Chapter 3615: Storm

After negotiation, Anger Shark agreed to become the navigator for this long voyage, and under the escort of Amu and Dre, returned to the third level of the dungeon.

Inside the office, Su Xiao looked at the map. To go to Nightmare Island, the nearest route was to first arrive at the "Ghost City" in the big swamp area to the west by land, set sail from the coast there, and then head towards the sea area to the west. This sea area belonged to the trade route, and merchant ships from the Alliance, Northern Empire, and Saint Lan Kingdom would all choose to pass through here.

For Su Xiao, sailing here was very safe. Even if he was really unlucky enough to sink the ship, with his physique, he could swim back completely.

Continuing to the west to arrive at the Pirate Sea area was not dangerous for Su Xiao either. Pirates were a group of desperate people, which was true, but the danger these desperate people could bring was relative. Encountering Su Xiao, the ones who encountered danger were them, not Su Xiao.

In Su Xiao's plan, he first had to borrow an Alliance ship, but it was impossible to sail this ship through the Dark Sea area, at most it could reach Skeleton Island at the junction of the Pirate Sea.

The area of Skeleton Island was not small, which also led to this place almost becoming a Pirate Island country. The Four Sea Kings, which were the four Pirate Kings, were the owners of this Pirate Island.

This was also why, even if the pirate groups under the Pirate Kings didn't often burn, kill, and loot, they had a lot of gold coins. However, only two of the Four Sea Kings remained right now.

Originally there were indeed four, but one of them, Anger Shark, was locked in the Asylum because his little brother looted the jackpot. Another Pirate King was attracted by a big deal and looted a merchant ship sailing at the junction of the Pirate Sea. This Pirate King didn't know that the Northern Empire General was on that ship.

From then on, the remaining two Kings of the Four Seas began to plunder ships less often, discovering that compared to plundering ships, developing Skull Island seemed more profitable and the risks were much lower. The job of plundering ships was simply too dangerous; you never knew exactly who might be on the merchant ship you were about to plunder.

Skeleton Island was known as the Pirate Country because all pirates on the Pirate Sea, as long as they looted property, 90% of them sold it on Skeleton Island.

Selling on Skeleton Island, 40% to 50% of the profit was bound to be divided by the two Pirate Kings. Why were the unruly pirates willing to endure this? The reason was that compared to the pure black market, the price of selling stolen goods to shops under the Pirate Kings was at least 30% higher.

Su Xiao's idea was to first arrive at Skeleton Island, then purchase a sailing ship there. This was the only means to cross the Dark Sea area.

A long time ago, some pirates who were poor and crazy would form Beast Hunting Groups to go deep into the Dark Sea area to hunt sea beasts. Over time, the gap between these Beast Hunting Groups and pirate groups became apparent.

Facts proved that the profession of Beast Hunting Group, which relied on one's own ability to eat, had development prospects. The Four Religious Sects, the Saint Lan Kingdom's warlocks, and the Northern Empire's Winter Wizards, these three groups had a large number of people, and they all had a huge demand for materials produced by dark sea beasts, especially the warlocks of the Saint Lan Kingdom, who were somewhat obsessed with this.

Where there is demand, there is a market, and where there is a market, there will be capable people in this regard. Generations of Beast Hunting Groups paid the price with blood and death, and finally figured out what kind of ship was more suitable for sailing in the Dark Sea area.

First of all, it must not be a metal ship. Under normal circumstances, metal cannot float on the water surface, which would inevitably attract the attention of a large number of dark sea beasts, stimulating their violent instincts, and thus being besieged.

Bone ships are better than wooden ships, wooden ships are better than stone ships, and stone ships are better than metal ships.

This is a matter of course. Dark sea beasts would not be interested in the skeletons floating above, even if it was a pile of closely connected skeletons, that was just bones.

Besides the ship material, the second is kinetic energy. Wind sail kinetic energy is better than fuel kinetic energy, and fuel kinetic energy is better than soul spell kinetic energy.

There is a saying in the Dark Sea area: even if you use the oldest fuel engine, making a huge noise that makes people terrified, don't use soul spells without sound as a drive. The soul energy scattered when soul spells are running is the favorite of dark sea beasts. This is also why the fork hooks of Beast Hunting Groups will inlay a few soul stones in the hollow structure.

