"Such good luck?"
Ethan studied the white magic stone in his hand for a long time, turning it over and over, still unable to figure out if it was the type he suspected. If it was, thinking about his experiences lately, his luck was so good he could hardly believe it himself.
"Although I know good luck doesn't last forever... I still hope this kind of luck can continue forever."
Unfortunately, the cheat he got didn't have a status panel or anything similar, so he couldn't see how much or what level his luck value was.
He carefully stored the magic stone close to his body. His gains this time were much greater than he had anticipated, including a bigger and better caravel—because of its very similar shape, Ethan just considered it a caravel sailboat.
He believed these things could be exchanged for quite a bit to improve his strength.
"I still know too little about this world. I have no idea how to improve my strength in this world."
A bigger and better ship? After getting the new ship, he didn't need to consider that for now. If the ship were any bigger, it would be too difficult for him to handle alone. Unless he could find reliable companions, he wasn't planning to switch to larger vessels.
The newly acquired Goddess of Dawn might have to be sold back to the guild, though he would keep the name for himself.
Maybe the cabin full of ore could be used to craft something? He just didn't know what kind of ore he had found? What could be crafted? Or should he just exchange it for finished products?
"I wonder if this world has cannons or steam engines or anything like that?"
Based on what he had seen so far, the ships in this world were still in the age of sail. Their power relied mainly on wind and manpower, and he hadn't seen steam-powered or any other propulsion devices he didn't recognize.
"Maybe they do, after all, with magic stones existing, maybe they've developed magic stone cannons or something."
Recalling his furnace that used magic stones as fuel, Ethan felt his guess was very likely the reality.
"If that's the case, in the future, I won't just have to collect various resources, but even research magic stone technology?"
While contemplating his future, he used several thick ropes to tie his original small boat to the new Goddess of Dawn, letting the large ship tow the smaller one forward.
With the cabin full of ore, the caravel-type sailboat, which should have been known for its speed, was now moving slower than his very first small boat.
"Thankfully, I have enough food, and I can make fresh water myself. It's fine if it's slow."
He could also use this opportunity to consolidate what he had been learning recently.
Just like that, Ethan resumed his regular life at sea.
After a simple wash-up in the morning, he made breakfast, rested briefly after eating, and then practiced his sword skills; when the sun was high at noon, he would read—Ethan had brought back many books and still had many left to read, but as his mental strength gradually increased, his reading speed also quickened.
For example, the thick stack of 'English textbooks' that Ancient One had given him earlier had already been studied. Now he could converse and write in English fluently, at most a little rusty in speaking because he had no one to practice with—but this problem was easily solved. As long as he found a dimension where English was used, it wouldn't take him more than three days to use English as if it were his native language.
"Choosing the path of a mage has this kind of advantage, it's a pleasant surprise."
He possessed the spacetime pointer that could find spacetime energy and travel between dimensions. Based on the Marvel movie world he first went to, he could deduce that he would definitely encounter similar movie worlds, and in many movie worlds, English could be used for communication. Coupled with the Chinese heritage he inherited from his previous life, entering movie worlds again shouldn't leave him clueless due to inability to converse.
All of this stemmed from his choice of the mage's path of mental strength cultivation. If he had initially chosen the warrior's method of improvement, prioritizing physical fitness, then just communication would have caused him countless troubles.
"And I remember there are spells that can quickly master another language. In the future, when I go to worlds with non-Earth languages like Diablo or Warcraft, I won't be tormented by language barriers."
The prerequisite was that Ethan's strength needed to improve further, at least becoming a formal mage.
Now, he was working towards this goal step by step, it was just that he had a lot to learn before that.
After the reading and studying time at noon, he would eat some fruit to replenish his energy. In the afternoon, Ethan would do some simple basic exercises, which served as a consolidation of his morning practice, and then decide whether to catch some seafood from the sea for dinner and the next day's breakfast, depending on the situation.
After enjoying dinner, the sun had basically set below the horizon. Ethan didn't sail at night because he was alone on the ship and had no one to take shifts with him.
So before making dinner, he would drop anchor and stop the ship, and only then would he get busy with dinner.
After eating his last meal of the day, Ethan would begin his mental strength cultivation, which would last until late at night. By then, he could go to sleep and rest.
