Captain of the Pirates: My Fleet's Limitless Upgrading-Chapter 36: Hatching Dragon Eggs and Making a Hot Air Balloon
"Well, Elyse is really pushing it. I thought she was my friend." Anna was furious, waving her arms at the door, letting out her anger.
Lilia didn’t like Elyse either. She said, "Leo, don’t help that woman make gunpowder. She’s definitely up to something."
"There’s nothing I can do. If I don’t make the gunpowder, I might get killed." Leo sighed. What he wanted wasn’t for making gunpowder, of course.
But this place was watched by Elyse. He wasn’t sure if someone was listening. He didn’t want to tell the girls too much.
Ava knew the ingredients for gunpowder. Besides Flamestone and charcoal, the other things weren’t for making gunpowder.
She guessed Leo had other plans, but she said nothing more.
"By the way, do you know what a Psychic is?" Leo thought of something and asked the group.
They all shook their heads. Lilia frowned and thought.
Barnett said from the side, "Sir, I know this profession. It’s for people who train their soul and mental power. Once they grow strong, they’re even more powerful than mages."
Training the soul and mental power?
Leo was even more confused. He was just a normal person, and he knew nothing about this.
Lilia also said, "I’ve heard stories about Psychics. They say they can kill people from a distance with weapons, like gods."
"Is that true?" Leo was surprised. Killing from a distance? Isn’t that like the ancient Chinese legends of immortal warriors who kill with a sword from the sky?
He felt a little excited and asked, "What are the conditions for training as a Psychic? Do I have a chance to become one?"
"You?" Lilia looked at him with scorn. "A Psychic needs special soul and mental power talent. You’re not even a mage. Don’t dream."
"Hey, can’t you stop being so mean?" Leo was angry. He thought about the master-servant contract he had with Elyse. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
According to Barnett, if his mental power and soul were strong enough, he could easily control her. The master-servant contract would still work.
But none of them knew how to improve mental power or soul strength.
Leo felt helpless. Maybe he really had no talent for training, and he would just have to be an ordinary person.
But at least, he had modern technology.
It was late at night. The girls went back to their rooms to rest.
Leo went to the temporary workshop he had built. He sat at the desk and started drawing plans.
"Leo, aren’t you going to rest?" Lilia’s voice came from the door.
Leo said, "I have some things to do. Go to sleep."
"I’m not tired. I’ll stay by the door. Just in case something happens." Lilia didn’t leave. She quietly stood by the door.
Leo felt a little more at ease. He went back to work.
The next morning, Cynthia brought Leo what he needed.
More than five hundred Flamestones, a big canvas, a lot of rare metal ores, and other items.
"Only this many Flamestones? Elyse promised me Flamestones and Water Element Stones," Anna said, checking the items, clearly unhappy.
Cynthia glared at her and said coldly, "We only collected this many Flamestones for now. This is for making gunpowder. As for the Flamestones and Water Element Stones you want, we’ll send them later."
"She’s lying," Anna said angrily. She knew Elyse wasn’t going to give her the Flamestones or Water Element Stones.
Leo ignored the two girls. He checked the items and said, "Do you have Premium Rice? I need a lot of it."
This world had rice too, but it was rare and expensive. Even among nobles, it was considered a luxury.
"Premium Rice? Just regular white rice?" Cynthia was confused. She didn’t understand why Premium Rice had anything to do with making gunpowder.
Leo nodded. "Yes. I need a lot of it. It’s essential for making gunpowder."
Cynthia frowned. She thought Premium Rice had nothing to do with gunpowder.
But the princess had already said that as long as Leo’s request wasn’t too unreasonable, they would agree.
"Wait, I’ll bring it in the afternoon. Remember, I need to see the gunpowder in three days, or you know what happens." She gave a cold threat and left.
Leo didn’t care. He went to find Barnett and Solomon. He had already given them the blueprint he had drawn the night before.
"Sir, what is this?"
Barnett looked at the paper in his hand, completely confused. It was a big oval-shaped object with a basket hanging below it.
He couldn’t figure out what it was or what it was for.
Leo closed the door and made sure no one was listening. Then he said, "This is called a hot air balloon. It can fly into the sky."
"Fly into the sky?" Barnett and Solomon both gasped in surprise. Their faces showed disbelief.
"Sir, can it really fly? You’re not kidding me, are you?" Solomon ran a hand through his hair. To him, only birds and dragons could fly.
This thing was just a big ball with no wings. How could it possibly fly?
Leo didn’t explain much. He said, "You’ll see when it’s done. Can you build it?"
Barnett looked at the blueprint and nodded. "No problem. It’s not complicated."
