After working for the smaller warships, Dobbs completely disassembled three motherships; The Mother of Destruction, The Disgraced Grail, and one unnamed mothership that Duke Rurcam gave to Aldred.
It took around two weeks for Dobbs to reassemble them again into one, gigantic, monstrous-like ship.
The size was unfathomable. It was so big, that Aldred's last mothership looked small in comparison.
"What do you think?" Dobbs asked.
"This… this is amazing!"
"If you can get the Red Devil Skull, I can merge that mothership with yours."
Aldred's eyes lit up. What Dobbs created was so much better than he could ask for. Using his godly eyes, he could tell the interior and exterior of the ship were stronger than anything he had seen before.
This was the effect of [Divine Craftsman]. Any material he touched became blessed and had a status effect that wasn't supposed to be there.
"What should we name this ship?" Aldred asked.
"I will leave that to you. My job is only to build it," Dobbs said.
Aldred smiled. "In that case, I will name it—The Devourer."
With 92 main cannons that could move basically to any part of the ships, and with Dobbs having the skill to merge other motherships into it, the name 'Devourer' seemed like a great fit.
His wives, Bartrem, the soldiers, Burchard, and the captains all looked at this in awe with their mouths agape.
The shipbuilders that watched the entire process were amazed as well. They had learned so many things just by watching him, and they couldn't wait to test out their new knowledge.
With everything done, Aldred's fleet now became much stronger than before.
Beforehand he only had 17 cruisers, but now he had 40 cruisers, 44 destroyers, and 39 frigates!!!
His naval force literally doubled, and not to mention his mothership was as strong as 3 motherships combined!
With this large army, he was confident he could run through any opposition in the future.
"We have no time to waste. Let's continue our journey," Aldred said. He turned around to look at the Duke. "Thank you for your hospitality."
"It should be me who's thanking you. You free this island from the pirates. I thank you for that. The people of Subiabiterbo Island thank you for that."
The shipbuilders and the citizens there bowed at him.
"No need to mention it. We will be leaving right now. May fate let us meet again."
Lord Rurcam nodded.
Aldred and his wives boarded the new mothership.
Suddenly, someone shouted: "See you again, Aldred!"
When Aldred turned around, he saw Francesca waving her hand with a smile.
Aldred smiled and waved at her before entering the ship.
The Destroyer's Fleet rang a loud bell to say goodbye to the people of the island. And all the people ran to the beach crying as they waved their hands at them.
The people shouted their thanks. So loud that even Aldred could hear it despite the distance.
He was the hero of Subiabiterbo, and the people on the island felt nothing but gratitude towards him.
The Duke smiled when he saw the ships sailing beyond the horizon. He glanced to the side and saw his daughter sighing. "Did you miss him already?"
"Dearly," Francesca said.
"You should have joined him."
"I will simply be a burden. I don't want to become a dead weight to him. He's not as simple as he seems."
"What do you mean?"
"He's the child of a god."
…
Aldred was on the front deck of The Devourer. In front of him was Burchard with all the captains standing behind him.
"I am sure you have met Tilford?" Aldred asked.
"Yes, Sir!" They all replied.
"He's one of us now, so treat him like how you treat the other captains."
"Understood, Sir!"
Aldred nodded, glad that everyone was so understanding. "All of you know that there will be danger ahead of us. Treasure hunting is not a leisure activity, so I want everyone to do everything they can. Not just to win against our opponent, but so you can survive and return home someday."
"Yes, Sir!"
"Alright, all of you are dismissed."
A golem then hugged the captains, and then a jet flame came out of the golem's feet before they were brought to their assigned ships.
Aldred glanced at Burchard. "What do you think of our new mothership?"
"I love it, Sir. Especially the idea that we can devour other motherships in the future."
"Yes. I was told that this ship can morph its structure to however we want it to be just like the Red Devil Skull."
"Do you want to chase that ship, Sir?"
"I want to, but I can't."
For some reason, his teleportation point wasn't on the ship anymore, this made it impossible for him to track the Red Devil Skull.
"For now, set sail to the east. Keep looking for any danger."
"Yes, Sir!"
Burchard saluted and left.
"So what do you think, Dobbs?" Aldred asked as he saw Dobbs relaxing with a golem serving him a glass of orange juice with ice.
"Well, I would say your treatment is far better than how the pirates treat me." Dobbs then looked at the female soldiers playing by the pool. "The scenery is much better too."
"Seems like you're comfortable enough."
"Oh, I am. So much more comfortable than before. Especially with all the available orange juice and fresh meat. Where the hell do they come from?"
"I will tell you in the future."
"Bah, so secretive. I heard you plan to learn more about magic smithing."
"I do."
"Well, I have some free time to spare. What would you like to ask?"
Aldred then sat down before he called for a golem to bring him some strawberry-like juice and a plate of grilled steak.
He asked Dobbs some questions, and Dobbs gladly taught him.
After a few hours, Aldred with his high intelligence status easily consumed all the information.
[Magic Smith Lv. 1 -> Lv. 2]
"Now I can finally create my own weapons. Hmm… I wonder if I can fuse other weapons too," Aldred said.
"You can, but I can do it better, so just do it as practice," Dobbs said.
"As long as you can help, I won't complain."
"Of course. I'll show you the basics first. Here, use this." Dobbs handed a silver rod.
Aldred took it with both hands and examined it closely.
"How does this work?"
"This is a new type of creation tool. It's called magic crafting. This is a prototype of it. Its name is 'Magic Crafting Rod'."
Aldred was surprised. "What is it for?"
"Just hold it like how you're holding this. Look, there are seven holes on the end of it."
Seven different colors appeared above each hole.
"Why seven? Are these mana levels?"
"Yes. Each color has a certain level of mana, and it's easier to control the mana flow with that number."
"That makes sense. But why is blue the highest?"
"Because it's the purest color of mana in the world. Blue mana is considered as the base mana of all other mana."
"I see. That also explains why black is the lowest."
"Black mana is the least pure mana among all the colors. It's not as easy to control as the others. The only use of black mana is in creating anti-magic shields. Or Dark magic. But least pure doesn't mean it's weak. Sometimes, black mana or dark mana can even devour any other type of mana and convert it as its own power."
"Anti-magic... Devouring mana... Seems like power for evil."
"No power is evil, boy."
Aldred chuckled. "True."
"But this rod will help you control your mana so you can craft anything you want. Right now, it only creates simple objects."
Aldred focused his mana and tried to use it on the rod. A faint light glowed on the rod.
"...!" Aldred gasped in surprise. "This rod is cool and all, but I don't want to rely on it."
"Then you must learn the hard way."
"I am willing to do that."
