Armed to the teeth

Kronos had not actually told anyone, but to his surprise, people came to see him off the next morning.

The first was Philip. That was hardly surprising; with the Negan family's influence, finding out about this was perfectly ordinary.

Philip handed him a flask. "Kronos, I promised I'd treat you to a drink after you advanced. There's no time to do it properly now, so this will have to do. I'll throw you a welcome-back party when you return."

Philip seemed especially sincere today. He might have considered Kronos a friend before, but there had still been a calculated, deliberate quality to his words.

Today, however, he was different, and Kronos noticed that difference.

Without another word, Kronos took the flask and drained it. "We'll drink again when I get back."

"Deal." Philip likewise downed the contents of his own flask.

"Now this is interesting." Standing behind Kronos, Marquis Argyle watched the two of them with a smile.

Duke Negan hoped Philip would befriend Kronos, and Marquis Argyle naturally wanted his son to build a good relationship with the foremost noble family as well. That foundation would open up many possibilities.

After they finished drinking, Philip handed Kronos a sheet of paper. "Take this. These are the contact details for several fleets and island bases, along with a few trustworthy people. You can contact them if you run into trouble."

Kronos accepted it without standing on ceremony and put it away. Philip treated him as a friend, and he naturally regarded Philip as one too.

The second to arrive was Portland. Kronos had no idea where he had heard the news, but he took the gesture to heart.

"I've registered all your patents, and I've transferred my own patents to the Walter Factory as well. With me looking after the factory, you can rest easy." Portland got straight down to business.

Kronos hugged him. "Of course I trust you. Just sit back and wait for the money to come in."

Then came Beck Yardinis, the useful pawn currently wrestling with coal futures. He had not come of his own accord, though; the Marquis had summoned him. They needed to go over the company's affairs, after all.

From Beck's report, everything was on track, and all they needed now was the right opportunity. Once the Air Pollution Act passed, the companies under Kronos would all take off together.

The people seeing him off and his family had originally intended to accompany him aboard the ship, but Kronos refused because he did not want to reveal his identity.

Instead, he changed his appearance and boarded with Gner, posing as a relative of Benjamin Bowen.

Gner kept his original name, while Kronos adopted the alias Klein. His guiding principle was to take someone else's path and leave them nowhere to go.

Once he reached his cabin, Kronos set down his backpack and opened the bag he was carrying. Marquis Argyle had given it to him before he boarded, instructing him to open it once he was alone on the ship.

Kronos opened it and took out several things.

First was a letter. Next came an unmistakable cane, about a meter long and pure black, apparently made from something like ebony. There was also a pouch of the sort that could hang from a belt, a pale blue brooch, and a charm.

Kronos opened the letter. One look at the handwriting told him Marquis Argyle had written it personally.

"To Kronos:

You are about to travel far from home, and everyone in the family is deeply worried. Still, we all know you are going to gain experience, and we can find no reason to dissuade you. We have therefore prepared several items for your protection. We hope you will act cautiously and stay safe."

The rest consisted of descriptions of the items:

The Lucky One Cane had been made from the Beyonder characteristic of that unlucky fellow Booze. It possessed two Beyonder abilities:

1. While holding it, the wielder could activate Machine Thinking.

2. It could perform a luck assessment, determining the wielder's luck for the next hour. Good and bad luck each had a fifty-percent chance. A favorable result meant everything would go smoothly for the next hour; an unfavorable result meant a constant stream of minor troubles, though none would be life-threatening.

Negative effect: every activation of Machine Thinking would automatically trigger a luck assessment.

That was rather hardcore. Machine Thinking would mostly be activated during combat. Good luck was fine-he might kill his opponent with a single strike. But with bad luck, he might twist his ankle in the middle of a fight or have his trousers fall down. That would be spectacularly disastrous.

The Mystic Pouch had been made using the Beyonder characteristics of a Warlock and a Scroll Professor. The Argel Family had specially commissioned it from the Church of Steam and Machinery. It had only one ability:

It contained a dedicated space of five cubic meters. All its other potential abilities had been sacrificed for this one.

There were no particular negative effects, but there were restrictions. Only Warlocks and Scroll Professors of the Mystery Pryer Pathway could use it. Neither higher-level Astronomers nor lower-level Melee Scholars could do so, and the space could only hold things related to the Mystery Pryer Pathway.

