The pirate flag bearing the Black Skull emblem slowly descended, replaced by the vivid Crimson Tiger banner, which unfurled triumphantly from the mast of the Black Skull.
"The old Crimson Tiger has been sunk, but our pirate crew has been reborn from its ashes! I hereby declare that this ship, the Black Skull, shall henceforth be renamed the Crimson Tiger!!!"
Leilin stood on the deck and made the announcement, immediately met with thunderous cheers from his men.
Compared to the previous Crimson Tiger, which had been built on the hull of the Black Tiger, this pirate ship he now controlled was worthy of being Crowe's flagship. Not only was it entirely covered in a layer of enchanted armor, bringing its defensive capabilities to staggering heights, but its size and displacement also far surpassed the former vessel.
All of it now belonged to Leilin.
"
"Aye, Captain!" Robin rubbed his hands together in excitement. The Black Skull pirate crew's assets were incredibly rich — they had no fewer than ten large warships, each one no inferior to the old Crimson Tiger.
This time, the Crimson Tiger pirate crew had truly feasted beyond measure.
"Get the ships out first, then we'll fill in the manpower and set sail for Haige Island to join the naval battle!"
Having destroyed two major pirate crews in a single stroke, the only remaining armed slaving fleet in Marquis Louis's hands was all that stood — and Leilin had no intention of letting them go.
However, his own manpower now faced a severe shortage. After barely getting the ships underway, he could hardly scrape together enough combat personnel.
This situation drew a bitter smile to Leilin's lips.
"I'm afraid these large warships will have to stay mothballed for a while. The men I bring to the naval battle… probably won't fill more than five ships…"
He possessed powerful vessels, yet lacked the manpower to man them. This was the predicament Leilin currently faced.
He had even considered having his family guards pose as pirates, but quickly dismissed the notion.
After all, his opponent this time was different from a pirate crew — it was an armed fleet belonging to a great noble. The matter of secrecy aside, his family guards likely wouldn't dare lay a hand.
Let alone the consequences such an action would bring — Leilin had no desire to lose the protection of a righteous mandate.
And so, he could only bring his own pirates to battle, yet the bulk of his men had perished in the earlier explosion.
But these were minor concerns. Once word spread that the Crimson Tiger had wiped out both the Black Skull and the Tiger Sharks, there would be no shortage of pirates begging to join.
The two fleets began to go their separate ways, while Leilin retreated into the captain's quarters to examine his spoils.
Kro's captain's quarters were spacious. The surrounding walls were adorned with a variety of shimmering oil paintings and other works of art — clearly the accumulated treasures of a long career in piracy.
"Kro's private vault is only a minor matter. After all, the bulk of his wealth is right beneath my feet on this magical warship. The truly valuable items are a mage's equipment!"
Leilin uncersemoniously claimed Kro's gem-studded golden chair and examined the items spread across the table with keen, gleaming eyes.
The first thing to catch his eye was a dusty leather pouch.
"A dimensional bag!" Leilin's eyes lit up. He had long envied this legendary staple of high-ranking mages, but even with the Faolan family's current wealth, acquiring one had proven nearly impossible.
Yet now, Bulujie had simply handed one over to him.
This being a private mage's dimensional bag, it naturally contained hidden mechanisms and even curses, but under the Chip's scanning, nothing could hide. Leilin disarmed them with ease.
The entire dimensional bag held a volume of nearly ten cubic meters, which delighted Leilin greatly.
In one corner of the space lay a scattered heap of gold coins and gemstones, estimated to be worth tens of thousands in gold kro — though they were the least valuable pile of the lot.
"So many… so many high-grade spellcasting materials, and spellbooks…"
Leilin's smile widened even further. These were things that money alone could never buy. And when he spotted several ancient scrolls, his grin stretched to its absolute limit.
These ancient scrolls bore intricate patterns, and the scrolls themselves appeared to be crafted from the hide of some creature — even bearing traces of scales on the surface.
As Leilin ran his fingers across the scroll's surface, he sensed a faint field of spiritual intimidation.
"This is dragon might!!! These scrolls — their material is dragon skin!"
Leilin's eyes gleamed as he slowly unrolled a scroll.
[Beep! Spiritual Power data detected. Commencing scan!]
Within the scroll lay an abundance of arcane circuits and text in vastly different scripts — a method of information storage capable of compressing vast amounts of text and data onto a surface no larger than a single scroll. Though some form of encryption was present, it was trivial in Leilin's eyes. The Chip's notification sounded immediately.
