The Fourth Hero

Through years of repeated testing, Ma Qiao had confirmed that [Sharingan·Copy] let him copy skills without paying any price. It was basically getting them for free.

And as everyone knew, freeloading was a terrible thing, and its success rate was very, very low.

Although Ma Qiao went around copying things with his Sharingan whenever he had the chance, so far he had only successfully copied one move from the black super-strength woman Miss Monday: Mighty Vajra Fist.

Just from the name, Mighty Vajra Fist sounded much like Five Tigers Severing Gate Saber, Black Wind Through-Back Fist, and moves of that sort—the kind used by third-rate minor bosses.

Still, with Ma Qiao's tremendous arm strength and the [Brawler's Gloves] he had bought for four million Beli, Mighty Vajra Fist was quite practical.

At least, Ma Qiao had yet to meet anyone who could take one of his punches to the crown of their head.

[Brawler's Gloves]: +10% critical strike chance. An item from the game League of Legends, removed in patch 9.23.

Come to think of it, this shop really was stingy.

Four million Beli! And he had only gotten one glove, not even a matching pair.

As a result, Ma Qiao had been forced to get used to attacking with his right fist, the one wearing the [Brawler's Gloves], making his punches somewhat less nimble.

Fortunately, Mighty Vajra Fist had never been particularly nimble to begin with.

Compared to [Sharingan·Copy], which relied entirely on luck, the [Acquisition] skill was far more reliable.

As long as the other party agreed or their will to resist wasn't strong enough, its success rate could reach over eighty percent.

Considering that Ma Qiao could simply learn skills from the heroes he recruited, [Acquisition] was a very dependable skill.

But what was the price?

Top up, top up, and more fucking top-ups!

Without a family or a rich woman to support him, making money from scratch was really hard.

So far, Ma Qiao had spent forty-eight million Beli acquiring the summoner spells [Flash], [Ghost], [Ignite], [Teleport], [Exhaust], and [Barrier].

These summoner spells cost only eight million Beli each to acquire, making them the best value.

The drawbacks were that these skills couldn't be upgraded afterward, he could carry only two at a time, and their cooldowns were extremely long.

Whether it was Ma Qiao or the heroes, they could reset their summoner spells only by returning to base—the Big Bird Spin-Spin Tavern.

The same applied to resetting trinkets, namely the Warding Totem and the Sweeping Lens.

As for Farsight Alteration, Ma Qiao couldn't use it yet because of his level.

Still, with Ashe around, Ma Qiao's group had a capable means of reconnaissance in her E skill, [Hawkshot].

In addition, Ma Qiao had spent ten million Beli to acquire Garen's passive skill, [Perseverance] (level 1).

He had spent thirty million Beli to acquire Garen's W skill, [Courage] (level 1).

[Perseverance] restored a percentage of maximum health every five seconds, provided no damage had been taken and no enemy skill had hit him in the preceding eight seconds. Damage from minions and non-epic jungle monsters would not interrupt this recovery.

[Courage] permanently granted 0.2 armor and magic resistance for each unit killed, up to a maximum of 30. At maximum stacks, Garen gained 10% bonus armor and 10% bonus magic resistance. When activated, it provided a shield, 30% damage reduction, and 60% bonus tenacity.

Without a doubt, [Perseverance] and [Courage] were both godly skills for staying alive in actual combat.

With a limited budget, Ma Qiao, as the commander, preferred to prioritize giving himself more survival skills.

As for offensive skills, Ma Qiao couldn't bear to spend the money on them. He saved it to level up his heroes instead.

He made do with Mighty Vajra Fist himself, and it worked fairly well.

In fact, in terms of earning power, Ma Qiao was already close to the top among Pirate Hunters.

In the world of pirates, Pirate Hunters were clearly a disadvantaged group, without so much as a guild or a leading boss.

Those great pirates with bounties of tens or even hundreds of millions were practically like display items in a shop: they had price tags, but no one went after them.

The vast majority of Pirate Hunters would only seek out safe targets with bounties no higher than eight million—the sort on the same level as Higuma, the king of mountain bandits.

On these seas, there were far too many stories of people living long enough to earn money but not to spend it.

