From sailboats to star destroyers (Source: Web)

Chapter 36 New Skills: Guards

Miao Meng refused Xie Chen's gift. Although he knew the item was valuable, he wasn't going to be greedy for such a small gain, since practicing would also benefit him.

After finishing his meal, he didn't linger, nor did he agree to Xie Chen's suggestion to go to a karaoke bar. Instead, he went straight home.

He hadn't used the Undead Crew much when he got it in the dungeon before, so he wanted to test the skill further.

Judging from the skill description alone, it seems to be a specialty that combines multiple roles such as summoning and support, but in reality, we still need to try it out in actual combat to know how effective it is.

The only dungeon he can run now is the Voyage of the Seas. He's been grinding through it every day until he's sick of it. Miao Meng even knows it by heart, memorizing every single line the first few minions say when they encounter him.

"It's good that the captain has already solved it. Next, I'll keep an eye out for other dungeons on the forums, preferably dungeons where I can use my expertise at sea."

Having made up his mind, Miao Meng still used this instance as his testing ground. After all, there was only one training ground like this, with a spacious area, many targets, and no illegality.

"Caw~" The seagulls on the beach were startled by the sudden appearance of the skeleton and took flight in unison.

However, these seagulls seemed to have seen too many corpses, so they didn't fly very high and instead circled around, as if they were thinking of coming down to peek at some of the rotting flesh on the dead bodies.

[The dead are summoned]

As Miao Meng thought, the phantom image of the "Fortune" appeared behind him, followed by dozens of skeletal zombies who jumped off the ship with relatively nimble steps.

"Can it talk?"

Miao Meng stared at the will-o'-the-wisp burning in the skull for a long time, but unfortunately, the other side could only make some bone-grinding sounds and could not respond to his behavior.

However, they seemed to retain some of the pirate instincts. After Miao Meng gave the order as captain, these pirate skeletons would still move, instead of just standing there doing nothing.

"Looks like he's not very bright. How's his combat ability? Hmm, you're the one. You two go up and take that small island over there."

Miao Meng casually selected two undead, a skeleton and a zombie, and had them take a small teleportation boat to the first island, where three pirates were located.

"Crack~ Crack~" The skeleton, carrying a broken dagger, charged forward and threw the slow-moving zombie far away.

"What's that noise? An enemy attack?"

Hearing the strange noise, the three pirates forgot about their cards and got up to take a look, only to be startled by what they saw: two ferocious-looking undead suddenly appeared in broad daylight.

"Bang!"

The quick-handed pirate drew his musket and fired.

Unfortunately, the effect was minimal; it didn't even break the skeleton's joints.

On a nearby island, Miao Meng watched the entire battle between the two undead and the three pirates. He could only offer one assessment of the fight – a battle of idiots.

Pirates' attacks cannot effectively harm the undead, but the undead are not immune to the pirates' attacks; in fact, after being stabbed, a curse-like poison spreads.

The problem is that the skeleton is alright; it's fast enough to keep up with the pirates. But the zombie is just too slow. Not to mention an adult, even a child could outrun it.

"With this level of combat power, it's fortunate that I saved two skill points and didn't rush to use them. Let me think about how to strengthen these summons."

Miao Meng opened his skill book. Each of the five pages had its own unique features, covering everything from combat skills to witchcraft survival and even social skills.

"These crew members still retain memories of their battles from before they died, so the war page can be put aside for now, not to mention survival, there are no targeted abilities, and they can't even be hurt."

Therefore, the main focus of enhancement should be on witchcraft or wisdom; if that's not possible, then invest in the self-destruct skill and use yourself as a human bomb.

Miao Meng thought this plan was not bad, but he still preferred that the crew members be more intelligent, so that they could accomplish more of his tasks.

He then tapped the pages for both the Throne and Sorcery, waiting for new skills to appear.

【Throne - Royal Guard】: How can a king be without his own guard? He can instill knowledge and behavior into the selected target and add professional abilities to them.

Current Guard Templates: Swordsmen and Shieldmen (20), Spearmen (10), Archers (10), Light Cavalry (5).

Special Unit: Guard Captain (one per unit).

[Witchcraft - Elemental Enchantment]: Your summoned creatures will be randomly imbued with one of the four elements: earth, water, fire, or wind when they appear.

Elemental enchantments grant summoned creatures special attack effects, and when they dissipate or die, the accumulated elemental energy within them explodes.

"Yes! Just as I thought. When investing skill points, as long as the desire in your heart is strong enough, there is a very high probability of obtaining the skill you want. I just wonder if there is a limit to this acquisition?"

The skill points obtained from the dungeon were still too few, even though this time all the skill points were used to strengthen the crew rather than to strengthen myself.

However, Miao Meng felt that these two skill points were not wasted. Not to mention verifying his ideas, just enhancing the summoned creatures was already very useful.

Both of my forms are essentially ranged attackers. In the past, I was only able to suppress them because I was fast and had long reach. But it would be dangerous if I encountered someone with a longer reach than me.

But now with the help of the crew, things are much easier. These crew members, who have a strong bond with the ship, are immortal beings.

Even if it is destroyed, it can be summoned again with just a little time and energy.

He hadn't forgotten how the Black Earl had been overwhelmed by a group of undead until he was exhausted; in fact, he remembered it vividly.

That's a level 15 boss, capable of uprooting a willow tree like Lu Zhishen and then throwing the tree with a javelin at a speed comparable to a human-shaped construction vehicle.

Even such a powerful being could not withstand the attrition of battle when faced with the overwhelming tide of the undead army.

Of course, Miao Meng also contributed to the fight; otherwise, if the Black Earl hadn't been able to defeat him, he would have run away long ago, as the undead couldn't have caught up with him at that speed.

"Everyone, change clothes."

Miao Meng canceled the summoned crew members, then reapplied the Guardian Force ability and summoned them again, of course, he didn't forget to add elemental enchantments.

"Tap tap~ tap tap~"

With their skills put to use, the crew, now equipped with upgraded weaponry, marched in formation from the deck projection.

However, the equipment was not quite what Miao Meng had expected; the equipment on these positioning units could only be described as pitiful.

The swordsmen carried broken swords and shields, the spearmen's spearheads were rusted, and the light cavalry didn't even have horses. Only the archers' bone bows were somewhat interesting.

But what was most surprising was that behind this force stood someone that Miao Meng never expected—the Black Earl Barthamour, dressed as a captain.

Upon seeing that Earl Black was also in this unit, Miao Meng was so surprised that he rushed forward in a few steps and began to carefully observe Earl Black.

"What? It's not him."

Through skill feedback and the instincts of his ship girl form, Miao Meng quickly figured out what this Black Earl was.

The captain's soul had long been torn to pieces and eaten by the crew, as their revenge, which was even permitted by God. Therefore, the captain's soul had long since vanished.

This being is essentially a collection of the crew's memories, combined with Miao Meng's skills and expertise, and even a fragment of the soul from the Sword of Wind, forming a stitched-together entity.

Captain of the Royal Guard, Frankenstein's Monster, Count Bartholomew.