Chapter 33: The Island Lord's Ocean Territory

One week later, in the morning.

Pleasant weather, sunny and cloudless for miles.

On a stretch of blue sea, a large sea turtle over five meters in diameter was swiftly and steadily swimming across the surface.

Strangely, two ordinary-looking young men sat cross-legged on the turtle's wide, flat back.

The two were Luosen and Luosen's No. 1 Puppet Levin, Sage.

Of course, both had carefully disguised themselves with Transformation Technique, and this sea turtle, encountered by chance while flying, became their temporary mount.

The otherworldly giant turtle's swimming speed far exceeded that of an earth turtle; carrying two people, its cruising speed reached 50 kilometers per hour.

Although its speed was only a quarter of that of Flight Spell, it was effortless and safe—a natural-powered biological ocean vessel.

At past ten in the morning, the giant turtle brought the two to a shallow sea thick with reefs and dotted with small islands—the middle waters of White Sturgeon, Shengan, and Hank Islands.

"Stop~~"

Luosen used a mental suggestion on the turtle beneath him: "Feed freely nearby, but don't go too far."

"Ha~xi~"

The turtle exhaled from its nose and dove into the water, disappearing.

Luosen and the puppet Levin flew up onto a nearby black reef exposed above the sea.

After finding a flat spot on the reef to sit, Luosen reached out to Levin before him, filling the Philosopher's Stone within him with mana, then silently chanted.

"Laifu, link to the control core of No. 1."

"Linked."

Luosen felt his vision brighten slightly, and suddenly an extra window view appeared—the world as seen through Sage Levin's eyes.

With a slight thought, this extra view became Luosen's main vision, while his own vision receded to the background, displaying the words "On alert."

Luosen's thoughts stirred, and he thought about standing up.

His own body didn't move, but Sage Levin's body rose at his will, becoming completely Luosen's stand-in.

This feeling was like playing a VR game on Earth, except Levin's viewpoint had a 360-degree blind-spot-free angle.

The reason was that Luosen had also installed a pair of Insight Eyes at the back of Levin's head.

After taking control of the puppet, Luosen first used the third-tier Air Element flight spell "Eagle's Wing."

In a faint greenish light, a strong airflow pushed Sage Levin into the sky.

The so-called Air Element refers to a series of highly efficient airflow-controlling spells.

The drawback of this school is that its use produces a green light and creates a big commotion.

Its advantages are low acquisition threshold, simple casting, low mana consumption during flight, and decent speed.

In short, this is far from the best flight spell, but Luosen has no choice but to use it.

Because he had mastered only three flight spells, and this one suited the current situation best.

With the airflow propelling him, Sage Levin swiftly shot up to high altitude, looking down from nearly a kilometer above the sea.

The sea water was blue-green, in many places even yellow-green, indicating shallow water and abundant plankton—a natural fishing ground.

At high altitude, he again used the Arcane Element spell "Levitation" to maintain height, and the Light Element spell "Eagle Eye" to observe sea-surface details.

Faintly visible in the water were much seaweed, cold-water coral, swimming fish schools, and odd clumps of algae drifting here and there on the surface.

These algae clumps were generally round, averaging 30 to 100 meters in size, with one appearing every few kilometers of sea.

On these algae clumps could be seen many strange creatures resembling humanoid toads.

"World Bestiary" says: "Their skin is tough and smooth, belly white back black, limbs webbed, they breathe with lungs but have auxiliary gills on the ribs, allowing short breath-holds in water; shaped like giant frogs, they are Sea Fishmen."

Luosen had only seen crude illustrations in books before; now he saw the real thing for the first time.

He felt both the astonishment of an earthling seeing something new and the worries of a lord.

"This shallow sea spans over two hundred kilometers; it should be an extension of Weilan Giant Island's continental shelf, and judging by the color it is indeed rich, but it is already claimed."

"World Bestiary" also says: "Sea Fishmen have low intelligence, are brutally violent, have strong territorial instincts, especially like to attack passing ships, making them the top menace of navigation."

His father often wrote him letters while alive, describing the situation of White Sturgeon Island.

The letters also said that around White Sturgeon Island it was basically impossible to go out to sea to fish, and coastal areas were frequently harassed by Sea Fishmen; thus, although it is an island, it is essentially insulated from seafood, and the table only has freshwater fish caught inland on the island.

"Judging by the condition and density of the algae nests, this sea area likely holds hundreds of thousands of Sea Fishmen."

"Mm~ Now I've got my hands full."

After having Sage Levin scout the vicinity in a large circle, Luosen directly employed Flight Spell to go inspect the two islands given as the Princess's dowry.

Flight Spell can fly high, and Eagle Eye can see far; used together they greatly reduce flight distance, naturally saving mana.

Otherwise, given the breadth of this sea, Luosen would run out of mana and crash before reaching his destination.

