Long Island

Chapter 33: Understanding

"And if you still don't believe me, why don't you try stabbing it with the brand new hunting knife you got." Guran's voice was full of confidence as he put on the jacket himself and gestured.

"I will do just that." Raka gladly obliged.

Peng! A soft dull sound resounded as the blade struck the jacket. Raka looked in amazement as the blade failed to leave even a scratch on it.

"Damn! How tough is it! It might be even tougher than the original fur." Raka exclaimed.

"A very good friend of mine made it. He could have become a very rich man with his skills. Alas, he is such a recluse. Anyways, now it's yours." Guran said.

"Ah thank you Guran. Could you also thank the person who made it. I am sure he must be quite skilled." Raka replied.

"Identify"

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__________Leather Jacket (Common)

Class: Armor

Defense: 55 (Added defense when embedded)

Weight: 150

Durability: 280/280

Made of good quality toughnut boar leather. Has good defense and durability. Increased weight due to leather properties.

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Raka was delighted with the properties of this thing. His defense would increase manifold and the durability was also a lot higher. It was just the weight which was a problem. Compared to his Iron chestguard which weighed just 15 points, this jacket weighed a 150 points. Raka didn't know how much a point translated into grams or kilos or stones but just by looking, it was ten times heavier.

Not that he needed to know how much it weighed. He had held it in his hands and was astounded already.

'Thank God, I increased my Strength. If I had gotten this when I left the battle school...ah now I know what a tortoise feels like.'

Still, it was not like he could equip something this heavy and fight. Atleast not until he increased his Strength some more. Raka put the jacket in his bag along with the rest.

The next day he left the island. Waving to the people who had gathered on the beach, he made his way to the distant horizon. The route Raka had chosen was to sail directly from Ilmentia to Khardoum. It needs to be mentioned that most merchants did not take this route. It was because the sea currents usually flowed in the clockwise direction between the four islands.

Merchants would generally follow the sea current, as the wind would naturally flow in that direction and travel from Ilmentia to Brittanica and then make their way to Khardoum. It eased journey by a lot.

There was another reason why sailors never made their way straight from Ilmentia to Khardoum. Because of this particular sea current, unfortunately, there were a lot of no-wind and low-wind zones formed in between. Any idiot of a sailor would have enough sense to avoid them, for once you get in them, it will be a lot of hard rowing to get out.

It was a godsend for the players though. Sailing is a labour intensive business. The moment you lose concentration, drift even a few degrees from your route, you end up somewhere completely different. The journey from Ilmentia to any of it's neighbouring islands would take around 2 weeks game time. That's like 4-5 days in real life. How would a human being stay awake to play that long?!