"Ding! Ding! Ding!"
The crisp sound of bells echoed around them.
The Voice of Dawn slowly withdrew from its berth, the current beneath it forming a support, lifting the ship toward the harbor.
The current only dissipated once the ship crossed the white line, and the spell on the muzzle shield vanished with it.
It accelerated, sailing out of the island's reach.
It passed by the surrounding ships.
Then they stopped at the outskirts and waited.
Soon, a massive merchant ship approached: Baraz's Golden Trout.
A bird, formed of lines, flew by.
The [Flying Bird] spell was perhaps the most contagious spell.
The bird vanished into Alka's ear, relaying the message.
The Golden Trout quickly passed the Voice of Dawn, sailing ahead of them to guide them.
The Voice of Dawn then sped into action.
They had already discussed this.
At the helm, a rare sight, someone stood there and began steering.
Alka stood nearby, observing the object in Shadaiti's hands.
It was a compass-like object, adorned with a red cross, each corner of which marked a direction.
It slowly rotated, guiding Alka and his companions.
This object was the landmark compass used for navigation in the Infinite Sea, and could only be found on the Landmark Island.
Its principle was to use the landmark island where it was manufactured as a reference point to distinguish the four directions of east, west, south, and north.
This object was rarely available; each one had to be made on site.
It was unclear why.
It seemed to be a rather secret knowledge.
Alka and his companions had placed an order for its manufacture the day after they arrived on the island.
But it only arrived two days ago.
This type of compass is highly tied to the landmark island from which it was created.
The compass in his hand is clearly tied to the Southern Cross Island. If anything were to happen to that landmark island, the compass would also malfunction.
Baraz had suggested that Alka and the others have an extra compass to prevent any unexpected events.
Although such an unexpected event might not happen in a lifetime,
A compass might still be useful even after the family's demise.
But what if?
Although they could follow the Golden Trout all the way to their destination,
To be on the safe side and practice precise navigation in the vast ocean, Sofia still simulated his own navigation.
"According to that crude island chain map, we need to sail 16 degrees east by north, and arrive at our destination in approximately 30 days and nights."
As he spoke, Sofia produced a new object, also bearing a cross symbol.
It was also produced on Southern Cross Island.
A tool used to keep time in the vast ocean.
It was a cylindrical hourglass, roughly the size of a palm. It was called an hourglass, but it didn't actually flow up and down with the movement of a hand.
It contained fluorescent particles resembling sand, which circulated automatically, and the cylinder was marked with markings.
The sand was slowly turning black. When it was completely black, night was approaching.
After nightfall, the sand would begin to slowly flow, turning white. When it was completely white, daylight would arrive.
A timekeeping device, the mechanism of which was inexplicably constructed, seemed to be influenced by some kind of energy between heaven and earth.
This energy represented day and night.
However, since they had purchased it, this timekeeping device had become remarkably accurate.
It could tell the number of hours of daylight and nighttime by the changing scale.
The scale was currently at 21, meaning that daylight would last 21 hours before nightfall.
A simple, easy-to-understand tool.
"Forty days and nights! That's quite a long time at sea again," Jason, sitting nearby, said helplessly.
Sailing at sea required endurance.
...
As they entered the deep sea,
Life on board the ship began to return to a strangely regular routine, with almost the same routines every day.
Except for meditating while on duty.
They were either studying or reading, and the rest of the time they spent finding something of interest.
Therefore, sailing the seas without a hobby is a gamble; those who sailed for a long time developed unique skills.
During this time, Lucelia successfully entered the third stage.
Jason and Juanlu sat on the edge of the boat, quietly fishing.
They watched the Puppet Knights engaging in routine training on the deck.
"Alas, we two are the weakest on the boat," Jason sighed, reaching up to touch the sleeping crystal dragon beside him.
Juanlu, quietly fishing, lifted the hat he was using to shield himself from the sun and glanced at him.
"Shut up!" Juanlu was speechless.
He was now the weakest, having only just reached the eighth spiral, a feat he had achieved not long ago.
Jason, aided by the crystal dragon, began to make rapid progress. After all, the crystal dragon's magic conversion rate was the highest among all the others.
The contract also enhanced Jason's physique, further strengthening his already impressive talent.
Even without considering the aid of treasures, his cultivation speed was already at the top of the team, with only Sofia and Julia in this position.
Alka, due to her limited soul strength, was not included in the calculation.
As a result, Jason had already reached the eighth spiral before leaving the island.
He was expected to reach the ninth spiral after reaching his destination.
