Madame

Next day…

Sky, Jericho, and Jay woke up in the same hotel room and are currently eating breakfast in one of the restaurants.

"Sky, I have a question: is there a way to tell how much money we can get from the stuff we collected?"

"No, but I know it's a lot."

"Captain, is it natural for us to earn this much stuff in such a short amount of time? This is my first exterminator crew but even I know it's not supposed to be this easy." Jay said.

The restaurant they were in was empty so they could talk about sensitive topics and not have to worry about being overheard.

"You're right, it's not supposed to be this easy. But so far we've been lucky." "I don't think it's lucky we got all that stuff in the dungeons. It's something else at work here." Jericho pointed out.

"No, I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about how we haven't met any pirates, greedy exterminators, fishmen, or mermaids. As we are right now we are incredibly weak." Jay and Jericho agreed with him internally. Jericho has seen her father fight a few times and even now she can't hope to win in a fight against him if he were still alive, and he was considered average in his crew.

"We'll keep doing what we've been doing: clearing dungeons, avoiding any trouble, getting stronger in the process, and paying back your debt as fast as possible."

"Captain, I have no doubt we can pay back Jericho's debt in no time at the rate we are going. But what comes after that?"

"After? Well there are no clear goals for us. But I guess we'll just explore, get stronger, richer… wait, are you asking because you have Katelyn in mind?" Sky asked.

Jay smiled.

"Yeah, I miss her. I was wondering if she could join the crew once we are stronger." Sky thought about it. Katelyn is Jericho's sister and now Jay is hooking up with her. But Katelyn has no talent or special skills. He would have to waste time, money, and experience on her that could go to them instead.

"I'll think about it."

'Stats.'

His stats appeared before him.

{Level 147}

{Str: 170 Dex: 124 Spd: 157 Int: 301 Mind: 200 Vig: 300}

{Stat points: 75}

Sky decided to place his stat points after a good night's sleep. It was still so unreal how after a single day of clearing dungeons his level soared. He cannot imagine how fast Jay and Jericho will level up if he gives them all the experience from now on.

But for now Sky wants to focus solely on himself.

{Str: 170 → 200}

{Stat points: 75 → 45}

{Strength has reached 200}

{Shields block 50% damage. Heavy weapon damage deals 50% more damage. Unarmed combat deals 50% more damage}

{Super strength: Strength is increased by 25% for 10 minutes → Strength is increased by 50% for 10 minutes}

Sky was surprised. All those buffs drastically increased which benefited his naginata.

The other reason he wanted to increase his strength stat is to equip an item he has longed to use.

{Shield of vigorous talent}

{10,000+ HP when held}

{Ability: Health boost: Increase max HP by 100% for ten minutes: 1 day cooldown}

{Requirements: Str: 200 Vig: 200}

Sky could not wait to try out his shield but taking out such an eye-catching shield in the middle of a populated island wasn't the brightest idea.

{Spd: 157 → 200}

{Stat points: 45 → 2}

{Speed has reached 200}

{Super speed: Increases speed by 100% for 30 seconds: 25% chance to activate when fighting an enemy → 50% chance to activate when fighting an enemy}

{New skill learned: Enhanced reflexes: lvl 1: Slightly improved reflexes}

Sky smiled. This was a great way to start the day.

"Hey, Sky, did one of the quests you took from the Merchant include some kind of tournament?" Jericho said.

"Yeah, why?" Jericho stood up picked up a piece of paper hanging from the side of the wall and brought it to Sky

"Look."

{Tournament of skill}

{Test your skill and might against others to win a grand prize on January 18: 8:00 AM at Nadong island}

{Must be over 16 to enter}

{First place: 10,000,000 shells. 2x red scroll}

{Second place: 1,000,000 shells. 2 green scrolls}

{Third place: 100,000 shells: 1 green scroll}

{Fourth place and below: Nothing}

{Must pay a fee of 200,000 shells per participant}

"Hmm, that sounds perfect but I wish it had more details." Sky said.

