Chapter 1 The Exchange

"Pablo, Jean, time to change shifts! Where are you two hiding?"

"Hehe, stop yelling, those two are probably in the cabin looking for some flesh to enjoy..."

"...."

Suren listened to the footsteps coming from the stairwell, his expression unchanged.

In his [Soul Perception], the two clusters of humanoid soul fires were not strong.

Although he hadn't seen them, judging from the proportion of professionals on a pirate ship, these should be two Rank 1 professionals.

Sure enough, shortly after the footsteps sounded, he saw a pirate wearing a brown linen shirt climbing down the stairs from the mid-level cabin.

The moment the guy landed, he realized something was wrong.

The bottom hold was filled with a thick, bloody smell, and a disturbing odor that made one feel physically and mentally unwell.

The pirates were very familiar with this smell.

It was the scent of hormonal imbalances after a person was frightened to death...

The bottom hold was piled with various goods and debris, greatly limiting visibility. As his gaze focused, he finally saw Suren soaking in the light of the alchemy array.

Just as the guy was about to shout something, a faint blue thread quietly appeared on his neck.

The thread passed through without any resistance, smoothly slicing off his head.

At the same time, another pirate on the stairs was about to descend when he suddenly felt his trouser leg get wet, as if splashed with a warm liquid.

Looking down, he saw a headless corpse gushing blood.

The pirate on the stairs was so frightened that he scrambled to climb back up, but it was too late. A strand of hair wrapped around his leg like a python, and with a tug, he fell into the bottom hold with a "thud," and then there was no more movement.

.......

The Spider Spear controlled the silk threads to kill the two pirates, and Suren didn't spare them another glance.

As expected, the commotion had already attracted the attention of the pirates in the upper cabins.

He manipulated the dark spiritual power to impact the rank barrier, concentrating on fusing the advanced materials. The extraordinary power in the [Liars Mask] was being analyzed by the array and slowly integrated into his body.

It still needed some time.

As expected, hearing the noise, loud shouts immediately came from the upper level: "Hey! Rodolph, Philho, what's going on down there?"

Silence for a few breaths.

"Send a few people to check it out!"

"Yes, Captain!"

"..."

Not hearing a response immediately alerted the pirates, and dense footsteps immediately came from overhead.

Listening to the commotion, Suren not only showed no panic on his face, but a dangerous red light overflowed in his eyes. "Hehe..."

Those restless, manic emotions held a fervent anticipation for slaughter and bloodshed.

For others, advancement could not be disturbed or distracted, but for him, who could multitask, it was not a big problem.

While advancing, he formed a warlock seal with his hand, and a cross immediately appeared above his head.

The sharp enchanted silk thread cut open the prison's bars, and dozens of eerie dolls walked out with "click" "click" sounds, ambushing in various places, staring at the nearby stairwell with sinister smiles.

As soon as the fully armed pirates jumped down, without giving them any chance to probe, the puppets swarmed up and slashed wildly.

Immediately, blood sprayed everywhere.

"Damn it, something's wrong!"

"This guy's tough, quickly notify the vice-captain!"

"..."

The pirates poured in, and the corpses piled higher and higher.

The space in the pirate ship's cabin was limited, and the [Puppet Theater]'s spell could cover the entire area. No matter how many people came, they couldn't get close to Suren's prison.

After all, this was a ship, and the pirates didn't dare to set it on fire, nor did they dare to release any high-powered spells.

For a time, the entire bottom hold of the pirate ship was like a living hell, with severed limbs flying everywhere.

A large amount of flowing blood gathered at the bottom of the cabin, quickly solidifying into a thick layer of dark red plasma. Leather boots stepped on it, making a sticky "squish" sound.

The whole ship was in chaos.

Suren was truly seeing red. The rich bloody scent entering his nose made him feel a strange pleasure like silk being drawn.

Those manic emotions in his sea of consciousness seemed to boil, completely suppressing reason, and支配over his body, wanting to pour out his instinctive desires.

Kill!

Frenzied slaughter!

His eyes were full of blood.

Looking at those pirates again, Suren had a morbid grin on his face, and in the next instant, a will that made one's scalp tingle suddenly descended into the cabin!

Behind him, the phantom of the Grim Reaper appeared again.

The last time, Suren's consciousness was not clear, and he didn't know what had happened.

