Chapter 649: Fusak's Airship

She, while pondering, cast her eyes toward Rekton and asked in a deep voice, "Can you tell what caused this mutation?"

Rekton turned his head toward Frank, his eyes flickered and grew profoundly deep; he was reconstructing past events on the Future by means of a "prophecy."

A moment later, his expression turned odd as he asked:

"What did you use, besides vampire, to cultivate these mushrooms?"

Frank recalled briefly, then skillfully gave a simple description of the raw materials he used to grow the mushrooms: "Some vampire blood, some blood and flesh of a rose bishop, um, and also something called a Stingy Ghost's tongue."

"Vampire blood makes the mushrooms' vitality tenacious and lets them adapt to darkness; the rose bishop's blood and flesh gives the mushrooms the ability to draw nutrients from monster corpses, and also gives them a meaty texture and nutrition."

"The Stingy Ghost's tongue amplifies appetite and digestive capacity, allowing those mushrooms to continuously absorb nutrients and produce starch, milk, and alcohol."

"Stingy Ghost," Rekton murmured softly, his inspiration sparked.

Immediately, his eyes became profoundly deep, like the sea just before a storm, his gaze unfocused and endless.

By peering into the river of fate, he obtained some information, some secrets.

Jadelya looked at Frank with curiosity and asked, "I've never heard of a creature called a Stingy Ghost; where did you purchase the material?"

Frank answered immediately:

"Earlier, when we docked at the Gargas Archipelago, there happened to be a gathering convened by a group of 'pharmacists' and 'physicians'; I attended that meeting, and the vampire blood was also bought there."

"The 'pharmacists' and 'physicians' gathering," Rekton felt he had grasped something, and immediately, relying on the 'Emperor of Knowledge' to control the information, quickly projected possible developments.

A moment later, he calculated a possibility, turned to Frank, and said calmly:

"That gathering most likely included followers of the 'Prime Moon' and the 'Desire Mother Tree'; perhaps they were the ones who summoned, like that vampire that bled itself, the original owner of that tongue."

"The 'Stingy Ghost' belongs to the power of that 'Desire Mother Tree', representing greed and appetite, but the tongue you bought probably doesn't belong to the 'Stingy Ghost'; it clearly relates to sexual desire and the urge to reproduce."

Frank fell silent, thought for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hands and exclaimed:

"Moonlight is moonlight."

"The moonlight stimulated those mushrooms, boosting their activity and reproductive instinct; this enhancement precisely triggered that desire, which then morphed into a breeding urge, causing them to frantically mate and reproduce with everything around them."

"When the desire is unsatisfied, their longing continuously accumulates, and they begin to self‑divide, crazily pursuing every living creature for an endless breeding spree."

"Because there is no moonlight in the dark environment, I overlooked that factor."

Frank, somewhat frustrated, patted his head and then sighed, saying:

"Fortunately, I have already removed this mushroom's toxin secretion, hallucinogenic and other abilities; although they have re‑evolved, they are not lethal, and their instinct to reproduce will not directly kill captured life, otherwise a bloodshed incident might have occurred today."

Jadelya looked at Frank with a complex expression, seeming to think she had underestimated his resilience; he showed no sign of being shaken by the recent encounter.

Everyone around stared at Frank with terrified eyes; they probably thought that dying outright might be better than being violated by mushrooms. The only comfort was that they were not the only ones who suffered the same fate.

Rekton took in the crew's gazes, shook his head, and said to Frank, "The mushrooms' frantic breeding requires energy and material replenishment; excluding the possibility that any of you fed them, the only explanation is that the Future passed through a region of unusually vigorous life force, and they were subtly infected by the aura of the life realm."

He paused, then added, "Frank, I'll craft some teleportation scrolls for you; later move the laboratory to the Southern Continent, so that we can better exchange experimental progress."

Also so that the Future can safely sail the seas.

"Sure."

Frank was about to say that, as the First Mate of the Future, he couldn't stay away from the ship for long, but Jadelya didn't give him a chance to speak and answered on his behalf.

Rekton nodded lightly; just as he was about to ask Jadelya which seas the Future had traversed these past days, a mechanical whirring sound suddenly echoed from the sky above the cabin.

He looked up in surprise, peered through the cabin ceiling, his gaze piercing the barrier, and saw a formation of neatly arrayed airships flying from the north of the Suniya Sea, apparently heading toward the ancient forest.

