Ethan looked helplessly at Betty, who was always standing beside him, constantly looking him up and down as if searching for something. "You can just ask whatever you want to know."
Betty stopped pacing and circling around Ethan. She was actually checking his clothes, or whether he was wearing any small, special equipment. But after looking carefully, besides his simple clothes, the only things on Ethan were the ring on his finger and the pendant around his neck.
Neither of these items looked like tools that could make someone fly. It wasn't that similar equipment couldn't be made, but she didn't believe the indigenous people of this training ground had technology advanced enough to create such portable flight devices.
"Why can you fly?"
"Why can't I fly?"
Ethan's counter-question annoyed Betty. She felt like he was just toying with her. "How can people fly? Did you use some special device?"
"No."
Ethan really wasn't using any device. In the past, he needed magic to fly, but ever since he learned a more instinctive way of flying, he rarely used magic for it. Although flying with magic was cooler, it was indeed a bit more troublesome.
Now, when he wanted to fly, it was just like walking or running, completely instinctive, and it didn't consume magic. The speed wasn't slow either, and he had gradually grown to like this method of flying.
"Then how did you fly?"
"I just flew. There's no difference from walking or running."
Betty scratched her head. She couldn't understand the principle at all. Had the people of this training ground undergone some unknown evolution? Was the Empire's tolerance of this training ground actually because it had been turned into a large experimental observation area? Did they want to see how the people of this world would evolve?
She didn't voice her guesses, otherwise Ethan would definitely tell her clearly that she was overthinking it. Because in this world, Ethan was the only one who could fly. Even among the crew of the Prinz Eugen, only he possessed the ability to fly.
As for the second person who might learn to fly... if Laura's druid magic continued to improve, perhaps she could learn to transform into a bird. Then she could become the second person on the ship to master the ability to fly.
Betty didn't get the answer she wanted from Ethan, but she quickly lost interest in the matter because the Quinjet was very fast and soon returned to where the Prinz Eugen was anchored.
As the Prinz Eugen deactivated its stealth, a steel warship with a displacement of over 20,000 tons abruptly appeared on the sea surface.
Although she still had many questions, Betty, who also wanted to see what Ethan's ship was like, was once again stunned.
She had originally wanted to check the condition of Ethan's ship to determine if it was capable of crossing the stormy waters. If there were any issues, she could remind Ethan early to upgrade his ship. Betty believed that with the knowledge she possessed, she could provide excellent suggestions, and as long as Ethan upgraded and modified his ship according to her advice, the stormy waters wouldn't be a problem.
But what the heck was this ship in front of her? Had the age of sail in this world already passed?
Looking at that chimney, it seemed like a steam-powered warship, as introduced in textbooks? Had the indigenous people here already developed technology to the steam engine era?
If that were the case, it was no wonder more and more local adventurers had reached the outermost ring sea, the area Ethan had previously called the Sea of Miracles.
The Quinjet didn't land immediately upon reaching the Prinz Eugen's flight deck. It waited until the deck opened, revealing the internal hangar bay, before beginning its descent. The Quinjet could take off and land vertically, allowing it to land directly inside instead of stopping outside.
After the plane landed steadily and everyone started disembarking one after another, Ethan asked Ada to take Betty to the living quarters to choose a room, and then give her a brief tour of the environment.
Unlike the other companions on the ship, Betty wouldn't receive a detailed manual about the Prinz Eugen's layout, nor would she be allowed to fully understand all the functions of the ship. The only things she would be able to know were the functions of the living areas, such as the various daily facilities in the rooms, and the locations of the mess hall, recreation room, and other areas.
Areas like the engine room where the reactor was located, or the ammunition storage where various missiles and shells were stored, would not be open to her. Even if she wanted to wander around the ship and find these places herself, she wouldn't be able to get in.
Because she would only receive temporary access on the ship, those areas were only accessible to official crew members.
Of course, Betty didn't know any of this now. She still thought it was just an ordinary steam-powered warship. Even so, she was already very surprised and increasingly curious about what had happened in this training ground during the hundreds of years she had slept.
