Endless Ocean: Survival Begins with a Dugout Canoe-Chapter 81 - 78: Exploring the Yellowstone Again

Shi Ming had a clear understanding of his current strength.

’I can’t get ahead of myself. Back then, a single A-rank sea beast was enough to take down the *Huangshi*—the so-called strongest Golden Ship—and drag it to a mutual demise. And that’s to say nothing of a Holy Hall Sea Beast that’s beyond S-rank! According to this intel, the Great Black Heaven Dragon is not only intelligent but also possesses regenerating heads. It masters the power of regeneration. The only way to truly kill it is to sever all nine of its heads simultaneously!’

Difficulty: ten stars.

Sea beasts were physically powerful and had the home-field advantage in the ocean. A sea beast could take on at least three opponents of the same rank without being at a disadvantage.

If they couldn’t win, they could flee, and they were extremely fast.

Just like the Mist Jellyfish that stole half of Shi Ming’s D-rank sea beast. To this day, Shi Ming still hadn’t found it and had no way of dealing with it.

Kill a Holy Hall-level beast?

In a word: impossible!

Even if the Lighthouse were to take action, they would likely return in defeat against a Holy Hall-level Sea Beast like this.

Not to mention the current Black Society, which didn’t even have a single S-rank Awakened. What were they supposed to fight it with?

No one understood the frustration of sitting on a gold mine without being able to excavate it better than the Black Society.

’I shouldn’t be thinking so far ahead. I need to deal with what’s in front of me first. According to my plan, I need to upgrade the new energy extraction device today. I also need to explore the *Huangshi* again. This time, I have to be thorough and scour it for resources.’

’But before I explore, I need to check if there are any A-rank sea beasts hiding in the deep waters of this area.’

Shi Ming took out the Map of the Endless Sea, an item the Black Society desperately coveted.

He dripped a drop of blood taken from the Demon Sword onto it.

The blood of an A-rank Awakened had a similar effect on the Map of the Endless Sea as injecting A-rank Awakening Power. Shi Ming wasn’t planning on challenging an A-rank sea beast right now; he just wanted to see the distribution of nearby sea beasts to get a clear picture, especially when exploring the deep sea.

WHOOSH.

As usual, the antique Map of the Endless Sea transformed into an azure ocean chart.

Looking closely, he could see about seventeen or eighteen black dots within a circular area on the azure surface. This area had a radius of about twenty centimeters with his position as the center.

These were all the detected A-rank sea beasts.

Before a wondrous item like the Map of the Endless Sea, they had nowhere to hide.

The dots were scattered all over, but most were very faint, meaning these A-rank sea beasts were all in the deep sea.

The closest black dot to Shi Ming’s position was over three hundred nautical miles away.

’Looks like there really are no A-rank sea beasts nearby.’

’That makes sense. While A-rank sea beasts aren’t as rare as S-rank ones, they’re still elusive and hard to find. They aren’t so common you’d see them everywhere.’

’In that case, I can explore the *Huangshi* again without worry. I have to meticulously investigate the areas I didn’t get to last time and strip them clean. Opportunities like this are few and far between.’

Before exploring the *Huangshi*, he went to the second sub-level of his ship. Using the Brain of Creation, he upgraded the new energy extraction device he’d taken from the *Water Arrow* twice in a row.

Time was money, and time was High-Level Sea Crystal Stones.

Upgrading this device required Qiong Crystals, but luckily, Shi Ming had found a few on the *Huangshi* last time. He used them all up at once.

Including the Sky Net Intelligence Chips, his entire stock was depleted.

But looking at the efficiency of the device after being upgraded to Level 5, Shi Ming felt it was all worth it!

[A192 Energy Production Device]

[Level: 5]

[An energy production device capable of extracting only High-Level Sea Crystal Stones. A piece of Lighthouse Technology, it is compact and durable. Daily production efficiency can reach 50 units. Efficiency will increase accordingly in sea regions with different Sea Crystal Stone concentrations.]

[Upgrade Requirements: High-Level Sea Crystal Stone x100, Qiong Crystal x3, Sky Net Intelligence Chip x1, Iron Ore x20]

Daily production efficiency had already increased to 50 units!

In an area with a 400% Sea Crystal Stone concentration, it could produce 200 High-Level Sea Crystal Stones in a single day!

This level of efficiency was exhilarating!

Before leaving the Lost Sea, he had to make another huge haul!

...

With all preparations complete, Shi Ming piloted the Golden Canoe, *Sunpiercer*, and activated its diving function once more. He left the *Dayun* on his own, slowly submerging beneath the mist-shrouded surface of the sea and descending deeper.

The ocean world was breathtaking. The shallow water layer was dreamlike and fantastical; looking up, he could see the daylight from above, and looking down, he could glimpse the profound depths of the sea.

The only regret was that the Mist Jellyfish active in the shallows had become sparse.

He didn’t get to see the dreamlike scene resembling a blue galaxy this time.

’It seems that leader jellyfish really does possess some intelligence. It was actually able to rally its colony to avoid a potential threat.’

Shi Ming couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

That jellyfish had snatched half of his Large-Scale Swordfish trophy, and he still hadn’t gotten even!

The *Sunpiercer* gradually descended deeper, passing from the shallow layer into the Twilight Zone.

The light in the Twilight Zone was rather dim, but Shi Ming’s night vision was excellent, so it didn’t affect his ability to pilot his wandering ship.

During his last exploration, Shi Ming had been extremely cautious, not even turning on the canoe’s lighting system. This time, he abandoned his low profile and switched on all the ship’s lights. The entire vessel shone like the brightest star in the night sky, making it exceptionally conspicuous in the deep sea.

He was baiting a trap.

Any creatures and sea beasts that dared to attack all died by Shi Ming’s sword.

The D-rank ones were turned into points.

Killing two in a row increased Shi Ming’s Physical Strength by 2 and his Endurance by 2.

Ordinary sea beasts not even worthy of a D-rank rating didn’t even qualify as food reserves. Shi Ming cleaved them in two and tossed them into the deep sea, where they became food for other non-hostile creatures.

The corpses of these sea beasts weren’t very valuable, and space on the ship was precious, needed for high-value items.

Passing through the shallows and the Twilight Zone, Shi Ming once again saw the steel forest below, and the massive ship sunk upon the trench—the *Huangshi*.

The school of cuttlefish that had ambushed him before was nowhere to be found. They didn’t "welcome" him like last time, allowing him to enter the *Huangshi*’s control room smoothly.

The shipwreck’s core drive, the Sailing Heart, had already been taken by Shi Ming. It had lost most of its functions, and operations like pumping out water were no longer possible. Shi Ming could only pilot his canoe to navigate the interior of the massive ship.

Fortunately, the canoe *Sunpiercer* was not large and was extremely agile, so maneuvering through the vast interior of the *Huangshi* went quite smoothly.

It was his second time treasure hunting here, and he was much more familiar with it now. Shi Ming navigated with ease, heading directly for the *Huangshi*’s warehouse. He moved all the ore and Sea Crystal Stones he hadn’t taken last time into his system space, which he had already cleared out in advance.

Iron ore was especially important; that stuff was truly scarce in the Wandering Era.

Plus, the Brain of Creation needed it to upgrade many things!

Not very valuable, but very important!

After clearing out the warehouse and other familiar areas, Shi Ming piloted his canoe down into a lower level of the *Huangshi*.

This was a region he hadn’t had time to explore during his last visit.