Me and countless me.

Chapter 499 Recruitment of the First Batch of Subordinates (Second Update, 4kbps)
The moment the figure moved, the captain, who was clearly a nobleman, widened his eyes. He tried to raise the musket that he had already drawn, but before he could raise it halfway, Li Ke, who was ten meters away, rushed in front of him and pierced his spine with the long sword in his hand!

He couldn't even see Li Ke's face clearly, because after piercing his body, Li Ke grabbed his head and then slashed it open with the long knife, splitting his body in two from his sternum!

Blood spurted out, and boundless pain engulfed the nobleman. He stared blankly at Li Ke. Such massive bleeding made his mind extremely hazy. But at that moment, as his life force rapidly decreased, the medals on his body shattered!
The next moment, a powerful magical force swept across the entire ship. The soldiers, who had not yet realized what was happening, only had time to let out a scream. Their life force quickly entered the nobleman's body through the previously signed contract, and the plump flesh withered away rapidly, replaced by the rapidly expanding body of the nobleman who had already been separated!
However, his separated body was not healed. Instead, complete limbs grew back from the point where he was separated, turning his two halves into two complete bodies, each with an arm and a leg growing back!

Even that thing was transformed into two complete entities within this boundless life force!

"This is contract magic?!"

Li Ke immediately recognized that the reason for the other party's change was that this nobleman had put a contract on all his soldiers, so that he could instantly draw on the life force of all his soldiers to heal his own body whenever he needed life force.

The reason this happened was simply because the injury was too severe at that moment, causing the magic to go out of control and resulting in this situation.

However, Li Ke, who had only knocked most of the soldiers unconscious instead of killing them, couldn't help but become angry.

What do you take other people's lives for?!

The longsword seemed to be engulfed in flames. Li Ke swung his twin swords, relentlessly slashing at the monster under the gaze of the empty eye sockets of the fallen soldiers!

But at that moment, the arm of the nobleman who possessed magic suddenly swelled and grew larger, instantly becoming a huge shield two meters long and one meter wide, with countless bone spikes and tentacles protruding from it, attacking Li Ke!

He glared angrily at Li Ke, his heart burning with rage and a feeling of indescribable humiliation.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have needed to go to such lengths to extract blood from the soldiers and deform his own body. But now things have turned out this way. Not only is his carefully prepared reserve of life force gone, but he also has to face questioning from the Noble Council about the loss of so many soldiers. Even his own family might criticize his actions.

After all, to keep it a secret, he would have to kill all the slaves here, destroy the ship, and use secret techniques to teleport back to his home, and then spend a lot of money to ask the church to help him restore his body.

In other words, he lost more than 50,000 gold coins just because of one careless mistake! And he also had to endure a long period of grotesque humiliation!

Therefore, he answered Li Ke's question without any hesitation.

"Food, of course!"

Faced with such an answer, Li Ke no longer wanted to speak. He swung his long sword even faster, cutting off the tentacles and bone spikes as he tried to get behind the nobleman. However, the nobleman's body continued to mutate. It was clear that he had realized he could not use his two bodies flexibly, so he simply mutated even more violently!

Apart from his arms, his limbs rapidly transformed into octopus-like tentacles, which grew longer and more numerous, causing Li Ke to face attacks from more than a dozen long swords on every side of his body!
The longsword that could incite fear in his heart and weaken him was like a venomous snake, waiting to strike and pierce his heart at any moment!

Not only that, but the pistols and rifles were also grabbed by the nobleman's "hand" and all pointed at Li Ke. In the instant that Li Ke swung his knife to block and was then knocked back, more than a dozen guns opened fire!

"Die!!"

The nobleman was overjoyed because he had already witnessed Li Ke's death. However, Li Ke, facing the hail of bullets and the enemy's confident smile that he was doomed, also smiled.

Because he was certain that the other party, assuming he possessed mystical powers, believed that those dozen or so muskets could kill him!

"In other words, even nobles who have mastered the mystical arts will rely on firearms and cannons!"

Although the extent of the power of those great nobles and the truly powerful mystical nobles, as well as the various mystical societies, is still unknown, the fact that these people can still be injured by gunpowder and steel has already made Li Ke realize that his subordinates are not useless!

Then there's no point in keeping this eyesore around!
So Li Ke turned around and walked toward the cabin where the slaves were. Behind him, countless raindrops quickly condensed together. This was because the power to control water flow that he had gained from defeating the storm formed a thick wall at this moment, instantly freezing the dozen or so lead bullets and the dozen or so tentacles that were piercing Li Ke in place. They exploded the moment Li Ke took his first step!
The bursting water droplets condensed into ice blocks in mid-air, precisely piercing the nobleman's brain, heart, and various vital organs, causing a look of astonishment to appear in his eyes, and he could no longer see anything clearly.

His world began to shake, and as he watched Li Ke's retreating figure, he couldn't help but murmur aloud.

"Which organization do you belong to...?"

He didn't understand why Li Ke displayed two kinds of power: one was the physical enhancement type of his school, but the other was the power to manipulate natural elements.

This is essentially walking two paths at the same time. Although the path related to natural elements will also strengthen the body, it is impossible for someone who has been strengthened to this extent to leave no impression on him, because the consumption of divinity and resources alone cannot be hidden from everyone!
Most importantly, he didn't sense any divine or magical aura from Li Ke!

But Li Ke wouldn't answer him. His body fell heavily to the ground and quickly turned into a pus-filled mass of blood. Li Ke, who was walking towards the cabin, frowned because he felt that the other person's soul had also dissipated along with the body. Unlike the nobleman he had inexplicably killed before, who still had the ability to possess other people's bodies.

