Chapter 228: The Plan

Chapter 228: The Plan

After entering above the gray fog, Klein stretched out his hand and summoned the Sea God Scepter from the junk pile, then browsed through the countless light spots swirling around this Sealed Artifact.

Each light spot corresponded to a believer’s prayer. Radiance flowed over them, sacred and ethereal.

Very quickly, Klein performed an initial mental filtering, focusing on the parts that originated from the sea rather than the islands. After he had isolated the Sea God Scepter above the gray fog, he could no longer directly use this “divine artifact” to sense the surrounding ocean and carry out effective operations. He had to rely on believers’ prayer images as anchors, expanding five nautical miles outward from each of them to influence the corresponding underwater creatures.

Klein’s spirituality spread outward, touching one of the light spots. He saw an image from evening: the daily prayer of the natives aboard a fishing boat before returning to port.

As Klein’s thoughts changed, the image’s perspective rapidly rose. The gloomy scene of layered clouds piling up and waves surging was taken into view more and more broadly.

“A few hours ago, there were already signs of a storm brewing? True. When I went out earlier, the atmosphere did feel quite oppressive… So when Elland said Mad Captain Connors’s ship should be anchored in the shadow of some nearby island, it was to avoid the storm…” Klein’s finger lightly tapped the edge of the mottled long table as he spoke silently to himself.

With this deduction, his upcoming “person search” would be much easier, because he would not need to scour the boundless sea. He only needed to pay attention to the vicinity of the different islands in these waters.

At a thought, one blue-green gem at the tip of the Sea God Scepter in Klein’s hand abruptly lit up.

On the sea where the fishing boat had already vanished, under crimson moonlight, the deep-blue, nearly black waves rose and fell with no small force. Suddenly, seawater silently surged upward, and an exaggerated pair of eyes vaguely appeared on the surface, gazing at the sky. Beneath those eyes was the outline of an enormous shadow.

At the same time, fish of different species surfaced one after another.

They received the faint radiance that had spilled down from nowhere, circled once, then sank again, setting off in different directions.

A little over ten seconds later, the waters within five nautical miles returned to their previous state. The deep-blue, nearly black waves rose higher and higher, awaiting the final eruption.

Phew… This is quite draining… Klein raised his left hand and rubbed his temple.

Just now, he had not simply driven the sea creatures. He had given them a certain degree of extraordinary spirituality, allowing them, after discovering ships anchored near islands, to transmit what they saw back to him in the form of prayers.

To the Sea God Scepter, this was not especially difficult or complicated. But for Klein, the operator, the burden was extremely great and the consumption was considerable.

After that, Klein selected believers around the different islands of the archipelago and, in the same manner, issued “orders” to the marine creatures in the corresponding regions.

Once all this was done, he had no time to throw the Sea God Scepter back into the junk pile. He returned directly to the real world, removed his coat, and collapsed onto the bed.

With his spirituality exhausted to the limit, he had thought he would immediately fall unconscious. Who would have known that the hollowness and pain in his head would make him unable to open his eyes, yet unable to enter the dream world either?

Klein could clearly feel his skin bulging with tiny raised bumps, like an allergic reaction. Beneath them, countless tiny granulations seemed to be hidden.

Indeed, just as Mr. Hanged Man said, if I let my spirituality remain dry for two days in a row, I will certainly experience auditory hallucinations and show signs of losing control. I only pushed myself to the limit once, and not for long, yet my body is already a little abnormal. Of course, that’s also because I advanced not long ago, haven’t digested much, and consumed an excess of previous Sequence potions… Klein gradually found his thoughts again. He tried meditating on layered light spheres to calm the exhaustion of body and spirit.

After his condition eased slightly, he finally sank into deep sleep, and slept until midnight.

By then, the wind outside was fierce, and heavy rain poured down. The long-brewing storm had finally arrived.

In Bayam, however, that was not too rare. Apart from the storm, the night was quite peaceful.

Klein went to the washroom, took care of personal needs, washed his hands, and walked four steps counterclockwise to enter above the gray fog once more.

He picked up the Sea God Scepter, which remained at the head of the bronze long table, and began browsing through the images sent back by the marine creatures.