But now he understood.

He saw the terrifying shadow appearing on himself in the reflections in the eyes of those pirates.

He had seen this phenomenon on Qian Tiao before. The secondary awakening of the [Rakshasa Woman] had a similar external phantom.

Obviously, this was the phenomenon of the [Death Harvester]!

As soon as this Grim Reaper phantom appeared, Suren felt his aura rising higher and higher. He saw the terrified expressions on the faces of the pirates opposite him. Those low-rank professionals even fainted on the spot.

Area-of-effect "Intimidation"?

Seeing this, he also understood why those two pirates had died instantly after being glanced at.

The law of death contained in this Grim Reaper phantom!

"Does this state need to be actively released?"

Suren thought of something and remembered the feeling at the moment when the Grim Reaper appeared.

What was even more surprising was that the "gray mist" that appeared on the corpse was completely different from before!

Before, it was just an irregular, faint mist, but now he could clearly see a wisp of complete humanoid soul with clear facial features. As time passed, this soul was also gradually fading.

Suren guessed that this was a new ability that appeared after the secondary awakening of the [Death Harvester]. But before he could verify it, those manic, instinctive emotions had already seized control of his body. They only wanted to kill everyone in front of them.

Suren's reason struggled to hold on to the last thought. The hands pinching the warlock seal trembled violently. He was waiting to advance!

At this time, several Rank 3 pirates with considerable strength also rushed down. One had crab claw implants on his arm, and one clamp could easily snap steel bars. One had a crocodile head, and the amazing bite force could burst a doll in one bite. Another had the talent of a catfish that could spit mucus, spitting sticky liquid all over the place...

As soon as the three rushed in, they immediately engaged in a fierce battle with the puppet legion.

Although Suren couldn't dodge while advancing, the [Puppet Theater], known as invincible among those of the same rank, was not just a name. He had an absolute advantage in this cabin!

Countless silk threads had spread throughout the cabin, wrapping around his body. Layers of puppets protected him tightly, making it difficult for anyone to break through. Moreover, even if his hearing and vision were interfered with, he could now easily capture the enemy's position through soul perception.

The hull was blessed with enchantments and runes, making it very sturdy, but the internal bulkheads were very weak. The violent shock waves caused by the battle were higher than the last, as if hit by artillery fire. Wood chips flew everywhere, and the entire pirate ship was a mess.

Suren had completely gone mad!

The silk threads continued to spread, almost wrapping the entire ship into a thick cocoon.

He didn't just want to protect himself, but to kill everyone here.

Finally, the battle ended.

Except for a few pirates who jumped into the sea when they saw the situation was bad, the cabin was littered with corpses.

The pirates couldn't kill the immortal puppets and were exhausted to death in the Puppet Theater.

Finally, the battle stopped.

Suren also fused the advanced materials and successfully advanced to Rank 3.

.......

After releasing those crazy negative emotions, Suren had a chance to catch his breath.

He also discovered that appropriately releasing some pressure would greatly reduce those manic emotions.

Moreover, successfully advancing to Rank 3, and with the increased control of spiritual power, he finally suppressed those restless negative emotions and allowed reason to regain control of his body.

"Huff... it shouldn't erupt in a short time, right?"

Suren breathed out a long sigh, his eyes full of solemnity.

This was much worse than his previous situation.

In the past, it was just some simple negative emotions, but at this moment, those things in his consciousness were not just his own, but whispers from Netherworld demons. Mixed in were countless super-rank cognitions that he could not understand at all. It was like sealing a very large database, and the sudden influx could drive people crazy.

This was a time bomb that could explode at any time.

The immediate crisis was temporarily alleviated, and Suren looked at the "gray mist" on those pirate corpses in the distance.

Just now, they were clearly individual humanoid souls, but now they had turned into ordinary gray mist again?

He tried to casually strip a soul fragment from a Rank 2 pirate, and it was no different from before, obtaining some scattered information.

"Could it be because of that Grim Reaper phantom?"

Suren thought of something and immediately decided to try it.

He closed his eyes and carefully recalled the feeling when the phantom appeared before. After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes.

At that moment, a sense of mystery suddenly descended into the cabin.

This time, Suren clearly felt that ethereal feeling, and you think: "So that's how it is... this Grim Reaper phantom represents the understanding of laws, one of the legendary supreme laws, the 'Law of Death'!"

