Chapter 93: Sea Charge Knight, the Bane of Fish-Men!

Half a month later.

The eastern sea area of White Sturgeon Island, a hidden small bay concealed by trees.

A small boat about 15 meters long and 3 meters wide, somewhat resembling a modern speedboat but with a strong otherworldly style, streamlined, slowly slid into the water.

Splash~~

After the small boat with a black hue tinged with blue entered the water, it swayed slightly in the sea, then immediately regained balance.

It showed excellent hull stability.

On the secret pier of the bay, many people stood.

There were high-ranking officials from the Naval Department, the best boat and ship craftsmen from White Sturgeon Island, the weapon-research mage Jiatelan, Alonso who specializes in electric machinery, and Weige who studies steel-water potions naturally came as well.

Luosen was certainly there as well.

And this small boat in the water is the creation that gathers White Sturgeon Island's highest magical achievements.

Its formal academic name is 《Hardened Clay, Hybrid Power, Rune Combat Speedboat》.

A very peculiar name.

Because it was the first trial run, and possibly the world's first lightning-propelled speedboat, no one dared to operate it.

Luosen jumped aboard without hesitation.

He was bold, because he was piloting a puppet substitute.

"I'll take charge of steering, but I still need three companions: one to control the Lightning Torrent Ballista, one for defense, and one to tend the furnace fire."

"Why tend the furnace fire? Because although the boat is small, it is a warship, and warships must consider all-weather combat."

"Although it's electric-driven, the energy absorbed from light-conductors is insufficient for a warship to go all-out, so we must burn coal."

"Where does the coal come from? It's mined from the mountains beside Heishi Zhen; indeed, Heishi Zhen got its name from this."

"That mountain has a coal mine with modest reserves; Luosen estimates less than ten million tons, but it's enough for their small island for a long time."

"Moreover, Weilan Giant Island has abundant coal, especially in the Northern Prefecture, so we'll never lack fuel in the future."

"Burning coal, we convert light-to-lightning into fire-to-lightning to charge the Medium Lightning House, then the Lightning House drives the Hercules Electric Motor, thus propelling the speedboat to race across the sea."

"This is called 'hybrid power'."

"Also, thanks to the addition of magic, the thermal efficiency of the furnace after combustion is especially high, reaching 65%; this is still due to the test vessel being rather crude."

"Seeing Lord Luosen aboard, Harry also jumped aboard: 'I'll take charge of the Torrent Ballista!'"

"He jumped into the middle of the speedboat and gripped the handle of the ship-mounted Torrent Ballista."

"Weige thought for a moment, then also jumped aboard, sitting beside Luosen: 'I'm responsible for detecting underwater life and activating the Lightning Defense Array.'"

"Alonso chuckled: 'I'll tend the furnace fire; this is fun.'"

"The speedboat has four seats total; they were quickly filled, and everyone took their positions."

"The people on shore watched with a mixture of amazement and anxiety, fearing something might go wrong."

"Yuepu reminded: 'My lord, please go slow; I always feel this thing isn't very reliable.'"

"He has relied on the lord for his livelihood in the second half of his life."

"Luosen laughed heartily: 'Don't worry, I've mastered every technical detail of this small warship and checked it many times; there will definitely be no problems.'"

"As he spoke, he raised his hand and pressed the power switch."

"Whoooo~~~"

"The Hercules Rune Electric Motor produced on the assembly line immediately started running; the entire speedboat gave a light shudder, began to vibrate slightly, like a beast gathering strength."

"Luosen slowly turned the round steering wheel, adjusted the underwater rudder, and with one foot pressed the accelerator pedal to control power, letting the small craft turn bit by bit in the water, then aimed it toward the open sea."

"Although the speed was slow, it was the first time controllable power other than sails and oars appeared in this world, and the dockworkers watched in amazement."

"Those aboard the small boat, however, were both nervous and anxious, yet also eager and excited."

"Soon, Luosen adjusted the direction and called out lightly: 'Everyone, hold on tight~~'"

"After the three had prepared, he firmly gripped the steering wheel with both hands and gradually increased the throttle."

"Whooo~ hahahahaha~~~"

"The boat's noise grew louder, its speed increased, the specially designed bow lifted slightly, the special windshield blocked the headwind, but the side wind noise gradually became fierce."

"Everyone's hair was blown into a wild, frenzied dance."

"How fast!"

"Weige felt a bit panicked, one hand gripping the fixed handle tightly."

"The battle mage Harry was not afraid at all; on the contrary, he was very excited."

