Chapter 192 [Book of Shadows], the Price of Becoming a King

As soon as he saw Xia En coming, the pirate prisoner's eyes immediately showed deep fear.

He knew very well that the other party was the God of Death who killed his companions one by one in the black mist just now!

It was this man who killed his own captain with one against two!

The awe of pirates towards the strong is engraved in their bones!

But the prisoner still pretended to be calm and said: "Captain John, you really hide your secrets."

"This time, even if we chose the wrong target, we can't blame others."

Xia En looked calm and said, "You haven't answered my question yet."

"Who wants to kill me?"

The prisoner seemed to have understood his current situation and said honestly and seriously: "I don't know."

He smiled bitterly: "Young guys like us, how do we know who is behind the scenes?"

"I'm afraid only Captain Keith and Captain Bond know, but..."

The prisoner turned his head and glanced at the bodies of the two captains not far away, and the meaning was self-evident.

Dead people cannot speak.

As soon as these words came out, Xia En believed most of them.

For such a major event as the attack on the apostles of the pirate principality, only a few people would know the inside story. The other pirates were just tools to carry out the mission.

But Shane still had some doubts about the prisoner.

It is not his words that are doubtful, but his person!

It was no coincidence that Shane found this one among so many prisoners.

In his perception, this prisoner hid part of his strength, and even in the fight in the black mist, this man held back and did not take action.

The subsequent surrender was even more straightforward and not sloppy at all.

Shane thought of two possibilities.

Or, this prisoner is a trump card prepared by the mastermind behind the scenes.

Or, he may be one of the secret path participants in the promotion ritual!

Xia En also just realized that although he is one of the twelve apostles, it does not mean that all trialists are like this.

They may be apostles, they may just be ordinary pirates, they may be handymen, or they may even be members of other forces participating in the pirate conference.

Their trial tasks may not be the same as Xia En's.

Maybe someone's mission is to kill the pirate king!

Thinking of this, Xia En twitched the corner of his mouth and complained secretly.

"Why does it feel like you're playing Werewolf?"

On the one hand, he must hide his identity and mission, and on the other hand, he must catch the flaws of other trialists.

Isn't it just a werewolf killing?

While Shane was thinking, the prisoner continued.

"The ones who dare to take action against you, Captain John, are only those few families, and maybe... two or three of the apostles are included."

Xia En's heart moved slightly.

He actually knew who the "those families" the prisoners were referring to.

First of all, this starts with the current structure of the [Pirate Principality].

Although Augustine, the pirate king, defeated all pirates on the high seas, managing a "principal" requires fists alone.

Augustine could not manage such a large area of ​​​​the sea by himself.

Therefore, after establishing the "Pirate Principality", Augustine divided the sea into five jurisdictions.

He himself is located in the richest and most prosperous central sea area, and the other four sea areas are governed by local pirates.

The leaders of each jurisdiction are also famous pirates.

Together with Augustine, they are called the "Five Kings of the Ocean", and some people call them "One Emperor and Four Emperors."

Of course, in terms of strength and prestige, the four great pirates were far inferior to Augustine.

But now, isn't Augustine seriously injured?

Even the fleet brought out was mostly damaged.

How could these powerful and ambitious pirates not want to test the waters?

As for the other apostles mentioned by the captives, they are not completely alarmist.

From the remaining memories of John, Shane learned that he did not have a harmonious relationship with several apostles.

Maybe First Officer Philip and the failure of the last mission were all their fault.

But Xia En vaguely felt that the other apostles were not bold enough to attack him directly.

"Oh, it's so complicated and confusing..."

Xia En sighed, feeling a little tired.

In fact, he has never been very good at these conspiracies. Just thinking about it makes him feel dizzy.

He is still more accustomed to crushing them all the way with absolute violence.

Simple, crude and direct!

"Why don't we just flip the table over!"

Xia En's idea is just a thought at the moment.

Even if the strength of the entire promotion ritual is suppressed, there will definitely be fourth-level or even fifth-level strong men in the [Pirate Principality].

