Upgrade Eyemask

The Locator Card vanished from Ling Chu's hand after use.

A faint, barely visible red thread drifted in the air, pointing a direction across the vast ocean.

A Locator Card costing 100 Sea Shells—something few players on the entire server could afford—used just like that.

Ling Chu lived by one principle: good things are meant to be used. Using them strengthens your strength, and that's better than dying and letting someone else benefit.

Captain Teach, at the helm, adjusted the ship's course, following the red thread as they sailed forward.

The Opium Fish Chunks were grilled to perfection. This fresh fish needed little processing to be delicious and tasty, and chunks the size of steaks were incredibly satisfying to gnaw on.

Ling Chu cracked open a can of Rye Beer and cut up some Mango to go with it, cutting the grease.

As far as her eyes could see, there was no sign of an island on the sea. Not knowing how long it would take to reach one, Ling Chu lay back on a folding chair and opened the Trading Post.

The two thousand-plus pieces of wood she'd listed had sold out, exchanged for over a hundred catties of fresh fruit and more than a hundred cans of fruits and vegetables. Her current food stores included nearly five hundred catties of fruit and two hundred and seventy cans.

She casually searched for Silk in the Trading Post. When the results popped up, she shot upright.

Someone was actually selling it. One Silk for 1 Sea Shell, and there were exactly five.

Ling Chu immediately bought all five Silks and saw the seller was A Silly Bird.

That guy was a real lucky bastard, even managing to get his hands on something like Silk.

With the Silk in hand, she upgraded the Monocle Eyepatch first.

[Captain Teach's Monocle Eyepatch]

[Quality: Legendary (Upgradable)]

[When worn, allows reading of player and creature attributes and skill information. An essential item for murder and plunder. It also looks pretty cool, appearance-wise! A pirate without an eyepatch is no proper pirate!]

[Upgradable. Upgrade requires five Glimmering Silk Threads.]

The Eyepatch's quality had risen from Unique to Legendary, allowing it to read more information.

Ling Chu tried using the Monocle Eyepatch on Teach, and a line of information appeared before her eyes.

Teach (Undead Skeleton, owned by player Ling Chu)

Constitution: 8

Strength: 6

Agility: 5

Intelligence: 3

Luck: Hidden

Charisma: Hidden

Help Me Up I Can Still Fight (Undead Skeleton passive skill): Immune to all physical damage. Can automatically reassemble nearby fallen bones.

Fear Fire and Light (Undead Skeleton passive skill): Fire, Light, and Purification-type spells and skills deal double damage.

Marksmanship Mastery (Personal skill): Skilled with firearms, a perfect shot.

Teach's stat panel was actually on par with an average player. His Constitution was even higher than hers, though his Intelligence and Agility were a bit lacking.

A Silly Bird sent a private message: "Boss, so it was you who bought my Silk. What's it for? I had it listed for a whole day with no buyers."

"It's useful. It's an upgrade material. You got any Glimmering Silk Threads?" Ling Chu asked.

"No, never even heard of it. But if I run into any next time, I'll keep an eye out for you."

"Alright."

A Silly Bird had high luck; he might come across some rare materials. She could just buy them from him then.

Ling Chu also took a look at the Public Chat Channel. People were selling all sorts of things.

"Jeweler crafting pearl necklaces. 20 Dim Pearls for a Dim Necklace, 20 Pure Pearls for a Pure Necklace. Fair prices, no cheating kids!"

"Crafting Fire Basins and Basic Water Purifiers. Trade for food or basic resources. PM if interested!"

"Buying seeds at high prices! Any kind of seeds!"

"Selling Sea Bream, Sea Bream, Octopus. Caught fresh this morning. Four catties of fish for one catty of fruits and vegetables. Don't come if you're short on weight."

"Repairing all kinds of equipment. Cheap prices. [Beginner Ship Repair Kit] for 500 basic resources each. Trade directly on the Trading Post."

Dim Pearls referred to Dim Pearls, and Pure Pearls were Flawless White Pearls. Eighteen Dim Pearls could make a pearl necklace that added +1 Charisma; the extra two were the crafting fee. Necklaces made with Pure Pearls added +3 Charisma.

