Chapter 80: I'll just take a look

The endless sea, just looking at it, makes one feel refreshed; Da Wang stood at the bow and spontaneously felt a surge of heroic spirit, with the confidence that the world had nothing he could not conquer.

He ignored the tutor's nagging, and stood alone at the bow facing the wind for a long while.

Wei Shen, who had been blown into a dog's shape, now saw his little fatty cousin's back looking especially tall.

Being fat has its own advantages!

But since they were traveling in winter, once the big ship left land and all they saw was endless sea, they couldn't go in the water, so Da Wang quickly hurried back to the helm.

Chen Cang and Chen Huai were bombarded with a hundred thousand questions, while only Deputy Huang Zhong, who was down below working with the fishermen, escaped disaster.

"Captain, are there no fish down below? When will we start fishing?"

"Your Highness, we are not far enough from shore; this is waters that fishermen can reach, so in principle our large ship's target is still deep-sea fish."

"Oh~ how long until we reach the deep sea? I can't even see the shore anymore~"

Chen Huai had to take out the sea chart gifted with the ship to show him, pointing out an approximate location. Da Wang realized they had just left shore; the vast sea was merely the entrance they had just stepped into.

Da Wang's eyes shifted, and he had a new idea; he waved his hand to drive away Zhao Bao and the attendants, then drove away the few apprentices the captain and helmsman had picked, and asked mysteriously: 'Captain, if the ship stops to cast nets and fish, can I go underwater to dive? I'm not afraid of the cold; I've even practiced in a bathtub!'

Chen Huai: ……

Wei Shen: 'Cough cough……'

Da Wang ruthlessly drove out his older cousin as well.

When no one else was left, seeing Chen Huai and Chen Cang's overly surprised expressions, Da Wang added: 'Can't I not be afraid of the cold?'

Chen Huai thought for a moment, then said: 'As long as the lord can convince your attendants, we commoners can pick a good day to teach the lord to dive.... What you practiced in the bathtub is called holding your breath.'

Da Wang excitedly waved his hand: 'All the same, all the same! My breath-holding has no limit, how impressive! White Brother still doesn't believe it; I really want him to come see. Captain, let's just agree on that~'

Actually, after the novelty wore off, a ship sailing alone in the vast sea is very lonely. Da Wang had seen enough of the unchanging sea surface and grew bored; he claimed he was too excited yesterday to sleep well, and wanted to go back to his room for a nap.

Upon returning, he pressed Wei Ni at the doorway: 'When I need you, you will squat here to guard the door; don't let anyone enter. If someone forces their way in, they must step over your bear corpse, understand?'

Wei Qing'e Ni: 'Sniffle? What are you saying?'

Bai Ze snorted in laughter: 'With its knees so low, who can it stop?'

Da Wang felt it made sense, and in the next second he picked up Bai Ze and placed him beside Wei Ni: 'With you added, it's much safer! Watch the door well, I'm going to stroll around the homestead~'

Bai Ze: ……

The ship can't compare to the Year Feather Hall; the room is too small, every move is easily noticed from outside, and there are a dozen or so people surrounding this room front and back.

Da Wang returned to the bed, lifted the blanket, and vanished from the spot in an instant.

Wei Ni saw its master leave, and it didn't intend to keep squatting at the door; it wanted to go back and squat in the nest with the night-light. Just as it rose, Bai Ze opposite pressed its paw on its head, saying: 'Keep watch, don't move!'

Wei Ni gave it a 'wise' puzzled look; Bai Ze exhaled, not knowing whether the homestead could buy any intelligence-boosting medicine—this guy really needs it!

Bai Ze got up, walked to the bear's nest in the corner, picked up the night-light and put it in the nest, then, using its newly grown horn, carried both the nest and the night-light to the doorway.

"Hey, you just squat here to watch the door!"

