An old person isn’t necessarily weak.

With the enhancement of the Soul System, even an old person with no muscles can exert the strength of a young man.

This trait becomes more pronounced in Earthlings, who experience stat equalization.

‘Don’t let your guard down just because she’s old.’

She may look like a grandmother, but you can’t know how strong she really is.

I greeted her while remaining highly tense.

She introduced herself as Abella.

Her blue eyes and faded blonde hair were indicative of her being a Middle-Earthling.

‘Another failure, huh.’

She wasn’t the type of ally I had hoped for, but at least she wasn’t one to ruin the team’s mood, so there was some consolation in that.

‘…Maybe a lucky Earthling will come up instead? That might not be so bad.’

The time on Island 3 was dragging on.

Was there anything that could become a game-changer?

I thought it over, but the only thing that stood out was luck.

I wasn’t sure how effective it would be, but there it was.

We explained the structure of the 3rd floor to Abella.

"Are you saying we need to cross the sea?"

"Yes. We need to go to Island 10, where treasure is buried."

When it comes to players, it’s usually advantageous to cooperate, so unless there’s a mistake, we planned to travel together.

Throwing someone away because they might not be of help wasn’t a choice I or Yuki would make lightly.

‘It would be better to kill a hundred useless bastards than to do that.’

We showed Abella the map and the guidebook.

Seeing it once was much more effective than hearing it a hundred times.

Abella stared at the sea absentmindedly.

It was too dark to see anything clearly, so where was she even looking?

"It reminds me of the past."

Abella, lost in reminiscence, snapped back to her senses quickly.

"We need a ship, right?"

"We already have a ship."

I wanted to show it right away, but given the circumstances, it didn’t seem right to take it out.

The island with no sunlight made it impossible to see even a step ahead.

"You have a ship?"

"Yes."

I added a bit more explanation, just in case she thought it was some small sailboat.

It’s a large vessel.

"So why are you here? From what the young people are saying, it sounds like we should head straight for Island 10."

"We have the ship, but we don’t know how to operate it. No matter how I looked at it, it seemed impossible."

If it were a car, I’d have tried driving it by now. The difficulty with driving usually lies more in traffic laws than the actual skill needed.

‘No one would hesitate to drive on the Autobahn alone, right?’

But it wasn’t a car.

Sailing a ship felt different than driving a car.

I was hesitant to try it.

What if the ship capsized in the vast ocean?

Honestly, I couldn’t handle that.

So, I stayed here.

The player gacha from the 2nd floor and the revenge-seeking White Bone Pirate Crew were both situations I was trying to manipulate.

"Not possible to navigate, huh…"

Abella grinned and continued.

"I think I can help with that."

At dawn, I took the ship out of the inventory.

"I thought I’d seen it all in the Tower of Struggle, but this is really something."

Abella chuckled, rubbing her chest as she smiled.

It was quite a spectacle when a large ship suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere. Anyone would be shocked if they didn’t know what was going on.

"Can it really sail? Truly?"

"Yes, as long as you do the basics, it should work just fine."

Yuki’s face lit up brightly. She’d been itching to get out to sea for the past fifteen days, so I understood her reaction.

Abella taught us the knowledge required for sailing. It was more like a skill than just knowledge.

‘The White Bone Pirate Crew’s ship doesn’t have an engine. In the end, it has to be powered by the wind.’

Just unfurling the sails doesn’t make the ship move forward.

The sailors have to coordinate it well for it to pick up speed.

Otherwise, it will just drift in place.

"Do you understand?"

"……."

At Abella’s words, I lost the desire to respond.

I glanced at Yuki.

She was silently pouting her lips and staying quiet.

I shifted my gaze to Hikari.

She had a similar expression.

‘This is bad.’

Since we came to the 3rd floor, we’d only been doing simple tasks.

Carving ice, mining magic stones.

So I didn’t doubt Yuki and Hikari’s intelligence.

There hadn’t been a situation where I had to.

‘They’re not as smart as I thought.’

I hadn’t realized they were such difficult people.

"...I thought I explained it pretty simply. Was it really that hard?"

Abella, looking thoroughly disappointed, stared at the two of them.

"The special combat teams don’t need to know about this stuff. As long as we close the cracks properly, we’ll be fine..."

Yuki muttered something useless.

There was no value in listening to her excuse.

"It’s a lot different from driving. There’s a lot more to think about."

"You’ll get the hang of it."

"Is that really possible?"

At Hikari’s question, Abella stiffened and averted her gaze.

"...I can’t be sure. But I’ll do my best."

Abella looked at me.

Her eyes were filled with hope, and though it made me feel a bit burdened, I didn’t shy away.

