Chapter 261

"Sister saved a weirdo, and he doesn't even say thank you—just stares at those rotten vegetable leaves." Aivi pouted, furious.

He's the chubby adventurer who parachuted over the Black Mountain Court and got stuck on the roof.

Lily had a different view: "No, he's quite handsome. You call my sister's plants rotten leaves? You're dead."

"Handsome my foot, your taste needs a complete overhaul. What else are they if not rotten leaves? A single Chinese cabbage on land grows no longer than an arm and weighs three or four jin. Her box holds stalks that are dry and yellow, tasteless, and barely alive." Aivi snapped.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You never eat less—every time, you're the first to grab."

"Ugh…" Aivi scratched his head. "No vegetables, skin gets rough, breath stinks, gums bleed, you get sick easy—I only eat them reluctantly."

The two bickered quietly at the bow; Jielisi, at the stern, smirked slightly and offered no further introduction to Ang.

Though on this otherworldly sea everyone was human and mutual aid was expected, having no ill intent didn't mean forgetting caution—Ang had instantly seen the key advantage of her garden, and that made her wary.

Anyone could grow vegetables on the airship, but "no soil" was her own invention—and it held great value here.

Why was it valuable "on this sea"?

Because the main plane had land—even the most barren soil, once tilled, yielded more than her soilless crops.

Soilless crops required frequent water changes, but the main plane's sea was salty, and fresh water was scarce—impossible to waste on farming.

Only this freshwater sea offered endless supply, and with constant need for vegetables on long voyages, soilless farming gained its worth.

Realizing this, Jielisi suddenly understood: if it was only valuable here, wasn't that the same as being worthless? Why hide it?

Realizing this, Jielisi openly explained: "These are soilless crops. Just keep stems and leaves out of the water—only the roots submerged. Many plants can grow in water. Just change the water often, don't let it rot and spoil the vegetables. But crops in water grow slowly and yield little—only practical on airships."

Ang squatted before the soilless box, studying it intently, showing no reaction to Jielisi's words—whether he heard or not, no one could tell.

Nagelis wasn't worried Ang wouldn't hear—he was unusually sensitive to anything growing. His silence came from habit; Nagelis usually spoke to him and got no response.

Nagelis knew his nature, but others didn't—his complete lack of reaction seemed rude. Ang had already spoken; Nagelis couldn't speak for him, so she urged: "Give some reaction."

Ang tilted his head, glanced at Jielisi, and said: "Thank you."

Jielisi was genuinely annoyed—saved you, no thanks; explained soilless farming, no reaction—are you some noble lord?

Unexpectedly, Ang turned back to thank her. Jielisi froze, then hurriedly replied: "No need, no need—we're all human, mutual aid is natural."

At the same time, she realized: this child isn't rude—he's just slow to react. Oh, how pitiful.

Ang, deemed slow to react, felt his soul-heart pounding rapidly—his consciousness repeatedly scanned the soilless crops and their container, integrating Jielisi's explanation, quickly grasping the essentials.

The real value here lay only in the concept. Even without mastering the details, if someone told Ang "you can grow vegetables without soil," this professional gardener skeleton could immediately deduce every point by comparison.

So Jielisi's explanation didn't matter at all—Ang already knew vegetables could grow without soil.

After observing, Ang instinctively reached into his palm—but only then remembered: his palm held the Fire of Many Beliefs, and he couldn't reach into the Palace of Rest.

Instead, Jielisi noticed the holy flame in his palm and asked in surprise: "Holy flame? Are you from the Church of Light?"

Ang tilted his head.

"You're such a dumb kid, forget it. Want something to eat?" Jielisi snapped—no nod, no shake, just a head tilt—what does that mean?

But her wariness lessened slightly—in this otherworld, the Church of Light was a force one could rely on.

Ang shook his head.

Not shaking was fine—but once he did, Jielisi grew angrier: "So you can shake your head? Ah! I'm furious! Stay put, don't touch my crops—I'm going to raise the sails."

Nagelis burst out laughing—another person driven mad by Ang. She loved this: everyone else got angry, and her heart felt better.