Dim Pearls weren't hard to get; you could trade food for them on the Trading Post. Pure Pearls were expensive, and Ling Chu only had one, which she'd gotten from a White Butterfly Shell.

Charisma wasn't a very important stat, and Ling Chu couldn't be bothered to mess with it. She sent a simple message in the Public Chat Channel.

"Selling Alchemy Potion Recipe. PM if interested."

She couldn't craft that Paralysis Potion recipe herself, and holding onto it might just cause it to depreciate. Better to trade it for something she could use now.

Neither of the two professions on Ling Chu were money-making life professions. She had already traded away the excess iron ore and resources, and there was nothing else worth selling. When she obtained the title for a 30% discount at the shop, her first thought was whether she could buy and resell Bounty Orders, but she quickly discovered that items bought from the shop were untradeable, so she had no choice but to give up on that idea.

Soon, Ling Chu received several private messages.

One person's ID looked very familiar to her. She flipped back through the rankings and found it was the player ranked fourth on the Justice Points leaderboard.

Lingering Wind and Fading Moon: "Can I take a look at the specific recipe?"

Ling Chu pasted the recipe's attributes to her.

Lingering Wind and Fading Moon immediately replied: "I want it. What do you need in exchange?"

"Do Pirate Hunters also make deals with pirates?"

Ling Chu found it amusing. The other party hadn't hidden their profession—they were a Dual Profession of Alchemist and Pirate Hunter.

Lingering Wind and Fading Moon: "I killed a pirate who tried to attack me, which triggered the conditions for inheriting the Pirate Hunter profession. Pirate Hunters and pirates are only professionally hostile. You and I have no grievances between us, so why can't we trade?"

Ling Chu thought the same. She felt the system had deliberately created these two opposing professions—pirate and Pirate Hunter—to stir up conflict among players. But the essence of the conflict wasn't the profession, it was the person. Whoever was foolish enough to provoke her, whether pirate or Pirate Hunter, she'd kill them all the same.

Potion recipes were extremely rare. There were none for sale at the Trading Post, and there was no market price to reference. In other words, what could be exchanged depended entirely on both parties' acceptance.

Ling Chu asked: "What potions can you currently brew?"

Since she was an Alchemist, she must have other recipes of her own, right?

Lingering Wind and Fading Moon directly sent over three potion attributes.

[Primary Mana Potion: Restores 20 Mana Value per minute after drinking, lasting five minutes.]

[Basic Health Potion: Restores 20 Health Points per minute after drinking, lasting five minutes.]

[Basic Antidote Potion: Removes poisoning effects at the level of minor injuries after drinking, ineffective against severe toxins.]

Seeing that Antidote Potion, Ling Chu finally realized why this person's ID looked familiar.

On the first day of entering the game, someone had said in the public chat that they were bitten by a Sea Snake, and it was this person who had given away an Antidote Potion for free.

So she had already triggered her profession back then? She had said at the time that the potion was salvaged from a Wooden Box, which was most likely a lie—it was probably something she brewed herself.

Ling Chu felt as if she could see the words "naive sweetheart," "overflowing saintly heart," and "easy to fool" floating above her ID.

This kind of person was troublesome as a friend, but as a trading partner... they were very agreeable.

Ling Chu: "I want 20 bottles each of Mana Potion and Health Potion, and 10 bottles of Basic Antidote Potion. After you make the Paralysis Potion, you'll have to give me another 10 bottles. In the future, if I need more Paralysis Potions, you have to sell them to me first."

When Lingering Wind and Fading Moon heard Ling Chu's opening offer, she couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

What an outrageous demand—tens of bottles at a time. Did this person have any idea how troublesome it was to brew potions, how many materials were needed?

But the potion recipe was truly rare. Lingering Wind and Fading Moon gritted her teeth and said: "I can agree to the Antidote Potion and Paralysis Potion, but 20 bottles each of Mana Potion and Health Potion require too many Alchemy Materials. I don't have that many on me."