Sub-professions and a Changed Book Title (Seeking Votes, Collections, and Continued Reading!)

Whoosh!

Lawrence thrust his sword into the ground, but his attack came up empty.

"What?!"

Watching his opponent rise back up from the ground on the other side, Lawrence looked utterly astonished.

"What kind of ability is that?"

Most people probably wouldn't have answered that question, but Mr. Pique was a man of principle, so he openly revealed the secret of his ability.

"I'm the Swimming Freeman who ate the Water-Water Fruit. I can move freely through the ground or walls."

His confidence seemed to say, Even if I tell you, you still can't beat me.

By then, Lawrence was already starting to regret agreeing to team up with Black Bear Miles.

What was it with the Donquixote Family? How could even some random officer be this strong—and a Devil Fruit User, no less?!

Were they just unlucky, or were all the Donquixote Family's officers this powerful? Did they really have what it took to dominate the North Sea?

Lawrence refused to believe it. No matter what, he was going to take his opponent down today.

He was also prepared for the consequences.

The sea was vast. He couldn't believe the Donquixote Family could do anything to him.

Just then, Black Bear Miles had recovered enough to rejoin the fight, eyes bloodshot.

The crews on both sides clashed once more.

But with Mr. Pique joining in, the balance of victory had begun to tip toward the Donquixote Family.

A cannonball struck a tavern, and in the next moment, it was engulfed in flames.

Abel, hiding off to the side, muttered to himself about the waste. Then he started searching for his next target.

He soon found a tavern whose patrons had all fled, but whose main structure was still mostly intact.

Without hesitation, he rushed inside and began scanning and teleporting away the fine liquor neatly arranged on the shelves, along with barrel after barrel of booze.

In no time, he had "cleared out" all the liquor.

[Submit the order now?]

Abel selected No!

If he was only after the basic reward, this liquor was probably enough.

But if he wanted a four- or five-star review, then what he'd collected so far clearly wasn't enough, either in quality or quantity!

"There's still time. If I don't take a chance while I can, who knows when I'll get another opportunity?"

So, after failing to find a wine cellar, Abel headed straight for the next place.

This time, he was clearly luckier. The tavern was much larger than the last one, and its liquor stock was in a whole different league.

Best of all, he found an underground wine cellar!

It was practically packed with all kinds of liquor. At a glance, there had to be over a hundred barrels.

Abel was overjoyed and got to work.

He really had the Giant Bear Pirates and Hundred Swords Pirates to thank for making things so easy. If they hadn't picked a fight with the Donquixote Family's smuggling ship and caused such a huge commotion, he never would've stumbled upon this rare chance to shoplift everything for free.

After ransacking two taverns, Abel still didn't seem satisfied. He continued looking for another target.

But maybe he'd used up all his luck earlier. He checked a few more places, only to find people inside or all the liquor smashed. His progress suddenly ground to a halt.

What finally forced him to stop was the arrival of the country's army.

Large numbers of soldiers surrounded the entire harbor, weapons in hand. The people trying to use the chaos to shoplift or commit crimes were mostly arrested or shot.

Many shops and residents were protected as a result.

In the circumstances, Abel didn't dare risk taking action again.

If he got caught red-handed, there was no way he could explain himself.

So he simply chose to submit the order. He'd collected so many different kinds of liquor, over a hundred barrels in all. Surely this order wouldn't get another lousy two-star review.

[Beginner Wish Order completed. The customer gave it a four-star rating (pleasantly surprised)!]

[Review: There are so many kinds of liquor, and I especially like some of them~ Looks like I'll be drinking to my heart's content today!]

[The four-star rating has increased the basic Trading Points reward by fifty percent. The remaining rewards have been distributed automatically. Please check them yourself.]

[Because the customer was very satisfied, you received an additional reward—Skill: Magic Card Modification]

Success!

Not only had he gotten a four-star review, but he'd also scored a skill book!

If this weren't the time and place, Abel would've loved to let out a couple of hearty laughs.

Fake cheat system: Complete orders honestly and step by step, get one- or two-star reviews, and don't even receive the full basic reward.

Real cheat system: Steal, rob, and swindle! Do whatever it takes to complete the order, then rake in three-, four-, and five-star reviews and extra rewards until you're stuffed!

Abel had finally figured out how to use this system properly.

Then he eagerly checked the rewards he'd gotten from this order.

First were the Trading Points. The 150-point basic reward plus the fifty-percent bonus from the four-star review came to 225 points.

He'd almost earned back all the points he'd spent before in a single go!

He now had 1,040 Trading Points in total, putting him back over a thousand!

After a moment's thought, he bought out all seven of the remaining [Banana Grenades] in the System Shop, spending another 35 Trading Points.

At his current stage, [Banana Grenades] were quite useful. They had decent destructive power and were also highly disorienting.

He could keep them in his system inventory and pull them out whenever he needed to defend himself.

After all, he wasn't sure if the next time the shop refreshed, it would offer anything more useful than [Banana Grenades]. He had enough Trading Points for now, so he might as well buy them.

Next was the Magic Card: Fool's Restraint.

[Magic Card: Fool's Restraint]

Single-use consumable

Effect: When thrown, releases a large amount of smoke. Enemies who inhale the smoke will fall asleep.

P.S. Please wear a mask before use~

It was clear that this Magic Card's attack didn't distinguish between friend and foe. He might end up getting caught in it himself.

Still, Abel was quite satisfied. Used by surprise, this Magic Card could definitely come in handy.

What puzzled him more was the description of the [Magic Card Modification] skill.

Skill: [Magic Card Modification] (Special)

Level: LV1

Cost: Mental strength, a card of suitable size

Effect: Create one blank Magic Card.

And then

that was it!

Abel looked utterly confused, practically dumbfounded.

Was the first skill he'd finally gotten really just a crafting skill?

Like those side professions in games—making potions, forging weapons, and then selling them to other people?

So what did that make him?

A card maker in the pirate world?

Damn it, even the book title had changed!