A three-masted ship made of sea beast bones has a price of at least 1,600–2,000 pirate gold coins. According to the ratio, one pirate gold coin is equivalent to 10,000–10,800 Gulang. This amount is huge, and inconvenient currency is very inconvenient. However, those people in the Beast Hunting Group only recognize this kind of gold coin.

Su Xiao is not short of channels to exchange for pirate gold coins. What he is short of now is Gulang. Going to Skeleton Island this time, he must prepare at least 5,000 pirate gold coins, which means he needs 50 million Gulang to exchange.

Su Xiao certainly has a way to quickly get 50 million Gulang, but the subsequent troubles must be more than the Gulang gained. Therefore, it is better to get Gulang through regular channels. Overall, the time cost paid is smaller. If he obtained this 50 million Gulang through letting Xiang Bubu steal the Merchant Alliance Bank, then the knowledge he had mastered for so long would really be in vain. Knowledge can not only derive power, but also wealth.

Su Xiao took out a piece of parchment that looked high-end but was actually ordinary in material, and took out a vintage-style quill pen, as well as a bottle of semi-dried ink, and began to write the potion formula.

Based on the materials of this world and the massive amount of pharmacy knowledge in his brain, he conceived a potion formula for nourishing internal organs and improving vitality activity in half an hour.

This formula had average effects, but it was strong in simple preparation. It only needed to strictly follow the process, and it could be prepared in small batches. After operating it, it would be no problem to prepare hundreds of bottles every day.

Su Xiao picked up the phone and pondered for a few seconds before choosing to dial the Mayor of Perkin's number.

After ending the call, Su Xiao took out a full set of tools and began to make the formula look old. This was not to deceive anyone. The formula was absolutely true and effective, and the effect was firm. But in terms of origin, it was better to be prepared. After all, yesterday, Vice Dean Yesinger had just been poisoned to death by the Dark Sect.

Not long after, a manager of the Golden Bank came to the Asylum, took the formula for appraisal. This business, Mayor Perkin naturally didn't participate, and couldn't participate, but acted as a recommender. The result of the negotiation was that Su Xiao provided the technology, as well as letting relevant departments open the green light, and the President of the Golden Bank was responsible for funds and corresponding talents, etc. 【3615-3

Although this kind of cooperation was not bad, Su Xiao was not prepared to participate. With a potion that could nourish organs and increase vitality as the core product, this business would surely be a cash cow once it developed, but it required time. Su Xiao did not have that much time. The final result was that the president of the Golden Bank bought out the usage rights of this potion formula from Su Xiao for 65 million Gulang, along with a 30% share of subsequent profits.

After confirming the formula issue, this matter was quickly settled through Irene's agency. However, what Irene sent to Su Xiao was not 65 million Gulang, but 6500 pirate gold coins, plus a map of the Dark Sea worth over 200 pirate gold coins. This map was clearly a gesture of sincerity from the Golden Bank side.

After the whole matter was handled, the final result was that for the subsequent profits of this business, the Golden Bank would hold 80%, Su Xiao would hold 10%, and Irene would hold 10%.

Giving Irene 10% of the subsequent profits was a matter of course. Not to mention that Irene had been busy running around for this matter, previously dealing with Vice Dean Yesinger and handling the criminals in the underground prison, Irene had always maintained a clear stance, choosing to stand on the side of the new dean, Su Xiao.

Under such circumstances, if Su Xiao did not offer some visible benefits, it really would have been somewhat unjustifiable.

Su Xiao opened the large leather suitcase on his desk, which contained stacks of pirate gold coins sealed in oil paper. He snapped open a stack, and the dark gold pirate gold coins imprinted with skulls rolled into his hand. Throughout this entire matter, Su Xiao had only been studying the Eye of Mystery in his office, plus signing a transfer contract sent by Dre. This was the convenience brought by possessing sufficient knowledge.

Putting the pirate gold coins back into the large leather suitcase, the most basic funding problem was solved. Su Xiao began to consider the candidates. Amu definitely had to be brought along. If they really got lost in the Dark Sea, Su Xiao felt that even if Angry Shark lost his way and was confused, Amu could still find the direction. Amu was, after all, a ruthless cow who had swum out the "Swimming Mastery Lv. 20" ability through its own training.

