"The Hermit" Odis explained, "I just heard that the Fountain of Youth is likely a ritual for the ascension of the Immortal King, a complete hoax."
The other members were stunned. The priestess, Cattleya, immediately thought: This was told to him by the "Queen".
After listening to Miss "Justice's" analysis, everyone already felt that there was something wrong with the "Fountain of Youth," but no one expected things to turn out this way.
"Moon" Emlyn asked, "'Hermit,' sir, is it the ritual for advancing to which rank?"
"It's said to be the fourth rank of advancement." Odis recalled for a moment and said, "The fourth rank of the 'Demon' pathway is called 'Devil'."
"The Fool" Klein thought to himself: This sequence sounds cunning just from its name.
Alger the Hanged Man was somewhat surprised: "'The Undying King' is only a Sequence 5?"
Logically speaking, "King of the Sea" should usually be a demigod.
Odis replied, "I have heard that the 'Undying King' is indeed a Sequence 5, but his flagship, the 'Deaths', seems to be a ghost ship of demigod level."
"It's equivalent to a Sequence 5 holding a Level 1 sealed artifact."
Alger slowly nodded, which was equivalent to having the power of a demigod.
The other members were somewhat surprised by the news about the "Fountain of Youth" and the "Undying King," but upon closer examination, they found the information provided by the "Hermit" to be quite reasonable.
After a few seconds of silence in the hall, Alger glanced at the "Hermit" and then said, "I just received intelligence that the 'Argo' and the 'Golden Dream' met up in the Sunia Sea last week and are sailing east together."
"Justice" Audrey, "The Magician" Fors, and others all looked at "The Hermit".
Based on recent exchanges at the Tarot Club, they have gained considerable knowledge about much information at sea, since four of the nine members of the Tarot Club are currently at sea…
Actually, there are five, because Klein alone occupies two spots: "The Fool" and "The World".
Because they all operate at sea, they often talk about maritime intelligence during their exchanges. After listening to so much, they became quite knowledgeable about things at sea.
For example, they knew that the "Argo" was the flagship of the "Mysterious Admiral," also known as the "Hermit," while the "Golden Dream" was the flagship of the "Iceberg Admiral."
Odysseus said, "I also had business to attend to at the 'Ruins of the War of the Gods,' and I met the 'Priestess' in the Sunia Sea."
Cattleya nodded, indicating her agreement with what the "hermit" had said.
In a few days, news of the fleet consisting of the "Future," "Golden Dream," and "Argo" appearing in Toscate Harbor will reach the Raging Sea, and the "Hanged Man" will definitely hear about it, so there is no need to hide it.
Alger paused for a moment, wondering what the three "pirate generals" were doing at the "God War Ruins".
But after thinking about it, he felt that such speculation was meaningless, so he said, "I'm ready, we can go explore Whale Island together."
Whale Island is the island where Deckard left his treasure. To be precise, Alger had already explored it once before, but when he encountered danger, he decisively stopped exploring and prepared to explore it together with the Hermit and the World.
Alger had been preparing for this treasure for a long time, and had previously discussed exploring it together with "The World" and "The Hermit".
Odis pondered for a moment and said, "I have time tomorrow."
Klein said, "I'll have time tomorrow too."
Alger said, "You need to take a boat to Whale Island first. It's an uninhabited island in the middle of the Raging Sea, located..."
Odis smiled and said, "There's no need for such trouble. I'll take the 'World' 'Travel' with me to find you."
Alger, the "Hanged Man," paused for a moment before replying, "Okay, okay."
Then the other members realized that the "Hermit" had a magical item that was comparable to the "Traveler," and that he could use the ability to "travel."
Klein and "The Magician" Fors were aware of this, so they weren't surprised.
Odis then said to Alger, "Give me a general overview so we can be prepared."
"Okay." Alger first asked "The Fool" to set up a private communication environment before saying, "I have already made some preliminary explorations. There are some extraordinary creatures on that island, but they don't seem to be very high level."
