Extraordinary Voyage

To obtain a bottle of "Shadow Dragon Blood" from the ancient wizard's treasure trove was undoubtedly a delightful surprise for Aiven.

In this era.

On the most developed Old Continent of human civilization, not to mention mythical creatures like dragons, even some sub-dragon species with dragon bloodlines have long disappeared without a trace.

The New Continent, due to the more active magic elements, still subtly shows traces of sub-dragon species activities, such as the juvenile sea dragon Anita once slew.

However, bloodlines are pure regardless of any kind of breed, and a fully grown dragon starts at Tier 4, true giants; since the colonizers arrived, there have been no eyewitnesses.

To find traces of dragons again, one might indeed need to venture into the Broken Star Sea with its vast mysterious realms, or even deeper into the unknown world.

The Shadow Dragon mainly lives in the Shadow Realm. Although its combat strength ranks last among various giant dragons, a mature one is still just a regular Tier 4 creature.

But no matter how weak, it is ultimately a true giant dragon, an existence that even the peak strongholders among humans are unwilling to face alone!

With this bottle of "Shadow Dragon Blood," transforming Kaka's bloodline will be twice as effective with half the effort, significantly increasing the success rate.

According to the set bloodline template, even if it doesn't ultimately become a true giant dragon, it won't mutate into a chaotic creature.

Aiven smiled like a benevolent old father:

"Kaka, you lucky devil!"

"Kaka...?"

Raising its head and calling out in confusion, the less than one-year-old little shadow lizard inexplicably felt a coolness down its back.

Whoosh——

The instinctual sense of crisis made its body shrink instantly, hiding in Aiven's shadow, unwilling to come out.

Aiven was about to tease it further.

Suddenly, the voice of Order Officer Bess rang in his ear:

"Reporting, Commander, the target has entered the scheduled area, confirmed as the slave transport fleet of the Hilus Santababia Company!

Calculating both parties' speeds, they are expected to engage in combat in about five hours!"

Aiven and Milan's expressions immediately turned serious.

They instantly tapped into the sea birds' vision, seeing the distant sea surface where a medium-sized fleet, totaling ten sailing ships, was headed their way from the southeast.

This was precisely the target for the Dragon Cavalry Pirate Gang's full-scale operation!

"Prepare for battle! Summon all ship captains to the 'Venus' for a pre-battle meeting."

"Yes, Commander!"

The next moment.

The seagulls acting as communication terminals on the other three Level 5 ships of the privateer fleet simultaneously began to relay the order from the "White Knight's" leader to the captains of each warship.

Evidently, this biological communication network was already applied in Aiven's privateer fleet, proving to be a hundred times more efficient than the outdated flag signals in terms of precision, range, and reliability!

The three captains immediately acted upon the command.

Braving the wind and rain, they rushed to the fleet's flagship "Venus" at the earliest possible moment.

Though this was a collective operation since the fleet's founding, none of the three captains dared to show any negligence towards the leader's command.

"Leader!"

"Take a seat."

The three captains took their seats one by one in the captain's quarters.

Firstly, the "Iron Bone," a pirate ship refitted from a merchant ship, measuring forty meters long and equipped with twenty-one shipborne artillery, captained by William;

Then the "Gladiator," a swift cruiser refitted from a captured Hilus Level 5 ship, thirty-nine meters long equipped with thirty-two artillery, captained in proxy by Baldwin;

And the "Wrestler," identical in specifications to the "Gladiator," captained in proxy by Alek.

Indeed, while watching nearby, Aiven not only promptly stopped the pirate members who were about to swarm but also made an immediate decision to accept this old pirate!

Because.

Aiven had already confirmed Alek's condition after a slight examination, coupled with his account of his subsequent experiences on a deserted island.

Back when Aiven had slain the great pirate Basem, the witch's organ he had transplanted finally broke free of its shackles, transforming into a sort of parasite with independent thought.

By chance, it entered Alek's body, helping him heal old body ailments.

Moreover, it enabled this recently betrayed fellow to gain official wizard-level spell support through a stroke of luck.

Including but not limited to: Witchcraft Shield, Enchantment, Control of Yellow Sand, Spiritual Vision, etc.

The combination created an effect greater than the sum of its parts, and with Alek's rich experience as a pirate captain, he was indeed a valuable asset to the resource-depleted pirate gang!

Besides, now part of the privateer fleet, they no longer suffered from spiritual cleanliness; Aiven directly decided to accept him.

However, given his involvement in the "White Whale Port Massacre," with Tulip countrymen's bloodstained hands as a former offense.

Aiven established a very stringent unilateral witchcraft contract with him.

The situation forced Alek, clearly left with no other choice, to swallow his pride and give himself completely to Aiven, with rights little better than a slave contract.

But then Aiven thought about it and to prevent Alek from feeling too aggrieved, he revealed the past connections between the three of them.

