Normal red mullets were unable to use such a tactic. But these weren’t normal fish to begin with. They were aquatic beasts who were attracted by the flag’s aura. The presence of Zyrus’s fleet was like a lighthouse in their senses.

  “Protect the ropes and push them back,” Zyrus commanded as he looked down from the mast. Apart from Franken who held the wheel and 100 ophidian warriors who were managing the sails, his warship was empty without a single player.

  ‘The ships are holding better than I thought,’

  Gallons of blood were absorbed by the red wood that was used in crafting them. It was an unexpected surprise seeing how effective that was. As long as a fish was injured, its blood would flow towards the ships. The whole fleet was transformed into a hungry beast that sought the blood of enemies. The engraved runes were smoothly performing their tasks as well, giving the players some breathing room.

  Zyrus had taught them to engrave dozens of basic spells on the logs. They were inferior to the spells cast by living players, but still, there were thousands of such runes that were activated with the players’ mana. The sheer quantity more than made up for the lack in quality.

  “Focus on the runes for speed and barrier. We need to leave before the blood attracts bigger predators.”

  “Roger that.”

  While Zyrus gave out one command after another, Ria made sure that they were executed. The fleet worked like a well-oiled machine after months of coordinated mock practice.

  The players had been absorbing the new knowledge like a sponge. With prior training it didn’t take long before they got used to fighting on the ships.

  The schools of fish attacked them in wave after wave until they crossed the range of 10 kilometers. Only when the sun was halfway up in the sky did they cease their relentless assault. Few longboats were damaged while less than a hundred players were injured. Such results could be said to have been miraculous for their first clash.

  “As you’ve noticed, the fish you fought earlier weren’t considered 'monsters' by the system. You won't earn much, if any, Exp from them. Besides, it is imperative to conserve your Stamina and MP while you’re on the ocean. Even if you sustain some injuries, never go all out unless it’s a life-or-death situation.”

  Zyrus lectured them as the fleet sailed on the quiet ocean. Some things were better experienced firsthand. Only after fighting on the sea would they realize how dangerous this place is. Sharing this knowledge early on would only confuse the players.

  “One more thing, do not drink or eat anything that hasn’t been purified with magic. I’ve placed all the healers and fire mages on the galleons. Take the collected fish to the ones nearby you.”

  “Roger that,” A uniform shout answered his order. The nervous players relaxed a bit after hearing his words.

  The unknown was terrifying. There was no rhyme or reason behind the fish’s attack. A journey like this would put immense psychological burden on the players. The role of the leader was thus all the more important.

  It took nerves of steel to sail on a foreign ocean. More than any skills or equipment, the players needed a pillar of support to keep their sanity. Zyrus understood this better than anyone. It wasn’t for no reason that the dragon of war was acting as a vanguard.

  ‘Looks like there aren’t any monsters in the nearby area,’

  Zyrus deactivated his eyes of annihilation and sat down on the mast. Now, it was time to decide on their destination.

  At the moment they started their journey on the ocean, he had received the second mission from the cube. Zyrus placed his arm on his chest to take out the cube. In the next instance, an intense red glow filled his vision and created a familiar, fragmented tab. Red motes of light wove around the white shards of energy and created rows of text.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  More than half a year had passed since he arrived at the sanctuary. Including the six months he had spent on earth before coming to the sanctuary, it had been over a year since his regression.

  A lot had happened in this short time. The cube hovering above his chest was at the center of it all.

  Zyrus knew that the next words on the screen would determine the direction of his journey. And in the grand scheme of things, they would also determine the fate of Sanctuary.

  [Mission: Gain the acknowledgment of ?????]

  [You must reach the bottom of the ocean to meet ????]

  [Reward: Obtain the talent “Devour (A rank)”, Obtain the ??? stat]

  Zyrus contemplated after reading the text. He had thought about a lot of possible missions and their rewards, but both were completely out of his expectations.

