Advancing to Sequence 9

"Do you have the materials on your ship right now?" Morien's smiling voice continued to echo in Alger's mind.

"Yes." This time, Alger nodded with absolute certainty.

They were not particularly rare materials. The previous captain had collected them.

"So I thought." Morien nodded with a smile.

These were ingredients for the Mystery Pryer potion. In theory, they should have been highly suitable as materials for ritual magic.

So it was perfectly normal for a ghost ship to keep some on hand.

"How much is that little extra you mentioned?"

"Fifteen hundred pounds. That's a fair price." Morien raised one finger.

Alger nodded, feeling that there was nothing wrong with it.

Indeed, it was quite a fair price.

Including the materials Morien wanted, the total came to around two thousand pounds.

Generally speaking, a Sequence 6 formula cost between fifteen hundred and eighteen hundred pounds. An occasional premium was normal as well.

Not to mention that this was supposed to be price gouging.

Charging only two or three hundred pounds extra while throwing in a Mystery Pryer formula, Alger did not feel that he was getting the short end of the stick.

"Fine. Then go discuss it first," Morien said.

Having reached a preliminary agreement, Alger led the other crew members away from the Clover.

In less than a few minutes, Alger and the others had reached a decision.

They agreed to the exchange.

Like the vast majority of pirate crews, more than half of the Beyonders aboard the Blue Avenger followed the Sailor Pathway.

Obtaining the Sequence 7 formula would benefit every one of them.

However, they would need to authenticate the formula after receiving it.

A few minutes later, Alger was once again sent to face the Clover.

"We agree to your trade, but we need to authenticate it," Alger said.

"No problem." Morien nodded. "But I don't have the ability to authenticate it."

"You don't need to worry about that," Alger replied. "We do."

After sailing the seas for so many years, if they did not possess a Sealed Artifact for authentication, they would not even know how to pick valuable loot when robbing people.

Alger held a wrapped cloth bag in his hand.

"We'll give you the materials, and you'll give us the formula."

"After authentication, we'll pay the rest."

The price he had reported to the crew was five hundred pounds. He would pay the remaining thousand out of his own pocket.

"Alright." Morien smiled and tapped his temple with a finger. "I'll tell you the potion formula now."

"Remember it. Main ingredients: six crystallized feathers from a Blue Shadow Falcon, and a pair of Dragon-Eyed Sea Eagle eyeballs."

"Supplementary ingredients: 500 milliliters of high-purity liquor, one Blue Shadow bone, two Dragon-Eyed Sea Eagle feathers, 30 milliliters of rainwater that has not touched the ground, and a wisp of wind from when the sun has lit up the horizon but has yet to appear."

Alger nodded and calmly turned to another crew member beside him, who held paper and pen.

"Write this down. Main ingredients: a Black-Scaled Shark pituitary gland and one Berserk White Porpoise heart."

"Supplementary ingredients: 500 milliliters of liquor, one Black-Scaled Shark fin, 100 milliliters of Berserk White Porpoise blood, one branch of Blue Star Coral, and one crystal."

The crew member took the paper bearing the formula away for authentication. Alger extended his right hand, which held the cloth bag, toward Morien.

"You can inspect it as well."

The ghost ship beneath him began to move sideways toward the Clover in a manner that completely defied the laws of physics.

The distance between the two ships steadily shrank until Morien was within reach.

"Thank you."

Morien reached out, accepted the bag, opened it, and gave it a look over.

Good. Everything he wanted was inside.

And the weight was off.

At the very bottom of the cloth bag was a small inner pocket, hiding Alger's thousand pounds.

They were all twenty-pound gold notes, fifty in total.

The two exchanged a glance, understanding each other without a word.

At that moment, the crew member who had gone to authenticate the formula returned.

He held a bulging wallet containing twenty-five twenty-pound notes.

"It was a pleasure trading with you. I hope we'll have another chance like this next time." Alger extended his hand and shook Morien's.

"So do I." Morien smiled and shook Alger's hand.

"I hope you have your own way of authenticating things," Alger said. "After all, there are no shortage of swindlers at sea."

"It's fine. I trust you," Morien replied with a smile. "I believe you would not deceive me, Mr. Hanged Man."

With that, he withdrew his hand, casually accepted the wallet, nodded to the crew member, then turned and left, walking into the Clover's cabin.

Alger was left standing there alone, his posture somewhat stiff as he slowly withdrew his own hand.

Inside a room aboard the Clover.

It was a single room, with only a bed, a wardrobe, and a table.

But it was spacious enough.

The captain had specially prepared it for him.

After returning to the cabin, Tris had not only refrained from spreading rumors about Morien, but had lavishly praised him instead.

When the sea monster had appeared, everyone had hidden away. No one had witnessed the entire process of Tris killing all the thugs.

People only knew that after the sea monster vanished and the thugs were all dead, Tris and Morien returned to the cabin one after the other.

Under Tris's account, everyone believed that Morien had dealt with the sea monster while Tris had dealt with the thugs.

That was indeed the truth.

But how the sea monster had appeared, and where the thugs had come from...

That was not important.

Morien stood before the table, upon which several items were arranged.

Besides the potion ingredients, there were test tubes, a balance, beakers, and other items he had borrowed.

Following the proper order, Morien added the ingredients into the beaker one by one.

When he reached the final ingredient, he picked up a sheet of paper covered in writing from the table.

This was a page from the Record of Others' Secrets.

Morien pinched the paper between two fingers, flicked it with a smile, and tossed it into the beaker.

The paper became soaked and slowly sank into the water.

Soon, several lines of text slowly surfaced in the liquid.

"The Fool who does not belong to this era is a pauper. The mysterious ruler Above the Gray Fog is a virgin. The King of Yellow and Black, who controls good fortune, will lose thirty pounds gambling in the future. The above three descriptions refer to the same person."

The words quickly dissolved into the beaker.

The potion brewing went smoothly. Before long, a cup of Sequence 9 Mystery Pryer potion had taken shape.

It was a cup of gradient-colored liquid, its color becoming increasingly deep and obscure toward the center.

It was essentially identical to the description Morien had seen in his previous life.

Morien had never told Alger what the completed potion would look like. Since it matched, that meant there was no problem with the potion.

Morien picked up the cup with great interest and examined it for a moment.

He had no ability to authenticate it, but fortunately, knowledge was power.

After confirming that there was no problem, he shifted the mask on his face aside, revealing his mouth.

He brought the cup to his lips, tipped back his head, and drank the potion.

A cool, slick sensation swiftly filled his mouth, then slid down his esophagus and into his stomach.