"He shouted loudly: 'Faster~~ faster~~~'"

"Luosen then said: 'Alonso, stoke the fire more fiercely~~'"

"Alonso immediately shoveled more black coal into the furnace and simultaneously opened the side air inlet specially designed for it."

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~~"

"The coal chunks burned fiercely, giving off great heat, then the rune array transformed it into both fierce and orderly Lightning Power."

"Whooo whooo whooo whooo~~~"

"Splash splash splash~"

"The speedboat's speed suddenly surged greatly, the bow lifted higher, and the hull and stern spray went crazy flying backward."

"The speed had already reached 70 kilometers per hour, even faster than ordinary speedboats on Earth, far surpassing all sailing warships of this world."

"The spectators on the dock watched as the speedboat raced wildly across the sea, each unable to help showing an expression of shock."

"No one expected that this small boat, when it ran, would have such astonishing momentum, such lightning speed! Look at the great white waves trailing behind, look at the triangular waves spreading on both sides of the hull—it's practically a beast! Someone shouted: 'This is the sea's charge knight!'"

"This description was spot-on, and everyone nodded in agreement."

"On the speedboat, Luosen steadily controlled the hull and shouted aloud."

Look, there are Sea Fishman over there~~Did you see, left side of the ship, 300 meters out~~

"Harry, shoot them fiercely!"

Harry had wanted to try it for a while; he immediately adjusted the torrent crossbow, aimed at the Sea Fishman, and pulled the specially designed trigger.

'Whoosh~whoosh~whoosh~~'

The specially designed ship-mounted torrent crossbow had its range greatly increased, reaching an extreme of 380 meters.

The single-shot power also greatly increased, reaching intermediate spell strength.

The rate of fire slightly decreased, to six shots per second.

The specially designed bolt magazine has a huge capacity, reaching an astonishing 1000 bolts! One could see fist-sized lightning orbs scattering across the sea surface; upon hitting the water, they quickly burst open, turning into a large cluster of azure electric sparks.

At high speed it's hard to aim; Harry was also doing this for the first time, his hand was a bit unsteady, so that group of Sea Fishman wasn't directly hit.

But seawater is an excellent conductor of electricity; once a point is hit, a large area of water becomes electrified, leaving no escape! After a bout of lightning torment, a dozen or so Sea Fishman corpses floated up in the water. 'Exhilarating~~exhilarating~~hahahaha~~'

Harry roared loudly, his finger on the trigger never letting go.

The Sea Fishman were suddenly attacked; of course they didn't accept it, immediately turning around to pursue.

After chasing for a while, they discovered they couldn't catch that strange thing on the sea.

This thing is really too fast!

If they can't catch up, they'll try to block from the side.

There are many Sea Fishman in the eastern sea area of White Sturgeon Island; they communicate via biological ultrasonics underwater, and their tactical coordination is quite formidable.

"Weige, the Sea Fishman are coming; get ready to activate the lightning storm at any moment!"

"Okay."

Weige felt a little scared, yet also felt a strong sense of stimulation, causing her responses to change tone.

Feeling that Weige was ready, Luosen turned around and charged into the Sea Fishman encirclement.

A dozen or so Sea Fishman immediately lunged from the seabed on both sides.

When they were seen approaching to about thirty meters, Weige suddenly activated the lightning storm beneath the boat.

The lightning storm is of high intensity, charged by the ship's lightning chamber; without affecting power, it can be fired once every fifteen seconds.

'Whoosh~~~~'

Centered on the small boat, a cluster of azure electric light exploded on the sea surface; this is only the surface situation, though the seabed cannot be seen, it would be even more violent.

A dozen or so Sea Fishman immediately lost movement and floated up.

Harry laughed loudly: 'Hahaha~~~This is practically a Sea Fishman slaughter ship!'

Feeling it was about enough, Luosen turned around and returned to the hidden bay dock.

He also wasn't worried about the dock being attacked by Sea Fishman, because the dock is equipped with shore-defense torrent crossbows, and the seabed under the dock has a lightning storm magic array installed.

Whenever Sea Fishman approach, a dozen or so lightning torrent crossbows will greet them, which they can hardly withstand; moreover, the Sea Fishman can be lured in and cooked all together.

Soon, the small boat returned to the dock and, under Luosen's control, slowly came to a stop.

The four people on the small boat all stood up and disembarked, then saw a group of almost petrified spectators standing on shore.

Luosen smiled: 'The performance exceeded expectations, right?'

Yup was the first to react: 'Simply an invincible war god!'

He had never seen such a fast and fierce small boat, not even in his dreams; he guessed you couldn't find one even in the Natural God Kingdom.

