Extraordinary Paths

Arthur tossed the musket onto the first floor and went up to the second.

"Miss Arena."

"Come in."

Arthur entered the room to find Arena alone by the window, drinking wine.

Arena looked especially different today.

She wore a black corset adorned with snow-white pearls, a bell-shaped skirt with a circle of lace around its hem. Her long black hair flowed freely down to her waist.

The instant Arthur closed the door, he felt as though he had been targeted, like a bloodthirsty shark at sea stalking a drowning pirate.

"Miss Arena."

"Excellent fighting skills, an unknown dance... If you weren't a servant raised by the family, I would truly suspect your identity."

"Thanks to the family's training, Arthur has also encountered a few opportunities of his own."

"Opportunities?"

Arena shut the window, sat down on the sofa, and set aside her wine. Then she changed the subject.

"I'll handle matters with the family, so you needn't worry. Your current task is to build a powerful pirate group."

"The Great White Shark Pirate Group as it stands is far from enough. It is still too weak."

Arthur understood Arena's intentions.

She wanted to assemble a magnificent pirate fleet, like Count Drake, and roam the Mist Sea as a pirate.

It would serve as a card within the Stuart Family, granting her a greater voice.

"Miss Arena, compared with the others, if you build a pirate fleet..."

"Who would be faster? Who would hold the advantage?"

Arena snorted. Though she was unwilling to admit it, she clearly recognized the gap between herself and her brothers.

Even her eldest brother, Marquis Reilly, the Stuart Family's first heir, already possessed his own pirate fleet in the Mist Sea.

"What do you think?"

Arthur shrugged. "Miss Arena, your direction is somewhat misguided. You cannot compare with them in overall strength."

"But you can begin with individual strength. Once you reach a certain Sequence, no one in the Stuarts will be able to defy your will."

"This is far more efficient and simpler than developing a pirate group right now."

Arena shook her head, then nodded heavily. She felt that Arthur's words made perfect sense.

Under Mr. Mansus's guidance, her future achievements would certainly not be low.

"Then what do you mean?"

"Streamline your subordinates and turn them toward the extraordinary Sequences. The influence of one extraordinary individual surpasses that of many... pirates."

"Go on. What was your purpose in coming to see me?"

"If you want to ask about the Black Devil, I'm sorry. Those rats hide very well. They have always been the ones causing trouble for others."

Arthur let out a breath and asked, "I want knowledge related to the extraordinary, or extraordinary power."

Arena opened her eyes. Her brown gaze fixed upon Arthur as she drained her wine in a single swallow.

"What great ambition. You truly are different from the other servants."

"Of course."

"Extraordinary power..."

Resting her chin on her hand, she studied Arthur before suddenly asking, "Do you think you have any talent for reading?"

"Of course I do, Miss Arena."

A confident smile curled across Arthur's lips.

His past record was enough to prove that reading had never been a problem for him.

"If that is the case, then after some time, there will be an extraordinary potion from the Scholar Path.

Prepare enough gold coins, and you may have a chance to win it at auction. You may even have a chance to study at England University or Cambridge University."

England University and Cambridge University—if he had guessed correctly, they were the Tudor Dynasty's two oldest and most prestigious universities.

He liked reading, but he did not like going to school.

"Miss Arena, how many gold coins do you think I would need to buy the potion at auction?"

Arena held up two fingers. "At least ten thousand gold coins. Something that precious is worth far more than you imagine."

Arthur sucked in a sharp breath, his face revealing his surprise.

In his memories, even the finest Galleon sailing ships, warships that sailed the Mist Sea, cost around eight thousand gold coins each to build.

The value of a single potion rivaled a killing machine of the sea. The premium was truly exorbitant.

"Don't think it is expensive. If you possess the formula, you can gather the materials and make it yourself, perhaps for only a few hundred gold coins."

"But prepared potions are worth that much. The gold needed for further advancement is an astronomical sum."

He took the opportunity to ask Arena questions about the extraordinary Paths.

Arena did not say much, merely giving him a simple introduction to the extraordinary systems of the Orthodox Churches.

"The extraordinary Sequence of the Light Path is the Knight Sequence. The extraordinary Sequence of the Darkness Path is Swordsman. The Frost Path is also known as the Warrior Path. The Storm Path is Sailor. The Earth Path is Planter..."

"The Scholar Path has little connection to the Orthodox Churches, though many famous scholars have good relations with them."

"Anything else?"

"It is getting late. I shall take my leave first."

Arthur digested Arena's words, gaining a deeper understanding of the extraordinary Paths.

If what Arena said was true, then the Shadow Path apparently had its own extraordinary beings as well.

The Black Devil's Path Sequence also seemed quite different. The battle on deck had not been as simple as it appeared.

Watching Arthur's departing figure, the curiosity in Arena's eyes could no longer be concealed. It nearly overflowed.

"How strange!"

"His physique is inferior to that of an extraordinary being, yet the strength and techniques he displayed were absolutely within the extraordinary realm."

"I have never heard of such a Path, one connected to bodily structure. Could this be the effect of an extraordinary item?"

"He killed Dorian, who was controlled by Moon Bone. The rhythm, the dance steps, the fluidity... It was a dance I had never heard of."

Arena drank another glass of wine, her gaze turning toward the Silver Moon beyond the window. She murmured, "Interesting."

After leaving, Arthur immediately returned to the captain's cabin and waited for Kaia to bring back the gold coins.

During this time, rumors spread across Blue Bay Island.

Captain Arthur of the Great White Shark Pirate Group had successfully defeated a Black Devil cultist and defended the honor of pirates!

It was said that he had even killed an extraordinary being.

As the news spread, the governor of Rhine Island could no longer remain seated. He sent people to verify its authenticity.

He wanted to assess the Great White Shark Pirate Group's strength. If it was truly as terrifying as the rumors claimed, he would grant Arthur a Letter of Marque.

It would permit Arthur's pirate group to plunder passing merchant ships, on the condition that they paid twenty percent in taxes.

Deacon Wallace also rushed over by small boat from a distant island. Since it involved the Black Devil Order, which was hostile to the Church of Light, he had to learn all the details.

At that moment, Arthur took a deep breath, lay down in the captain's cabin, and drifted into a drowsy sleep.

His consciousness walked through a dream. Pushing open an invisible door, he arrived at the Secret Sect Long Table.

[Research] [Rite]

[Dream Entry] [Exploration]

"The statuses gained through Dream Entry currently include only one [Entranced] and one [Dread]. I have no suitable techniques to study the Great Work."

An interesting thought suddenly arose in Arthur's mind!

Could he fill the other empty slot in Research with tangible objects such as muskets, blades, and swords? Would that produce some wondrous extraordinary reaction?