Spoils of War

This battle was pure bullying for Ethan, thanks to his absolute equipment advantage.

The opponents completely lacked the courage to fight him to the death, which meant Ethan didn't even get a chance to use his only defensive magic, Ice Shield.

However, he did take this opportunity to get a good test of his combat power.

"From now on, when facing ordinary bandits, I won't get hurt and can perfectly counter-kill."

This was definitely not an illusion!

He retrieved the two Short Arrows. These pure metal Short Arrows were hard to replenish, so Ethan would always retrieve them if possible.

While he was at it, he searched the bodies of the several people, finding a few scattered items, but the most valuable things were still their weapons.

"Maybe I can exchange them for some low-level Magic Stones?"

In reality, even the old clothes these people wore could be exchanged for something, but Ethan didn't do that. Besides not being short on that little bit of 'money,' he also felt a slight resistance deep down.

They weren't good people, but since I've already killed them, what's the point of humiliating a corpse?

Because of this thought, the bandits kept their clothes, retaining their last bit of dignity, and were buried together.

"Oh right, these guys had a boat parked by the sea. I wonder what kind of boat it is?"

There were six of them here, and it was unclear if there were any crew members left on the boat. Even if not, a boat that could carry six people must be quite a bit bigger than his own.

Regardless of whether they had found other islands before, and without considering how much food and water were on their boat, just this one boat alone was a considerable gain. Ethan's trip out to sea wasn't in vain.

After being busy for a while, dusk gradually fell. He didn't plan to go back to his own camp but was going to check out the bandits' boat.

If there were crew members left behind, he would take care of them all under the cover of night. If not, he would take the opportunity to inventory his Spoils of War.

Following the small path Rodney and his group had cleared earlier, Ethan quickly found where they had moored their boat.

It was a Two-Masted Sailboat about fifteen meters long, looking a bit like the Caravel he used in the Age of Exploration games in his previous life, just slightly smaller.

It was much taller than his own boat. This boat had two decks, and unlike the so-called double deck of his small boat, the internal deck of this boat was very spacious, enough for a person of normal height to move around freely.

In addition, the main sail of this boat used a sail similar to a Lateen Sail. Although this type of sail was less stable than standard square sails, it was excellent in speed and flexibility, especially suitable for the sea conditions of the Sea of Tranquility, maximizing the advantages of speed and flexibility.

Of course, it was also more troublesome to control. If he were alone, sailing this boat out to sea would probably be a frustrating experience.

"Sail it back and sell it?"

That seemed a bit wasteful. It was rare to get a better boat without having to buy one himself. If he sold it directly, he would have to buy a new boat later, which seemed a bit foolish.

"Maybe I really need to find some companions. Venturing out to sea alone just feels unreliable."

By this time, it was completely dark, and there wasn't a single light lit on the boat.

"Looks like there's no one left on the boat."

Even after sneaking into the cabin, Ethan didn't find anyone. However, he didn't light a lamp directly but stayed alert and guarded in a dark corner all night.

It wasn't until the sun rose above the horizon again that he was certain there were no other enemies.

He searched the boat again and also inventoried the remaining supplies on board. The situation was much better than Ethan had expected.

There was plenty of food and fresh water on this boat. It seemed that Rodney's group had just restocked their supplies and then quickly discovered this island.

"Could these bastards have followed me specifically?"

This wasn't impossible. When he sailed out, Rodney had seen which direction he was heading. Although finding someone in the vast sea wasn't easy, with the Floating Island and the Island Pointer, it wasn't impossible to find someone if they really wanted to.

After determining the course, they just had to sail in one direction and then head towards the first island locked onto by the Pointer. The probability of catching him was definitely over seventy percent.

"Still too little experience. If I really want to shake off pursuit in the future, I need to take more detours, at least completely avoiding the most easily targeted route."

Learning from his mistakes, Ethan silently noted another lesson, then got off the boat and searched the area near the shore again.

There were no signs of a camp. Rodney's group must have headed directly towards the center of the island at the fastest speed after landing. Perhaps in their eyes, whether he was on this island or not, they needed to first grab the most important thing on the island.

Or perhaps, they thought that if he was on the island, he would definitely be exploring the center of the island at this time, so no matter what, rushing straight there was the most correct and time-saving choice.

