Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 853: Chapter 649 Finally, a Fish With Some Value

Hill’s whirlwind-like acquisition of Shoulong artworks attracted countless gazes, not out of envy or jealousy, but rather anger, resentment, and greed.

If it weren’t for his lack of interest in the high-level wonders delivered by those somewhat problematic folks, someone might have already shouted out angrily.

Many official merchants also showed displeasure; Shoulong’s artworks were very popular among the King and nobles. Hill didn’t even let go of some particularly exquisite silks. How obnoxious can rich people be!

They tried to leverage their status to make Hill give up some brightly colored brocades and gilded textiles and the largest few Jade Mountains, however, Hill, displeased, directly pushed open the front window of the VIP room, revealing the Radiant Orbs surrounding him to everyone.

In the Toril World, no King would dare demand concessions from an Archmage capable of using ninth-level spells, let alone when they were merely the King’s subordinates.

Hill coldly scanned the VIP rooms above and the bloody sea merchants below: ”If you want to snatch things from me, just offer a higher price than me. There’s no need for excessive words.”

His peripheral vision caught the pirates from Northern Ferun, whose faces twitched almost simultaneously. It seems they indeed all recognized Hill’s identity.

Actually, Hill wasn’t entirely wrong. He set himself a baseline too. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be too cheap for the Shoulong people? If they really compete up to that price, he would surely concede.

However, it seemed that they hadn’t reached his baseline yet, and these people felt as though they couldn’t bear it... Clearly, the price at which they sold back on Ferun Great Land was exactly that high!

When Hill retracted his gaze, he noticed that many people seated at the organizers’ side of the auctioneer’s platform were seemingly pleased, clearly thinking they could sell at a good price.

An Yanfei smiled at Hill, and the Reception Island chief steward beside him happily said: ”Governor An, thanks to you this time! You managed to invite such a cultured buyer. After the auction ends, the military exploits for the invitation card you exchanged for are deemed consumed by this island. Remember to claim them.”

Seeing An Yanfei’s delighted expression, the chief steward joyfully patted his shoulder, then turned his head with a smile: Those who hoard artworks, even when seeing Jade Mountain, likely wouldn’t cut them into small pieces, right?

If it weren’t for Shoulong’s southward and northward campaigns over the years, requiring a large number of external resources, who would sell these artworks to a bunch of pirates!

In fact, they also tried to persuade the master artists to create more artworks from other materials, but for Shoulong’s master artists, the closest material to the Heavenly Court was jade. Only the aura from such a material could inspire them with sufficient creativity.

So, every time there’s an auction, they’re actually anxious and fearful. Losing the cooperation of one or two masters could be dismissed, but if all were to walk away, they wouldn’t be able to report to the Emperor!

This task at Reception Island is much more pleasant than in the capital; he didn’t want to lose it one bit, nor face the Emperor brother’s foul mood back there.

Hill was genuinely quite happy. The jade from the Shoulong Empire is one of the things he definitely couldn’t replicate, filled with fairy spirit aura from the Heavenly Court.

Although not as good as those An Family sold him, they’re still crafted by artists, yet Hill could feel they were a tier below An Family’s creations. However, the jade material didn’t differ much, at most not in the golden or purple shades favored by Shoulong Empire.

But of course Hill’s favorite is green and blue jade! Even if it’s black, it’s not bad.

Light blue jade, especially those with blue backgrounds and floral patterns, looks so light and lively, Hill felt they would fit perfectly in the rooftop garden of the Floating Castle, matching well with the Little Flower Fairies’ temperament.

Feeling very content, he steadfastly sat through to the auction finale.

Then he couldn’t help but ’tsk’. No wonder An Yanfei felt he had no reason to stay, as they were selling a corpse of a White Dragon and her six Dragon Eggs.

An Yanfei, knowing Hill’s true identity, naturally understood he would have no interest in nurturing such things as White Dragons within his territory.

Hill idly watched the intense auction scene, his gaze drifting over to the Luskan people’s seats. As one of Ferun Great Land’s most famous pirates, of course, they weren’t worried about being seen for who they were, nor did they waste money staying in any VIP box, thus sitting below, smiling contentedly as they listened to the bidding.

One glance and it was apparent the Dragon corpse and Dragon Eggs were from them, Hill tilted his head slightly, pirates from Northern Ferun continent probably wouldn’t bother to trouble him. There seemed to be a bit of regret, as these Luskan folks bought a lot of things that Hill was interested in.

Hill silently sighed to himself: to maintain his faction leanings, he endured too much indeed. He really should learn some tactics from Tyr’s Paladins; they were skilled at making the hostile Evil Faction strike first.