His own talent was merely average, not to mention his age, already in his thirties.
Of course, compared to normal humans like Alka, the age of the immortals should be ignored.
With Lucilia's advancement to the third stage, the puppet girls on the ship experienced a surge in strength.
The changes brought about by the stage advancement were enormous.
Deputy Captain Zero was immediately promoted to the third stage.
Eleven captains reached the ninth spiral.
Sixty team members had already surpassed the eighth spiral, but were still below the ninth.
This made Juanlu's title of the weakest well-deserved.
Hearing Juanlu's words, Jason smiled slightly.
"Given Alka's personality, he'd travel so far to find the pirate's treasure. There must be treasure there."
Hearing Jason's words, Juanlu didn't even turn his head, simply saying quietly, "Based on the contribution, the next treasure should go to Julia."
They were the only three on the ship without treasure at this time, and among them, Julia had made the greatest contribution.
The same was true based on the time they boarded the ship.
"Don't worry, it's almost here, isn't it? Once you get this one, the next one will be yours," Jason reassured him.
At their rate, even a conservative estimate would take less than a year or two.
Juanlu nodded, unconcerned. After all, he rarely participated in combat, his primary job being logistics.
He also devoted most of his time to food research, especially after obtaining some testing tools from Vastva.
He also learned some more scientific techniques from Alka and Matriasa.
He felt his culinary skills improve dramatically.
The food he prepared was no longer simply delicious; it had a deeper meaning.
As he pondered, the fishing rod in his hand began to sway rapidly.
Instantly shaking off his thoughts, he stood up, his hands firmly grasping the rod.
"It's a big fish!"
The entire fishing rod bent completely. Fortunately, it was specially made by Simon, otherwise it would have broken long ago.
The steel fishing line was stretched straight, and magic began to flow frantically through his arm into the rod.
Seeing Juanlu's face flush red, Jason immediately put down his own fishing rod and helped pull.
"What a powerful force!" Jason exclaimed in amazement.
The force of the rotation was too strong.
Watching the two men struggling with the fish in the sea, the awakened Crystal Dragon tilted its head and looked at them, slightly confused.
"Boogie?"
Juanlu, struggling, was completely oblivious to the Crystal Dragon's words.
Receiving no response, the Crystal Dragon turned its head to the surface, observing the object being dragged underwater.
Its eyes began to glow.
The wings behind her began to flap rapidly. By this time, the crystal dragon's wings had grown to almost the same size as her body.
She sprinted, diving directly into the water.
"Ah!"
Seeing a faint figure plunge into the sea, Jason finally realized what it was.
Immediately, he let go.
As Jason let go, his strength suddenly dropped by half. Juanlu, caught off guard, was suddenly pulled under.
"Huh?"
Watching Juanlu being dragged into the water beside him, he happened to see Juanlu turn his head, a look of disbelief in his eyes.
He seriously suspected Jason had done it on purpose.
Jason couldn't care less and plunged into the water after her.
At this moment, in the observation room above, Alka, on duty, watched the figure at the bow of the ship fall into the water.
"What are you doing?"
Why are they suddenly jumping into the sea?
But he wasn't worried, because Pororo was already in the water.
Julia and the others had already noticed what was happening there.
After a while,
A shimmering figure burst out of the water and soared, its massive wings flapping and splashing the water.
In its front paws, it clutched a fish even larger than itself, its jaws firmly gripping its body.
It was the crystal dragon.
"When did you learn to fly?"
Watching this, Alka stood up and asked in surprise.
Previously, the crystal dragon couldn't fly. Its wings on its back seemed half-developed, serving only as decoration.
I didn't expect it to learn to fly now.
It seemed like it had only been a short time since it hatched from the egg.
Two more splashes of water broke through the sea, and Juanlu and Jason leaped aboard.
"You can fly now?" Jason asked, looking at the crystal dragon clinging to the frantically struggling fish on the deck.
"I don't think she's in the mood to answer your questions right now."
Magic power suddenly gushed out of the crystal dragon's mouth.
The frantically struggling fish, caught in her bite, froze instantly, its skin completely encased in a layer of transparent crystals.
Only then did the crystal dragon loosen its grip.
She shook off the water stains.
"Boogie."
"You're amazing! You've grown again."
Jason crouched down with some joy, looking at the fish encased in crystal.
He stroked the crystal dragon's head again.
"Boogie!"
"Hungry again?"
"Ah." Jason sighed.
He looked at Juanlu beside him.
Juanlu smiled. "Okay, just prepare your gems. I'll take care of the nutrient gel."
