Chapter 1133: Shadow Tides


    Trantor: Transn Editor: Transn


    Meanwhile in the east of the Swirling Sea.


    A huge fleetprised of five columns were floating around the Shadow Inds.


    The most distinctive ship among them was the "Snow Wind", its colossal ck iron body and the dark smoke billowing from the chimney standing out from all the other ships.


    The deck of the "Snow Wind" was now teeming with busy sailors.


    They were all running back and forth to make final preparation for the journey to the inds.


    Thunder was instructing his team at the bridge, "You’re all great explorers at the Fjords. Many of you have been to the Shadow Waters, so I’ll make it short. These inds are not stationary. It will be really foggy there when the water rises. So, you have to be extremely careful, understand?"


    "Captain, don’t worry," a first mate promised as he patted his chest. "I’ve been working with you for years. When did you see me make a mistake? I’m more worried about the four Chambers of Commerce. They have a higher chance to make errors."


    "That’s right. It wouldn’t be that easy to maneuver three-masted ships through those underwater reefs. It would be much safer if they ride on small boats."


    "They probably think their giant ships are as nimble as the ’Snow Wind’. We aren’t going to help them if they hit a rock!"


    Everbody guffawed withughter.


    "If they’re worried that we’re going to keep treasures to ourselves, just ask their captains to hop on our ship!"


    "Those Chambers of Commerce apparently want to butt in on us!"


    "I told you they’re all old cunning farts."


    "But if we want to go further in the east, we have to have a huge fleet. There’s nothing we can do about it."


    Watching the roving mob, Cami Dary heaved an almost inaudible sigh. Over the past one month, she had gained a basic understanding of the Shadow Waters. It appeared that this area was the center of the Swirling Sea where tides originated. The water level changed drastically when tides rose and receded. When water went down, thousands of reefs floated up above the surface of the water and formed numerous individual inds. The tides at the Sleeping Ind were nothingpared to the ones here.


    What was more incredible was that there had not been a single map of Shadow Inds up to this date despite that it had been discovered more than a decade ago. The reason for that was that the hidden rocks around here were constantly moving, including that enormous ruin. They had to wait for all the rocks toe out of the surface before crossing the ocean. Because of that, it was extremely hard to sail through this area.


    However, these sailors looked more like a group of ferocious bandits than professional explorers. Explorers were highly respected among Fjords people, but among explorers themselves, they rarely respected each other. Most explorers preferred to act alone, who rarely took orders from others unless the other party was seemingly influential like Thunder.


    As a former noble, Cam felt slightly disgusted about the jeers and boos. She would never have joined these people with Joan had this not been an order from Princess Tilly.


    She was surprised that she started to miss the First Army in Neverwinter. At least, the soldiers of the First Army maintained absolute silence when they carried out a mission. They always stood erect, with a brisk and crisp air that afforded a pleasant vista to contemte.


    Cam thus quietly left themand room at the bridge for the deck.


    She immediate spotted Joan who was ying at the stern of the ship, apanied by Ms. Margaret.


    At the sight of Cam, Joan immediately sought refuge from Margaret, only poking half of her head out.


    Cam felt a little dispirited. Joan got along fairly well with the witches back in Neverwinter and had even made friends with Maggie and Lightning. She did not understand why Joan would not ept her like she epted everybody else. She had known Joan for a very long time, longer than anyone except Margaret.


    Margaret asked smilingly, "What’s the matter? Not in a good mood?" She pointed at her own lips and said, "Your face gave you away."


    "No," Cam said distractedly. "I’m just..."


    "You don’t like the atmosphere in themand room, right?" Margaret said as if having seen through her mind. "I told you not to worry about the exploration. Leave it to the guys. You just rx and enjoy this trip."


    "How can I?" Cam replied, her brows furrowed. "I can’t ce my life in their hands."


    "You don’t trust Thunder?"


    "I..."


    Margaret held her hand and paced to the railing. "I admire your sense of responsibility, otherwise Lady Tilly would not entrust the Sleeping Ind to you. However, sometimes, you need to learn to trust people, not only Thunder but also Lady Tilly..."


    "How can I not trust Princess Tilly?" Cam thought but remained silent all the same. She had been opposed to their relocation to Neverwinter from the beginning.


    "You would go crazy if you’re always so strained on the sea," Magaret went on. "They can be boisterous, but I can assure you they’re all excellent sailors."


    Cam finally got a chance to cut in, "Just a disimer, I didn’t say anything..."


    "But you’re thinking that way, right?" Margaret talked over her. "Haha, that’s OK. The nobles in the Four Kingdoms view us as barbarians, and we view Mojins just as the nobles view us. To be honest, I only see one noble who never discriminates people based on background."


    That was Rnd Wimbledon.


    As much as Cam hated to admit it, this was the name that came to her mind.


    Rnd had openly imed to support witches four years ago.


    Cam now had no reason whatsoever to believe that Rnd was plotting something, because the very witch he had rescued back then had now be the Queen of Graycastle.


    Did she just need to put more faith in him?


    While Cam was lost in thought, the ocean started to roar at a distance, as though molten waves were foaming and thousands of fishes swarming toward them. Cam was not sure whether this was her hallucination, for from what she could see, the sea was still perfectly tranquil.


    "The water is going down," Margaret murmured.


    "Ya... Ya..." Joan squeaked, tugging Margaret’s sleeves nervously.


    Around 15 minutester, Cam saw changes.


    A pointy stone started to rise from the surface of the water, and then more stones appeared. Rather than inds, what she saw was a sea of rocks and boulders. After the water dropped five meters, Cam saw reefs gradually reveal themselves underneath those stone pirs.


    She held her breath.


    This was her first time to see such an amazing scene. As the water level plummeted, the horizon seemed to be floating above the inds. Cam knew this was just a trick of the eye. Now the entire Shadow Waters transformed into a slope, with the horizon being the crest of the hill.


    In spite of all of these changes, the sea was still surprisingly serene and motionless.


    After around two hours, mists started to rise around the inds, and the Shadow Waters finally unveiled its mask, showing its true nature.