7. Departure: No Man’s Land
"My name is Avril. Half a month ago, I came to these uninhabited waters with my parents, my two older brothers, and my young brother Jerry from the human-class waters 300 miles away.
The competition of the human class was too fierce and brutal for us to handle that kind of intensity.
My father had a map from my grandfather. There are three obscure islands in nearby waters, which were not shown on the global map. With any luck, we could stay there.
However, on reaching the edge of the human class sea, we came across another ship, a three-masted schooner, thirty meters long, fully ten times larger than our fishing boat. They took a liking to me, and we fled all the way, and finally, they hit us with their cannon.
The sea was blowing a gale, and we took advantage of the situation to escape, but the ship was badly damaged, and it wasn't long before our boat sank.
For a few days at first, my family and I gathered together with the cargo around us. Waiting for someone who could come to rescue us, but this was no man's land, and very few people passed. Gradually, they lost their strength one by one, and we met the sharks at that moment!
I watched them get eaten by the sharks, and my brother pushed Jerry and me into the distance, and he lured the sharks away himself, so we were spared. Then Jerry in my arms was getting cold, and I desperately tried to hold him. But, how I held him was no use. He died in my arms... I was so tired and exhausted afterward I fell asleep and lost Jerry. I... I was really so useless!" By this point, Avril had sobbed uncontrollably.
Even White couldn't help but sit beside her and look at her pitifully.
Raine let out a slight sigh. Hearing what this woman had gone through, he couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for her.
These days after coming to the Azure Era, although he had not had an easy time, at least he was safe and had not experienced any major storms or seen the cruelty of the Azure Era.
"Avril, I'm sorry for your loss. This world is cruel."
"I know, but I'm not willing!" Avril jerked her head up, her red eyes containing tears, glaring wide and looking somewhat terrified, "How can these murderers live with such impunity! They must pay the price! I must avenge my family's death!"
Perhaps sensing that she was being too vicious, Avril looked at the bow in embarrassment, "Uh, I'm sorry, I know it's my business, I've just... been at sea for four days, and you're the first person I've come across... no, the first boat. No, no, the first boatman."
Raine was rather despondent. What the hell is a boatman?
Never mind, it wasn't the time to dwell on that.
"What is this 'human class' sea you were talking about?"
"You're a boat, don't you even know that?"
"What does that have to do with whether I'm a boat or not?" Raine said in a sour voice.
"Oh." Avril had never met such a fierce ship, so she could only say honestly, "There are five main classes of seas in the world, namely "Sky," "Dragon," "King," "Beast," and "Human." The human class is the lowest and has the least resources. But in comparison, the current situation on the main shipping routes is more stable, and although there are mutants, they are not too numerous and not too strong. Basically, it is rare to encounter sea monsters. Sort of a more suitable sea to live for ordinary people like us."
"As for the rest, I'm not sure. I've never been there. All I know is that the beast-class sea is very rich in resources. There are many large islands, the most terrifying creatures, terrifying currents, and terrifying natural climates. Only the strong enough fleet with strong enough crew would dare to enter."
Raine frowned slightly, although he didn't have an eyebrow either... "The Beast class is already so terrifying? What about king class, dragon class, and sky class?"
"Well, I don't know, I've never been there either, and no one on our side has returned from those places." Avril said resignedly, "They also say there are real dragons in the dragon-level waters, I don't know if that's true, and I can't just tell you that."
Raine shook his head. This source of information is really a bit unreliable. A beast-level sea is so said by her like the top-level sea... But then again, the human-level sea is so competitive? This is a bit out of Raine's expectation.
"So let me ask you, you said we are in uninhabited seas now. Which level is this?" Raine could only ask simple questions.
"There is no level in the uninhabited seas, as there are few resources and few islands. Although the climate is relatively smooth and there are no fey beasts. But without resources, who would want to come?"
Raine thought about it. No wonder he had been able to wander around so leisurely. It turned out he was in uninhabited seas.
He was only a 1.5 combat minion anyway, not to mention a 30m ship with cannons. The fishing boat Avril had been on could taken him out. So it was better to develop in no man's land.
He doesn't know how Avril will get her revenge with a 0.5 combat rating, which is not as high as White's.
When thinking about development, Raine's first thought still was wood.
For the next level of evolution, he needed 50 timbers. He needed to encounter five such shipwrecks.
Avril's father had come here only because he had a chart. Who would normally come here? In the vast uninhabited seas! Five shipwrecks! It felt like a dream.
"By the way, is your father's chart still there?" Raine suddenly thought of it and immediately asked.
"It's long gone."
"Oh my god!" Raine was truly gutted with regret.
"But the general direction I can identify."
"You know the location?"
"I don't know the exact coordinates, but I've seen the charts too. We grew up on the sea, I can get the general direction with a glance. And I see you have a compass here, so I think I should be able to take you there."
Raine was instantly energized. If he could find the island, how much wood could there be?
"By the way, what are you sailing? I don't see an engine." Avril searched the boat, "No oars either."
"Oars? They're at my ass."
Raine had just finished speaking when the timber tethered to his back was made into two oars by the system.
It was hard to get wood, but the wood was definitely not a problem if he could find the island and trees. So Raine had to put down his blood money and make the oars first.
After this time he had only 0.1 wood left.
"You row, I'll steer."
Avril took the oars out of the water and back to the boat's belly and set them up on the side shelf, "I'm slow. It could be days before we get to the nearest one."
"Doesn't matter. We can gather some materials on the way." Raine wasn't too anxious about that.
"Hey, by the way, what's your name, and what do I call you from now on?" Avril started paddling, and Raine finally got a larger displacement on the surface.
"What do you call me?" Raine thought for a moment, suddenly realizing that the question didn't even need to be considered.
"That's no need to ask. Just call me Captain."
"Yes, Captain!"
"Eh, you and White will be my crew from now on. Now, let's get going right away. Target, No Man's Land!"