Chapter 22 The Lonely Island in the Black Sea

"Pick a task," Aske moved his gaze away, forcing himself not to think about the inexplicable question, "Why are all the NPCs in my team beauties?"

"Are all the tasks available for selection?" Nora also stared at the screen, beginning to transcribe the scrolling task content.

"Yes," Aske said, "The tasks listed here can be freely undertaken; the only issue is the cost-effectiveness."

"Cost-effectiveness?" Eleanor was somewhat puzzled.

"First of all, everyone needs to understand that the content, difficulty, and reward of the tasks are all set by the task poster," Aske pointed at the screen and said, "The Mercenary Guild serves merely as a third-party platform for information exchange, and generally does not and cannot validate or restrict the truthfulness of tasks. Consequently, there is bound to be misinformation about the tasks."

"For instance, although the enemy might be a goblin tribe with ogres, the task poster, fearing no mercenaries would take on the task, falsely claims there are only two or three goblins, thus deliberately downplaying the task's difficulty, which is the most common type of misinformation," Aske continued, "Or suppose the task publisher offers a reward of 100 pounds, but the task publisher is a farmer from a nearby village. How could a farmer afford to spend 100 pounds on posting a task? It's undoubtedly a case of overquoting, with the intent to underpay or even default on payment from the beginning."

"If we waste a lot of time on tasks with problematic cost-effectiveness, it would undoubtedly be very detrimental to the team's development," Aske finally concluded, "An experienced mercenary once said that the best mercenaries aren't those who fight the hardest, but those who are best at securing the rewards for their tasks."

Nora nodded in agreement beside him and wrote down a note in her notebook: How to secure task rewards (important).

"So how do we distinguish the tasks that are truly cost-effective and worth undertaking from the massive list of tasks?" Eleanor asked.

"That's something that can only be determined by experience; real knowledge comes from practice," Aske stared at the screen and said, "Eh, Heaven Mountain?"

"Heaven Mountain?" Nora looked at the screen but didn't see any words related to "Heaven." She saw that Aske had already communicated with the lady at the counter as if he was specifying a certain task they wanted to undertake, to which she fluently replied:

"The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps, ID MS-995017-247, requests to undertake the 'Black Sea Fishing Boat Disappearance' task, ID 1000000012763212. The task poster has left a message; do you wish to listen?"

"Listen," Aske said.

The lady at the counter then took out a microphone from under the desk and opened the corresponding audio file on the computer:

"I am the village chief of Burgas Village in the Imperial Thracian Province. Last month, a few fishermen from our village went fishing in the Black Sea and disappeared without a trace that very day. The last coordinates transmitted by their boat were: North latitude 43 degrees 32 minutes 11 seconds, East longitude 32 degrees 2 minutes 26 seconds."

"The families of the missing and other villagers have pooled together about 3 pounds as a reward. If you can find them and bring them back, we are willing to pay you 3 pounds as thanks; if you only find their remains, we are also prepared to offer 30 denar silver coins as a token of gratitude."

"We'll take this one," Aske decided.

"In that case, please scan the QR code under the counter to download our 'Constantinople Mercenary Guild' APP," the lady at the counter said, "Your default account is your mercenary group's name in full, and the default password is eight 8s. After logging in, you can post mission logs online and listen to relevant mission audio files. After completing the task, you just need to bring back the people or the remains to the Guild, and the reward will be transferred to your APP account; please remember to link a bank card."

"A month has passed; the chances of the victims' survival must be very low," Medea analyzed, "If we only find their remains, I fear even our round-trip boat fare won't be covered."

"Anyway, we're just practicing; it doesn't matter what task we take," Aske said with a smile, "Maybe there will be unexpected gains."

Unexpected gains? Medea frowned, picking up on Aske's implication. The others were taking on a mercenary task for the first time, still in a state of total ignorance, so they didn't raise any objections.

The Black Sea is located to the north of Constantinople, with the Kyiv Rus' Duchy to the north. The two states' main trade comprises furs and timber, and there are also fleets that operate along corresponding routes. After much searching at the Golden Horn Bay Pier, Aske and his companions finally found a merchant ship willing to take them aboard.

"North latitude 43 degrees 32 minutes 11 seconds, East longitude 32 degrees 2 minutes 26 seconds?" The shipmaster looked at the coordinates and said, "I have indeed sighted a newly emerged island in that area when I recently ran routes towards Ochakiv."

"A newly emerged island?" Nora immediately became very interested upon hearing this, "Have you gone ashore to check it out?"

"Young lady, too much curiosity is not a good thing at sea," the shipmaster said with a chuckle, shaking his head, "Whether it's tectonic activity or some supernatural event that caused this new island to appear, it could very well be home to dangerous extraordinary creatures. For example, there's a large poisonous Snake Island nearby, inhabited by spiritual snakes. A single bite results in instant death, with a venom so potent that it's said to annihilate even the soul."

"Snake Island?" Nora felt goosebumps all over her body just thinking about it.

