Chapter 130 - - 130 Slacking Expert_1

—————✧✧✧✧—————

The kitchen had everything: there were salted dried fish, and fresh fish scooped up from the sea and kept alive in wooden barrels.

Chef William was a portly fellow with a big belly; he was already aware of the captain’s amnesia.

At the moment, he was busily rubbing salt on a sea fish that had just been gutted. Seeing Duge enter, he subconsciously grabbed the meat cleaver next to him and asked, “Paul, have you regained your memory yet?”

“Not yet, William.” Duge glanced at the hand reaching for the cleaver and shook his head with a smile. The chef’s acting skills were clearly not as good as those of the first and second officers outside; he could distinctly sense the other’s nervousness.

He had awoken the skill “Don’t hit a smiling person,” so he smiled instinctively to alleviate the other’s tension.

In the last simulation, the straightforward pricing of trade awakenings directly led to the simulation’s collapse.

He believed that “Don’t hit a smiling person” could perhaps be developed into some other new use – it certainly wasn’t as simple as just making others feel joyous.

Of course.

Even without that, spreading happiness alone would also enhance his attributes.

As expected.

When Duge smiled, William’s tension immediately evaporated. He unconsciously returned the smile as if he had returned to the days before the assassination attempt had happened.

He skillfully grabbed a handful of beef jerky from a wooden barrel nearby, placed it on a plate, and passed it over: “Poor Paul, have some of your favorite beef strips, maybe good food can help you recover your memory.”

There’s still fish blood on your hands!

Not even wiping it off, just grabbing the jerky directly, won’t it mix flavors?

Duge unconsciously frowned slightly, “No need, I’m not hungry yet. I just wanted to come and see the fish; I don’t know why, although I’ve lost my memory, I always feel that fish will bring me luck.”

William was taken aback and tossed the jerky back into the barrel.

Then, as he turned his head, he saw their captain reach into the barrel where the fish were kept, grab a grouper, and after a pause, like a child, carefully petted the fish from head to tail, with a silly smile on his face.

William looked on in astonishment at Duge petting the fish, and couldn’t help but sigh to himself, poor Paul, not only did you sell your memory to Selma, but it seems you sold your wits along with it!

…

Expert Fish Petter: The fish you pet become your private property.

When Duge pulled the fish out of the barrel, his personal panel instantly awakened a new skill.

Duge was ecstatic.

What a godly skill!

Keep in mind, he was a pirate, drifting on the sea all day, and the one thing the sea has in abundance is fish.

This skill, placed in an ordinary world, might be garbage.

But don’t forget, this is a mythical world. Sea beasts, Sea Demons, and mermaids all have intellect.

Being touched by him, they all become his private property!

The key isn’t in the fish he touched but in the private property that follows.

What is private property?

It refers to the right of the owner to have direct control over a specific item, an exclusive right, the rights of ownership, usufruct, and security.

Completely subject to the individual’s will, serving the person’s interest, that is private property.

So what about that Ocean Horn of Laurent Swann, the King of the North Sea, capable of summoning great Sea Beasts? He just needs to touch one, and it becomes his. How utterly cool is that?

Of course, if he could snatch Laurent’s Ocean Horn and keep summoning Sea Beasts, he would become the true King of the Seas.

And what about that Sea Demon, Selma?

A single touch and she becomes his, doesn’t she?

A fish with a spirit is still a fish.

…

The most crucial part was, just like Feng Zhong’s fiddling, fishing could also enhance his attributes.

After all, isn’t the literal meaning the greatest?

The so-called Muddy Water Touch Fish, lazing around, were just extended meanings of it.

Just now, with a bit of fishing, he had already felt his attributes surging upwards, of course, it might also be related to the joy he felt from obtaining new skills.

Two key terms.

Double growth, double happiness.

…

Under William’s bewildered gaze, Duge felt up every fish in the barrel.

He touched them horizontally, vertically, both hands at once…

Then, he grasped the essence of fishing.

Unlike Feng Zhong’s tampering which might require frequency to increase attributes,

his fishing depended on the size of the fish.

The bigger the fish, the greater the boost in attributes.

Dried fish hanging up could also increase attributes, but the enhancement was minuscule. Duge wasn’t even sure if the slight improvement from touching dried fish was due to happiness…

…

In the following days.

Duge hardly took part in the ship’s affairs anymore.

While other crew members were busy cleaning the deck, mending the sails, and greasing the ropes, he spent most of his time in the sea, diving down to catch fish—or rather, playing with fish, since for the most part, Paul wouldn’t bring the fish he caught back to the ship.

Even when there were strong winds and waves, and the crew struggled against the storm, Duge wouldn’t join in. In his own words, “I’m the captain; it’s enough for me to direct and manage. If I have to do everything, what’s the point of being captain?”

And through Barry’s observations, it was concluded that their captain Paul, definitely lost his memory after coming back to life. He had forgotten many past events, including how to steer the ship; he couldn’t even understand nautical maps anymore.

When the wind changed direction, he didn’t know how to adjust the masts—an overall performance that resembled a fool.

This was good news for them since their treason would never be discovered.

But it was also bad news. They were a group of pirates with a captain who couldn’t sail the ship. If this got out, they would probably become the laughingstock of their peers.

And as William had said, Paul not only lost his memory, he likely suffered some damage to his intelligence…

…

“Barry, losing one’s memory is terrifying,” Wayne said with emotion while standing on the deck, watching Paul dive into the sea again. “If I lost my sailing skills, I couldn’t live. That idiot Paul, why did he make a deal with the Sea Demon using his memory…”

“Not just his memory, probably his ability to feel sadness, or even his sleep,” Barry said. “Selma is fair. In her domain, it’s always a one-to-one exchange.

Paul did indeed exchange his memory for immortality, but have you noticed? These days his strength is becoming stronger and stronger, his speed faster and faster, and he’s even started to go nights without sleep, just holding a fish and laughing foolishly.

Yesterday, he told me he wants to change our pirate flag to pink and put a floral wreath on the skull’s head, then make the skull smile. I can’t even imagine how other pirates would look at us if we flew such a flag. Even Safra’s Nautilus, the flagship of the King of the South Sea, wouldn’t hang a pink flag…”

“You didn’t agree to it, did you?” Wayne asked, involuntarily twitching at the corners of his eyes at the thought of a pirate ship flying a pink smiling skull flag.

“Of course not,” Barry replied. “I’m not going to do something that stupid.”

“Hmm,” Wayne chuckled and shook his head. “Paul is too greedy. He’s lost too much and is no longer a complete person. Barry, maybe we should consider William’s suggestion to ditch him and go it alone. I suspect that if we continue like this, one day he will become a mindless, immensely powerful monster that will drag us all to the abyss.”

“No, even if we’re going to ditch him, not now but after we’ve grown stronger,” Barry shrugged. “Right now, all of us together can’t beat him. Hiring a fighter with such high combat capabilities would cost at least a hundred Gold Coins, but we don’t have to pay Paul a penny; just let him frolic in the sea. The ship has been full of smiles since Paul lost his memory. During this dreary life at sea, having one more clown is good for everyone, isn’t it?”

He paused briefly, then a mysterious smile crept onto his face, “Besides, don’t you think that this ship is now ours?”

✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