Chapter 293: A Very Handsome Weapon, and Me

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"We shouldn't need to think of any declarations for this voyage, right?"

On the deck of the Xiangyang, Yun Mu stood before the helm, looking down at the busy crew members as she spoke.

Although they had experienced a few twists and turns, they were finally moving forward once again.

"Hehehe, you're the Captain, so of course it's up to you." Brenna chuckled twice, having no intention of teasing her further.

"But when we set sail, you should at least notify the crew," she said.

As a Ghost Ship, the Xiangyang did not need sailors to operate it to sail on the sea; if it suddenly departed, it might frighten some of the crew.

Although it wouldn't matter even if they were frightened. "Prepare to set sail!"

Seeing that the crew had finished their Preparation, Yun Mu shouted aloud.

The next moment, the sails of the Xiangyang lowered automatically, and it sped away from Frostfall Port at a speed that made the steam cargo ships docked in the harbor break into a cold sweat.

"The speed this time feels much faster than before."

Yun Mu rested one hand on the wooden railing, feeling the sea Wind blowing against her face as she spoke.

"It really has become much faster. Is it because we have a tailwind now?" Brenna held down the sun hat on her head, her expression somewhat puzzled.

"No." Yun Mu felt the faint, joyful emotions coming through the contract and gently stroked the railing of the Xiangyang: "It's just because the Xiangyang is very happy right now."

"Uh, can a ship feel happy?" Iliyasi, standing to the side, listened to the conversation between the two and asked with slight surprise.

"Of course it can." Yun Mu nodded as a matter of course, then showed off the knowledge she had only recently learned: "Iliyasi, did you know? The moment all ships are launched, they receive the blessing of the Spirituality in the water~"

"Eh, is, is that so?"

Iliyasi looked at the ship sailing beneath her feet, her expression becoming somewhat nervous.

"Mr. Ship—no, is it Ms. Ship?"

"Please, you must carry Iliyasi to the Orc Federation."

She solemnly squatted down and whispered to the railing in front of her.

"Mm." As soon as she finished speaking, she noticed the curious gazes of Yun Mu and Brenna, and her face instantly turned red.

So, she hurriedly began to explain.

"I, I am actually a bit afraid of water, because water will dampen my feathers, and then I won't be able to fly... Also, I am not good at Swimming, and because of my wings, every time I go into the water, my body feels so Heavy..."

"So, so, um, I was thinking, since Mr. Ship has his own consciousness, I should just ask him properly."

"Because thanks to Mr. Ship, someone like me who is afraid of water can cross the ocean..."

Iliyasi's fingers were tangled together in a flustered, helpless manner; by the time she finished speaking, even she herself didn't know what she was saying.

However, Yun Mu had roughly understood what she meant.

"Huhu."

The sails of the Xiangyang suddenly billowed forward, and the massive acceleration made almost everyone on the ship feel a sudden thrust.

Feeling the joy coming through the contract, like a child being praised, Yun Mu chuckled: "The Xiangyang just told me that she will definitely carry everyone to the destination."

"Really?" Hearing her words, Iliyasi immediately stood up.

"Of course it's true. Didn't you see that the Xiangyang's speed has increased?"

"At a time like this, we should..."

Yun Mu looked at the crew below on the deck and shouted aloud: "Does anyone know how to sing a sea shanty?"

"Me, me, me! Captain, I know one!"

"What are you getting so excited about? Is there any sailor who doesn't know how to sing a sea shanty?"

"Hahaha, what are you saying, you tone-deaf guy?"

"Ha? Who are you calling tone-deaf? You want to fight, is that it?"

"Oh? You're not choosing to Retreat but are walking toward me instead?"

"It seems the lesson from our arm-wrestling match last time wasn't enough for you."

"I'll let you witness what true hell is!"

Where did this chuunibyou come from? Can someone drag them off my ship... Yun Mu rubbed her forehead, feeling quite speechless.

"No fighting!" She slammed her hand onto the railing of the Xiangyang with a bang, and the two arguing crew members immediately shut their mouths.

The events that occurred in Folaka Town a few days ago still remained in the crew's memories; they had all witnessed Captain Yun Mu's strength with their own eyes, so when she said no fighting, no one dared to fight.