Not long after, Luosen had a rough understanding of the uninhabited Shengan and Hank Islands.

Shengan Island lies at the northernmost point of the triangular sea, irregularly round, about ten kilometers across, and is the third largest island in this sea area.

It is a volcanic island; the island is pitch black, with no grass growing, and several places still belch thick black smoke.

"If you have time, come prospect for ore—you might gain something."

Hank Island lies to the southeast of the triangular sea, its shape resembling a curled-up caterpillar.

Its diameter is about twenty-plus kilometers; the island's terrain is flat, all plains, and it possesses a fairly deep sheltered harbor.

The good news is that Hank Island teems with life, covered by a dense forest.

From Hank Island, heading southeast about a thousand kilometers or more, one reaches the Levinde Kingdom of the White Continent.

If developed, it could fully serve as a midway supply stop on the trade route from White Sturgeon Island to the Levinde Kingdom.

The bad news is that that very fine natural harbor's sheltered bay is precisely the Sea Fishmen's lair, where the fishmen are packed even tighter than sardine schools.

"Looks like I've locked horns with the Sea Fishmen."

Full of feeling, Luosen once again mounted the turtle's back, letting Laifu meditate to restore expended mana while heading to White Sturgeon Island, the largest of his three islands and the closest to Weilan Giant Island.

After arriving near White Sturgeon Island, Luosen repeated his trick, found a safe place to hide, and controlled Sage Levin to fly up high to scout the island's situation.

White Sturgeon Island is large; unknown experts may be hiding on it.

To avoid accidents, Luosen had Levin fly at an altitude of five kilometers, as slow as possible, minimizing flight noise.

His father had shown him a map of White Sturgeon Island, which is now recorded in Laifu's database.

Thus, Luosen flew while verifying the map in his mind against the terrain.

First, White Sturgeon Island is indeed quite large.

Overall it is a north‑south oriented ellipsis, over 80 km long north‑south and over 50 km wide east‑west, a continental island formed by a mountain range uplifted from the continental shelf.

Therefore, the main body of White Sturgeon Island is a north‑south mountain range called the Crescent Mountain Range.

The highest peak of the range is Dragon Sleep Snow Peak, where a white snowcap can be seen at the summit.

Luosen estimates the mountain is over three thousand meters high; besides snow, the summit is just rubble, showing no sign of life.

After thinking, he landed at an open spot on the summit to conserve mana and overlook the whole island.

Everything was normal, but the moment Sage Levin's body touched the ground, Luosen felt an odd sensation under his feet.

"Huh~ This stone is weird!"

At a glance it looks like ordinary weathered sandstone, but the texture feels unusually hard, with a faint metallic feel. Luosen immediately became interested, pressed his hands to the ground, and used Transmutation Alchemy to analyze it carefully.

"Stone—no, it should be that this whole land contains a strange magical energy."

"This magical energy has a peculiar effect: it can metallize objects, possibly emitted by some kind of metal‑type magical device—but where is that device hidden?"

The energy is too dilute and the peak too broad; we can't figure it out quickly.

The only thing we can be sure of is that the Crescent Mountain Range, especially the interior of Dragon Sleep Snow Peak, likely hides some secret.

"Hmm~ Once I take White Sturgeon Island, I'll search thoroughly."

"No, that's wrong—since unknown secrets are hidden, I must act more cautiously."

As for now, naturally we continue to scout White Sturgeon Island's situation.

Standing on the island's highest peak and using Eagle Eye to look down, I see the whole range like a curved blade splitting the island into east and west.

The good news is that the Crescent Mountain Range's moon‑arc bulges eastward, so the east is mountainous while the west is clearly flatter and more spacious.

The bad news is that the island is still mainly mountainous, occupying two‑thirds of its total area.

Although there are plains, they are fragmented by the mountains into disarray, making communication between them very difficult.

Among the plains, the largest six pieces include the biggest, Crescent River Valley, which is the main territory of the Saxon Baron.

After looking around, Luosen let out a soft sigh.

"No wonder that for such a tiny place, my father enfeoffed five knights—he really had no choice."

The mountainous terrain between any two plains is extremely hard to traverse, a natural fortress and choke point.

On the way, one also faces the threat of forest spirits in the woods; using traditional rule, each plain can only be autonomously governed as a fief.

In other words, although the whole White Sturgeon Island nominally belongs to the Saxon Family, the family's actual controlled territory is only Crescent River Valley—less than one‑tenth of the island's area.

After surveying the island and getting a rough grasp of its terrain, Luosen took off again, heading straight for Crescent River Valley.

As the island's largest plain, it also has the most population, with farmland and houses visible everywhere on the ground.

As he watched, Luosen noticed something off: "Huh~ Why are they fighting again?"

He saw two groups of raggedly clothed people fighting in the fields; most combatants were peasants, with a few wearing leather armor and riding thin horses.

