Spoils of War

In this battle, Yinsen had relied on the absolute advantage of his equipment. It had been nothing more than bullying the weak.

The other side had completely lacked the courage to fight him to the death, leaving Yinsen without even a chance to use his only defensive spell, Ice Shield.

Still, he had used this opportunity to thoroughly test his Combat Power.

"In the future, when facing ordinary bandits, not only will I avoid getting hurt, I'll also be able to counterkill them perfectly."

This was definitely not an illusion!

After retrieving the two short arrows, Yinsen put them away. These entirely metal arrows were not easy to replace, so he recovered them whenever possible.

He then searched the men's bodies and found a few miscellaneous items. Still, the most valuable things were these weapons.

"Maybe I can trade them for some low-grade magic stones?"

In fact, even the old clothes these people had worn could be traded for a few things. But Yinsen did not do that. Aside from not needing that bit of "money," he also felt some resistance deep down.

I may not be a good person, but since I've already killed them, what's the point of humiliating their corpses?

Because of this thought, the bandits kept their clothes, preserving their last shred of dignity. They were buried together.

"Oh, right. These guys have a boat parked by the shore. I wonder what kind of boat it is?"

There were six of them, and he did not know whether any crew had remained aboard. Even if no one had, a ship capable of carrying six people would surely be much larger than his own.

Whether they had found other islands before this or how much food and water remained aboard did not matter. The ship alone was already a considerable gain. Yinsen's voyage had not been in vain.

After busying himself for a while, the sky gradually darkened. He did not plan to return to his camp. Instead, he intended to check out the bandits' ship.

If crew members had stayed behind, he would take advantage of the night's cover to deal with them all. If not, he could take stock of his spoils while he was there.

Following the path Rodney's group had previously cleared, Yinsen quickly found where they had moored their ship.

It was a Two-Masted Sailboat about fifteen meters long. It looked somewhat like the caravel ships he had used in sailing games in his previous life, though it was slightly smaller.

It was much taller than his own boat and had two decks. Unlike his little boat's so-called double-deck structure, this ship's interior deck was spacious enough for a normally sized person to move around freely.

Moreover, the ship's mainsail used something similar to a Lateen Sail. Though this type of sail was less stable than standard square sails, it was exceptionally fast and maneuverable. It was especially suited for conditions like the Sea of Tranquility, allowing its speed and agility to shine.

Of course, it was also more troublesome to control. If he were alone, he would probably be run ragged trying to sail this ship out to sea.

"Should I sail it back and sell it?"

That seemed like a waste. It was rare to acquire a better ship without having to buy one. If he sold it now, he would have to purchase another ship later. That seemed rather stupid.

"Maybe I really should find some companions. Roaming the sea alone doesn't feel reliable no matter how I look at it."

By now, night had completely fallen, yet not a single light was lit aboard the ship.

"Looks like no one was left behind."

Yinsen felt his way all the way into the cabin without finding anyone. Still, he did not immediately light a lamp. Instead, he stayed alert and kept watch in a dark corner through the night.

Only when the sun rose over the horizon once more did he confirm that there were indeed no other enemies.

He searched the ship again and took stock of the remaining supplies. The situation was much better than Yinsen had expected.

There was plenty of food and fresh water aboard. It was clear that Rodney's group had just replenished their supplies before quickly discovering this island.

"Those bastards didn't deliberately follow me here, did they?"

It was not impossible. When he had set sail, Rodney had seen which direction he was heading. Finding someone on the vast sea was not easy, but with both a Floating Island and an Island Pointer, locating someone was far from impossible.

Once they had determined his course, they only needed to sail in one direction and head toward the first island marked by the pointer. Their chance of catching him would definitely be over seventy percent.

"I'm still too inexperienced. If I really want to shake off pursuers in the future, I'll need to make a few more detours. At the very least, I need to completely avoid the route that's easiest to track."

A setback taught him a lesson. Yinsen silently committed another lesson to memory, then got off the ship and searched the nearby shore again.

There were no signs of a camp. After coming ashore, Rodney's group had likely rushed straight toward the center of the island as quickly as possible. Perhaps, in their eyes, whether Yinsen was on the island or not, they needed to seize the island's most important treasure first.

