The eastern coastline of the northern continent of Salen started from the middle of Alvindale and turned into a curve towards the west. About two thousand kilometers north of Tailun Port, the curve suddenly widened. The eastern mountains were completely separated from the land at this location and plunged into the East Sea, forming an archipelago belt that was three to four thousand kilometers wide and ten thousand kilometers long. This star-like archipelago belt passed through the equator and the Southern Equatorial Current before gradually disappearing.
This archipelago belt on the eastern ocean was originally the paradise of the sahuagin people and was the core territory of the previous Goddess of the Sea.
The battle between the Goddess of the Sea Meredith and the Goddess of the Sea Ambossa mainly took place in this archipelago.
This cruel battle lasted for hundreds of years and finally ended with the victory of the Goddess of the Sea.
Now, this sea area had become the territory of the Goddess of the Sea and the Goddess of Commerce. In this archipelago, there were more than ten island countries with the Goddess of the Sea and the Goddess of Commerce as their national religion, and countless duchies and marquises.
Now, this sea area had become the country of humans, mermaids, and Sea Elves.
Humans built their homes on the islands while mermaids and Sea Elves lived in the sea between the islands. Under the faith of the Goddess of the Sea, the three races managed a safe trade route in this originally dangerous archipelago sea area.
Compared to the sea route on the west coast, the sea route here was safer. There were many supplies along the way and there were no threats from the Underdark or sea monsters. Even if it was difficult, if one was lucky enough, they would be rescued by mermaids or Sea Elves.
Although there were pirates hiding in the archipelago, under the joint attack of the Goddess of the Sea, various island countries, mermaids, and Sea Elves, they were not a threat.
Therefore, the sea route on the east coast was the most prosperous trade route in the northern continent.
Taking this route, in addition to transporting Tailun's alchemy products to the Empire of Light or the Ice Kingdom, as well as the specialties of the Empire of Light and the Ice Kingdom to Tailun Port, one could also purchase a large number of marine products in the eastern archipelago. For example, various magic pearls, precious minerals from the sea, alchemy materials from the sea magic beasts … These marine products, whether transported to Tailun or to the Empire of Light, were highly profitable.
Feng Chou was now in an unfamiliar city called Port Kavian. It was a very famous city in the eastern archipelago.
Port Kavian was the capital of the Schottland Kingdom, and Kavian Island was the largest island in the Schottland Kingdom.
Kavyn Island was located 1,700 kilometers to the northeast of Tailun Port. It was a bright pearl in the archipelago belt formed after the eastern mountain range separated from the mainland.
This island was about 600 miles away from the coast and was right at the end of the north equatorial ocean current. From here, they could reach Sacred Light Empire by following the north coastal ocean current; from here, they could easily reach Tailun City by following the south coastal ocean current.
Even among the tens of thousands of islands in the Eastern Archipelago, Kaven Island's environment was outstanding. The ocean currents that passed through the island made the fish resources in this area extremely rich. Kaven's fishermen could catch large amounts of seafood just by walking out of their homes.
In addition to the excellent environment, Kaven Island was also blessed by nature. It was located in the subtropical zone and had a subtropical oceanic climate. It had abundant rainfall and humid climate, which made it suitable for the growth of crops. More than half of Kaven Island's 10,000 square kilometers of land was fertile farmland. Most of the mountains on Kaven Island were concentrated in the east and south of the island, which blocked the storms from the sea for the plains in the west.
The Kaven Family had developed a dukedom, a marquis, and two earldoms on this fertile island.
Relying on their superior conditions, the Kaven Family firmly held the throne of the Schottland Kingdom.
The Schottland Kingdom was actually a united kingdom. It was made up of three duchies, six marquisdoms, and even more earls led by Duke Kavian. It encompassed hundreds of islands close to the mainland and hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of sea.
As an extremely important hub of the eastern sea trade route and the southern continent trade route, Port Kavian was undoubtedly very prosperous. It was a huge city with a population of over 500,000, and was the second largest city in the Eastern Archipelago.
Feng Chou released hundreds of scouting pigeons and a relay station imitation eagle in Port Kavian before hurriedly teleporting away from the city.
In the next few days, Feng Chou's figure appeared in several prosperous cities on the eastern sea trade route.
Every time he arrived in a city, he would release some imitation birds and leave in a hurry.
Feng Chou's last stop was a port city more than two thousand kilometers east of Kaven.