"Ryuin, you understand, right?"

"I understand."

I answered confidently.

Abella’s expression gradually hardened.

"You completely misunderstood it."

"......"

People’s talents are all different.

‘I’m still a national university grad. I’m not dumb enough to be treated like this.’

Unfortunately, my skills in mathematics didn’t help at all when it came to operating a ship.

"It’s impossible to set sail right away. We need to get the coordinates and guidebook from Island 3."

"That’s right. There’s plenty of time. We can study and train until then, and we’ll be able to sail."

"Someone we need might come up too."

"Maybe an Earthling with a naval background."

I had high hopes for the player gacha.

"I was in the navy too. Retired a long time ago though."

"Really?"

"I reached a pretty high position for a woman in the kingdom’s navy. That’s why my family abandoned me. But it wasn’t a bad life."

I had a feeling she knew what she was talking about.

"Grandma Abella."

We moved on to Island 2.

It was time to get to work since the day had begun.

Hikari handed Abella a pickaxe.

"Since you’re the youngest, you can use this to mine the magic stones."

"?"

She passed the pickaxe so naturally that I didn’t realize the mistake immediately.

Yuki stared at Hikari.

"Boss? What’s going on?"

"I’m wondering if this is really the right thing to do."

"Isn’t it obvious? We all have jobs to do. We should work together."

"What are you going to do?"

"Maybe something other than mining magic stones will come up."

Hikari said shamelessly.

She didn’t have any plans for now, just trying to escape the automatic mining by throwing out a wild idea.

"Such a troublemaker."

"Hehe. It’s fine. I’m not some frail old woman who can’t handle it. I can manage this much, so don’t worry too much."

Abella swung the pickaxe.

Slowly but steadily, she struck the magic stone.

‘It looks like it’s about to fall apart.’

I told her not to overdo it.

"You’ll be fine. Just do your thing."

It wasn’t like we were treating her like a slave and driving her with a whip.

If she got tired, she’d probably take a break.

We hunted the dungeons on Island 2 and Island 3.

We didn’t get the coordinates.

The odds were incredibly low.

‘I think I understand now why fights over the islands happen.’

If luck is on your side, you could get the coordinates or guidebook quickly, but it’s not easy.

To increase the odds, you need to secure more dungeons.

One dungeon per island.

Naturally, attention will be drawn to the outside.

At that moment, we heard cannon fire.

Boom—

It came from a familiar direction.

"Are they coming again?"

After getting beaten up last time?

‘Are these idiots incapable of learning?’

Groups don’t always behave rationally.

The way they interpret information changes based on their experiences.

‘Isn’t that why they say talk is cheap?’

There’s no proper communication tool here either.

The final commander has to listen to their subordinates and make judgments.

The words of the middle-ranking officers are crucial.

How they convey things changes the nuance.

"Tsk, tsk. They should just give up."

The pirate crew’s pride.

They couldn’t let it go.

Trying to salvage it, they sent more troops.

‘There might actually be a real strong guy among them.’

I couldn’t let my guard down.

From the White Bone Pirate Crew’s perspective, they might only be causing trouble because they were confident they could win.

That’s why I sent Hikari first.

She had the best psychic abilities when it came to infiltration missions.

"I don’t see anyone strong."

"Don’t let your guard down just because of appearances."

"I’ve seen plenty. Mana experts, top-tier warriors. Based on our dimension, they’d be level 5 psychics. Nothing special."

Hikari was sure the enemy’s power wasn’t much.

"They’re better than last time, but they’re not at a level where they could beat you, Ryuin."

"Really?"

"I don’t think a player strong enough to beat you would be in such a shabby pirate crew."

When survival instincts are triggered, I reach an exceptional level of agility. It’s almost impossible to meet someone on the same level.

The chance of a top-tier player existing in the White Bone Pirate Crew is as low as the chance of an Earthling ascender being born.

"Huff, huff. What was that? The sound of cannon fire."

Abella, panting heavily, arrived at the sandy shore.

She looked startled by the cannon fire.

"Pirates!"

Abella struggled to lift her head and spotted the pirate flag in the distance.

Then, her anger exploded.

"Pirates must be killed. Those trashy bastards!"

She shouted like a mad old woman, but her rage was deadly serious.

"In this vast sea! How dare those vermin exist…!"

"Calm down, breathe, Grandma."

"Hey, you! Lend me a ship!"

"......"

Crazy old woman.

Her eyes had lost their mind.

‘I can’t stop her.’

I quickly brought out the ship.

An ice spirit raft.

An upgraded raft.

Abella boarded the raft and began rowing.

"For the Kingdom of Velada!"

"......"