owlsbooks Chapter 18: Suddenly at the beginning, yet in the dim light.
Chapter 18: Suddenly at the beginning, yet in the dim light.
"Gah—Ugh—"
Seabirds circled above the island, occasionally darting down to leap over the sea.
After clearing today's dungeon, Miao Meng did not rush to exit. Instead, she transformed into a ship girl and released the "Hunter of Fortune" onto the sea next to the island.
"This feeling is really strange. In this form, what exactly are the ship girls and the main ship? I can't figure it out."
A cute little boy, 1.45 meters tall, stood on the beach looking at the huge sailboat in front of him with a strange expression on his face. Then he ran his hand over the railing, feeling the rough wood.
"Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly; was I the butterfly, or was I the butterfly?"
Miao Meng walked from the bow to the stern and for the first time gained a clear understanding of the ship's size. In the past, when he looked at the data, the ship was 22 meters long and 6.5 meters wide, which only made him think it was very big.
But it wasn't until he actually stood on the ship and personally experienced the distance from the bow to the stern that he gained a clear understanding of its size—it was essentially a large warehouse at sea.
It was longer and wider than two ordinary school classrooms joined together, and even much taller, no wonder it could accommodate a hundred people living on board.
"Now that we no longer have sailors and don't need to transport cargo, a complete armed transformation would consume too many resources. But I'm willing to do it. Just thinking about the future firepower makes my heart pound."
Miao Meng's once-adorable face now wore a bloodthirsty smile. Having obtained the ship's true data, he couldn't wait to begin its armed modifications.
Because of the limited time at lunchtime, he only conducted a few simple measurements and collected some data. After all, there are many more problems to solve if he were to actually make the modifications.
He had to calculate and create complete blueprints for every aspect of the modifications, including the ship's deck, keel, room partitions, cannon placement, and the painting of magic circles.
After exiting the instance, Miao Meng rode his bike back to school without stopping, but when he got back, he once again felt that there were large areas of flames in front of him.
However, unlike what he had seen a few days ago, the flames now appeared to him with a noticeable change in intensity, and their size was much larger than when they were in the suburbs.
Moreover, the wails and screams mixed in with the flames were much clearer, and some of them could even fully convey their meaning, rather than just being simple screams.
"(in a difficult language) Lord! Your servant awaits your gaze in the position of the Firebird star, with Ktugia residing in its flames."
"(Ancient saying) The void cracks, and form appears. The gate of formlessness follows my will—borrowing a shadow to conceal itself, it tears open the void at my command!"
After falling into the hallucination, Miao Meng did not move around randomly. Instead, he desperately expanded his senses, trying to discern more details from the incantations and find out who was chanting them.
After standing there for several minutes, Miao Meng snapped out of his hallucination and relaxed. He had a vague idea of what had happened between the two people in the flames.
Miao Meng couldn't guess who those who released and manipulated the flames were, but he could tell from the few classical phrases that followed that they were probably from the Civil Investigation Bureau.
In other words, the hallucinations he had experienced were not whispers of evil gods, but actual prophecies, since he had never been in contact with the Civil Investigation Bureau before.
After figuring out these details, Miao Meng began to analyze the linguistic information he had received. Judging from the appearance of the flames, it seemed that other forces had attacked the city.
Flames could be a symbol of war, a real magical effect, or even a symbol of some deity.
"In that case, we'll have to switch up our standard oddities. We'll need to equip both emergency shields and fire protection, just in case we're caught off guard."
The synchronization of a rare object cannot be accomplished simply by holding it in one's hand; it requires sustained concentration for more than a minute. Miao Meng's only consolation is that he has already obtained such a rare object.
Fireproof potion: A rare potion that reduces burn damage from flames when worn.
The potion itself has no fire-retardant effect; the fire-resistant properties come from the dragon scales soaking in it. Therefore, it should be used with care to avoid breaking the bottle.
Beloved: Oddity Pendant, Durability 3/3. This is a pendant with a photo inside, in which a girl is smiling happily.
This item embodies all of someone's longing for their beloved. When attacked, it will activate a powerful shield that can negate one powerful attack.
After equipping himself with these two specialized artifacts, Miao Meng finally relaxed and resumed his normal life rhythm, including military training, running dungeons, and occasional dinners.
As for the content of the prophecy, Miao Meng only sent a report to the Investigation Bureau under a false identity, and never told anyone else.
In truth, he didn't have high hopes for the letter's effectiveness. It was like an ordinary person submitting a tip to the police station, only to find out that the tip contained a dream about a terrorist attack.
Even if psionicists exist in this world, prophecies like this, which are without beginning or end, will probably not be taken very seriously.
Miao Meng had seen many chaotic psionicists making various prophecies while browsing the psionic forums. One said that the world would end someday, and another said that he was a god's spokesperson.
He estimated that there might not be many people like him who sent whistleblower letters to the investigation bureau, but there must have been at least some. No one would believe him if he cried wolf too many times.
Unless someone can provide strong evidence, or the Bureau of Investigation has its own channels and has learned through relevant intelligence that certain forces are targeting this area and preparing to launch a terrorist attack.
Back in the training team, Miao Meng put the matter aside and began to focus on modifying the Fortune Ship, but he still did not relax his vigilance against the psionicists in the school.
Given the sheer number and density of these people, he was genuinely afraid that they were the attackers he had predicted. If they were, would he be mistaken for an accomplice if he were studying here?
The university's military training period was not long, only half a month. The attack that Miao Meng had been worried about did not happen. Instead, the design of the ship gave him a bigger headache.
Miao Meng didn't know much about these medieval sailing ships, so after clearing out the clutter, he couldn't determine which compartments were movable and which were not, given the large number of compartments.
Fortunately, the modification is not something that can be done overnight. It is certain that replacing those unimportant cannons and rams with magical devices will not have any impact. Therefore, it is not that there is no progress at all in the modification.
That ordinary swift sword has been transformed from a purely physical attack into a magical sword with multiple special effects. It can easily damage many ethereal targets without the need for psionic power.
The power of the cannons was greatly enhanced. The old medieval nine-pound cannons were all replaced with magic cannons with enhanced explosive power. In addition to the difference in range, the cannonballs were also changed to have an explosive effect.
As a result of these two modifications, the appearance of the weapons in Miao Meng's ship girl form has also changed slightly.
The Swift Sword was in somewhat better condition, with only a slight change in color, but the musket had been completely upgraded to a modern revolver with a cylinder, a weapon that only appeared in the last century.