Ethan led everyone back to the bridge. Everyone was curious about what improvements and changes he had experienced after absorbing the time energy.
The time spent on the island wasn't particularly long, but it was a period of rest and adjustment. For example, Mordred had fully utilized this time to refine her fundamentals, Galahad had even grasped a trace of magic, so what changes had Ethan undergone?
"The changes aren't huge, but they are very important."
Standing in the open space in the center of the bridge, everyone quietly waited for Ethan to demonstrate. He didn't keep them in suspense, directly extended his left hand, and with a gentle shake, the ring he was wearing on his finger shattered into points of light.
"First of all, this spatial ring is no longer useful."
The space-time orb had always been walking with a limp. The affected ability wasn't just related to time; it also affected spatial abilities.
After absorbing a certain amount of time energy, the first thing Ethan discovered was the specific coordinates of the storage space he had always carried with him.
Through the space-time orb, he had completely locked onto this space. Even though this space was created by Ethan himself, it still needed an object to assist in positioning, or to act as a door, which was the function of the spatial ring.
But from now on, Ethan no longer needed this ring to locate the space. He could directly control the storage space, meaning this space had become his personal portable space.
"Not only that, but most importantly, I can freeze time inside this portable space."
What Ethan had always wanted most was a storage space that he could carry with him and where time was frozen inside. That way, he could store food, water, and weapons and armor that he didn't temporarily need, without worrying about spoilage or damage from lack of long-term maintenance.
With such a space, he could store things he didn't need for as long as he wanted. He could even store some hot meals and take them out to eat when needed—ensuring they were fresh and hot.
"Sounds good." Logan felt that suddenly going to some relatively desolate worlds with Ethan in the future wouldn't be unbearable anymore, at least they wouldn't have to worry about food and drink. "So, has the capacity of your storage space changed?"
"It's about the size of a basketball arena."
Even a small basketball arena could hold a few thousand people without much difficulty. Moreover, a storage space doesn't need to consider things like tiered stands, seats, and various facilities, meaning the space can hold more items than a real basketball arena.
Smaller spacecraft or fighter jets like the Quinjet no longer needed magic that required putting them into containers. They could be directly stored in the storage space and taken away.
"It'll be much more convenient to carry things in the future too."
"That's not the main point yet." Ethan smiled and said something that surprised everyone even more. "Thanks to this cluster of time energy, I've somewhat grasped a bit of the mysteries of time. Especially with this storage space as a reference, I can upgrade your storage items."
Currently, everyone in Ethan's team had been given a storage item. Although it wasn't as large as the ring on Ethan's hand, it was enough to carry personal belongings and some weapons and equipment.
These storage items had the same problem as Ethan's previous storage ring: the contents couldn't be kept fresh. They needed to be taken out regularly for sorting and maintenance, especially water and food, which were only carried when they were on a mission and not usually stored to avoid spoilage.
It was precisely because of this reason that everyone had never been dissatisfied with the capacity of their storage equipment. Storing one set of gear and weapons was enough, and the remaining space was for carrying some emergency medicine and food. If too much was stored, sorting it out each time was a hassle.
Now Ethan could upgrade their storage items, so they wouldn't have to worry about those troubles anymore. Therefore, the capacity also needed to be appropriately upgraded.
Just as everyone started speaking up, stating what kind of storage item they wanted, Betty arrived at the bridge after choosing her room.
And then she was stunned once again.
She had already been surprised when choosing a room. This warship, which looked very primitive, seemed much more advanced inside than she had imagined.
The various automated facilities, complete living amenities, and comfortable living environment made her feel like she had arrived on an Imperial spaceship—the kind used for travel, like a space cruiser. The military warships she had traveled on before didn't have living conditions as good as this ship.
After arriving at the bridge, she doubted she was even on a steam-powered surface vessel. The operational interfaces and holographic projections made her suspect she had arrived on the bridge of an Imperial warship.
If she had been rescued by an Imperial rescue team and then saw these things, it wouldn't be surprising. But wasn't Ethan a native adventurer from the training ground? Had the local technology advanced to this extent?
"Did I really... only sleep for eight hundred years?"
(To be continued.)
***
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