A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 8 Shadows on the Ship

When did you sneak over here?

Jiang Shuzhou dodged the attack, but the pirate's knife struck the wooden crate behind him, penetrating deep into the wood.

You chopped pretty hard, but your turn is over, now it's my turn!

Jiang Shuzhou swung his axe backhand.

"puff."

The sharp blade entered the body, going in through the shoulder and exiting through the waist.

The person who had just ambushed him is now in two pieces.

These numbers are amazing, everyone!

After playing games with complex controls for so many years, I'm finally getting to play with numerical values ​​today.

While it's a bit strange that a mage's melee stats are so high, it doesn't seem to make much difference when you think about it. After all, Jiang Shuzhou is a mage who wields an axe, while there are mages in a certain game who wield hammers.

Now no one can pose a threat to Jiang Shuzhou. Captain Jayne's shot missed Jiang Shuzhou, and his only remaining henchman is the cook.

It's now!

Sprint! Sprint!

Jiang Shuzhou strode forward, heading straight for Captain Jayne.

"So young, so incredibly young!"

Captain Jayne looked at the cook beside him and saw that the cook was holding a bow and arrow, and had already nocked the arrow, just waiting for Jiang Shuzhou to fall into the trap.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Three arrows shot at once, three arrows aimed at the rapidly running Jiang Shuzhou.

I'm so fed up with you bunch of idiots!

Did they really think of a tactic of sending their men to their deaths while they themselves fired empty shots to lure me out?

Hack Ship, you're really despicable now, trying to survive!

Just when Jiang Shuzhou thought his life was over.

Ugh?

It doesn't hurt!

Slowing down and looking at himself, Jiang Shuzhou found that he was perfectly fine, as if he hadn't been hit by an arrow at all.

Did it miss?

Haki kitchen, Haki ship!

You all deserve to die too. Remember, next time you're an NPC, don't go against me!

Captain Jain and his cook were utterly devastated. What had they just witnessed? Was this still a mage? I hit all three of my arrows, and they bounced off?

"No! I don't believe it!"

The cook was not convinced, so he quickly drew his bow and shot two more arrows in the blink of an eye.

Huh? So it wasn't that the shot missed, but that it didn't penetrate the defense!

Battle Mage! Kid!

I knew it! One cook had caused a huge mess.

At this moment, Jiang Shuzhou had already rushed to the nearest point.

He swung the axe and chopped, one blow from the bottom and he was dead.

Soon, the chef had already collected his lunchbox.

Next up is Captain Jayne.

"No...no...don't kill my brother, he has a wife to support, he has a son..."

Captain Jayne was still clinging to life.

"No wonder you're the boss of the beginner level. Everyone else just falls asleep and can't say a word, but you can still chat with me for a bit," Jiang Shuzhou exclaimed.

"Huh? Is your brother Baker?"

"Don't...kill him...I...beg...you."

Seeing that Captain Jayne was about to die, Jiang Shuzhou decided to help him.

With a quick scan, Jiang Shuzhou found his target. In just a few seconds, he walked up to Captain Jayne with both heads in his hands.

He crouched down so that Captain Jayne could see the head's face.

"Don't worry, I'm not heartless. Come on, take a look and see which one is your brother?"

However, Captain Jain was clearly not very satisfied with this.

"You'll die a horrible death! You devil!"

After saying this, Captain Jayne breathed his last and died.

That's enough. I even went out of my way to send you down to reunite with your brothers.

Is this how you repay me?

Jiang Shuzhou sighed, "Alas, it's just me all alone again."

After sighing, Jiang Shuzhou picked up the pocket watch to check the time.

Hmm, I can't see clearly. The pocket watch is covered in blood, and the hands seem to be broken; the second hand keeps swinging.

Sigh, forget it, let's look at the beautiful women and handsome men instead. While the rain was falling, Jiang Shuzhou washed the photos off his pocket watch.

You know what, the family on the pocket watch is actually quite good-looking; the man is handsome, the woman is pretty, and the little one is adorable.

Unfortunately, the family has passed away and can never be reunited.

Thinking of this, raindrops slid down Jiang Shuzhou's chin as he stood in the rain, and he felt sad.