Xiang Bubu Wang and Baja would naturally go along as well. The three members of the assassination squad could also be considered. Veronica's sniper cannon was more powerful than kinetic ship cannons, and Silver Face had superb perception abilities. As for Dre, in the assassination squad, they relied on Veronica when things were smooth, on Silver Face when things were tough, and in desperate situations, it had to be Dre.

Besides these candidates, although Irene was also a combat powerhouse, she had to stay behind to guard the asylum, lest problems arise here.

The three people from the Sun God Sect could be invited to go together; Platinum Bishop, Red-Eyed Woman, and Beast Knight were all combat powerhouses.

Finally, adding Angry Shark, and recruiting a few members of the Hunter Group after arriving at Skull Island, the success rate of heading to Nightmare Island would be higher.

"Boss, Platinum Bishop is here, waiting for you outside the main entrance."

Baja, who flew in from the window, spoke. Hearing that the other party hadn't come in, Su Xiao roughly guessed what it was about. He didn't expect their efficiency to be so high. It seemed it was very necessary to invite these three along this time.

After Su Xiao and Baja left the asylum together, they got into Platinum Bishop's car.

"Bai Ye, has the Council been giving you any trouble lately?"

Platinum Bishop spoke while driving. The car he was driving, apart from the horn not being very loud, was quite loud in every other aspect.

"Why would the Council give me trouble?"

Su Xiao sat in the bumpy passenger seat, holding the car door on the side with one hand. It wasn't that he was unstable himself, but he felt that this car door and the seat beneath him might fall out. As the dean of the Twilight Asylum, he couldn't afford to lose face like that.

"You dealt with Vice Dean Yesinger yesterday, no follow-up trouble?"

"Who said I dealt with Yesinger?"

"Hmm~, that's true, it was the Dark God Sect that assassinated him."

The two chatted for a while, and under Su Xiao's conversational skills, the car soon fell into silence. It wasn't until they were several dozen kilometers into the suburbs that the car stopped.

Su Xiao got out of the car carrying the car door, and finally, amidst Platinum Bishop's exclamation, threw the thing into a ditch. Without waiting for Platinum Bishop to speak, Su Xiao had already tossed a car key to him.

"The Alliance departments are indeed rich. But then again, where was this car parked? It wouldn't be in the downtown area of Kusi City, would it? That would be far."

"No,"

"That's good."

Platinum Bishop tossed the key in his hand, happily acquiring a new car, in a good mood.

"Parked in the Holy Capital."

"Damn, so far?"

"There's a teleportation array."

"That's fine then. I'll go over using the teleportation array later. Where is that teleportation? It won't charge a fee, will it?"

"Third floor of the asylum, free."

"I must borrow it."

Hearing Platinum Bishop's words, Su Xiao's forward pace paused. He turned his head to look at Platinum Bishop but said nothing. It was indeed the first time he had encountered someone who wanted to actively use the teleportation array he had set up.

When the two reached an abandoned manor, they could faintly hear roars coming from inside. Hearing this sound, Platinum Bishop coughed lightly in slight embarrassment.

"Bai Ye, that dragon egg is developing very fast, so fast that it makes one suspect that this creature was born for battle and war. However, there is a small problem now."

"Speak directly."

"Cough, for some reason, Red-Eyed Woman and that dragon don't see eye to eye. I reckon it might be because Red-Eyed Woman woke up and found herself in the dragon's stomach."

Hearing this, Baja, who had landed on Su Xiao's shoulder, laughed: "Red-Eyed Woman has such a good temper."

The group walked into the bloated, oversized castle. The first thing they saw were golden-white chains binding the Demon Flame Dragon. At this moment, the Demon Flame Dragon, unable to breathe fire, was glaring at the Red-Eyed Woman in front.

Red-Eyed Woman was sitting elegantly on a chair, the position of which was only half a meter away from being bitten by the Demon Flame Dragon. At this time, Red-Eyed Woman was reading a book, but a closer look would reveal that the book was upside down. Compared to reading, making the Demon Flame Dragon so angry that its dragon eyes glared was more interesting to Red-Eyed Woman.

"Release its bindings."

