Chapter 26: Half Step to Legend!
After the storm comes the dawn.
Prince Hans stood at the harbour, his face darkened, making his originally handsome appearance look somewhat gloomy. Anyone would feel bad when a patrol fleet under their command had gone out without any news, to the point where it could be said there was no trace of them, living or dead. A whole day had passed since the fleet disappeared after setting sail yesterday morning; it was unknown whether they had been sunk by Arendelle’s navy or lost in last night’s storm.
Logically, such a storm shouldn’t threaten large warships; last night’s storm likely only capsized some fishing boats.
“Your Highness.”
A fully armed young man hurried over and knelt on one knee, saying, “There’s no news! The warships sent out to search have found nothing.”
Time passed slowly.
Soon, the warships sent out today began to return to the harbour one by one, but as Prince Hans scanned the port, his expression immediately soured as he furrowed his brow, asking, “Where’s the Orion?”
“Didn’t the Orion set sail with us today?”
Hearing his question, the others looked around in confusion, realizing indeed that the Orion was missing. However, the search vessels had just returned, so someone beside him comforted, “Your Highness need not worry; the Orion might simply be following behind. I instructed them today not to leave the nearby waters to avoid being ambushed by Arendelle’s ships. If there’s any movement, they will signal immediately, and we can see it from here.”
Prince Hans nodded at this but still wore a grim expression, as his instincts told him something was amiss.
………………
On a tranquil sea.
A battered ship was slowly sinking, while Soren stood expressionless on the deck of The Requiem, watching the warship before him disappear beneath the waves. He played with a device similar to a firework tube in his hand, seemingly deep in thought. After a moment, he lit the signal flare, which shot up brightly into the sky and exploded into very noticeable fireworks, visible even in the daytime from a distance.
“Deep sea submersion!”
Soren gazed toward a distant island and then ordered in a low voice, “Summon the mist!”
“Undrowned undead prepare for battle!”
The ghost ship, The Requiem, gradually sank beneath the waves, and mist began to rise over the nearby waters. However, due to the daytime, the mist only made everything appear a bit hazy and seemed to cover a much smaller area, shrouding only the nearby sea surface.
On the other side.
Near the harbour of Arendelle, atop a towering lighthouse, Princess Anna gazed into the distance with a worried expression, softly asking, “Didn’t we see their warships today?”
To blockade Arendelle’s harbour, the warships of the Southern Islands typically appeared in the nearby waters every day.
They dared not launch a strong attack on the harbour, and instead could only temporarily maintain this blockade.
After all, Arendelle is still a kingdom. Regardless of how severely the navy has been damaged, they still retain a basic defensive capability.
“Your Highness.”
Standing beside her was a bearded general, who lowered his monocular and said gravely, “We haven’t seen any enemy patrol ships today. Not even the Víkings’ ships.”
Upon hearing this, Princess Anna slightly furrowed her brows and quietly remarked, “Could it be that they retreated?”
“Unlikely,” the bearded general shook his head and said, “What worries me more is that they may want to attack the harbour. Last time they bombarded the lighthouse, but our fleet immediately counterattacked and drove them back.”
“The number of enemy warships is twice ours; I fear they won’t give up that easily!”
Princess Anna fell silent.
It seemed she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time; her beautiful face appeared somewhat haggard. She murmured, “If only my sister were here. I really feel so useless!…”
The bearded general’s expression turned bitter upon hearing this, and he solemnly said, “It’s all my subordinate’s incompetence! If I hadn’t fallen for their trap, the kingdom’s navy wouldn’t be utterly incapable of engaging in battle now.”
“The talents of Your Highness are beyond doubt!”
“During this time, King has managed the kingdom’s affairs with great order. It’s my fault…”
Princess Anna waved her hand to stop his words, softly saying, “General Barsa, don’t blame yourself. We never expected them to mix with the Víkings.”
A regular navy of a kingdom actually teamed up with a notorious group of Víkings.
This could tarnish the kingdom’s reputation, and they never anticipated that Prince Hans of the Southern Islands would resort to such methods.
It should be noted that many kingdoms had once united to issue a ‘Pirate Proclamation.’
Arendelle’s prosperous economy was due to the waning of pirate powers. After all, there are not many pirates like Soren in the world; most pirates fall into chaotic alignments and survive solely by robbing merchant ships.
“Your Highness!”
Suddenly, General Barsa raised his head and pointed to the distant sky, saying gravely, “Look over there! Something’s happening!…”
A firelight shot up into the sky.
