Gigantic Ship and Merfolk
Leylin never forgot his primary goal— he had to break through his bloodline shackles and rid himself of the Allsnake Curse!
Sneaking into Purgatory World and lying low was the first step to success. While he still didn’t have a concrete plan for what happened later, he needed to keep adjusting and then adapting it anyway.
“Now that I’ve gotten into Purgatory World and have the help of the A.I. Chip, my aura and undulations are now adjusting so that it’s more similar to natives. With the bloodline concealing by the Mask of the Dreamless as well as my wooden puppet used as a target amidst the chaos, the Snake Dowager shouldn’t be able to find signs of me in a short period of time no matter how powerful she is. Unless she’s reached rank 9, where there’s nothing she doesn’t know or cannot do…”
Rank 9 was the highest realm for all Magi. It was said to be where one grasped truth and there was nothing they could not do or did not know.
In Leylin’s eyes, this surpassed the power of gods. However, that was what had been described in ancient volumes. Who knew whether this narration was real or fake.
Even during the most splendid ancient era in the Magus World, the records of the most powerful Magus had only reached rank 8. Real great rank 9 Magi had never appeared before.
Perhaps rank 9 was just a fantasy for a highest rank.
Leylin was certain that the Snake Dowager was at most comparable to a rank 8 Magus. It was impossible for her to have reached rank 9.
Purgatory World was vast and boundless, and also had many rank 7s and above in charge. It was possible that even the Snake Dowager would have to search for him continent by continent.
Hence, based on Leylin’s deductions, she would probably trace back to him on the sly using his bloodline or order his capture.
The most stable and possible method she would use would be waiting patiently, because Leylin could not break through the bloodline shackles without any contact with her. In this short period of time, it was impossible for Leylin to rank up several times such that he could be on the same level as the Snake Dowager.
“The priority right now is to blend into Purgatory World, find the natives and understand how the organisations are divided…”
Leylin pondered over this silently and then closed his eyes.
Under the moonlight, there seemed to be a layer of vague luster passing over his body and emitting sparkling rays within the ocean.
……
Night passed and orange rays rose from sea level, the reflection gleaming atop the waves. At the end of the reddish-orange rays of light was a dark red sun.
Dim golden lights spilled down and the surrounding white fog gradually dissipated.
“Hm?” Leylin, who was lying on the surface of the water while recuperating, flexed his fingers. In this situation where he could only rely on the natural ability of his body to heal, he was bored out of his mind and shifted his attention to other things.
“The outline of the sun in Purgatory World seems much smaller than in the Magus World. Based on my deductions last night, the nights here are at least 20 hours long, and based on the speed at which this star is rising…”
Leylin watched the first glimmer of dawn that had now entirely left sea level, and his mind began to calculate things quickly.
Though incomparable to the A.I. Chip, through advancements and nourishments through his spiritual and soul force, the ability and speed of his brain when it came to calculating things did not lose out to the top minds in his previous world.
“Four hours and fifteen minutes! It might be even shorter than that, but that’s the time for this sun to complete a whole cycle of ascending and descending.”
Leylin was very confident in his calculation skills, “Purgatory World isn’t like a planet. This only has a boundless land and sea that are of almost the same volume. That’s why whether it’s sunrise or sundown, it’s uniform no matter where I am…”
“The day is so short, which makes sense why darkness elemental particles are so ample. Beings lacking in sunlight and energy have no choice but to focus on other sources. That’s probably why the fire elements are used extensively…”
Leylin was able to see through how Purgatory World had generally changed over time. This ability to see things long-term was the result of his scientific research in his previous world and abilities in magic in this life. This perhaps even exceeded the abilities of many rank 7s.
“The amount of daylight in Purgatory World is rather low compared to many Worlds. Only Shadow World that has never had sunlight can probably top it. It’s no wonder that after the Snake Dowager failed to get control over the Shadow World, she led her people and migrated here, which is quite suitable, if one were to disregard the chaotic intent here…”
Leylin’s lips quirked in a slight smile, “The chaotic intent of Purgatory World has its pros and cons. It’s precisely because of its chaotic nature that the Snake Dowager could take advantage of a loophole. However, her descendants aren’t at rank 7 and can’t resist the invasion of chaotic intent. That’s what resulted in the bloodline hysteria in them. That can only be completely healed with the world origin force of the Icy World…”
“Perhaps I’ll be able to find powerful natives of Purgatory World to help me in my plans…”
Leylin’s eyes flashed with intelligence.
