371 Treasure All Over Part 1 (1/2)

Everyone was listening carefully, especially Aini. He had tagged along because he wanted to learn through experience. He believed that he would definitely expand the scale of their hunting when he had a ship of his own in the future.

Although Irene had gotten first place the other day and pissed Sika off, she was, after all, a disciple of a prominent clan and understood the proprieties. She had signed a magic contract with Saleen, so in business, they had to advance and retreat together. Through hunting alone, she would be able to recover her initial wealth. Plus, Saleen had promised to give her a ship so she would not need to follow after him and get it by begging. Eventually, she would be able to build her own house and breakaway from her clan.

The four major clans were taken care by the imperial household and hence they were able to live fairly well-off. Now that she had to rely on Saleen and Viscountess Lex, it was a gamble, but it would be worth the bet.

Lex had enough capital to open up a new territory ten thousand miles away from the nation. If she were to develop the territory, it would not be just a prefecture.

Holy Rock City was unable to fend for itself. When the conflict with the Holy See exploded the following year, there would be no room to maneuver the situation. Now that Chanake the Great had passed away, the four major clans in Holy Rock City would lose half their family wealth. Even though the upper house would still be looking after them, everyone was aware that the upper house would be within Prince Safilos' reach.

It was unknown how many people from the younger generations of the four major clans were out looking for opportunities like Aini and Irene. If the younger generation were to take advantage of their clans, then there was the possibility of them merging before their clans fell. This would enable them to either to recover their family statuses or to build a new clan. The four major clans might have been wealthier than any noble family, but their best ranks were only earls. It would be nearly impossible to go against Safilos.

In the past, the emperor had never raised the ranks of these four major clans in order to control them. As long as they were given feudal estates, they would not be distressed even if they were only marquises.

What made Irene and Aini remain vigilant was that Safilos had already planned to control Phoenix. The fact that he had dared to interfere with a duchy meant that he did not carry much hope towards the future of the clans. Even if he continued to support the four major clans, he would not be the same as Chanake the Great, who had allowed them to exploit more than twenty percent of the empire's business.

Twenty percent of business was as profitable as things could get.

”Six hundred miles to the east is a strange hunting ground. I haven't been there this season, but I presume that the amount of red phosphorous prawn during this season will be greater than it is summer. Within a thousand-mile radius, there will be at least a hundred schools of them, and each school will not contain less than a million of them.”

”That's a lot!” Saleen had never thought that there would be billions of magic beasts in that hunting ground. He could not imagine that ever happening on land. However, it was understandable since there was a magic beast known as the unicorn white whale which hunted specifically for those kinds of magic beasts. The world always had balance. If there had not been such a huge amount, magic beasts like the unicorn white whale would have died of starvation.

”This is still the border of the oceanic ice block. We mainly need to avoid a few kinds of dangerous magic beasts. If you do not fight for food with these magic beasts, they will not attack your ship. Without this high-grade magic compass, even stronger warships would be sunk by the magic beasts.”

Saleen recalled the warship from the Second Dynasty that was on the seabed, deep down in the sea. That warship had been equipped with magic cannons but had still been sunk by magic beasts. Even if all of the thundercloud wood on that ship had been attacked with mid-level magic, the warship would not have sunk.

”Do not provoke the unicorn white whales. There are more than hundred of them in this area of the sea. They do not need to cast any spells to sink a warship of any scale. Besides, the most dangerous creature is the venus cuttlefish. This kind of magic beast can tear iron and steel, and they are very smart too. Plus, their size is enormous, so, their targets include whales, dolphins, and even large sharks.”

Bang!

Irene had yet to finish what she had to say when the pan's turtle alchemical boat suddenly shook vigorously. The magic array on the table flashed and showed the projection carried by the eye of the dead.

At the bottom of the alchemy ship, there was an over ten-meter-long creature ramming into the ship. The impact it produced was immense. The head of the magic beast was not visible, and its entire body was round and covered with spikes.

”Don't panic. It's a black bile fish. It likes to ram into things and will leave after a while,” Irene stopped Saleen's order to attack. ”Do not cause the prey to bleed in this area of the sea if it is not necessary. It will attract the daggers.

Saleen had learned a great deal of new knowledge over the past few days. The dagger was a small beast, but could become bigger than its own body when it opened its mouth. This beast would eat anything and everything. It would even attack powerful beasts when it was triggered by fresh blood. They had sharp teeth, and their teeth could crush any shell-bearing beasts.

”The daggers are my target.” Saleen smiled. With Banchajanna and his peculiar method of attack, he would be most effective against the low-grade beasts. The only downfall was that the attack could not be carried out around powerful beasts, as it would provoke scary creatures like the unicorn white whale. Banchajanna's attack would not have much of an effect, but it would draw unnecessary trouble.

Irene kept quiet because Saleen's smile revealed too much information. Saleen was very confident, and this had been built upon his strong foundation. In addition to grade-9 magic beasts, Saleen was confident in fighting other targets as well.

This included the daggers, the terrifying marine magic beasts that were unable to eat warships themselves, but were capable of destroying things on the exterior of the warships such as the rudder and runner blades. Once these two things were lost, any powerful warship would be stranded in oceanic ice block forever.

But the pan's turtle alchemical boat could be driven by the spirit pool, and most spirits were not afraid of physical attacks. The ship had no runner blades and instead advanced with a partially hidden water jet. As for the rudder, it could be fully retracted into the ship.