Chapter 1114: Pirates
Therefore, the Heart of the Ocean was definitely a coveted treasure for mages who cast water-series spells. As long as they wore the Heart of The Ocean as a magical accessory, their victory in a fight against an opponent of the same level would be guaranteed. As long as the opponent’s attacks did not exceed the tolerance limit of the Heart of The Ocean, it would be able to absorb them and replenish the mana of the mage wearing it.
Now, there was a massive Heart of The Ocean right in front of them, which was beyond their knowledge. Besides, it was merely the part that was exposed on the surface of the sea, and they no longer dared to imagine what there was beneath the sea.
After removing the stone shells, Lin Li dived to the bottom of the sea, and the crowd saw the massive Heart of The Ocean shaking and gradually rising out of the surface of the sea soon afterwards. Finally, when Lin Li came out of the sea holding the Heart of the Ocean, they managed to get a clear glimpse of its sheer size.
Of course, the Heart of The Ocean was not exaggeratedly large to the extent that it would extend all the way to the bottom of the sea, and was probably about 10-odd meters high and wide. However, even then, it was definitely enough to make the crowd rub their eyes to take a second look. If they exchanged that massive Heart of The Ocean for gold coins, they would probably have enough to buy a kingdom. If it was placed in Anril, it would definitely make all mages go mad and get into a frenzy. Many might even choose to specialize in water magic for the sake of it.
Holding the huge Heart of the Ocean gemstone, Lin Li flew back to The Star and placed it on the deck with a loud thud. Seeing this scene, the crowd was almost going to lose their minds. That’s the Heart of the Ocean, how can he just dump it onto the ground like that? What if it gets damaged…
“Everyone, like I said before, each one of you will get a share of this since we found it together.” Lin Li was generous enough to share the Heart of The Ocean with them, but of course the truth was that he knew very well in his heart that this Heart of The Ocean gemstone was only large in size, and a larger size did not mean that it was much more amazing. Besides, he could not make such a huge gemstone into a ring and wear it.
“President Felic, how can we do that? This Heart of The Ocean was discovered by you alone. How can we have the cheek to take it?” Many of them turned his offer down immediately, but they were just being polite as their glistening eyes were glued onto the Heart of The Ocean on the deck. Clearly, they didn’t really mean what they said.
Looking at their expressions, Lin Li smiled, and said, “Okay, everyone, just accept it.”
After saying that, Lin Li waved the Void Spear in his hand there and then on the deck. To their surprise, he was going to split the gemstone up right on the spot. The large Heart of The Ocean was quickly divided into fist-sized gemstones which he distributed to the crowd. Representatives of top forces like Claus, Alvin, and the others were given 10 pieces of the Heart of The Ocean each. Even Joseph, who had been urging them to hurry to the Gilded Kingdom, was given a share too.
At the end of the distribution, there were still more than 30 pieces of the Heart of The Ocean, each the size of a human head. However, no one was jealous and unhappy. After all, being able to get a share of the Heart of The Ocean was a godsend for them. After dividing the Heart of The Ocean, Lin Li waved his hand and swept the remaining pieces into the Ring of Endless Storm before instructing The Star to continue sailing.
Lin Li was not being a fool by sharing the Heart of The Ocean that he had found with the crowd. In fact, the pieces of Heart of The Ocean gemstone that he had given away were considered nothing to him. What he truly valued was the most central part of the Heart of The Ocean, which was actually the real Heart of The Ocean.
The formation process of the Heart of the Ocean was not like for other magical gemstones that were formed under heavy pressure over tens of millions of years. Instead, it started from a core, which was similar to other elemental lifeforms in nature. Over the years, the core would continue to absorb and accumulate water magical elements as if snowballing. When the accumulation reached a certain level, the Heart of the Ocean would truly become a water elemental life form. Once it was born, it would be the best of all.
The pieces of the Heart of The Ocean that Lin Li gave away were at best just polymers of the water element and the Heart of The Ocean in the usual sense. However, the core was the most valuable part, and was several times more powerful than the ones that he had given away. Apart from the great power it contained, its core was like a seed that could grow more Heart of The Ocean gemstones. As long as it was nurtured in a place with abundant water elements, it would constantly provide Heart of The Ocean gemstones.
The following part of the voyage of The Star was still mainly exploration, and sometimes it would deviate from the planned course. However, this time the people on the ship were no longer confused, and were instead looking forward to further exploration to see what other treasures Lin Li could find. Even Joseph, who had been urging them to hurry to the Gilded Kingdom, no longer said anything. On one hand, he knew that it would be useless to urge Lin Li as it might make everyone else angry. On the other hand, he also wanted to get more good items.
In fact, everyone knew that the Endless Ocean was very rich in resources, but looking for precious items in the Endless Ocean was not easy at all. First of all, they would be prone to encountering storms on the Endless Ocean, and they would also face the dangers posed by the marine beasts.
Even though things had been peaceful so far, and everything looked the same around them, Lin Li had given them an eyeopener on this journey, and they would have never imagined how Lin Li, the young president, could find something of value in a place that clearly seemed to be the same as everywhere else.
That half of the Heart of The Ocean was at least exposed on the surface of the sea, and despite the thick stone shell wrapped around it, it was still visible. However, Lin Li managed to find other precious aquatic plants and water gemstones that were hidden deep under the sea, and that was simply amazing.
