From sailboats to star destroyers (Source: Web)

Chapter 44 First Exploration of the Continent of Gale

Miao Meng spent more than half a month developing steadily, mainly training the crew members to become proficient in the use of modern firearms, before making preparations to go to the continent of Galtilan.

According to Count Black's memories, there are six large countries and many small countries on this continent. Basically, each country has its own gods and unique professional traditions.

His class change to Dread Knight was a special legacy passed down in the Pirate Kingdom, and taking it a step further, he became a Dread Lord.

This royal emblem corresponds to the Kingdom of Senist, a country renowned throughout the continent for its knightly profession and arguably the most powerful nation on the entire continent.

This is because the country possesses a well-organized Tier 3 professional legion, the Royal Knights, who have high resistance to various ranged physical damage.

The symbol of the Royal Knights is this royal emblem, and their signature ability is ranged interception, which can help teammates or others block ranged damage.

Therefore, considering only the compatibility between the two sides, it is a very unfriendly country to Miao Meng.

The modern firearms that the crew had just become proficient with probably weren't as effective here as they had imagined. Fortunately, after his own modifications, he was now dealing magic damage, so there wasn't the kind of strong counter that he had expected.

[Ding, consume 1 Royal Emblem? After use, you can teleport to the continent of Galtilan. The maximum duration of this teleportation is 30 days, with a time ratio of 1:15.]

Miao Meng wasn't surprised to see that there were no mission requirements; such an item was simply for teleportation and didn't activate any dungeon missions.

However, the absence of mandatory tasks does not mean that I do not have any needs. I went in this time to explore and find a way to reliably obtain soul crystals.

In the Black Earl's memory, this rare material could only be purchased from the royal family by joining the nobility of various kingdoms.

It is said that this is because each kingdom has an alchemy academy, which can transform ordinary materials produced by the kingdom into higher-grade materials.

Each family's heirloom, if it wants to advance further, must rely on the royal family of the various kings, which is also an important pillar for maintaining the stability of the kingdom.

"Let me see what I can get my hands on."

As Miao Meng confirmed, a golden light emanated from the badge, and after the light disappeared, the surrounding environment had changed from an island villa to a jungle.

After surveying his surroundings, Miao Meng did not summon his crew to scout ahead for him. Instead, he took off on his skateboard.

The crew members' appearance was still somewhat frightening; even with the aid of their skills and wearing full-coverage equipment, it was still difficult for normal people to accept them.

Those swordsmen and shieldmen were mostly zombies who had been reborn, and they smelled of rotting flesh.

Archers are all skeleton soldiers, and their armor cannot cover their entire bodies, especially their heads, where the blazing soul fire is easily visible.

Of course, these appearances are not particularly important. What is important is the negative energy and curses that the dead carry with them, which will make normal people subconsciously choose to stay away.

Spending a long time with the dead can damage your health, which is the most unacceptable thing for normal people.

After taking off, Miao Meng still couldn't see any signs of human habitation around him, but he did discover a small river that was flowing slowly.

As long as you follow the river, you can basically find human settlements, even in this other world, this basic rule still applies.

For self-preservation reasons, Miao Meng would not use up all the energy of the Mars skateboard at once. He would usually just fly up to check the route and then land back on the ground.

The energy bar that could support the skateboard for two minutes of flight was still a bit insufficient for long-distance travel, but this was already the limit of his current materials and technology.

The main problem is that Miao Meng has run out of Fire Stones. The Investigation Bureau does have some in stock, but it requires enough points, and he just joined and has already used up all his points.

To obtain enough Fire Stones, you either need to complete quests, such as various investigation commissions issued by the Bureau of Investigation, or you need to summon otherworldly beings—Flame Spirits—for a one-stop service of summoning slaughter.

Miao Meng actually preferred to learn the Flame Spirit Summoning Spell from the Investigation Bureau. Although their use would consume his spirit and drive him into madness, he had psionic points and might not have any negative effects.

If successful, it would be equivalent to having the Fire Stone Freedom. Not to mention just making a skateboard, it might even be enough to build a spaceship.

Although his thoughts were racing, it didn't slow Miao Meng down. After running for more than half an hour, he successfully found a village with smoke rising from its chimneys.

However, the smoke from the chimneys was a bit too thick. Well, after Miao Meng ran a little further in, he discovered that this place had been abandoned, or rather, it was an abandoned village that had been breached by bandits or soldiers.

There were no corpses on the dirt road, but there was a lot of blood and severed limbs scattered around. In the middle of the village, thick smoke was burning, and a pungent smell came from the smoke.

Judging from the state of the burning corpses in the fire, the fire probably hasn't been extinguished for long. This means that if we continue along the road, we might even be able to catch up with those soldiers and bandits.

"Tsk, should we go after them and check it out, First Mate?"

Miao Meng summoned his deputy to ask for his opinion, since the deputy was also a local and had lived as a pirate for many years, so he might know something about this.

"It's worth a try, Captain. Look, these are hoofprints. Judging from the number of knife wounds, severed limbs, and blood splattered on these corpses, we can tell the difference."

The people who breached this village had very good quality weapons; even if they weren't an army, they were still a formidable force.

The Black Earl was no mindless brute; he transformed from a legendary pirate who roamed the seas into an earl who controlled the harbor, all thanks to his shrewd mind.

Although he had almost forgotten what happened on land, he could still see the details of the battle. While on the ship, he also analyzed the enemy's strength based on the damage to the ship.

As he said, with ordinary weapons, unless necessary, few people would specifically target bones, and the number of severed limbs in this village far exceeded the normal level.

If the wounds are torn, it only means that the attacking team was relatively large and much stronger. However, the wounds on the corpses are very smooth, and even the bones rarely show any breaks.

Miao Meng nodded in satisfaction and said, "Then let's give it a try."

At that point, we can either seize someone to question them or use their heads to prove our strength to others.

After receiving a detailed analysis from the first mate, Miao Meng did not hesitate and immediately started running along the hoofprints, while the Black Earl was pulled back by him.

Unfortunately, the Black Earl has no mount, and his level is currently affected by his own disability, so he relies entirely on Miao Meng's guard skills to maintain his combat power.

Its strength has declined drastically, from a level 15 boss to an elite level that's not even level 10 anymore.

Although he was still much stronger than the other guards, he was no longer able to withstand the pressure of the front-line main force. He was more effective when commanding from the rear.

After leaving the village, following the trail, Miao Meng swept across the road like a gust of wind.

He had only run about 20 miles when he heard rustling sounds ahead. He had caught up with the group of people who he couldn't tell were soldiers or bandits.