"An extraordinary!"
The fishman leader blurted out, a trace of awe entering his gaze as he looked at Leilin, though there wasn't much surprise in his expression.
After all, Leilin's previous actions had already revealed that he was no ordinary person.
"We're from the Idong Trading Company. If you don't mind, you're welcome to rest on our ship. I'm sure the others would be delighted to speak with an extraordinary..."
The fishman leader said respectfully.
This was precisely why Leilin had displayed his power. In a primitive world during this great age of maritime exploration, the underbelly was brimming with evil, and the law of the jungle was taken to its absolute extreme.
If Leilin had been alone today without any power to call his own, then what awaited him would have been getting stripped clean of everything and dumped straight to the ocean floor!
Even the luxurious fabric of his clothing would have been the very thing that led to his death.
But once he displayed mysterious power, the treatment he received changed completely.
Until they had thoroughly ascertained Leilin's strength and background, even the Idong Trading Company wouldn't dare make a move against him lightly.
"Thank you!" Leilin replied with restrained courtesy, then declined the drawbridge they had lowered and instead flew up to the deck on his own.
Standing on the deck, Leilin couldn't help but be slightly startled by the unusual appearances of these "crew members."
Several sailors had appeared beside him, all of them very strange in form. Some bore a strong resemblance to the fishmen he had just seen, except their tails had become two long legs, and they wore laborer's clothes — clearly marking them as rather low in status aboard the ship.
Besides these fishman crew members, Leilin also spotted another kind of creature.
They were beings surrounded by a group of fishmen, appearing to hold higher status, yet their forms were vastly different from ordinary humans. They possessed only a single enormous vertical eye, the diameter of its pupil alone exceeding one decimeter. From around the eye socket, numerous tentacles hung straight down, forming something like arms and legs.
To put it plainly, they looked remarkably similar to the evil eyes Leilin had seen in games from his previous life.
"Well! I'd already suspected that other worlds wouldn't consist entirely of human races, but this appearance is really something..."
Leilin grumbled silently to himself. Perhaps due to convergent evolution or some other reason, in many other worlds, despite the vast number of non-human races, a body plan resembling the human form — with a head, four limbs, and a torso — had become the most dominant biological structure, with one or two humanoid races appearing in virtually every other world.
Take the fishmen he had just seen, for example. In the water, they still retained half their fish-like bodies, but once they came ashore, they immediately developed human-like legs.
Creatures completely unlike humans, such as Evil Eyes, did exist — but they had never been the dominant form.
In Leilin's mind, he had already dubbed these creatures the "Evil Eye race," and the fact that this particular alien species held dominion in the Infernal World — enslaving the humanoid races — came as something of a surprise.
"This esteemed Transcendent! Please accept the most profound respect of me, Geger... Guguguo... Akzide!"
At that moment, one of the opposing Evil Eye's tentacles rose, and Leilin suddenly received a wave of Spiritual Power. The message within conveyed greetings, along with a distinctly fawning undertone.
"Hello!" Leilin's command of Spiritual Power far surpassed that of this Evil Eye, so he wielded it with effortless ease.
What struck him as rather peculiar, however, was that this Evil Eye race communicated directly through Spiritual Power, similar to brainwave exchange.
"I'd wager that a species of this form would have extremely advanced mental civilization and brain development," Leilin nodded to himself.
"You must be from Silver Continent? That's the only place where this type of human race exists!"
The Evil Eye's enormous pupil fixed on Leilin. He could even see his own reflection clearly in those orbs. After a moment's wait, the creature transmitted another message through Spiritual Power.
"Forgive me! My origins and background are confidential — I promised my mentor. Until I've made a name for myself, I cannot reveal where I come from!"
Leilin answered with an expression of righteous solemnity, which only deepened the other's reverence.
"Your mentor must be a truly great Transcendent!" Achieving fame widespread enough to be renowned across an entire continent was an extraordinarily difficult feat. Those who managed it were invariably Transcendent powerhouses of immense strength.
"Mm! He truly is a most venerable old man, brimming with wisdom and fortitude..."
A trace of wistful remembrance flickered in Leilin's eyes. Then he turned to the Evil Eye and asked, "I was caught in a shipwreck and had to drift on the ocean for quite some time. Could you tell me where this place is?"
"Oh! This is the terminus of the route to Hale Continent — we're already very close to Hale Continent. To suffer a shipwreck all the way out here... your luck and your ship's have been truly terrible..."
