Martial Arts Worlds

In the captain's quarters, a flickering candle cast dancing shadows over the walls.

By the chair behind a desk, Ambrose read through his old journal while holding a cup of whiskey with his other hand.

He slowly sipped on his drink and then put the cup down before picking up his pen to write another entry to his journal.

'Lord's Island…'

Ambrose wrote it down first and then wrote down his experiences there, finishing up with the God's Pact encounter.

At the corner of the page, he wrote down the coordinates of the place and made many reminders of never coming back there.

If he forgot about that place and happened to go there in the future, he might get suddenly struck by the tribulation lightning and die.

After all, God's Pact doesn't expire.

He soon finished writing, closed the journal, placed it back inside his drawer, and finished the cup of whiskey before also putting the cup inside his drawer.

He then closed the drawer, locked it with a rusty brass key, and placed it back underneath his mattress.

Knock! Knock!

Someone suddenly knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

The door creaked open like a ghostly hand was pushing it, and then Kiernan stepped through the threshold, looking like he had something to say.

"What is it, Kiernan?" Ambrose asked and crossed his legs.

Kiernan pushed the door shut.

He didn't want anyone to be listening in on their conversation.

"In the Lord's Island, I came across something…"

Kiernan took the map scroll from his pocket and placed it on top of the desk.

"This is a treasure map," Ambrose said, and opened it to see a well-drawn map of a sea region that didn't look familiar to him.

The World Sea was a big place, after all, and he couldn't possibly have visited every place there was.

That was another one of Kiernan's worries.

What if the treasure map led to somewhere that was on the other side of the globe? It would take probably a year to get there, and there was no way Ambrose would make the trip for a wild goose chase.

"Why have you shown me this?" Ambrose asked.

"I want to go look for that treasure," Kiernan said. "Whatever we find there will go to purchasing mine and Julian's freedom."

"…"

Ambrose looked at the map, shook his head, and laughed.

"Haha, I know you're new to the seas, but this is naive even for you. There are thousands of fake treasure maps floating all around the World Seas. People are using fake treasure maps to trick gullible sailors into wasting their time and resources searching for non-existent treasures."

"I think this is real one, though." Kiernan said.

"You think?" Ambrose turned back to the map and then saw some strange writing at the upper left corner.

"Hmm, difficulty? And even location was written down. That doesn't feel like a real treasure map, but I haven't even seen fake ones write these things down either."

'So, everyone else can also see those words,' Kiernan thought. 'The system interface is the only thing no one else can see.'

"I really don't know…" Ambrose clicked his tongue. "The map's texture is very high quality and very ancient. It doesn't feel like a fake one, but the ink used on the map is very recent."

The tall waves suddenly crashed against the side of the ship, and the ship slightly wobbled to the side.

While Ambrose was rooted to his chair, Kiernan slid to the side and almost crashed into a shelf that was nailed against the wall.

Ambrose glanced at him briefly, and said.

"I can check where this Letzer Island is on the map. If it's too out of the way, I am sorry, but we won't be going for a wild goose chase."

"That's fair," Kiernan said.

After unlocking his drawer, he took out the World Sea's map, and with the help of the treasure map, he started to try to find its location.

It helped that Letzer Island was surrounded by five smaller islands. It made it look like a ring of islands.
Experience tales at empire

It was quite a unique landscape, and thus, he was able to find that region quite easily.

"I found it, and…" Ambrose put the map back inside his drawer. "You're a lucky one, I guess. It is not too far, about two hundred clicks away."

"So we're going?" Kiernan asked with bright eyes.

"Yes, but I have a condition." Ambrose said. "Sure, if there are about 90,000 gold coins there, you've bought your and Julian's freedom. However, if there are treasure items, that won't go into buying your freedom, deal?"

'That isn't fair at all.' Kiernan narrowed his eyes. 'However, it is still somewhat of a long trip there, and he won't go there just for our freedom; he also wants to gain something.

'I guess there is a higher chance of finding treasure items than gold coins from these treasure maps, and he is counting on that.'

"What if there is nothing and that treasure map is fake?"

After hearing Kiernan's question, Ambrose lit up another cigarette and took a drag on it.

"We'll deal with that once we've come to that point."

'In other words, I will be screwed.' Kiernan thought to himself.

"I will wake up the helmsman to change our course,"

Ambrose said and dipped the cigarette into the ashtray.

"I must warn you. If this is a wild goose chase, it won't only be me that will be angered. My men hate being kept out of bed for no good reason."

"I understand." Kiernan turned and walked to the door.

"And another thing!" Ambrose said. "Starting tomorrow, I have a training exercise for you. It is about time for you to learn Sea Steps. You're liability as you are now."

'A training?' Kiernan turned around to look into the captain's eyes, nodded, and then left the quarters to also get some sleep before tomorrow.

Ambrose looked at the treasure map on his desk, put it inside his drawer, and closed it with the rusty brass key.

'I've seen my fair share of treasure maps, but this one seems different somehow,' he thought to himself.