Chapter 256: Small Goals

Fish-Man Island.

The mermaid ladies, such enchanting scenery.

Among the many beautiful and charming mermaid ladies, Adrian personally didn't particularly like the octopus mermaids who hadn't evolved to have legs yet.

Although their smooth, lubricated skin received high praise, the numerous tentacles wrapped around one's body felt heavy and gave an inexplicable sense of being tied up, making one feel a bit passive…

Additionally, the suction from the octopus suckers was not well controlled, varying in pressure and speed. It was certainly a novel experience…

If he had to rate them, the octopus mermaids of the deep ocean would probably only score a six in Adrian's eyes.

But if it were the mature octopus women over thirty, that would be a different story.

They would definitely score at least an eight!

Ahem!

No need to write a review guide! {Interspecies Reviewers!!}

Adrian closed the update notification and carefully checked the battle situation, discovering there was only one box left—

Adrian meticulously examined his personal attribute panel and then opened the task list, silently calculating.

The players were completely offline, with unknown login times.

Since the public beta began, Adrian hadn't harvested experience points from players after the initial period.

But still, players were a source of harvestable experience.

Just because he didn't harvest them doesn't mean they don't exist.

Now that the players had disappeared, to gain experience, aside from daily swordsmanship practice, he could only do quests and engage in battles.

Having enjoyed a period of wonderful days on Fish-Man Island, Adrian felt it was time to get back to serious work.

"The most important thing is naturally the advancement quest. Although my current Devil Fruit abilities are already quite powerful, being stronger means being safer and more effective."

"And within the World Government, there are still many unknown powerful entities, including the 'Army' that wasn't shown in the original work, CP0, said to be the strongest shield of the Celestial Dragons, and Imu, who stands at the true pinnacle!"

"My task panel still has missions to overthrow the Celestial Dragons and Imu! And for that, my current strength is not enough!"

After the Ohara incident and the recent small gains, the progress of the 'Extreme Trial' quest was 520/1000, still a long way from advancement.

"The main reason is that the ghost fruit abilities are too strong, causing my own strength to be too high and thereby reducing the trial points from most opponents."

"To gain a large amount of trial points in one go, I need to continuously seek out and battle top-tier experts!"

"Should I use 'Divination' to see who would be a suitable target to challenge?"

Adrian frowned in thought, searching his mind for suitable candidates. The names of top experts flashed through his mind but were quickly eliminated.

Most of them were still in the reduced reward period for challenge tasks, and a few suitable ones had not yet appeared or fully grown.

In Adrian's mind, the best target was naturally Whitebeard, who had already demonstrated his top-tier expertise!

The terrifying destructive power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit posed no threat to the maxed-out ghost body, making Adrian the perfect counter to Whitebeard.

But the problem was, Whitebeard was still in the reward reduction period.

Moreover, Adrian couldn't pinpoint the location of the Moby Dick, which was always drifting at sea.

Secondly, the recently escaped Golden Lion Shiki was also a formidable opponent.

Among the three great pirates of the old era, Roger and Whitebeard were always seen as equals, the two "golden players" on the pirate side.

But Golden Lion Shiki, who was inexplicably downgraded after being featured in a movie where Luffy soloed him, seemed to have lost some stature.

Decades ago, the Flying Pirates led by Golden Lion Shiki were the true top pirate crew, even surpassing the Roger Pirates!

Had it not been for that sudden storm during the Battle of Edd War, the outcome between the Flying Pirates and the Roger Pirates would have been uncertain!

However, Shiki who reappeared twenty years later seemed like a lion in decline, no longer exuding the same oppressive power.

The impression left by Douglas Bullet, another movie character soloed by Luffy, was far more profound than that of Shiki.

Though Adrian knew about Shiki's ambitious declaration to Whitebeard after escaping from Impel Down, his intelligence seemed to have significantly declined after being imprisoned for two years.

Letting the world feel the true terror of pirates again…

Through those crazed beasts developed over twenty years?

It would have been more effective to just use the Float-Float Fruit to throw islands!

However, the current Shiki, having just escaped from Impel Down, was still at his peak in terms of ambition and spirit, even if his power had declined somewhat.

Although losing two legs was a significant setback for a swordsman, it didn't affect the formidable power of the Float-Float Fruit!

In other words, Shiki was now a weakened swordsman with a top-tier Devil Fruit ability.

His situation mirrored Adrian's perfectly!

Moreover, Adrian had never fought Shiki before, making him a perfect target for a challenge task.

But the problem was...

The mobility of the Float-Float Fruit surpassed even the Moby Dick.

At least Adrian could confirm that the Moby Dick was wandering in the New World, but the Float-Float Fruit...

Who knew where Shiki would float to next?

"Endlessly searching for Shiki would be less effective than seeking other opponents."

"Should I go to the Sabaody Archipelago and fish for trouble using the lives of Celestial Dragons again?"

"Or should I storm Marineford and have a head-to-head showdown with the Fleet Admiral?"

"Or maybe return to Totto Land and cause trouble for the Charlotte Family?"

Adrian scratched his head in frustration.

"If only I had a system that could automatically check in and earn trial points..."

"Am I really going to have to grind trial points bit by bit from Paradise? That would be too tedious."

Setting aside the main profession advancement quest for now, Adrian had two other tasks to complete.

The first was the Archaeologist's secondary profession advancement quest.

This could be set aside for now.

After spending so much time reading on the small sky island of Weatheria, he hadn't continued studying during this period.

Earning two degrees in meteorology and oceanography, located on different islands, would take at least a year or two!

Even with over 2000 intelligence points and the help of the 'Theoretical Research' expertise, it was still too much to handle!

So the Archaeologist series of secondary profession advancement quests was temporarily set aside.

The second task that could be completed quickly was the long-delayed 'Wind Wielder' secondary profession advancement quest!

After fighting Charlotte Linlin three times, Adrian had traveled back and forth in Paradise once, gaining experience and trial points, and completing two routes along the way.

He was only one route away from completing the 'Wind Wielder' quest!

"Why not set sail from Fish-Man Island directly to Twin Capes at Reverse Mountain?"

"Let's leave the last route for the Gourmet and Entertainment Route..."