Always standing on the side of justice is easy to say, but tough to enact!

These days a few big pirates have bought quite a lot of good things. Besides various strange objects, Shoulong even sold some ancient magical ship weapons, like large siege machines.

They currently already use energy cannons, so they dismantle and sell those more traditional siege weapons.

Hill looked at Shoulong’s official presence, feeling their unspeakable hostility towards other continents, especially forces capable of cross-ocean trade. It seemed that despite frequent civil wars preventing Shoulong from acknowledging the oceans, they still prepared a bit for future possibilities.

Hill observed that some people had already withdrawn, and he also followed suit to leave. It seemed about time to go; sitting to the very end and not buying could seem somewhat conspicuous.

Walking back slowly, he could sense many magical ships swiftly sailing away from Reception Island, along with some obscure, unfriendly gazes.

Thanks to the hostility, when Purwell was ordered to set sail overnight, Hill had a smile plastered on his face.

After List figured out what Hill was thinking, he could only sigh helplessly a few times and went out to inspect Purwell’s defensive facilities.

Everyone understood, daring to attack an Archmage, the pirates would most likely use siege machinery on the magic ship or some evil strange objects, especially seal demon types.

And the ones most skilled in these things, without fear of the Shulong Navy’s pursuit, even daring to act under the Dragon God Dragon’s nose...

As Hill listened to the booming noise outside, he remarked sarcastically, ”The Wo people never disappoint me; they came really quickly, and Purwell’s tail is still in the Shoulong Inland Sea!”

Hill could sense the dragon responsible for this part of the ocean’s fiery rage from beneath the sea.

”Ah! Hill,” Purwell appeared beside him, ”not only is there terrifying charm power fixing me in place, but it’s a weapon that can absorb magic power too! My mana has already dropped to one ten-thousandth! Truly formidable!

If I were my old self, I would already be down.

Hmm... do you need me to struggle free? List says you want to play dumb.”

”Just let them think they’ve charmed you,” Hill replied softly to the curious Little Whale, slightly surprised that Purwell, when calculating mana, included the large quantity of energy baryte in his core; losing one ten-thousandth is quite significant!

He pondered for a moment and directly asked Purwell to send him to the deck on his back.

This really is the most broken magic ship I’ve ever seen, Hill thought as he looked at the battered ship, a group of Wo people dressed in strange samurai armor and wearing pale masks, slowly revealing a cold smile.

The ship’s figurehead looked like a naga with a human face and snake body. This creature isn’t like the beautiful and enchanting monsters in his past games, but a real snake with a human face; and the highest-ranking elemental naga could have three to five heads.

But there’s a slight difference from the volcanic two-headed snake; multi-headed elemental nagas are fire and wind element creatures, but... Hill didn’t think these two monsters interacted much, especially with the samurai on the ship clearly divided into two factions.

Hill stared at the figurehead with glowing eyes tightly pinned on Purwell. Such a large magic-absorbing wonder comparable to a subartifact has only two solutions: either let her absorb until she explodes or use absolutely powerful physical attacks.

Obviously, those Wo people hope Hill uses the first method, allowing them to choose close combat.

Hill was a bit hesitant, unsure whether to delay and see if there were more pursuers or to deal with these midgets first.

The items of these midgets all needed Hill’s purification; they didn’t qualify to join the Shulong auction, as the empire always insisted on a strategy of distant alliances and close attacks.

Although the Wo pirates were looked down upon by the Shulong Empire, they would never be given further development opportunities.

But if he acted too quickly, other pirates might just run away!

Hill paced anxiously back and forth on the deck, finding this decision quite tough!

From the Wo pirate ship came an eerie laugh, potentially thinking Hill was at his wit’s end?

The back spirits emerging behind the Wo pirates made Hill uncomfortable, that sort of strange and evil essence. These Wo people had the audacity to introduce them into their soul seas.

The Wo people certainly live for the present without considering the aftermath.

They couldn’t be unaware that their souls would ultimately become food for these essences, yet every single one on the ship had a spirit emerging behind them.

Letting these guys invade the ship would indeed be unpleasant for Hill.

As Hill was hesitating, suddenly several magic ships rushed in from another direction and fired directly at Purwell, hundreds of magic cannonballs burning with little tails smashed onto Purwell.

Hill quietly broke into a smile.

It seems these Maztika robbers understood the Wo magic ship’s abilities well, worried Hill’s ship couldn’t withstand it, and that they couldn’t benefit.

This pleased Hill greatly!

These guys, having brought a lot of gemstones to the Shulong, indeed bought quite a few good things!

Hill joyfully waved his hand; isn’t it just physical attack? Just summon a meteor or two?