Making a hot air balloon was easy for the dwarves. But Barnett and Solomon still had doubts. They didn’t think it could actually fly.
They were confused in their hearts but didn’t ask more. They just got to work.
Leo went to the courtyard and found Ava and the others. He laid out the big canvas and started cutting it.
As for the Premium Rice he asked for, it was used to make glue.
It wasn’t as good as sticky rice, but it would have to do.
"Anna, did you take the Flamestones?" Leo couldn’t find them and asked, confused.
"That’s mine!" Anna pouted and looked at him with suspicion.
"Give it to me. I need it." Leo said.
"Leo, are you really going to make gunpowder for that bad woman? Did you fall for her?" Anna looked at him suspiciously.
She knew Leo’s personality. He wasn’t the type to give in just because he was forced.
Ava and the others also looked over with curiosity.
Leo felt a little embarrassed and quickly said, "Don’t say that. I’m using it to hatch a dragon egg."
"Oh! And there’s a dragon egg!" Anna shouted, her eyes shining.
Leo quickly made a "shush" motion and looked outside the courtyard, saying, "Keep it down. We’re still being watched."
Anna quickly covered her mouth and whispered, "Leo, if we hatch a dragon, can it take us away from here?"
"Maybe." Leo didn’t really believe it.
A dragon could carry them and fly away without a problem, but a newly hatched baby dragon? That probably wouldn’t work.
"Okay, let’s hatch the dragon egg right now!" Anna was impatient and pulled Leo into the room.
The dragon egg had been carefully protected by Anna all along, and Elyse hadn’t noticed it.
Anna took out the dragon egg and pulled a wooden box from under the bed. Inside were a bunch of Flamestones.
Leo didn’t know when the girl had taken them, but it was definitely with Marina’s help.
He had used up a lot of Flamestones before, and the hatching time had been shortened to six months.
Leo kept using Flamestones to speed up the hatching.
[Dragon Egg: Unhatched, Hatching Time: 147 Days]
The egg’s information appeared. It had absorbed one Flamestone, and the hatching time was shortened by just three days.
But there were a lot of Flamestones, so it should be enough.
Leo kept using Flamestones to speed up the hatching.
Soon, the hatching time dropped to 100 days, and the number of Flamestones used went up again.
One Flamestone only shortened the time by one day.
"Leo, why are we using so many Flamestones?" Anna looked at the quickly shrinking pile and said, looking worried. She had been planning to make gunpowder.
Leo said, "It’s free, so we can just ask Elyse for more later."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Anna felt relieved and watched the dragon egg with excitement.
At this moment, the dark dragon egg looked like it had changed. It was glowing with a soft fire, and the surface was getting hot.
The hatching time was down to 30 days. It now took ten Flamestones to shorten one day.
More than 500 Flamestones were left, but only three were left now, and the egg still needed seven days to hatch.
"This is ridiculous," Anna said in surprise. It had taken so many Flamestones, and she was curious about how strong the baby dragon would be when it hatched.
The egg had become extremely hot, red and glowing like a furnace.
Leo felt helpless too. He probably had to ask Elyse for more Flamestones again.
He just picked up the last three Flamestones and put them away.
It was evening when Cynthia brought a cartload of Premium Rice—half of the palace’s stock.
"Still need Flamestones? You already got over 500 just a while ago," Cynthia frowned, her expression dark.
"Used them all for making gunpowder," Leo said, completely calm.
"Where’s the gunpowder?" Cynthia didn’t believe him and asked coldly.
"Still not finished. I promise it’ll be done in three days," Leo said confidently, not at all afraid.
As expected, they could finish the hot air balloon tonight. And the wind this season was blowing toward the sea, making it easy to escape Elyse’s control.
"There’s no way to find more Flamestones right now. Just finish the gunpowder first," Cynthia clearly didn’t believe Leo.
She glanced at the big canvas spread out in the courtyard. It had already been cut, but no one knew what it was for.
Cynthia didn’t ask further. She made sure Leo and the others weren’t up to anything, then left.
"Sir, isn’t this just food? What are we going to do with it?" Ava looked at the cartload of Premium Rice and asked, confused.
"Make rice glue. We’ll work hard tonight and try to finish it," Leo explained.
Ava was completely lost.
But she fully trusted Leo, so she didn’t ask more. She lit a fire and started cooking the rice paste.
A faint fragrance filled the air. The group gathered around the big iron pot, constantly swallowing their saliva.
Even Barnett and Solomon came out. The basket and frame for the hot air balloon had already been made. If they finished the glue tonight, they could complete the balloon.
