CHAPTER 531: CHAPTER 480: REUNION

Screech——

A blue lightning streak shot straight into the clouds from the area near the center of the island.

Lying on Aiven’s back with her arms tightly around his neck, Olivia had already changed back into her military uniform. The relationship had progressed to this point, and she no longer intended to use the "Mask of Deceit."

Instead, she maintained her original appearance, donned a women’s military uniform, with a longsword hanging at her waist, transforming into a tall and valiant female officer.

Even the military rank on her shoulders had changed from Lieutenant to School Officer.

Because her identity was no longer Captain Roddy the martial officer, but rather Major Olivia the civilian attendant officer to the Brigadier General!

Although in the Alliance Military, martial faction officers undoubtedly received better treatment, for gluttonous beasts of Olivia’s caliber, no amount of resource subsidy was just mere drizzle.

It was more convenient to stay by Aiven’s side, resuming her true form.

In this world, due to the presence of extraordinary powers, female soldiers weren’t actually that few in number. However, limited by physiological differences, most women served on land or at various navy bases, with few willing to embark on ships and set out to sea.

In the blink of an eye, they had reached an altitude sufficient to overlook the entire island.

Even though the southern sea of Agulhas Cape, due to Olivia’s [Gem Witchcraft: Shattered Star], had already prematurely entered a gigantic storm season.

However, equipped with the [Serenity Talisman] gifted by Fisher from the Tempest Church, as long as they were within the Black Sea, whatever unpredictable weather wasn’t a forbidden zone for him.

The two circled the island, which had regained its tranquility, without a hitch. On the other side of the valley where the treasure was hidden, in a slightly sunken terrain, but a place where the trees grew exuberantly, they saw a large patch of pale green phosphorescence flickering.

Even without seeing any bones exposed, it was conceivable that beneath the sunken forest, at least thousands of corpses belonging to Anuma slaves were buried.

After all, how could Hilus People dig such a large cavern in the mountain secretly without requiring a large number of tight-lipped personnel, who would fit better than Anuma People?

Finally, sighing for these truly forgotten ones, the pair turned and flew toward the north.

Upon reconnecting to the Mind Network, Aiven had already confirmed the location of the "Storm Horn"; it wouldn’t take more than an hour to catch up with them at the speed of the "Thunderbird."

Meanwhile.

Beneath them on the sea, a long black shadow broke through the whirlpool belt, like an underwater arrow darting northward; it was the fully liberated "Thorny Crown Sea Serpent" Pipi.

For the "Thorny Crown Sea Serpent," the long-distance assault speed can reach 80 km/h, equivalent to 43 knots, with a short burst maximum speed up to 112 km/h, equivalent to 62 knots.

Today was just a day behind the early escape of the "Storm Horn," even though Pipi’s swimming speed was far slower than Aiven’s flying speed, catching the "Storm Horn" would take less than two days.

As for this windfall from heaven, after a discussion, the two thought of a reason that seemed plausible.

The all-round powerful legendary battleship needed to rely on witchcraft or divine art to complete a transformation similar to humans, becoming the extraordinary within the battleships!

The first maritime powerhouse Hilus might be strong, but the "Eternal Flame" Church was even more dominant. The power of witchcraft in this country was almost extinct, even for the ostensibly legal alchemists (promoters of steam industry), most didn’t want to stay here.

Or it’s the vast diocese of "Eternal Flame" resisted using flame-based powers similarly.

Meanwhile, the royal family wanted to bypass the church, commanding divine powers to help construct a legendary battleship was a daydream; the church hierarchy didn’t want to increase the kingdom’s strength for free; everything was a transaction.

Therefore, the royal faction and their royal family behind them found it difficult to have a legendary battleship wholly owned by themselves.

Perhaps precisely due to the mutual restraint between the church, they can only use the dark method, hiding near Treasure Tree Bay; if returned, it would undoubtedly enter the church treasury in a few days.

Their conjecture based on intelligence was close to correct, but in reality, the royal faction’s resentment in their hearts was likely much deeper.

Evidently, it was the kingdom that originally scavenged precious materials from around the world, but after the divine blessing accomplishing the extraordinary transformation into a legendary battleship, it almost became church property.

Even each deployment needed approval from the archbishop in charge of related affairs, though no refusals had occurred for requests from the kingdom yet, it ultimately was a restriction.

Like holding the codes to a nuclear weapon, but the code box must be in someone’s custody.

Thus, after gaining the support of the Black Wizard Group’s "Curse School," these hideaway ship materials were their purely owned legendary battleship.

No matter how this patch of Treasure Tree came about, it ultimately benefited Aiven, becoming one of his substantial assets in the future.

Another loot, [Ocean Treasure: King Mansa Musa’s Treasure Box], Aiven already thought of its use.

Even without needing to guard treasures, this was still an excellent strategic weapon, capable of completely replacing the rudimentary version of [Maze Lock] to become a new barrier for Hatrafa Port. Just the absolute traits of ocean treasure could not be cracked by mere official wizards.

Aiven, in a cheerful mood, having passed through the clouds, slowed down slightly, turning to ask the girl on his back:

"Hesi, this time we’ve made a windfall, anything you want?"

Quite like an ordinary person when the year-end bonus arrives, flaunting before the girlfriend.

Upon hearing, Olivia, hugging Aiven’s neck and burying her face in the soft feathers behind his neck, a fleeting brilliance shone on her face, dimming the vast and magnificent sea of clouds below:

"Well... can I have anything?"

