22. Start sailing!

Zen and team number 2 only stopped once to transport important body parts from the Stone Drake on their way back to the lake where the Red Trickerss' main ship was waiting, so it didn't take long before they managed to rejoin the rest of the Red Trickerss group.

Zen handed over the task of reporting to Jonna and the others while he limply leaned against the deck railing.

Just as Zen was staring at the sight where this ship sailing gently with the guidance of the wind, a man walked closer to him.

"Yo, Zombie boy!"

It was Migell.

This muscular man was not with the team investigating the river path, so he had been relaxing on the boat while Zen and the others encountered the Necromancer, fought against the Stone Drake and its babies, and even nearly clashed with another group of pirate.

"You look exhausted!" said Migell.

"Meanwhile, you look very free, huh," Zen quipped.

Migell only laughed out loud in response to Zen's sarcasm.

He knew that he was indeed a little too much rest, but he liked it, so why did he feel ashamed of it? Migell prides himself on having free time.

With a wooden cup full of grape juice in his hand, Migell said: "Listen, Zombie boy. That leisure time is a real treasure. You really have to appreciate it and enjoy every second when you're idle. After all, who knows if you'll be so busy that you don't even have time to sleep not long after."

Zen understood Migel's sentiments well.

In the past, before he met Zhongmei, Zen had been trapped in a Sect in his attempted theft.

The entire sect was covered by a very strong barrier and it was almost impossible to break through by brute force, so Zen had to perform many maneuvers within the sect for several months before successfully escaping with a large amount of treasure with him.

Of course, during that escape attempt, Zen even had trouble finding a time and place to sleep, so the incident at that time became one of the many most memorable events for Zen.

Although the memories at that time had also become gray, Zen still cherished them.

"Well, I guess you're right about that."

Zen smiled and nodded at Migell.

Migell grinned in return.

"Heh. You're not bad at all. For a Zombie."

Zen also grinned.

"You're not bad either. For a slacker."

Zen and Migell laughed together afterwards.

They didn't know what was really funny, but they still laughed.

***

A few days continued to pass since the day Zen and team number 2 returned.

Martha arranges for her crew to be more wary of the potential arrival of the pirate group that Zen and team number 2 encounter, but they have no intention of starting sailing.

They still have to wait for team number 3 and 1 to return before starting sailing.

Team number 4 seems to have come back much faster than Zen and the others.

The river path they passed was cut off because it formed a fairly high waterfall.

Their team seemed to be almost carried away by the waterfall because they did not pay attention to the existence of the waterfall before. Fortunately, they move quickly and avoid death.

While they were waiting for the arrival of team number 3 and 1, Zen would practice magic and [Flaming Punch Technique] in his spare time.

Sometimes, Farna would even join and practice magic with Zen.

Although Zen did not give her meditation techniques, he taught Farna the basic way to meditate and strengthen her Mind power.

Zen did this to pay off his promise to teach Farna magic as well as an experiment to gather the necessary information samples before he began to design a new cultivation path for himself.

Farna was very fond of the meditation method that Zen taught and continued to meditate whenever she had free time.

The improvement can be seen easily as Farna begins to gradually increase her control of magic every day.

Slowly, Farna began to learn different types of magic that she had previously been unable to learn.

Farna felt that helping Zen that day was the wisest decision she had made in her entire life.

Today, the shirtless Zen was practicing the [Flaming Punch Technique].

With flames enveloping his fists and legs, Zen hurled several tens of movements every second at high speed.

The reason Zen continued to practice was for the sake of making him more familiar with the [Flaming Punch Technique] and to get to know more about the growth tree that grew on his Dantian.

Zen could sense that the growth tree would continue to grow whenever he practiced the [Flaming Punch Technique].

Apparently, the current state of the [Flaming Punch Technique] was still not the most powerful state that could be achieved by him.

Zen wanted to know the limits of the [Flaming Punch Technique], so he continued to practice regularly.

However, other than a slight growth on the growth tree, no other effects occurred even after Zen practiced non-stop day and night.

Am I missing something?

Zen felt that he was missing something important to further strengthen the [Flaming Punch Technique].

Something vague but powerful.

However, what is it?

Subtly, Zen was aware of what he needed, but specifically, he didn't know it.

Zen threw his fist forward.

Then, in front of the astonished gazes of the crew who were relaxing on the deck, Zen created a fire explosion that was much bigger than he had ever made before.

I have to keep practicing and get stronger!

***

It was only when 2 weeks had passed since Zen and team number 2 returned to the ship that team number 3 and 1 returned.

In their report, team number 1 found a lot of branching river paths, so it took a lot of time to check them all. They even almost got lost in the process.

On the other hand, team number 3 gave a positive report.

They managed to find the right river path!

On the map drawn by team number 3, a winding river path is drawn, but it has a general direction that matches the direction towards their destination.

And of course, the depth and width of the river lip are also suitable for the main ship.

Without thinking long, the decision was made.

They will use river path number 3 to sail!

Early in the morning, the sails of the Red Trickerss ship were unfolded.

The wind blew and carried them towards the

river path number 3.

Their goal was to sail towards the nearby port city - Port city of Limittia!