Chapter 107: A Gift, and the Anchor Dock

Chapter 107: A Gift, and the Anchor Dock

"So I have my own personal radar blocker?” Astrid let go of the strong, bandaged hand.

The strength Bellona held in her hand without even trying was staggering. Astrid wouldn’t be surprised if she was approaching Rob’s level soon, which was baffling to think.

“That’s the idea,” Freya said, “although she’s capable of far more than that.”

“Where did you two meet?” Astrid asked. “I don’t remember seeing you two together for, well, as long as I can recall.”

“That’s a long story,” Freya stretched her neck. “It was a few years ago. I had the habit of scouring through all of the adventurers that wandered into Rebirth. I would look for their potential, build up reports on their skills from word of mouth. The flavour of gold helped there.” Freya smirked.

“Then I laid my eyes on Bellona,” Freya said. “Although her anti-magic capabilities were pitiful at that point–”

“Hey.” Bellona interrupted.

“They couldn’t even be called anti-magic at her current level back then.” Freya nudged her nose in Bellona’s direction. “But I discreetly approached her with an offer to join me, although it was a massive gamble on my part as I didn’t know the full extent of her potential and abilities.”

“It paid off, didn’t it?” Bellona added.

“Thankfully,” Freya rolled her eyes. “After thousands of gold coins, it did pay off and she awakened to anti-magic.”

“What would you have done if it didn’t?” Astrid wondered. The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

“My heart says cry,” Freya joked. “But I was ready for such a situation regardless. I always have a plan B.”

“And C.” Bellona sat down in between them, nudging them to the side.

“What is that smell?” Astrid pinched her nose. “You reek of spawn guts.”

“It’s that bad?” Bellona pinched her shirt and took a sniff. She winced. “Shit, Freya, when were you going to tell me?”

“Honestly, I’m nose blind to it by now.” Freya shook her head.

Astrid scrambled to her feet and hauled out a t-shirt from her drawer.

“Take that old thing off,” Astrid threw the shirt at her. “You’re stinking up my room!”

“Oh, c’mon.” Bellona stripped off her shirt on the spot. “You didn’t even notice it until I was practically sitting on you.”

“You’re right.” Astrid couldn’t help but take a glance. “That just means it’s sunken into the skin, not the clothes. When was the last time you bathed?”

“Oh shit.” Bellona pulled the shirt over her head. “I’m not sure actually, good question. I’ve not long gotten back from an excursion you know.”

“And that’s an excuse?” Astrid asked.

“We’re getting side tracked aren’t we?” Freya clapped. “When you are going for a mission, place this flag at your window. My people will see it, and all of your movements will be masked."

“Thank you,” Astrid said.

“Don’t mention it,” Freya continued, “although from now on, I will buy any equipment you find.”

“Oh shit,” Astrid said. “I handed over all the equipment and rewards from my mission to Daniel. Maybe if we hurry we can–”

“I know.” Freya interrupted. “That’s why I said from now on.”

Astrid clenched her fist. “Don’t worry. I’ll come back next time with more loot than you know what to do with.”

“Knowing your track record of encountering anomalies, that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Yeah what’s your deal anyway?” Bellona continued. “Anywhere you go, dungeons pop up. Death lingers.”

Astrid was about to quickly respond, but she thought about it a bit more. Although what the tattooed woman said made sense. The more she thought about it, it just seemed like an overpowering coincidence.

For the dungeons to appear when she was arriving would mean that Pupil had something to do with it, which he didn’t. Maybe.

“Of course, my lady.” The Sinwen guard saluted. The individual parts of his heavy plate armour clanged at the movements.

The need for revenge... Astrid was excited just thinking about it.

She would judge it herself if they deserved death or not. If it was in fact Prince’s father that had ordered his son to scavenge, slaughter, and plunder their equipment, then she had no qualms stomping them out like shrimp in a fish-net.

Shit, I could have gazed into Prince’s memories. Astrid stomped at the thought.

It’s not your fault, Astrid. You were too busy fighting!

I know, but still... If I wasn’t so interested in seeing where my melee abilities lay, I could have defeated him much easier and scoured his brain. Astrid said within her mind.

Well whatever, it doesn’t matter. It would have just sped up the inevitable. It’s only a matter of time before father finds them. I just hope I get to join him in the attack. Astrid sighed, but she felt her shoulders tremble in excitement.

She couldn’t wait to find out if Prince’s father had the capabilities to survive her father’s onslaught. She had no doubt in her mind that the pirate king wouldn’t be given the chance to fight back, hence, he would only be able to run and try to survive.

Astrid had never seen her father properly fight before. It would be a treat to watch.

Astrid trailed her fingers along the hallway with a hop in her step as she skipped towards the manor’s entrance.

It was time to see her new boat. She put on her new cloak and tipped the hood over her head.

Epic - Level 80 - Phantom Shroud Cloak: Able to mask the users face, aura, and smell, completely. Only detectable by level one-hundred and thirty scout classes.

| 25 added Intelligence.

| 20 added Constitution.

| 15 added Dexterity.

Thank you, Freya. Astrid beamed a smile.

Astrid descended into the Middle District. The buildings were mostly all fashioned with stone, grey bricks. The rare red bricks were usually kept for the houses and shops up in the Upper District.

They were becoming increasingly difficult to manufacture as clay deposits were usually difficult to find. Although she couldn’t remember the reason for it.

The Anchor Dock was located at another lift within the outskirts of the district. It took her a good while to walk there, but with a newfound patience, she made it.

She gazed up at the enormous steel wall that travelled up for miles. There was an expansive hole left open in the side of the ship that provided a horizon wide view.

Many of the elderly population, and families with kids were wandering around the hulking balcony that peeked out to the ocean.

They would point out at the birds in the sky that swooped down for the fish that hovered at the top of the slow moving waves. Or the various sea monsters that attacked each other.

It was a place for sight-seeing. Because of the expansive view of the ocean, a lot of young couples would propose their love here.

But Astrid wasn’t interested in any of that. After all, it was much more enjoyable going out, rather than watching it from above.

She stepped foot in the elevator, along with around ten or so other people that were all wearing long rubber boots that travelled up past their knees. The others were elderly people that were holding empty boxes. Presumably they were heading down to buy their daily fish.

They would send her glances, but with her hood over her head, they couldn’t tell who it was. Unlike Bellona, she made sure to hide her hair.

It wasn’t long before the lift stopped and opened up into a world of clamour, and the stench of fish guts along with it.

The docks were built right on the side of the ship. The engineers had created some form of lift mechanic for the entire dock. Whenever the waves grew, the entire docks would rise with it. But when the wave crashed, the docks didn’t follow. Instead it slowly descended back to its original point.

The docks were packed full of boats and fishermen/women unloading entire baskets of a wide assortment of fish.

Astrid watched as their tails flapped from the insides of the crates. And the loud shouting of the workers boomed and echoed around the docks.

Her vision wandered around the hundreds of boats that were bobbing up and down on the waves.

Now which one is mine?