"That's right, so this newly emerged island may not be safe either," the shipmaster said, "It's possible that the missing fishermen you're looking for had to go ashore there after their boat ran aground, but there's no way I would risk my sailors for that. At most, I can take you near the island's shallow waters and give you a small boat to go ashore yourself."

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"A day later, my cargo ship will be returning from Kyiv Rus and will wait for you near the island for a maximum of two hours. If you do not show up, we will leave on our own. Additionally, you'll need to pay 5 pounds for a one-way ticket. One pound upfront, and pay the remaining four pounds after disembarking. If you do return alive from the island, you will have to pay another 5 pounds."

This meant that even if they could find the missing fishermen, this mission would inevitably incur a loss of 7 pounds. Medea didn't say a word, but glanced sideways at Aske, who agreed readily:

"Fine, here's the one-pound note in advance."

Evidently, what Aske was plotting had nothing to do with the mission rewards. Were there issues with the identity of the missing fishermen? Or was it the island itself that was the problem? Medea began to harbor suspicions.

"Okay." The shipowner took the note and said, "My cargo should be all loaded by now, follow me."

The cargo ship docked at the pier was called "White Iliana." It was a coastal cargo ship that sailed the Black Sea year-round. The middle of the deck featured a recess for holding containers, and the sailors were running back and forth on the narrow path next to the ship's hull, busy maintaining the vessel's normal operation.

As Aske and the others boarded the ship, they immediately attracted the curious gazes of the surrounding onlookers. These sailors were normal people, possessing neither extraordinary powers nor any firearms or weapons, no wonder the shipowner said it was impossible for these sailors to embark on "adventures."

After registering with the port office in Constantinople, White Iliana officially set sail. The departure time was 6 pm, right at dinner time, so the mercenary group had the fortune to enjoy a "sea dinner" in the cabin with the sailors: hard-boiled saltwater pasta, a small bag of tomato sauce, canned beans and pork, and canned sardines.

Bored, Peggy idly picked at the beans in the pork can without much expression on her face. Eleanor, on the other hand, was quite appetitive, slurping up the pasta with tomato sauce and then started on sardines. Nora opened two cans but lost her appetite after a sniff, slowly eating the pasta with a fork.

"Here." Medea passed a sausage to Nora, "Just bought it from a sailor."

"Thank you." Nora said politely.

"You didn't 'buy' it with your Mind I Ability, did you?" Aske teased.

"Mind your own business," Medea rolled her eyes.

Aske tasted a bit of every dish, filling his stomach well. Glancing outside the ship rail, the night had gradually fallen, and the sailors had gone back to their cabins to rest, leaving only a few on the night shift. The first officer, following the captain's orders, brought several sleeping bags, which did not look like the sailors' bedding, probably a personal collection of the captain himself.

So everyone lay down in their clothes in the cabin. Around 3 am, Aske was awakened by a knock on the door, squinting his eyes open.

"Your destination has arrived," a sailor announced, opening the door.

Peggy crawled out of the sleeping bag and nudged Eleanor awake beside her. Medea sat up, yawning incessantly, her beautiful burgundy hair a tangled mess. Only Nora still seemed groggy, taking a while to be woken up by Eleanor and starting the day a bit grumpy.

The group exited the cabin and saw the silhouette of the island faintly appearing on the sea to the left of the ship against the night's veil. The first officer instructed the sailors to place a day's worth of dry rations, a rope, oil lamps, two pairs of oars, and a few signal flares on a small boat suspended on the side of the ship, and then shouted for the mercenaries to get on board.

After paying the remaining four pounds, the small boat carrying them was lowered gradually into the chilly sea. Nora, despite her previous drowsiness, was now wide awake, looking at the undulating sea around and asking:

"Do we row across now?"

"Of course," Aske responded. He and Eleanor each took up a pair of oars, dipping them in the water and propelling the boat toward the island.

Although the island seemed close, it took them a full half hour to reach the shore. Fortunately, there was a sandy beach on the edge of the island, allowing their small boat to be smoothly washed ashore by the sea.

"We must tie the rope tightly to a tree on the shore, or else the boat will be swept away by the rising tide," Aske said. Working together, they tied one end of the rope to an iron ring on the bow of the small boat and looped the other end several times around the trunk of a tree on the beach.

Aske looked across the sandy beach and felt settled in his heart. This island... was indeed just like the one in a video game from his previous life. The only difference was, in his past life, countless player guilds had landed on the island, nearly sparking a mass PvP event just on the shallows, while in this world, only his five-person team had come to land.

That shipowner was right. New islands that appeared out of nowhere like this were mostly the result of extraordinary supernatural events. Dangerous, certainly, but not necessarily profitable, which is why NPCs mercenary who considered it not worth the risk would generally not come.

However, for players with undying bodies, any danger was literally a joke. Players only cared whether the rewards were substantial or not, and since this island was brought about by a supernatural event, it was highly likely that it contained high-value items corresponding to the level of difficulty.

And in the end, it was indeed proven to be so.

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