"However, there is a peculiar rock on the island that has put my spiritual senses in danger."
"Moreover, the animals on the island seemed to have great awe for that rock. When I tried to get close to it, they suddenly became very aggressive."
Klein manipulates "The World" to ask: "Any clues about the location of the buried treasure?"
"No," Alger said. "I haven't dared to explore the entire island, so I don't know where the treasure is buried."
"The World" nodded.
Odis rubbed his forehead and said, "Generally speaking, if the rocks and trees on these kinds of islands have a peculiar feel, they are not easy problems to solve."
"We'll try to bypass that area and see if we can find a relatively safe route."
After a brief discussion, we concluded this one-on-one exchange.
Returning to the discussion session, everyone chatted for a while longer before Klein said, "Let's call it a day."
Everyone got up and returned to the real world almost simultaneously.
Odis opened his eyes, stared blankly at the ceiling of the captain's cabin for a while, then got up to set up the altar and offered the extraordinary weapon he had prepared beforehand, as well as the extraordinary materials he had traded with Cattleya, to the "Fool".
After waiting for more than ten minutes, the Fool informed Odis to perform the "gifting ceremony," and soon stacks of gold pounds and many extraordinary materials appeared on the altar.
Odis conducted two intelligence transactions, receiving 4,500 in cash, 10 extraordinary materials of Sequence 9 level, and 6 extraordinary materials of Sequence 8 level.
Another intelligence deal yielded £3,000 in cash.
There was also the extraordinary material traded with Cattleya, for which he received £580 in cash.
The extraordinary weapon traded with "Sun" Derrick yielded 11 extraordinary materials of Sequence 9 level.
So in the end, Odis received £8,080 in cash, as well as 21 extraordinary materials of Sequence 9 and 6 extraordinary materials of Sequence 8.
This tarot gathering was a huge success, and Odis suddenly felt rich again.
In particular, the extraordinary materials traded with the "Sun" were worth around 5,000 pounds after Odis sold them, though it would take some time to realize their value.
With this money, the construction funds for Cruz Island will be sufficient, since there will be fewer places to spend money afterward, with only the Lighthouse Hill construction site remaining under construction for some time.
Cruz Island's current income mainly comes from magical potions and raiding merchant ships. With fewer expenses, expanding the magical potion business is basically enough to cover daily expenses.
Odis occasionally goes out to fight pirates and sells information at the Tarot Club, which is enough to cover the expenses of Cruz Island.
After putting away the cash and extraordinary materials, Odis went to his workshop. He had some free time today and planned to design a new generation of extraordinary puppets with the help of the "Alchemy Glasses".
The use of "extraordinary puppets" will increase in the future, and these puppets, which will be needed to handle more complex problems, will also need to look more like real humans in order to adapt to more complex usage environments.
After dinner, Odis went up to the deck, looked at the small port city in front of him, greeted the crew on watch in the wheelhouse, and then went ashore to explore the land.
After wandering around for several tens of minutes, Odis sampled some local specialties and then went into a bar, only to find that although it should have been the bar's busiest time, there weren't many people inside.
I went up to the bar and asked, and found out that there was a fighting competition next door, and a lot of people had gone to watch it.
Odis wasn't interested in the fighting matches, so he ordered a beer at the bar and chatted with the other patrons while drinking.
The other drinkers didn't pay much attention at first, but soon their attitude became very respectful because they recognized the young man in front of them as "General Mystery".
I had heard that the ships "Admiral Mystery" and "Vice Admiral Iceberg" were docked in Toscate for resupply, but I never expected to meet such an important figure in a bar.
As they were talking, Odis's spirituality seemed to sense something and she looked towards the entrance of the bar.
Squeak.
The bar door was pushed open, and a young man in a suit with a cold expression appeared in the doorway; it was none other than Gehrman Sparrow, played by Klein.
Odis smiled and waved: "Let's have a drink together."