The Evil Eye seemed to speak carelessly, then immediately caught itself, its many tentacles thrashing about in agitation. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that. It's just that the storms and sea beasts in the ocean are far too powerful and terrifying, with no discernible pattern whatsoever. Before you've made port and set foot on land, even the fleet of the Golden God cannot guarantee a safe arrival..."
"I understand!" Leilin waved his hand, though a shadow of lingering fear still crossed his face. "I'm quite exhausted. Would it be possible to have a room to rest? Also, could you take me to the nearest port? I can offer appropriate compensation..."
As he spoke, Leilin keenly noticed the surveillance directed at him from the shadows — almost certainly the other Transcendent he had detected earlier.
Their strength was decent, roughly at the peak of Tier Three. They even carried several high-powered Magical Items and arcane artifacts.
"So that would be this ship's guardian or employer, then? Tier Three strength?"
Now that the Chip had finished adjusting him, Leilin's aura was roughly comparable to a Tier Three practitioner's. Combined with his Dreamless Mask, it was quite convincing.
"Ah, well…" Evil Eye seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then a covert pulse of Spiritual Power swept over, and it immediately changed its tune.
"No problem at all! We were planning to stop at the nearby port of Iyas for a while anyway, so you're more than welcome to disembark there. As for being on our ship — you are our most esteemed guest. Please, don't say a word about compensation…"
Evil Eye's pupils narrowed slightly — apparently a gesture of respect of some kind?
"Very well!" Leilin nodded, and under the guidance of a merfolk servant summoned by Evil Eye, made his way into the ship's cabin quarters.
"My lord! This is your room! If you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to call!"
The merfolk bowed its head humbly and withdrew the moment Leilin had familiarized himself with the room.
"Not bad at all!" Leilin took a quick look around. This was clearly among the uppermost decks of the ship — aside from important figures, probably even the head merfolk wouldn't qualify to stay here.
Light blue shells and red coral served as decorations throughout the room, quite beautiful.
And at the very back was something resembling a bed, covered with some kind of unknown pelt that looked incredibly soft and smooth just from a glance.
What drew Leilin's attention even more, however, was a massive blue pearl sitting right at the center of the room.
According to the Chip's scan imagery, this pearl functioned like a living lung — drawing in the stale indoor air, processing it through some unknown transformation, and releasing pure oxygen. It even served as an air purifier, completely eliminating the strong oceanic brine that permeated everything out at sea.
"Chip! Scan!" Leilin commanded.
[Ding! Task established! Scanning initiated!] the Chip reported loyally. Immediately, a detection wave swept through the room, leaving no corner unchecked.
[Scan complete! No suspicious items or surveillance witch arrays detected!] the Chip reported faithfully.
"Good. Looks like these other races aren't trying any tricks. Still, better to add another layer for peace of mind." Leilin flicked his finger, and a blue rune materialized, quickly sinking into the wall.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the entire interior of the cabin lit up with a brilliant blue luminescence, which then faded and vanished without a trace.
[Defensive and early-warning formulae deployed! Full monitoring activated! Real-time surveillance underway!]
Only after the Chip's confirmation came through did Leilin finally relax completely.
"Whew…" He settled onto the soft bed and let out a long breath. "At least I've recovered some ability to move before those fish-folk figured it out. Otherwise, things could have gotten complicated."
"However, now that I've recovered to this degree, other injuries don't seem to matter much. I can even use external items…"
With this thought, Leilin's palm swept across the pouch at his waist. A flash of silvery spatial light, and a deep-red healing potion materialized in his hand.
With Leilin's current attainments as a Grandmaster Alchemist, and the vast resources contributed by the Bloodline Alliance—or even the Flame Throne's capital city of Duz—he had long since formulated a large stockpile of master-grade potions, which he always carried with him against unforeseen circumstances.
This exploration of the Infernal Realm was a matter of the utmost importance, so naturally, he had brought his entire reserves along.
"With my current physique and warlock rank, even high-grade potions probably don't have much of an effect anymore. Unless it's an ancient potion or something similar…"
The deep-red potion didn't taste good; it even carried a pungent, spicy odor. But Leilin didn't so much as furrow his brow before drinking it straight down.
The potion's effects manifested swiftly. A flush first appeared on Leilin's face, immediately followed by a series of crackling sounds from his body, like bones popping, yet also carrying the life signs of a plant bursting into growth.
After several rounds of potion treatment, there wasn't a trace of weakness left in Leilin.