Although he couldn't describe exactly what this feeling was, and he didn't know what the wonders of understanding this law were, he knew that this supreme law was very powerful!

Without thinking too much about that feeling of law that required a lot of time to try, Suren looked at the cabin.

And the world in his eyes was covered with a layer of blood again.

Looking again, the gray mist on the corpses showed a complete humanoid state.

He saw "death," he saw the complete souls!

"As expected."

Suren walked over and tried to test what was different about this new ability to harvest.

This test shocked him.

At this moment, the gray mist was not directly swallowed. At the moment of contact, Suren "saw" countless contents in that memory.

It was like opening the table of contents of a book. He saw densely packed, classified memory fragments.

This huge amount of information was impossible for ordinary people to process.

But Suren swept through it at a glance.

Before, it was ten lines at a glance, now it was a hundred lines at a glance!

This was the powerful processing ability of brain domain development, and the ability to multitask of the [Mind Split Technique] awakened after advancing to Rank 3.

Moreover, the more complete the memory fragments, the higher they were ranked.

This also made it easier for him to check.

[There is a section of 'Jack Davis' daily information in the soul, completeness 99%.]

[There is a deep memory information in the soul: 'The boss went to negotiate the ransom with the Tulip Chamber of Commerce. This time, we should be able to get tens of thousands...', completeness 85%]

[There is a section of skill information about firearms in the soul, completeness 81%]

[There is a section of information in the soul: '...']

Most of it was useless daily information.

Suren looked at these directories and had some doubts. With a thought, he randomly clicked on the first one, wanting to see what was going on.

Then a series of pictures flashed in his mind like a revolving lantern: "I ate a loaf of bread this morning, then played cards and lost five hundred Liso; I ate salted vegetables and sea fish for lunch, played cards and lost another seven hundred; I heard the movement, a big battle, Awei died..."

Suren instantly digested the information he got. This was what this corpse had done today.

This was almost useless garbage information.

However, Suren was overjoyed!

Because...

What was stripped out was not fragments like broken glass!

This was complete information!

Once this information was stripped, the soul mist on the corpse obviously dimmed a lot.

Suren thought of something and immediately tried again to strip a few skill entries, and then immediately obtained: [Gained 'ten years of experience in crude firearms skills']

Once this was stripped, the soul fragment completely disappeared.

"So that's how it is!"

After this series of attempts, Suren finally confirmed what the Reaper's secondary awakening was used for.

If the previous soul stripping was like a blind box random draw, where you could draw a pile of fragments;

Then now it was to list all the prizes completely, one by one, complete, and let you choose (affected by soul completeness and energy)!

This ability... was simply heaven-defying!

Suppose Suren encountered that Rank 5 professional who had stripped the [Vajra] skill again, he could completely ignore all the other garbage information and directly strip the complete "Understanding of the Law of the Metal Element."

At that time, what he would master would not be some incomplete law, but a complete understanding of the law by a Rank 5 professional (in theory, in practice, part of it would be lost due to death and soul collapse).

Which also meant that if he planned to take the path of metal element advancement in the future, as long as the materials and dark spiritual power were sufficient, he could almost advance to Rank 5 without any bottlenecks!

And any other skills.

For example:

The Rank 6 wind-type professional who killed him before, strip his wind element law, provided you can kill him...

The ship of unfortunate mechanics he encountered at Black Reef before, he could strip their mechanical technology and become a master mechanic on the spot without needing garbage fragments...

If he encountered "King of the North Sea" Oleg in the future, strip his Rank 8 ability...

Although it was unlikely, you had to have dreams, what if they came true?

.......

"This is really a blessing in disguise..."

Suren tested the new ability of the [Death Harvester], and it was difficult to hide the joy in his eyes.

Dying once was already a lifeline, but he didn't expect it to give him such a big surprise.

As far as he knew now, the secondary awakening of the talent had four aspects of ability growth: [Soul Perception], [Grim Reaper Gaze], [Pointed Stripping], and [Law of Death]...

He even felt that after digestion, there would be more.

The side effects of the current spiritual distortion didn't seem so unacceptable.

And now was obviously not the time to be dazed. As time passed, the souls on the corpses were still dissipating, and Suren quickly stripped a few of the high-ranking ones.