The island where the port city of Parita was located was not big, but the port was unusually prosperous.
Parita was a port on the eastern edge of the Eastern Archipelago. This port faced the middle of the northern equatorial current from the east. It was the first port that the merchant ships returning from the southern continent would encounter after a long journey without any supplies. Its geographical location was very important.
Most of the merchant ships returning from the southern continent would stop at this island to rest and replenish their supplies.
That was the main reason why this port was so prosperous.
After Feng Chou teleported to Parita, he released hundreds of scouting pigeons and a relay station imitation eagle as usual. However, after releasing these pigeons and imitation eagles, Feng Chou didn't teleport away again. He waited in a hotel for two days.
In two days, the scouting pigeons collected a huge amount of information. This information was processed by Qiankun Pagoda and finally given to Feng Chou hundreds of candidates.
Feng Chou took advantage of the night and used the information provided by Qiankun Pagoda. In one night, more than three hundred people were sent into Qiankun Pagoda without anyone noticing.
With more than three hundred people, Feng Chou recalled the birds and teleported away from Port Kavian.
Feng Chou teleported to the sea thousands of kilometers away from Port Kavian and steered Qiankun Pagoda's other steam-powered hybrid ship out.
When this ship left the world of the tower, there were already more than three hundred crew members on board. These crew members all woke up at the same time after the ship left the tower. They naturally began to take their positions to control the ship. Each of them looked very familiar as if they had been working in this position for a long time.
These crew members were naturally the people that Feng Chou had sent into Qiankun Pagoda in Port Kavian. After they were sent into Qiankun Pagoda by Feng Chou, all of them had various memories compiled by Qiankun Pagoda using large-scale illusions.
In these crew members' memories, they had been working on this "Warrior" for a long time.
As they experienced more and more things together, Feng Chou's confidence in Qiankun Pagoda grew.
If it was before the incident with Patrick, Feng Chou would never have dared to use Qiankun Pagoda to do such a large-scale memory alteration. However, the incident with Patrick gave Feng Chou a lot of confidence, so he decided to take the risk this time.
Feng Chou stood on the bridge and looked at the unfamiliar crew members who greeted him familiarly as they walked past him. He could not help but feel a sense of absurdity in his heart.
According to Qiankun Pagoda's arrangement, Feng Chou's identity on the Warrior was not the captain, but the ship's owner.
As for the captain of the Warrior, according to the crew's memories, he had died during the voyage. Not only the captain, but even the second mate and third mate had died in battle. At this time, the ship's owner was temporarily acting as the captain.
The location where the Warrior entered the real world was northeast of Parita Island. If they were to go to Parita Island from this location, it would not be worth it. They might as well go directly to the other port city behind Parita Island.
Under Feng Chou's command, the Warrior bypassed Parita Island and entered the depths of the archipelago …
The Warrior visited one port after another along the way. Feng Chou was openly purchasing the specialties of the East China Sea, selling the goods brought from the Southern Continent, and secretly harvesting the talents of the Scout Bird Collection.
Of course, these goods from the Southern Continent were not brought by the Warrior. They were purchased during the few months he was in the Southern Continent. The quantity was not too much, but it was definitely authentic. It was enough for show.
Every time the Warrior left a port, it would return to Qiankun Pagoda at sea. When the ship left Qiankun Pagoda again, there would be more crew members on board, and the previous crew members would not find it strange.
When the Warrior circled around the most densely populated area of the Eastern Archipelago, the crew and passengers on board had reached two thousand people.
Among these people, there were more than a thousand sailors, and the rest were civilians recruited by the ship owner for his territory in the Southern Continent. These civilians were mostly from the slums, and they were young. Some were orphans, some were betrayed by their parents, and some were betrayed by their relatives.
After these purchased teenagers boarded the ship, they would be cleaned and given clean clothes. They would eat white bread, smoked meat, and fruits that they would never have dared to dream of in the slums. Their feelings of fear would soon be calmed down.
After the Warrior's last stop was Kavyn Port, it turned to the southwest and followed the coastal current to Tarun Port.
At this time, the crew on board the Warrior had more than a thousand and two hundred people, which was double the number of crew members. Feng Chou had also recruited many talented people such as the captain, first mate, second mate, boatswain, and so on for the Warrior.
The new captain of the Warrior was called Haddock. He was from Kavyn, and he had sailed a sail ship to the Southern Continent several times and returned successfully.
