Chapter 317: Chapter 275: The First Customer Visits (4000 Words)
In the captain’s quarters of the Golden Deer, Byron silently let go of Violet’s hands, and the Spiritual Radiance that had merged between them separated again.
In just a short moment, he had seen everything she had seen in the shipwreck graveyard of their shared dream from her perspective.
He not only recognized the First-Rate Ship, the Blue Dragon King, which he had once served on. He also heard his father’s hearty and affectionate voice once again.
"That’s great. Not completely digested by that octopus yet. Truly wonderful."
Excitement mingled with a sense of relief.
Death hadn’t dampened his father’s spirit. Instead, he continued his vendetta against his old enemies, the York Family and the Church, giving them a thorough beating.
And consumed quite a bit of their Spirituality.
The news Violet brought back was a mixed bag.
At least for the time being, instead of worrying about the domineering First-Class Battleship, it would be better to worry about the other people who had been swallowed.
The "Touch of the Kraken" didn’t seem to care who digested whom in the shipwreck graveyard.
But since the victor could gain Spirituality from other ghost ships, it wasn’t entirely impossible to nurture a "Gu King" eventually.
He had thought he would never again see his father, uncle, and other clansmen consumed by the "Touch of the Kraken" in this life.
Now that he had unexpectedly learned the whereabouts of the Blue Dragon King and their temporary safety, a weight on his heart lifted considerably.
Although the road ahead was incredibly tough, at least he now had a direction to strive towards.
Having witnessed the power of the "Touch of the Kraken" firsthand, he knew all too well. Extracting the Blue Dragon King from the deep layers of the Dream Realm wouldn’t be possible in a short time.
Even if he devised a plan, they would at least have to reach the Fortress Bridgehead marked on the nautical chart in the material world before they could attempt a rescue.
Without such a transition point between the Dream Realm and reality, they couldn’t bring anything from the material world into the Dream Realm, nor could they take anything out of it.
But as a long-term goal, planning had to start now.
At that moment, the recently activated [Secret: The Root of the Bloody Plague, Historical Impact 38] had its Decryption Rate jump from 21% to 45%.
The mastermind behind the Bloody Plague seemed to have a significant connection with their old nemesis, the "Touch of the Kraken."
Byron looked up at the girl who had just done him a great favor and thanked her sincerely,
"Thank you, Violet."
In his eyes, the girl was especially lovely today. No matter how he looked at her, she was endearing.
Violet smiled proudly, regaining some of the airs of a female pirate captain. She examined his handsome face from top to bottom, teasingly saying,
"The motto of our Bayfolk: revenge for enemies, repayment for favors. Byron, how do you plan on repaying this lady, eh?"
"Uh..."
Seeing the girl’s cute expression as she clearly expected repayment for the favor, two vastly different choices unconsciously surfaced in Byron’s mind:
Option one: If the hero isn’t attractive, I have nothing to offer in return but to serve as a horse or ox in the next life to repay this great favor.
Option two: If the hero is attractive, I have nothing to offer other than... to offer myself in marriage, to repay the hero’s great favor.
As for whether Violet was attractive?
That was, of course, utterly beyond doubt.
Seeing Byron gazing dumbly at her, the girl was greatly amused and chuckled,
"Just kidding! We’re practically family."
She patted his shoulder and then, somewhat excitedly, brandished her pale fist and continued,
"With this experience, I’m sure to gain even more on my next visit. I’ll start collecting all sorts of intelligence: what native countries are on the New Continent, their power systems, topography, population distribution... The New Continent is so close to the Meis Leviathan Whale’s whaling grounds. Perhaps they already have a preliminary use for whale oil; we could learn from their experience."
Violet spoke with great animation, and Byron didn’t immediately interrupt her enthusiastic thoughts.
What she said was indeed feasible.
In Byron’s former life, it was said there was a genius scientist named Nikola Tesla. He could wander through the collective subconscious of humanity and draw knowledge from it. He was considered the greatest electrical engineer of his time. So great that it was hard to believe all that knowledge came from just one person’s brain.
"And more, and more! Maybe in the future, I can help you pass messages to Uncle Edmund and the others, using the Dream Realm as a conduit to communicate."
When Violet mentioned this, Byron’s face grew serious, and he solemnly said to her,
"You must stop adventuring there. Since it’s the residence of an Old God, there might be a massive World Rift hidden deep within the Dream Realm. The Church has spent over a thousand years concealing all knowledge and history about those supra-entities. Just the little intelligence we do have is enough to illustrate its danger. At the transition of two Eras, most Zero-Level Sacred Relics were unexpectedly damaged and their Might greatly reduced. All supra-entities have become decayed corpses floating in the Sea of Origin Matter, outside the world. There must be tremendous secrets hidden within!"
He then raised his hand to show her the bite mark on his arm that had just stopped bleeding.
"Even though we seem quite strong now, we are still light-years away from directly confronting such a world-class secret. Especially those footsteps you heard at the end—they suggest other humans are involved. Sometimes, intelligent humans can be far more dangerous than brainless Secret Realms and Bizarre entities."