Starting from Zero

Chapter 149: Plot Shift [Vol 4 Chapter 87]

Translator: blackberrry Editor: blackberrry

"Black Dragon Force Ships!" Unknowingly, Hawk was already right beside me, using a pair of binoculars and looking in the same direction as me.

As they were not too far away, I could see them with [Star Gaze]. "They actually followed me!"

"Not you, us!" Hiko stood at my other side and said.

"You? What's the point in chasing after you?" Indeed, Cherry Blossom Organisation had plenty of beautiful ladies, but Masayoshi Matsumoto was not some desperate pervert, why would he risk his life just for a group of beauties!

The Captain of the First Main Force, Peach, walked over. "Yes, there is nothing about us worth chasing after, but we have something that they desperately want."

"What is it that is so important?" Hawk put the binoculars down and asked: "Look at that, it seems that Black Dragon Force has brought their entire Guild over just for you!"

Hiko took out a pink Crystal Gem and handed it over as I took it and had a look.

"There's nothing about it?" Aside from the description stating that it was a quest item, there was nothing else, not even a name!

"This is the Angel Gem! Masayoshi Matsumoto spent 30 million Crystal Pieces for it!"

"Why is this broken gem worth so much?" Hawk received the Gem and took a look at it in disbelief. "Isn't it just an ordinary gem? At most, it is slightly prettier, but that's all!"

Hiko took back the Gem. "This is a Quest Activation Tool, as long as you have this and enter any Shrine of Light, you will be able to activate the quest, but as to what it is, I am not sure either! Either way, that Masayoshi Matsumoto spent a great deal of money to buy this, it should be a worthy item!"

"How did such an expensive and precious thing land in your hands?" I did not believe that Masayoshi Matsumoto would gift such a thing to others.

Hiko suddenly laughed. "That Masayoshi Matsumoto likes one of our sisters, but she doesn't' like him. After that when she found out about his dealings to obtain this Gem, she asked to take a look at it. Masayoshi Matsumoto was unwilling at first, but after the constant pestering by her, he could no longer take it and lent it to her. When she received the Gem, she immediately ran back. Right away, Masayoshi Matsumoto started to chase after her, he wants it back."

"Then after that?"

"After that, she gave the Gem to me, then recreated a whole new character with a different name, so Masayoshi Matsumoto can't find her anymore!"

"How does Masayoshi Matsumoto knows that the Gem is in your possession?"

"There are traitors in the Organisation!" Hiko said it indifferently, but I saw the unhappiness in her eyes.

"What's there to feel bad about, it's a game! How can an organization ever be free from spies?"

"Alright, shall we head up to the Control Room? The enemy fleet has already entered an effective shooting range, the bow isn't safe!" Hawk pulled us into the Control Room.

"Prepare the cannons!" Hawk shouted out loud.

The sailors quickly rushed up the deck and pulled down the canvas that covered the enormous Magic Crystal Cannons. Hiko gasped in surprise. "What are those things?"

"Magic Crystal Cannons*!" I answered nonchalantly.

"They are massive!"

"Yes! And also very expensive!" Was she joking, it cost 100 million crystal pieces for one, how could they not be massive?

Hawk ordered the First Mate: "Position the cannons!"

"Yes, Captain! Position the cannons!"

The armored boards on Bi-lin's side were opened in an orderly fashion, revealing all the firing holes, where all of the silver cannon tubes were pushed out of the holes. Bi-lin instantly became a battle prepared hedgehog.

Another sharp shriek came out from the air, another cannon shot landed in the water just a few meters away from Bi-lin, the Jap's aim with the cannons was truly terrible!

"Return fire!" Hawk roared.

"Return fire!" The First Mate passed down the order.

All of the Magic Crystal Cannons were activated, with a bang, five of the cannons unleashed five shots in unison (The Cannons sold were already replenished). The five cannonballs flew to the Black Dragon Force Fleet in the distance, the fleet consisting of roughly 3000 ships, with their dense mass, meant that the probability of being struck was higher, without even the need to take aim, we fired at will! The purple magic crystal cannonballs accurately dropped into the center of the Black Dragon Force fleet, the powerful might of the enormous Magic Crystal Cannons effortlessly destroyed some warships into pieces of wood. Hiko had never seen such powerful weapons before, the might of the enormous Magic Crystal Cannons had surpassed their imaginations.

