"What are you thinking, Lars? It's not like this is your first time" Captain Lars was sitting in his captain's room which was located directly under the rudder platform. He was talking to a glimmering gemstone at the center of his table. The table was a mess as other than the glimmering gem, one could see various maps, papers, and metal pieces that seemed to have come from a broken cutlass.

"They do not seem like nobody cultivators. I don't want to get into trouble with them pesky guardians. Especially when I'm thinking' about retirin' from everythin'" Lars leaned back on his chair, taking a long sip from the rum bottle in his hand.

The blue gemstone glimmered brightly,

"Dont worry Lars. I investigated them, they are nobodies, they have no connections with guardians. Besides, you know my deal with them, I give them information and in return, they will turn a blind eye to my hobby" a thick voice of a male appeared from the gemstone.

Lars began to rub his greasy beard before removing his hat to reveal his bald head. He put the hat on the table with a sigh,

"Then we make the transaction after we cross the void line. Don't approach us before, I'm not riskin' striker take any damage if that there scurvy dog decided to throw some fancy ass spells"

"We are not amateurs Lars. Just give us a sign when you want to make the transaction. Hey, forgot to mention, watch over for pirates, I heard they are attacking merchants ships quite often now"

"Let them come, I'll show them what this bad lad could do" Lars snickered as the gemstone began to lose its shine and eventually dimmed out completely.

*****************************************

Somewhere else in the ocean, something gigantic was moving in the dark depths of the ocean. It was so deep in the ocean that no mortal could venture into it without exploding due to the high pressure.

The deepest depth of the ocean only had glowing anemones for a light source.

"Hmmmmm" the moving object emitted unearthly vibrations that sent ripples across the deep ocean. One could vaguely see the structure of a warship thanks to the glowing anemones.Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

"Cap'n, that stinkin' Striker be 'eadin' this here way"? inside a darkroom in the gigantic object, a voice said.

"what good us attackin' another ship would do?" another voice sounded tired and uninterested in attacking a ship.

"it's what we do Cap'n, we be gentlemen o' fortune. who knows 'ow long we'll sleep this here time? so we must make the most out o' this"

(gentlemen o' fortune = pirates)

"I'm not the Cap'n, Wiley. The Cap'n be long dead" the voice said.

"ye was the quartermaster when the Cap'n died, that there makes ye the Cap'n now. So do yer captainly duty Cap'n"

"Alright, send the word fer the men to prepare. We'll attack the Striker when I give the order. The crew should use some fun before enterin' the long slumber"

*****************************************

"I want you to take me right here, right now"? Gaya was slowly undressing, speaking in a seductive manner. She took off her winter coat, revealing the shirt she was wearing within.

[heheheh, burn]

"But I was thinking...sigh" he sighed without finishing his sentence.

He wanted to get mad at Gaya but he couldn't as he knew it was his fault for dreaming. She then slowly unmasked herself to show her real face which made Michael's heart skip a beat. Raven black hair, perfect facial features, and a goddess-level hourglass figure, she was a beauty beyond words.

He could stare at her all day, she was that beautiful. Miss Universes could hold a torch against her beauty.

"I've seen you fight and it's an embarrassment" Her words brought him back from staring at her beauty. Soon, he frowned

"Just a little motivation," she said, playing with her hair.

"Embarrassment huh? Why don't we spar?" Golden tiny light bolts emerged from his body, crackling around his body. He was ready to use Lightning Dash and teach her a lesson.

Gaya immediately took a step back. She knew if he used his speed spell, it would be damn hard to land a hit on him but she was expecting him to use this spell.

"You can't use any spells. That bitch Sadie didn't tell you everything about the first few rounds of the championship tournaments, did she?" she asked.

"In the tournaments, there will be a round where you just have to fight, No Arch Energy, no spells, just good old fashioned brawl"

The crackles of lightning disappeared from Michael's body. He was absolutely positive to win a brawl if he could use the Lightning Dash. However, if he was unable to use his speed spell, he wasn't as confident as before. Without using Lightning Dash, he knew Gaya could beat him in a couple of seconds because he saw her fight, her combat techniques and skills were far superior to the techniques he learned on earth and inherited from Abras.

"System, can you use the mentor function to boost my training?"

[Yes. The system can activate the Mentor function to speed up your learning process of new fighting technique as well as improve it for a price of course]

After getting the confirmation from the system, a small smile emerged on his face. If he could learn Gaya's fighting technique and perfect it with the help of the system, he would beat all the competitors at the tournament black and blue. On top of this, he was already thinking about a prototype that would ensure his victory.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Just start with free weight training to shed all that shabby fat in your body"

He was surprised because although he wasn't as toned as some magazine models, he was lean and had noticeable muscle definition. Any girl would love to see him naked but not Gaya.

"You're telling me this is fat," he asked, pointing at his six-packs.

"Meh" she waved off before flicking her wrist. The next moment, Michael saw numerous metal plates, logs, bags that looked freakin heavy and a bunch of unknown things appeared on the deck.

"I got these from a muscle mountain I killed. We can use these to get you into shape" she kicked one of the metal balls towards Michael's direction,

"Remember, you can't use Arch energy or any of your freaky things. Do this and I'll bunk with you every night after the training"

"Done" Michael did not need any motivation other than this. It was a damn good deal if anyone asked him.