Before, with dozens of pirates like this, excluding duplicates and garbage information, not much useful could be stripped.

But now, it was a big harvest!

[You stripped the soul fragment of 'Yimo Burton' and obtained the mechanical blueprint [Deep Sea Diving Lung Design Drawing]]

[You stripped the soul fragment of 'Tom Knicks' and learned 'the coordinates of Pirate City']

[You stripped the soul fragment of 'xxx' and mastered part of 'twenty years of navigation experience']

[You learned some 'pirate slang', 'famous pirates in the North Sea', 'treasure legends of the Pirate King', 'hidden routes', 'Demon Sea', 'commonly seen identification of three thousand kinds of marine life'...]

[...]

Suren chose skills and content that he was interested in.

Even a Rank 1 minion could fill in a lot of things he didn't know.

But just as he was happily stripping, Suren suddenly felt a moment of palpitation, a feeling of his soul leaving his body. He suddenly heard that low, chanting sound like Sanskrit, a faint murmur that made people feel distracted.

"Opening the second stage of the Grim Reaper state will hear the whispers from the whispers?"

Suren's face instantly became very ugly, and he quickly sat cross-legged in meditation.

After panting for a while, he suppressed those surging emotions.

Without completely resolving the problem of spiritual distortion, using the second stage Reaper was still a big problem.

"It's a pity that the communication ring was also taken away by the pirates, otherwise I could ask my senior sister how to deal with this problem..."

Suren muttered in his heart.

He wasn't too worried about resolving spiritual distortion.

His senior sister was the biological daughter of Isaac and had broad knowledge. She might not be able to solve it, but she probably knew how to solve the crime.

But without the ring, he couldn't contact her for the time being.

He learned from the stripped intelligence that the leader of this "Red Shark Pirate Group" had taken a few elites to "Blizzard City" to extort a ransom.

Suren's storage ring, communicator, and [Isaac's Blessing] were all on that guy.

"I have to find a way to get the things back first."

A thought flashed in Suren's mind.

.......

Except for a few who escaped by jumping into the sea, a ship of pirates was killed cleanly. Suren walked to the deck.

The fresh sea breeze blew, dispersing the thick bloody smell on his body.

Seeing the blue sky and sea, Suren felt refreshed.

The land was at the end of the horizon, about half a day's journey away.

Suddenly!

Two gunshots rang out from the cabin with "bang" "bang" sounds.

Suren's expression didn't change, but his eyes narrowed slightly.

When he came out just now, he opened the bottom hold's prison door, but none of the three came out.

Suren sensed the two suddenly extinguished soul fires and knew that the two mothers and daughters who had been abused by the pirates had committed suicide.

Not long after, the third gunshot also rang out.

The middle-aged man's soul fire also went out.

"..."

A red light flashed in Suren's eyes, and he felt as if he couldn't vent his anger.

For a moment, he sat cross-legged on the deck.

He didn't rush to set sail, but leaned against the mast and began to carve a mask.

He planned to make an alchemical item similar to the [Liars Mask] to help suppress the distorted spiritual power.

Looking through the storage space, there were no suitable materials, so he found a piece of mithril alloy. This metal could carry spiritual power and various energies. The key was that if it was thick enough, it could withstand complex rune inscriptions.

"Alchemy · Melting!"

Suren formed a warlock seal and added a few cursed crystals.

A red light burst out, and the large piece of alloy gradually melted under the high temperature of the alchemy array, and then he filled in several auxiliary materials. Before long, the mask had a rough outline.

The metal cooled, and Suren had a silver mask in his hand.

The eight-armed spider spear spread out, and several carving knives started working at the same time. He began to try to inscribe "spiritual" rune languages on the material.

Before starting, he estimated that he would need a Rank 5 rune to suppress the violent power in his body.

But he was only barely proficient in Rank 4 rune language, and it was impossible to inscribe Rank 5 runes. So he thought about copying a Rank 4 Rune from the classics to see if he could achieve the same effect.

He was very self-aware and had already prepared himself for a low success rate and multiple failures.

But unexpectedly, the moment the knife went down, the sense of control that was so easy made him immediately startled.

This test made Suren realize that the "multi-tasking" ability he gained when he advanced to Rank 3 was also a super big surprise!