Of course, it wasn’t amazing or magical to Lin Li. Be it the precious herbs or water gemstones under the sea, or even rare magical metals, they shared the same characteristic of having special magical waves. As an advanced Sanctuary powerhouse, Lin Li was much more sensitive to magical waves than the Legendary powerhouses. Finding some abnormal magical waves was simply a piece of cake for them.
More importantly, Lin Li was not only a mage. He also had high attainments in various fields like pharmaceutics, forging, jewelry, reconnaissance, and so on. Hence, based on the abnormal magical waves, he could easily determine what was hidden on the bottom of the sea. If he could only sense magical waves, even a tiny magical wave emitted by a small fish would halt The Star on its route.
Of course, while getting an eyeopener, the people also gained a lot of benefits. Despite being the representatives of large and medium-sized forces who had broad horizons, they were still extremely overjoyed at this moment. Azure magical metal and deep-sea crystals were precious things in the Endless Ocean that they could never buy from the Gilded Kingdom regardless of how much money they offered. However, they seemed to be encountering one at every turn here. It was simply a godsend.
The Star stayed in the sea for a few days, allowing Lin Li to investigate and obtain almost all of the precious and valuable things before finally sailing away and returning to their original route to the capital of the Gilded Kingdom. Around this course, ships had been coming and going for thousands of years, and anything of value had long been dug up by the Gilded Kingdom or someone else. Hence, Lin Li finally stopped his treasure hunt.
The Star continued sailing along the channel towards Four Seasons Island, where the capital of the Gilded Kingdom was located. After sailing for about another half month, they passed by several islands along the way, which meant that they had gradually entered the core territory of the Gilded Kingdom. The surrounding area was also obviously no longer as desolate and quiet as before. From time to time, they could see merchant ships or fishing boats sailing in all directions.
Although The Star seemed to be a rare battleship in the Breezy Plains, it rarely attracted attention here. It was not that there were many ships there that were similar to it, but because everyone here had already gotten used to seeing all kinds of rare and peculiar ships. A massive ship like The Star could barely shock them.
According to estimation, they had half a day’s journey to go before they would reach Four Seasons Island at this juncture. However, just when the crowd finally relaxed, waiting for The Star to successfully reach Four Seasons Island, a fleet in the distance suddenly broke into the channel, and approached The Star.
The size of the fleet was large, and there were nearly 20 battleships which looked inferior compared to the alchemical battleships of the Gilded Kingdom, but compared to the warships of the Ledin Kingdom and Felan Kingdom, they were clearly much more powerful. However, the ships of this fleet did not bear the flag of the Gilded Kingdom, or even any flag of a trade union.
As soon as they saw the fleet that did not bear a flag, they got into battle formation and charged towards them in a frenzy. Lin Li and the others immediately realized that they should have been pirates, but they were puzzled as to why a pirates’ fleet could show up in the core sea territory of the Gilded Kingdom, which was a powerful maritime force.
The oncoming pirate ship opened fire with a loud boom, as if a thunderbolt had struck the sea. Afterwards, continuous roaring followed, accompanied with several mana cannons. Clearly, the pirates’ ship was well-equipped with arms too.
At the same time that the pirates’ leading ship attacked The Star, the other 10 ships didn’t stop, and instead split into two teams that began surrounding The Star from the flanks. Two other pirate ships also suddenly appeared behind The Star. Clearly, they had lain in ambush, and the pair was guarding The Star to prevent it from escaping.
Since they had already opened fire, Lin Li naturally wouldn’t be kind to them. He immediately ordered the crew to start attacking the pirate ships, and the cannons on The Star immediately started bombarding the pirate ships around it while the other magical weapons started roaring too.
If they were ordinary pirates, the counterattack of The Star would probably cause more than half of the pirate ships to sink. However, this fleet activated a magical shield when The Star began to counterattack. Magical shields on ships could only be facilitated with Magic Arrays or Alchemy Arrays, so they were much more valuable than magical weapons.
Moreover, what surprised Lin Li and the others was that the magic shields on those pirate ships were obviously not ordinary, since they could block the mana cannons of The Star. The Magical Crystal Cannons on The Star were only available to the Gilded Kingdom’s navy, and were basically by far the most powerful magical weapons in Anril.
With powerful magical weapons and a shield that could resist the bombardment of the Magical Crystal Cannons of the ship, it was no wonder that this pirate fleet actually dared to brazenly appear in the core territory of the Gilded Kingdom. However, Lin Li couldn’t help but wonder what the origin of the pirates’ fleet was; it was clearly impossible for ordinary pirates to reach such a high level.
Since the Magical Crystal Cannons could not break their magic shield, were they supposed to use a Sky-breaker to make the pirates’ ships sink!? Lin Li finally became a little more serious as he carefully observed the magic shield of the battleships opposite them. However, he did manage to see some clues. When the pirates’ ships were bombarded by the mana cannons, the magic shield that engulfed the attacked ship would be strengthened, while those of the two ships beside it would suddenly weaken.
After seeing the situation, Lin Li immediately understood that the battle formation of the pirate ships was not simply an attack formation. Be it the Tower of Dusk or the Mithril Alliance and other forces, their mage legions and teams of elites would usually master a battle formation that could enhance their combat power, such as the Magic Net Array mastered by the Tower of Dusk’s mage legion.
The formation that the pirates got into clearly affected the array to a certain extent. The most obvious effect was reflected in the change of magic shield. When a battleship was bombarded, other battleships that were not under fire would superimpose their defensive power onto the former to help it resist the attack. Of course, the shortcoming of this was obvious too. If more than one battleship was attacked at the same time, how would the defensive power be distributed?