Qin Mao fished in the sea breeze.
His expression, however, was not particularly pleasant.
A powerful force tugged at his crude wooden fishing rod. He hesitated for a moment, then began wrestling with whatever was beneath the surface.
Judging by the strength of its pull, the fish underwater weighed at least a dozen pounds.
It took considerable effort to haul it up.
On closer inspection, it was another brightly colored mutant fish with two tails growing from its lower half.
"Goddammit, how many times has this happened now?!"
The fish lying on the deck beside him were much the same.
Some had two heads, some were covered in eyeballs, some had deformed bodies split halfway open, some dripped sticky green liquid, and some had crooked scales tinged with blood...
He had not caught a single normal fish.
Only then did he finally remember what he had forgotten.
The Eerie Coconut's description included the phrase "possesses a mysterious attraction for eerie creatures."
He had paid it no mind at the time. Only now did he realize something was wrong.
It seemed he would have little luck fishing aboard this ship.
And his chances of encountering eerie beings would probably increase as well.
No wonder its wondrous item ranking was only 9527.
He glanced at the eerie dead fish he had caught and, fighting the nausea in his stomach, reached for a plank to shove them back into the sea.
When he caught sight of the mainmast, he changed his mind.
This coconut tree supposedly absorbed powers of various attributes. Would mutant fish work?
He immediately tried feeding it a two-headed fish.
Dense feelers emerged across the trunk, and a mouth split open, engulfing the disgusting two-headed fish. Crunching sounds followed.
A few seconds later, digestion was complete. The trunk seemed to stand a little straighter, full of vigor.
"...Fine. If you like them, you can have them all."
Qin Mao fed all the remaining mutant fish to the coconut tree.
The Thousand-Faced Eerie Coconut first conveyed satisfaction, then communicated that it was still hungry and wanted blood from living creatures.
"In your dreams. Give you an inch and you take a mile. Where the hell am I supposed to get that much blood for you?"
Qin Mao delivered a practiced kick, and the coconuts hanging high on the mast opened their mouths and began bawling.
"Huh? Wait, I really did forget something!"
He hurried over to the helm, picked up his black coat, and rummaged through it.
A bundle of items wrapped in white cloth fell out.
They were the Curio Material from Wang Tai's secret compartment!
He picked them up and inspected them one by one.
First was the transparent oval bone fragment, shaped like a mango pit. It did not react to his touch and seemed utterly unremarkable.
He tried hard to bend it, but it would not budge.
With Qin Mao's current strength, how could he possibly fail to bend a tiny bone fragment? It seemed to be some sort of treasure.
[Curio Material]: Unknown [Description]: Unknown
Two unknowns.
Qin Mao found it rather uninteresting. Just as he was about to put it down, he remembered that he had a system.
Perhaps he could exploit a bug.
He focused his mind.
[Ding-Bone of Zor-Magru detected. Repair/upgrade?]
So this thing was called "Zor-Magru"... Completely baffled, Qin Mao tried again.
"Repair."
"[Ding-Repair requires 1000000000... Kill Points. Insufficient Kill Points. Unable to upgrade.]"
"Upgrade."
[Ding-Item has reached the highest level. Unable to upgrade.]
"Holy shit-that expensive! What the hell is this thing?!"
Qin Mao felt he had probably acquired some extraordinary treasure.
And it was most likely incomplete, or repairing it would not require so many Kill Points.
Looking at the thousand-odd points he had, he probably would not be able to use this bone fragment anytime soon.
Nowhere aboard the ship felt safe enough to leave it. After thinking it over, he tucked it into his breast pocket.
Safe and secure. Given how hard it was, it could even serve as a heart-protecting plate.
Next, he took out the leather map, which was about the size of two palms.
[Curio Material]: Blood Flea Skin [Description]: Skin left behind after a blood flea's death. Supple and tough, it can be used to craft basic wondrous items.
Qin Mao turned it over and over without finding anything special. It was merely an ordinary piece of skin.
The only thing that drew his attention was the crudely drawn map on it.
Following the map's directions, he found a clearly drawn burning heart at the final destination, marked with a red cross.
Could it be a treasure map?
Would there be some great treasure there?
Or the truth behind the eerie advent?
The ultimate magical artifact for fighting the eerie?
His thoughts began to wander.
Unable to figure out what it was for, Qin Mao could only stash it away as well and wait until he learned its purpose.
Finally, he spat twice into his hands and took out the grand finale.
The ornate, verdigris-stained, single-barreled flintlock pistol-Just Verdict!
Previously, it had belonged to someone else, so he could not inspect its [Price], nor could he use it even after getting his hands on it.
Now that Wang Tai was dead, he could examine it properly.
Qin Mao placed it in the sunlight to admire it.
The walnut stock bore the air of ages, as though it had slowly emerged from the mists of history;
A few rough scratches on the brass barrel gave the whole gun an added touch of menace;
The ink-black shark-tooth flint used to ignite the powder lent this killing weapon a wild, bestial quality, along with an indescribable mystery.
"Absolutely perfect!"
Living in a country that banned guns, Qin Mao had been interested in firearms since childhood. This flintlock was also the first real firearm he had ever handled up close.
[Wondrous item: Just Verdict] [Rank]: 2880 [Information]: A wondrous weapon crafted by gunsmith Leng Jun using the Power of Judgment, Blood of Justice, a flintlock used by Queen Anne in the eighteenth century, and Spectral Shadow Fish bones. [Ability 1]: Rapid Fire. Condenses bone bullets with greatly increased speed, range, and penetration. Can deal moderate damage to eerie beings. [Ability 2]: Explosion. Fish-Bone Bullets explode upon striking hard targets, with bone fragments dealing secondary damage. [Ability 3]: Resonant Blast. Wherever its gunshot reaches, it can briefly dispel confusion and bring clarity. [Price]: To use this gun, one must become a leader; maintain fairness toward one's subordinates in daily life; and complete three fair judgments as an owner-binding ritual. [Special effect]: Equal Treatment. If the owner is a Sequence Transcendent, they can condense ammunition using Transcendent Power, storing up to seven bullets at a time. Each bullet takes three minutes to condense. No more than fourteen may be fired per day. Firing interval: one minute. If the owner is an ordinary person, the "Equal Treatment" effect activates, allowing them to use this wondrous item as well. However, its bullets are souls of their own kind, with each soul exchanged for one bullet of equivalent value. Soul bullets have no firing interval. Note: Transcendents can also create and use soul bullets.
"Well, damn. No wonder Wang Tai could use a wondrous item as an ordinary person. It was because of this special effect!"
He was clearly an ordinary person, yet he could use a wondrous item meant for Transcendents;
He was clearly a dictator, yet he made a great show of fairness and justice aboard the ship, taking no special privileges in food or drink;
He had clearly established ship rules, yet spread panic and used oppressive measures to force sailors to flee, violating the fleet's iron laws so he could harvest their souls...
Everything linked together, completing the picture.
If the Eerie Coconut ranked so low because it attracted unclean things, then Just Verdict, which even ordinary people could use, absolutely deserved its ranking as an Epic Curio.
Speaking of rankings, Qin Mao took another look.
"Huh? Wasn't it ranked 2879 before? Now it's 2880... It dropped one place?"
"How amazing... Who exactly is doing the ranking? And who is controlling this eerie advent from behind the scenes?"
Far, far too many unknowns troubled him.
But the greatest pity was this.
He could not meet this gun's [Price] for now. He could not bind it to himself, and he could not use it.
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