"I should reunite them."

This is a promise to Captain Jayne, and also a promise to First Mate Baker.

Sigh! I'm just too kind, otherwise there wouldn't be so many problems.

While thinking, Jiang Shuzhou didn't forget his work, his hands frantically groping the captain's body.

Don't get me wrong, he doesn't have any special hobbies. He's just looting corpses. It's just that Captain Jayne has so many good things on him that it's taking him a little long to search.

"How do I take off this leather armor? Oh my god! There's chainmail underneath!"

We've struck it rich! We've struck it rich!

Now it's time to settle the loot!

Two gold rings, a pirate scimitar, leather and chainmail upper body armor, a finely crafted flintlock pistol, and five gold coins.

But none of that matters. What matters is that he has a boat now!

Putting aside how many gold coins this ship is worth, after all, he can't sail it alone.

This only includes the supplies on the ship and the weapons in the armory.

These things are enough for Jiang Shuzhou to make a fortune.

Indeed, a horse won't get fat without night grass, and a person won't get rich without unexpected wealth.

Besides, I'm doing this to rid the people of a scourge! Jiang Shuzhou thought to himself.

The bodies have been searched; now it's time to search the ship's cabins.

After searching for a while, Jiang Shuzhou arrived at a half-open door.

Upon opening the door, Jiang Shuzhou glanced at the furnishings inside the room, then his eyes lit up. The room's decor was clearly better than the others, and it was most likely the captain's room.

It's common knowledge that pirate ship sailors may not have much of a good stuff, but the captain certainly does.

He also opened a treasure chest. He casually chopped open a chest and saw what was inside.

Unfortunately, it didn't contain the treasure Jiang Shuzhou had imagined, but rather a large stack of letters.

Curious about the contents, Jiang Shuzhou opened the envelope and began to read them one by one.

The first thing that catches the eye is a letter from the Mentu family to Captain Jayne, in which Captain Jayne is asked to kidnap Navis Lebo at the port, who is Jiang Shuzhou's game character. After the kidnapping, he is to be sold to a fishman tribe. The letter does not say what happens after that, but Jiang Shuzhou knows with his toes that it is not a good thing.

The following letters contained little information, but without exception, they all recorded Captain Jayne's shady dealings with the Mentu family, such as how many people were killed that day and how much money was stolen.

Most of these letters were Captain Jain's reports to the Mentu family.

"Looks like Captain Jayne isn't exactly honest either."

With a sigh, Jiang Shuzhou continued looking down.

The subsequent letters revealed Captain Jayne's past and confirmed some of Jiang Shuzhou's suspicions.

To put it simply, the story of Captain Jayne and First Mate Baker can be summarized as follows.

Jayne and Baker were good brothers born in a rural village in the Ovi Empire. They were both from poor backgrounds and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, would have lived ordinary, uneventful lives.

Then, unsurprisingly, an accident occurred. One day, a major event happened in the city. The letter didn't say what the major event was, but based on the later text, it was most likely a rebellion or something similar.

No matter what happened, the two brothers were chosen by the lord, so they enlisted in the army and became proud soldiers.

Although he was just a low-ranking soldier, his life was hundreds of times better than in the countryside. At least he had enough to eat and could eat meat every month.

Normally, if nothing unexpected had happened, their lives would have ended like this. But unfortunately, nothing unexpected could have happened. No one knows what happened afterward, but in any case, the lord was gone.

The two soldiers, who were supposed to be guarding the city, failed to defend it, and their lord was also killed.

So what should we do?

Jayne had an idea. He decided to run away as fast as he could, as far away as possible, or they would definitely be wiped out.

So the two of them ran away and ended up here. They were then discovered by the Mentu family. In order to support their families, or rather, to get rich, whatever their reasons, the two of them chose to serve the Mentu family and became their black gloves, specializing in handling things that the Mentu family couldn't handle themselves.

It was through these letters that Jiang Shuzhou learned of the strength of the Mentu family.

The "famous" Mentu family has only one second-tier mage and one first-tier mage in the entire family.

"It seems my next opponent will be the Mentu family."