“There isn’t a single record of your people in the outside world,” Valsa said.
“There is a strange magnetic field surrounding our island.
Any ship that approaches automatically veers off course and passes around the island.
That’s why almost no humans have set foot here for all these years.”
“Until four hundred years ago, when an adventurer named Mont Blanc Noland happened to arrive here.
He became acquainted with us, but he promised that he would never reveal anything about this place.
That is probably why there are no records of us.
As for records from even earlier times, they may have already disappeared with the passage of time.”
“Mont Blanc Noland!
Isn’t that the Liar King?” Kweiv exclaimed.
The others also looked surprised.
Clearly, they had all heard the story.
“The Liar King?
What do you mean?” The Mountain Spirit Chief frowned, utterly confused.
“The Liar King Noland was executed by his country’s king for lying and deceiving him about the existence of the City of Gold.”
“Impossible!
I spent a long time with Noland.
He was not a man who would lie.” The Mountain Spirit Chief spoke with absolute certainty.
“But that story has been passed down throughout the world for hundreds of years…”
“Hahahaha!
Chief, you’re right.
All those stories about Noland that you read as children were wrong.
Noland wasn’t lying.
The Golden City of Shandora really does exist.
I’ll take you there someday.”
Hearing the argument, Valsa burst into laughter.
“Eh?!”
The crew were instantly dumbfounded, their minds buzzing for quite a while before they finally recovered.
How does the Captain know everything?!
Just like the Captain!
Quans, however, frowned deeply.
The Captain grew up in the Kingdom of Lenk, and not a single person around him knew about this.
So where did he learn it?
“Hahahaha!
Thank you, Captain.
Thank you for defending Noland.”
The Mountain Spirit Chief was delighted.
After chatting with Valsa for a while, he led them away to rest.
It was already late at night, after all.
Valsa sat beside his bed.
Through the wooden window, his gaze passed through the branches and leaves of the towering trees and settled on the bright moon hanging high in the night sky.
Have I really been at sea for this long already?
Valsa came back to his senses.
With a thought, he opened his status panel.
[Template: The Boss / Sett]
[Template Progress: 66%]
[Unlocked Skills: [Pit Grit], [Knuckle Down], [Haymaker], [Facebreaker], [The Show Stopper]]
[Available Skill Points: 1]
Sure enough, after killing the giant shark, his template progress had leaped to 66%, increasing by nearly 20%.
[The Show Stopper] was his newest unlocked skill.
[The Show Stopper]: Rapidly rushes toward an enemy, grabs them, and leaps high into the air before violently slamming them into the ground.
Deals extremely high damage over a massive area.
Enemies around the point of impact take damage and are slowed, with damage increasing the closer they are to the center.
As for the newly added skill point, it should have been awarded once the template reached 60%.
After all, in the game, all of Sett’s abilities had already been unlocked.
Valsa focused his thoughts on the description of the available skill point.
[Skill Point]: Allows an unupgraded skill to be upgraded, greatly improving all aspects of the skill and granting it a new ability.
Valsa rubbed his chin and quietly pondered.
I only have one skill point right now, and I don’t even know whether I’ll be able to obtain another one later.
I need to think carefully about this.
Valsa propped his chin on one hand and thought it over.
Haymaker is my primary means of attack.
After upgrading it, no matter what new ability it gains, its basic attributes should improve considerably.
That alone will give my strength a huge boost.
Having made up his mind, Valsa no longer hesitated.
With a thought, he tapped the plus sign beside [Haymaker].
In an instant, the entire panel burst into golden light.
Originally, the words [Haymaker] had been black.
After the upgrade, they turned gold.
Valsa looked at the description again.
Nothing had changed at the beginning.
But at the very end, an additional line of golden text had appeared:
“[Haymaker]’s casting range continuously changes according to the user’s strength.
The greater the user’s strength, the larger the range.
When the user casts [Haymaker], all hostile witnesses in the surrounding area will be intimidated for one second and rendered unable to move.”
The upgrade was complete.
The visual effect was quite impressive.
Valsa repeatedly examined his new ability, carefully considering what its new effect meant.
He had actually already noticed the first part before.
As his strength continued to increase, the range of [Haymaker] had also increased.
As for the second part, when Valsa first saw it, he thought it was somewhat useless.
But after thinking about it carefully…
Wouldn’t this be practically invincible in a large-scale battle?
If a massive battle broke out, as the Captain, he would certainly be fighting the enemy leader.
And the battle between the commanders of two opposing forces would undoubtedly be the most eye-catching part of the battlefield.
No one would be able to resist looking over.
On top of that, the spectacle created by [Haymaker] was enormous.
It would definitely draw the attention of countless people.
And the moment they looked toward him, every single one of them would be stunned for one second.
During that instant, the crew members fighting them could immediately overwhelm their opponents.
At the very least, they could leave them severely injured.
Best of all, the effect only targeted the enemy side.
That’s the best part of the ability.
Thinking of this, Valsa’s mood became considerably more cheerful.
There would naturally be no shortage of large-scale battles in the future.
He would clash with both Marines and pirates countless times.
With such an incredible ability, his path toward conquest would become much smoother.
But just then—
A sudden change occurred.
The earth began to tremble violently.
The surrounding rocks and mountains shook, sending stones tumbling down as dust filled the air.
Everyone hurried out of their rooms and headed toward the tribe’s central square.
By the time Valsa arrived, quite a few people were already there.
The Chief was staring anxiously toward the rear mountain.
At that moment, the officers of the Overlord Pirates also arrived one after another.
“Captain!”
Valsa gave them a slight nod.
At the same time, Ang Lance arrived carrying his longbow, followed by a large group of Mountain Spirit warriors armed with longbows.
Because of their physically weak bodies, the Mountain Spirits had developed their combat abilities primarily around ranged attacks.
The Chief let out a deep sigh.
His eyes gleamed as he looked at Ang Lance.
“Lance, something has happened to the ancestral land again.
It looks like the seal is weakening once more.”
He then took a deep breath before suddenly bowing deeply toward Valsa.
“Captain, to be completely honest with you, when our ancestors came to this island, another Mountain Demon came with them.”
“He was extremely powerful.
Because of this, our ancestors used the power of a powerful sacred artifact to seal him in the rear mountain.”
“Our ancestors perished because of it.”
“I, Lox Adal, humbly ask you to help us seal this demon once again!”
The entire scene fell silent.
No one even dared to breathe too loudly as they quietly waited for Valsa’s response.
Every member of the Mountain Spirit tribe stared at Valsa nervously.
The Mountain Spirit warriors were especially worried, because they knew exactly how powerful that demon was.
If they confronted it themselves, they would only be walking to their deaths.
Valsa smiled faintly.
“Chief, you should understand that we’re pirates.
We’re recognized as villains of the sea.”
“Besides, we don’t know what kind of abilities this so-called Mountain Demon possesses.
And if even your ancestors couldn’t defeat him, do you really expect someone as insignificant as me to defeat him?”
“Captain, I can sense that the power contained within your body is incredibly formidable.
Meanwhile, after being worn down by countless years of being sealed, the Mountain Demon has very little strength remaining.”
“For this reason, I’m willing to offer you a reward.”
“Shiri, bring it here.”
◇ THE STORY DOESN’T END HERE…
◇
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