Alek never expected that when he originally joined this fledgling pirate gang for the renowned name of the "White Knight," he intended to make a name for himself with the power of patchwork limb Sparrow.

While completely selling himself, he learned of the deeper connection among himself, the White Knight, and Sparrow.

This "White Knight" not only slayed the great pirate Basem, indirectly granting Sparrow freedom, but also destroyed the entire crew of the betraying "Demon Monkey," unexpectedly avenging Alek's great grievance.

Furthermore, he gave Alek and Sparrow the chance to meet, allowing Alek to seize the opportunity for rebirth. With all this, Alek was truly unsure what to feel towards this leader.

Though the contract they established was extremely harsh.

Yet whether from the perspective of Sparrow residing in his left hand or his own, the leader was an undeniable great benefactor, making it hard to feel any resistance to working under him.

Moreover, having an organization and a solid backing should prevent him from being as vulnerable as before, almost dying worthlessly on some desolate island, right?

Though Alek was already over fifty, having spent half his life drifting on the sea, he never considered dying on a sickbed in the future.

Joining under the strong White Knight promised a future filled with grand adventures.

This outcome can be considered as a win-win situation... perhaps.

At this time, all military commanders in the privateer fleet, including Gary, had gathered.

Aside from William, who joined with his entire "Iron Bone" crew intact, the rest of the fleet had experienced personnel reshuffles.

This included Aiven's own "Venus" and two other Level 5 Battleships, all reorganized.

A group of twenty-four navy elites from key positions aboard the "Storm Horn," acting as the main pirate officers on the three ships, joined by three Extraordinary Captains and the essential Seagull Messenger for each vessel.

Although most new members had been part of the fleet for less than a month, Aiven, with this network, had attained absolute control over the fleet!

Based on this foundation, it was not difficult to forge a qualified and resilient privateer fleet, with the first battle starting today.

Glancing at all the military officers present, Aiven began:

"Chief Navigator, please brief everyone on our opponent's intel again."

He was very aware that his fame as the great pirate "White Knight" had a time limit.

Even if not as quick as in today's information-rich society, its prominence would gradually fade within half a year, turning from exciting topics into mere symbols in people's memories.

So he must strike while the iron is hot, personally leading a few more significant operations!

Once the foundation for the Dragon Cavalry Pirate Gang was established through a series of hard-fought battles, allowing it to operate independently, Alek would no longer need to personally engage in minor plundering activities.

Though compared to confronting Hilus openly like this, he preferred getting rich quietly.

If the sole aim was plundering wealth, then of course this would be the better option.

But from a national "Blood Loss Plan" strategic standpoint, how much damage could he inflict single-handedly?

Relying solely on himself and his Dragon Cavalry followers for privateering, even if they worked relentlessly, they could never truly undermine the Hilus people.

So, Aiven's plan was simple.

To become a spiritual emblem of the Anti-Hilus Alliance, and in material terms, to lead by example with the vast riches acquired from raids.

Using his actions to continuously inspire more "ambitious young men" to join the cause against Hilus.

Throw Hilus into a vast sea of people's warfare.

Besides, Aiven didn't intend to be entirely tied down by privateering; his true goals were greater power and a broader world!

The target of this grand, high-profile first action couldn't be any small fry.

Milan stood up and handed over the intelligence files collected beforehand.

"Our target this time is the largest private company stationed by Hilus in the New Continent, Santababia...."

Ostensibly composed of five major commercial guilds from within Hilus, Santababia secretly has the backing of the Hilus Royal Family, often with King Philip II himself as the actual controller of the company.

Through hidden channels, it is known that the royal family holds at least forty percent of its shares, providing important income outside the state's revenue.

The company primarily conducts trade in slaves, precious metals, tobacco, and sugar, along with piracy and colonial operations. Its main area of operations includes the western part of the Southern Continent, the entire New Continent, and the Golden Sea.

This mission's target for the privateer fleet is a batch of slaver ships from Santababia Company coming from the Southern Continent.

They set sail from the slave coast centered around Benin, the voodoo religion's birthplace on the Southern Continent, relying on collective fleet strength to cross the entire Black Sea along the northern current to reach the Golden Sea Islands.

This is the middle journey of the triangular trade Old Continent "Guns, Cloth"—Southern Continent "Anuma People"—New Continent "Gold, Silver, Tobacco, Dyes."

There are indeed reasons for Aiven choosing this target.

Although money isn't everything in this world, it can indeed solve most issues.

As long as a steady stream of abundant gold and silver flows into Hilus Kingdom, even vast internal problems can be resolved one by one.

Starting the "Blood Loss Plan" now also means cutting off the opponent's silver supply at its source.

Among mines, mercury, and labor force, these three are critical in limiting silver production capacity!

In a context where resources can't be seized, one can focus on the latter two, especially since the profit from slave trade is... 600%!