Seeing the deck quiet down, Yun Mu nodded with satisfaction and then said: "Since you all know how to sing, just pick any suitable one."

Pick any one... The crew of the Xiangyang looked at each other, not knowing what would be suitable for a time like this.

Actually, it wasn't that they didn't know; it was just that, facing the Captain's order, they weren't quite sure what Yun Mu wanted.

In fact, the reason Yun Mu said this was entirely because she didn't know a single sea shanty, so she just let the crew decide for themselves.

However, looking at their expressions, they had clearly misunderstood her meaning.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to explain, Brenna, who was at her side, suggested at this moment: "How about we sing 'Wandering on This Free Sea and Sky'?"

She explained to Yun Mu: "This song has a history of about three hundred years; almost every sailor knows the lyrics, and the difficulty isn't very high. As long as you listen to it once, Miss Yun will probably be able to sing it too."

"Then let's go with this one." Yun Mu naturally had no objections to this and nodded decisively.

And so, very quickly, a song with a cheerful and impassioned melody, expressing the Courage and homesickness of sailors at sea when setting sail, rang out on the deck of the Xiangyang.

"On the surging sea surface~ our ship rides the wind and breaks the waves~ the Captain's command is like the spring breeze~ letting our hearts set sail with the tide~"

"Wandering on this free sea~ crossing the storm to see the sun~ no matter when or where we return~ our hearts turn toward home~"

"The white wake left at the stern~ is the footprint of warriors crossing the waves~ bring along the fragrant rum~ and sail toward the distance~"

"Wandering on this free sea~ chasing the waves toward the sun~ no matter when or where we return~ our hearts turn toward home~ the voyage under the night sky is like gauze~ sixteen stars point to the lighthouse of return~ although there are some rolling waves~ the goal of the voyage never changes~ wandering on this free sea~ crossing the storm to see the sun~ no matter when or where we return~ our hearts turn toward home~"

"Mm-hm~"

"The weather is really nice."

Heral Calendar year 4243, November 1st, weather clear. Yun Mu woke up in the Captain's cabin in the early morning, then pushed open the wooden door and walked onto the deck of the Xiangyang.

"Lucy, are you fishing this early?"

She looked left and right, and quickly found the figure sitting at the edge of the deck, holding a fishing rod.

"This body can only be active for two hours every day, so it makes no difference whether it's early or late," Lucy said, skillfully casting the fishhook into the sea.

Because she needed to fish for Alchemy materials, Lucy had not returned to the Game Panel these past few days, but instead maintained her summoned state.

Her body was kept in Yun Mu's Captain's cabin; when needed, Lucy would possess it, and when the possession time ended, she would control the body to lie back down.

Honestly, it was a bit strange.

There was a coffin lying beside her own bed, and the person inside the coffin would go out to be active for two hours at a fixed time every day, and once the activity time was over, she would lie back down herself. Once, in the middle of the night, Yun Mu woke up wanting to use the restroom, and happened to run into Lucy getting up to fish.

She was almost scared to death; ever since then, she had instructed the other party that she absolutely, absolutely must not be active at night.

It wouldn't be a big deal if she were just scared once in a while, but it would be bad if rumors about ghosts at night started spreading on the ship.

This was also the reason why Lucy only started fishing when she had just woken up.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, the fishing rod in Lucy's hand sank, and almost subconsciously, she yanked the rod up and flicked it upward! "Bang!"

An icy-blue fish Monster, radiating waves of cold air, was thrown onto the deck of the Xiangyang.

"Finally caught it!"

When Lucy saw the appearance of this fish Monster clearly, her eyes lit up instantly.

She quickly threw this fish Monster into a bucket and walked toward the location of Brenna's Laboratory.

She was going to start refining materials!

"Right, Miss Yun, come over too," she thought of something, looked at Yun Mu and said: "You've been studying theory these days, you must be a bit bored, right?"

"I'll follow the normal process and show you the effects of Alchemy."

"Eh, really? Great!"

During these days of sailing on the sea, Lucy would teach Yun Mu and Brenna knowledge about Alchemy every day.