Having just tested his newfound abilities, Klein recalled how "Captain Gal" had taken 900 pounds from him at today's Tarot meeting, and asked, "Are you treating?"
"It's my treat," Odis said with a smile. "Order whatever you like, up to 1 sol."
At this price, you can basically only order beer.
Klein didn't mind. He ordered a beer and was about to drink it when both of their spiritualities were simultaneously awakened, and they looked towards the door together.
A man of medium build with purple lips and brown eyes appeared at the doorway. It was none other than Gilchias, the second mate of the "Undead King" Agarito and the "Slayer" with a bounty of 9,500 pounds.
Before Odis could react, Klein had already drawn his revolver and fired a shot at Gilchias.
Gilchrist simply sidestepped the shot and gave a malicious smile.
He certainly recognized Klein, or rather, Gehrman Sparrow.
Just as Gilchrist was preparing to counterattack, he saw that sitting next to Gehrman Sparrow was none other than "Mysterious Admiral" Odis Gar!
Gilchrist immediately sensed a strong malice. As an "Apostle of Desire," he could immediately sense if someone wanted to harm him.
The reason why Gilchrist didn't sense such great danger earlier was mainly because "Admiral Mystery" hadn't recognized him yet.
At this moment, Odis saw the people standing at the tavern entrance as a walking pile of gold pounds.
Although Odis had enough money to live on, he certainly wouldn't refuse the gold pounds delivered to his door.
He suddenly pulled out the "Gus Staff" and poured "star sand" into it, causing the crystal at the staff's head to shine brilliantly.
In fact, Odis possessed a "grape leaf" that had a restraining effect on demons.
However, the grape leaf can only be used a limited number of times, and as Odis's strength increases, using the grape leaf again would be more effective against higher-level demons, so there's no need to waste it on Gilchias.
So while the patrons were frantically trying to get away from the sudden gunshot, Odis had already made a decision and was using his extraordinary abilities to deal with the "Apostle of Desire" in front of him.
After seeing the two people in front of the bar, Gilchrist didn't hesitate and turned to run away.
Behind him was a short-haired woman who had already drawn two guns, and a burly man wearing boxing gloves. Seeing the second mate's reaction, they seemed to understand something and followed him away.
Of course, Odis wouldn't let them leave. He used the extraordinary ability of the "Travel Ring" to "teleport" to the outside of the bar, raised the "Gus Staff," and immediately saw Gar runes that looked like solidified starlight appear on the crystal at the top of the staff. Then, a pure beam of light fell down.
This is Odis's "imitation" of the "sacrifice of light" of "divine light". Theoretically speaking, Odis's "imitation" using "star sand" and borrowing the Gar rune cannot be compared with the real "divine light".
But with the enhancement of the "Staff of Gus", the pillar of light that descended from the sky was almost indistinguishable from the real "holy light".
The "Holy Light" is very effective against the abilities of the "Demon." Gilchias and his companions are all "Criminal" pathway beings, which are also "Demon" pathway extraordinary beings. They dodged the "Holy Light" as quickly as possible.
However, the woman with the dual pistols was a little too slow and was affected by the "holy light." Amidst her shrill screams, her exposed skin began to melt, like a burning candle.
This prompted her to quickly rush into the shadows on the side of the street, as if to escape the sudden, intense sunlight.
Taking advantage of the opening, Odis put on his boxing gloves and threw a punch at Gillesias.
Just then, Gilchrist had barely dodged the "Holy Light" when he was struck by Klein's "Mental Pierce," and collapsed to the ground in agony.
Odis punched the second mate of the "Death Note".
Harvest!
Gilchrist was seriously injured at that moment.
His other companion, who was wearing boxing gloves, suddenly grew taller and larger, almost instantly transforming into a "demon".
He has a massive body about three meters tall. His skin appears dull, but it is actually dark and sinister. The curved goat horns on his head are covered with countless mysterious patterns. A pair of giant wings like bat wings grow from his back, wrapped in pale blue flames and emitting a strong sulfur smell.
