"Captain!"

"The captain’s back!"

The crew spotted Shi Ming from a distance. They were as excited as lost fish rejoining their school. Everyone on the drifting ship once again had their pillar of support.

Shi Ming had returned to his loyal ship, the Grand Fortune.

"Has anything unusual happened in the few days I’ve been gone?" Shi Ming changed into clean clothes and asked Stone Pillar, Lin Hai, and Yellow Cannon, who had been in charge of security and basic operations.

"Captain, everything’s been business as usual. No enemy attacks, no sea beasts. The crew followed your previous orders and waited here for your return."

"Good."

Shi Ming nodded.

With its stealth mode active, other drifting ships of a lower class wouldn’t be able to detect the Grand Fortune even if they sailed right past it, unless they encountered a general-class vessel.

Most of the exploration team members on this ship had become D-rank Awakened.

As captains of the exploration team, Stone Pillar and Lin Hai were even C-rank Awakened. Combined with the Grand Fortune’s weapons systems, they could easily handle any trouble as long as they didn’t run into a general-class drifting ship or a powerful A-rank sea beast—even without Shi Ming present.

Shi Ming quickly freshened up and ate something, savoring the simple pleasure of a good meal.

"Gather all the crew. We’ll hold a meeting on deck shortly."

He had been gone and out of contact for five days, so the crew was naturally on edge. It was inevitable that some would start to worry and speculate. Under these circumstances, a meeting to boost morale was essential, no matter how you looked at it.

Besides,

Shi Ming felt it was necessary to raise the Grand Fortune’s overall combat strength by another level.

That way, if a similar situation arose in the future, he could confidently leave the ship in his subordinates’ hands without any worries.

...

...

...

"Has the Pharaoh made any strange moves recently? Have they posted any bounties on the Hunter terminal?"

Having tasted the sweet rewards of a bounty, Shi Ming couldn’t forget the feeling.

"No. We’ve been monitoring intelligence from the Sea of Yellow Sand through our contact on the Ganges River. Since that incident, the Pharaoh has just been quietly repairing their ship. They haven’t made any moves against us. It seems they’ve just swallowed their loss."

’Is that so?’

Shi Ming didn’t believe it for a second.

After all, as everyone knows,

a quiet enemy is a plotting enemy.

The Pharaoh had suffered a huge loss, losing a hard-won S-rank Awakened and a great deal of face. Knowing Ptolemy’s style, how could he possibly just swallow such a bitter pill?

Moreover, after getting information on him, the Lighthouse would definitely seize this opportunity to cooperate with the Pharaoh and retaliate viciously.

’A storm is probably brewing.’

’Oh, right.’

’Lightbringer.’

During his days in the Star Domain Space, he had been completely cut off from the outside world. Lightbringer’s communicator had run out of power, and he hadn’t had a chance to recharge it yet. He’d have to do that in a bit. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

’Also, that stele...’

Having mastered that mysterious language, Shi Ming was eager to decipher what was recorded on the legendary "Divine Revelation Stele" that the Female Warlock had brought to the Scorpion King.

After dismissing the meeting, he immediately returned to his office from the deck.

Taking out a Sea Crystal Stone to recharge the communicator, Shi Ming also retrieved the stele from the Scorpion King’s Pyramid out of his system inventory.

The two-meter-tall stele was engraved with dense script.

After slumbering for thousands of years in the Tomb of the Nameless, it had finally reappeared in the world.

The script on the stele shared the same roots as the language Shi Ming had learned. However, the twelve steles in the Star Domain Space were more like a collection of root words or a dictionary; they held no specific meaning and were only for instructional purposes. The script on this Divine Revelation Stele, on the other hand, was arranged into combinations that could be deciphered for valuable information.

He began to decipher the text.

"Divine Revelation Stele, Three."

"Author, ..."

The two characters that followed had been deliberately defaced, obscuring the author’s name.

Shi Ming analyzed the characters, translating them into the current language.

"Method for creating a Puppet Core."

"Four techniques for enhancing physical constitution using starlight."

"The evolution of fiendish beasts..."

"Hm?"

"There exist in the world peculiar natural Crystal Stones that contain immense and special energies. A fiendish beast may devour these Crystal Stones. If it can withstand the immense energy within, it can absorb the Crystal Stone’s power for its own use and evolve more powerful skills. By using certain ’countering’ techniques, the beast’s survival rate can be increased, reducing the possibility of its body exploding from the power..."

Shi Ming froze for a moment.

He thought of the Formless Pure Ice.

According to the Brain of Creation’s description, if Shi Ming could eat it, withstand its extreme cold energy, and survive for 120 seconds, he would obtain the 29th-ranked S-rank skill, the Third Law!

It seemed this method was exactly the same as the one recorded on the stele!

’In a way, humans are also a type of fiendish beast.’

’A more advanced type, even.’

’So, the ancient Scorpion King must have followed the guidance of the mysterious Female Warlock, using the methods on the stele and the Crystal Stones he acquired to cultivate the giant fiendish scorpion. He must have also created the Puppet Cores to control the beasts for his conquests. That’s how he became invincible in battle, transforming Mola City from a desolate ruin into a fearsomely renowned sovereign city.’

’So, how can I increase the survival rate?’

Take the Formless Pure Ice, for example. It was absolute zero. To withstand that temperature, to swallow it and not die... even with the power of the Black Tortoise, it would be impossible for him. After all, the Black Tortoise Shield combined with "Embrace Death" could only keep him invincible for 75 seconds. That was a far cry from the 120 seconds required for the Formless Pure Ice!

He continued reading the stele, translating it into the modern tongue.

"The stele mentions ’countering’."

The inscription on the stele offered a solution.

It had a certain "all things in creation generate and overcome one another" feel to it.

’Extreme cold versus extreme heat?’

’No, perhaps it’s entropy increase versus entropy decrease? Judging by the Dusk Whale’s reaction that day, it’s very likely that the Dusk Whale and the Formless Pure Ice are complementary. Plus, the Eye of Intelligence said that if the Dusk Whale swallowed the Formless Pure Ice, it would evolve into a completely new form of super sea beast!’

The two concepts were completely different.

If the Formless Pure Ice represented extreme cold, then Shi Ming might find a solution in the Sea of Boiling. But if it represented entropy decrease, then he might have to go looking for trouble with that Dusk Whale.

The Dusk Whale could level up and evolve.

’There’s no reason I can’t do the same!’

If he killed the Dusk Whale, bathed in its blood, and awakened the "Ragnarok" skill, then swallowed the Formless Pure Ice... perhaps that incredible opportunity would fall right into his lap!

He made a mental note of it.

If the opportunity arose, he might just put the plan into action.