Close Combat Mage

Chapter 405 - Camus Sailing Ships Pt. 2

A week later…

Fifty ships powerfully swept into Camus Island. This was an island well-known for producing extremely gigantic ships, as well as the largest of the over a hundred islands in the third checkpoint. The surface area of this island alone was over double the size of the second checkpoint, Barry Island.

Seeing such an enormous fleet arrive, the workers at the wharf quickly ran over. Judging by the merchant flagship, it was clearly a group of merchant ships. That meant the wharf porters would have plenty of work to do; such a large amount of boats meant there must be tons of goods on board!

As their ships neared the wharf, Suo Jia’s party of four each left their cabins and gathered at the deck. Even after they finally reached land, they still waited for everyone else to go ashore first.

Suo Jia’s group didn’t leave directly. Instead, they quietly waited at the seaport dock. Meanwhile, all the ships came to stop at the berth, and the crew members all left their respective boats. A total of 5000 mariners, 50 captains, physicians, and navigators lines up neatly in military formation to wait for Suo Jia’s orders.

After coldly surveying their surroundings, Suo Jia commanded, “For the next week, everyone can rest freely. You’ve all worked hard during this voyage. As a reward, each one of you will receive a hundred thousand coins; hopefully you will all happily enjoy yourselves!”

“Long live the master! Long live, long live!” All the crew members immediately shouted in excitement at Suo Jia’s declaration. A hundred thousand coins wasn’t a small sum. On other ships, they would typically have to muddle along for a year to earn that much. Yet this time, they had only gone on a month long voyage to earn such a large sum. It was too unbelievable!

With a slight wave of his hand, Suo Jia gestured for everyone to disperse. Then, he turned to tell the other three, “Now, you guys can also move about freely. I’m going to go handle some of the ship matters. Let’s head out again after one week!”

The other three nodded in response to Suo Jia’s words, and they all scattered off separately. Suo Jia chuckled as he watched everyone leave, and then turned to face the dock workers scrambling over.

He first transferred over the 50,000 barrels of the local specialty. Then, Suo Jia left the Mariner Union area to head towards the shipyard on the wharf. There, he would be able to arrange for some enormous ships!

Camus Island was named after an Epic-ranked mage. It was said that since the beginning of history, he was the closest existence to a Mage Deity. Thus, his name became the name of the first major island, since both were of equal status!

Camus Island was located in the center of the third checkpoint. The first half of the journey there was relatively peaceful, encountering very few pirate ships. A fleet as large as Suo Jia’s could not be looted for much money. The ships were all filled with goods, and a pirate ship had limited space. Even if they successfully plundered the fleet, they would not be able to store much, and it would not be a worthy investment at all!

However, past Camus were three consecutive deltas: Devil Delta, Death Delta, and Terror Delta. This cluster of regions was where most adventurers gathered; over 90% of these adventurers came from outside and steered pirate ships to rob traveling merchants.

Anyone could trade at this checkpoint as long as they bought a ship to conduct the transactions with. Moreover, the profit one could gain here was super insane, especially in the three deltas, which were the sources of minerals, gems, and precious metals respectively. Bringing any random ship up was enough to gain astronomical profits.

Of course, Suo Jia had an advantage too. As a renown merchant that had completed a large amount of transactions without any bad records, Suo Jia’s purchases and resales of goods resulted in 30% extra in profit compared to others. Although this did not seem like much, a single purchase and resale resulted in 60% profit. And while this wasn’t all of the profit, it was already majority of it.

After arriving at the Camus shipyard, Suo Jia found the shipyard boss. Looking at the short and chubby bearded man in front of him, Suo Jia said solemnly, “Can I pick up the giant-scale Camus sailing ships we ordered?”

“You are?” The boss had a doubtful expression on his face.

Suo Jia did not respond to the boss’s question, and simply pulling out the customs certificate he had gotten when he had first entered the Greater Trade Routes. As he handed it over to the boss, he said, “I ordered a hundred giant-scale sailing ships from here three months ago. I am the Sea Emperor: Suo Jia!”

The shipyard boss took Suo Jia’s identification and after carefully inspecting it, his expression immediately changed. His face was now all smiles as he said as warmly as possible, “Aiya, so you are the great and famous merchant Suo Jia. I am extremely honored to meet you!” He politely bowed to show his respect.

After the slow and deliberate exchange of formalities, the boss cordially said, “Truthfully, we didn’t have the time to make the sailing ships you ordered. After all, Camus ships are the peak tier cargo ships that can store up to a thousand barrels of goods!”

“What?!” Suo Jia stared at the boss in shock and shook his head. “That can’t be right! The large-scale, high-mast sailing ships I have now can already store a thousand barrels of goods?”

“Haha…” The boss chuckled and shook his head as he kindly explained, “You misunderstand. The thousand barrels you are referring to are small barrels, but the ones I’m talking about are large barrels. One of my barrels is equivalent to two of yours!”

He paused momentarily before continuing, “My guess is that you will definitely go transport some minerals, gems, and precious metals, right? Actually, these goods are all stored in large barrels. If you tried to use your current ships to do it, you would only be able to fit five hundred barrels.”

Suo Jia nodded in understanding and replied in a satisfied tone, “So I see. I understand then. But aside from the larger capacities, what other unique traits do these Camus ships have?”

The boss chuckled and bobbed his head as he introduced, “Aside from larger capacities, the giant-scale Camus sailing ships also have thicker decks, and their hulls are have higher resistance to the wind and waves. The ship’s support is also more stable, making it harder to undulate. And most importantly, Camus ships have the highest, Rank 10, Camus Sky Screens!”

“Camus Sky Screen?” Suo Jia furrowed his brows in confusion.

The boss smiled and nodded as he continued, “The Camus Sky Screen is a type of energy shield that Camus, who was second to a Mage Deity, invented. It is specialized in employing large-scale energy shields over its target. Overall, it can be divided into ten ranks, and it is an effective method of destroying weaker, long-range attacks!”

He laughed and said, “How about this? Since talking about it here won’t clarify anything, why don’t we go see the actual thing? Then you’ll understand!”

“Hm?” Suo Jia gave a puzzled look at the shipyard boss and asked in confusion, “Didn’t you just say that you weren’t able to finish making the ships I ordered?”

The boss nodded and opened his mouth to answer, “That’s right. A single one of these ships requires a month to make. If you want a hundred, it would take around ten years to complete them all!”

He mysteriously smiled and continued, “But, as I’m sure you are aware, not everyone can afford these Camus ships. As a result…we’ve accumulated quite a bit of overstock over the years. Moreover, we also reclaimed some, so…although we were only able to create three ships, we can still hand over a hundred Camus sailing ships on time without a problem!”

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