He patted Jason's shoulder with a hint of gloating and walked towards the restaurant.
Watching Juanlu leave.
"Boogie!" The crystal dragon quickly flew over, holding the encased fish.
Juanlu looked at the fish in his arms, then at the crystal dragon shouting in the air.
"You're going to...eat it?" Juanlu asked, somewhat puzzled.
The crystal dragon nodded repeatedly.
Looking at the fish in his arms, encased in a layer of hard crystal, Juanlu scratched his head in confusion.
How was this supposed to work?
Jason walked up and tapped the crystal shell. Cracks immediately appeared on it, then shattered.
The broken crystal fragments transformed into a faint glow and vanished.
"That's good enough."
He turned and walked towards Juanlu in the dining room, pulling out the hourglass he used to check the time.
"It's almost evening, let's do it together."
...
As night fell, Alka returned to his room and fell into a dream.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already in the dream world.
"Dad, you're here."
Lily, giggling, said, floating in the air.
Alka nodded. "Come out for a walk with me."
With that, he and Lily broke through the membrane of the dream bubble and flew out.
Since he had slept late tonight, everyone's bubbles had already appeared in the dream world.
Still, some foolish dream creatures tried to breach the bubble's membrane.
He examined the strength of those dream creatures.
Alka turned to Lily, who sat on his shoulder. "Lily, these dream creatures are in your care."
"No problem, leave it to me. Puppet Knights, attack!" Lily immediately flew out, a faint pink mist emanating from her body.
When the pink mist dissipated, her size had returned to that of a normal child.
In her hands appeared two pistol-shaped rock-shaking guns, and she pulled the triggers at the dream creatures on the dream bubble.
Bullets of light and shadow fired one after another, fully automatic.
The dream creatures struggling to breach the bubble were popped one by one like balloons.
Alka's attention was now elsewhere.
He looked toward the cluster of dream bubbles not far behind him, the direction of Balazs's ship.
They weren't far away from him outside, so naturally, they could see him in the dream as well.
Arka's eyes suddenly shifted. He looked farther away, where he once again saw what looked like a cluster of dream bubbles formed by a community of intelligent life.
It seemed they were passing by the vicinity of an island.
However, judging by the time and distance, it was clearly not the target they were looking for, so Arka didn't waste time heading there.
He floated in place, and a mirror appeared on his face. The image within the mirror began to distort, revealing a gigantic python formed from white mist.
Arka's head instantly transformed into a snake's, a head made of cloud and mist, with eyes as bright yellow as the sun.
He opened his mouth, and a snake tongue emanated.
He was imitating the ridiculously enormous cloud python he had seen in the dream world of Southern Cross Island.
It was the most powerful dream creature he had ever seen, and he had no idea just how powerful it was.
Naturally, he couldn't help but want to imitate it.
While on Southern Cross Island, although he never left his dream bubble, he was actually observing it through the transparent bubble membrane.
The cloud python rarely moved in the dream world, its largest movement being just two circles.
Like turning over.
I'd never seen it eat before.
This also meant that Alka could observe very little; at most, he could only observe its appearance.
The snake's tongue spit out, making a puffing sound, and the snake head on Alka's face shattered like a mirror.
"No, I haven't gained any strength at all, nor have I gained any special abilities."
Without observing any special abilities, the most I could do was imitate its appearance.
Even if I could imitate, it would only be a form, with some unique aura to match.
"Sigh."
Alka sighed. Lately, in the dream world, he had been exploring the area surrounding the dream bubble.
Mainly, he was looking for a powerful dream creature to imitate.
As his strength increased, the Dream Reaper could no longer keep up. Even if he imitated its appearance, it only gave Alka new means of attack.
Essentially, there wasn't much change.
Unless he could see a more ferocious, powerful dream creature.
That didn't happen.
Most of them were on the same level as the Dream Reaper and the Shadow Giant.
Of course, they were on the same level, but they didn't have the special abilities of the Dream Reaper.
Sure enough, dream creatures like these were truly rare.
If only there were even more powerful individuals of the Dream Reaper.
Alka couldn't help but think, after all, he was truly pleased with the Dream Reaper.
But even after waiting for Lily to eliminate all the dream creatures surrounding everyone's dream bubbles, Alka and Lily continued to fly away.
The invisible ripples used for detection continued to expand.
However, this time the target of the exploration was no longer the dream bubble.
But the results of such exploration were minimal, often returning strange individuals.
So, in the end, Alka set the condition for a reply to require someone to be stronger than the Dream Death God.
After that, no reply was received.