The first wave of fire stunned the entire Japs fleet for a moment, but very quickly, they chased after us again. But we were not anxious to run and dangled with a distance between us and continued to attack. The Japanese Fleet ignored our fires, they clearly knew that they could not catch up to us yet they continued to tank the fires, it seemed as though Masayoshi Matsumoto was fuming with anger to the point of being capable of acting so poorly!

Turn the bow right!" Hawk suddenly shouted. The ship suddenly drifted horizontally in front of the Japanese Fleet.

"Fire rapid and at will for 1 minute!" The entire Bi-lin's starboard suddenly unleashed a barrage of fires, 650 large caliber cannons, and the 5 enormous Magic Crystal Cannons shot out a spectacular scene, causing Hiko and the few other ladies to be in dumbstruck. Hawk proudly watched the volley of fires constantly spewing out from the cannons, giving rise to smoke. Although I was glad that I had such firepower, I felt more pain as it was my money, all the cannonballs were worth money!

The dense rain of cannonballs landed in front of the Black Dragon Force Fleet, causing a sea of flames to rise, almost all the frontline ships were instantly razed and destroyed by the volley. In the minute of volley, each cannon in Bi-lin had shot over 10 times.

Hawk ordered B-lin to drift once more and we escaped without a trace, the Japs behind us could only worry helplessly as the frontline ships that were destroyed had blocked their path to advance, and at that time, they were unable to continue chasing after us.

Bi-lin easily threw off the pursuers and disappeared from the Japs' line of sight.

"Ziri?" I suddenly heard Hiko call for me. When I turned back, I was instantly welcomed with an object flying towards me. I instinctively extended my hand and caught the object. It was actually the Gem that they had cheated Masayoshi Matsumoto of.

"What's this for?"

Yoshimi smiled at me: "that's our ship ticket!"

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I took up the Gem and looked at it. "Alright!" Honestly, I was extremely interested in the Gem as I loved doing quests!

"What do you plan to do when you reach China?"

"We are going to build a city!" The lively and excited Norika Shizuka replied.

"To build a city, don't you need a Guild?"

"Aren't we already a guild?"

"The name Cherry Blossom Organisation cannot be used in China, anyone can tell it is a Japan guild."

"We plan to grind for another Guild Badge before re-registering the new guild in China." Hiko patted Shizuka's head and said.

"Then all of you better be careful in this period of time, you are all Japanese people, if you die, you will revive back in Japan, I don't have the time to make another trip!" I warned Hiko and the rest in advance so as to avoid any hiccups when the time came.

"But we can't assure that we will all survive! There will definitely be people dying from fighting mobs, it is impossible for our large guild to have 0 deaths!"

Hiko's worry was not without a basis, but ultimately, I felt that they had to resolve it themselves. If they wanted to revive in China after dying and not sent back to Japan, they needed to ensure that they had a Guild Headquarters in China, but the Cherry Blossom Organisation's name was definitely unusable (The Guild's name could not be changed). The requirement to rebuild a Guild was to have a Guild Badge, but the grind for a Guild Token to drop would definitely lead to deaths! It was simply a death cycle, even before the involved person could resolve a problem, he/she would be restricted due to some variables and at the end, nothing could be done!

"Why not this? All of you can join our guild and we build a City?" Elfy suddenly interjected.

Hiko lowered her head with her finger scratching her cheek as she thought about it, then raised her head and looked at the other five Captains.

Peach quickly nodded her head: "I have no objections, I'm fine with joining or not joining!"

Hiko looked at the Second Captain Akira, who spoke with assurance: "that's the best move we can make, I agree to join them!"

Yoshimi voiced out her opinion right after: "I agree as well! Ziri is so powerful, if we are in the guild, we will no longer need to be afraid of getting bullied ever again!"

Unexpectedly, Shizuka shook her head: "I am against it, we are all ladies, how can we find a man to manage us around!"

