Chapter 53 Setting Sail for the Overseas Islands
Time passed second by second.
Soren frowned as he studied the nautical chart, then picked up a quill to make marks on it. “This spot is no good, this one is also not viable!… There are monsters here!… The indigenous people here are too strong!… Only these two places are left!… ”
After crossing out five or six locations, only two spots remained in front of Soren.
Though these two locations were not the best, they should be the easiest places to establish a town. Soren didn’t have thousands of professionals at his disposal right now, which meant he was even worse off in manpower than a mid-sized guild in his previous life. After all, most of those who ventured overseas back then were at least Third Tier. Now, all of Soren’s subordinates above the Third Tier were pirate leaders. His only advantage was his high-end combat power, as he and Vivian had an overwhelming advantage against ordinary enemies.
“Islands, shipping lanes, natural harbors, coastal positions.”
Establishing a foothold overseas couldn’t just be a matter of finding a piece of land and starting to cultivate it—that would be tantamount to courting death.
This world is relatively barren. Although there are things that can function like excavators, those are top-tier high-end combat powers. Otherwise, one would have to rely on a wizard’s spells, such as ‘Turn Fossils to Mud’ and ‘Turn Mud to Stone.’ Soren’s core development strategy relied on maritime trade, so a natural harbor was essential, with the location needing to be near the coast for easier transportation. Then came the shipping lanes, which needed to be relatively safe, avoiding dangerous areas, and ideally, nearby islands for fresh water or transit stations.
After all, a voyage across the ocean takes seven or eight days!
The Overseas Islands were still overseas; a round trip would take at least half a month.
“I can only check both places out.”
Soren put away the nautical chart and prepared to get up to look at other things, but just then, he heard urgent footsteps outside, followed by a breathless maid rushing over, stammering, “Your… Your Grace!… She!… She has awakened!…”
Soren was taken aback by the news, and a hint of surprise showed on his face.
Without bothering with anything else, Soren didn’t even go for the door and jumped directly through the window, transforming into a shadow that dashed towards the back courtyard room.
“Brother!…”
As soon as Soren stepped into the room, Vivian called out cheerfully, though her expression seemed a bit fatigued. After sitting up on the bed, she rubbed her eyes with her pale little hand, as if she hadn’t fully woken up, and said, “How long have I slept? It feels like I’ve been asleep for a really long time!…”
“Five days,” Soren replied cautiously, looking at her and then asking, “Vivian? How do you feel?”
The little girl raised her hand to cover her mouth and mumbled, “I can’t believe I slept so long?… Hmm!… I don’t even know!… Just feeling a bit tired; I want to sleep again!… ”
Still wanting to sleep?
Soren was momentarily stunned and whispered, “Did you dream? What did you dream about?!…”
Dream?
The little girl seemed to recall something. A look of nostalgia appeared on her cute little face as she bit her finger for a moment. When Soren frowned and removed her finger from her mouth, she stuck out her tongue; sometimes, she would bite her fingers. This habit occurred occasionally as she tilted her head, mumbling, “I dreamed of a monster that looked like a giant octopus!… Brother!… That giant octopus was so hard to kill!… I smashed it into pieces, but still couldn’t finish it off!…”
“Well!… In the end, I had no choice!… I had to roast it and eat it instead!…”
Eat it?
Soren’s expression turned somewhat silly, but he quickly regained his composure.
Dreams were simply an evolution of divine consciousness struggles. Vivian did not truly consume a part of Dagon’s divine consciousness; rather, it was a dream she had evolved during the process of merging and devouring. However, it seemed the little girl had indeed grown substantially, as her ability to independently merge with foreign divinity indicated that her potential was truly incalculable!
How much divinity did the Swamp King possess?
Based on Soren’s estimates and the effects of data statistics, the divinity of the Swamp King should not be higher than that of the Demon Son of Fear. After all, the latter was a true divine bloodline, while the Swamp King had only acquired a trace of divinity during the desecration ritual of the Abyss Lord, Dagon. Therefore, if the divinity value of the Demon Son of Fear is around 3 points, then the Swamp King’s divinity value must be below 3 points; he simply lived longer and was stronger than the Demon Son of Fear.
Thus, the divinity value of the Swamp King should be around 1 to 2 points, with the likelihood of being 2 points quite high!
Vivian had completed the merging of 2 points of divinity in less than a week, a speed comparable to many demigods. Even in the future, if someone successfully slayed a god and absorbed divine powers, the speed would definitely not match hers. Divinity is the most challenging part of deity powers to merge, as this power is difficult to strip away. However, other divine powers, such as divine authority, are much easier to incorporate. Many newly ascended deities rely on divine authority to attain godhood.
Their divinity is at best of the level of “Inferior Divinity.”
Divine authority is a power that is easy to control; as long as you kill a deity avatar saint, you can obtain fragments of divine authority. If you possess some special abilities, or even understand the power of divine laws, then you can acquire a complete divine authority. In Soren’s memory, there was someone who could merge with “Inferior Divine Power” in one go; this so-called “Inferior Divine Power” is merely a weaker divine authority, while divine power is energy stored within divine authority.
The vast majority of divine power levels refer to the levels of divine authority.
As divine power represents a numerical value of force, after believers pray and are converted, it turns into divine power value, which is akin to mana value after the magic network collapses!
………………
After Vivian finished speaking, she couldn’t help but stretch.
The little girl moved her small arms and legs before crawling into Soren’s embrace. Her little head nestled against him, and she promptly closed her eyes again, falling back into sleep within seconds. It seemed that defeating the ancient Abyss Lord Dagon’s divine consciousness had exhausted her energy, as she quickly fell asleep.
This time,
Soren felt much more at ease because Vivian was no longer in danger; she was simply too fatigued from the mental battle.
This sleep lasted another two days.
When the little girl finally woke up, refreshed after regaining her lost vitality, Soren had already arranged everything and began preparing for their departure to the Overseas Islands.
For this journey to the Overseas Islands, Soren had made extensive preparations, including food, supplies, and medicine for two large ships, weapons and tools for another large ship, as well as about three hundred slaves. Some of these slaves came from the mainland, while others were from overseas, and some were even the children of slaves. Although Soren’s plans required a large number of slaves, the initial step of opening up could not involve too many slaves because they would consume food and require manpower for management.
If any disease or accidents occurred, the loss of slaves would be significant for Soren!
These were the first batch of slaves.
As the labor force for Soren’s efforts overseas, he would only transport a second batch of slaves once he had achieved some results from the initial colonization.
For this operation, Soren organized a total of three large warships, three large cargo ships, and a ghost ship, although the ghost ship was hidden beneath the sea and followed without most people knowing of its existence. Soren did not plan to publicize the fact that he controlled a ghost ship; only pirates who had experienced battles with the Swamp King would occasionally mention seeing Your Grace Throat Cutter summon the ghost ship.
After all, it was important to maintain some level of mystery!
Taro Port.
Soren stood at the bow of the ship, gazing into the distance, and then commanded the fleet to set sail. Accompanied by the shouts of his subordinate leaders, six large sea vessels raised their sails. Nearby the dock, many observers gathered, with some curious, some joyous, some relaxed, and others taking pleasure in his misfortune. In any case, many people held a curious attitude towards Soren’s formation of a fleet heading for overseas.
Regarding this, Soren didn’t mind at all.
Whether he could rise during the Saint’s Cataclysm in the future depended on the results they achieved this time!
……………… (To Be Continued ~^~)
