Chapter 615: Boarding the s.h.i.+p (Part 2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The thirty yard long s.h.i.+p could not dock beside the sh.o.r.e. Saleen took out a leather raft. After inflating it he let Aini’s parents accompany Narnia up the s.h.i.+p while he, Su, and the fifty trusted soldiers were the second wave to board the s.h.i.+p. Cuisi was last to go up.
With a distance of about fifty yards, Saleen flew onto the pan’s turtle alchemical boat. Su leaped over, he did not even use his flying skill.
Saleen got startled, “A Silver Grand Swordmaster can actually leap over such a great distance, I must be careful the next time I meet one. A range of fifty yards is within his attack area. I thought that ten yards was the best attack range for a grand swordmaster. Now, it seems like different grand swordmasters possess different abilities to control distance.”
After entering the interior of the hull via the teleportation portal on the turtle’s back, Saleen noticed that the alchemy s.h.i.+p’s interior had been totally altered by the winged skeleton. “This fellow has done many things, he has totally destroyed the initial setup made by the three kings.” Saleen almost could not recognize that this was his s.h.i.+p.
Saleen had not seen the full appearance of the alchemy s.h.i.+p, the one who had changed the most was the winged skeleton.
The winged skeleton led one-hundred subordinates and met Saleen at a hall in the middle of the cabin. He was fully clad in armor, measuring two and a half yards in height, with a crystal mask on his face. Saleen observed that behind the crystal mask the winged skeleton’s skeleton had become pale green in color and as smooth as crystal. The Soul Flame in his...o...b..tals had become black, flickering slowly.
“Master!”
Saleen could sense the jubilance in the depths of the winged skeleton’s soul, “The winged skeleton is progressing very quickly, if it wasn’t for me, he might have advanced to a grade-8 spirit long ago.” At least for now the soul of the winged skeleton was not any weaker than the three kings, he did not continue evolving because he was restrained by Saleen’s soul contract.
If Saleen advanced to a grade-7 sorcerer, the winged skeleton would immediately progress to grade-8. When Saleen advanced to grade-8, the winged skeleton would rise to grade-9 at once. His powers would be sufficient to suppress the three kings by then.
One-hundred jade skeletons stood behind the winged skeleton, they were dressed the same way as him. All of them were clad in armor crafted from special materials with a crystal mask on their faces. This outfit was obviously for countering divine spells.
“Soldier, I am very glad.” Saleen pulled the winged skeleton up, sizing him up. Currently, this spirit had progressed into a new state. He had clearly healed from his psychological trauma and there were no more leakages. The Soul Flame in his eyes would not have become black in color otherwise.
“Even the three kings’ Soul Flames are red. The winged skeleton has undergone a thorough evolution, he can totally advance with me. If I ever surpa.s.s the limits of grade-9, the winged skeleton can also follow me and attain a higher standard.”
“Master, can the people onboard be trusted?” The winged skeleton’s voice rang in Saleen’s mind.
“Don’t mention anything about this s.h.i.+p and your situation,” Saleen responded in his mind.
“Master.” The winged skeleton said, “After you left, I constructed six skeletal wars.h.i.+ps, they are the size of a main battles.h.i.+p; one-hundred and eighty yards long. They can rival the main battles.h.i.+ps of Alchemy City.”
Saleen smiled, then said, “It’s been tough for you. You don’t need to eat, but is there still a kitchen on this s.h.i.+p?”
“Yes, it is specially prepared for mages, I will send someone to cook some food now.”
“Sir, we aren’t hungry, we just want to sleep.” Aini’s trusted soldiers were extremely exhausted. The rus.h.i.+ng of the journey had caused their thighs to be frazzled many times over, they only managed to endure because of Saleen’s magic treatment.
“Okay, go and rest. Uncle Fellett, Aunt Lanny, what about you guys?”
“Saleen, we also have to rest, send the food to the room please.” Fellett did not know that the winged skeleton could communicate with Saleen spiritually. Afraid that they might have some secret conversation, Fellett took the initiative to leave.
Narnia smiled, then she followed a jade skeleton to look for her own room. Everyone left until only Cuisi and Su remained. The winged skeleton then asked, “Master, where are they from?”
“This is Su, my follower, and this is Cuisi, a demon summoned by Nailisi.”
“Master, they are very powerful, I can rest a.s.sured now. If I am not on this s.h.i.+p, I cannot even defeat them.”
The winged skeleton’s words caused Cuisi to roll his eyes, while Su pretended to hear nothing. The winged skeleton was obviously Saleen’s contract creature, Su would not be jealous over such things.
In Fellett’s room, the couple were in the midst of a conversation.
“Lanny, Saleen’s capabilities might be stronger than we think.”
“Are you worried for Aini?”
“No, you have seen Aini’s letter, he is different from the youngsters from the other families. He has deep ties with Saleen, he can stand independently in Metatrin City. I am thinking of helping Aini increase his powers.”
“Shall we look for Teacher?”
“Yes, have you recognized Saleen’s s.h.i.+p?”
“I guess it is a pan’s turtle.”
“Mm, no wonder he plans to devour the northern route. With such a s.h.i.+p and that skeleton who can manufacture skeletal battles.h.i.+ps, he can indeed dominate the northern waters. Aini is a mage, he has to spend time training, but he has too few subordinates. Let’s go ask Teacher to give more manpower to Aini, so that Saleen can give him a better status. Saleen’s future is unlimited. We cannot just rely on friends.h.i.+p, otherwise Aini will feel a sense of loss.”