His schedule was basically like this, very fixed, only occasionally interspersed with some trivial matters, such as taking out books to dry on the deck to prevent dampness, mildew, and damage. He also maintained and cared for his weapons and armor, and every time he did this, he couldn't stop complaining about the novels he had read in his previous life.
"The protagonists in those novels never seemed to maintain or care for their weapons. A gun would be used to fire thousands of rounds and still look like new, let alone maintained, it wasn't even wiped."
"Cold weapons were even worse. If not divine artifacts, they were magic items, at the very least divine weapons crafted by famous masters. There was no concept of maintenance. Left in a corner to gather dust for years, take it out, wipe it casually, and it would still be gleaming and cut through metal like mud."
"I have quite a bit of equipment, and they're all quite useful, but cleaning and maintaining them one by one is really troublesome."
Every time this happened, Ethan wished he could get legendary indestructible divine weapons, or a spatial storage item that could freeze time.
Complaints were complaints, but after all, this equipment was his foundation for survival, and most of his life depended on maintaining this equipment. So, while Ethan grumbled non-stop, his hands were careful and meticulous, afraid that inadequate maintenance would cause damage to the equipment.
His constant muttering was actually forced out by the lonely life at sea. Being alone for a long time with no one to talk to, he was afraid that his language function would degenerate over time, so he would just keep talking whenever he had the chance.
Often, he also realized that if he continued like this, he would either go crazy or become stupid. He had to find a companion as soon as possible.
"But... how easy is it to find a companion?"
Leaving aside the need for trust, could he share his secret? Take companions to other dimensions? He wasn't completely against it, but how would these people react after learning about it? He didn't want to speculate too maliciously about others, but there was a clear example not long ago reminding him.
"How about... looking for companions from the worlds I travel to?"
Because he would be taking people out, the secret wouldn't be a secret from the start. Moreover, this choice had an advantage: he could 'trick' familiar people from familiar dimensions.
At least he knew which people had noble character and wouldn't stab him in the back even if they didn't agree.
He suddenly thought of many dimension-traveling novels he had read in his previous life. Finding companions from other worlds seemed to be one of the intended uses of this type of cheat. When reading, he had also fantasized about getting such a cheat and 'tricking' a few 'characters' he liked into 'hanging out' with him.
"I wonder if this thing can bring people out?"
He remembered that he had to pick things up to bring them with him. Could it be that he had to pick up a person to bring them with him?
With a wave of his hand, Ethan summoned the spacetime pointer. He immersed his mental energy into it, wanting to explore more of its secrets.
The first time he used it, at the moment the spacetime pointer activated the magic array, the burst of spacetime energy also injected some information into his mind. The basic usage and general function of the spacetime pointer were learned at that time. His mental strength was very ordinary then, perhaps only able to carry a small amount of information. He wondered if he could get more information after becoming stronger?
Unfortunately, no matter how he sent his mental energy into the pointer, besides making the pointer's form more stable, no information was fed back into his mind.
"Do I have to figure it out on my own?"
While feeling frustrated, he suddenly noticed that the spacetime pointer was showing an arrow.
"Spacetime energy?"
He had been lost in thought just now and hadn't noticed that the spacetime pointer wasn't showing 'searching'... but an arrow, pointing to the left side of his ship.
As the ship continued to move forward, the direction the pointer was pointing also subtly changed.
"It's not far away?"
Ethan immediately jumped up, changed course at the fastest speed, and sailed towards the direction the pointer indicated.
"Right! I forgot something."
There was one question he had never resolved: when he traveled to another world, did time in this world run parallel to that world, or did it have a completely different flow rate?
He hadn't failed to think of this before, but there was no way to test it. This time, thanks to seizing a ship and scavenging many small items, he happened to find an hourglass. He had tested it before, and the sand flowing completely to the bottom took exactly one day.
"Only one day is a bit short... but at least I can know if it's stagnant or flowing."
Putting on all his equipment, Ethan even put a few bottles of 'blood potions' in the small pouch on his belt. After repeatedly checking everything, he started timing with the hourglass, then stepped back a few paces and activated the spacetime magic array.
"I wonder what world I'll go to this time."