The ship has just about all the materials needed for the upgrade!
Especially since he'd just cleaned out the Sakura Go of all its Sea Crystal Stones and found four High-Level Sea Crystal Stones in the process! Adding the one left over from before, he had exactly five High-Level Sea Crystal Stones.
Moreover, the ship's functional hardware now met the upgrade requirements. It had an energy production unit, a food production unit, a drinking water production unit, a medicine production unit, and even a beer production unit... In total, the ship already possessed four types of functional hardware.
'Upgrade? No, not yet.'
Although he had enough materials to upgrade the Wandering Ship by one level, Shi Ming didn't plan on doing it right away.
He had to use his best resources where they would be most effective.
He decided to first check the upgrade requirements for his Golden Wandering Ship, the canoe.
Resources were hard to come by out on the open sea, so he had to use his limited supply to maximum effect. The Golden Wandering Ship was already inherently a level higher. If he only had enough resources to upgrade one vessel, he would obviously prioritize the Golden Ship.
He returned from the deck to the captain's quarters.
After closing the door to his quarters, Shi Ming took the Golden Wandering Ship, the canoe, out from his system inventory. No one else knew of its existence; it was his hidden trump card!
Touching the canoe's unique material and its corroded exterior, Shi Ming activated the power of the Brain of Creation.
Brain of Creation, activate!
A familiar panel of information appeared before his eyes.
[Gold-level Wandering Ship, No. 360]
[Level: 5]
[The last Gold-level Wandering Ship, crafted by the Dragon Country Xirang Research Institute using leftover construction materials. Don't be fooled by its small size—it even comes with its own artificial intelligence! And because of its smaller frame, it consumes less energy, making its exploration capabilities more versatile!]
[Advancement Requirements: High-Level Sea Crystal Stone x1000, Sailing Heart x1, Class-A Sea Beast Blood x1000g.]
'Right.'
'One thousand High-Level Sea Crystal Stones.'
'And I only have five.'
'Not to mention the Sailing Heart, which I've never even heard of. What the hell is that?'
As for the 1000 grams of Class-A Sea Beast Blood, he did have some Xuanwu Blood stored in his system inventory, which he'd set aside before bathing in it back on Turtle Island. He wasn't sure if it would work, though. That small amount certainly wasn't enough to trigger an Awakening. After all, when Shi Ming himself had awoken, he had absorbed the energy of an entire pool just to unlock an S-rank skill!
He was missing two of the three components. 'Looks like upgrading the Golden Wandering Ship is out of the question for the foreseeable future,' he thought.
However, Shi Ming did manage to glean some other information from the system prompt.
First was the origin of the Golden Wandering Ship. It confirmed what was written in the notebook: the original owner of this Golden Ship was a researcher from the Dragon Country Xirang Research Institute. To be able to pilot this Wandering Ship alone, that researcher must have held a fairly high rank.
As for the Xirang Research Institute…
Ancient texts recorded, "Xirang is a self-replenishing, ceaselessly growing soil; thus, it can be used to hold back great floods."
The Xirang Research Institute must have been where the Dragon Country researched ways to combat this disaster. They likely spearheaded the construction of the Wandering Ships, and this canoe was simply built from their leftover materials.
Second was the system's use of the word "Advancement."
Shi Ming noticed that when upgrading other items, the system prompt was always "Upgrade Requirements: xxx, xxx." But here, it was "Advancement Requirements: xxx." This implied that if Shi Ming could gather these three items, his Gold-level Wandering Ship could advance to become General-class!
A General-class Wandering Ship! The very idea was staggering!
All the General-class Wandering Ships in the world were massive vessels, each one backed by a powerful faction! If this little canoe could reach the General-class, Shi Ming would have the confidence to face an organization like the Black Society all by himself!
Besides, a small General-class Wandering Ship was bound to surpass a giant one in certain functions.
Good things come in small packages!
'Looks like I'll have to keep an eye out for these advancement materials from now on.'
'Sea Crystal Stones are formed when the ship's energy unit extracts mysterious components from seawater. If I upgrade the energy unit a few more times, I wonder if it could start producing High-Level Sea Crystal Stones?'
'It's worth a try. While I'm at it, I should also keep an eye out for this Sailing Heart thing.'
'Sigh, there are too many things to upgrade. The system's three daily uses are nowhere near enough!'
He'd been planning to upgrade the medicine production unit and the beer machine, but it looked like those would have to wait.
Putting the canoe away, Shi Ming left his quarters.
"Stone Pillar, get a few members of the exploration team and bring two crates of Sea Crystal Stones and two crates of iron ore to the deck."
He was going to use his first upgrade of the day on his Silver-level Wandering Ship.
'As for explaining what the materials are for?'
'I'm the captain. I don't need to explain.'
On deck, Shi Ming dismissed the patrolling crew members. He placed the large crates of Sea Crystal Stones and iron ore at the base of the ship's helm and activated the power of the Brain of Creation!
[Confirm Upgrade!]
There were so many materials this time that he was finally able to get a clearer look at the principles behind the Brain of Creation!
The massive piles of Crystal Stones melted rapidly. As the energy was released, it turned from liquid to gas. Then, this purely gaseous energy converged at the ship's helm, gradually fusing with it and spreading throughout the entire hull.
These details were impossible to see without careful observation.
A full half-hour passed before Shi Ming received the system notification that the upgrade was complete.
At the same time, his head felt groggy, his Spiritual Power almost completely drained.
[Silver-level Wandering Ship, No. 23333]
[Level: 3]
[A cut above other Silver-level Wandering Ships. The exterior materials have been significantly enhanced, with hardness and resilience surpassing that of ordinary Silver-level Wandering Ships. Furthermore, with sufficient acceleration, the hull itself can be used as a weapon for ramming. New internal equipment added: Advanced Repair Sleep Pod.]
[Upgrade Requirements: Sea Crystal Stone x2000, Iron Ore x500, High-Level Sea Crystal Stone x10, Onboard Functional Hardware ≥ 5]
From the deck, the ship looked no different, but by running his hand along the edge of the hull, Shi Ming could faintly feel the improvement in its materials.
He drew the saber hanging at his waist and, without using any special power, swung it at the ship's railing.
It left only a faint white mark.
'Definitely tougher,' he thought.
Shi Ming was familiar with the materials needed to upgrade from Level 3 to Level 4, but unfortunately, he didn't have enough iron ore or High-Level Sea Crystal Stones. He was especially short on High-Level Sea Crystal Stones—he didn't have a single one left.
'Sigh, I'm so broke!'
'Captain Chunyi, why couldn't you have stockpiled a bit more?'