*Yo yo!* At this moment, a few snow-white seagull-like creatures that were ten times larger than their counterparts flew in the air. The giant birds soaring caught Leylin’s attention.
“This is…” Leylin’s pupils shrank slightly.
[Beep! Found traces of a large ship. Based on course, possibility of encountering host is 99.999%! Discovered abnormal heat energy and radiation undulations, determined to be existence of Exemplary Strength.]
The A.I. Chip loyally intoned.
“It’s been about only two days and I managed to bump into a native already. I’m in such a vast ocean, which means I have pretty good luck!”
Leylin turned slightly, “Is it because the place where I landed is close to some continent?”
In the direction in which Leylin had turned where the water met the sky, a tiny black speck appeared and then increased in size, sailing over like a little mountain.
*Yo yo!* The gigantic birds flying overhead in circles chirped intensely, so excited as if they had found their relatives.
“Someone’s pets? Seems like I was discovered long ago!” Leylin’s injuries had yet to completely heal, and he could only do very slight movements. For this reason, he was still lying here.
A tremendous black figure that covered the skies finally revealed itself. This was a huge group of ships, and there were three with large white sails like canopies and a hull tens of metres high. At the moment that the ships arrived, the skies above Leylin were completely hidden and created great shadows.
[Beep! Detected life force undulations from large creatures. Position: 1200m below host’s location.]
The A.I. Chip’s voice sounded at this moment.
Two large eyes that were like searchlights in the deep sea sudenly brightened from the black depths of the water underneath him.
“It must be some creature like the giant dragon-whale in the south coast. Looks like the main driving force of these ships is obtained by subduing creatures!”
Leylin decided. When they were much closer to Leylin, a cry of alarm sounded from atop the deck.
Great eyesight allowed Leylin to see a few heads that seemed to belong to humans from above the deck, yelling at him.
The ship parted the water into waves, and Leylin’s body began to move again.
Finding that shouting was pointless, the sound of a bugle horn could be heard from above the deck. The sound that was low and held a hint of fragility was made from maybe a cow horn or conch.
Along with the sounds of the bugle horn, Leylin could sense even more life undulations appearing from deep in the sea and arriving around him.
“Merman? The Marine Tribe?”
Leylin watched the beings surrounding him, shock evident in his eyes.
Those who had been attracted by the sounds were a group of merfolk with the upper body being a human and lower, a large tail. There were shells, corals, algae and all type of decorations on their bodies. They looked very similar to a branch of the Marine Tribe in the south coast, but there were still some differences.
“skngaklng……”
“skngaklng……”
There were scales on their faces and the parotid gland unique to fishes at their cheeks. In their hands were harpoons and other weapons. One of them with the best physique and that was situated closest to Leylin made a sound.
“It’s similar to the Byron language, but it’s still different!” Leylin had already gotten used to the inability to communicate from the usage of different languages.
“Thankfully, with the recuperation in this period of time, I can use part of my soul force!”
Clear and cool soul force spread from within his eyes and then quickly flitted across all the merfolk, and especially the leader. Leylin’s half-moon rank soul force invaded his sea of consciousness without his knowledge, and he obtained large amounts of spiritual force undulations.
The A.I. Chip worked quickly and tidied up a new language, inputting it into Leylin’s memories.
“Looks like I’ll need to invent a spell that allows me to be proficient in all languages! If not, it’s going to be very troublesome every time.”
Meanwhile, seeing that Leylin had not replied after a long while, the leading merman asked, “Who are you? Why are you here?”
Though they’d seen many people caught in danger from the ocean, there were truly very few who were like Leylin, floating on the surface of the water.
The atmosphere was stifling, and a few surrounding merfolk grasped the forks in their hands tightly.
“Oh, my apologies. I was just too emotional just now.”
Leylin finally spoke, using the same language as them.
His gentle voice seemed to hold some strange ability that caused all the merfolk to relax.
“I am a traveler who got into trouble at sea, which resulted in me sustaining grievous injuries. I had to be in this state temporarily in order to heal up...”
As he spoke, he got up from his previous position, where he’d been lying down.
Watching him get up and stand on the surface of the water, the leader of the merfolk’s pupils shrank.