However, perhaps because Alchemy was too difficult to learn, or perhaps because she hadn't practiced it in real combat, although Yun Mu felt she was improving every day, she hadn't gained any corresponding skills on the Game Panel at all.

Being able to watch an Alchemy Master refine items at close range should be of no small help to them.

Thinking this, Yun Mu followed behind Lucy and arrived inside the Laboratory where Brenna was.

"Knock knock knock, we're coming in~"

Because Brenna had told her to knock on the door last time, Yun Mu knocked on the Laboratory door first this time before pushing it open and walking in.

"Even if you knock, you should at least wait for me to say you can before coming in."

Hearing the movement behind her, Brenna shifted her attention away from the design draft in front of her and turned to look at Yun Mu.

"Is this the design for the Princess?" Yun Mu didn't discuss the issue of knocking or not knocking with Brenna, but walked straight to her side and asked while looking at the drawings on the table.

"Hmm, it's just a draft, there are still many problems that haven't been solved," Brenna didn't have any intention to hide it and said directly: "The final condition for advancing to Master is to independently complete a Tier 4 mechanical creation."

"The Princess is the Master-level strategic mecha I intend to build, but as you saw before, she is still just a semi-finished product, and there is still some distance to go before advancement..."

"Why not try Alchemy?" Lucy walked to the side of the two at this moment. She tapped her finger lightly on the area Brenna had marked with a red sign and said: "The performance of the materials here just can't keep up. If the material of this drive shaft were replaced with blue iron, it would not only solve the problem of insufficient strength, but also increase the overall performance of the mecha by a large margin."

Using Alchemy to directly solve material problems, thereby bypassing design flaws? It really is... "It really is a 'brute force' solution," Brenna was still thinking of a suitable vocabulary when Yun Mu at the side spoke up directly.

"That's right, it's brute force!" Lucy nodded as a matter of course: "If a problem can be solved with Alchemy, why go to the trouble of designing the structure?"

"I don't deny the precision and creativity of this kind of creation; hmm, steam machinery is indeed very impressive to me, but I think Alchemy can be combined with steam technology."

"Or rather, I find it strange, why has no one proposed this idea?"

"Um..." Hearing Lucy's words, Brenna spoke up at this moment: "Miss Lucy doesn't know, actually, in the modern era, Alchemy has long since fallen into decline."

"Not to mention Master-level Alchemy, there aren't even many Expert-level Alchemists now."

"Aside from the level of the Transcendental, among the Scholars, there are disciplines studying chemistry and materials science that are slightly similar to Alchemy, that's all."

"Alchemy has fallen into decline?" Lucy frowned, looking a bit incredulous: "Why?"

"Because of a historical gap," Brenna sighed: "After the Scarlet Court was destroyed, because of the influence of the Outer God, almost all records related to the Scarlet Court disappeared."

"At that time, the holy land of Alchemists, Asuowaluna, was also on the North Continent. After that catastrophe, the thousands of years of accumulated Alchemy knowledge could be said to have been completely destroyed."

"Then came the chaotic Darkness era, the Witch Hunt, black magic, Witches..."

"Things related to magic on this land have all been destroyed, especially Alchemy."

"... I see." Lucy was silent for a long while; it was clear that she was feeling quite distressed at this moment.

After all, the Scarlet incident was ultimately caused by the Blood Clan, and as a member of the Blood Clan and the Queen of the Scarlet Court, this matter obviously had something to do with her.

"Don't blame yourself too much, it's all Scarlet's fault!" Yun Mu patted her shoulder and decisively shifted the blame onto the Scarlet Outer God.

As for whether that Scarlet Pumelas was at fault—this world is complex. From Pumelas's perspective, He just didn't want to continue drifting in the endless void.

But the impact He caused was real.

"Although Alchemy has fallen into decline, isn't there still you?"

"Recasting the glory of Alchemy is our duty, Teacher Lucy, hurry up and start refining!"

"Pfft... where did you learn such strange talk?" Lucy covered her mouth and chuckled, then said seriously: "You're right, dwelling on the past has no effect; I understood this a long time ago."

"Since that's the case... let's start refining."

She lifted the bucket containing the fish Monster upward.

"The first Alchemy practice session, uh no, *cough*, the first Alchemy guidance lesson is about to begin now~"

(End of chapter)