Mermaid Island
Leylin put the Devilblood Dagger away. He sensed that he had absorbed an enormous amount of life force, and it had all been transformed into spiritual force. Having already reached the peak, this additional energy pushed him to a breakthrough.
[Beep! Host has gone through a battle. Devilblood Dagger has completed the energy conversion! Spirit +0.1]
[Host’s spiritual force has reached 8, rank has increased. Host is now a rank 8 wizard.]
[Host has advanced to rank 8! Number of rank 3 spell slots increased by 1, number of rank 2 spell slots increased by 1.]
A few prompts jumped out all at once, and Leylin’s mouth curved up into a wide smile in response.
Converting almost all of this Merfolk Pirate captain’s flesh had given him an increase of only 0.1 in his Spirit stat. However, it helped him break through the threshold of a rank 8 wizard, something that many low-ranking wizards on the continent couldn’t even beg for.
‘However, it’s better not to let others know about this strange way of breaking through. Otherwise I will definitely become a public target...’ Leylin stood aside and watched the guards clear up the remnants of battle on the pirate ship.
In reality, after the Merfolk Pirates’ captain had died, the battle could be said to have been decided. Many Merfolk Pirates suffered a collapse in morale, and they either tried to escape from the ship or threw away their weapons and surrendered.
Leylin did not take action again after that, but he coldly watched Isabel and the others clear up the last of the pirates.
“This time, we don’t want prisoners. Archers get ready, kill all those pirates who jumped into the sea!” On hearing this cold command, the pirate crew’s fighting spirit grew even more fierce.
Yet Leylin showed not the slightest concern. He looked at his status window which had changed. The A.I. Chip displayed the newly collected data.
[Leylin Faulen, Race: Human Rank 8 Wizard, Strength: 3.5, Vitality: 4.5, Spirit: 8, Status: Healthy, Feats: Sturdy, Erudite, Spell Slots: Rank 3(2), Rank 2(4), Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???)]
A rank 8 wizard did not have the ability to access a deeper level of the Weave. The only benefits Leylin received were two more spell nodes. What was more important was that the advancement had increased his contact and authority within the deeper levels of the Weave. This was bound to be of great help to the A.I. Chip’s analysis.
As Leylin continued to advance in rank, the speed of the A.I. Chip’s analysis would only increase.
‘With the Magus World’s standards, a rank 5 Professional is on the level of an acolyte. A rank 10 Professional is on the level of a rank 2 Magus, and someone at rank 15 compares to rank 15. A rank 20 Legend would enter the realm of Morning Stars...’ After living in the World of Gods for so many years, Leylin had developed a very deep understanding of how ranks were calculated here.
‘A rank 25 peak-ranked Legend is equivalent to a Radiant Moon Magus! If it’s like this, then the divine would be equivalent to a rank 6 Breaking Dawn Magus. A demi-god here would be equivalent to a semi-rank 7 Magus, which is the same rank as my original body...’
‘The weak minor gods are the same as rank 7 Magi who have comprehended laws, and the major gods are similar to Magi who have fused laws, and are rank 8 beings like the Mother Core who’ve found their own path...’
At this point, the entire power rankings of the World of Gods began to unfold before Leylin. Although it was possible that some ranks did not entirely correspond, but on the whole Leylin believed in his own deductions and the A.I. Chip’s simulation had never been wrong. There were also no holes in its logic.
‘Although this native body is making rapid progress, in reality my current strength is only equal to a rank 1 Magus of the Magus World...’ This comparison rendered Leylin completely speechless. It seemed that he still had a long way to go on his path to becoming strong in the World of Gods
“Boss! We’ve cleared out this ship completely! Victory is ours!” Just at this moment, Robin Hood appeared before Leylin and reported with a face filled with excitement. He didn’t seem to care about the traces of blood still left on his face.
“It’s already finished? Have the casualties been counted yet?” Leylin had a neutral expression on his face. He had personally completely destroyed the most powerful opponents and even half of the normal crew. If his sailors couldn’t achieve victory under these circumstances, then he would need to completely reevaluate his strategy.
“With the weapons you gave us, many comrades only received slight injuries. Three have died, and five were seriously injured. We’ve already eased their suffering and sent them on their way...” Robin Hood spoke with a trace of helplessness in his voice.
Severe injuries on the sea were like a death sentence in this era unless one was lucky enough to have a cleric or other precious healing skills or items on them.