If he won first place the quest itself would give him 40,000,000 shells and 4x red scrolls, not to mention the additional rewards he would get from the tournament itself.

"Captain, the tournament starts tomorrow. I also want to join."

"Too bad I'm not old enough to participate." Jericho stated.

"We'll go clear dungeons today and end it a little early to rest for tomorrow."

Meanwhile…

A Caribbean ship arrived at HQ. A familiar Caribbean man wearing a red coat got off his ship and everyone saluted him upon his arrival. Behind him were several of his men dragging fishmen children in chains to be sold off.

It was an island called "Paradise" but its real name is "God's Paradise" it is the biggest island on the Land of the Dead and it belongs solely to the Caribbean. It is said that there is no other human island out there that had so much power in one place.

It is also the place where the Fallen God family resides.

The entire island was entirely covered in islands fortified by walls with cannons and machine guns mounted on them. It was heavily secured and no one could enter or leave even with magical means.

The man wearing the red coat strolled through the large, clean, luxurious hallway where the people also saluted him. The best part about his high ranking was having everyone acknowledge him, it was an amazing feeling he could not describe with words.

He stood in front of a woman with a serious look on her face. She was pretty, wore a modern white shirt with a long black skirt. Her hair was long and black but was in a bun style.

"Boris."

"Georgia."

"They're expecting good news from you." She said without looking at him. She is also the same person who was talking to him on the phone.

"We both know that's not true." Georgia extended her hand to the door. Boris entered the room and closed the heavy door.

Boris saw a tall, middle-aged, buff man holding a fishman by the neck gasping for air. One second later the fishman's neck snapped.

The old buff man had a completely shaved head. His attire was different from the other Caribbean officers, instead of wearing a uniform he was wearing whatever he wanted. Each piece of clothing he wore did not match and it made it him look ridiculous: a duck hat, a pair of swords strapped on his back, chain mail armor, pants made from some animal, rings made of various types of metals, a necklace with a unknown black gem, and shoes made of teeth.

Each piece of clothing he wore gave him some sort of ability or boosted his overall power, just like Sky.

His attire was weird but what many don't know is that many experienced exterminator crews, specifically their captains also wear 'weird clothing' because those pieces of clothing gave them power.

On his chest there are five tidal waves, one more than Boris.

"Boris."

"Xero." The man's name is Xero.

"Do you have good news for me?" Xero signaled someone in the room to take away the fishman's corpse and to bring him a new one.

"I brought 13 fishmen children."

"Ah, perfect! More target practice."

"And I brought this from one of the fishmen I killed." Boris placed down a pendant.

"According to what I saw it can dispel curses."

"Another one, great… but useless. You can keep it. But I was referring to the purple scroll. Do you have it?"

"No, it's already long gone." Xero let out a deep sigh and plopped down in his chair.

"That's what I've been saying to those Fallen God idiots but they refuse to listen to common sense and logic. Take a seat." Boris sat down on a comfy chair placed on the wall.

"I don't wanna do this but I am going to punish you for failing to retrieve the purple scroll. These aren't my orders but 'their' orders."

"Ugh! This is why I didn't wanna do this!" Boris groaned.

He was chosen to 'retrieve' the purple scroll but he did not want to because he knew the scroll was long gone.

"I agree. For the next month you're on portal duty."

"Ugghhhhhhhh…" Boris groaned louder. "Isn't that below my pay grade? Shouldn't I be doing something more productive? Like killing fishmen? I know it's a punishment but still."

Portal duty meant clearing portals for no extra pay while having to meet a daily quota of 10-20 portals per day. It was no problem to someone of his strength, it was just tedious and annoying to do.

"We have enough people for that already. Besides there has been an increase in portal outbreaks and fishmen attacking random civilian ships. We need someone of your strength to handle that."

"Portal outbreaks? What are the exterminators doing these days?"

"According to several reports many newer exterminator crews are having difficulty managing their finances even the ones who are under contract. And the older ones are either retiring or dying. Then again it's always been like this. In a few months it'll be good as new."

