This mysterious Submarine Stealth is a skill not recorded in the navigation skill books! It must be a pirate-exclusive skill? A god-level skill? That means this diary is actually an important scientific research treasure! It's the key item for me to learn a god-level skill, so I can't hand it in yet!

David Carter carefully flipped through it again. The later content was about how, after more contact with Mark Hall, Juan noticed something was off about Mark Hall, and so on. After that, there were no more system prompts.

In other words, to learn this skill, you must build a team with lots of talented people. Of course, even if not for this skill, talent is essential. The reason the St. Anthony was able to repeatedly turn danger into safety and create miracles was because the whole ship was full of talented people.

But for a solo player like David Carter, a team is just a pipe dream, so he can only recruit NPC talents. And to recruit excellent NPC talents, or even NPC heroes, the player's reputation is a must. No one wants to follow a nobody.

There are many ways to gain reputation, such as quests, military achievements, and so on. And right now, David Carter just happens to have a way to gain reputation: the sub-skill of Scouting, Intelligence Gathering!

—Intelligence Gathering: When a hero fights unknown monsters, they can obtain the monster's attributes and make them into intelligence cards. Selling intelligence cards to scholars or nobles can earn money, reputation, and favorability with certain NPCs.

There are unknown sea creatures all around this deserted island, perfect for gathering intelligence! There will definitely be one or two pieces of intelligence that are very valuable, like this plant monster sea anemone!

Just now, he leveled up to 3 and got another skill point. In short, whether for long-term goals or current plans, the skill must be learned. David Carter took out the skill book and decisively learned it!

—System prompt: You spent one skill point and learned the passive skill Intelligence Gathering! The longer you are in contact with unknown things, the more detailed the intelligence you collect will be.

Nice, passive skills are my favorite.

At this moment, the sky was getting dark, the tide receded with a rush, revealing a large stretch of wet land. Fully prepared and in top condition, David Carter perked up and jumped into the sea with a splash, swimming toward the distant pools glowing with red light...

Chapter 8: The Two Who Encountered the Boss

Deserted island shipwreck.

After fighting all day, Blake Storm made a final push toward level 5. As night fell, more skeletons appeared in the wreck. Good!

With a flash of golden light, Blake Storm finally reached level 5 and received the precious reward of +1 base damage! The system is very stingy with base damage increases—players only get 1 point every 5 levels. But even so, with all kinds of equipment bonuses, players' killing power in the late game is still terrifying, worthy of the title "hero."

Now Blake Storm's base damage is 4-7, and his attack finally offsets the monsters' high 6 defense. With the 40% damage bonus from Expert Offense, he can easily one-shot skeleton warriors with 5 HP! Before, because his damage wasn't enough, he couldn't one-shot monsters and had to follow up with another hit. The difference between one and two hits is whether your leveling efficiency can double!

But Blake Storm wasn't going to keep grinding skeletons. Now it was time to charge into the cabin and explore the ship's secrets. All signs pointed to a necromancer or something similar in the cabin, constantly summoning skeletons. Time to take it out!

Facing the stream of skeletons pouring out of the cabin, Blake Storm used his shield guard's 2-point speed advantage over skeletons to strike first, one-shotting skeletons with each swing, and taking no damage himself! Awesome! Now he didn't even need to rest and heal! The efficiency boost was more than double! Level 5 really is a watershed!

Cutting his way through the narrow, dim corridor of the cabin, Blake Storm finally reached his target: a dim room from which skeleton warriors kept pouring out!

Sure enough, in the room was a humanoid monster shrouded in white mist, constantly chanting spells, with skeletons emerging one after another from the summoning circle beneath it! BOSS!!!

You're the one I'm looking for—die!

Blake Storm charged forward with his big shield and swung his blade. At that moment, the BOSS flashed with black light, and a beam of black light descended on Blake Storm!

—System prompt: You have been hit by the ghost mage's dark spell "Weaken Curse," max damage -2, duration: one day!

Blake Storm was shocked! Max damage reduced! My damage is now 4-5! No problem, even at 4-4 I can still one-shot monsters! Blake Storm swung again, one-shotting another skeleton as he pressed forward!

The BOSS flashed with black light again!

—System prompt: You have been hit by the ghost mage's dark spell "Agonizing Torment," attack -6, duration: one day!

Blake Storm was shocked again! Attack reduced by 6! That means he can't break through the skeleton warriors' defense anymore! With a 6-point attack-defense gap, he can only deal 85% damage, which is 3.4-4.2! Even with the 40% bonus from Expert Offense, it might not reach 5!

While he was still stunned, Blake Storm one-shot another skeleton blocking his way!

Blake Storm steeled his resolve and charged! As long as he didn't roll minimum damage, he could still one-shot skeletons!

The BOSS flashed with black light again!

—System prompt: You have been hit by the ghost mage's dark spell "Delayed Hex," your attack speed is reduced by 30%! Duration: one day!