Being the last, Yuri laughed and nodded: "I agree to join their guild!"

Hiko shook her head helplessly: "Three for, one against, one forfeit, no matter where I cast my vote, it won't affect anything, then our organization's view is to agree to join!"

I spoke up unhappily: "Hey! Ladies, all of you seemed to have forgotten to ask about MY opinion? Don't show your dissatisfaction, I did not force all of you to join. My Guild requires strength, if you have no strength, I don't want you!" I pointed to Hawk, Elfy and the rest and said: "These are the members of my Guild, the six of you have to individually pick an opponent, and can only join if you win, but if you lose….!"

Hiko realized that their voting actions in front of me were truly impolite, she was about to offer her apologies when the impulsive Shizuka shouted out: "We're not afraid of you! Come, let's fight!"

In truth, I also fancied and desired to have the girls join my guild, and the words I spoke were words of anger. Ignoring the fact that majority of the Guild's ladies were extremely attractive and pleasing to the eyes, with the performance and display of good coordination, outstanding fighting tactics and tenacity against the Inagawa Union's Knights back in Japan was enough for people to admire them! On a real battlefield, the ability to be able to perish together with the enemies that were twice their numbers and under a disadvantageous situation was already hard to come by! But since Shizuka had refuted with such words, I could no longer back down.

"Hawk."

Hawk nodded and immediately summoned everyone to gather, and all of my Guild members came over quickly. I tried to look for Rose and Yuri, whom I had not seen on the ship ever since I got onboard. I was actually wrong to think that they were present!

Before I could even say anything, Shizuka walked up angrily and said: "I won't pick any of your subordinates, I'll fight with you!"

Her words caused everyone to cry out in surprise. The thing was, I had not informed anyone of my drop in levels yet! Although Hawk had asked about it, I was interrupted by the Japs attack on us, thus no one knew that I had dropped levels. When everyone heard that Shizuka wanted to challenge me, they were all surprised, in their eyes, I had never lost before. The Cherry Blossom Organisation ladies were also shocked, they had never seen me in a real battle before, but had heard that I alone had destroyed Black Dragon Force's 3000 elites. Even if it was just an exaggerated rumor, it had emphasized that my strength was of a different level. For Shizuka to challenge me, it was no doubt they would be afraid! Shizuka suddenly added: "But I don't have any Companions, so you can't use yours!"

I felt that her words were nonsensical, all of my Companions were level 20, summoning them would simply be asking them to die!

"Why do you want to fight me? You should find someone else!" I could not show myself, once I made a move, everything would be exposed! Although I was over Level 200, to single-handedly fight against Shizuka, who was over Level 500, was simply not enough! Furthermore, the stats of my Dragon Lord Armor Set corresponded to my Levels, thus at my current level, the Dark Dragon Lord Set's defense was only slightly higher than ordinary equipment. It was the type of growth equipment that would only become overpowered at the later stages!

"I want to compete against you, everyone said that you are powerful, I HAVE to test your strength!"

Wu Yu* shouted out: "Ziri, just fight her! You're not even afraid of her, don't throw our face!"

"But...!"

Hawk added: "Go and teach her a lesson! At most, you can be slightly lenient, don't lose control and kill her!"

Me, being lenient? Even with all my strength, I'm doomed to lose, if I am lenient, I will be the one being beaten up!

"If you're not going to make a move, I'll gladly take the first move!" Shizuka's staff suddenly shone with a bright light. The Mage Class came with high damage outputs and any Spell would result in severe injuries. I, a Level 200 newbie, could not get struck by her. Otherwise, I would not be able to retaliate at all!

I raised my arm up and aimed my Crossbow at Shizuka. Hawk, Wu Yu and the rest were all prepared to applaud for me, in their eyes, it was a definite for my crossbow to hit a Mage, thus they all thought that Shizuka was bound to die! But my arrow was not able to strike Shizuka's body, a green light membrane flickered, and the arrow was bounced away. Shizuka had a Magic Shield cast on herself, thus my ranged attack could not work. Of course, the main reason was due to my low level, otherwise, even my ranged attacks would be enough to shatter such low-grade defensive spells.

