Chapter 29: Resting and Reorganizing – Part Two
The basic maintenance puppets boldly and decisively remolded the ships.
They drilled holes into the hulls, rounded them into circles, and inlayed a framework for them.
The interior installations and rooms were demolished, and replaced with long wooded oars.
The buzzing hacksaws tossed sawdust everywhere.
Rivets were nailed into the hulls.
Seating for the rowers was quickly installed.
Finally, the oars were even wiped with grease, waterproofing and rotproofing the wood.
The fisherfolk and pirates gradually grew dumbstruck.
Because the construction was going too fast!
The layman’s eye could tell how fast the flagship was retrofitted with oars and the other four ships were repaired. The hulls and sails were completely mended, and looked brand new.
“Heavens, those alchemy puppets could open their own ship repair business.”
“Where did they come from?”
“Don’t you know about the alchemy good, called the space bag?”
“I think these alchemy puppets came from the Lord Magician’s space bag.”
The people chittered speculations among themselves.
Afternoon.
“You, also you, come here.” Lan Zao and Tripleblade selected some people.
“Lords, what is your will?” The chosen people fearfully asked.
“Something good.” Zong Ge kicked open a wooden trunk, causing a large amount of alchemy weapons to spill out onto the beach.
Alchemy crossbows and firearms!
Everyone was in an uproar.
The pirates eyes glinted, “These are top-notch goods!”
The fisherfolk also sighed, “Heavens, how much are these worth?”
The chosen people each stepped forward to get a weapon.
They were mostly fisherfolk with a few pirates.
“In the previous battle, you killed a defecting pirate.”
“You proved a traitor.”
“You saved three overboard people.”
“In the prior battle, although you didn’t have any military successes, you listened to every command and did your best.”
As every person stepped forward, Lan Zao or Tripleblade declared their reason.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish’s strong investigation abilities covered sound waves, light, and life aura.
The recorded magic images provided detailed evidence.
“We don’t let off any traitors, similarly, we also don’t neglect any merits.” Said the dragonman youngster.
“These weapons will be temporarily granted to you, and will normally be in stored in the armory. They shall be given to you during training and battle, they shall help you all gain even greater merits.”
“When you achieve enough merits, these weapons will be rewarded to you, and become your own property!”
The dragonman youngster spoke calmly, but it ignited everyone present.
The crowd exploded.
Those not selected threw envious, jealous, and vexed looks.
Those selected seemed to be in a dream, they couldn’t believe such a good thing had just happened to them.
“You who were not selected, don’t worry.” The dragonman youngster continued, “In the future, this group will grow.”
A good number of the unselected became eager to prove themselves.
“Good, now lets begin training.” Said Zong Ge.
Everyone was dividend into two groups.
Most of the people were on the beach, continuing to integrate with each other.
A small number of gunners and crossbowmen mingled around Lan Zao as he imparted his shooting experience on them.
The people were very excited, even those not allocated a weapon, it was obvious their vigor was raised.
This was impartial reward and punishment, the result of transparent justice.
270380
The survivors had 270 alchemy firearms and 380 alchemy crossbows.
140
But survivors only distributed 140 of them, and organized a group of a hundred.
5604201010
This group needed to be broken up into smaller parts, 60 of them would be on the flagship, with the other ships having 20, 10 firearms and 10 crossbows.
600
The fisherfolk and pirates combined were around 600 strong, if their entire stock was distributed, everyone could have a weapon.
But the survivors didn’t do this.
There were three reasons.
First, during battle, the deck and shooting holes in the ship were finite, and limited the amount of long range firepower.
Second, managing a large amount of people with firearms had a large potential risk, if they rebelled, the survivors would find it hard to suppress them. Although they were intimidated now, they were in a tight spot with Rou Zang pursuing them, and the will of the people could change easily and kill with the weapon in their hands.
Third, these alchemy weapons were quality goods, some of them were even silver level. Such high level alchemy weapons could not be used by ordinary people.
Zong Ge, Tripleblade, and Lan Zao worked together to train the pirates and fisherfolk.
Everyone’s situation was different.
Some people had shooting experience, and mastered them quickly. Others without any had to start from the beginning, learn step by step, and needed more practice.
Zong Ge could only concentrate the elite on the flagship.
Besides shooting firearms and crossbows, Zong Ge also trained them in artillery shelling.
Da Zhao’s pirate group had many ordinary cannonballs, and for training’s sake, it was necessary to waste some of them.
In training performance, the pirates all greatly surpassed the fisherfolk. But there were some individual fisherfolk who stood out, after all to live in this world, everyone needed a military.
Zong Ge drilled everyone until nightfall.
Everyone returned to the ships, and received the command. They would set out that very night and leave this uninhabited island.
Because of Rou Zang’s looming pursuit, everyone paid attention to how hard they trained so that the pirates and fisherfolk had stamina to spare.
Sailor work was often exhausting.
No matter if it was pirates, navy, or merchants, the sailors would work in shifts.
Because ships needed to be controlled at all times.
The division of labor was explicit, and the one responsible for this was Lan Zao.
He had lived many years on the sea, not only has a sailor, but also as a former foreman, he was familiar with this work.
The first shift of sailors set the ships in motion, and under the shroud of night, sailed away.
The remaining sailors would return to the hold and rest as much as they could.
The ship holds had been remolded by the alchemy puppets, and all illogical structures were removed, making the sailors more comfortable than previously.
In the large hold, most of the sailors put their beaten bodies into their hammock and fell asleep.
At this time, alchemy puppets suddenly appeared and gave them ten jars of barbarian herbal medicine.
