Chapter 349: Starting To Plan, The Terrible Conditions On The Ocean
A long time ago, Su Mo had daringly speculated in the Underground Shelter that the foreign races had a hierarchy in regards to these mystical powers.
Specific to the already-exterminated kobolds was the fact that the power of the fireb.a.l.l.s cast by the Kobold Mages was all different.
Some of the Mages had been able to blast a crater the size of a human head, but some could only manage a crater slightly bigger than two fists put together.
Even though the disparity between the two groups had not been very obvious, that little detail had not escaped the attentive Su Mo’s observation. Furthermore, he had filed it away in his mind.
However, when he heard Connie’s mention of energy power levels, his curiosity was piqued once more.
“Yes, Chief. We foreign races are completely capable of sensing whether our opponent’s energy and power levels are high or low. This method of evaluating our opponents is already naturally in our Inherited Memories.
“Not only that, the more powerful the opponent, the higher their status, so we can sense their energy power levels more accurately and detect them sooner.
“In the past, I might have needed to touch the area under attack to sense the actual energy power level of this artillery sh.e.l.l, but now that I have the status of a Saintess, I can just look at the affected area and identify the energy power level.”
Connie swallowed quietly and began waxing eloquent.
Although Connie’s abilities had not been significantly improved after she obtained her position as the Saintess of the Oreo clan, it was obvious that in other areas she had advanced substantially by leaps and bounds.
“The fireb.a.l.l.s cast by the Kobold Mages from before were between 0.1 to 0.3 in terms of power level. They were no match for us lions; even if they held an advantage on the battlefield, they wouldn’t have been able to withstand our onslaught.
“Because they were aided by those humans, however, the fireb.a.l.l.s that their ordinary Mages cast were able to reach a power level of 0.8. The powerful ones could even get to 1!
“As for the white-robed kobold from before, the large fireball he cast in the end had a power level of approximately 10 or so. Of course, that fireball of his can’t compare to that sh.e.l.l you fired just now, Chief. Once energy and power levels reach 10, every time energy goes up 1 level, the power of the damage inflicted always increases by leaps and bounds.
“You could even say that trying to get from 10 to 15 is no less difficult than getting from 1-10 one hundred times.”
Su Mo asked, “What about your wind magic then? Can other foreign races sense the energy levels of a power that doesn’t directly affect opponents?”
Connie shook her head. “That won’t work. We can only a.s.sess when there’s a weapon or a power that can inflict damage. This ability is intended as a means of survival. Once we sense the energy level of our opponent’s attack, we’ll fight if we can go up against it—if we can’t, we’ll flee.”
A means of survival?
After hearing what Connie had to say, Su Mo was stunned for a moment as he suddenly remembered the moment he blasted the Heavenly Dog Pseudo G.o.d with the Dongfeng Missile.
Back then, when he fired the missile, the Heavenly Dog Pseudo G.o.d did not feel threatened at all, nor did it display any signs of fear.
It was only when the missile closed in that it had a reaction and began fleeing.
At the time, there was nothing surprising about this, but in hindsight, there definitely seemed to be something fishy going on.
Was there a hidden secret within that particular interaction?
As soon as Su Mo thought that there might be a loophole or bug to be exploited, the gears in his head began turning.
“In that case, since your ability is for survival, why doesn’t it let you sense power levels the moment your opponent makes their move, rather than after the attack?
“What if you really can’t withstand the incoming power? Wouldn’t you just die, then?”
This question really “hit the spot”. Su Mo watched as Connie went into a “that’s right, what good would that do” stretch of pondering. He smiled but did not pursue the matter further.
The talents of the foreign races were not hard to understand.
However, just like right now, when part of their abilities was suddenly neutralized and cut off, it became extremely peculiar.
In the hands of ordinary foreign races, an excellent skill like being able to evaluate the power of an opponent’s attack had turned into something whereby energy power levels could only be sensed after taking a hit.
A change like this had rendered this ability meaningless in a lot of situations.
“Study the matter well. Once you can discover why all these abilities have become so odd, I believe you won’t be that far away from your true G.o.d at that point!”
After taking a good look at the “pitiful sight” which was the hill, Su Mo patted Connie’s shoulder even as her face took on a conflicted expression. He ordered the OS to proceed along the target’s location while making his way back to the captain’s quarters.
For now, studying all these confusing and complicated matters could wait until they reached the New World.
However, Su Mo had to plan and prepare well for the foreign race live broadcast stream that Connie planned to start at 4 p.m.