The bright light of the signal flare was so bright that even Arendelle could see it clearly; it was a specially prepared alchemical object that could be seen from a great distance.
………………
Dragon Bone Island.
As time passed, Prince Hans’s expression grew increasingly grim. After the other warships returned, he still hadn’t seen the Orion, and in a low voice asked, “Lookout? Hasn’t the Orion been spotted yet?”
“Your Highness!” A naval officer standing beside him suddenly looked up and pointed to the sky, saying seriously, “Look! A signal flare!”
“Something’s happening over there! It must be a signal from the Orion!”
Upon hearing this, Prince Hans’s body shook, and he immediately commanded, “Gather the fleet to go out to sea! Let the Víkings set off too!”
A patrol fleet had gone missing last night, and now another warship hadn’t returned.
His instincts told him something bad had occurred, so he immediately ordered the fleet to assemble and set sail.
The fleet of the Southern Islands gathered quickly, with the prepared navy boarding their ships to head out to sea; the Víkings also appeared at the harbour, though their numbers were only half that of the Southern Islands. Most looked fierce and rugged. A burly man wearing a horned helmet spoke a few words with Prince Hans before boarding a dragon head battleship. Possibly due to the missing ship being from the Southern Islands, the Víkings appeared indifferent, and only about a third of their pirate ships set out.
However, in the end, over a hundred warships, big and small, headed toward the location from which the signal flare had been launched.
………………
In the azure waters.
Soren’s hair flowed with the currents. He quietly watched the sea surface, waiting for the enemy to appear.
Harvesting heads was undoubtedly the fastest way to gain killing experience, especially since many within the Southern Islands’ navy were advanced professionists. Just from last night’s battle, he had gained nearly fifty thousand killing experience, and this was because many of the enemies had perished at the hands of the Undrowned and mutated orcas. At this rate, he might not even need to complete the chain task of the ‘Four Elemental Crystals’; just defeating Prince Hans’s navy could allow him to enter the Legendary Domain.
Soren’s currently reserved killing experience had reached exactly 230,000. He could raise a profession level of Shadow at any time.
This time he didn’t save the killing experience but directly upgraded the Shadow profession to Level 6.
“Shadow profession upgraded to Level 6.”
“Gained 32 (Agility 26 + (Intelligence 22 – 10) * 0.5) skill points, life increased by 14 (Base life 8 + (Constitution 22 – 10) * 0.5).”
………………
At this stage, Soren’s rate of strengthening was slowing down due to hitting a bottleneck, entering the semi-legendary domain.
Only when his strength breaks through the Legendary Domain will he gain a substantial boost, at which point he will be able to master the specialization rewards of [Master Intuitive Evasion], [Master Reflex Evasion], and [Mental Agility]. Legend is a significant watershed; only after entering the Legendary Domain will Soren be able to further master the legendary combat skill [Shadow Step] and the legendary ability [Shadow Domain].
Upon just entering the Legendary Domain, the most significant improvements would likely be to the Warrior and Barbarian classes, as they can gain the specialty [Epic Strength].
Once this specialty appears, they will become incredibly inhuman!
Normally, saints embodied by deities possess over 500 life points, and among all professionists, only Warriors and Barbarians can reach this level.
If [Epic Strength] is raised to its limit, it can provide over 300 extra life points.
Their ability to bathe in magma is owed to this extraordinary vitality. As for other professionists, it may take them a significant amount of time to learn and train after entering the Legendary Domain, especially spellcasters who require substantial time to learn legendary spells. After entering the Legendary Domain, the Wanderers’ combat capabilities in face-to-face battles will fall behind traditional melee professionists, thus mastering [Shadow Domain] becomes crucial against them.
Soren had already received one information prompt.
With two more, he could master [Shadow Domain], allowing him to attempt inter-planar escapes when encountering any powerful enemies.
As he drew closer to the Legend Rank.
The killing experience required for Soren to level up his profession increased exponentially; his current profession levels were ‘Level 10 Civilian / Level 7 Thief (0/186500) / Level 6 Shadow (0/215000) / Level 10 Wizard (0/148500) [Tier 4].’
He was just two profession levels away from entering the ranks of Legendary Professionists!
However, these final two profession levels were the most challenging, as he might need close to 450,000 killing experience. After deducting his currently maintained killing experience, he still had nearly 400,000 difference. If based on the battle rewards from last night, he would still need at least nine more similar encounters.
In other words, he would need to sink at least fifty warships from the Southern Islands!
………………
(PS: That’s all for today. I’ll start adding updates tomorrow. This month, the performance has been poor; I apologize.) (To Be Continued ~^~)
