It was not being overcautious when Sang Hyuk equipped his empty general skill slot with the steering skill which was enhanced to +8. Thanks to that steering skill, Sang Hyuk could navigate through the storm safely.
He was not only equipped with the steering skill, but also the vision reinforcement skill that has been enhanced to +7 in another general skill slot, so even in bad weather, Sang Hyuk"s skill overcome low visibility.
Originally, Sang Hyuk merely had a good ability with non-combat game mechanics, but when combined with these two general skills that he prepared beforehand, his Sky-grade Ship maneuverability could surely reach a remarkable level.
"Hyuu, finally we"re out."
Sang Hyuk, who broke through a sudden 7th grade storm, sighed and looked back.
According to his previous memory, the 7th grade storm was a mild natural disaster that was somewhat frequent on the Sky-sea.
Storms and typhoons all existed from level 1 to 9, and became stronger as the numeral went down. Not surprisingly, a typhoon was a more powerful natural disaster than a storm.
In other words, if he cannot going through a 7th grade storm, they should not have been on the Sky-sea. The closer you get to the Continent of the Sun, the more powerful storms and typhoons will happen.
After all, this was the trial that every user had to overcome.
"Wow, that was savage…. But you said it was a 7th grade storm? So how bad is the 1st grade storm?"
Gye Baek shook his head and looked at Sang Hyuk.
"1st grade storm is roughly equivalent to a 4th grade typhoon. For reference, a 4th grade typhoon is a natural disaster that Sky Whales below 7th grade could not approach."
"Hul…. Can we sail through it with the Sky-grade Ship?" (TL Note: Hul… An exclamation that usually used for something surprising. Like "OMG!")
"With a Sky-grade Ship, it is possible."
"Really?"
"Yeah, Sky-grade Ships have shielding. If the shield is used skillfully, then we can sail through it quite well. Theoretically, we can even sail through a 1st grade typhoon, but… honestly, I doubt this is actually practical."
Sang Hyuk laughed and answered.
"Hyuu, I thought I was getting used to it, but I think I still far from that. It really is an amazing place."
Gye Baek shook his head and laughed dispiritedly.
But right at that moment, Sang Hyuk saw a strange thing out of a corner of his eyes, which due to his enhanced vision, was far more visible to him.
There was a point on the horizon far away, but Sang Hyuk, with its enhanced vision, was able to clearly see its form.
A skeleton painted on a billowing black sail. It was somewhat cliched, but this symbol denoted a certain ident.i.ty.
"Darn….."
As soon as Sang Hyuk checked it, he frowned.
Actually, Sang Hyuk was expecting a Sky Whale. If a Sky Whale of about 8th or 9th grade appeared, then it could be hunting practice, a chance to obtain some items, and it would be just right.
However, ironically, it was not a Sky Whale that appeared in front of Ink-Black Dragon, which just weathered a storm.
"It is a pirate ship. Both of you prepare for battle."
The pirate ship can be considered to be a type of monster. They were NPC-type monsters like the criminal NPCs that existed in Hagye.
"Based on its appearance in this area, at the very least, it"s an 8th grade pirate ship?"
The pirate ship had a rating similar to Sky Whales. Even their strength were similar.
The only difference is that it has a much more demanding battle pattern than Sky Whales, and the rewards you can get when you caught the pirates are far worse.
So, at least on the Sky-sea the pirate ship was very unpopular.
But it was not a foe you could avoid. One of the unique abilities of a pirate ship was the "tracking booster", which was a unique ability to move 50% faster than the prey.
"Tsk, they must be aware of us."
Sang Hyuk saw the mark of the skull painted on the pirate ship"s sails shine red and give up on escape.
"It"s probably a 9th or 8th grade pirate ship. As I explained earlier, the method to face a pirate ship is totally different than with a Sky Whale. We need to cause chaos among the crew so for now Gye Baek man the cannon and pound the pirate ship as much as possible."
The pirate ship would not sink with several hits. However, the reason why they have to get as many hits as possible with the cannon is because it helps to remove the pirate captain, the boss monster of the pirate ship, later.
"And when the pirate ship gets near our boat, shoot the harpoon cannon and connect them to our ship. Once it hooked up, I"ll get on their ship and attack the pirates. Both of you don"t let the pirates board our ship. The most important thing is that the battlefield should be on the pirate ship, not ours."
Should the pirates cross onto the Ink-Black Dragon, the durability of Ink-Black Dragon would be reduced. Then, they will lose a lot of durability in a single battle and they would waste a lot of time to recover the lost durability.
This was the main reason why the pirate ship was not very popular. The loss of durability of the Sky-grade Ship would be dangerous and stressful for the rest of the voyage.
So even in Sang Hyuk"s previous life, the users used to say that it would be better to meet 10 Sky Whales than encounter a single pirate ship.
"Okay! Completed!"
[Got it.]Gye Baek and Dark KNight answered shortly and moved to their positions.
"The distance from the pirate ship is about 2 km. Do not shoot the harpoon until they are within our effective range of 700 meters."
Sang Hyuk measured the distance roughly, looking at the pirate ship that sped towards them at full speed.
Indeed, the pirate ship was fast. Because Ink-Black Dragon was so fast, the pirate ship was savagely fast like now, and it was so fast that it would not be easy to shoot.
"Once we slow down our ship, then they will slow down as well."
Sang Hyuk took his foot off the accelerator pedal and started to reduce his propulsion output.
The pirate ship seemed unusually large… Sang Hyuk, who was looking at the pirate ship, suddenly had an uneasy thought in his head.
"No way it is 7th grade, right?"
Suddenly the uneasy thought which Sang Hyuk dismissed… But as always, these thoughts did not stay dismissed.
Chapter 138 [Episode 71] Pirate Ship 1 - End