Chapter 444: A Bloody Night—The Next Step
Alex excitedly inspects the spoils of Benezia's battle, inspecting the shiny blade in front of him. It looks similar to [Kakuzen], with only the pattern on the blade, differentiating a bit.
[Chimamire]
World: One Piece
Quality: Blue
Type: Katana (Sword)
Required Stats: STR - 10, AGI - 6, SNS - 8
Required Skills: Katana Proficiency lvl 2
Durability: 65/65
Damage: 28-32
Effect: Bloody - Increases your chance of causing bleeding by 50%
Effect: Deep Wounds - Increases damage and duration of bleeding effects caused by this weapon by 50%
Note: This sword is recognized as a Grade sword. This sword is incredibly sharp and deals consistent damage with a high probability of causing long-lasting bleeding, which slowly whittles down even the strongest opponent.
Note: Deep Cuts will make the enemy's blood flow like endless rivers.
"Interesting," Alex says as he inspects the sword. "The katana pattern—I think it's called hamon—is slightly red... this is a pretty cool-looking katana! The red color even fits the 'blood' theme of the weapon. I like these katanas. [Kakuzen] focused on high accuracy and increased critical damage, while this one is similar to the good old [Barbed Dagger] from a long time ago, only much more potent and lethal."
Benezia smiles faintly. "Are you an aspiring collector, Alex?"
"Not really," Alex replies, looking a little embarrassed. "I can't afford to hoard items... I need to convert them into FC. Still, if I had infinite resources, this would definitely be a cool one to collect. That makes two Grade swords now, both Blue Quality. I once stumbled across one of the fifty Skillful Grade swords—that one was Light Purple. Which means one of the twenty-one swords has to be at least Deep Purple, maybe even Light Gold Quality."
Does Soulmate want a new one-handed weapon?
"No, Jewel, remember my skill? Alexandrian Royal Swordsmanship is only fifty percent effective with unique swords like katanas," Alex explains. "It wouldn't be efficient for me to use one—I'd require a skill that focuses on them. Besides, even though it's 'only' Deep Purple, my [Enchanted Runeblade] is incredible. It boosts my spell damage by twenty percent and increases my MNA by two. I don't see myself replacing it anytime soon."
Princess Jewel will try her best to find an even better magic sword for Soulmate!
"Thanks, Jewel... anyway, have you seen Tereza?" Alex asks suddenly. "I told her to gather the gunpowder for me… let me check inside the ship."
Alex activates En, scanning almost the entire ship, but finds no trace of gunpowder or people inside. The vessel is completely devoid of life.
"Where could she be?" Alex mutters, his expression tightening. "I hope nothing bad happened. Maybe she got into some sort of accident?"
"Let's spread out and search for her," Benezia suggests. "You're right to be worried—there should be no worthy foe left, so her disappearance is concerning."
Before they can leave the ship, they see Tereza in the distance, flying toward them in her hybrid form. Alex immediately spots something off—her wings are flapping unnaturally.
As she lands, they see her body smeared with blood, fresh wounds still marking her skin, blood dripping down from her wings.
"What happened?" Alex asks immediately, obviously concerned about her injuries.
"Two players… they were hiding onboard," Tereza explains, still breathing erratically. "They joined the crew, I think. I took the gunpowder, but as soon as I stashed it all into my inventory, they ambushed me. It was my mistake—when I looted the gunpowder, the Disillusionment Charm wore off. I barely managed to distract them and flee the ship, then flew away, but they chased me. Anyway, in the end, I dealt with them. I healed up with a little food and a few spells, and once I knew they were coming for me, they were not too hard to deal with. The situation was only this bad because they caught me off guard and managed to get the initial hit on me. Anyway, it's over. I earned two Bloody Chests, and I got your gunpowder—that's what matters. It's good to see that you are done as well. Anyway, I'm out of MP, which is why I am still wounded."
