Chapter 1040 Competition?
Chapter 1040 Competition?
The next few weeks passed in the blink of an eye, marking a prosperous period for the group traveling through the dangerous Sea of Stars between Light Cay and Amae.
As they had expected, they came across the corpses of creatures killed by Star Fury on the way ahead, ships with dead crews or even the remains of destroyed ships.
Even though they were heading in the opposite direction to the path they had taken, they were in the path of the Fury of the Stars.
The Fury of the Stars didn't necessarily happen in just one place. It could happen over a large area and have some points where it didn't affect, creating almost enclaves of safety. When Vicente's group left the region they were traveling through and which was under the effects of the Fury of the Stars, they didn't necessarily leave the phenomenon behind. They could have entered one of these enclaves, or the phenomenon could have ended, giving the impression that they had left the affected area, when in fact the phenomenon had weakened throughout all the area it had been affecting until then.
As a result, the group encountered scourges of this extreme phenomenon on their way, and were lucky enough to find no survivors or competitors in their first chance encounters.
This gave them virtually risk-free earnings in the first few weeks, with the group collecting the remains of valuable sea creatures, the remains of ships and various magical items from crews who weren't as lucky or successful as them.
The group hadn't been trying to travel slower or around that region to find more such remains. They were merely continuing on their way to Amae, but for now, they were still finding the remains of victims of that calamity.
Amid this, the crew were gaining valuable resources for their future when they landed in Amae.
At sea, most of the items they had collected so far would be of little use. As for the possibilities of improving their strength in the short term, the resources they had got weren't that incredible. They were good, but the entire group had improved their cultivation recently. For something like this to happen again, something out of the ordinary would have to present itself to them.
But these good days after the calamity were not foreign to the members of the group. Nan, in particular, told Vicente that despite the dangers, the Sea of Stars wasn't a chaos of danger 100% of the time. There were quieter areas and, after special phenomena like the ones they had endured for days, it was common for the journey to become quieter soon afterwards.
After all, not only were travelers on the seas weakened and more careful in their movements, but the people of the seas themselves were wary of moving outside their domains. At the same time, powerful phenomena could interfere with other phenomena, temporarily suppressing problems near groups like theirs.
And so, the group reached the beginning of the second month since they survived the Fury of the Stars and achieved their various cultivation breakthroughs.
...
The group was sailing through another day that looked like it would end quietly, when suddenly one of Nan's observers spotted something on the horizon ahead.
Their ship's signal sounded, alerting the entire crew that an opportunity or a problem lay ahead.
The experts at distinguishing whether it was a problem to dodge or an opportunity to exploit moved first, while Vicente left his cultivation room.
He met Larissa on the way to the ship's control room, leaving Rex behind in his hibernation that had lasted since the end of the Fury of the Stars.
"Looks like we've got the remains of a ship just ahead," said one man in the control room, as Vicente and Larissa joined the group there with Nan, her elf, and dwarf advisors.
Nan said to the people there, "Be prepared for competitors. Let's move to collect the resources from this wreckage." Her voice resounded throughout the ship, alerting her men.
As much as they hadn't faced competition or problems in their opportunities so far, the group was humble enough to know the risks. It wouldn't be now that they thought trouble would never catch up with them just because of the luck they'd had in the recent past.
Vicente moved to another area of the ship, from where he could easily get out of the sealed wing of this vehicle and take action if necessary.
His hands were itching for a confrontation, with his anxiety making him wish for some battle so he could test his newly promoted 8th stage powers.
Vicente didn't want problems with extreme phenomena like the one above. He wanted live, intelligent opponents, with whom he could stretch his muscles and test his strength against that of brave sea voyagers or underwater natives.
Their ship continued in the same direction as they spotted the remains of the wrecked ship, keeping their course unchanged for a few minutes until they could get a better look at what they would have to deal with.
Finally, close enough to check out the remains of the wrecked ship, the crew spotted small boats hidden near the wreckage, with several sea creatures hidden on the surface or in the small boats.
"Enemies!" Shouted one of the first observers to notice a dozen men in colorful skins and the heads of different types of creatures.
"Sea pirates!" Nan realized who these individuals were, apparently waiting for a group like her own—one problem she knew could befall them.
These were natives of the sea who deliberately acted against groups like theirs!
"Open the passage for me," Vicente said, mindful of what the people in the cockpit were talking about. "Let's see what they're capable of. We're already too close to ignore them and walk away. So let's fight!" n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
The ship's captain obeyed him without waiting for Nan's authorization, agreeing that there was only one possibility ahead.
Vicente felt a cabin similar to an elevator rise, until he appeared at the bow of the ship, outside the area protected by Nan's vehicle defenses.
As soon as Vicente moved, the fish men moved similarly, with a structure identical to a submarine appearing among the wreckage that he now didn't know if it was real or forged by this group of submarine pirates.
But he didn't hurry with his doubts. One way or another, he and his companions would soon find out what this situation was all about!