These scenes contained ship after ship, located in different harbors, different piers, and the shadows of different islands.

Although Klein had never met Mad Captain Connors Victor, he had previously learned about the man’s traits and about the various markings of his pirate crew, so he was not afraid of having no way to distinguish them.

Images flashed one by one, and he patiently examined the details of each ship.

A dozen or so minutes later, obvious delight appeared in his eyes. He rapidly enlarged one of the images and pulled the perspective closer.

He had found a ship suspected to be the target!

That ship was anchored at the leeward side of Simim Island, the farthest point of the Rorsted Archipelago. Behind it stood a towering stone cliff, while below it, waves heaved restlessly.

Its sails and flag had already been furled, but on either side of the ship’s rail was the image of a white skull wearing a single eye patch.

That was precisely the mark of the Mad Captain’s pirate crew!

Klein casually unfastened the pendulum hidden inside his left cuff and used divination to confirm it.

The answer delighted him. This was indeed Connors Victor’s ship!

And this Mad Captain had only this one ship!

“No wonder most adventurers at sea know the Mad Captain is connected to the Kingdom’s human traffickers and slave traders, yet the Church of Storms’ investigation into the colonial population disappearances did not point to him. A fellow with a bounty of only 3,300 pounds and only a single ship in his pirate crew looks like someone who can at most do a little ‘small business.’ He doesn’t seem capable of sustaining population trafficking on such a large scale… What should I do next?” Klein first sighed silently, then began considering how to investigate.

His first reaction was to directly summon an enormous underwater creature, ride something like a “whale ship,” take advantage of the storm, rush straight to Simim Island, then infiltrate in disguise and rely on the Marionettist’s ability to silently control Mad Captain Connors Victor without creating too large a disturbance. But after thinking carefully, he felt this method was far too reckless.

Against pirates below the admiral level, that would be fine. But since Mad Captain Connors Victor had been involved in an event as horrifying as Backlund’s Great Smog, Klein had to consider the possibility that his usual presentation was only a disguise; that he had another identity; and that there might be no small secret hidden aboard his ship. Therefore, there was a considerable chance that traps capable of dealing with pirate admirals existed there. If Klein rashly infiltrated, even though he was armed to the teeth, he might not make it out alive.

“Summon myself and go over in spirit-body form with the Sea God Scepter? That would avoid accidents. If something went wrong, I could immediately end the summoning and return. However, the Sea God Scepter is essentially a high-Sequence Beyonder characteristic of the Storm pathway. As long as it appears in the real world, it is very likely to attract and resonate with Sea King Jahn Kottman… That would make it impossible for the matter to proceed…” Klein looked at the storm in the image and formed a preliminary idea.

Before that, he once again conjured paper and pen and wrote down a divination statement:

“Dealing with Connors Victor will be very dangerous.”

Picking up the pendulum’s silver chain, Klein gathered his thoughts and began the divination with focus.

Very quickly, he opened his eyes and saw the yellow crystal pendant rotating clockwise with great speed and a wide arc.

That meant dealing with Connors Victor would be extremely dangerous!

“As expected. That matches what I imagined. Good thing I didn’t rashly go over…” Klein picked up the Sea God Scepter and decided to execute the plan he had just thought of.

That plan was to use the storm as cover and, through the prayer image from just now, use the Sea God Scepter to directly attack Connors Victor’s ship from afar—startle the snake by beating the grass, forcing out his secret!

Once he grasped the corresponding situation, he would end the attack before Sea King Jahn Kottman sensed the abnormal fluctuations, or before he arrived at the target location.

If Connors Victor unfortunately fell into Sea King’s hands, Klein would not be disappointed, because after investigating the truth behind Backlund’s Great Smog, he would still have to find a way to pass the intelligence to the three major Churches.

If the Mad Captain successfully escaped, Klein would use the secret glimpsed by startling the snake to formulate a follow-up attack plan!

Phew… Klein slowly exhaled. Looking at the ship swaying within the deep-black waves, he raised the Sea God Scepter in his hand.

At the tip of the scepter, the circle of blue-green gems erupted one after another with brilliant light.