Not long after Gerald and Ellie left, Tark and Nicholas, along with one other person, entered the room.
Tark, barely able to hide his excitement, spoke up, “Lord Luca, the Dawnstorm Pirate Group has been completely captured! Over eight thousand people arrested in total!”
“After this operation, the Dawnstorm Pirate Group is effectively wiped out from the Western Sea!”
Having ruled the Western Sea for so many years, Tark had always felt like the pirates were either defecating or urinating on his head.
Now, to personally destroy the most notorious pirates in the region—it was no surprise he felt such satisfaction.
Nicholas and Dacey were also deeply moved. Not long ago, they had been struggling to even hold their heads up, but in just a few days, Luca had caused a complete upheaval in both Seaway City and the Western Sea.
Though his methods had been somewhat rough, they had proven unexpectedly effective.
At that moment, Nicholas asked, “Lord Luca, what should we do with the prisoners? Should we execute them all?”
Luca thought for a moment before replying, “No need for executions. Send them to Snake Island to help build a new city. Once the city is completed, those who have shown good behavior can earn their freedom. The rest will be imprisoned for re-education.”
“Also, send people to reclaim the islands and seas taken by the Dawnstorm Pirate Group. If anyone dares to interfere, cut off their hands.”
The three of them nodded in agreement. By the time news of Evans and Kalon’s deaths spread across the Western Sea, no one would dare to touch those islands, even without their intervention. Lord Luca inspired such awe in them that outsiders had no hope of challenging his authority.
Next, Luca gave Dacey some further instructions, mainly to oversee the personnel arrangements for taking full control of the Western Sea’s maritime trade.
With the Five Seas Chamber of Commerce and the nobility cleared out, a significant portion of the maritime market in the Western Sea would soon be up for grabs. There was no reason to let it fall into someone else’s hands.
“Understood, Lord Luca,” Dacey said respectfully.
Mentioning the Five Seas Chamber of Commerce reminded Tark of something, and he cautiously spoke up, “Lord Luca, Mio’s identity is special. Since he died in Seaway City, the Five Seas Chamber of Commerce may not let this go easily. Should we inform Lady Evelyn?”
The Five Seas Chamber of Commerce had business spread all across the Eternal Continent, and their president, Rod Valvis, held considerable influence in the Via Empire.
Mio and the others had suddenly died, and it would be difficult to simply brush it off. The best course of action was to inform Evelyn and let her handle it.
Luca nodded, “I will write a letter to Grand Duchess Evelyn.”
Not only did he need to handle the aftermath, but he also planned to seek some recognition for his efforts.
He had personally wiped out half of the major pirates in the Western Sea. After such a monumental task, it was only fair that he received some form of reward.
Hearing this, Tark and the others let out a sigh of relief. They were genuinely worried about facing the president of the Five Seas Chamber of Commerce.
Luca gave a few more instructions, and the three of them left the room.
Not long after, the door was knocked on again.
Sophia, wearing a long blue gown, entered with Catherine, who was dressed in black armor, following closely behind.
She entered the office, her armor stained with blood, and a murderous aura radiated from her, filling the room with an almost palpable coldness. It seemed as though the temperature had dropped significantly the moment she stepped in.
“It looks like you’ve made quite a lot of progress during your time in the Northern Territory,” Luca remarked, giving her a measured glance and smiling.
Luca had noticed Catherine’s significant improvement in strength earlier, but he hadn’t examined her closely at the time. Now, seeing the thick, oppressive killing intent around her, he could only guess that Catherine had obtained some sort of knightly inheritance from the Northern Territory.
Catherine’s response confirmed his suspicions.
She shook her head and said, “I was just lucky to have received the ‘Knight of Slaughter’ inheritance from the Northern Territory’s frontier. I’m still not as good as you, though.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly.
She had thought that her progress had been rapid enough, but Luca’s growth had surpassed even hers. Now, even the Superclass experts were no match for him.
“I was just lucky as well,” Luca said with a smile. He had heard of the Knight of Slaughter class in his previous life—a hidden class that gained power by killing enemies. Its growth rate and potential were both considerable, and he genuinely felt happy for her.
The conversation then turned to their experiences during this period. Most of what Luca talked about was something Catherine had heard of, though she hadn’t known that Luca had been involved in these events. Hearing it all now, she was deeply shocked.
It turned out that the young man who had come out of Riverfall City was already at such a level of power.
At the same time, Luca also learned about Catherine’s time in the Northern Territory.
Recently, monsters had been stirring up chaos across the Eternal Continent. Countless small towns and cities had been destroyed, and countless families were left homeless and in despair.
As a result, some Marauders had gathered large groups of refugees, starting to raid civilians and small towns.
Moreover, some nobles had stopped answering to the Empire’s summons and began proclaiming themselves kings, attempting to carve out their own kingdoms.
This growing turmoil and chaos was happening in all three major empires, but the Clinton Empire’s Northern Territory, with its scarce resources and dense population, had become the most chaotic region, with the most uprisings and rebellion.