But it was pointless to say anything about it, Shizuka had completed casting her Offensive Spell, following the wave of her staff, a gigantic meteor flew over. I panicked, and could not afford to dodge.

"Blade Barrier!"

I had Dragon Monarch Sword** at my chest and the eight Flying Dragon Swords quickly flew over and revolved around us at an extremely high speed, forming a defensive barrier. This skill was bestowed along with the weapons and did not have much correlation to my Level, thus although my levels had dropped greatly, the protection that the flying dragon swords provided did not plummet.

The Meteor struck my sword barrier with a bang, causing my Flying Dragon Swords to fly outwards, but the meteor was deflected.

Gasping for breath, Shizuka could not believe her eyes. She knew that I was powerful and thus used her most powerful and fatal spell, her aim was actually to kill me with one hit!

The meteor merely struck onto my Flying Dragon Swords and did not harm me in the slightest, I quickly grabbed the opportunity and rushed forward.

"Shinryuu Absolute Strike, Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike Technique!"

At this point, all I could think about was the ultimate repetition ability that I had just learned, as long as I had MP, killing a person was not a problem!

With a flash, I appeared before Shizuka, my hands drew a Tai Ji circle and I struck her at her abdomen. It only took me a second to complete this set of movements and Shizuka had no time to react.

With a Bang, Shizuka was thrown outwards. The [Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike Technique] was successful, thus I chased and followed up with the [Dragon Glide Strike], which was the first movement for [Heavenly Dragon Successive Strike]. As expected, Shizuka was unable to run and was once again launched into the air by me. With the successive [Dragon Glide Strike], the [Heavenly Dragon Successive Strike] had begun its automatic phase, I need not do anything and my body would automatically move with the next movement, as long as I did not want it to stop or my MP was not at 0, this combo could keep going. But I overlooked something, we were not on land, no matter how big Bi-lin was, there was a limit in its space and [Heavenly Dragon Successive Strike] required moving after every skill, which resulted in us reaching the end of the bow. With the last [Heaven and Earth Fusion Strike Technique], Shizuka was thrown off the ship.

When Shizuka was first launched into the air, she was already in despair. As a Mage, for her to be able to survive so long under my combo could already be considered an achievement for her. But if she were to drop into the water and knocked by Bi-lin, she would definitely be dead.

It was my mistake for throwing off the Ship, thus I could not just watch her get knocked by Bi-lin! I unleashed the Dragon Tendon Wires*** which wrapped around Shizuka in the air. With all my strength, I pulled her back into the Ship. After she fell to the ground, I deliberately provoked her: "You still want to fight?"

Shizuka did not reply and only shook her head. Hawk ran over excitedly.

"Ziri, when did you create your own skills? What a sick move! It looked as though you could continue on forever if not for the length of the Ship. How many times can you do that for?"

I laughed: "It isn't a self-created skill, your [Inescapable Net]**** is a self-created skill. This set of skills was learned. The result is as what you have guessed, it is an unlimited combo unless I want it to stop or if my MP reaches 0, otherwise, I can keep using it."

"What the sh*t! Why not we go back and find some Level 1000 Immortal and beat the sh*t out of it, you can just keep using that combo, at most, you just buy a few MP potions, I reckon it'll just take a few hours to kill one!"

"F*ck you! Kill an Immortal? We will die even before we can get close!"

Hiko walked over, her head tilted downwards and looked as though she felt terrible.

"I am so sorry! Shizuka was too impulsive, we never wanted to do that!"

"What do you mean by that! I truly wanted to fight him!" Shizuka screamed out loud again. There was something wrong with her, it was as though she was on gunpowder!

"Wu Yu!"

Wu Yu ran over, I squatted down and whispered a few words to her ears. Wu Yu immediately laughed as she pulled Shizuka away. Shizuka was still slightly unhappy, but with a carrot and stick method, Wu Yu pulled her away.

Hawk was curious: "What did you tell her?"

"I told her to bring the girl to the base of the Ship, and when she reaches the cell, she can kick Shizuka in to let her cool down. I guess that Shizuka is still feeling anxious after leaving Japan, thus her behavior!"