Luosen, however, shook his head: 'We're still far from invincible; we can only bully Sea Fishman, but it's hard to affect a true naval warship.'

Currently, sailing warships may be clumsy, but their attack and defense are still quite formidable; there are many strong individuals on board, and a joint-cast long-range curse strike could cause great trouble for the ship's crew.

Yup immediately said: 'As long as there are enough numbers, swarming them like a wolf pack, we can still fight.'

Harry also said: 'Right, right, right—not only do we need many numbers, but the lightning crossbows also need to be stronger, with longer range; although 380 meters is decent now, it's still insufficient, because I've heard that on the southern fleet there are many deadly weapons that can shoot even farther.'

This poses a challenge to those weapon-research mages of Gartlan.

He frowned and said: '380 meters is already the limit for lightning balls; to go farther, one would either need arcane magic or only be able to use force-propelled projectile weapons.'

Luosen laughed: 'Let's go back and discuss these thoroughly; we just need to find ways to improve.'

Although this speedboat is fierce, its endurance is poor; it can only show off near White Sturgeon Island, achieving coastal denial.

Adding a large supply ship would greatly increase endurance, but that is a plan for later.

'What's most important now is to build more small warships, at least a hundred, to establish a unique navy for our White Sturgeon Island.'

Although these small warships are easy to build, the cost is not low either; the hard cost per ship is about 1500 Ogre, so a hundred ships would be 150,000 Ogre, not counting subsequent usage and maintenance expenses.

However, most people present basically aren't clear about this; they all think that since the lord has spoken, there must be no problem.

Except for Weige.

She turned her head to glance at Luosen, saw his heroic bearing, and thus didn't say anything on the spot.

Luosen then said: 'Everyone, let's give this little thing a name, everyone?'

Everyone immediately became interested and started coming up with names.

Things like Sturgeon Guest, Wild Wolf Vessel, Sea-Flying Arrow, a bunch of miscellaneous ideas; after a final discussion, they unanimously decided on the name 'Fishman Bane'.

Thus, the 'Fishman Bane' that makes Sea Fishman tremble at the wind was officially born on White Sturgeon Island.

Next, naturally, it was mass-produced.

On the return trip, Luosen suddenly received a whisper from Weige: 'My lord, a hundred Fishman Banes aren't cheap; other places on the island are also spending money quickly.'

Besides researching warships, the island is also undertaking large-scale construction.

Using 'Yellow Clay' iron medicine, they are building a brand-new Magic Method Laboratory, Magic Method Academy, and even ports, roads, etc., burning money faster than burning firewood.

Besides that, various magic method researches are also bottomless pits.

As the head of the Magic Method Department, she already regards herself as part of White Sturgeon Island, and worries that Luosen's lavish spending will lead to the island's bankruptcy.

Luosen sensed her worry, smiled, and said: 'My department head, without martial power to protect interests, is just an unclaimed gold mine.'

"If you happen to come across an unclaimed gold mine in the wild, would you claim it?"

Weige was startled, looked up at Luosen, her dark‑blue eyes unblinking: "Gold mine? Does the island have a gold mine? I thought the island was very barren."

Luosen turned his head toward her, recalling the character data gathered by the Detect Guard seal, and knew she was already set on following him.

Since that's the case, it's time to give her some confidence.

He whispered, "Bird droppings in the forest are abundant—so many that it's astonishing. And they're the best fertilizer."

This White Sturgeon Island, nicknamed Bird‑Poop Island, has always been a derogatory name, but only Luosen knows that in these times of chaos, it's damn more valuable than a gold mine!

A gold mine can't be eaten or drunk, but the crop yield boosted by bird droppings can truly sustain people.

According to his preliminary survey, the phosphate formed from bird droppings deposited over billions of years in the forest amounts to at least 150 million tons.

Ten years ago, a ton of bird droppings sold for 2 Ogres, but in recent years it has quietly risen to 4 Ogres.

Don't be fooled by the small base; that's a doubling.

With a reserve of 150 million tons at 4 Ogres per ton—and it may get even pricier—Luosen can't even imagine how explosive the news would be if it spread! Therefore, without sufficient armed escort, he would never sell bird droppings on a large scale, not even a single ton!

Weige, of course, also knows the mainland situation, so when Luosen said a word, she understood.

Because she understood, her heartbeat and breathing both accelerated sharply.

After a few seconds of silence, she seemed to have made up her mind.

"Lord, after we return, I need to tell you something—a secret about my mentor and the royal family."

(End of chapter)