Or perhaps they believed that if Yinsen was on the island, he would certainly be exploring its center at this moment. Either way, charging straight there was the most correct and time-saving choice.

After eliminating every hidden danger, Yinsen continued his earlier exploration. It took another two months before he had investigated the island almost completely.

He searched everywhere he could. His greatest discovery was a concealed mine shaft. Naturally, he could not determine what kind of ore lay inside, but ore was an extremely valuable resource. Any kind of ore could be exchanged for large quantities of supplies.

With the extra "large ship," he had the ability to transport a great deal of ore. Before long, raw ore filled the large ship's hold. To make room, Yinsen even moved all the fruit and drinking water onto land. When he left, he would only bring some fruit to maintain his vitamin intake, relying entirely on the Water Creation Spell for drinking water.

With so much weight suddenly added, the large ship's draft deepened considerably. Yinsen had to spend some effort moving it to a slightly deeper spot and securing it there.

Just as he was preparing to continue exploring, a sudden tremor nearly knocked him over.

"An earthquake?"

Earthquakes were a warning that a Floating Island was about to sink. According to Yinsen's guess, the foundation beneath this island, which had somehow risen above the sea, had begun to destabilize and could collapse at any time, causing the island to "sink."

"Looks like there isn't much time left."

This was an island without animals, so it would not remain above the sea for very long. At most, it would last several months; at least, only a few days. Having lived here for two months, Yinsen had already caught it during a relatively long existence.

"What a pity. I still haven't found any magic stones."

He had always remembered what the guild members told him, so magic stones had always been his first priority on this island.

When he first found the mine shaft, he had thought he had found the right place. Perhaps deeper in that mine, where ore was so plentiful it could be picked up at will, lay what he wanted.

Unexpectedly, the Ore Vein was even shallower than he had thought. It ended not long after he went inside. Though ore filled his vision, Yinsen was still unwilling to give up. He used the longsword Kashya had given him to play miner for a while. In the end, all he accomplished was tiring himself out like a dog and collecting more ore that he had no idea how to use.

The tremors became increasingly frequent. At first, they happened once every half day. Now they came roughly once every two hours, and both their duration and intensity kept increasing. Yinsen understood that he could no longer remain on the island and began preparing to evacuate.

As early as the first tremor, Yinsen had already packed everything that needed packing. To avoid having trouble getting the ship out of the small bay in a rush, he had even moved it to a different mooring spot in advance.

Another tremor struck. Yinsen felt that the intervals had shortened again, and the intensity had begun causing obvious damage to the island. The ground split open, hillsides turned into massive pits, and everything urged Yinsen to leave immediately.

That was exactly what he did, sprinting toward the place he had long selected. But just as he was about to leave, he suddenly saw a flash of white light in a large pit not far away.

"What's that?"

Yinsen initially thought it was an illusion, or perhaps some ore reflecting sunlight into his eyes. But the distinct fluctuations of magic power reminded him that it was no ordinary mineral.

"Magic stone!"

Yinsen hurried to the edge of the pit and immediately saw the white stone giving off a soft glow and rippling with magical energy.

"A white magic stone? I wonder what attribute it has."

After examining the structure of the pit, Yinsen made his judgment almost immediately, then leaped down.

In that instant, he unleashed speed and agility far beyond his limits. Amid the intermittent tremors, he snatched the magic stone as it was shaken into the air.

Then, moving with greater agility than a monkey, he climbed back to the surface along the route he had already chosen, before dashing toward the shore like a mad dog let loose.

He had already been close to the shore. He simply had not expected the magic stone to be right beside the coast where he had planned to depart. It had even been buried underground. If not for this series of coincidences, Yinsen would never have found it.

After returning to the ship, Yinsen immediately raised the anchor, unfurled the sails, and steered the Goddess of Dawn toward the large ship moored farther offshore.

Glancing at the island, which was still shaking without pause, he saw that although the tremors had grown stronger and it was no longer suitable for living there, it did not appear likely to sink anytime soon. Relieved, Yinsen looked at the white magic stone in his hand.

"What attribute does this thing have?"

Yinsen studied it for a while, then suddenly felt that the magic stone's fluctuations seemed somewhat familiar. He had not seen many magic stones, and almost all of them had been red Fire Magic Stones.

The only white one he had ever seen was the one the guild had used when filling out his registration information.