「Two weeks later.」
Standing at the front of the deck, Colin yawned.
He took a bite of the fresh green apple in his hand, the crisp flesh crunching in his mouth.
Colin could see a faint speck of white on the coastline ahead. That was probably their destination, though he had no idea what the situation was like over there.
’We’re finally getting there.’
The past few weeks had been quite an "ordeal."
The main reason was that Brass Dragon who couldn’t stop talking once she opened her mouth.
To be honest, Colin really felt that chatting with this dragon was good for him. Even if she was a young dragon, her knowledge and experience far surpassed that of mortals. If you paid close attention to what she said, you could truly learn a great deal.
But the way she spoke was just too erratic.
It was like watching countless educational videos that had been cut into segments, randomly shuffled, and then played back at four times the speed.
It wasn’t so bad if you were just listening casually, but trying to extract useful knowledge from it felt like torturing your own brain. It was a state of feeling like it was a shame not to listen, yet finding it agonizing to do so.
In the end, the four of them had to take turns handling the chatterbox dragon. She’d certainly had her fill of conversation during this time.
Other than that, they basically hadn’t encountered any monsters during the journey.
But even if they had, it wouldn’t have been their turn to fight.
After all, the dozen or so squads on the ship were mostly from the Gray Hand and the field personnel. This also explained why so many rare Alien Races were gathered here; these Alien Races were physically stronger and more talented than most humans.
When they first saw so many Alien Races, Colin and his group were secretly pleased.
After all, they were finally no longer the most peculiar squad, so they probably wouldn’t attract as much attention as before.
However, their joy lasted only a few days. After chatting with the other squads, Colin discovered that his group was still the most peculiar—of the only three field personnel squads on the entire ship, theirs was the lowest tier.
It was worth noting that the tiers between different factions weren’t entirely equivalent.
For example, a Tier Two from the field personnel was nowhere near as capable in a fight as a Tier Two from the Gray Hand. The same was true for organizations like the Viper Association and the Five-Stringed; the larger the organization, the stronger its members.
This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as most people looked out for them.
A few days ago, the ship had turned and spent several days sailing into the open sea, officially heading for the White Tower on the coast.
By turning his head, Colin could see the road he had planned to take on his first trip south, as well as the towering Roaring Mountain Range beside it.
This trade route was bustling with activity again.
Almost every time he looked, he could see merchant caravans traveling along the route. Midway through their voyage, he could also spot some destroyed watchtowers being rebuilt—the handiwork of those Hill Giants from before, he presumed.
After traveling this far south, the weather had finally started to improve.
At least now he could see the lush little groves along the edge of the coastline.
CRUNCH.
Colin took another bite of his apple.
In his spare time, besides enjoying the scenery, he had also spent a lot of time exploring the new Specialty he’d acquired.
As this thought crossed his mind, Colin looked down at the Armor he was wearing.
The Armor, already polished from its Enchantment, had become even more beautiful.
Just as Donkexes and the others had said, "Empowerment Armor" was, simply put, a type of temporary Enchantment.
This Specialty took effect on an entire set of Armor.
So far, however, Colin could only empower the set of armor he was used to wearing. In other words, he couldn’t just throw on two sets of Plate Armor and empower them; doing so would only result in failure.
He didn’t know the reason for this yet. ’Perhaps it has to do with my own Casting habits,’ he mused.
With that thought, Colin reached out and undid the strap of his Wrist Guard.
The Leather Armor Wrist Guard, studded with iron plates, clattered to the ground.
Then, with a single thought from Colin, a blue light shimmered across the Wrist Guard’s surface. It slowly floated up, wrapped itself around his wrist, and fastened its strap, good as new.
Colin had been quite amazed when he’d first seen Langgrin demonstrate this ability. He just hadn’t expected to be able to do it himself so soon, and now that he could, it didn’t feel like such a big deal anymore.
’Of course, it does make putting on armor in the morning much more convenient.’
He could just sit up in bed, rub his eyes, and the armor would float over and put itself on him. All he had to do was hold out his arms.
As for his other new Specialty, the one that enhanced his ability to imitate, he hadn’t had a chance to test it yet.
’After all, there’s no one teaching me new Magic right now. I’ll have to wait and find Donkexes to try it out later.’
"We definitely won’t arrive in the next few hours. Let’s go down and have some lunch, Colin."
As Colin was lost in thought, Durandel’s voice came from behind him.
The old man in purple robes was standing by the ship’s helm, waving at him.
"Alright, I’m coming down now."
Colin finished his apple in a few quick bites, tossed the core into the sea, and hurried toward the cabin.
Having spent the past couple of weeks in his company, Colin could tell that Durandel was a rather amiable person.
Although Colin had a feeling the man came from an impressive background, he put on no airs whatsoever, acting just like any ordinary old man.
The reason Colin felt he was a big deal was based on the attitude of the Gray Hand members toward him. Even Tier Four members of the Gray Hand were extremely respectful when speaking to him.
Needless to say, the status of a Tier Two Black Robe from the field personnel like Colin was completely incomparable. He figured only someone of Edwin’s caliber could be considered the old man’s peer.
He walked into the cabin to find Ale and Orelia already sitting at the table.
The Half-Elf looked a bit glum, but the Tiefling seemed to be her usual self.
"What’s wrong? Run out of things to talk about today?" Colin asked, walking over and sitting down beside them.
"Of course there’s stuff to talk about, but..." Ale sighed. "That dragon just talks too much. I knew Brass Dragons could be a bit... you know... but I never expected her to be so... you know."
"Seeing is believing, right?" Colin said with a laugh.
Orelia chimed in, "And Lady Sirikxia likes to act pitiful. Once she starts chatting, neither of us has the heart to say we need to leave."
Sirikxia was the Brass Dragon’s name.
’Speaking of which, the Dragon Species all seem to love giving themselves ridiculously long names. I wonder why,’ Colin grumbled to himself.
Kase said cheerfully, "It feels a bit like some kind of strange sacrifice."
"Coming from you, that’s a little strange, Kase," Colin retorted.
As the group chatted, the sailors brought out that day’s lunch.