"I thought you were a sword kinda guy" when Michael stepped onto the upper deck, Logan came to him with a surprised look on his face. His doom bringer was majestically hanging on his behind, gently reflecting the moonlight.
"It looks heavy" Logan's eyes were sparkling looking at the Doombringer. Michael could tell Logan's craving to hold the Warhammer in his hand.
"It is" Michael took the Doombringer from his behind and twisted the handle stylishly. Because he was not using any Arch energy, the weight of the Doombringer made his biceps flex out. After his intense training, his body became toned and each muscle in his body had a definite definition.
"Can I hold it?" Logan looked like a big 7ft baby staring at a candy.
"Sure" Michael chuckled as he handed over the Doombringer to Logan.
The big Logan was excitedly smiling but when he grabbed the handle of Doombringer, his smile disappeared.
"Dang it, it's so freakin heavy" Michael was slightly surprised to see a muscle mountain like Logan struggling to lift the Doombringer without using all of his strength. The weight training plus the Serpent style fighting technique changed his body from the molecular level, making him stronger and faster than most people. This was the reason why Gaya was able to break wood logs like they were eggshells, she was damn strong.
Now that he had undergone the training with the help of the system, he was stronger and faster than Gaya herself and on a different level compared to anyone in the Southern Continent.
"Whoo, you're stronger than you look, David" Logan said, putting down the Doombringer on the floor by its head.
"Work on your weight lifting big boy" Michael gave a friendly pat on Logan's shoulder with a chuckle.
"Alright guys, we're leaving" Ross stood at the helm, preparing to leave the docks. After hearing his shout, the ship's crew began to unravel the sails.
The ship slowly started to move as they all felt a sudden jerk. Michael walked over to the edge of the ship, leaned on the edge, looking at the starry night above the peaceful ocean.
"So what do you think about the team David?" Logan leaned on the wooden railing beside him.
"No clue, what's your take?"
"You know what, I'm glad you're here because you're the most normal person on the ship" Michael looked over his shoulder back at the team and couldn't help but agree with Logan. Brownie was muttering something under his breath while Jessie, the hooded figure checking the crates lined up near the mainsail pole. On the far end of the ship, Jonah appeared to be occupied with the starry night. Although Marcella seemed normal, Michael knew she would be the last person to talk to in the entire ship.
Logan was dead wrong about him being normal but compared to the others, he was the friendliest and normal-looking person on the ship.
"Ross is kind of the team captain here. Marcella is our tracker, Jessie is the thief, I don't know how a thief could help with our mission. I heard Brownie is some kind of undead expert and Jonah, I have no idea why we are bringing him along with us" Michael took a mental note in his mind. If he wanted to double-cross them at the end, he needed to know everything there is to know about them.
"How do you know all this?" he asked Logan,
"Because I was the first to get recruited by Ross"
Michael nodded, "and let me guess, your specialty is killing undead"
"Undead, overgrown beasts, bandits, etcetera etcetera. The mercenary job requires killing pretty much all the above"
Being mercenary wasn't very much different from being an adventurer. They both would get the job done for an amount. Since Logan didn't seem like a genius guy, he made the right choice by becoming a mercenary in Michael's mind. Also, Logan seemed like a nice easy going guy.
"I guess you're also here to keep the undead from killing the team"
"Yeah, you can say that"
"Why did you come to the Southern Continent anyways? I thought you cultivators hated crossing the void line"
"You know?" Michael was slightly surprised but he could tell Ross might have told Logan about where he came from.
"Come one, the way you dress is kinda dead give away. Besides, H and Ross told us about you"
"H? You mean the guy in armor?"
"Yeah, no one here knows his real name, he just goes by H. I don't know what his deal is but he rubbed me the wrong way. Whatever, tell me David, do you miss being a cultivator? What could have possibly made you come here?"
Michael didn't feel like Logan was prying but was genuinely curious about the reason for his trip to the Southern Continent. Besides, it was a logical question as cultivators rarely came to the Southern continent. No matter how powerful a cultivator was, if he crossed the void line, he would instantly turn into a mortal.
"Well, I like to travel and always wanted to see what the Southern Continent look like"
"Let me tell you about the Southern Continent. It's like a shiny apple that is rotten in its core. The Southern continent is infested with slavery, racism, war, hunger, plague, and all the evil shit you can think of. Trust me, your place would seem like heaven after you spend a few weeks in any of the Southern Kingdoms " He saw Logan's smile disappear from his face for the first time. He always looked like a jolly guy yet when he talked about the Southern Continent, he looked gloomy.
"As a mercenary, I saw my share of evil shits. This world has gone to hell David, all we can do is ride out the wave, you know what I'm saying?"
"It gonna sound corny but Logan, you can still clean this world, if you follow the right person"
For a moment Logan stared at Michael,
"Nah" Logan shook his head, "After getting paid for this job, I'm gonna put down my hammer, buy a land, house and live the rest of my life in the most beautiful place in this world, Aston Village"
Michael was disappointed to hear him but he couldn't blame the guy for thinking to settle down. If Logan showed any signs to continue being a mercenary, Michael would have paid him to work under him. He knew forcing Logan to work under him was just a waste of time, so he decided to let Logan do whatever he wanted. Besides, it was unlikely for all of the team to survive on the island. He fought Netherels and he knew how strong and deadly they could be. If the artifact was making the Netherels kinda smart, they might use the rainforest to their advantage and if they did, it would be extremely hard for the team to kill Netherels.
"Where is this Aston Village?"
"Gisel Kingdom. Since you like to travel, I'd be thrilled to give you a tour of our humble village after the mission. What do you think about that?"
"Sure thing"
"Wonderful" Logan gave a friendly pat on Michael's back with a wide grin on his face.
"Everythings connected to Gisel," Michael thought to himself. Michael already decided to conquer the Gisel Kingdom first, by conquering, he wanted to control the senate or most of the senators.
He had no time or desire to play the king for now. His goal was to form two armies, a naval army using the pirates and a military using gladiators and the slaves of the Southern Continent.
"I got to take a leak" Logan rubbed his belly before leaving the place.
"Gaya, do you have eyes on the ship?" He established a connection to Gaya through his earpiece.
"Yep, we're perfectly blended with the darkness and following your ship"
Michael looked around slowly except he couldn't see the Silent Reaper or any other ships following them.
"I can't see you which means others can't too. It'd be tricky after the sunrise"
"Don't worry about us, we know their destination so we'll make it to the island faster than you are and wait for you there" said Gaya.
After exchanging a few words with Gaya, Michael cut the connection before someone could notice him moving his mouth. Marcella was always looking at everyone as she was spying on them. She seemed particularly suspicious of Michael for some reason. Michael noticed this but he chose not to make any moves on Marcella because if everything went according to his plan, she wouldn't be a problem and most probably the undead would take care of her.
Thud!
Suddenly Michael heard a loud thud sound coming from one of the crates lined up near the mainsail pole. Marcella immediately raised her crossbows as the others who heard the sound turned their gazes at the crates.
"Captain!"
"Did you hear that?"
"It's coming from one of those crates"
"What do you mean crates? I loaded them, there's nothing but food in those crates"
Michael noticed Ross leaving the helm while Marcella loaded a bolt into her crossbow, ready to fire at whatever was making the sound.
"Let me out!"
This time it was not a thud sound but a voice of a young girl came from the crates.
"What's going on here?"
Michael saw H, the man in armor coming out of the captain's cabin after the commotion. He looked at Marcella and then at Ross,
"Someone's in there," Marcella coldly said.
"I'm coming out of this bloody crate!"