The evolution of the Jade Ship was much faster than Dong Tianyu had anticipated, taking only about two or three days, during which the eggshell-shaped Companion Spiritual Treasure began to emit a soft glow.

Since the Companion Spiritual Treasure was within Dong Tianyu’s Sea of Consciousness at that moment, Dong Tianyu immediately noticed the situation when he immersed his mind into the Sea of Consciousness.

Dong Tianyu received information from the Companion Spiritual Treasure that this evolution required Dong Tianyu to define the direction of evolution.

The general directions for evolution were Bearing, Wave-Breaking, Strengthening Base, and Submersible Navigation.

Bearing: Enhance the Companion Spiritual Treasure’s load-bearing capacity, create an independent space inside the Companion Spiritual Treasure, and materials in the independent space can be taken into the Sea of Consciousness.

Wave-Breaking: Reduce the resistance when the Companion Spiritual Treasure is sailing and increase its speed.

Strengthening Base: Reinforce the strength of the Companion Spiritual Treasure and grant it the ability to slowly self-heal when damaged.

Submersible Navigation: Endow the Companion Spiritual Treasure with the capability for underwater navigation.

When faced with the four different upgrade paths, Dong Tianyu began to contemplate which direction would be more beneficial to him.

As of now, even if a needle were to be placed inside the Companion Spiritual Treasure, it could not be taken into the Sea of Consciousness along with the Companion Spiritual Treasure,

but choosing the Bearing evolution path, the Companion Spiritual Treasure would have its own independent space. While the size of this space was unknown, at the very least it meant that with this space, the owner of the Companion Spiritual Treasure would essentially have a Storage space to carry around.

ps: The independent space is not an extra space that appears out of nowhere, but rather akin to a part of a compartment in the Companion Spiritual Treasure transforming into an unaffected independent space.

Moreover, the first point mentioned in the branch description, increasing the load-bearing capacity of the Companion Spiritual Treasure, is quite important. It should be noted that the major difference between waterborne and land-based vehicles is:

Land-based vehicles can be overloaded to a certain extent, and even if they exceed this limit, at most they would not be able to drive normally.

However, waterborne vehicles must not be overloaded, as doing so would risk sinking to the bottom of the sea.

Do not underestimate the statement of increasing load-bearing capacity. With this ability, equipment that could not previously be mounted due to weight issues could be installed at will in the future.

Furthermore, if evolution continues, the Bearing ability will not only result in an independent space within the Companion Spiritual Treasure but could mean the entire ship may be enveloped by the independent space.

Or, it could be said that the independent space has merged with the whole ship, allowing the owner of the Companion Spiritual Treasure to modify it at will.

Going a step further, the interior of the Companion Spiritual Treasure might develop a folded space, similar to the Cave mansion once possessed by Dong Tianyu. Although located within the Companion Spiritual Treasure, it would become a relatively independent space.

The effect of Strengthening Base is actually the most straightforward—without changing its material, making the Companion Spiritual Treasure more durable. This durability is not just the ship’s material becoming more robust, but the entire structure of the ship also becomes stronger.

To put it more simply, in the case of a normal collision between two ships, it’s possible that only the outer hulls of both ships show signs of abrasion, but the support structures or other parts could be compromised.

Using a more anthropomorphic analogy, it’s as if they appear to be completely intact on the surface, but after the collision, they suffer from invisible internal injuries.

If changing materials improves the exterior robustness of the hull, then Strengthening Base enhances everything from the outer hull to the internal support structure.

The self-healing capability is not much different from the human body’s ability to heal, capable of rapid replenishment by absorbing outside materials and also capable of slow self-repair.

The effect of Strengthening Base is not just about upgrading to increase the Companion Spiritual Treasure’s toughness; it can also absorb external materials to gain their special abilities, somewhat akin to the devouring evolution ability obtained by many novel protagonists.

Wave-Breaking might be the most directionally obvious evolutionary path among these branches, which is to increase the Companion Spiritual Treasure’s movement speed in water.

Of course, Wave-Breaking is not just about speeding up navigation, but also about ignoring the effects of wind and waves. With higher levels of evolution, even the strongest wind and waves would not affect the Companion Spiritual Treasure.

Moreover, most of the time, the term "wave-breaking" seldom appears alone. When people mention it, they often say "ride the wind and break the waves."

This means that, at a certain stage of evolution, the Companion Spiritual Treasure, which could originally only sail on the surface, could take to the wind and float in the air.

If riding the wind and breaking the waves signifies upward development, then Submersible Navigation represents exploration downward.

The ability of Submersible Navigation is quite self-explanatory, just like the literal meaning – another name that might be more widely understood is submarine.

If choosing other developmental directions entails a gradual improvement, then opting for Submersible Navigation grants all its capabilities immediately.

As the Companion Spiritual Treasure evolves, it can dive to even deeper regions underwater.

Unlike other branches, Submersible Navigation does not gain additional capabilities with each level of evolution.

However, although upgrading the Submersible Navigation path could at most only increase the diving depth, it also allows the Companion Spiritual Treasure to navigate in all types of liquids.