Reading this, Kronos sighed inwardly. They really were loaded. This pouch could not have been cheap, yet it was clearly intended merely to make carrying spell materials easier for Warlocks and scrolls easier for Scroll Professors.

He had actually misunderstood his family here. Convenience had indeed been their aim when they created this Beyonder item, since the combat strength of Warlocks and Scroll Professors depended on how much they carried.

But they had not intended for it to have only a single ability, much less so many restrictions. Two attempts, however, had resulted in two failures, producing two pouches like this.

Kronos picked up the Mystic Pouch and probed it with his spirituality. Half the space was piled with materials for various spells, while the remaining space held over a dozen scrolls and a bottle of potion.

The letter explained that Marquis Argyle had personally made these scrolls. They contained several skills from multiple pathways and might come in useful. The potion was for a Scroll Professor, included just in case.

The brooch was called the Azure Brooch, and it had been made from the Beyonder characteristic of the out-of-control Sailor Kronos had brought back.

Wearing it allowed the wearer to breathe underwater and increase their combat strength through rage.

Its negative effect, however, was a constant buildup of negative emotions that made the wearer irritable. Over time, that buildup posed a risk of losing control.

This item's negative effect was manageable. Kronos had the Nine Secret Hand Seals as well as the Lucky One Cane's Machine Thinking, so these emotions were unlikely to affect him.

The final charm was called the Elf Charm, and it worked along similar lines to the Flaring Sun Charm Klein had made.

The difference was that Klein had used the Eternal Blazing Sun's blood to steal a sliver of power, while this charm had been made directly from the blood of a Sequence Two elf, so it could last a long time.

Abel had stolen that Sequence Two elf blood from the Moses Ascetic Order years ago-an entire bottle. All three demigods of the Argel Family had advanced by analyzing it.

Since a considerable amount remained, they had made five Elf Charms back then to protect the younger members of the family.

The Elf Charm's power was nowhere near the demigod level; it barely reached Sequence 5. It could unleash a tornado or lightning, but only once a month.

Since it was a charm rather than a Beyonder item, however, it had no particular side effects.

That concluded the descriptions of all the items.

Kronos laid them out on the bed one by one, then removed the Beyonder items he was already wearing and placed them alongside the others. Looking at everything before him, he could not help marveling.

Offense: Lucky One Cane, Elf Charm.

Survival: Vampire's Heart, Azure Brooch.

Support: Vampire Mask, Slumber Charm, Mystic Pouch.

Honestly, calling him armed to the teeth would hardly be an exaggeration. If Klein knew he had started out with all this, wouldn't he cry with envy?

And that was despite missing the Eye of Wisdom gathering a couple of days earlier. Otherwise, he might have had another item or two. He did feel a little bad about standing up that fellow who sold weapons, though.

Delighted, Kronos put everything on one by one: the Vampire Mask on his face, the Vampire's Heart around his neck, the Azure Brooch on his chest, and the Mystic Pouch on his belt. He tucked the two charms into his pocket, then picked up the Lucky One Cane.

This equipment alone filled Kronos with confidence about the journey ahead.

Knock, knock, knock. Just then, someone knocked on the door.

Kronos opened it and found Gner outside. "Come on, let's take a look around. We're heading out to sea-why stay cooped up in the cabin?"

Since he had finished organizing everything anyway, Kronos went along with Gner.

The two left the cabin and headed up onto the deck.

Kronos had traveled by boat before, but only on rivers. This was his first voyage at sea. He had seen the ocean before, but this was also his first time viewing it from out on the water.

The sea seemed like an upside-down sky. Its fish and shrimp were like the gulls overhead, its rolling waves like the sky's white clouds, and the vast blue ocean itself like the boundless heavens.

No one else on the deck was standing idle like the two of them. Sailors and workers alike were busy at their posts. They had only just put out to sea, after all. Only once they had sailed for a while and everything was running smoothly would they have a chance to stop and rest.

Watching everyone work diligently around him, Kronos smiled with satisfaction. They were all his employees, after all. As the capitalist "exploiting" them, he found the sight of their hard work quite gratifying.

"Hey, rein in that inspecting-the-work look of yours. If someone catches on, your disguise will have been for nothing," Gner joked beside him.

"How could that happen?" Kronos immediately withdrew his gaze and said solemnly, "How could anyone see through my acting? You're insulting me."