Chapter 248 - Chapter 248: Chapter 232: Illusory Battleship

Chapter 248: Chapter 232: Illusory Battleship

The sky was clear, and the icebergs were starting to melt. Seagulls fluttered in the sky, while schools of fish surged in the sea.

The fleet sped westward towards Fire Dragon Island. It was now the peak of the summer thaw, and there were not as many icebergs as there were when Da Fei first arrived.

Heading further west, where would they reach? Naturally, it would be the mysterious East. The map of the Hero Continent was similar to Earth, but without America. The human, elf, dwarf Bright Alliance occupied the prosperous “Europe,” the orcs roamed the “Eastern Europe” plains, the undead lurked in “West Asia,” the Mage Academy was in “Africa,” and hell was presumably beneath the lava-boiling ground.

As for the East, it was said to be a mysterious realm composed of countless islands and small land masses, ruled by the Naga Clan’s seas, and few could reach it. In reality, it was akin to Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Players under level 50 going there would be courting death.

However, players above level 50 could venture into the National War Zone of the New World, so during the public beta, the guilds from various countries concentrated their efforts on dominating the New World, leaving very little information about the East. Not to mention that going to the East required several consecutive real-world days of long-distance sailing, along with dealing with the powerful, unreachable Naga Clan, and the products there might not compare to the prosperous New World, so even fewer ventured there.

Of course, some veteran players pointed out that in the old world dominated by NPC kingdom forces, the East was the only way for players to acquire personal territory. The precondition was that players needed to be strong enough to establish a foothold in the East. But if a player were that strong, it would be more suitable to develop in the New World.

In short, the East seemed to be quite a chicken rib.

Naturally, if everyone else was unwilling to go, then Da Fei certainly wouldn’t want to either. Who said the East was the only way to gain territory, didn’t I already have a piece of land underground? In any case, I’d better hurry and get everything settled here, then transport the goods back for a few million, and I’d have my first city-building fund secured.

I can only hope nothing troublesome happens here, and everything goes smoothly.

Da Fei withdrew his profound gaze from the East and quietly pulled Anlicia aside: “Do we have a handle on this salvage operation?”

Though Da Fei had accepted this task, he had been preoccupied with sleeping and hadn’t prepared at all! The original plan was to install the Six-headed Sea Demon Statue to scare the octopus, but not only was it not installed, the ship wasn’t even brought over, alright! Of course, hoping for the ships above the sea to scare off the octopus below wasn’t realistic either.

Anlicia chuckled: “No plan!”

Ugh! That’s Anlicia for you, always so reliable with her words!

Anlicia laughed again: “But I have developed a new trick after discussing it with Mr. Spielberg, and he thinks it’s feasible.”

Da Fei’s eyebrows twitched: “New trick?”

Anlicia sighed: “Yes, my Skira Illusion Skill has hit a bottleneck and can’t go any further. I can’t fully recreate Skira’s form, especially its body under the sea, which I remember quite vaguely, so I can only change my target and morph into something else.”

Da Fei suddenly realized, no wonder using Skira to scare sea monsters along the way showed no improvement, could it be necessary to encounter Skira again? No, don’t want that!

Da Fei quickly asked: “What did your new skill morph into?”

Anlicia chuckled: “An octopus!”

Da Fei’s eyebrows twitched: “The octopus we’ve been dragging along this whole way?”

“Ice Fruit!” Anlicia laughed: “I suddenly realized an octopus is the easiest to morph into, its form is especially simple, even more regular with its symmetrical eight arms, far simpler than that oddly-shaped Skira! If I morph into an octopus, I’ll save a lot of power! The energy I save might even help me break through!”

Da Fei said with excitement: “So that’s it! Keep it up, I believe in you!” Truly a genius! This innovative ability is fantastic, but if she’s working hard, then I have to put in effort too! My Sailing Skill has been stuck at Master level and hasn’t advanced; if her new trick succeeds while she advances to God-level Arcane, could I also breakthrough to Grandmaster in one go? Wahaha, Grandmaster isn’t too hard for me!

In the afternoon, the fleet arrived near a small reef, and all the ships blew their horns.

Bato said solemnly: “We’ve arrived! Look under the water.”

Da Fei looked over the ship’s railing and saw, faintly under the clear seawater, a shadow of a ship. It was fortunate that a sunken ship visible to the naked eye usually wasn’t deep; salvaging it would certainly not be an issue. And with such a powerful fleet, especially with a massive battleship like the Flame Lord, defeating the octopus shouldn’t be a problem either. The most crucial issue was getting it to surface. But–

Da Fei cleared his throat and asked: “General, what if we fail to drive away the octopus?”

Bato was taken aback but then burst into laughter: “Fail and we’ll go whale hunting, you can’t fail at whale hunting!”

Damn! That’s straightforward! Da Fei exclaimed: “But, but if we don’t help the General, how can we accept the General’s assistance?”