Alex, hardly paying attention to her explanation, stares at her wounds instead. He briefly hugs her, then raises a hand and casts his new art, Tear. Red lights swirl around him, forming a glowing circle before a bright blue wave surges forward, wrapping Tereza in a watery glow. Her wounds close almost instantly as the bright-blue light seeps into her body.
You have restored 134 HP to Player Tereza
Nice... but why 134? It should have been 100, plus 31 from my MNA, so 131! Wait… is it because of the 102% Water Power? That must be it! I'll remember this.
Tereza lets out a soft moan as her wounds vanish. "Thank you… that felt great!"
"Impressive. You managed to take out two players on your own," Benezia remarks. "Your healing art is also quite effective, Alex. I'm impressed."
"The healing is impressive, makes me a little jealous... I was supposed to be the healer! As for me..." Tereza shakes her head. "They were just small fry. Green and Blue Quality items, I'm sure of it! They also didn't show any skills, aside from weapon skills. One of them had a rifle, and it dealt quite a bit of damage to me. Altogether, they weren't much, but I learned my lesson—I wasn't careful enough. Anyway, here's the gunpowder. I took everything, twelve barrels."
Alex accepts the gunpowder and stores it in his inventory. "Thank you... and sorry again. I nearly caused you some serious problems. Thinking about it now, it makes sense. Some players must have spawned at the start of the Grand Line and ended up joining these pirates. We should have been more careful! The players probably knew about Whiskey Peak, which is why they hid themselves on the ship!"
"Let's leave and get some rest. This was my oversight as well—next time I'll adjust my plan accordingly. We'll plan our next steps in a few hours, after the sun rises," Benezia suggests, her voice calm as always.
"She's right, let's wait for the situation to calm down and rest for a few hours," Alex agrees. "Let's go."
Back at their familiar apartment, the city noise still lingers outside—the bounty hunters tallying their losses and scrambling to assess the situation.
Menchi prepares a few dishes for them, which are relatively unsuccessful trials, still mostly made with Squid. Alex, too lazy to argue, just eats it and, despite his distaste for Fish and seafood in general, can at least stomach it, as it's expertly prepared and seasoned.
As they eat, they explain the situation to Menchi, who looks a little shocked. "I... didn't expect that! So what did you get?" She asks, curiosity almost visible in her eyes.
"I told you... a Blue Chest, A white Chest, and [Chimamire]." Alex says, looking a little confused.
"Yes, I know!" Menchi says, "I meant the Bloody chests that Tereza obtained. The system told you that you can open them right away!"
"I forgot!" She says, inspecting the chests. "These chests do not depend on LUK, so I might as well open them myself."
The group watches Tereza open her two chests in a row, smiling weakly.
"Trash... altogether I got 11,000 FC, a Small Soul Crystal, two White items, and two Light Green items.
"Better than nothing, that's still 6 shards, worth 12,000 FC, a Soul Crystal worth 20,000 FC, and 11,000 FC. So you earned around 43,000 FC! Congratulations!" Alex says, genuinely impressed with her achievement.
"Good job, little girl," Benezia says, also nodding at her in recognition.
Looks like Benezia has deemed her useful. That's good... I guess.
Menchi looks unsatisfied, "No food? Fine...!"
Princess Jewel and Soulmate caught a few more fish!
Menchi's demeanor quickly changes, and she smiles, stretching out her hands, urging Alex to trade her the Fish they caught earlier, while waiting.
"Let's sleep," Alex says, looking a little tired.
As Alex lies in his bed and shuts his eyes, Jewel crawls down from his head onto his chest, gazing at him intently.
Soulmate... please don't forget the most important thing!
Which is? I'm tired, Jewel.
Princess Jewel requires a fresh stash of Grenades for the Ultimate Secret Technique!
What a day... Jewel, you could at least pretend to be supportive when I'm doing overwork, while you are lazing around.
Alex sighs, stretching out his hand. He slowly conjures the grenades, draining the last of his Aura, before finally drifting off to sleep.
❤️
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