Hiko heard what I said and was shocked. "You have a prison on this ship?"

"This ship of mine is a Five Star Battleship fully equipped with facilities, everything that you need is in here!"

From behind, Hawk patted me. "Alright, onto official business. What's going on with the sudden shift of the Captain position? You didn't finish your explanation!"

I arranged for Violet and Elfy to handle the ladies of Cherry Blossom Organisation. I then dragged Hawk to the Captain room and carefully closed the door. I then explained the situation of how I dropped Levels to Hawk.

".....so that's why, keep this secret for me for now, I don't want too many people to know that I dropped Levels!"

Initially, I thought that Hawk would have instantly promised to keep it a secret, who would have thought that he would actually ask: "Can I tell Elfy about this?"

"Why?"

"We swore an oath before not to keep any secrets between us. Our feelings were built based on trust, and the best example of trust is not having any secrets kept from each other!"

"The two of you are the real example of husband and wife! Fine! But you have to promise that this matter will not leak out from between the two of you!"

"I can promise that!" Hawk swore. "Oh right, now that you're only Level 200 plus, isn't it very dangerous for you?"

"I can't do anything about it and plan to train and level as quickly when I get back. You know it as well, I have many Companions, leveling isn't a problem for me. My low level in the past was honestly because I never had the time to grind properly, If I were to rush levels all day, I'm afraid none of you can catch up to me!"

"That's true! You have 10 of those overpowered Companions and the 10 Level 850 Phantom Knights, you leveling is basically 20 odd people leveling. There will only a problem if you are leveling slowly!"

"Hey? Where did Rose and Yuri run off to?"

"The two of them are at the Port watching over the Door of Truth!"

"Wasn't it sent over to Feng Xian City? Why is it still at the Port?"

"I wanted to do that, but no one was willing to take it! But since these Japanese girls are willing to join us and we need to establish a Guild City, then why not we keep it to use for ourselves instead of moving it away?"

"That's fine! But I'll leave the planning and arrangements for building the city to you, alright? I don't know anything about it!"

"I can't leave here, I can't leave Bi-lin!"

"Seriously! I originally merely thought of playing this game for fun, who knew that there will be more and more things to worry about!"

KNOCK KNOCK!

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

The First Mate ran in.

"Reporting to Captain, we have just converged with the Pirate Fleet!"

"Alright, got it!" Hawk allowed the First Mate to leave first, then turned and asked me: "Shall I hand over the Captain Position back to you?"

"It's fine, my level is too low, it'll affect the sailors' capabilities, you should hold onto it first! I'll go up and check on my subordinates!"

I left the hold and ran to the deck, and right when I reached, Hiko pulled onto me.

"What's going on?"

"Don't be afraid, they're part of my fleet!" I directly flew over to Rhona's ship. Rhona passionately pounced on me and gave me a hug, LUCKILY, Rose was not around!

"Quickly release me, I'm being suffocated to death!"

"Oh! Boss, what happened to your level?"

"It's nothing, I dropped a few levels, I'll catch up in less than two months!" I patted Rhona. "How has business been recently?"

"Hehe!" Rhona suddenly pulled out a key from behind her, although the emerald green key's shape was easily recognizable, it's bulk was much larger than ordinary keys and additionally, the emerald green texture seemed to be made of jadeite. "Guess what's this?"

"A key? You think I'm retarded?"

"I'm asking you what this key is for!"

"To some Treasure Island?"

"You're half right!"

"Half?"

Rhona laughed. "This was offered by my brother whom I left in Europe, I heard that he stole it from some Player. It is a key that opens the Gates to Dragon Isle!"

Gates to Dragon Isle? Is that the same Island that Linn is training in now? Could it be that she's unable to leave because they do not have the key to open the gates?

I did not understand the situation, but it seemed as though the key was the reason behind it! But there was no point with the key alone, I had no clue as to where the Gate was, having the key was the same as not having it!

"Rhona? Do you have the location of this Dragon Isle?"