"So it's about money." Boris sighed.

"Oh, that reminds me, you're going to get paid for the fishmen children accordingly. Tell Georgia to get to it right away."

"Already on it, sir!" Georgia said from the other side of the door.

"Well that's good at least. Wait, what's gonna happen to Harvey Haydie's family since he stole the purple scroll?"

"Well they're gonna have to pay us back or else it means slavery."

"That seems kinda unfair don't you think? It's not like they had a part in this. It was the husband who acted alone."

"I thought the same thing and even voiced that out but 'they' don't seem to care. Oh, but something interesting did happen to that family: according to the reports of Tristan here, there is a young man who wants to help pay the family back for unknown reasons, but it seems he's a friend of the youngest daughter, Jericho Haydie."

"How much do they owe and when do they have to pay it back?"

"500,000,000 shells and they have until the next five months to pay it back."

"Oof, that's a lot of money and not a lot of time. How is he going to pull that off?"

"He's an exterminator, and he's a kid that's not even older than eighteen, and he has only two other crew members."

"Oh… in other words they're fucked."

No matter what, a young man with a crew of three members was not nearly enough to pay back such a large debt in such a short amount of time.

"It seems like that's the case. Dismissed." Boris left the room where he saw two more adult sized fishmen being dragged towards Xero.

Before he left Boris turned around and walked towards Georgia.

"What do you want, Boris?" Georgia asked in a serious tone without looking at him.

"That Haydie family who owes that massive debt, do you have the files?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"To see if I can help." Georgia looked at Boris for the first time today.

"Why do you wanna help a family you've never met?"

"Personal reasons." Georgia understood his reason. Boris was once a dad and a husband before the fishmen took that away from him. Perhaps seeing another dad put his family through something horrible made Boris feel sorry for the family, or perhaps it was a way to be closer to his dead family.

Georgia rolled her chair to the other side of the desk and took out some files.

"You keep a copy of Xero's files on your desk?"

"I keep a copy of everything."

"Thanks."

Boris walked through the building while reading the files.

Meanwhile…

After a while Sky exited another red dungeon after successfully completing it.

Once they left the portal they breathed in the fresh air.

"OH GOD! That was the worst dungeon run so far." Sky said, almost throwing up.

All three of them were leaning on the edge of the boat feeling sick.

"I'm gonna be sick. I can still taste it." Jay said, nearly throwing up from the disgust he felt.

"It doesn't make sense! Why is it that one of the irregular portals has to include fart smell EVERYWHERE! Blegh!" Jericho threw up.

"At least the loot was good." Sky said as he set course to the next red portal.

*Boom* *Boom* They heard several cannons being fired far away. They all saw three ships shooting cannons at one another, as well as fireballs, lightning bolts, guns, and people were flying and fighting with weapons while in the air.

The naval battle was something unexpected and all three of them forgot they were on the verge of throwing up.

"Yeah we're steering clear of that one. Jericho?"

"On it." Jericho quickly steered the ship away from the battle. At a glance it was certain they were no match.

Sky took out a portal telescope from his inventory to get a better view. One of the ships was a pirate ship, the other was an exterminator ship, and the last ship was a Caribbean ship.

Using {identify} on the people he saw on average that their stats ranged between 400-600 each while the stronger ones had stats in the thousands.

Sky was worried. It seemed like every crew out at sea were stronger than they were.

Some time later…

Sky docked the ship on the same island that was hosting the tournament. They finished early today to get some rest.

"Okay, everybody, the day is ours."

"Sweet." Jericho and Jay immediately ran to the island. It was a fairly large island with a lot to offer.

{Sky Rouge}

{Level 150}

{Stat points: 17}

{Loot of the day: 6 red scrolls, 9 red-grade items, 7,000,000 shells}

{Shells: 70.8m}

{Sky: 3 red scrolls}

{Jay: 1 red scroll, 2 red-grade items}

{Jericho: 2 red scrolls, 7 red-grade items, 7,000,000 shells}

The rewards weren't as grand as last time but that was to be expected.

