Chapter Thirteen Equivalent Exchange

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  Under the encouragement of Cohen's generous scattering of gold coins, the sailors' repair speed increased greatly, so just two hours later, the merchant ship was barely able to resume sailing and immediately changed direction towards Rhodes Island.

  After that, Cohen's first act was to extend a warm invitation to Lin Taiping to come over for dinner, but what made him somewhat regretful was that Lin Taiping declined his enthusiastic invitation and instead stayed on the Black Pearl to attend to various matters.

  In these matters, the first to be dealt with were of course the pirate captives. Under Kristin and Ox-Head's fierce intimidation, the pirates obediently handed over their loot from all these years, even having their gold fillings knocked out and taken away. This left them shivering in the cold wind, tears streaming down their faces as they couldn't help but wonder who were the real pirates after all.

  In fact, the vulture wanted to resist: "Damn little white face, do you know who we are? If Blood Eye finds out about this, you'll all be sent to feed the sharks!"

  What a nagging guy, Lin Taiping didn't want to say anything anymore. A few seconds later, Tulou walked over with the stone pillar on his shoulder, his eyes glowing green as he licked his lips: "Hmm, I'm a bit hungry, Lin, do you think pirates are edible?"

  Very good, very powerful. The vulture that was just stubbornly refusing to yield has immediately surrendered with tears in its eyes. It not only voluntarily offered the pirate ship as a gift but also handed over its own treasure map. In the end, it even desperately raised its hand to indicate that it and its subordinates were willing to go to Rhodes Island immediately to become the gold coins, milk powder, and diapers needed by Lady Kirstin...

  "That's right." Lin Taiping patted his shoulder in comfort, starting to calculate how much he had earned. "Let me see, one pirate ship, plus the bounty for capturing pirates, plus their annual loot... and a catapult... damn it, there were originally two, Kristin, can't you be gentler?"

  Forget the catapult that was smashed, Lin Taiping finally made a surprising discovery, he had earned more than 3,000 gold coins in total. To be honest, for a moment, he felt that he didn't need to do business anymore, and from now on, he could just rob pirates to get rich, if all the pirates were as weak as the vultures.

  Unfortunately, according to Kirsten's words, the vulture was just a subordinate of Pirate Captain Blood Eye, and at most, he was only a Bronze Initial Swordsman. However, behind his back, that infamous Captain Blood Eye had several pirate ships and hundreds of pirates, and even himself was a Bronze Mid-rank Berserker.

  "Alright, doing business is more suitable for me." Doused with a bucket of cold water, Lin Taiping could only temporarily give up on his black market dealings. In fact, through this encounter at sea, he also came to the realization that relying solely on Kristin and a few dozen Minotaurs would not be enough for him to dominate the Horned Sea region.

  In fact, the entire Kancolle world, including the Horikawa Maru, is far more powerful than imagined!

  In this perilous and complex world of magic, all combat occupations such as warriors, mages, thieves, archers, etc. are uniformly divided into six major levels, commonly referred to as - Bronze Level, Black Iron Level, White Silver Level, Golden Level, Secret Silver Level, and Purple Gold Level. In addition, within each major level, they are further divided into four minor levels: Initial Stage, Mid-Stage, High-Stage, and Peak Stage.

  For example, Tuqia is a bronze lower-level swordsman, Tulu is a bronze mid-level berserker, and the rest of the Minotaur people are lingering on the edge of the bronze mid-level. As for Kirsten... well, it's hard to judge her strength and profession. Anyway, according to what she says herself, whatever profession or level is nonsense, just pick up the big iron anchor and smash it over!

  It's precisely because of this that defeating Bald Eagle, a Bronze Lower-rank swordsman, really isn't anything to brag about, just as Kirsten said. Even in the weakest of the Seven Seas, the Horned Sea, there exist those stronger than the Minotaur people, such as the pirate captain Blood Eye behind Bald Eagle, who is a Bronze Mid-rank Berserker and will soon break through to High-rank.

  To know, between Bronze Middle and Bronze High, although it seems like only a small rank apart, in actual combat, it's worlds apart. To put it bluntly, if that pirate captain Blood Eye really broke through to the high rank, he wouldn't even need other pirates' human wave tactics to easily behead Turo, the Minotaur tribe leader.

  In fact, a certain authoritative university scholar had conducted an experiment before, and according to his repeated statistical arguments, for every small rank upgrade, depending on the warrior's profession, their strength or agility or magic would soar by 32.765%…… Cough cough, how boring is this?

  "So, Turo, you still need to work harder." Lin Taiping turned his head irresponsibly and patted Turo's shoulder, saying with a serious tone, "You know, in my hometown, powerful Ox-heads are very popular, loved by everyone, and in short supply, especially during the Lower Refining Period."

  "Moooo, Lin, don't worry!" Turu gnawed on a large piece of smoked meat and patted his chest vigorously. "You know, we were too poor before, all our time was spent finding food. I swear on my beloved cow horn, as long as I have enough time and resources, I'll quickly break through to Bronze High Rank, guaranteed... wait, what's a dungeon?"

  Without explanation, Lin Taiping happily stroked his chin, but then looked thoughtful and lowered his head to look at his left hand.

  Under the golden sunlight, on his left hand's index finger, that damaged ring which had just played a huge role was shining with a faint light. Yes, no one would have guessed that in this seemingly ordinary-looking ring, there was hidden an earth-shattering secret that could drive people crazy.

  Gods? Offerings? This kind of thing can only deceive the indigenous people who are faithful and devout. In Lin Taiping's view, the essence of this ring is just four words - equivalent exchange!

