Spend Money However You Want

In the Sewers somewhere beneath Tortuga Port, a one-eyed Black boss looked at Liu Zhi helplessly.

"We agreed this would be the last batch."

"Don't worry, I keep my word. If I said this is the last batch, then it's the last batch. But you have to guarantee the quality. Don't drag out a bunch of old Fishmen who are practically dead like last time." Liu Zhi waved a hand as he spoke.

By now, Liu Zhi looked completely different from when he had first arrived at Tortuga Port. Some muscle had appeared on his body, and it was clear that his strength had improved greatly during this time.

All of it was thanks to money and connections.

After arriving at Tortuga Port, Liu Zhi had met the underground slave trader of Tortuga Port, Black One-Eye, through Dobby's connections.

Over the next ten days, Liu Zhi bought at least a hundred strong Fishmen from Black One-Eye every day as sparring material. He had nearly killed off all the Fishmen captured in Tortuga Port.

This batch was the last batch of Fishmen Black One-Eye could produce. If Liu Zhi kept killing them, the underground beast-fighting arena in Tortuga Port would have no Fishman fighters left for its opening exhibition matches.

As usual, Liu Zhi drew his sailor's cutlass and stood before Black One-Eye. At that moment, he carried a different sort of presence, as though he were standing on a violently pitching deck, his body rising and falling with it.

Black One-Eye's men pushed out a group of ten ordinary Fishmen from a nearby waterway. They had long since grown accustomed to Liu Zhi's situation. One man holding a harpoon even called out loudly.

"Same as usual?"

"Of course. The liquor for you has already been left outside. Same as usual—I bought an entire barrel, so I'll be relying on you again."

"Don't worry. Nothing will go wrong with us here." Before the harpoon-wielder could speak, the others all shouted their assurances.

Under their direction, the ten Fishmen were separated out, given ordinary wooden clubs, and driven toward Liu Zhi.

The ten Fishmen knew their fate as well. Raising their clubs, they charged at Liu Zhi.

Liu Zhi was completely different from when he had fought Fishmen aboard the ship over ten days ago. His steps rose and fell like seawater, easily evading the Fishmen's attacks.

At the same time, his blade no longer targeted only the Fishmen's Tentacles. More often, he struck at their scales, searching for weak points hidden beneath the scales and slime.

That made killing the Fishmen much harder. Even though he had fought Fishmen every day for the past several days, it still took him some time to finish off all ten.

As Black One-Eye's men dragged the Fishman corpses aside, Liu Zhi calmed his breathing while watching the data that had just flashed through his vision.

"It dropped again."

Looking at the kill experience gains of +11 and +12, Liu Zhi could not help sighing.

Killing Fishmen gave less and less experience now. Liu Zhi dearly missed his first day here, when every ordinary Fishman had given fifty experience points. Unlike now, when the experience from each Fishman was nearly dropping below double digits.

At that moment, Black One-Eye walked over. "What's wrong, my friend? Why do you look so unhappy today? I think you're already quite impressive. At your level, you'll be able to easily take down Tide Hunters and Tide Warriors in the future."

"It's nothing." Liu Zhi composed himself. "I just feel like I haven't improved these past few days as much as I did before."

"Hahaha, you're overthinking it. I think your swordsmanship has reached a bottleneck. From here on, it's not something you can improve through effort alone."

With a flick of his right hand, Liu Zhi spun the cutlass in his hand in a flourish before sheathing it.

"Yeah, I've reached a bottleneck. Killing Fishmen won't be enough to break through now. I can only place everything on daily practice."

As he spoke, Liu Zhi looked at his Attributes panel. Sailor's Basic Swordsmanship had undergone another slight change.

[Sailor's Basic Swordsmanship Level 4 (21+0/9000): Proficient in basic swordsmanship for combat at sea. Has already stepped from the ranks of ordinary people into the supernatural realm, and can be considered a master of this type of swordsmanship. Strength +0.4, Agility +0.4]

[Supernatural Ability: Battle on Waves. By maintaining balance, can engage in fierce combat atop the water's surface. Duration is related to Agility.]

After glancing at the 9,000 experience required for the next upgrade, Liu Zhi took a deep breath, drew his cutlass again, and prepared for battle.

At that moment, Black One-Eye's men drove out another batch of ten Fishmen and handed them the still-bloody wooden clubs.

Then, a Fishman who did not look particularly young suddenly began gurgling loudly.

Black One-Eye's men could not understand him, but Liu Zhi did.

"I will fight you. I am a Tide Pilgrim. I wager with you: if you lose, you must let us go."

Liu Zhi tilted his head and glanced at the Fishman, then turned to ask Black One-Eye, "What kind of profession is a Tide Pilgrim?"

"Oh, it's what Fishmen call heroes. They say that once a Fishman becomes a Tide Warrior or Tide Hero, he can set out alone to challenge other clans. As long as he challenges ten clans and returns undefeated, he automatically becomes a Tide Pilgrim of the nearby waters. How did you know that? Very few people know this legend."

"That Fishman challenged me. He said he's a Tide Pilgrim." Liu Zhi pointed at the loudly shouting Fishman.

"You can understand Fishman speech? Damn it, they've always just gurgled and bubbled. But where did you learn it? Don't tell me you learned it by dissecting them every day after beating them—oh, right, dissecting. By dissecting Fishmen, you can learn their language."

"Of course not. But I have some talent for languages, and Fishman speech is fairly simple. He keeps repeating things, so I picked up some of it."

Black One-Eye gave an "oh." "Then what now? Are you going to have a match with him?"

"Not a chance. He's a strange fellow. He only said what he would get if I lost, but didn't say what would happen if he lost. I'm not making that bet with him."

As he spoke, Liu Zhi gestured for Black One-Eye's men to drive out the ten Fishmen.

The shouting Fishman still had not realized what was happening. He only assumed Liu Zhi did not dare accept his challenge. He lunged forward, snatched a harpoon from one of Black One-Eye's men, and charged at Liu Zhi.

Black One-Eye froze. Before he could call for his men to stop the Fishman, Liu Zhi had already raised his blade to meet him, the flash of steel slashing toward the Fishman's face.