The airships' outer coating bore totems of spears and blades formed by clusters of storms and lightning; this is the emblem of the Fusak Empire's royal house, the Einhorn family.

"Fusak? Have they formed an alliance with Intis?" Jadelya asked in surprise. She also saw the airships passing overhead, noting the Einhorn family emblem.

After a moment of thought, she turned to Rekton and asked uncertainly, "The Divine War phenomenon that appeared over the Northern Province last time—according to my observations, it seemed that the 'War God' stood opposite the 'God of Steam and Machinery'; why did Fusak switch sides so quickly?"

"The gods have no camps, only interests, perhaps also grudges—the grudge of the Giant King's Court being annihilated."

Rekton shook his head calmly; the War God's changing allegiance didn't surprise him much, "The Ancient Sun God is equally despised by every being that survived from the ancient ages."

Jadelya furrowed her brows slightly, nodded lightly, agreeing with Rekton's view, then asked with some concern,

"If that's the case, the Southern Continent will have too many enemies to face."

"At present, that seems to be the case," Rekton said softly, avoiding further discussion. He turned to Frank and asked, "Do you still have any mushrooms? I'm going to send some gifts to those airships in the sky."

Frank shook his head and said:

"Um, they should all have been cleared by you; the laboratory's materials were also destroyed, otherwise I could have cultivated some again."

Frank's words made the surrounding pirates' bodies involuntarily shiver, recalling the unpleasant memory.

Nina glared at Frank and shouted loudly,

"Don't let me see any more mushrooms, or I'll throw you into the sea to wash your brain out."

Rekton shook his head regretfully, refocused his gaze on Jadelya, and said calmly,

"I have spare Prophecy Master traits; if you need, after digesting the Mystic Scholar's Demon Elixir, you can trade with me for them."

Jadelya nodded, didn't refuse, and casually asked, "What kind of reward do you require?"

Rekton bowed slightly and said the plan he had already thought out: "After war breaks out, intercept some fleets from Intis and Fusak in the Suniya Sea; this is a commission for all pirates and adventurers, you can help spread the word."

"If you encounter danger or an unsolvable problem, you can pray directly to the Hidden Sage; He will answer you."

"I will give you knowledge that helps you digest the Mystic Scholar's Demon Elixir; you don't have to wait for the war to end—once you finish the elixir, you can directly request the Prophecy Master trait from me."

As he spoke, Rekton raised his hand and lightly pressed the empty space beside him; pale blue light rippled outward, forming a door whose destination was unknown.

Rekton reached through the doorway, retrieved a stack of parchment‑bound books he had prepared earlier, and handed them to Jadelya.

These are compilations of stories and legends that can draw power, create magic or sorcery, along with some advanced or niche mystic knowledge.

Having finished this, he abandoned his plan to investigate the Future's sea routes and decided to first resolve the Fusak airship issue.

He grabbed the Tu Ba Ge standing at his feet; the man and the rabbit's bodies swiftly vaporized, breaking down into streams of tangled knowledge that surged outward from the cabin.

Jadelya surveyed the crew with her gaze, then spoke calmly,

"Clean the cabin, then set sail; before nightfall dock at the nearest port; we need essential supplies."

"No problem, Captain; I think we should also discard some hazardous items from the Future."

Chief Navigator Aotuoluofu nodded in agreement, and finally he also glared at Fulanke; those mushrooms made him deeply understand what it means to be helpless in middle age.

In the Spirit Realm, countless chaotic streams of information swiftly converged, reforming into the silhouettes of Leikeddun and Tu Ba Ge.

Tu Ba Ge tugged at Leikeddun's shirt hem, hehehed twice, reached into his fluffy belly and pulled out a thumb-sized pale green glass bottle, handing it to Leikeddun and saying:

I collected a few of those mushrooms' expelled spores on the deck earlier; I can use spiritual power to catalyze their growth speed, letting these spores quickly take root on the airship.

Leikeddun's gaze swept over Tu Ba Ge back and forth, discovering that beneath its gray fur lay many items, neatly sorted and arranged.

He reached over and ruffled Tu Ba Ge's head, then said, half-laughing, half-exasperated:

Where did you learn this trick? By using a biologist's control over its own hair, you directly hid small items in its fur.

(End of chapter)