Rhona shook her head: "I'm not too sure about it as well, I heard that Dragon Isle is a place for the Western Dragon Race to breed and train future generations, I guess there should be people of the Dragon Race that knows about it!"

I guessed I would have to ask Lucky and Epidemic about it, but I was not in a rush, it could be dealt with in the future! After chatting with Rhona for a while, I returned to Bi-lin, according to their agreement, Hiko disbanded the Cherry Blossom Organisation while I started to invite them to the Guild. I invited Hiko and the other Five Captains and appointed them the positions of Guild Seniors, then got them to invite the rest. If I had to invite everyone, it would have killed me!

Bi-lin's speed was extremely fast, by the time nightfall approached, we had already reached the Port. The sunset glow reflected on the waters cast a beautiful red scene.

My Homeland, I'm back!

The moment I disembarked, Yuri rushed to me. Why not Rose? Simple, Rose could see me in reality, but Yuri had not seen me for days! Yuri's adorableness came from her pure beauty, and it was difficult for people to not have feelings for her, even for me. She was like a little girl that deserved to be doted on!

I bade Hawk and the rest farewell as I had decided to bring Rose and Yuri away for a period of time. The official reason to everyone was that I wanted to look for a suitable place to build our City Headquarters, but in truth, I wanted to go and train! With Hawk's help, no one suspected anything. The original members of Cherry Blossom Organisation had all become members of Blizzard Rose. I had placed them temporarily inside the port, if they were to die before the City was built, they would be sent back to Japan, and no one wished for that to happen.

After successfully leaving Torrent Point City, I finally returned back to the carefree life of training without worries! Long Live freedom!

Upon leaving Torrent Point City, Rose looked at me.

"You want to talk? What happened?"

I almost fainted, Rose actually saw through me and knew that our departure was not simply because of building the city. "You knew?"

"Of course! This wife position of mine is not blankly set in place! Tell me honestly, why did you decide to leave everyone and even state that it was for a period of time?"

Since I had brought the two of them with me, I never planned to hide it from them.

"I chanced upon a fortuitous encounter in Japan…..after that, it became like this!" I roughly explained the reason for my drop in levels. Rose and Yuri were stunned upon hearing the story.

"What are you going to do now?"

"Grind and level like a normal, hard-working Player I guess? What else can I do?"

Yuri immediately spoke up: "Big Brother Ziri! Although we haven't met for many days and I have really missed you, your situation is rather special. Although you are at a low level now, your Attack power is not weak at all. Furthermore, you have plenty of Servants and Companions, so you don't need to High-level Players to carry you like ordinary newbies, it might be even faster for you to do it by yourself!"

Rose nodded her head: "Although we are not willing, it'll be better if we left you alone! You should take the time and focus on training, I'll bring Yuri to look for a place to build your City, and when we have finalized the location, we'll call you over to take a look. You have your Ring of Teleportation anyway, as long as it is within the country, you will be able to rush over quickly right?"

"Alright!" Sigh! I am truly unfavored by Heavens, I just wanted the two beauties to train with me, but I am being deserted!

Rose spoke fiercely to me: "Don't play around too much and focus on leveling, you have to at least reach level 400 before we find a place!"

"Then it's best if you find one after three weeks, if you find one too early, I won't be able to make it!"

"I don't care, you better work hard!" Rose kissed me on the lips before pulling Yuri and activated a Teleport Scroll. I had no idea which City they would even be teleported to!

Who cares, time to train!

When I walked on the path into the forest, I felt the same emotions as when I had just entered the game. At that time, I was just a newbie who was scared half to death by Lucky! After reminiscing about it, I realized how interesting it was!

Just as I was recalling the fond memories, a gigantic fireball suddenly flew towards me from the sky.

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(*) Magic Crystal Cannons were used to be called Crystal Cannons.

(**) Changing Dragon King Sword to Dragon Monarch Sword, sounds better IMO. it is the main sword that controls the 8 Flying sub swords

(***) Dragon Tendon Wires used to be called Dragon Sinew Wires, Tendon sounds nicer.

(****) The previous translator didn't really give a name to Hawk's self-created ability and called it Net, I couldn't really trace back to when he first said the skill, thus I just made one up.