With his current strength, he is not qualified to overturn the table.

Soon, Xia En got rid of distracting thoughts, looked at the prisoner in front of him, and said directly.

"Give me a reason not to kill you."

Upon hearing this, the face of the unattractive prisoner suddenly changed.

He realized that Xia En was really murderous.

The prisoner was puzzled for a while, thinking that he had disguised himself so well, where did he reveal his true identity?

Seeing Xia En's eyes getting colder and colder, the prisoner did not dare to hesitate and spoke quickly.

"Cooperation! We can cooperate!"

Xia En said calmly: "What can you and I do to cooperate?"

"If people like us have the same purpose, why can't we cooperate?"

"Many seniors have had this experience in the past. It's not a shame."

The captive's words were strange and incoherent, leaving the other pirates confused.

Shane understood immediately.

He admitted his identity in disguise, and explained that this kind of cooperation between secret pathers was actually very common.

However, this alone was not enough to gain Shane's trust.

Shane continued to ask: "So, what about your sincerity?"

The captive smiled bitterly and said: "I can tell you... my name is Huiyun."

"This is my real name."

Real name?

Shane thought thoughtfully.

This real name obviously refers to the captive's real name.

In the optional task, the description of the role is... not to be recognized and exposed by other trialists.

Shane had always thought that the focus was on "recognition", but now he thinks that it is actually on "exposing!"

In other words, the standard of failure is not the failure of the trialist to play the role, but being questioned and exposed.

Knowing the real name is equivalent to having a handle, and the other party's true identity can be revealed at any time.

But after thinking about it, Shane said, "Not enough."

After all, the role-playing mission is an optional mission, and there is no indication of what punishment will be imposed if the mission fails. What if the captive wants to drag him down even if his mission fails?

Huiyun was sweating with anxiety, so he had to say, "Is it okay if I swear to the [Secret Sea]?"

"Here, swearing to the [Secret Sea] has a real effect."

Shae grinned, "Okay."

After Huiyun made a vow that "I will not do anything that is detrimental to Captain John during this ritual", Shane took him to the captain's room.

After closing the door, Shane asked, "Tell me, what are your missions and abilities?"

Huiyun said honestly, "My necessary mission is to ensure that Augustine does not die during the ritual."

"As for my abilities... I can only say that I am from the [Scholar] Secret Path."

Shae was thoughtful, and he suddenly realized that he had missed another thing.

In the promotion ritual when breaking through the third level, only people from the [Captain] Secret Path participated in the promotion.

When it comes to the fourth level or above, all the people from the secret path will come in, and it will be a mess!

"The water of this promotion ritual is really deep!"

Xia En took a deep breath, looked at Huiyun in front of him, and thought to himself: "[Scholar] means that he is a kind of spellcaster profession."

"But I haven't heard of the name 'Huiyun' in the Seven Seas."

If you think about it carefully, it is also true. With the size of the Seven Seas, Xia En has only explored a small corner now. It is normal to meet a secret path person who has never heard of.

After chatting with Huiyun casually for a few words and exchanging information.

Xia En asked the first mate Carney to continue to move towards the [Pirate Principality], and he returned to the room to count the spoils of this battle.

Each of the two captains has a space ring.

Xia En has learned from Huiyun that some of the props and money obtained in the promotion ritual can be taken out of the ritual.

In addition, the higher the evaluation obtained in the end, the more things can be taken away.

This point really made Xia En a little tempted.

But it can also be inferred from this that -

Gray Cloud's origin is not simple. He is definitely not a wild secret pather like Shane, but has his own teacher or guide, so he can know the rules of the promotion ritual in advance.

Shane opened the space ring to check, and his eyes swept over the gold, silver, jewelry and various rare props.

Can't look too much.

After looking at it, he will realize that he can't take all these treasures away.

It will be very distressing.

Shane's main search target is still things that may record secrets and mysterious skills.

