Endless Ocean: Survival Begins with a Dugout Canoe-Chapter 79 - 76: Advancement of the Silver Boat
Upgrading an entire Wandering Ship consumed an immense amount of Spiritual Power. Shi Ming was a bit drowsy now, but he fought to stay awake and inspect the changes to his vessel.
Gold-tier: The *Good Fortune*!
Utterly transformed!
The first change was to the Wandering Ship’s hull; its material was now several times more durable. It even seemed to glow with a faint radiance. Shi Ming tested it with his King Slayer Saber along the edge of the hull and found that without channeling Awakening Power into it, the King Slayer could no longer even leave a scratch.
He had to put some force into it just to leave a shallow mark, and even that mark surprisingly repaired itself a moment later.
’Looks like it’s similar to Memory Metal, capable of self-repair.’
Shi Ming was confident he could slice a Silver-tier ship in two with a single strike, just as he’d done to the *Water Arrow*. But now that his own ship was Gold-tier, he wasn’t sure he could even damage it, even using the tenfold power of his Arm of Power. They were in completely different leagues; the durability had taken a quantum leap.
It wasn’t just the hull quality that had improved; Shi Ming discovered that all the ship’s existing equipment had been upgraded a level along with it.
This included the food fabricator, energy generator, point-defense cannons, Sea Patrol Radar, medical production unit, sleep pod, and navigation system. Any piece of equipment integrated with the ship had been forcibly upgraded one level, regardless of whether it had already been maxed out.
For example, the food fabricator now offered three new food options.
A vegetable sandwich, a chicken burger, and canned oranges in syrup.
Shi Ming had always been amazed by the Wandering Ship’s conversion technology. He would clearly put in sea fish, yet it could transform them into such things.
Take the canned oranges, for example. They looked like oranges, tasted like oranges, and their nutritional content was nearly identical to real oranges.
’So, are they actually oranges?’ 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
The third major change was that the curve of the bow had become especially sharp and hard. When two ships met, the force of a collision would be more than five times greater than before.
For example, if he were to run into the *Sakura* again, the initial impact alone would be enough to make the entire vessel disintegrate and completely fall apart.
’Now that’s what I call good fortune on the water.’
The final change was the addition of a "stealth system."
This wasn’t true invisibility. Rather, it could mask the entire Wandering Ship’s biological signature, fooling some non-sapient sea beasts and radars that relied on biological detection. This would help avoid some attacks and increase navigational safety, proving useful at critical moments.
Of course, if Shi Ming wanted to "go fishing" for trouble, he could simply turn the system off.
After getting a general grasp of the Wandering Ship’s changes, Shi Ming nodded to himself in satisfaction.
’Not bad at all.’
A Level 1 Golden Wandering Ship still had enormous room for growth. While it couldn’t compare to a ship like the *Yellowstone*, which was hailed as the "Strongest Golden Ship," or the already Level 5 *Sun-Shooter Canoe*, it was still a complete transformation and a massive upgrade.
A wave of drowsiness washed over him. Lacking the energy to upgrade anything else, Shi Ming went into the captain’s cabin, washed up, and climbed into the sleep pod to replenish his depleted Spiritual Power.
...
...
...
The Black Society.
Yan Dao Lin staggered to his desk. Seeing this, Qingzi hurried over to support him.
"What did you say? Demon Sword... is dead? Say that again?"
He still couldn’t believe it!
An A-rank Awakened of the Empire, on a very simple retrieval mission, no less. She even had Michael assisting her. How could she... how could she have been killed in action?
Just a short while ago, she had sent him a message saying she had found the target.
How could this be!
How is this possible!
"General, Lord Demon Sword’s Celestial Net Chip Terminal went unresponsive at 18:00 this afternoon. This means she was already dead before 12:00 noon," Qingzi reported, still supporting Yan Dao Lin.
Yan Dao Lin’s mind was a complete blur.
’Qingzi wouldn’t have reported news of this magnitude without absolute confirmation.’
’For it to have reached me, it must have been rigorously verified!’
’This is a disaster.’
He took a few seconds to compose himself, then looked up and immediately issued three orders.
"Quick! Get the Great Wilderness under control! Immediately! No one is to have any contact with him."
"Also, lock down all news of Demon Sword’s death!"
"And contact the Golden Pagoda Organization!"
A seasoned veteran, even when dealt a blow like a meteor falling from the sky, could still quickly assess the situation and make the most advantageous decision.
’First, this incident began with the Great Wilderness, so naturally, he’s the primary person of interest.’
’Second, very few people knew Demon Sword was on a secret mission. Furthermore, her Celestial Net Terminal is registered under my name. If I don’t disclose it, no one will find out. I’ll lock down the news first and then make a long-term plan.’
’Finally, as for the Golden Pagoda Organization... they took the money, and this is how things turned out? They’d better have an explanation! For all I know, it was their dereliction of duty and negligence that cost the Black Society an outstanding Awakened!’
"Can you find Demon Sword’s last coordinates?" Yan Dao Lin asked.
’If we can find the coordinates, there might still be a chance.’
’But if even someone like Demon Sword was defeated so utterly, is there really any hope?’
Qingzi shook her head.
"Lord Demon Sword didn’t report those details. Besides, real-time coordinate relay technology is still a major challenge on the Endless Ocean. Only the Lighthouse can barely manage it."
What Qingzi didn’t know, however, was that the Lighthouse’s "real-time" coordinates were only possible thanks to the five-minute information delay of the [Let There Be Light] system, and even then, they required manual transmission.
In an age with no satellites or base stations, where all infrastructure had sunk along with the Old Continent, achieving real-time communication and positioning was nothing but a pipe dream.
Most communicators had a minimum delay of at least one hour.
"Give me the communicator. I need to contact the Golden Pagoda immediately!"
...
The majestic Wandering Ship, the *Jinshan*, sailed the waters of the Great Western Sea Region.
In the age of the Great Flood, the ports that once limited hull length had vanished. There was no need to consider emergency maneuvers or shallow-water effects. Combined with the fact that Wandering Ships were essentially mobile shelters and the breakthroughs in materials science, several super-dreadnoughts had emerged. The *Jinshan* was one of them.
It was a general-class Wandering Ship that seemed bathed in light. At three kilometers long, it was a truly massive dreadnought.
But it wasn’t the largest.
The captain of the *Jinshan*, Robert, who was also the second-in-command of the Golden Pagoda Organization, was suffering from a splitting headache.
He had just learned that Edward, the navigator whom the Lighthouse had been so insistent about, had died on a mission.
If it had been anyone else, their death would have been just another statistic. Mission losses were unavoidable.
He wouldn’t have cared too much, even for an A-rank Awakened.
But this Edward was someone the big boss had requested by name!
Unlimited potential!
He was shouldering the responsibility of "Making the Lighthouse Great Again"!
And a man like that died on a mission brokered by the Golden Pagoda?
"What the f※ck!"
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