After eliminating all hidden dangers, Ethan continued his previous exploration, which took another two months, finally exploring most of the island.

He searched everywhere he could. The biggest gain was finding a hidden Mine Cave. He couldn't determine what kind of Ore was inside, of course, but Ore was a very valuable resource. Any kind of Ore could be exchanged for a large amount of supplies.

Because he had an extra 'big boat,' he also had the possibility of transporting a large amount of Ore. So these raw Ores quickly filled the large boat's warehouse. For this, Ethan even moved all the Fruit and drinking water onto land, only planning to take some Fruit with him when he left to maintain vitamins, relying entirely on the Water Creation Spell for drinking water.

With the sudden addition of a lot of heavy items, the draft of the large boat deepened significantly. Ethan also took some effort to move the boat to a slightly deeper area and moor it properly.

Just as he was about to continue exploring, a sudden tremor almost made him fall.

"Earthquake?"

Earthquakes were a warning that the Floating Island was about to sink. According to Ethan's speculation, the foundation beneath this island, which had inexplicably surfaced, had become unstable and could collapse at any time, causing the island to 'sink'.

"Looks like there's not much time left."

This was an island without animals, so it wouldn't stay on the sea for long, perhaps a few months at most, or just a few days at least. He had been living on the island for two months now, which was already a relatively long time for it to exist.

"It's a shame I haven't found any Magic Stones."

He had always kept in mind what the guild members told him, so his primary goal on this island was always Magic Stones.

When he first found the Mine Cave, he thought he had found the right place, that perhaps deep within this cave, where Ore was so abundant it could be picked up freely, was what he was looking for.

Unexpectedly, this Ore Vein was shallower than he thought. He hadn't gone far before there was no path left. Although his eyes were filled with Ore, Ethan was still unwilling to give up. He used the Long Sword Kashya gave him to moonlight as a miner. The result was that besides tiring himself out like a dog, he only collected some Ore that he had no idea what it was used for.

The tremors were becoming more frequent, from once every half a day initially, to now roughly every two hours. The duration and intensity of the tremors were also increasing. Ethan knew he couldn't stay on the island any longer and began preparing to leave.

As early as the first tremor, Ethan had already packed everything he needed. To avoid any trouble getting the ship out of the small cove in a hurry, he had even moved his ship to a different mooring spot beforehand.

Another tremor struck. Ethan felt the frequency had increased again, and the intensity of the tremors was starting to cause noticeable damage to the island: the ground cracked, hillsides turned into large pits, and everything was reminding Ethan to leave quickly.

And that's exactly what he did, sprinting rapidly towards the location he had already chosen. 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?"

Ethan initially thought it was an illusion, or something like ore that had glinted in the sunlight, dazzling his eyes. But the clear magic power fluctuation reminded him that it wasn't ordinary ore.

"A Magic Stone!"

Ethan quickly ran to the edge of the large pit and immediately saw the white stone emitting a soft glow and pulsating with magic power.

"A white Magic Stone? I wonder what attribute it is."

After observing the structure of the large pit, Ethan made a judgment in the shortest possible time and then leaped down.

In that instant, he burst out with speed and agility far exceeding his limits, snatching the Magic Stone that had been shaken into the air during a momentary pause in the tremors.

Then, with movements more agile than a monkey, he climbed back to the surface along the route he had already chosen, and then sprinted towards the sea like a mad dog let loose.

He wasn't far from the sea to begin with, but he hadn't expected the Magic Stone to be right on the coast at his planned departure point, and buried in the ground. If not for a series of coincidences, Ethan wouldn't have been able to find this Magic Stone at all.

After returning to the ship, Ethan immediately raised the anchor and hoisted the sails, steering his Goddess of Dawn towards the larger ship that was already moored further away.

He glanced back at the still-trembling island. Although the tremors had become more intense and it was no longer suitable to live on the island, it didn't look like it would sink anytime soon. Ethan put aside his worries and examined the white Magic Stone in his hand.

"What attribute is this thing?"

Ethan looked at it for a while, and suddenly felt that the stone's fluctuation seemed a bit familiar? He hadn't seen many Magic Stones, mostly red Fire Magic Stones.

The only white one he had seen was the one the guild had used when helping him fill out his information back then.