Chapter 16: The New Weapon—"Disassembling Saint Mother: Replica"! (Please Support!)

Chapter 16: New Weapon, "Maria the Ripper (Replica)"!

In the afternoon, the recruit training ship arrived in the waters near Little Garden. From the warship's observation deck, one could see the small active volcano on the island billowing with thick black smoke.

The naval recruits, assuming this was another trial island, busily prepared to disembark. To their surprise, the warship anchored directly at sea, and the instructors issued orders for the marines to remain on board and conduct their own training. Many noticed Chief Instructor Z, accompanied by several of his adjutants, using Geppo to "fly" toward the island. Among those watching was Cui Ze.

Leaning against the railing of the warship's deck, Cui Ze watched the figure of Z shrinking into a tiny black dot in the sky and fell into deep thought.

"I’ve never heard of Z having any connection with the two giants on Little Garden... Or perhaps the Naval Headquarters has never given up on recruiting these two powerful giants? Or could this be the butterfly effect caused by me?"

After pondering for a while, Cui Ze felt the second speculation was more plausible, but he quickly cast such trivial matters aside.

"Now that we've reached Little Garden, an island untouched by time that happens to be inhabited by two top-tier giants... tonight, I’m going for another round of fishing!"

While the other marines were engaged in their training activities, Cui Ze slipped back into the galley’s prep room to continue butchering sea beasts and Sea Kings.

[You have killed a low-level sea beast with an overall rating of F!]
[...]

Just as he had finished slaughtering a few beasts, a heaven-shaking roar suddenly erupted from outside the window of the prep room. Cui Ze instinctively made a reverse cross on his chest, then realized what it was. This wasn't a memorial service for Kaido! Even though Teacher Kaido didn't make it to Children's Day...

"It’s most likely Z fighting those two giants."

Cui Ze glanced out the window. The prep room didn't face Little Garden, so he couldn't see the situation on the island, but it wasn't hard to deduce. "Whatever! With this familiar sound effect, butchering fish feels even smoother..."

The roaring outside lasted for less than two minutes. Ignoring his colleagues in the kitchen who were chattering and discussing the commotion, Cui Ze threw himself back into his fish-slaughtering mission.

One slash, two slashes...
One head, two heads...

High-quality ingredients often only require the simplest of butchery methods.

As night fell, Teacher Cui Ze, busy for half the day, returned to his room, opened the light screen, and began his daily "fishing" activity. Because he had become more proficient at butchering, he had collected more F-grade bait today than yesterday. Combined with what he hadn't used, he currently had a total of 48 F-grade baits.

Influenced by yesterday's disappointing catch, Cui Ze decided he would not do any F-grade fishing tonight, no matter what! Without hesitation, he opened the light screen and began fusing the bait. Low-grade bait fuses into high-grade bait based on the quality of the lower-grade ingredients. The sea beasts collected in the galley were of decent quality, mostly mid-tier F-grade bait.

Cui Ze performed the maximum fusion, combining 16 F-grade baits into one top-tier E-grade bait. Holding three top-tier E-grade baits, he took a deep breath and prayed to the Goddess of Luck.

"A little luck is something I have too!"

[Fishing in progress...]
[Harvest type: Ability Entry]
[E-grade Ability Entry: Navigation]
[Entry Description: A relatively skilled navigation technique among elite navigators.]
[Entry Effect: Capable of guiding ships through the four outer seas and most of the Paradise routes without obstruction.]
[Entry Evaluation: The weather is so nice, no rain, otherwise it would be a disaster!]

[Fishing in progress...]
[Harvest type: Item]
[E-grade Item: Maria the Ripper (Replica) (Sharp Weapon)]
[Item Source: "Fate" Series]
[Item Description: A top-tier scalpel forged as a replica of the Noble Phantasm "Maria the Ripper," belonging to the world-famous serial killer "Jack the Ripper."]
[Item Effects: 1. Extremely Sharp: Compared to ordinary blades, "Maria the Ripper (Replica)" possesses the highest level of sharpness, exceeding most "Fast Blades" and some "Skillful Blades." 2. Ignores Defense: Against targets with a Durability attribute below E+, attacks from this blade completely ignore physical defense. 3. Durable: As a replica Noble Phantasm, it possesses wear resistance far beyond an ordinary scalpel.]
[Item Evaluation: The squelching sound of filthy blood splashing, the viscera scattering with a slithering noise—die quickly in despair.]

[Fishing in progress...]
[Harvest type: Item]
[E-grade Item: Little Garden Eternal Pose]
[Item Description: A special compass that always points to the prehistoric island of Little Garden, unaffected by any island magnetic fields.]
[Item Evaluation: A compass that doesn't necessarily point north, eh?]

Invisible ripples stirred in the void of the dimensional sea, and two items appeared in Cui Ze's hands as if the frame rate had dropped.

The one in his left hand was an Eternal Pose shaped like a pocket watch, with a pale silver casing and a transparent sphere made of special material inside, with a stable, unmoving needle floating in the center.

The one in his right hand was a silver scalpel about the length of a palm. The bone-white, thin willow-leaf blade shimmered with a chilling light, as if it could slice through skin at any moment.

Cui Ze examined his day's haul one by one.

"E-grade 'Navigation'—not bad. At least for the navigation exam in the training camp, I won't need to put any effort into memorizing textbooks..."

"'Maria the Ripper (Replica),' a top-tier sharp weapon, sharper than a Fast Blade! The best part is the defense-ignoring attribute! But for someone like me who doesn't even know basic swordsmanship, you give me a scalpel... 'Fishing,' are you trying to make things difficult for me?"

"'Little Garden Eternal Pose,' tch! Pretty much useless. It looks like a pocket watch, but it can't even tell the time."

Overall, today's haul was decent. Although there were no specialty products from Little Garden, it was at least worth the investment of top-tier E-grade bait.

Cui Ze tossed the Eternal Pose onto the table and toyed with his new scalpel, tentatively brushing it against his finger. Before he could even feel anything, a faint red mark appeared where the blade had passed, and droplets of crimson blood quickly seeped out.

"Ssss—"

Cui Ze quickly put his finger in his mouth to suck on it. His current Durability attribute was D, and he hadn't expected to be easily defense-broken by the replica.

"It's a good knife! Small and portable—perfect for self-defense!"

The next morning, a refreshed Cui Ze walked out of his room. His plan for the morning was to observe the shooting range at close quarters. But he hadn't walked two steps before an acquaintance approached him, accompanied by a "half-acquaintance."

"Hi, Hina!" Cui Ze raised a hand to greet her. "And this gray-haired gentleman."

Smoker the White Hunter!