  ‘How and whom do I gain the acknowledgment from? And what’s up with the new stat?’

  He seriously doubted his past knowledge after seeing the mention of a new stat. As far as he knew; heck, as far as all arcanists knew, no one in the sanctuary had an additional stat. Even if he did gain a unique stat, he was almost 100% sure that it would be nerfed in the sanctuary.

  There was no way that the system would allow such a huge imbalance in power between him and the other players.

  ‘If I’m right, then the talent might be nerfed as well,’

  The one in charge of this mission should be as strong as or even stronger than Nidraxis. Zyrus was sure that someone who surpassed the limits of the sanctuary wouldn’t have a measly A-grade talent. Perhaps these were the minimum guaranteed rewards and he could gain something more depending on the situation.

  Another possible scenario could be that the talent Devour was extremely specific. It might have a lot of restrictions as well, as only then would its rating be justified.

  ‘Regardless, no point in thinking about it now. At least the condition to activate the mission is simple.’

  Zyrus put down the cube and took out the map. It was drawn by him according to his memories, and as far as he knew, the bottom of the ocean wasn’t far off from the next islands. Knowing its approximate location didn’t mean that going there would be easy, far from it.

  The sole reason he said it was simple was due to a simple fact: Nothing was more difficult than searching for something on an ocean.

  Zyrus didn’t recall much about the terrain of the ocean surface. The ocean around the first three islands of Pisces archipelago was between 2000-3000 meters deep.

  It was for this reason that so many small fish lived in this area. After the first three islands, there was a steep decline on the ocean floor.

  The ocean would become dark blue with a depth of ~8000 meters. This sharp downward slope was created due to the continental shift. The first island was on the map of Kyros for a reason. Before it became a part of Pisces archipelago, it was a part of Kyros continent.

  This whole region was, in fact.

  Zyrus didn’t care about how or why the land sank in the past. There were too many mysteries hidden in the sanctuary. Even a millennia wasn’t enough to uncover all of them. With all the pending tasks he couldn’t afford to waste time on this.

  ‘I’ll have to go back to earth before starting this mission,’

  Zyrus purposefully didn’t raise his level in the last four months. The ocean was unpredictable, and thus, he couldn’t predict his exp gain on the journey to the second island.

  He had a clear plan to conquer the Earth’s land in one fell swoop. But in order to accomplish that, he had to pre-plan his level up to lv 25.

  Zyrus thought for a while about the two nearby islands. He more or less knew about their difficulty as well, so it was time to set the course.

  “All captains, assemble at the Dragon of War.”

  A booming voice echoed throughout the fleet. One by one the players jumped on ropes like monkeys and reached the giant warship. Apart from the captains on the three galleons, Zyrus had appointed captains for each Viking longboat as well.

  “First of all, memorize this map,” Zyrus called over a random player and gave him the map.

  “…Yes, Your Majesty,”

  “What, is there any problem?”

  “N-No.”

  Everyone stiffened their faces after looking at the ‘map’. Zyrus’s drawing skills were on the same level as a middle schooler, but it was enough to give them a rough idea.

  “As you can see, there are 16 islands on Pisces archipelago. That crescent-shaped island is known as the Land of Farnakht. It’s a large island whose population equals to 10% of Kyros continent. However, we can’t go there now since it’s separated by the mist barrier.”

  The players were awed by the new information. Unlike the 100 crown holders, the normal players hadn’t seen the Kyros continent’s map at the banquet. Just these islands on Pisces archipelago were huge in their eyes. Not to mention the land of Farnakht which was nearly 100 times larger than the island.

  And that place’s population only equaled to 10% of Kyros continent. Just how big was the continent then?

  “Back to the topic at hand, let’s talk about Pisces archipelago. We can divide these 16 islands into three parts based on the monsters’ level and the harsh terrain. Naturally, the deeper you go, the more dangerous the ocean will be.”