“Mm, keep track of them. Calculate and distribute rewards accordingly when we’re done...” Leylin suddenly hit himself on the head. “Oh right! After we capture Half-Merfolk Island, set out again and bring the family members of the pirates who surrendered to us to the Faulen Island. Give the families of the dead ones a pension.”
This was really to cut off the pirates’ escape route, and grasp their family members in his palm. With this, the chance of them betraying him was now very small.
“As you command, boss!” Robin Hood clearly understood Leylin’s intentions, and nodded vigorously, not daring to object at all.
“We really do need a cleric to raise morale and heal wounds. It seems like we can’t do with them.”
“If you have no objections to rank, then I know a few...” Isabel came to Leylin’s side at this moment, with a strange look in her eyes. Leylin scratched his nose, as he clearly knew why her expression was different.
It was easy for her to relate to what he had done before, and it was also the reason why he had ordered for there to be no captives, decisively slaughtering all the Merfolk Pirates in a hurry.
His subordinates, on the other hand, were still on the other ship and couldn’t see his actions across the wide sea. Even though he had left those mummified corpses, a wizard had skills which could achieve the same effect such as Absorb, Vampire’s Touch, and Life Drain, so nothing could be proven.
Although this could fool Robin Hood and the others, but it definitely could not fool Isabel, who was also a follower of a devil. Her expression showed that she’d discovered something.
However, they were both on the same boat. Leylin believed that Isabel wouldn’t betray him, because the church would never accept her either.
“Take a group out to sail this battleship. We’ll go together to Half-Merfolk Island!” Under Leylin’s command, they rushed to clean up the marks left by battle. The two enormous ships then sailed towards Half-Merfolk Island together.
At this moment, the pirates’ eyes were filled with fanaticism and emotion. After all, they knew very well that after Half-Merfolk Island had lost their entire pirate group, the defenceless girls would not be able to refuse their tyrannical advances. Also, the Merfolk Pirates had been in business for many years, and the wealth they had accumulated had made their eyes green with envy.
Before they reached land, Leylin gathered his troops together.
“I’ll say this once again!” Leylin’s gaze swept across the group of pirates. Through continuous shows of power, they did not dare to betray Leylin’s slightest command, and their loyalty to him had even increased considerably.
“We currently need their wealth and their slaves to work for us! We even need them to join us and become fresh blood. If they dare to resist us then immediately kill them without discussion, but I need captives. Understood?” In Leylin’s view, the family members that survived the pirates would be very rebellious, but they would make good slaves. Even if that wasn’t possible, then they could still be sold for a tidy profit; so what was the point of killing them all?
Humans were a very valuable resource on the sea. Even island natives had special teams of slave catchers enter the jungles and brave the difficulties of disease and monsters. They would then bitterly struggle against different tribes to get their hands on some more slaves.
“Don’t worry, boss! We know what to do!” Robin Hood began to laugh, and the sound of it was an ugly as an night owl’s hoot.
Leylin nodded, knowing how his underlings, who were like complete animals, would behave after they took over Half-Merfolk Island. Perhaps they wouldn’t murder the prisoners, but the islanders would suffer a lot of abuse.
Leylin decided to turn a blind eye to these sort of things. In any case, an appropriate amount of deterrence was necessary, and perhaps this would be beneficial to keeping his rule over them stable. After all, pirate women didn’t have any chastity to speak of, and it was in their instinct to follow the strong...
Eagle Eye! After the spell took effect, half of the island appeared before Leylin’s eyes.
‘Mm, it looks like there are the beginnings of a small hamlet. Not bad!’ In his field of vision was a tiny port, and next to the port there was a developing wheat field. The pirate captain that had died at his hand had some talent in running the place. Surprisingly, he knew to gather people to reclaim the wasteland, and he’d really produced results.
It was a shame that all of this had been so conveniently given to Leylin.
Seeing the Merfolk battleship return, and even bringing another ship back, the port burst into an uproar. There were even people who thought that it was the Merfolk Pirates returning victoriously, and began to gather at the port to welcome them back.
It was not until the ship drew closer that they realised that the deck had traces of a fierce battle. The flag which represented the Mermaid Pirates had changed hands. Only then did they cry out in alarm and scatter everywhere, just like wild ducks whose nest had been disturbed.
“Brothers, get to work!” Robin Hood’s booming voice rang out, ushering in a burst of excited cries.