[Decryption complete! Initiating memory sector transfer!]
Accompanied by the Chip's voice, the first thing Leilin saw was a line of text — "On the Arcane Circuit Structures Within Low-Level Mage Towers…"
"So this is the material Boruger prepared for his mage tower?"
Leilin skimmed through the remaining scrolls. Aside from some techniques for constructing mage towers, there were also the creation methods for defensive golems and constructs.
"I never expected that Boruger was also a master of golems. What a pity... but all his preparations now belong to me..."
Leilin harbored his own ambitions. As a mage, the benefits a mage tower could provide on the path of advancement were beyond imagination.
"Speaking of which, there seems to be a large batch of raw materials on the Borti Islands that Marquis Louis prepared for the mage tower, especially that batch of mithril and adamantine. It's practically priceless!"
Leilin made a silent decision, then stowed the Dimensional Bag away and turned his attention to several other items.
The light of Appraisal flickered from Leilin's hand one after another.
"A wand stocked with Magic Missile, and an Anti-Detection Cloak? Not bad..."
Leilin appraised them one by one, until his gaze finally settled on a black ring.
After the light of Appraisal flashed, a layer of information was directly revealed, then digitized by the Chip and presented before Leilin's eyes.
[Item Name: Mage's Ring. Weight: 11 grams. Material: Obsidian, Mage Alloy, Dragon Blood. Effect: +1 to all spell slots of 5th level and below (Mage only). Description: A ring possessing great magical power, one that could easily arouse the covetousness of other beings. Its material seems to have the potential for further advancement; perhaps you simply need a master alchemist!]
"This ring must be Boruger's best piece of equipment!"
Leilin sighed, "Compared to the legendary artifact capable of adding +1 to all of a mage's spell slots — the Lich's Ring — of course it's far inferior, but for a low-level mage, it's practically a divine artifact!"
Boruger's equipment alone was estimated by Leilin to be worth a staggering five hundred thousand gold coins!
This went to show that mages were indeed rolling in gold, especially high-level ones. Any random piece of equipment they carried could sell for an astronomical price!
"This ring!"
Leilin ran his fingers over the surface of the black ring. From it, he sensed a trace of faint Spiritual Power.
"Dragon blood was incorporated into this ring during its forging, but it seems to be mixed with other things..." Leilin pondered. "If combined with other rare materials, it certainly has room for improvement, but my current mage level isn't high enough..."
After several scans and confirmations, Leilin directly placed the Mage's Ring on his left hand. At that moment, his data became: [Leilin Falan. Age: 16. Race: Human. Level 10 Mage. Strength: 5.2. Agility: 6.5. Physique: 6.3. Spiritual Power: 10. Status: Healthy. Possessed Talents: Strong, Versatile. Possessed Spell Slots: 4th-level slots (3), 3rd-level slots (5), 2nd-level slots (7), 1st-level slots (???), 0-level slots (???)]
For a mage, every additional spell slot represented a significant boost in power.
Leilin could well imagine that if the existence of this ring were discovered by other mages, he would certainly face a great deal of trouble.
"Perhaps I should add some kind of concealment to it — at least it shouldn't radiate such a strong magical glow. It's practically a target…"
……
The setting sun was like blood.
Off the coast of Haige Island, the sea was now littered with the shattered remains of countless ships.
One could even see a large number of dead sailors from the Bodhi Islands floating in the water. Some of the corpses had swollen enormously from being soaked in seawater, presenting a truly horrifying sight.
A flag bearing the insignia of Marquis Louis's forces drifted up and down among the waves, a large section of its edge burned away.
After a brief period of rest and reorganization, Leilin and Orgert each led their remaining forces, steering the Black Skull and Tiger Shark's main warships straight into the rear of the armed fleet.
The armed fleet had already been struggling to cope with the tide of pirates. Leilin and Orgert were fresh forces, and their entry into the battle immediately shifted the situation dramatically.
Caught in a pincer attack, the armed fleet was routed almost at once. Even the commander-in-chief was struck by a cannonball and killed on the spot.
Ship after ship was sunk, and the sailors of the Bodhi Islands suffered countless casualties.
In the dying glow of the sunset, the two pirate crews slowly raised their signal flags and withdrew from the battlefield one after another.
In the days ahead, they would split up to raid every territory and port belonging to Marquis Louis, making up for this round's losses and lining their pockets with a fortune!
"Our honeymoon with the Barbarian Pirates is over…"
Watching the other crew sail away, Leilin let out a long breath as he stood on the deck.