from being easily destroyed by the enemy as before.
Yet Zi Di felt little joy at acquiring a new ship.
Her heart was heavy with worry for the Dragon-man youth, “Ah, I wonder how he’s faring over there?”
Indeed, the Dragon-man youth had encountered a situation.
He had followed the Divine Wind and the other ships all the way until midnight.
Then suddenly, a fleet appeared and successfully ambushed the Divine Wind and the three pirate ships!