Currently, the disaster announcement stated that on the day after tomorrow, after a second composite small disaster, marine creatures would descend into the world.
Within 108 hours, all 575 trillion tons of marine life would be completely deposited here in the swiftest possible manner.
After that, within the following 10 days, about 50 million marine foreign races would be deposited batch by batch.
This meant that the game was giving the humans and other foreign races on the sea a 3-day “safety” and “adaptation” period.
“In the data given out by Pei Shao previously, the first group’s strength-based foreign races should be the fastest of them all. The second group of insect military is not slow either, so both parties can be considered the frontline a.s.sault team.
“The third group of mixed foreign races is the only one that is the slowest, so I have to let this third group know my location. I also need to make sure these three groups of foreign races arrive at the same time, while “involuntarily” letting the s.h.i.+p drift along!”
Su Mo fumbled with the hand-drawn map and coordinates on the table, dis.h.i.+ng out calculations in his brain while utilizing the computing power of the OS.
During the Age of Sail in the Middle Ages, using this sort of complicated data to calculate a set of coordinates like this was extremely difficult.
However, with the help of modern computing powers, in less than three minutes, Su Mo acquired the “coordinates” of what could possibly be the scene of the final battle!
This location was 145 kilometers southeast of the first navigation point.
As long as Hope One reached the navigation point first, then informed the mixed troops of Hope One’s location, the OS could control the speed of the s.h.i.+p so that the third group of foreign races would almost be able to catch up, but never manage it.
As for the other two groups, prior to receiving the order to capture Old Devil Su, they would certainly also have been directed to blockade and intercept Hope One.
At the appointed time, even though there would be some setbacks on the way, with the radar’s 50-kilometer search radius, Su Mo was absolutely confident that all three groups would be within firing range.
“The only problem left now is how to inform this motley group of fighters about my—no, Connie’s location.
“The solution to this problem isn’t too difficult.
“We could try using a round of special effects perhaps?”
Previously, there had only been two thousand kobolds and more than half their treasure chests had been destroyed by the white-robed kobold.
This time, however, there were more than 23 thousand ordinary foreign races and almost 30 of their leaders.
Going by the white-robed kobold’s level, the chests dropped by these leaders would be at least silver to start with. If luck was a little better, there was a very good chance that a round of gold chests might be dropped.
At the thought of being able to immediately annihilate this group of foreign races with over 20 thousand individuals and obtain tons of chests Su Mo—who had just lay down on the bed—could not help feeling excited.
If one was putting up a show, one had to go all the way to prevent any unforeseen circ.u.mstances from cropping up when the plan was about to be implemented.
Su Mo pulled up the game panel and carefully issued a round of instructions to Chen Shen.
The first thing was to get some villagers who had never bought anything from the trading market before to go buy some fireworks—ones that had a higher degree of visibility in the daytime.
At the same time, Su Mo did not hesitate either in instructing Chen Shen to buy three to five sets of different “animal costumes” that people could wear.
No one would suspect a thing if the villagers purchased these items.
As long as they managed to complete the trade and then set Su Mo as the vendor of those items after they had made private transactions, Su Mo would be able to obtain those supplies without anyone knowing.
After that, when the foreign races realized what was going on and wanted to pursue an investigation, Su Mo would have already rescued his sister so there would be no impediments at all. Connie would also not be exposed among the foreign races as the humans’ lackey!
After putting his plan together, realizing that it was watertight in all respects and he only needed to close the net, Su Mo forced himself to close his eyes and put aside all his random, scattered thoughts.
War was in the offing, so his mental state was very important. Even with the psychic energy water to refresh his spirit, he still could not escape the exhaustion from staying up all night.
When Su Mo closed his eyes, ready for another sleepless night, a wave of drowsiness. .h.i.t him all of a sudden.
With that kind of fatigue, it did not take more than a moment before the sound of Su Mo’s snoring slowly began echoing through the captain’s quarters.
Su Mo was sound asleep.
On their side, the villagers swiftly went into action after receiving Su Mo’s messages.
From yesterday night until today, Su Mo was not the only one who lost sleep. Even the villagers at Iron Rock Mountain were all in an excited state of mind.
To the villagers who were extremely deprived of entertainment in the wasteland, the existence of the live broadcast streams was as if they found treasure. Even elderly men would browse through the streams all night long.
Of course, these various s.h.i.+ps of varying odd shapes and sizes not only allowed the villagers to see a diverse spectrum of humans on the wasteland ocean but also made them realize why the game had given them a three-day adaptation period!