After seeing the second mate being besieged by the "Mysterious Admiral" and Gehrman Sparrow, the "demon" summoned pale blue fireballs and hurled them at the "Mysterious Admiral".
Just as Odis was about to throw his second punch, he had no choice but to temporarily stop his attack and fly into the air to avoid the fireball.
As he took flight, the "Gus Staff" in his hand became dazzling, and two small, starlight-emitting orbs suddenly appeared. One hovered around Odis, and the other flew towards Klein, hovering around him.
These two orbs of light are Odis's modifications to "witchcraft," which can prevent him from experiencing too much emotional fluctuation and effectively prevent him from being controlled by Gillesias's desires.
This "witchcraft" was actually developed by Odis through his research on the "demons" and the corresponding abilities of the "fallen angels."
Originally invented as "witchcraft" to suppress the negative power of the "Faceless Man Pendant," it was only later that it was thought that it could be used to deal with the "Apostle of Desire."
It wasn't until then that the people on the street realized what was happening. Regardless of whether they knew about the existence of the extraordinary power, their first reaction was to quickly find a place to hide.
Odis casually tossed out an "ice scroll" from mid-air, and the fireball following behind was instantly frozen in mid-air.
Klein's attack on Gilchrist followed closely behind; his gloves turned golden, and another pure "holy light" descended.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Suddenly, a pair of bat wings sprouted from Gilles' back, and many pale blue mystical symbols circled around the second mate of the "Death Note".
He used his "demonic" body to withstand the "holy light".
This caused his bat wings to collapse and many to evaporate.
At that moment, the "demon" came over to help, wielding a giant sword made of crimson magma and pale blue flames.
Klein glanced at Odis in mid-air, took a step back, and then looked at the "demon".
The next second, the "demon's" movements suddenly slowed down, and Klein began to manipulate the "spirit threads".
He suddenly realized that neither he nor Odis had very high defenses, and that they had been caught off guard in the battle. It was clear that Odis hadn't been able to wear all the magical items.
The opponent, after being "demonized," possesses extremely high attack and defense capabilities. If these two demons cannot be dealt with quickly, they might even be injured. Therefore, he simply held off the "demon" and handed the "Apostle of Desire" over to Odis.
At the same time, Gilchias looked up at Odis in mid-air with a malicious gaze: "Die!"
A dazzling light immediately burst forth from the "Staff of Gus" in Odis's hand, and starlight adhered to Odis's body, blocking Gilles's "filthy words".
At this moment, Gilchrist flapped his severely collapsed and deformed wings and actually took flight, a greatsword made of magma and flames appearing in his hand, and charged towards Odis in mid-air.
Odis took advantage of this opportunity to use a "scale scroll" on herself.
The starlight on the "Gus Staff" flickered, and a thick bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, hitting Gilchias squarely on the head and knocking him to the ground, his head smoking.
Before Gilchrist could launch a new attack, a beam of "holy light" descended once more. As the second mate of the "Death Note" frantically dodged, his spirit seemed to suddenly grasp something—the "Mysterious Admiral's" desire to win!
Gilchrist gritted his teeth and endured the "Holy Light," igniting the desire of the "Mysterious General."
Odis's lips suddenly curled into a faint smile. At this moment, he held the "Gus Staff" in his right hand and a scroll that had just exploded in his left.
This scroll was made by him through studying the demigod-level spiritual material he obtained from Admiral Emilius, the "Lawyer" pathway.
This can lead to "confusion" in the target's perception and the scroll user's needs.
In the battle just now, seeing that she could not kill this "Apostle of Desire" quickly, Odis first used "witchcraft" that could reduce emotional fluctuations.
Moreover, he remained calm and composed throughout the battle, trying his best not to have any desires. Of course, he wouldn't have such obvious desires now that he had a clear advantage.
It was the "Scroll of Chaos" that caused Gilchrist to make a serious misjudgment, resulting in him not only failing to ignite Odis's desires but also being covered by the "Divine Light".