{Red scroll: Shadow sneak: lvl 1: Turn into a shadow}

{Red scroll: Curse of strength: lvl 1: Cursed target deals 5% less damage}

{Red scroll: 40+ speed}

{Spd: 240} While most of the buildings on the island were still open for business, Sky took a good look around. Through most of the buildings he saw similar posters of the tournament like the one he saw earlier today.

The building where the tournament would take place was a colosseum building that looked ancient.

'Identify. Identify. Identify…' Along the way Sky continued searching for more talented people who can be recruited.

The majority had two to three stats between 100-200 while a few exceeded five hundred stats each and each had at least one green or red grade ability.

While he was looking for people he felt someone hold his arm firmly.

"Do you care for some special items, young man?" Sky heard someone calling out to him. It was a short old ugly woman covered in all black. Her facial features looked like a typical witch.

'Identify.'

{Bubu Leno}

{HP: 420/420}

{Mana: 275/275}

{Str: 44 Dex: 44 Spd: 102 Int: 55 Mind: 10 Vig: 32}

{Bubu Leno is currently possessed by a powerful being}

Sky got out of her grip and took a few steps back. The old ugly woman was possessed? The old woman noticed Sky looked at her with caution.

"So you already know I am possessing this hag? Sky Rouge." Sky wished he could take out his items out here and now but they were in the middle of the road. Taking out a weapon was equivalent to threatening violence and could get him in jail.

"Who are you?" Sky asked.

"You can call me 'Madame' . I've been watching you for some time now when you evolved that cursed skill of yours. But you already knew I was watching you since then, didn't you?"

Sky's eyes widened.

'System? I thought you said that it could only watch me and nothing else?'

{Personally it can only watch you but it is not a threat to you even now}

"What do you want? Why do you keep watching me?" Sky asked.

"I sensed that a person managed to evolve a cursed ability. Evolving abilities are quite common where I'm from, but not many are able to evolve curses especially in the Land of the Dead, that's why I started watching you. But now you have piqued my curiosity when you have shown such great leaps of progress."

"What do you want from me?"

"I'll tell you that later if you continue to impress me. For now I just want to help you." "

Help? With what?"

The old lady handed Sky a piece of paper but he refused to take it.

"Don't worry it's not cursed or anything like that." After identifying the paper Sky was sure it was safe to touch.

"It's a map leading to some treasure I want you to have. It took a bit of effort to get it." The old lady smiled sinisterly.

Sky read the map. If it was correct it would lead him to an uncharted island a few hours away.

"I don't trust you at all."

"If you trust me this one time you will see we are both on the same side."

"What side would that be?"

"On the side of humanity."

Sky squinted his eyes at her.

"What exactly will I find?"

"You'll see. I'll be watching you. Oh, and don't sell them to repay Jericho's debt or else." With a threatening smirk, the old lady's eyes closed before her eyes opened again.

"What are you looking at, dumbass?" The old lady's tone was different than before.

After identifying her the old lady wasn't possessed anymore.

'System, could I trust whatever that was?'

{That is up to you to decide}

Sky entered an inn while examining the map that was handwritten.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Sky decided to take the risk. Instead of taking his ship he decided to buy a new one for 1.9 million shells.

{Shells: 68.9m}

"Guys. I'll be back." Sky called Jay and Jericho.

"Where are you going, Captain?" Jay, who was eating, asked.

"Somewhere. I'll be back in time for the tournament, just don't leave the island and guard the ship."

"Aye." Jericho responded. Both of them trusted him and did not question his weird methods.

Sky ended the call and sailed to the place Madame wanted him to go.

He had no idea if this person or thing should even be trusted. But there is something he was certain of, Madame is someone from the Land of the Gods. The way she phrased her words, and the fact that she could not do anything to him personally lead him to believe she is indeed from the Land of the Gods.