According to Catherine, in just this short time, she had participated in the extermination of dozens of bandit groups, ranging from a hundred to over ten thousand people—painting a picture of utter chaos.
Catherine had returned to Seaway City to pick up her younger brother, Kaman, who was going to join her in the Northern Territory. She would continue her mission to suppress the monsters and marauding bandits once they left Riverfall City. For now, Seaway City was just a stop on the way.
After hearing her, Luca felt a heavier weight on his heart.
The wheel of history was still turning. Though his actions had stirred things up a little, the overall impact on the course of history was minimal. He had anticipated this.
In his past life, the end of the world lasted for ten years, and there were geniuses everywhere—top-tier experts like stars in the sky, countless and dazzling.
Even someone like Sophia, who reached the Divine Realm in just ten years, was a rare prodigy.
Yet in the end, they had all been powerless to change the course of events. They could only watch helplessly as the Eternal World and the real world were gradually consumed by the monsters.
Changing this outcome wasn’t as simple as just killing a few monsters. What he needed was a supreme, world-altering power that could shatter the chains of fate itself!
After the two left, Luca gazed out the window at the bright, sunny sky, the blue heavens with fluffy clouds.
And the endless expanse of the sea.
“I hope I can find the Celestial Pearl…” he muttered, shaking his head, not holding out much hope.
Even with the nautical chart and the exact location, finding a single pearl in the Sea of Mist wouldn’t be easy.
All he could do was hope that his luck would be fully on his side.
But even if he couldn’t find the Celestial Pearl in the end, Luca was certain he wouldn’t just sit and wait for death.
Waiting to die wasn’t in his nature.
He opened the system panel and logged out of the game.
…
Reality World.
The sound of an air valve opening echoed through the room.
The gaming pod slowly began to open.
Luca immediately noticed something unusual with his body—his muscles weren’t sore in the slightest. In fact, he felt incredibly light and unburdened.
A surge of power was coursing through him, and the intensity of the feedback was clearly much stronger than before.
Luca thought to himself and quickly opened the system panel.
[Player: Luca]
[Level: LV25]
[Talent: The Person Favored]
[Main Profession: Demonic Rune Mage]
[Attributes: Strength 552, Mental 257, Stamina 266, Agility 353]
[Skills: Magic Runes Drawing, Eye of Insight, Dream Manifestation, Fate Manipulation…]
…
Seeing the numbers on the panel, Luca couldn’t help but be taken aback, even though he had anticipated something like this.
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His level had jumped all the way to 25, and his overall attributes had increased by more than six times!
This was a pleasant surprise for Luca. If he had had this kind of power before, he wouldn’t have been in such a desperate situation. Now, even if he encountered a Diamond-level monster, he was confident he could defeat it.
After calming down, Luca sat up from the gaming pod.
He turned to glance at the bedside clock and saw that it was already past noon.
“Mom, I’m hungry!” he shouted out the window.
Not long after, he heard Sini’s irritated voice from outside, “I’m playing mahjong. The food’s in the fridge, heat it up yourself…”
“Got it,” Luca said quickly as he changed into fresh clothes, opened the door, and stepped out of the room. He ended up bumping into a small figure, who stumbled straight into his arms.
“Ah!!” Susie felt as though she’d crashed into a steel wall, and tears instantly sprang to her eyes as she held her nose, slowly crouching down in pain.
Luca rubbed his chest and shot back, “Why don’t you watch where you’re going? You’ve hurt me!”
“You, you, you!!” Susie, with tears welling up in her eyes, pointed at him, her face flushed red with anger. She was so upset that she couldn’t even form a proper sentence. This guy was just too infuriating!
“Alright, alright, I’ll forgive you this time. Just be more careful next time.” Luca glanced at her and, seeing that she wasn’t seriously hurt, waved his hand in a magnanimous gesture. After speaking, he quickly dashed down the stairs.
The two of them had been causing a ruckus in the villa for quite a while, and by the time Luca finished eating, it was already afternoon.
He then took out his phone to check the news and forums.
He found that disasters were happening across the globe—various murderers were emerging like mushrooms after the rain, and strange supernatural events were being filmed and uploaded online.
For example, in one hospital, over a hundred corpses disappeared from the morgue, leaving only dense footprints at the scene; at a high school cafeteria, students discovered strange objects mixed in with their food.
There were also reports of people suddenly gaining the ability to control ice and flames, and some forum posts had mysteriously vanished shortly after appearing, as if wiped out by some unseen force.
Without leaving a trace. It was terrifying.
Such incidents were happening everywhere, and even the slowest of people could sense that something big was about to happen in the world.
End-of-the-world talk was spreading rapidly, with people panic-buying supplies and food in supermarkets, prices skyrocketing, and economic indices fluctuating wildly. It seemed like a financial crisis was about to hit… again.
Luca closed his phone, his expression unchanged.
After all, to him, this was nothing but a repeat of what he had already experienced.
In his previous life, he had been part of the hoarding crowd as well.
Just as he was about to head back to his room to continue playing the game, his phone suddenly beeped with an incoming call.
He looked down at the screen and saw that it was Donlow calling.