  That's right, to put it bluntly, it's an equivalent exchange. One party pays a large amount of magic crystals and the other party provides various help within the allowed range of rules. As for what the divine spirit is and why it appears in this ring, who cares about such things? As long as they are willing to cooperate, that's all that matters.

  In fact, Lin Taiping is now more concerned about what kind of help these gods can provide, rather than discussing their origins. Six magic crystals were exchanged for temporary navigation expertise, so what if they were exchanged for six hundred? Moreover, it's worth noting that the ring doesn't just hold one god, apart from the sea god, what other blessings will the other gods provide?

  Of course, these issues need to be understood through research, at least after buying enough magic crystals. One magic crystal costs 100 gold coins, sixty magic crystals cost 6,000 gold coins, and if it's six hundred magic crystals... uh?

  He was absorbed in calculating the cost when he turned his head inadvertently and saw not far away from the ship's side, Kirsten was busy changing clean clothes for the pirates who died in the sea battle, and then sent them to a wide wooden board.

  "What are you doing?" Lin Taiping couldn't help but walk over, looking at Kristen silently and intently busy, "Huh, are you holding a funeral for them?"

  "That's right, this is a traditional sea burial." Kristen sighed softly and placed flowers beside several pirates, then gently pushed the wooden board into the ocean. "No matter how it was on the battlefield, but after the battle is over, giving them a decent sea burial, I think that's my responsibility."

  Okay, Lin Taiping was indeed surprised. In his impression, this beautiful and powerful royal sister had always been the type who liked to swing a big iron anchor and smash things randomly, but he never thought that she would also have such a gentle, considerate, and even sentimental side.

  "I just hope that when I die someday, others will treat me the same way." Kristen tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear and watched as the wooden board drifted further out to sea. "Life is so short, no matter what they did while alive, but after death they all return to the ocean, becoming foam and part of the sea... Oh, boss, can I get my bonus this time?"

  It was great and powerful, the philosopher sister who was still grieving just a moment ago suddenly changed to a big topic shift. This change really made Lin Taiping feel very uncomfortable, so much so that he suddenly felt his brain was a bit short-circuited.

  But the next moment, when he saw Kristen's expectant and pitiful eyes, he immediately nodded seriously: "Of course, you did a great job this time. I've decided to give you an extra 300 gold coins as a reward."

  "Hurray!" Kristin cheered excitedly, her bright eyes shining with golden light. "Three hundred gold coins, plus this month's salary, I can get a total of... Hmm, boss, can you talk to Mr. Cohen about it? I remember he opened a baby store, formula, diapers, books, toys and whatnot, how about giving us an 80% discount? A 90% discount would be barely acceptable too."

  As expected, this is the real Kirsten! Lin Taiping wiped his cold sweat with a black line on his forehead. However, at this moment, the Korn merchant ship traveling in front suddenly slowed down and soon sent out flag signals, which seemed to indicate that Rhode Island was about to arrive.

  In fact, just half an hour later, the outline of a medium-sized sea island appeared in the fog. Without Lin Taiping asking anything, Kristin opened her eyes wide and recited the detailed information about Rhodes Island in one breath -

  "Rhode Island, vast in area and rich in resources, is the starting point of the Golden Route of the Horned Sea. The lord who governs this island, Lord Philip, has a good reputation for his governance and prestige, with no flaws except for his fondness for beauty and indulgence... From 'Geography of the Horned Sea', sir, do you have any other questions?"

  Nothing more to ask, Lin Taiping was speechless and looked up at the sky, thinking that he might as well go buy a copy of "Horned Whale Domain Geography" to take a look. However, in any case, after three days of arduous navigation, he could finally set foot on land, which was indeed a rare piece of good news.

  In the midst of such grumbling, the Black Pearl had followed Cohen's merchant ship into the harbor of Rhode Island, where at least a hundred or more merchant ships were anchored in the spacious and sparkling port. Sweat-drenched merchants rushed to and fro, urging dockworkers to hurry up with the unloading of cargo, but even so, the mountains of goods seemed as if they would never be cleared.

  Just from these details, it can be seen how prosperous Rhodes' business is. Toru poked his cow head out of the cabin and stared at the goods with a mad look on his face: "The Dark God is above, this place is much richer than the Devil's Island, if we rob here, maybe we won't go hungry for the rest of our lives."

  It's just that, a large group of cow-headed people with green lights in their eyes nodded continuously. Before the Black Pearl had even come to a complete stop, they couldn't wait to rush out of the cabin and jump ashore like dumplings: "Lin, what are you waiting for? Are we going to Cohen's house for dinner first or Kristin's house for a midnight snack?"

  "Excuse me, will your brain secrete stomach acid?" Lin Taiping couldn't help but make a sarcastic comment, yet he scratched his hair thoughtfully, feeling strange that he always felt like he had missed an important question, but what was it...

  Okay, a few seconds later, suddenly tell him what happened and what was missed——

  At this moment, looking at the thirty burly Minotaur-like creatures, wielding totem stone pillars and jumping ashore with ferocity, the entire port suddenly fell silent, merchants, stevedores, and residents all collectively stunned like wooden chickens.

  Silence! Eerie silence! Deathly silence!

  In an instant, it was unclear who led the way, but hundreds of voices suddenly let out a shrill scream in unison, followed by a chaotic and terrifying scene of people scrambling to flee, such that half a minute later, the once bustling port was suddenly empty, with only a few leaves drifting gently in the wind.

  "As expected, I forgot something very important." Lin Taiping wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and couldn't help but let out a long sigh. "Turu, trouble you to go back first... And put down that roasted suckling pig, at least pay for it before eating!"

  PS: This chapter is almost 4,000 words again. Originally wanted to split it up, but after thinking about it, I decided to release it all at once. Please collect, click and vote to support, thank you everyone.