Setting Sail Again

Yang Mu awoke from meditation. His mental power had been adjusted to its optimal state.

Picking up his staff, Yang Mu left his quarters. Jack would handle the cargo. With last night's display of force, selling off a batch of valuable goods would be easy enough.

Following the direction indicated by his mental power, Yang Mu arrived at the mouth of a street. Apart from a small number of people, most pirates ignored the street as though it did not exist at all.

Yang Mu stepped directly inside. His mental power seemed to pass through a thin membrane, and a cloud of mist appeared over his head, thick enough to conceal his face without obstructing his vision.

The mist was fragile and could be dispersed with the slightest touch of mental power. Clearly, it had been prepared for customers wishing to conceal their identities.

With a flicker of mental power, Yang Mu dispersed it. It was not that he did not want to hide himself; it was simply useless. His attire itself was a mark of identity.

As he walked along, every pirate who spotted him from afar hurriedly moved aside. After last night, his vicious reputation was no less fearsome than that of the Seven Sea Kings who ruled the seven seas.

Yang Mu felt nothing toward those reverent gazes. He had long since grown accustomed to them.

Once he entered the street, it was like stepping into a bustling marketplace. Stalls filled the area, their wares dazzling and varied.

Crystal sap, Moon Orchid, sea monster eggs, Merfolk hearts, sea demon throat bones, Ghost Dust, Bone-Rot Grass...

Many of them were materials Yang Mu needed. Since he lacked almost everything at the moment, anything available on the market was useful to him. The variety here was far richer than at the Seaside Cottage.

Without hesitation, he began a massive shopping spree. Yet the first item he bought was a magic item called the Vanishing Paper Box.

On the surface, it looked like an ordinary cardboard box, fifty centimeters in length, width, and height, without any markings. Yet it was a spatial item.

It could store items a thousand times its own volume. Its only flaw was that one item within it would randomly disappear every day, hence its name, the Vanishing Paper Box.

Yang Mu examined it and found that the problem was merely the result of crude craftsmanship. It would do for now. Once he advanced to an Official Mage, he could extract the spatial materials within it and refine a spatial item of his own.

With a spatial item for storage, his shopping became much easier. He used mental power to keep the Vanishing Paper Box floating beside him, tossing anything he fancied into it.

In just half a day, he had spent nearly two million Gold Shields, burning through more than half his savings. Naturally, his gains were equally abundant.

Under the greedy yet fearful gazes of the other pirates, Yang Mu strode away.

He did not return to the lodgings Jack had found. Instead, he went straight back to the Undead, plunged into the middle deck, and never emerged again, like an addict overcome by his cravings.

Three days later, Yang Mu dripped the sap of the Heart-Eating Vine into the potion before him. He used mental power to control a glass stirring rod, mixing the potion while watching its changes.

Only when its color settled into a brilliant purple, speckled with starlight within, did he nod in satisfaction.

He poured it into potion bottles he had prepared beforehand and lined them up on a shelf. Three purple potions stood there, like a violet night sky.

All three were perfect-grade Mental Power Ascension Potions. Though beautiful in appearance, they were poisons that burned the soul and life. Their side effect was the ascension of mental power.

This potion had been accidentally created by a Mage during an expedition. With it, he obtained vast resources and became a Third-Level Wizard. Unfortunately, the Mage's path in that era was incomplete, and that Mage's aptitude had not been particularly impressive either.

Therefore, despite gaining immense resources, he still failed to advance to the Fourth Order.

Three bottles were the limit for a Mage Apprentice. Each bottle would burn away twenty years of life, and drinking all three would burn the drinker to death.

But Yang Mu did not need that much. One bottle as a catalyst would be enough. He could even complete his mental power transformation without burning his lifespan.

Over those three days, Jack had also found a buyer for the cargo. He sold it off easily and brought Yang Mu a large amount of Gold Shields.

Yang Mu did not delay. He set sail once more, though this voyage was not for plunder, but for safety.

Only by drifting across the boundless sea would he be less likely to be found.

The materials for the Mental Pressure Array had been gathered, and the Mental Power Ascension Potions had been prepared. Yang Mu needed to advance to an Official Mage.

Jack and the others had wanted to enjoy themselves on the island a little longer, but since the captain had given the order to set sail, they could only obey.

The Undead, which had only arrived at Shipwreck Island four days earlier, raised anchor and set sail again.

This time, they still did not head for any known route. Instead, they plunged straight into the endless deep sea. Fortunately, the Undead could remember sea routes; otherwise, Yang Mu would have had to endure another wilderness survival expedition on the ocean.

After they had moved far from the routes, Yang Mu remained on the middle deck. Eudora and Barrel, the two First-Order Undead, stood beside him. Apart from the small area where Yang Mu was located, the entire middle deck was packed with Walking Corpses.

He had already warned Jack and the others: before he emerged, nothing was to disturb him. Even if they were dying, they had to wait until he came out.

If anyone dared enter the middle deck while he was advancing, they would be killed without mercy.

Within the dark deck, Yang Mu controlled his mental power as he inscribed a magic array on the floor. All kinds of materials were incorporated into it, including powder ground from Demon Beetles, Death-Soul Crystals, dried brains of unborn infants, and more.

Very soon, a circular magic array three meters in diameter was complete.

Yang Mu infused it with mental power and magic power. The magic array lit up, continuously drawing in the abundant water elements from above the sea as energy to maintain its operation.

Yang Mu had no Magic Stones. There were no true Mages in this world, no magic pools, and thus no way to produce Magic Stones.

Perhaps certain special places contained natural Magic Stones, but Yang Mu had never seen any. He had not found a single natural Magic Stone on Shipwreck Island either.

Therefore, he made a minor modification to the Mental Pressure Array used for his advancement, allowing it to operate on water elements as its energy source.

After completing the magic array, he took a bottle of Mental Power Ascension Potion and sat inside it.

The instant Yang Mu stepped into the magic array, his steps halted. It felt as though an immense weight had descended upon him, forcing his body to hunch unnaturally. He felt as though he had become dozens of times heavier.

Yet he could still move. Step by step, he made his way toward the center of the magic array.