“What are these?”
“Can we eat them?”
“Its medicine!”
The alchemy puppets responded, they then instructed the sailors on how to apply the herbal medicine to wounds.
The sailors took the big pots and looked at the herbal medicine inside, it looked like dark green mud.
It not only did not smell of the sea, but it also had a foul stench.
Someone twirled the medicine in their fingers and noticed there were bits of pounded seaweed in it.
“This is not medicine.”
“Hehe, you wish, can we even use magic medicine?”
“This looks like a shaman salve, like those used by island tribes.”
The wounded, anxious and frightened, decided to use the herbal medicine, and immediately felt refreshed and invigorated as the pain of their wounds quickly dulled. Many of them groaned with relief.
Soon after, the grasp of sleepiness came, and they fell asleep in their hammocks.
Late into the night, the sea looked like ink, its blackness was incomparable.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish sailed through the depths of that darkness.
A metal door clicked open, and the young captain entered the alchemy cabin.
The first thing he saw was Zi Di drinking some medicine.
Her body was frozen, and was currently a ghost, therefore it was odd for her to be drinking medicine.
At that very moment, she was floating above a cup of liquid medicine.
The liquid medicine had many ice cubes in it, and emitted a black vapor.
The black vapor issued a strong negative energy aura, and as it floated up, it seeped into Zi Di’s ghostly body.
“Lord Captain.” Cang Xu said his greetings first.
Zi Di’s eyes were shut, and she didn’t react.
“Hello, Mr. Scholar.” The young captain glanced at Zi Di, then at the smiling Cang Xu.
Attracting this necromancer and giving him the secrets of the Bloodcore had an element of risk.
But the young captain and Zi Di realized after rationally analyzing it was that it wasn’t that risky at all.
Cang Xu had always been an asset. On Mystifying Monster Island, without Cang Xu, no one would have escaped the desert. Cang Xu had analyzed the artificial magic beasts, and provided many precious and useful knowledge. Without Cang Xu’s necromancy, Zi Di would be completely dead, and wouldn’t be here as a ghost.
In the Deep Sea Monster Fish, Cang Xu’s performance also spoke for itself.
First, when they battled the school of fish, without his necromancy, the survivors would have taken disastrous casualties.
Second, he had succeeded in building the Deceptive Disguise formation, this immense contribution played a crucial purpose!
It could be said that without Cang Xu, the survivors would have met a bleak end and wouldn’t be in their current state now.
Of course, Cang Xu did not work hard for others, but for himself.
By protecting the group, he protected himself.
Cang Xu was very calm, and understood the situation that he and the survivors were in.
Besides Cang Xu’s immense contributions, there was another reason that prompted the young man and girl to risk danger to recruit him.
The reason was Cang Xu’s identity, he was a necromancer.
If it were another, they’d be worried about betrayal, being sold out to the empire, or more.
But everyone cursed and attacked necromancers, how could he rely on the empire?
In other words, Cang Xu’s choices were far more limited compared to normal people.
This gigantic disadvantage instead became Cang Xu’ hidden advantage.
The young man’s heart had many feelings.
He recalled when they had met on Mystifying Monster Island, at that time, he was stunned by Cang Xu’s political finesse.
He once felt regret that Cang Xu was only a scholar, not a cultivator, otherwise he’d be the best candidate for a noble steward.
His solicitation of Cang Xu was rejected, causing him to feel regret.
In the volcano cave, when they were in desperate straits, he finally learned some of Cang Xu’s past, their first heart to heart conversation.
Then, they fought in the control tower. He didn’t expect that Cang Xu was actually a necromancer, and with his help in tandem with the others, they had defeated Jia Sha. Finally, he saved Zi Di and kept hope alive.
Now, after sharing the secrets of the Bloodcore, the enormous benefit moved Cang Xu, and caused Cang Xu to see the young man’s and girl’s sincerity.
Finally, at last, he became one of the young man’s closest partners!
“My Lord.” At that moment, Zi Di opened her eyes to see the young captain and quietly called out to him.
“How are you doing?” The young man stepped forward and asked with concern.
Zi Di slightly nodded, “With the tower spirit, we have an alchemy master. It refined this magic medicine, it suits me well. After drinking down this cup of medicine and absorbing its negative energy, my injuries will completely heal by tomorrow night.”
“However, we had to use all of the corresponding materials in our stock to refine this medicine.”
“Necromantic alchemy materials are rare on the market, and are difficult to publicly sell. It will be far harder to gather to materials I need compared to what Zong Ge does.”
“There will eventually be a way. To this, what do you suggest?” The young man looked at Cang Xu.
Cang Xu shook his head with a bitter smile, “On the whole, I have to gather all my necromantic materials myself.”
“Although the comparatively large black market sells some, I am worried it is the empire baiting me and never touched it.”
“I heard necromancers will trade with each other.”
“Unfortunately, I never met another one.”
Cang Xu was only an iron level magician, and had always done his utmost to conceal himself.
His caution allowed him to live until now.
The young man faintly frowned.
This problem needed to be solved.
The two people he could truly trust were both intwined with necromancy. Necromantic sorcery materials, alchemy materials, and other such things were required cultivation resources.
“Time is limited, we still need to test the Bloodcore first.” Zi Di reminded.
The reason being, the dragonman youngster had snuck away from the captain room very late at night and secretly returned to the Deep Sea Monster Fish.
The young man’s study of the mysteries of the Bloodcore had reached a bottleneck.
Now that there were two magicians, perhaps they could discover something new.