Relaxed and leisurely days always passed especially quickly. Occasionally, Ethan felt a bit reluctant to rush around anymore and thought about just living a comfortable life right where he was.
With his current strength and the ability to travel between worlds to gather necessary resources, he could live very well in this world.
Even on this route known as the "Suicide Route," he could live without any pressure, especially after replacing the ship with a new one. The improved resistance to wind and waves meant there was little difference from living on land.
However, Ethan wasn't willing to be trapped in this sea. He already knew that this ocean world was not a real planet. The various strange phenomena, many of which seemed deliberately unnatural, prevented him from truly letting down his guard. He hoped to escape this place as quickly as possible.
Although he wasn't sure what awaited him in the vast expanse of space, perhaps life after entering the cosmos wouldn't be as easy as it was on this ocean.
But as someone unwilling to lose his freedom and possessing a certain level of strength, no one would willingly be trapped in a cage.
In Ethan's eyes, this ocean world was a cage, even if it was incredibly vast.
He flexed his right hand. He hadn't actively tried to make it heal faster, but instead relied on his strong natural recovery ability to let it heal slowly.
Doing this didn't offer any particular benefit. Ethan simply didn't want to waste his magic power.
"No mutation occurred?"
Ethan had considered the possibility of gaining some benefit from a severe injury caused by a powerful being. He even wondered if his right hand, after being in contact with Anubis's death power, might mutate and give rise to a Hand of the Death God or something similar.
However, the reality was that his right hand was no different from before, not even in skin color.
"You were actually expecting something like that?"
Ada looked at him with an expression that said, "You really have such childish thoughts?" She had been curious earlier why Ethan wasn't in a hurry to let his right hand recover and was now genuinely surprised to hear the reason.
Ethan waved his hand and casually explained that he had just been letting his mind wander and hadn't really expected any special change.
"If something really had changed, I'd have chopped off the entire right arm and had Annette do a thorough examination."
It was precisely because nothing happened that he had the leisure to let his mind drift.
A mutation caused by the invasion of Anubis's death power would only make him worry about his physical condition. He didn't believe such a mutation would come without lasting consequences, and with his personality, he would definitely eradicate it completely.
"You've rested for so long. Are you ready to go out and move around?"
What Ada meant by "move around" was not just simple exercise on the deck or on an island, but rather Ethan's act of traveling to other worlds.
"Once we leave this island, I plan to head to the world I've already targeted to get something I've always wanted."
At this moment, the Goddess of Dawn was anchored beside an island. Their current location was in the southern part of the initial section of the Southern Route, roughly mid to southern latitude. The waves in this area were relatively large because it was very close to the Sea of Storms that formed a continuous, wall-like barrier.
Standing on the sterncastle, one could clearly see lightning flashing in the distant storm. However, Ethan and Ada were not standing on the sterncastle watching the storm, but rather on the deck, observing several people who had just landed on the island and looked very happy.
"Speaking of which, this is your first time seeing a Floating Island, right?"
Compared to Evelyn and O'Connell's various curiosities and desire to explore this magical island that would suddenly rise from the seabed and quickly become covered in plants, Ada, who was also seeing this type of island for the first time, seemed very calm, as if she wasn't interested in this magical place at all.
"I've been observing. According to my past habits, I would never step into an unfamiliar area lightly." Ada gently brushed aside the hair blown by the wind. "Based on the information you told us earlier, this island isn't safe."
Floating islands in regular sea areas might not be dangerous. Even if there were creatures, they were ones ordinary people could handle. Slightly more troublesome ones could be dealt with using weapons.
The situation on islands along the route, however, was a bit special. There were all kinds of creatures on these islands, and they posed a much greater threat to adventurers.
Although it was customary that overly dangerous creatures didn't appear in the initial section of the route, that wasn't absolute. The island full of green grass that Ethan encountered had also appeared early on, but its danger level wasn't much lower than those in the middle or later sections.
