H05 Riders of the Rough Sea

Book cover

The fifth book in The Golden Age of Adventures series. It was released in December 2015, while the original Chinese comic, **鲨鱼骑士**, was published in October 2014.

## Synopsis

AIMING FOR THE TOP! SURVIVING THE SAVAGE SEAS!

Alex’s grandfather was once the No. 1 adventurer known as the Phantom Spider. On a mission for the World Adventurer Union, a much younger Alex companies him to the Malay Archipelago to look for a treasure that is rumoured to control the ocean’s currents. But this will take them into the territory of the infamous Shark Riders. A look back at Alex’s very first adventure!

## Cast

* Alex
* Lulu
* Shark Rider boss
* Little Alex (age 10)
* Jones
* Smith

## Plot

***Spoiler warning!** Plot and/or ending details follow.*

### Chapter 1: Remembering Grandpa

In an adventurers' lane in India, Lulu used all the reward money to buy food, angering Alex. Lulu asks him about the book he's holding. That book is Alex's diary, given from the No. 1 adventurer, the one before Akhator: his grandfather.

Five years ago, Alex had to pick which was not a fruit: apple, carrot, durian, pineapple and watermelon. Alex went for the durian and fell into manure. His grandfather, Jones, laughed at his decision. Alex didn't want to do anymore puzzles because he thought they had nothing to do with adventuring. Jones gave another puzzle. Alex had to pick which was a non-poisonous mushroom: a dull one and a polka-dotted one. Alex picked the dull one, but both were poisonous, so Alex was paralysed.

Smith, the secretary general of the World Adventure Union, arrived at their house via a helicopter. He was in need of assistance, but Jones denies because he retired from adventuring ten years ago and had better things to do: picking on Alex. Smith explained the No. 2 and 3 adventurers, Unicorn and Desert Ninja, were sent to find treasure last month. Two days ago, they found it and were immediately killed by an enemy. They were in the Malay Archipelago, the area of the Shark Riders, who are speculated to have killed them. This was why Jones was needed.

### Chapter 2: To the Malay Archipelago!

Smith explained that the treasure Unicorn and Desert Ninja were ordered to obtain was King Solomon's treasure. Not believing it, Jones demanded the real reason, because the treasure can buy a country, but to the World Adventure Union, it is a small change. Smith explained the treasure is an ocean current control device, and does not want it in the wrong hands. The Union had called Akhator, to no avail. Jones agrees, on one condition: bringing Alex along.

On a plane in the Malay Archipelago, Alex was solving a puzzle given by Jones which holds something every adventurer needs. Smith announces they can jump off now. Alex counts to three, and Jones kicks him off, making him scream. Jones tells him to stop because the Shark Riders will hear him. They both stay sharp.

### Chapter 3: Shark Riders

The Shark Riders threw their lances. Alex opened his parachute and Jones deflected the lances with his rope. The Riders managed to stop their lances from striking them. They pull Jones' rope by going under water, pulling Jones in. Jones managed to tie all of them with his rope in the form of a spider web. While travelling in the Sumatran rainforest, he helped an injured ape. In return, the ape taught him how to communicate with animals. He used this skill to get one of the sharks to be their transport.

They encountered a giant cave, each wall had letters L, N, Q and U, and a 3 on top. The right entrance was the one letter that correlates to 3. Alex was given a chance to solve it. Meanwhile, the Shark Rider boss gets his shark to eat his men for being defeated.

### Chapter 4: Signal

Jones told Alex to look upside down. Alex notices L upside down was 7, which was the answer. Alex was amazed by the large pile of gold. At the top was a small weird box. Jones noticed there were drawings of candles on the walls: four were lit, three were not. The box had "today" written on the left and "tomorrow" on the right written in an ancient language. The puzzle was: how many candles are there today and how many will there be tomorrow? The candles that weren't burning are still candles, so Alex answered: seven today, three tomorrow.

Jones inserted the answers, causing the the whole cave to split in half. Lotus pillars rose and shone light, showing signals, a pathway, to the ocean current control device. Jones and Alex hop back on the shark, named Number One. Suddenly, the Shark Rider boss appeared, not letting them take his master's treasure, and Jones managed to take him, Alex and Number One out of its bite. The boss swung his blade, Jones dodged, and the force cut one half of the cave.

### Chapter 5: First Fight

Jones' plan was to run away, because the enemies' speeds were different, so the ones that reached them the closest will be dealt with. Smith had come to provide support by shooting the Shark Riders, but by being close to the sea, the Shark Rider boss' shark bit the Union plane's wing. Jones dealt with the boss while Number One took Alex to the light.

A Shark Rider went towards Alex. Alex slingshot spike balls, but they did nothing. The Shark Rider slashed him and Number One. They got back up. Alex saw a silhouette of a rock underwater. As the Shark Rider chased him, he went toward the silhouette, jumped over it, and the Shark Rider's shark's belly was injured.

### Chapter 6: Secret of the Seabed

Jones dived underwater with the boss. The boss' shark was about to eat Jones, but he got away. Jones trapped the boss and his shark in a rope prison like a web connected with bombs. he went back to Number One and Alex, who were entering the whirlpool of the light.

At the bottom was a pedestal holding half of the ocean current control device. There were other halves, so Jones and Alex had one chance to pick the right one. Out of nowhere, the boss and his shark, wounded, fell from above. Jones pushed Alex away, leaving him to get his leg injured. The boss stepped on Jones. Now, Jones unleashed the spider's wrath.

### Chapter 7: Spider's Wrath

Jones spit venom out of his mouth, stinging the boss' eyes. The boss carried a boulder, but Jones tied him up in rope. Inside the rope were bombs, so they exploded when the boss cut through. The boss grabbed Jones by the leg and fell back into the whirlpool. Jones managed to hold onto a rock. Alex has found the other half of the control device, but the boss blocked his way, which meant Jones was nowhere to be seen. He had the determination to complete the mission.

### Chapter 8: The Diary

Alex scratched the ground with his shoe. Due to blindness, the boss' heard it and smashed at Alex's location. Alex fell into the water, and went under to the control device. As he got up, he got a rock fall on accident. The boss rushed towards Alex, but Alex connected the two halves of the control device. The light shone brighter and the chaos on the surface calmed. The boss tried to crush Alex, but Number One bit his neck and took Alex.

Alex awoke on a boat with Smith. The other agents couldn't find Jones, but they found his satchel, which had the puzzle Alex was told to solve before jumping off the plane. Alex tried to solve it. The puzzle showed four drawings of a crescent moon, a purple circle touching it with a white circle. Alex picked the odd one. The box held a diary. In it it said:

So you finally solved that simple puzzle, eh? Remember, intelligence is humanity's greatest weapon. P.S. Be happy following the path you choose! From your gallant grandpa

Alex let out a cry. Since then, he blamed himself for not solving the puzzle sooner, so that he could save his grandfather. He studied hard, learned ancient languages and graduated university at age fifteen. Whenever he had his diary around, it felt like grandfather was there. Now in the present, Alex is mad at Lulu for sleeping through his whole origin story.

In the Malay Archipelago, Jackal lands on an island and feeds Number One meat. Jones jokes about half the Ganges River destroyed during Jackal's mission. Jackal protests that there were two big fat complications.