The fight was quite intense; the winter wheat planted in the fields was trampled into ruin.

Luosen immediately used an Invisibility Spell and went down to observe.

After about half an hour he figured out the general situation and couldn't help sighing again.

"Heh~~ These knights are actually stirring up internal strife."

Why the internal strife? The island's five knights have split into two factions, vying for the position of Supreme Lord of White Sturgeon Island.

Luosen's feeling is that two skinny wild dogs are fighting over a bone with no meat.

As soon as he made that analogy, he felt it was a bit off and quickly tapped his own mouth.

"Slap slap, how could I curse myself as a wild dog?"

Since there is war on the island, Luosen became even more cautious.

He gave up flying and instead used the ground‑accelerating Force‑Element spell Wild Wolf Charge, which balances speed and stealth, the drawback being high energy consumption.

He headed straight for White Sturgeon Island's only city, Crescent City.

Though called a city, its scale is actually no bigger than a small town in Chenxi Territory; from afar it looks like a slum.

The baron's letter says White Sturgeon Island has no proper mages, only some low‑class wandering wizards whose magic is at best intermediate and utterly messy.

So, after using the Invisibility Spell, Luosen strode openly into the city.

First he asked around in the city for the latest island news, got a general idea, then sneaked into the baron's Crescent Castle to check on the relatives of this body.

The relatives remaining for this body are two: a mother and a twelve‑year‑old sister.

Luosen feels no personal affection for them, but since he has taken over their son's flesh, he naturally bears the duty of care.

After quietly observing, he found the castle had already been seized by a band of rebels, whose leader is none other than Luosen's maternal uncle.

Those two women have been driven to the rear courtyard's prayer shrine.

"Mm, the mother's letter didn't mention this; it must have happened after the letter was written."

After further observation, he found they have enough food and drink, with an old steward and a few servants attending to their daily needs, so there is no real danger.

It makes sense, after all—no one cares about a helpless widow and orphan who can't even tie a chicken, especially since these women have a son studying magic in Dawn City.

He currently finds it inconvenient to take the two women away; to avoid accidents, he uses Levin as a spell conduit, personally casts, and quietly grants the two women a high‑tier Lucky Blessing.

This is a wonderful, extremely covert yet immensely powerful mysterious Fate‑Element spell.

The blessing's effect is similar to "inverting cause and effect" or "Word Follows Law."

The incantation is: "My mother (my sister), I wish you could avoid all misfortune and wait intact for my return."

It seems like an ordinary sentence, but each sentence consumes a full twenty percent of Luosen's mana.

But this alone is still not enough for complete safety, because the essence of all spells is power; spell techniques can amplify power, but this amplification is not unlimited.

This blessing can only interfere in the mortal world thirty times; after that many activations, it becomes useless.

The rebel leader is his maternal uncle in the flesh; as long as he makes him wary, the consumption of the blessing's power can be greatly reduced.

Thus he had Levin leave the castle, go to the Crescent City district, and quietly spread the news that the baron's eldest son would soon return in force.

Considering he can only stay outside for at most two weeks, this powerful blessing plus the deterrent effect of that news should be absolutely safe.

After doing these, the investigation of the territory was also nearly finished.

Luosen did not leave directly, because his mana was exhausted.

First he found a safe place to meditate for over two hours, recovering about sixty percent of his mana, then he set off again, flying back to Shire County across the sea.

Around three in the afternoon, he returned to the southern fields of Shire County; after all that exertion, his internal mana was still about fifty percent, but Levin simply exhausted his strength completely.

Luosen sighed inwardly: "The Flight Spell really consumes a lot of energy."

Moreover, the remote control limit of forty kilometers for Sage Levin is barely sufficient in Dawn City, but too short in the new territory; we need to find a way to increase it.

He found a secluded spot by the roadside woods to sit, letting Laifu cultivate in the background to recover mana while he waited.

About an hour later, he transferred all the recovered mana to Levin, leaving only ten percent for himself as emergency reserve.

At that moment, a high-end travel carriage approached from afar.

Outside the carriage followed a rider, namely the mercenary Klub.

Seated at the front of the carriage were Ailiya and Stonard, two trusted attendants who also handled driving the carriage.

On the outer seats behind the carriage sat Alonso and Weige, two mages.

Inside the carriage, Luosen's second puppet doppelgänger was curled up in a corner pretending to sleep, while Selena was seriously browsing a spellbook.

Luosen quietly caught up, found a chance to stop and rest, swapped places with the second puppet, pretended to sleep for a while, then "woke" up.

"Shitou, are we almost to Shialin?"

Shialin is the capital of Shire County.

"Master, according to the roadside farmers, we'll get there in at most an hour."

"Oh~~ great, then let's rest inside Shialin city tonight."

(End of chapter)