"Logan and Selene have already thoroughly scouted the area, and at least the landing zone is safe enough."
Logan had an immortal body, and Selene could quickly recover even from serious injuries as long as she had blood. In addition, they carried recovery potions provided by Ethan, amulets to defend against mind-control attacks, and warning spells that would automatically alert Ethan in case of danger. With all these safety measures, they were very suitable for scouting.
Ethan, on the other hand, stayed on the ship. If anything happened, he had more than enough ability to respond.
"It might take me some time to adapt."
She had always done everything herself, developing a habit of trusting only herself. That wasn't something that could be changed in a short time.
"Let's go ashore first. After rocking on the boat for so long, you must miss the feeling of solid ground, right?"
Because they were close to the Sea of Storms, the waves were quite large, causing the ship to rock significantly. Although they were used to life on the ship and light rocking didn't bother them, this level of rocking became uncomfortable over time.
As Ethan stepped onto the island, Logan and Selene happened to return.
Selene's hands were empty, but Logan was carrying a beast on his shoulder. Its face resembled a wild boar, but its body shape was more like an elk.
The creatures that appeared on the Floating Islands in this world had no fixed appearance. They were bizarre and diverse. Even the few species that had been captured and bred by the residents were hard for Ethan to categorize.
He simply classified them roughly by taste—either as chicken or beef. The one Logan brought back this time was tender and had no strong flavor, somewhat similar to rabbit meat.
They quickly set up a camp, and the main dish for dinner was this strange animal Logan had brought back.
"Is this animal aggressive?"
Logan casually tossed the cleaned bone onto the ground, also serving as a reminder to be cautious since there were many of them on the island.
"If it hadn't attacked me, I wouldn't have bothered with it."
While eating the roasted meat, they chatted about what to do on the island.
The only person they could turn to for information was the experienced captain, Ethan, who also understood how the residents of this world lived. O'Connell and Evelyn were most interested in this aspect, while Jonathan was more concerned about whether there were gold mines or anything of value on the island.
"There's not much to do. First, collect food and fresh water. As for resources…"
If it had been before, Ethan would have carefully searched for magic stone mines or similar resources, but now he felt that their value to him had declined significantly. He might ask Auriel to help search, but it didn't matter whether they found anything or not.
"We're not collecting resources this time."
Evelyn curiously asked what kind of resources he meant. Ethan took the opportunity to roughly explain to them how adventurers lived in this world.
The learning device he had provided only let them understand the language and general knowledge of this world. It didn't cover these "detailed" aspects.
"Collecting resources is for exchanging supplies needed for the next voyage, or for maintaining or replacing the ship." Ethan simply explained why they didn't need to gather much this time. "My goal for this voyage isn't to 'make money.' I need to travel to several worlds soon to deal with a few problems. After that, I'll head deeper into this route to deal with an enemy."
Beckford himself was on this route. Although Ethan had been drifting comfortably at sea during this time, he could still receive updates from the guild from time to time.
At present, the guild had clearly announced that the Southern Route was about to become a battlefield.
Recently, there had been far fewer adventurers on this route than usual. Even adventurers without communication equipment had received word and were moving away.
Those with strong capabilities returned to the central island, preparing to join the guild's fleet.
Those with weaker capabilities went elsewhere to continue their lives, while keeping a close eye on the guild's announcements, because this matter directly affected everyone in this sea region.
In this situation, the adventurers Ethan encountered near the entrance were all leaving the route. He barely saw anyone heading inward.
Someone like him, wandering aimlessly, even received reminders from enthusiastic adventurers warning him of the great danger on this route. They advised that if he wanted to take the risk of looking for resources, he should switch to the Northern Route instead.
From this, it could be inferred that the great battle between the guild and Beckford's joint fleet was about to break out. As for this battle or what would follow, Ethan had already made up his mind:
Retrieve the Prinz Eugen, deal with Beckford, and then head directly to the Sea of Miracles.
(To be continued.)
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