The knowledge learned and skills learned in the promotion ritual can always be brought back to reality, right?

And don't look at the strength of the two captains, which is only the third level, but if they are placed in the real history, they are at least the sixth level.

How could the secrets they left behind not be good things?

Soon, Shane really found a few ancient books that looked extraordinary.

Among them was a book with a dark cover and no name on the spine.

Shane reached out and touched the cover, and felt a warm, delicate touch, as if touching human skin.

Moreover, as the book was taken out, the whole room suddenly darkened.

It was as if... all the light around was sucked away by this ancient book.

[Book of Shadows]

[Quality: Epic]

[Type: Prop]

[Description: A book that records the secrets of the Shadow Clan. If you study it carefully, you can understand the secrets on it. ]

[The Shadow Clan is a rare race in ancient times. They live in the shadows all their lives and have mastered the unparalleled assassination secrets. ]

[Now extinct. ]

[Walking in the shadows, serving the light, everything is false, everything is allowed. ]

"What a good thing!"

Shane's mouth corners slightly raised: "It is worthy of such a special copy of the promotion ritual."

Obviously, this [Book of Shadows] is the treasure of the "Shadow Blade" Bond.

He was able to attack Shane in the black fog before, relying on the secrets in this book.

This harvest confirmed Shane's previous conjecture.

This promotion ritual is full of treasures!

…

…

The next day, in the evening.

Shane walked out of the captain's room and couldn't help stretching.

There was some fatigue in his eyes, but his aura had changed subtly.

If you look closely at Shane's body, you can find that he has become a little "darker", as if the light has been sucked away by something.

Perhaps it is because he has learned [Shadow Swordsmanship] before, or it may be because he is used to controlling the projection body.

This [Book of Shadows] is highly compatible with Shane.

In just one afternoon, Shane has benefited a lot and unlocked a new skill.

[Shadow Walk]

As the name suggests, it can temporarily shuttle in the shadows, which is a bit like the mage's [Arcane Transition].

Although Shane is not an assassin, this practical little skill can often achieve a surprising effect in battle.

At this time, Shane glanced out of the corner of his eye.

I saw the setting sun hanging in the sky, and the fine waves on the sea were shining like broken gold.

And not far away, a special sea city is getting bigger and closer.

This city is really special.

It is not land or islands below it, but one dilapidated ship after another!

Among them, there are pirate ships, fishing boats, and ships similar to navy ships, with different sizes and appearances.

Those messy wood and metal, mixed together in a seemingly loose but solid posture, present a faint blood color under the sunset.

In Shane's eyes, this is a city built with countless ship skeletons!

It can be said that each of the broken ships has its own story.

But now, they are just a piece of foundation for this city.

"Isn't it spectacular?"

At some point, Huiyun also walked out of his room and walked to Shane and sighed.

"This is Augustine's [Pirate Principality]."

"These ships were taken down by Augustine one by one, and the [Pirate Principality] has also grown stronger in his battles again and again."

"Behind this, I don't know how much fighting and sacrifice are hidden."

"But..."

Huiyun looked in the direction of the sea city, and a strange look flashed in his eyes.

"If you want to ascend the throne, how can you not step on the bones of corpses?"

"Or, aren't the corpses of these ships the throne of Augustine?"

Xia En was slightly startled.

For some reason, he remembered the Fire King he had seen in the illusion.

Under the other party's body, it seemed that there was also a throne made of bones?

"Is this the price of becoming a king?"

Xia En fell into thought.

At the same time, the distance between the [Sky Serpent] and the [Pirate Principality] was constantly shortening.

In the process of approaching, the emotions conveyed by the [Sky Serpent] obviously became a little fearful and uneasy.

This "Tomb of Ten Thousand Ships" has a strong sense of oppression for the soul of any ship.

Soon, the [Sky Serpent] anchored at the port of the [Pirate Principality].

A one-eyed old man took the initiative to greet him on the shore with a gentle smile.

"Master John, welcome home."