But then she saw something that made her blood boil: Ang picked up the holy flame in his hand and, in two bites, devoured it.

That little wisp of soul-fire should have taken a month or two to consume—and Ang swallowed it in two bites? Then why didn't he eat it earlier?

Oh—he was saving it for the little wisp.

Then why eat it now?

Ang reached into the Palace of Rest and pulled out a large wooden barrel.

Nagelis went berserk: "Damn it! You devoured the Fire of Many Beliefs just to reach in and pull out a barrel? You want to use this barrel to grow vegetables?"

Ang nodded.

"Damn it! Didn't you say you couldn't extinguish it? Now you're eager to grow vegetables, but back home you're lazy? You ate the Fire of Many Beliefs—what will the little wisp eat?" Nagelis roared inside Ang's soul.

This dead skeleton could extinguish the Fire of Many Beliefs—but lied and said he couldn't. Now that he had vegetables to grow, he snuffed it out. Wasn't he infuriating?

"Ahh~" Ang opened his mouth—the Fire of Many Beliefs blazed inside, not extinguished, merely relocated.

Nagelis blinked: "So you could've moved it—why didn't you move it and go back earlier?"

"Boring." Ang muttered.

"Boring? What's boring?" Nagelis thought she misheard, repeating it—could this simple-minded skeleton actually find something boring?

Ang muttered: "Running around, no time to farm—boring."

Hey! Hearing such an emotional statement from Ang, Nagelis's first reaction wasn't shock—it was excitement. This dumb skeleton actually found something boring?

Because he found it boring, he didn't want to return quickly—so he avoided the truth, saying he couldn't extinguish the Fire of Many Beliefs, but didn't mention he could move it. Was this growth?

Before, Ang only pretended not to hear—when he didn't want to do something, he ignored it. But after Nagelis urged him a few times, he'd still comply.

Now—he was learning to dodge the hard parts.

"Haha, great! We won't go back, won't go back—let's stay here and farm properly." Nagelis was delighted by Ang's growth.

Today he learned to dodge the hard parts; tomorrow he'd learn to cut corners; the day after, he'd learn to cheat and deceive—he wouldn't be a dumb skeleton for long.

Ang placed the barrel beside the airship, waved his hand—the sea's water spiraled upward like a whirlwind, pouring into the barrel until it was full.

Everyone else on the airship was startled by Ang's action; Jielisi shouted urgently: "No, no! The airship will capsize!"

As Jielisi spoke, the airship slowly tilted.

The barrel Ang pulled out was a large wine cask—holding about one cubic meter of water, weighing a ton. The four people and one skeleton aboard weighed less than half that—and the barrel sat on one side.

Ang pressed the barrel down and shoved it into the Palace of Rest—the tilted airship instantly righted itself.

"Whoa~ rich person." Far away, fat Aivi and Lily gasped in low whispers.

Jielisi also gasped, her expression stiffening.

She suddenly realized: she'd rescued someone extraordinary—perhaps he didn't need her rescue at all, which explained his rudeness—he didn't need anyone.

To store a barrel this large, water and all, in a storage space meant Ang possessed a very large storage artifact—such artifacts were extremely expensive.

For poor adventurers like her, even selling everything wouldn't buy a tiny storage artifact—maybe the size of two palms, enough for a few magic crystals, gems, or coins.

A device that could hold a barrel this big? She'd never even seen one. If Ang pulled out this barrel, wasn't it a natural float? It could stay on water—no need for rescue at all.

"By the way, I don't even know your name. We're the Moonship Mercenary Guild, under the Silver Guild, here to mine hollow bubble stone." Jielisi suddenly remembered she didn't know Ang's name—she instinctively used honorifics, no longer calling him "this child."

Silver Guild? Could it be this coincidental? Nagelis could no longer hold back: "Is your guildmaster not the gnome Silver Coin?"

The sudden voice from Ang startled everyone; Jielisi immediately went on guard: "Who are you?"

Nagelis hurriedly had Ang search and pull out a ring—the ring's face bore a silver coin, from which a skull's head emerged, its eye sockets inlaid with two sapphires.

