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Chapter 117: The Cold, Wretched Rock
Chapter 117: The Cold, Wretched Rock
Chapter 117: The Cold, Wretched Rock
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Splash!
From the dark sea, Digby emerged with a dead body in his arms.
He landed on the deck of the badly damaged ship and dropped Amella's lifeless body to the deck.
"Guild master!"
After seeing their guild master return victorious, they smiled and cheered.
Lucette and Valora looked at Amella's lifeless body with hateful gazes. It brought them little comfort knowing that she was finally dead, as they lost a way more valuable member to her.
"Digby." Zahn heartily laughed. "You killed a Royal Princess!"
"Lucky," Digby said. "Her emotions were not in the right place. Her focus was elsewhere. In other circumstances, I might be the one dead on the deck."
'That's what he says, but Digby's strength is extremely close to that of the Royal Prince.' Valora thought. 'Sadly, when he goes to do a promotion test, he never performs to his full potential because of his performance anxiety and fear of failure that hold him back.'
"What will we do now?" Zahn asked. "Our losses are..."
"I know..." Digby sighed. "We still have to go to the Gathering. We'll have a word with the council and find out her identity."
"With such strength, she cannot be some nobody." Lucette said. "She might be guild master of tier 1 guild."
"If she is, we might be facing war." Digby said. "Let's talk with the council first. She attacked us first, after all."
"Will they believe us?"
"Depends." Digby then turned to the helmsman of the group. "Can this ship last till we arrive at Kuro Island?"
"Barely, yes, if we don't encounter any sea creatures." The helmsman said. "We'll have to pay for repairs there."
"Alright, set a course for Kuro Island."
As everyone else began examining the damage to the ship, Digby returned to his quarters, took a seat behind his desk, and brought out a bottle of rum.
He took a long sip, then poured some into a glass cup, and then brought out two different flasks-the Flask of the Rising Moon and the Flask of the Setting Sun.
He poured both into the same glass cup, then mixed the three drinks together and took a deep breath before downing it all in one go.
The gaping hole in his waist seemed to close up, the flesh beginning to knit back together as the magical elixir worked its healing powers.
From the stump of his separated leg, buds of new skin started to grow, slowly but surely regenerating the missing limb.
"Damn it..." Digby cursed under his breath and pushed the desk away in frustration.
The desk collided with the door, and the loud bang echoed through the room.
"Hahahaha..." His low-sounding laughter echoed across the room.
During the past few years, he has felt immense helplessness. He could feel himself reaching his limit and knew that there were only a few years left before he reached it.
He wanted a successor. Crimson Hounds needed a successor.
Finally, his wishes came true in the best way possible.
His guild acquired an S-rank.
It was ridiculous how quickly everything changed.
He didn't think, even in his wildest dreams, that S-ranker would want to join his humble Tier 2 guild. Yet someone did.
"I didn't deserve it." Digby thought out loud and drank more of the rum. "I finally woke up from the dream, huh? My strength is feeble-if only I could reach the Royal Prince..."
The next promotion test was in a month's time. It was perhaps his last chance.
The Gathering was the last chance for him to grow in strength.
Digby opened his system and looked at how much he needed to level up. It was too much. He just finished killing the Royal Princess, which gave him some experience, but there was still a long way to go.
After all, the leveling up system changes once one reaches Royal Mercenary rank.
It wasn't a matter of experience points anymore.
It was a percentage system.
One had to reach 100 percent to level up to the next level. It didn't increase based on how many Chaosbeings one killed, but rather how strong one was.
It all mattered—weightlifting to increase strength, running to increase agility, becoming a better swordsman, etc.
Learning the Three Powers was the fastest way to gain experience percentage.
After Digby killed Amella, he did, in fact, acquire a few percentages for killing her. During the fight, he became stronger.
Digby had been stuck in Level 30 for five years already. The percentage moved at such a slow
pace.
He was currently stuck at 81%, a two percent increase after killing Amella-his biggest increase in percentage in a very long time.
That last twenty percent seemed impossible to reach.
It would probably take him another three to four years, but unfortunately, he didn't have that
much time.
"If only..." Digby shook his head and rumbled in drunken incoherence.
He then put the glass cup down and took something out of his inventory. It was the
Transformation Magick Scroll of the Great Shark!
'My Magick strength is not the best, but I would still be able to learn this. The creature might
not be as strong as Amella's, but it doesn't hurt to have another trump card in store...'
He opened the scroll, and a beam of light entered his head through the forehead.
He received instructions to learn the Transformation Magick skill.
...
Somewhere in the Blind Sea.
The wind howled like a banshee and made the falling rain feel like icy daggers as they pelted against Adam's skin.
He was sitting on the rock, shivering in his soaked clothes, while the endless sea surrounded
him.
Half of the rock was submerged, and he was barely sitting on the dry edge.
It was cold, freezing cold.
"S-shit..." Adam's voice trembled.
He couldn't just log off and return to the comfort of his warm home.
If he wasn't logged in and the ship happened to pass by, he would miss the chance to be
rescued.
During the Gathering, the Pirate Graveyard received the most ships during that time.
Without the Gathering, this treacherous part of the sea might stay empty for several months!
Thus, if Adam missed his chance to be rescued, he might not be able to leave this wretched
rock for a very long time!
However, he had a bad feeling that he might not be found.
The waves might've brought him somewhere further from the known shipping lanes that led
to Kuro Island.
At this point, he didn't care whether some pirate crews discovered him. It would still be better
than being stuck on this rock!
--
The cold and stormy night passed.
Near the fog-shrouded Kuro Island, a crimson-sailed ship sailed through the mist and
approached the harbor of the island.
It was clear to every onlooker that the ship was not in top condition. It had holes, barely patched by a weak sailcloth, and there was a smell of decay that seemed to emanate from the
vessel.
At the harbor, many eyes turned to the crimson-sailed ship. They knew it was the ship of famous Crimson Hounds-a guild that was rather unknown before with only some fame in
Dawnwatch.
Now, it was as famous as the top guilds in Imperium City-after all, it was a guild that had a
rare S-ranker, Adam Palestar!
On the dock of the harbor, an old man clutched his cane while watching as the damaged ship
slowly docked at the port.
The old man's eyes looked worn out.
"Something happened..."