He originally thought that the power of the "divine light" would end after two or three seconds.
But Odis kept infusing the "Staff of Gus" with spirituality, so the "divine light" lasted for 6 seconds, 7 seconds, 8 seconds, and finally ended at the 9th second.
Seeing this, Klein couldn't help but think to himself, "Did 'Eternal Sun' forget to turn off its flashlight?"
At first, he thought Odis had some magical item related to the "sun", but now it doesn't seem like it.
When the intense light dissipated, Gilchias, who had been over three meters tall and "demonic," had completely collapsed. If he hadn't burned his two "goat horns," he would have been severely mentally damaged and turned into a fool who could only praise the sun.
Gilchrist was not dead yet, but he was very weak. He quickly transformed into a ball of black, viscous liquid. This liquid moved swiftly, hoping to escape as soon as possible.
The starlight on the "Staff of Guth" continued to shimmer, and the rays of starlight shone on the viscous liquid, instantly solidifying it to form a dazzling "starlight cage," temporarily trapping Gilchias.
Odis flew over and threw another punch with his hand, which was covered by the "Harvest Gloves".
Harvest!
The second mate of the "Death Scream," who was extremely weak and seriously injured, was "harvested" on the spot by Odis. The liquid solidified and turned into a corpse that looked like a melted wax figure.
Odis glanced at the "Gus Staff" in his hand and felt the staff enhance his abilities.
Then he looked at the "demon" that Klein had controlled. Odis once again infused the "Gus Staff" with spirituality, and the brilliant starlight formed solid Gar runes on the staff head.
Suddenly, a dawn-like light gathered around the "Gus Staff," enveloping it and forming a sharp, broad greatsword that radiated the light of dawn.
Odis strode forward and beheaded the "demon" with a single sword stroke.
At this moment, both Klein and Odis noticed that the woman wielding two guns had escaped.
Odis flew into the air and searched for a while, then opened a phantom door in mid-air and disappeared into the air.
A few seconds later he reappeared and threw the female corpse, whose face was somewhat "melted," onto the ground.
The street was still quiet, but Odis and Klein knew very well that many eyes were secretly watching them from the corners.
Odis looked at the three corpses in front of him and said, "Gilcias has a bounty of 9,500 pounds, and there are also bounties on his two subordinates. I'll check when I get back."
Klein, who was quite knowledgeable about pirate bounties, said in a stern tone, "One is 4,600 pounds, and the other is 1,000 pounds."
Odis rubbed his hands together: "What a bumper harvest!"
He paused for a moment, then added, "I'm going to collect the bounty; I can get the full amount! As for the other three extraordinary traits..."
Klein suddenly said, "I hope to obtain the extraordinary properties of that 'Apostle of Desire' in order to accept a smaller bounty."
Odis nodded. "After all, this is a Sequence 5 tier trait. How about we offer it at a discount of 8,000 pounds? You'll take 4,000 pounds less in bounty."
Klein hummed in agreement: "No problem, wait for me a moment."
As he spoke, he lifted Gilchrist's now much lighter corpse and used "flame leap" to reach a corner of the street, quickly completing his "herding."
Odis then searched the other two corpses, collecting loot. He removed the "demon's" gauntlet, which was indeed a magical item.
On the woman, Odis found a trophy that surprised him greatly: a book titled "The Manual of Combat".
Odis glanced through the book briefly and saw that the other person was reading it very attentively, and even wrote down his thoughts and admiration for the author in the margins.
Odis smiled helplessly and said to the woman's corpse, "Next time, if you bring this book out earlier, you might save your life!"
Unfortunately, there won't be a next time.
When Klein returned, Odis had already disposed of the corpse using "Star Sand," specifically by using a beam of light to shatter the area below the neck, thus allowing the extraordinary properties to form ahead of time.
After smashing Gilchias's corpse to pieces, Odis took off his trench coat and used it as a bundle to collect the three heads. Then, pointing to two other special attributes, he said, "One is 'Demon,' and the other is 'Serial Killer.'"