After making enough money, Captain Haddock and his employer bought a magic merchant ship.
In order to control this magic-powered merchant ship, Haddock spent a huge amount of money and changed his profession into a rare advanced profession of the Arcane Knight branch called "Magic Captain". The magic list of this advanced profession was not designed for battle, but for better piloting and commanding of the magic ship. Only on the magic ship could they display their greatest value.
Magic ships used to be the most important peripheral guard and mobile combat force of the arcanists' Floating-Space Towers and Floating-Space Cities. A Floating-Space City was often equipped with hundreds of magic ships.
To control these magic ships, a large number of mages were needed. It was well known that there were very few humans who had the talent to become mages. Even during the Arcane Empire, the proportion of mages among humans was not more than twice of what it was now.
The number of mages on Floating-Space Cities could not meet the demand of magic ships.
In order to solve this problem, the arcanists designed the "Magic Captain," a branch profession of the Arcane Knight. The arcanists carefully designed a magic list for this advanced profession, and even specially designed a special magic for it. This allowed the "Magic Captain" to control and command the magic ship even better than the archmages.
The real "Magic Captain" was a master professional. Although Captain Haddock was a level-18 warrior, he did not have enough money to change his profession to a real Magic Captain, so he could only choose the low-level version of Magic Captain.
There were three low-level versions of the advanced profession of Magic Captain. One was "Magic Helmsman," who specialized in the control of magic ships. The other was "Magic Cannoneer," who specialized in the operation and maintenance of magic cannons. These two were advanced professions. The last one was called "Magic Sailor," who could replace the ordinary crew of the magic ship made up of intermediate mages.
Captain Haddock chose the secondary profession of "Magic Helmsman."
Fortunately, Captain Haddock wanted to control the magic ship and not a real magic ship, so the Magic Helmsman was more than enough.
Next, Captain Haddock piloted the magic merchant ship in high spirits, which he owned half of the shares of, and set off on his journey to the southern continent.
Perhaps Captain Haddock's good luck had run out, but the magic merchant ship he commanded was besieged by the Blackwater Goblin Pirates on the way back from the southern continent. In the end, the entire ship was annihilated, and even Captain Haddock became a captive.
After that, Captain Haddock was enslaved by the leader of the Blackwater Pirates with a devil contract, and became a slave captain of the Blackwater Pirates.
Haddock's life as a slave lasted for ten whole years. After ten years of painful waiting, he finally got the chance he had been waiting for.
The leader of the Blackwater Pirates was beheaded in a conflict with the Amazon Bloodsail Pirates, and Haddock was freed immediately.
Haddock used the prestige he had accumulated over the past ten years to convince some of his subordinates to follow him and leave the Blackwater Pirates. In the end, they successfully eliminated the loyal Blackwater Pirates on the ship and seized the magic pirate ship he commanded.
Haddock led the people who followed him, piloted the pirate ship that he had seized, and embarked on the journey home.
However, Haddock didn't return home to reunite with his family, but to seek revenge.
In the third year after he was forced to become a Blackwater Pirate Captain as a slave, he heard of something from the crew of a merchant ship from his hometown that had been plundered by the Blackwater Pirates.
Haddock was practically a household name on Kaven Island. He had started from scratch as a fallen noble with only a title left. He started as a naval officer and later became a merchant ship captain. He piloted a sailboat to brave the Southern Continent and successfully returned. After that, he had his own sailboat and once again ventured to the Southern Continent, miraculously returning to the Southern Continent.
The reason it was called a miracle was because sailboats accounted for almost half of the merchant ships that went from the northern continent to the southern continent every year. Of the less than forty percent of the merchant ships that returned from the southern continent, sailboats accounted for less than twenty percent of them!
For sailboats that ventured into the southern continent's route, the success rate was almost one in ten!
Haddock's two successes had caused a huge commotion in Kavieng, the home of sailors. The sailors who had followed him had all turned from penniless beggars to rich people. This had made him an idol in Kavieng back in the day.
Thus, everyone in Kavin knew what happened to Haddock's family.
From the sailors in his hometown, Haddock learned that when the news of his magic energy merchant ship being annihilated spread back to his hometown, his old master, who was also his good friend, used a forged loan contract to seize his family's property and chased his wife and children out of his home.
From then on, the belief that supported Haddock's persistence changed from longing for his wife and children to revenge.