“You are right, so our…”
“Our things can only be given to Aini two years later or when he advances to a sorcerer.”
“Mm. Fellett, tell me, do you think Saleen will be in danger?”
“Safilos hasn’t noticed him yet. With us around,and Metatrin city being over ten-thousand miles away there won’t be any accidents. Worse comes to worst, Saleen and Aini can flee to this s.h.i.+p. Onboard this s.h.i.+p, who do you think can harm us?”
Fellett’s judgment was very accurate. The offensive power of the pan’s turtle alchemical boat might be insufficient, but if the s.h.i.+p was used for escaping no one would be able to think of any effective countermeasures. Even a person like Fycro would not be able to dive thousands of yards deep into the water to carry out repeated searches. As long as Saleen boarded this s.h.i.+p almost no one would be able to capture him.
“Soldier, why did your appearance change?” Saleen noticed that the winged skeleton’s looks had changed a lot. Since there was no one else around, the two of them would not need to communicate via spiritual means anymore.
“Master, Nailisi got me a soul crystal that was a few hundred thousand years old from the sea. I absorbed the fluid inside the core and I underwent evolution. All my past wounds have been repaired, no, my body has been completely restructured. This armor is a fossil, it is originally a type of wood from a foreign plane.”
“An armor specially made for skeletons?”
“Yes, I currently have two-hundred jade skeletons as subordinates. They are pretty smart. About twenty of them are needed to control one large wars.h.i.+p.”
Ka da… ga…
The one-hundred jade skeletons standing behind the winged skeleton emitted strange noises, they were responding to his words.
“Can’t they talk?”
“They can, but Master needs to gift them the ability of language. In the future, you will be able to command them directly.”
Saleen took a glance, these one-hundred jade skeletons were two yards in height with an alienated frame. The Soul Flames in their orbitals were purple in color. Saleen secretly laughed, “Nailisi is on the losing end this time around. She might have gotten the coordinates to the death plane, but she has to be the winged skeleton’s slave for a pretty long time. The winged skeleton has an additional two-hundred mutated jade skeletons, just imagine the amount of soul crystals they have to consume! The whole pan’s turtle alchemical boat has been transformed, in the sea, Nailisi must have searched countless ancient sunken s.h.i.+ps. Six one-hundred and eighty yard long skeletal battles.h.i.+ps could have been a.s.sembled using the remains of the large marine creatures in the sea. Daniel actually abandoned such an intelligent skeleton to sign a contract with the Pikoosi, so stupid of him.”
“Soldier, in the future, you shall help me to manage the fleet. I plan to have three fleets, you will be in charge of the spirit fleet and the northern fleet while I will look for people to manage the southern fleet.”
“Yes, Master.” The winged skeleton was overjoyed. Saleen said that the winged skeleton would manage the northern fleet and spirit fleet, that also meant that the winged skeleton would manage the route along the Frozen Sea in the future.
The southern fleet might be larger as it would be used to conquer Cloudflow in the future, but to the winged skeleto, the Frozen Sea was more important. With the rich resources there his skeletal wars.h.i.+ps would receive nourishment continuously, he would not need to worry about a lack of precious materials. The offensive powers of the bone fish and bloodstone could never satisfy the winged skeleton’s demands. He had already advanced to the next grade successfully, he could very well create a mightier offensive weapon.
According to what humans said, such weapons were not valued for money. The winged skeleton was certain that as long as the route was protected any amount of contribution would be worthwhile.
“Go and do your work.” The winged skeleton waved his hand and the one-hundred jade skeletons bowed at Saleen before leaving.
“Master, let’s go to the command center,” the winged skeleton said.
“Okay, you all shall come too.” Saleen looked at this hall, it was indeed not a conducive place for conversation. “This place should still be in the process of rebuilding, the winged skeleton’s command center is the real core of the pan’s turtle alchemical boat.”
The command center was located at the front of the pan’s turtle alchemical boat and outside the command center was the spirit pool at the s.h.i.+p’s bow. The command center was a room measuring ten yards in length and five yards in width. Its four walls were inlaid with crystals, Saleen felt the pinch looking at them.
“Master, these are spirit crystals, they are worthless.” The winged skeleton knew what Saleen was thinking about, so he quickly consoled him.
Saleen then felt relieved. Su and Cuisi were greatly astounded by the extravagance of the command center. Some kind of death spell had clearly been used on the spirit crystals on the walls. The images in the crystals depicted the environment surrounding the alchemy boat at the moment. The alchemy s.h.i.+p did not dive, it was currently traveling at high speed. The waves aroused on both sides of the s.h.i.+p seemed to be just beside them only.
Underneath their feet was the ocean. The winged skeleton had used some kind of spell to make the images below extremely clear. Up to two miles deep, the images were still clear. In the center of this room was an alchemy platform. There were no installations on it, but it had been reserved. It was obviously for Saleen.
The command station was located on both sides of the alchemy platform. There was an alchemy device atop the command station and Su could not even recognize one percent of it. He only identified some of its materials. Two jade skeletons stood behind each command station, steering the alchemy s.h.i.+p forward.
Beside the central alchemy platform the winged skeleton had stimulated a magic array causing a three-dimensional transparent image to appear out of thin air above the alchemy platform. It was a structural diagram of the entire alchemy s.h.i.+p. Every detail in the pan’s turtle alchemical boat was depicted clearly in this three-dimensional diagram.
“Master, here, you control anyone in this s.h.i.+p,” the winged skeleton proclaimed smugly. This s.h.i.+p had encapsulated all his efforts. Other than him and Saleen, no one would be able to control it.