Aiven, completely unsuspecting, replied generously:

"Of course, no need to save money for me."

Just the harvest of a large batch of Treasure Tree ship materials was already an immeasurable windfall. If Aiven dared to sell, definitely countless medium and small countries would exhaust their treasury to buy.

Certainly, unless he went mad, it would be impossible to let a third person know before he could build on his own. Privately owned legendary battleship, at the very least, he hadn’t heard of.

"My necklace design is a bit outdated..."

"No problem, buy!"

"This year’s new earrings from Debeers Jewelry Store look nice..."

"Small matter, buy!"

"..."

"In the Gemstone Armament, over half of the thirty-six rings are nearing the critical point of Spiritual..."

"Um, buy... then."

Until Olivia listed various jewelry names for almost half a minute, Aiven finally couldn’t help but hesitate a moment, losing the initial composure he had.

"The Gem Star ’Artemis’ has already valiantly perished. How about... we buy three or five as backups?"

Finally, this time Aiven didn’t hesitate at all and shouted loudly with a sharp bird cry:

"Caw! Next topic!"

A woman is always missing one bag, and Olivia is always missing one gemstone.

To dare say ’don’t save money for me’ to a female sorcerer of the Gem School, it’s too naive. Please goddess, retract your divine power!

"Hehehe..."

The girl behind him laughed, rocking back and forth.

Shaking off the nonexistent cold sweat on his forehead, Aiven suddenly thought of that project he planned long ago but never implemented and asked again:

"Hesi, do you know how many people there are in the Gem School?"

Although Olivia didn’t understand why Aiven asked this question, she answered honestly with laughter still in her eyes:

"Although ordinary people can’t afford it, the Gem School has a long tradition and many branches. There are five to six hundred wizards of all ranks combined."

Aiven raised his eyebrows:

"That means these people have very strong purchasing power, right? Look at this."

A research plan controlled by Activated Spiritual Light automatically flew out from the "Magic Pocket" and landed in Olivia’s hand.

Upon closer inspection, she found it was a detailed execution plan derived from "Method of Cultivating Organic Gemstones."

It covers how to select suitable high-yield organisms, how to induce mutation, how to undergo demonization transformation... environment selection for cultivation, etc. It only lacks the part on how to induce it to form traits similar to natural gemstones.

But the remaining empty parts happen to be Olivia’s area of expertise.

One person might find it difficult to achieve such an seemingly impossible idea, but two people—one skilled in biological transformation witchcraft, the other in gem witchcraft—is a perfect match.

If successful, future "Gem Witchcraft" would not only not require spending money, but could also use cheap synthetic gemstones to seize the market and make a fortune!

Thinking of the wonderful future, initially, the girl just smiled, then gradually couldn’t help but laugh, and then Aiven joined in.

"Hahahahaha..."

Their laughter, like peals of bells, echoed constantly in the high altitude.

However, to each other, the other’s laughter sounded as pleasing as the sound of gold coins clashing.

...

Since successfully escaping, "Storm Horn" had been under a gloomy cloud because the captain blocking the enemy and the heroic Captain Roddy hadn’t managed to reunite with them.

Especially when Milan couldn’t contact Aiven no matter what methods were used, it further deepened the shadow in their hearts.

Having waited a full day, their hearts were in such torment they couldn’t wait any longer.

Due to the difference in Extraordinary Tier, Aiven’s Precise Divination had failed, so Milan simply used the crew’s archives preserved on the ship, using Roddy’s name, birthday, birthplace... and other "precise" information for divination (previous divination was for people).

Then.

The result of the divination was:

"Captain Roddy... is dead! Then Aiven..."

"Captain... boo hoo hoo..."

"They did it all for us!"

Upon hearing the sudden bad news, just when everyone was immersed in grief, with some even uncontrollably wailing.

Whiz——

Lightning fell from the sky onto the deck, the cape of the captain fluttering, Aiven gently let go of Olivia he was holding, lightly coughed and introduced the crew:

"Captain Roddy unfortunately died in battle, this is Major Olivia, whom I have just recruited as an attendant officer."

A group of people with tears yet dry looked at their captain with strange eyes, clearly saying:

’You’re lying to ghosts...’

Although his appearance and clothes had changed, the sword and the "Activated Beast Hide" belt originally belonging to Roddy had not changed!

Especially Milan, who had seen Olivia at the banquet in Orange Leaf Castle and knew that this marquis’s daughter had come to the Southern Continent, and even walked openly into the cabin that originally belonged to Roddy.

Look, she went in, she went in!

With a wonderful expression:

"Aiven, she..."

Aiven patted Milan on the shoulder, then looked at his officers:

’Give you all a look, you understand yourselves.’

Afterward, Aiven no longer concerned himself with them turning their sorrow into joy, and contacted Commander Vice Admiral Temple Elvis through the Mind Network to understand the changes on the battlefield when he was not present.

Although the operation to kill "Storm Horn" failed, the Hilus People ultimately held the initiative. Before "Concept Replacement" failed, the two Quasi-Legendaries had already joined up with the great fleet.

No opportunity was given to "Northern Cold Wind" to counterattack.

At this point, the war in the Southern Continent had fully entered the decisive stage, almost lost on land. But Tulip’s colonies mostly bordered the sea, and the navy determined the efficiency of troop and material transport.

The upcoming sea battle will decide who will be the true winner!