He asked Klein, "Do you have a way to sell these two properties?"
Klein is still playing Gehrman Sparrow: "No."
"I don't have any either." Odis smiled. "There's a chance to make it into a magical item, after all, the power of a 'demon' is still very useful."
"How about you sell one for £3,000 and another for £1,000? That way you can get an extra £2,000."
Klein realized that the two attributes were indeed useless, so he nodded and said, "Okay."
Finally, there's the gauntlet. Odis had already examined it with the "Craftsman's Pocket Watch," and it turned out to be a magical item comparable to the "Arsonist" item from the "Hunter" pathway.
"The negative effects aren't very strong," Odis said. "I estimate it at 1,800 pounds. If you don't have the means, how about I sell it myself?"
"Well, you have two options. One is to process it for me now and get an extra 800 pounds in reward. The other is to wait a while until I sell it, and then we'll split the profits."
Klein took a deep breath: "I'll take an extra 800 pounds."
He roughly calculated that he could still get more than six thousand pounds in reward money, and he had made a fortune from this drink today.
After quickly dividing the spoils, the two parted ways.
Odis traveled directly to Cruz Island using "travel" and handed over the three heads to Tim, an officer sent by the navy, so that he could exchange them for the bounty.
Recently, "Operation Dawnbreaker" has launched a series of attacks, destroying several warships of the Fenneport Navy and repeatedly plundering cargo ships passing through the central route, causing considerable losses to Fenneport, Masjid and other countries.
Admiral Emilius was very satisfied with their contributions, which is why he had previously agreed to a semi-public meeting with Odis.
Tim, who was the liaison officer, was thus given the opportunity for promotion. He took the task assigned by the captain very seriously and said that he would receive the bounty the next day.
Back on the Argo, Odis was in a good mood and took out those demigod-level spiritual materials to study again.
Before he knew it, he had collected quite a lot of demigod-level spiritual materials.
The first scales collected were those of the "former sea god" Kavituva, which Odis now mainly uses to make "scale scrolls".
After becoming Sequence 5, the "Scale Armor Scroll" becomes even stronger, rendering physical attacks from those below the level of demigod almost ineffective, and also able to defend against most extraordinary abilities from those below the level of demigod.
Skills like "Harvest" can ignore defense, or the "Dawn Sword" from the "Warrior" path can block one or two hits.
Other spiritual materials include the "Stone of Iron Law" seized from the Abraham family's storehouse; and the "Black Spider" previously seized from the church of the "Ancient Sun God".
Because they broke the trap of the "Rose School," they obtained spiritual materials at the demigod level from Admiral Emilius, namely the "Lawyer" pathway; and spiritual materials at the "Monster" pathway from the "Life School."
The fruit obtained from the "Tree of Healing" during this trip to the "Ruins of the Gods" was spiritual material at the demigod level of the "Reader" pathway;
Later on the island, Bernadette obtained fruit from that towering tree that reached into the clouds; it was spiritual material for the "spectator" pathway to the demigod level.
These materials can all be used to make scrolls with special abilities, which increased the number of high-level scrolls in Odis's bag and broadened the range of abilities she could use.
Odis had previously had the two intelligent puppets in the "Wilderness of Knowledge" write down many "common scrolls," and he originally thought he wouldn't need to write scrolls for several months.
However, he did not expect that after going to the "Ruins of the War of Gods" and obtaining the "Staff of Gus", he could "imitate" many other abilities and would not need ordinary scrolls at all.
So these scrolls, like the previous "thunderstorm bombs," became inventory.
Odis thought about it and decided that he could open a "scroll shop" in Bayam to sell these stockpiles. Even if the stock ran out, he could write some more to sell.
So Odis made a general plan, intending to assign the task to Mandy after exploring the island Alger had mentioned the next day.
After a night's rest, the next morning, as the "Argo" and the "Golden Dream" set sail, Odis used "travel" to find Klein, and the two went to meet up with the "Hanged Man".