Before yesterday, the majority of the villagers actually did not object very much to going to sea. Instead, they were rather excited.
Everyone had had enough of being confined on this stretch of land!
Their Huaxian genes compelled them to be impatient to travel to a new place—to farm on a new patch of land and rebuild their homes.
However, after waking up this morning, even though everyone was busily discussing at breakfast what they had seen and heard yesterday, the topic of going to sea had utterly vanished by tacit agreement!
No one mentioned going to sea!
No one wanted to venture out to sea either!
There was just one reason for this…
Seasickness!
This might have sounded somewhat ridiculous, but if one pulled up the World Channel and looked at the complaints for just ten minutes, they would realize how life-threatening this issue was!
When everyone had set sail yesterday, quite a few people were still excitedly thinking about the arrival of sea creatures three days later and that they would have endless seafood to eat!
However, reality was very cruel. After embarking on their voyage for more than eight hours, all these opinions disappeared entirely.
In their place, instead, were…
Complaints and grievances!
According to data models given by statisticians on Earth, among the freighters that sailed in calmer areas of the Earth’s seas, 80% of the crew would experience a certain degree of seasickness. This could happen even to experienced sailors with more than 10 years of experience.
Adapting to this sort of dizzy sensation and getting used to being tossed about on the ocean would take new sailors at least two to three weeks if they adjusted fast—three to five months if they did not.
Everyone had imagined that they would be able to get quickly used to the ocean the moment it arrived.
However, steering a wooden raft while drifting through the ocean and still managing to maintain fighting form was basically completely unrealistic.
Therefore, on the first day of the ocean disaster, more than 90% of the people had some kind of reaction after being at sea for the entire night.
Around 65% of people experienced mild symptoms.
These people collectively experienced a loss of appet.i.te in the morning, soreness all over their bodies, and intense headaches that felt worse than the seasickness itself.
Under circ.u.mstances like these, since there was no medicine to take, they could only force themselves to drink water and lie down in an open area on deck. They let the ocean breeze wash over them and emptied their minds.
The remaining 25% experienced far more serious symptoms.
The less serious ones would vomit until their bodies spasmed and s.h.i.+vered. They had to wear quite a few layers of clothing or wrap themselves in blankets to maintain their body temperature.
These people could not even drink a sip of water. Even a small bit of something that entered their stomachs would be violently vomited out in three to five seconds.
The more serious cases would vomit bile after throwing up everything in their system from yesterday.
Their entire bodies would respond as if they had had an allergic reaction and their immune system would experience a sharp decline. Only by locating a flat area and lying down could they barely survive.
Sadly, in times like this where medicine was scarce, there was basically no other way out apart from having to endure when things like that happened,
Therefore, after watching how wretched these people were, the villagers were secretly thankful that they did not have to venture out to sea and experience this sort of suffering.
Besides, they were also worried about Su Mo!
“s.h.i.+t, that boat with the least number of viewers on the live broadcast stream last night had at least five people in it. d.a.m.n it, our Chief only has one.”
“Doesn’t he have Connie and Moore? Can’t they look after the Chief?”
“Are you stupid? Bears and lions experience seasickness too. It’d be considered fairly good already if they don’t allow the Chief to take care of them; you’re expecting them to take care of him?”
“Gosh, what should we do then? If I’d known, I would have gone with the Chief—at least I would be able to help him out a little!”
“Sigh, we can only hope that Hope One is big enough it won’t rock that much at sea.”
“Chief is amazing, he’s sure to have a way to combat seasickness!”
…
There were many discussions like this during breakfast.
Everyone was extremely anxious, but some could not express their worry. They could only suppress their emotions and quietly pray for a miracle so that Su Mo could get through this.
Therefore, even though Chen Shen did not elaborate on exactly what Su Mo had instructed after receiving his message, the villagers in Iron Rock Mountain could not help but rejoice.
Chen Shen quickly delegated and organized the purchases they made while Iron Rock Mountain was currently loaded with supplies.
Armed with Su Mo’s orders, the villagers who bought the resources did not haggle over the price. Instead, they simply acquired the things that Su Mo told them to.
Furthermore, Chen Shen had instructed that every villager should only buy one item so that it would not alert the sellers in the slightest.
After everything was done and Chen Shen had put the purchased wares back onto the private trading platform, everyone temporarily set aside their worries about Su Mo.
Of course, the people in the World Channel and even the villagers had no idea that Su Mo, whom they were so worried about…
Was now sleeping ever so soundly despite experiencing insomnia last night as per their expectations!
In fact, he was even snoring!