Bato waved his hand: “First, our fleet has been frozen for ten months; we need to find a real target to train on and regain combat effectiveness. The whale pods are undoubtedly the best hypothetical enemy. Second, we’re lacking food, and whale hunting could stockpile a large amount of food for the following year. Of course, all this is thanks to Mr. Spielberg; without his whaling ship, we can’t catch whales. But don’t worry, we’ll buy it. So rather than me helping you, you’re helping me!”

Da Fei was left speechless on the spot! Dwarves are truly dwarves, so direct! But whether they buy it is none of my business! The one making money is Spielberg, not me! Unless he stays straightforward and gives me half the money!

Hey, hey, hey! No! How can I think like that in the face of such noble dwarfs! Too dirty, too low-level!

While feeling ashamed, Bato continued chuckling: “Third, I want to be friends with you!”

Friends! Damn! Could it be my enormous potential and value? In that brief moment, Da Fei was almost moved to tears! Da Fei cleared his throat: “Gen-General, well, aren’t we already friends?”

Bato laughed, shook his head: “I’m sorry, you said you were sent by Duke Makar, so I had some reservations. I said, I dislike that person.”

Da Fei’s eyebrows twitched! Did the dwarf also sense something off with Makar? Da Fei hurriedly said: “I’m just a subordinate running errands, the affairs between big figures aren’t something I know. General, could you give me some guidance?”

Bato shook his head with a chuckle: “I’m merely a minor major; I’m not too clear on the matters between big figures. Liking is liking, and disliking is disliking!”

This! Even a straightforward dwarf in a high position has its smooth side. Alright, I won’t ask anymore; if I keep asking and get assigned an epic quest, it’ll be a pain!

Da Fei and Bato turned their eyes back to the sea.

At this moment, Spielberg’s whaling ship signaled and began organizing the other medium warships for a net formation. The four medium warships each held a corner of the net, ready for a large pocket formation.

Anlicia chuckled: “Captain, it’s time for us to take action.”

Da Fei nodded: “Alright!”

Bato waved his hand: “Advance!”

In an instant, the massive Flame Lord was rowing into the center of the pocket formation!

Da Fei’s jaw dropped: “No way, Anlicia! You’re going to morph such a huge battleship into an octopus!?”

Anlicia laughed heartily: “Ice Fruit! I mentioned earlier that morphing into an octopus saves a substantial amount of energy, allowing me to concentrate entirely on transforming the ship!”

Da Fei exclaimed: “But! But your abilities only allow you to morph a medium ship, right? Even a larger ship is a struggle, how could it jump directly to a giant ship?”

Anlicia pulled out a Divine Artifact Wand, her expression serious as she shook it: “First, I believe if I constantly morph into Skira, I could advance to god-level, but when Skira encounters a bottleneck and I have to focus on the octopus, a problem arises. An octopus is at least two tiers lower than a demigod like Skira, meaning no matter how well I morph into it, I can’t advance. So it must be compensated by the ship, meaning the ship I morph must be at least two tiers higher than a medium ship, requiring a giant ship!”

Da Fei was stunned: “Is that what you’re thinking?”

Anlicia chuckled: “However, a giant ship is only possessed by the military, and commoners like us have no chance of boarding one. Now that we’ve finally received the General’s invitation, how can we let it slip? So no matter what, I must attempt it!”

Bato chuckled: “Miss, you can board my ship anytime!”

Whoa! Crafty dwarf trying to tempt my wife with a giant ship! Da Fei exclaimed: “But you must act within your means! You can’t morph a giant ship!”

Anlicia raised the Divine Artifact Wand seriously: “If the magic isn’t enough, we can use mana to sustain it. This wand still reserves 2600 mana points, nearly 20 times that of the Summoning Mist Magic. With such a vast mana reserve, it can definitely work!”

Da Fei exclaimed: “You’ve tried it?”

Anlicia frowned: “Captain, are you out of your mind? If you try it, the wand’s mana would be gone!”

Ah, crap! Da Fei spat out old blood! Being scolded by my vice hero! Do I fail that hard?

Bato also chuckled: “Lieutenant, don’t worry. Miss explained the principle of this skill to me. At the end of the day, the Lieutenant’s task is hiding the people on board. Although I don’t know the Phantom March, I can perform the ambush skill of the Reconnaissance Skill, which also serves to conceal troops, and I will lend a hand to the Lieutenant!” (Note: the ambush skill can hide all troops, but they cannot move.)

What? It turns out this improved version of Mysterious Stealth Navigation can include an additional skill? Darn! Learning has no end! With the Divine Artifact and support from a General-level person, maybe there really could be a breakthrough!

Da Fei looked forward to it immensely: “Alright! I’ll trouble the General then!”

Bato laughed heartily: “No trouble. Rather than saying I’m helping you, say you’re helping me. I also want to take this opportunity to try advancing in skills!”

Damn! I see, General, you’re so straightforward!