As Su Xiao spoke, he walked toward the Demon Flame Dragon. Without seeing any movement from Platinum Bishop behind him, with a 'pop', all the golden-white chains turned into liquid. These golden-white liquids quickly gathered and submerged into Platinum Bishop's ring.

As soon as the binding disappeared, the long-enraged Demon Flame Dragon bit toward Red-Eyed Woman. Just as the jagged sharp teeth were about to bite Red-Eyed Woman, the Demon Flame Dragon's movement stopped abruptly.

"Unrestricted souls are hard to control, but the growth potential is indeed better."

Su Xiao observed the Demon Flame Dragon for a moment and manipulated it to return to its original position. The reason this Demon Flame Dragon was so irritable was that it had been endowed with a masterless Lord-level soul, which was one of Zhila's core abilities.

Zerg leader-level units, such as Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos, Zerg scientists, etc., were all leader souls derived from Zhila's abilities. It was just that these leader souls were connected to Zhila's spirit and were Zhila's subordinate individuals.

As Zhila's subordinate leader-level units, if they were in the world where the Zerg nest headquarters was located, their abilities in all aspects would have huge bonuses. But once such leader-level units were summoned alone to other worlds, their abilities would immediately decrease.

Beast-type bosses were ranked as: Minion-level, Leader-level, Lord-level, Overlord-level, and World-Ending-level.

Take Barbatos for example. In the world where the Zerg headquarters was developed, Barbatos could single-handedly confront that world's Overlord-level units. But once summoned by Su Xiao to a world without a Zerg nest headquarters, and even less so Zhila, Barbatos, let alone Overlord-level creatures, couldn't even burn Lord-level bosses with its dragon flame; it was mostly used as a flying mount.

Precisely because of this, Su Xiao had Zhila exhaust long-accumulated resources to construct a masterless Lord-level soul, which was the soul the Demon Flame Dragon now had.

The disadvantage of this masterless soul was that the Demon Flame Dragon would not follow the instincts of a Zerg unit. The advantage was that no matter which world this unit went to, its power would not decrease, as it was, after all, an independently existing unit.

Su Xiao would, of course, not create a beast that could not be controlled. Therefore, on this Demon Flame Dragon's soul, there was a soul imprint he had branded, which was the most direct and effective means to control it.

The current Demon Flame Dragon could be used as a mount, but it was not very useful, so Su Xiao needed to upgrade it. To be precise, the current form of the Demon Flame Dragon was only the most basic template; its body was not worthy of its Lord-level soul.

Su Xiao took out a core. This item was named 【Drive Core · Storm Lord (Origin-level item)】, which was the gain he obtained from opening the 【Steel Box】 on the third floor. This appeared to be a mechanical drive core, but it was not. It was a biological core. The valuable part inside was not the mechanical structure of the outer shell, but the Storm Biological Core obtained after completely dismantling the outer shell.

Back then, the craftsmen of the Painting World repaired this thing fiercely, and then repaired the outer shell part of this thing to the extent that the overall rating of this item dropped from 3000 points to 2359 points.

After Su Xiao's observation earlier, he took out a core repair tool, a hammer, and smashed the mechanical shell part of this thing with two hammer blows. Since those craftsmen had already repaired it into this state, how else could it be repaired?

Su Xiao had always been very self-aware. He couldn't even understand the Eye of Mystery at the moment, let alone this drive core left over from the Second Era · Alchemy Era. Therefore, he directly used a hammer to smash it, seeing what materials could be smashed out, and then sold whatever materials he got.

After Su Xiao smashed the outer shell with two hammer blows, the complete Storm Biological Core inside fell out. After stabilizing itself, the rating reached 3000 points again. This couldn't help but make one feel shocked at the level of the craftsmen in the Painting World. How on earth did they repair the external mechanical shell to make this shell pull the rating down so much? A typical negative gain.

Blue light shone in Su Xiao's eyes. Under the paralysis of the soul imprint, the Demon Flame Dragon collapsed with a boom. Su Xiao stepped forward, crystal layers climbing onto his hands, forming a blade shape under his palm. With a hand blade, he sliced open the Demon Flame Dragon's chest.

Spirit Shadow Threads submerged into the Demon Flame Dragon's body, wrapping around the Origin-level Storm Biological Core, and submerged into the Demon Flame Dragon's heart, turning into energy and dissipating.