Seeing the ring, Jielisi went rigid: "Big… Big Boss?! How are you here?"

"Is Silver Coin really your boss? Could the hollow bubble stone you gave us be the very ones you mined?" Nagelis was stunned.

Meeting two kids who'd crossed paths with the Black Mountain Court was one thing—but they were Silver Coin's people? And the hollow bubble stone Silver Coin gave them was mined by these very people? How could this be so coincidental?

Jielisi no longer cared why another voice came from Ang—she radiated the nervousness of meeting the Big Boss, babbling:

"Yes, yes, Boss, we mined the hollow bubble stone. You… you're here? On an inspection? We haven't slacked off—Silver Coin himself can vouch for us."

The Big Boss? That was Silver Coin's master.

The Silver Guild was now a colossal entity, its business reaching elf territories. The Moonship was among its lowest units—even her airship was Guild property.

If the Big Boss spoke, they'd have to swim home.

One ring made Jielisi tremble—Nagelis suddenly understood Silver Coin's power and quickly reassured: "No, we're not here to inspect—we're just passing through. We're very satisfied with your work—the hollow bubble stone works perfectly."

"Good, good! Please, Boss, sit down, sit down." Jielisi abandoned raising the sails, warmly inviting Ang.

"No, no, you carry on, don't bother with us." Nagelis hurriedly said—being a dragon who loved staying home, she was deeply uncomfortable with such warmth, and so was Ang.

"Right, I should raise the sails. Staying too long in one spot draws water monsters—they'll smell the scent and follow. Boss, you can take out the barrel if you want—it won't matter adding a ton or two, just place it on the centerline to avoid tilting." Jielisi smiled.

"Oh." Ang replied, immediately pulling out the barrel and placing it on the centerline, fussing with it alone.

"No principles—I can't even bring a few more jin aboard." Fat Aivi muttered from the bow, voice so low he feared Ang would hear.

Lily stayed silent, but another boy on the airship drifted over and whispered: "The airship belongs to the Guild. If it's overloaded, I'll throw you overboard first to reduce weight—not the Big Boss's barrel."

He was the airship's damage controller, a Guild employee—his loyalty lay with the Big Boss, not Jielisi.

"You…" Fat Aivi wanted to hit him.

Nagelis couldn't bear to watch Ang's "vegetables-over-everything" attitude—she turned away and chatted with Jielisi: "Are there water monsters here?"

"Of course. Water monster snakes—creatures with snake heads and fish tails, bloodthirsty and cruel, with keen noses—they can smell food from dozens of kilometers away. If we stay in the water too long, they follow. They even command giant sea monsters—hundreds of meters long, devastating power—fire a water jet and they can shoot down our airship."

"So powerful? Then let's run!" A hundred-meter sea monster? Terrifying. Ang had just used Dragon God Transformation—he couldn't use it again until it recovered.

Whether Dragon God Transformation or Rock Transformation, both were Druidic Ultimate Shape-shifting—sharing one recovery timer. Ang temporarily lost his ultimate ability.

Jielisi strained to raise the sails; others helped vigorously—but though the sails filled, the airship moved slowly.

Jielisi explained: "Sail airships move slowly when wet. First, build speed—then angle the wings properly against the water surface to generate ground-wing effect, lifting the airship off the water, then speed increases."

"Oh~" Nagelis feigned understanding, then immediately strained to think: What the hell is ground-wing effect?

As the airship slowly accelerated, a massive dorsal fin erupted from the distant sea—a colossal creature cut through the waves, speeding toward them.

A halo flashed behind Ang, then he murmured: "One hundred ten meters."

Jielisi heard the noise, turned, and screamed in panic: "Oh my god! Just talked about it—and here it comes! Sea monster! Giant sea monster! Quick, throw things overboard! Boss, can you store your barrel? Hurry! Dump the soilless water tank too—no time! If you want to live, throw it all out!"

The airship's damage controller instinctively glanced at Aivi—Aivi didn't hesitate, grabbed the mast.

Ang was displeased—store the barrel, fine, but dump the soilless water tank? That had vegetables in it. So what if it couldn't fly?