Over the years, Ma Qiao had actually made quite a bit on the side by skimming stolen money, keeping a private stash, and selling low-quality tobacco and liquor. It was enough for him to find a place in the countryside and live as a wealthy local for the rest of his life.

But Ma Qiao, who possessed Penguin's abilities, had turned most of his money into hero levels and equipment, leaving him perpetually caught in a cycle of financial hardship.

Short of cash, Ma Qiao could only gaze longingly at the high-end equipment hanging on the shop's back wall, such as the Trinity Force, the Black Cleaver, and the Infinity Edge.

But Ma Qiao hadn't come to the secret room today to drool over high-end equipment, nor to spend money on minor components.

The savings Ma Qiao had accumulated over the years, together with the pirate crew's treasure he had secretly stashed away today, had finally pushed his total wealth past the threshold to one hundred million Beli.

One hundred million Beli...

That was equivalent to a little over five million yuan.

Even in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen, it was enough to buy a small, shabby old apartment in the suburbs.

If Ma Qiao had possessed that much money in his previous life, he would certainly have been as delighted as Ferdinand riding in an open-top car.

But in the world of pirates, that amount wasn't enough to make him lose his composure.

Nami had spent a full eight years scraping together one hundred million Beli.

Only for Arlong to conspire with corrupt Marines and confiscate it all.

Usopp's childhood friend, Kaya, was a wealthy young lady with a vast fortune.

Yet Kuro of a Hundred Plans' scheme had destroyed her family in an instant.

In this era, wealth without powerful force to protect it was nothing but an illusion.

Rather than take his money into the coffin, he might as well turn it into strength and have it accompany him in another form!

Ma Qiao walked over to the "fountain" beside the shop, ready to recruit his fourth hero for sixty-three million Beli and use the rest of the money to improve his own strength.

By the time Ma Qiao had transmigrated, the classic game League of Legends had acquired 159 heroes.

Each of those 159 heroes had distinct characteristics and vastly different abilities.

Choosing which hero to recruit as a new member of his team was a question that gave Ma Qiao considerable trouble.

At first, Ma Qiao had naturally considered Aurelion Sol, the Star Forger, the most powerful hero in the lore.

According to the lore, Sol was a god capable of creating planets.

If Marjo summoned him, wouldn't he be able to do whatever he wanted in the mere world of pirates?

However, after calming down and thinking it over, Ma Qiao rejected the idea.

Judging by the performances of the three heroes he already had, Sol was highly unlikely to display the same supreme power he possessed in the lore.

According to the lore, Garen was a noble of the kingdom of Demacia, clad in heavy armor that resisted magic and wielding a broadsword, always ready to face any invading enemy head-on upon the battlefield with a righteous storm of steel.

But in reality, Garen had come with neither armor nor a broadsword. When Ma Qiao summoned him, all he wore was a set of beginner's cloth clothes.

In terms of ability, Garen did indeed come from the Crownguard family, as in the lore. He was also well versed in noble etiquette, charged ahead against powerful enemies, and possessed an iron will.

But the problem was that Garen's combat power was less like what it was in the lore and more like what it was in Summoner's Rift.

According to Ma Qiao's repeated calculations, the minions in the game were equivalent to the elite rank-and-file soldiers of Marine Headquarters during the Paramount War.

They might have been rank-and-file soldiers without rank, but they were still from Marine Headquarters. In an ordinary pirate crew, they would have counted as core members.

In the game, a level-one Garen with no equipment couldn't beat six minions. In reality, a level-one Garen with no equipment likewise couldn't beat six core members of a pirate crew.

Of course, Garen was now level three, and with starting equipment such as Doran's Shield and Doran's Blade, his combat power was already on an entirely different level.

In short, Ma Qiao realized that even if he summoned Sol, the dragon king, the fellow would most likely be just like he was in the game: fragile and lacking in damage early on.

Never mind being a god who could create planets—one blast of Kaido's fire breath would probably leave nothing of him behind.

Heroes could be revived, but the revival time was extremely long, and it cost money too.

So Sol, the dragon king, could basically be ruled out as well.