However, the difference in combat power between the two is truly greater than that between a human and a dog.

"We still don't know enough about these mystical nobles."

After confirming that the other party was really dead, Li Ke first went to check the captain's room and knocked out several soldiers, but did not find any new occult items. Although there were some notes and such, there was not a single word about occultism. Instead, there were records of various noble affairs and financial matters.

So, somewhat disappointed, Li Ke took the map and the logbook from the other party's room and then opened the cabin where the slaves were to welcome his future crew.

The moment the cabin door opened, Li Ke was hit by a stench—the smell of someone who hadn't bathed for days, a mixture of rotten food and excrement, which was unbearable for most people.

However, he remained unfazed and noticed that the slaves were looking at him with despair and terror. He was puzzled, but after seeing the bodies of several soldiers that had turned into mummies, he understood.

All that could be seen were emaciated people, locked in the cabin like dogs, their hands and feet restricted. No one had any hope in their eyes, only deep fear and despair, or numbness and blankness.

Li Ke looked at them, then slammed his long sword down on the chains of the cell door. He then took the key from the now-mummified body and threw it into the center of the slaves.

But no one dared to touch the bunch of keys. Almost everyone subconsciously kept their distance from it, as if the keys were not a hope for freedom, but a deadly terror!
“Everyone outside is dead. You can choose to sail this ship back to Great Britain and try to make those noble lords believe you are innocent, and return to your original lives. Or you can come with me to do big business, and even have the chance to bring your families to the New World to live a life like farmers.” After he finished speaking, he walked outside, but before he even reached the door, he saw someone pick up the key, but instead of opening it, he held the key tightly in his hand!

"Don't listen to him! He must be the devil! He wants us to betray the king!"

The moment those words were spoken, Li Ke turned around without hesitation, and the throwing axe at his waist was hurled out, instantly embedding itself in the man's forehead, splattering blood everywhere.

The air fell silent for a moment, then quickly became noisy as the slaves scrambled for the keys in the hands of the fallen man, trying to unlock their own shackles.

Upon seeing this, Li Ke walked towards the deck. At this moment, the blood that the nobleman had transformed into had evaporated and was emitting a strong bloody smell. Li Ke frowned and used the water flow to manipulate the long sword to float up. After washing away the blood on it, he carefully examined the long sword.

The long sword was carved with a very strange pattern, with a trident and a white horse engraved on it. However, the lower half of the white horse was shaped like an octopus. For a moment, even he could not tell which god's incarnation or symbol it was.

However, the other party's strange appearance was undoubtedly the result of divine magic, and the question they asked at the end proved that magical societies do indeed exist in this world.

"Ha...this is really exciting."

Li Ke chuckled, then opened the map and began to examine it carefully.

This map is far more detailed than those sold in the market, and it contains a lot of information that is not found in commercially available maps.

For example, in some manor locations and some secluded gathering places, he saw several places marked with the sun and lavender, but he didn't know what these things represented. The other party took the secrets of these places to the world of the dead.

However, Li Ke saw something interesting on this map.

"A nobleman's manor? Interesting."

On some scattered islands, the locations of manors were marked, and when Li Ke checked other maps, he saw the detailed locations of these manors. Connecting this to the other person's notebook, Li Ke immediately understood what these places were for.

Some were used as transit points for goods, some as secret meeting places, and others simply as vacation spots and hiding places for treasure.

But one thing is certain: these manors contain a great deal of money and are home to many nobles and wealthy merchants.

"I might even run into one or two people from a mysterious society."

Just as he realized this, the slaves also came out of the cabin onto the deck. However, after seeing the desiccated corpses all over the ground, they couldn't help but look at Li Ke with fear.

They didn't know that this was done by the only nobleman on the ship, and thought it was Li Ke who did it, since there were quite a few pirates on the high seas who knew witchcraft.

But Li Ke didn't have time to think about what they did; she just looked at their somewhat frightened faces and asked the question.

"So, does any of you want to go back to Britain?"

All the slaves shook their heads. They all knew that even if they returned to Britain, their fate would be nothing more than to be captured again, a few hanged, and the rest sent to some factory or colonial prison.

The most likely scenario is that they were all killed as pirates.

So at this moment, even the dumbest person understands that they have nowhere else to go.

Li Ke smiled, then grabbed the naval scimitar that evoked fear and pointed it at his first group of men.

"From now on, you are my subordinates, so... are you ready to make a fortune?!"

The slaves, expecting a long lecture or some rules about the ship, looked at each other. Finally, a man who looked stronger spoke up and asked the question.

"Captain, what does this mean?"

Li Ke put down his long sword and looked in a direction marked on the map. There was an island called Rose Island, which had beautiful scenery and a stable climate. Many nobles had bought manors there and used it for vacations and parties.

Although there are guards on board, there aren't many, because most of the people who gather here are nobles who make a living at sea, like the captains of this ship. They usually bring their own private soldiers with them, and the manor is full of their own private soldiers, so there's no need to worry about security at all.

He has money and the fighting power to the point that he could take down the enemy by himself through a surprise attack, but by bringing these people along, he can make them pledge their allegiance.

And the best part is that it's only half a day's drive from here!
So, Li Ke looked at the slaves with a half-smile and asked the question.

"What do you mean? I mean, since you all have nowhere else to go, so why..."

He lowered his voice and became serious.

"...Why not kick those noble gentlemen in the ass?"

(End of this chapter)