Wei Ni looked at its older brother with starry eyes, pushed the nest that was in front of it back, snuffle~ for you to lie down~

Then it wobbled over and lay down on the ground beside the small nest, pressing against the crystal night-light……

Bai Ze: ……

This is why it feels embarrassed to bully the foolish one opposite.

Da Wang entered the homestead and first checked his ingot count, discovering an extra forty‑odd thousand ingots, bringing the total back to 120,000—he almost laughed himself silly. This tree demon… ah no, Zhu Ti, sure enough knows how to do business; two candlesticks could sell for forty thousand!

Da Wang walked with light, quick steps, leisurely strolling around the street.

In broad daylight he was sure White Brother wasn't around, so he just had a look to see if any new shops had opened.

After strolling a while, the joy of just earning forty thousand mostly faded—how could Meng Meng be so ruthless in striking?

As Da Wang walked on, he gradually grew numb—it's just a string of numbers; since I'm not buying, and just looking doesn't cost money, I'll treat it as gaining experience.

He arrived at the door of a shop with a wildly strange appearance, and was stopped by a mechanical dog made of iron frames, which handed him a small fan. Da Wang, who had never experienced street flyers, tiny mirrors, or scanning codes to get plushies, literally had his eyes opened.

So enthusiastic, so moving, so good~

Before the feeling faded, something even more impressive arrived: a round snowman‑shaped thing slid to the shop door, speaking in a childish voice asking him to have tea; after speaking, it opened its own belly and handed Da Wang a sealed‑cup of green tea, leaving Da Wang again astonished to the point of being heavenly.

Then a little anger welled up: look at other people's dogs, they can hand things over—when will Bai Ze and Wei Ni be able to pour him a cup of tea!

Every time, Da Wang has to lug them back and forth himself!

"Dogs should be thrown out like dogs!" … Wait… he doesn't have a dog, that's a bear—Da Wang instantly felt even more sorrow.

When he passed that weapons shop with a price tag full of zeros again, the indignant Da Wang boldly marched in, daring to say: 'Even if I can't afford it, at least let me have a look!'

Just let me see what their advanced weapons look like.

The shop's young clerk saw that the person entering was a kid shorter than the counter, casually greeted him to look around freely, and said if he liked something he could try it.

Although Da Wang heard his speech with the system translation glitching oddly, he was no longer the nervous little kid on his first day here. In short, he had let go.

Look, the shop owner didn't even chase him away!

Da Wang went through each weapon asking how to use it; the shop owner, seeing his attire and knowing he wasn't from around there, patiently gave him a brief summary.

"This is a pistol; inside are bullets, range …"

"This is a long‑range sniper rifle; range …, price 24,000,000 ingots…"

"Their weapons are indeed formidable; Da Wang listened without changing expression—whether there are seven zeros or eight zeros after the number makes no difference to him, since they're all unaffordable anyway."

Da Wang had broadened his horizons, listening with relish. After a while he suddenly thought of something and asked the weapons vendor: 'I can't afford any of these in your shop; do you happen to sell this kind of blade?'

Da Wang pulled out a little booklet from the pouch where he kept small trinkets; it was a copy of the cavalry weapons illustration he had traced from the manual Bai Yang had found for him.

What he showed the shop owner was a curved blade used by cavalry on horseback.

The book analyzed that nomadic peoples prefer curved blades, while agrarian peoples favor straight‑sword blades.

Curved blades test the smith's skill more, and they are more convenient for horseback melee than the large blades standard for Great Jin soldiers. Since curved blades suit the grassland environment, the You Prefecture cavalry should have them—why not use something that works so well!

The book said that the curved blade's design makes swinging easier while riding, and it's less likely to get caught when slicing an enemy's body, making it well suited for combat on open grasslands.

According to the Great King's vision, his Owl Cavalry must be fully developed. With long spears, with bows and arrows, also need curved blades. Adapt to local conditions, respond flexibly.

He has spent so much money on this; he absolutely cannot be mediocre.