Su Xiao took out an arm-thick metal syringe and pressed a forearm-long potion tube into it from the side.

In a short while, Su Xiao finished injecting the three potions. The first was the power source of the Old God · Feather God, a power source with pure storm and feather characteristics without Old God characteristics. The second potion was the extremely enhanced Storm Dragon Blood. The side effect of this thing was severe overdraft of vitality, to a terrifying degree.

And the third potion was dragon life energy concentrated to the point where tiny crystals appeared.

Dark Feather, Storm Dragon, and vitality—these three characteristics were used to make this Demon Flame Dragon better integrate the Origin-level, full-rating Storm Biological Core, and combined with its powerful soul, complete a super transformation, leaping to become a Ninth-Tier Overlord-level unit.

If this transformation succeeded, the risk for Su Xiao to deal with Black Rose and the Sand King later would be reduced significantly.

Su Xiao walked toward the outside of the castle. Seeing this, Platinum Bishop and the others also came out together. In a short while, the entire manor was covered by a black crystalline substance, forming a giant crystal egg with a diameter of a hundred meters. A careful observation would reveal that this giant egg was actually composed of black-blue feathers, each nearly two meters long and very tough.

Walking all the way back to the downtown area of Kusi City, and then taking a bus train back to the neighborhood near the asylum, ten minutes later, Su Xiao and the others returned to the office.

Su Xiao pushed open the bedroom door. Platinum Bishop, Red-Eyed Woman, and Beast Knight all walked into it. Platinum Bishop, who was walking at the very front, observed the teleportation array on the ground, his eyes showing surprise: "Bai Ye, this teleportation array is very special. I have never seen a teleportation array with this kind of technique."

"……"

Su Xiao didn't speak, just signaled the three to stand on it, and they could start teleporting.

When all three stood on the teleportation array, before leaving, Su Xiao said: "I'm going to Nightmare Island recently, if you are interested..."

"No problem. Having received so many potions from you, going to Nightmare Island is just a small matter. But you have to get money to get a bone sailing ship. If the ship sinks in the Dark Sea, none of us will be able to come back."

"Hmm."

"You should prepare at least 300 pirate gold coins. Don't think it's too much. 300 million Gulang is indeed not a small amount, but a bone ship bought for 300 pirate gold coins is smaller than you imagine."

"I'm prepared."

As Su Xiao spoke, he activated the teleportation array.

"Wait a minute!!"

Platinum Bishop's eyes widened. Because the movement was too large, the mask on his face was crooked, showing that he had already realized the severity of the matter.

Boom.

After a muffled sound, Platinum Bishop and the others disappeared. Seeing this, Su Xiao nodded; the teleportation array technology was becoming more proficient.

Everything was ready, and they could set off tomorrow morning. Just at this moment, Su Xiao suddenly felt a palpitation he had never felt before, coming from the Zhan Checking Zhan Long Shan at his waist. It was the Blade Spirit completely digesting the source energy of the Undying Characteristic · Abyss Nourishing Creature, thereby completely eliminating it.

【Prompt: Zhan Checking Zhan Long Shan has completed this special promotion and will obtain the following basic improvements.】

【Zhan Checking Zhan Long Shan's durability permanently +50 points.】

【The quality cap that Zhan Checking Zhan Long Shan can reach is permanently increased by 10% (including the Supreme Sharp Blade bonus, a total increase of 60%).】

【Prompt: This bonus has absolute priority.】

【Prompt: This effect is not activated.】

【Blade Spirit's strength +17 points. After the Blade Spirit's strength is improved, the dormant time that appears after killing an enemy will be reduced in the initial stage. When the Blade Spirit reaches sufficient strength, the killing cap value will be increased.】

【Prompt: Because this time you swallowed the source energy of the Undying Characteristic · Abyss Nourishing Creature, you obtained non-characteristic source energy. You can use the remaining part of the non-characteristic source to endow Zhan Checking Zhan Long Shan with one of the following three permanent bonus effects.】

1. Sharpness permanently +120 points.

2. Origin-level reinforcement cap level permanently +1 (can reach Origin-level reinforcement +16).

3. Weapon attack power increased by 10% (increased by 52~66 points).