Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei
The captain was a blunt person, and Lukas was not the type to initiate a conversation. So naturally, this meant that there was little to no conversation between them.
Lukas found a place for himself in a corner of the cabin.
This spot was filled with dust and miscellaneous items, but after the captain rearranged it a little, he was able to make enough space for one person to lay down.
Of course, such a place wouldn’t be very pleasant. If someone were to sleep there for even a few hours, they would probably wake up with their noses clogged.
Nevertheless, Lukas managed to find something there that interested him.
“Do you mind if I read these books?”
He asked this while looking at a pile of old books that were strewn haphazardly across the dusty space.
He could tell the condition of the books without even opening them. Some of them had crushed corners, and some of them were discoloured as if they had been soaked in a suspicious liquid before being left to dry.
“…you can help yourself, but where are you from?”
When he heard this question, Lukas realised that they hadn’t actually had a real conversation yet.
“You wouldn’t know even if I told you.”
This wasn’t a lie, since there was only one person in the world who knew exactly where he was from.
Lukas also realised that he didn’t know the captain’s name.
This was partly because of the captain’s attitude, since, from the start, he hadn’t gotten the chance to introduce himself.
It seemed that the captain didn’t care about Lukas’ identity at all.
He just closed his eyes for a while, then spoke in passing.
“As you can tell from my appearance, I’m an outsider. I hail from one of the countless kingdoms on ‘Gaia(1)’.”
“…”
“I didn’t mean to bring up my boring past. It’s just that those books are all written in the official language of ‘Gaia’.”
This was natural since he’d brought them from there. With a bit of emotion, the captain added this last sentence inwardly.
When Lukas picked up the book and looked at the cover, he saw that it wasn’t written in the language of the Heavenly Realm.
Nevertheless.
“Fortunately, it seems I can read it.”
“…seriously?”
“[17 Reckless Ways to Enter the Sky Continent].”
“…”
When Lukas even read out the title of the book, the captain no longer had any doubts.
This ‘Gaia official language’ was actually ‘hanja’(1). He might not be able to fully interpret them since most of them were ancient texts, but he would at least be able to get a general gist of their contents.
“Are you also from Gaia?”
“I’m not.”
“Hmm.”
Perhaps he felt like Lukas was not speaking the truth, but the captain didn’t ask any more questions.
“Do as you please.”
After saying that, the captain turned his attention away.
Lukas decided to read the first book he’d picked up.
[17 Reckless Ways to Enter the Sky Continent]
The book was about the views the civilised persons living on the Gaia continent had towards the Heavenly Realm.
‘For the most part, it’s a mystery.’
Few people have traveled back and forth between the Heavenly Realm and Gaia. This was because there was a huge risk involved.
What Lukas was curious about was how other people came to the Heavenly Realm. This was because, as far as he could see, there was no easy way to enter this continent that floated above the clouds.
Nevertheless, while relatively rare, outsiders were not something Dragonmen were unfamiliar with.
And, as its title indicated, there truly were a few methods written in the book. However, the success rates of these methods were low, and the risk of death for each of them was high. To be frank, most of them were only possible in theory.
‘It feels like they were forcibly added to get the number 17.’
It was only after about halfway through the book that truly feasible methods began to appear.
Among them, the method that seemed to have the highest rate of success was called [The Giant’s Crown].
This referred to the tallest mountain in the world, which stood proudly in the Giant Field, the territory of the giants. The peak of this mountain was only 1,000 meters or so away from Heavenly Realm.
The Heavenly Realm didn’t reject the entry of outsiders. In fact, they even welcomed them, since they were interested in the cultures of the other continents.
This was because it was impossible for a group of people large enough to be considered an army to actually enter the Heavenly Realm, no matter what method they used. This meant that outsiders could never be a threat to the Heavenly Realm.
On average, the Heavenly Realm passed [The Giant’s Crown] once every 10 years. In other words, this was an opportunity that only appeared once every ten years, and usually, only about a hundred people were able to make it.
Even if they used every method available, the number of outsiders who gained entry would not exceed a few hundred, and that many people could never start an invasion into the Heavenly Realm.
Tak.
Lukas closed the book.
It had probably taken about an hour for him to read from cover to cover.
Whoosh—
The sounds of the ocean filled the air.
The hull bobbed gently with the waves, and the boards creaked from time to time.
He could feel the ship steadily moving to its destination.
* * *
Lukas found quite a few interesting books in his little corner. In addition to books from Gaia, there were also a few books from the Heavenly Realm.
Most of them were about the ocean of the Heavenly Realm, and things that every sailor ought to know. Thanks to this, Lukas was able to learn a lot about this strange ocean floating in the sky.
First of all, he learned that storms were uncommon, which was a good thing for sailors, but that didn’t mean the ocean waters were without danger.
Instead, there were quite a few threats that those traversing between islands could encounter.
One of them was the Skystorm, which had recently swept past Akad.
That was an ocean disaster that sucked up everything around it.
There was a mega whirlpool that started off as a tiny vortex but would quickly grow to hundreds of times its size in only a few hours. Unless one was an excellent sailor, the moment they encountered the whirlpool, they had no choice but to accept death.
That wasn’t all.
There was a phenomenon called dead point.
It was literally a hole of death, and it was a natural phenomenon that was worthy of its grand name.
It was an unpredictable disaster that occurred frequently in random parts of the ocean.
This phenomenon was simple. Certain parts of the ocean would become black as if they had been sprayed with ink. Then, a few minutes later, all the black water would disappear.
It was as though a hole had formed.
The sea of the Heavenly Realm wasn’t very deep, but it didn’t have a bottom.
Most of the ships that sank usually weren’t able to handle the force exerted on them and would be ground into dust, but even if they managed to somehow survive that, all that was left for them was a 10,000 foot drop.
Some scholars speculated that this phenomenon occurred when there was an excess amount of water.
So a hole was created, which was slowly filled by the surrounding water.
The oceans and seas on the continent were different. To put it simply, they were very large, stagnant puddles. (TL: I uh… I don’t think that’s how that works…)
On the other hand, the Heavenly Realm’s ocean was different.
‘Water seems to be coming from somewhere.’
But where? He couldn’t seem to find any information about it in the book.
‘I’m glad I didn’t use magic.’
While staying in Akad for those three days, Lukas had contemplated simply using the Fly spell to go directly to Temple Island.
Now that he was 8 stars, even if he were to fly for ten days and ten nights, he wouldn’t run out.
But in the end, he held himself back.
Lukas did this because he had little to no knowledge about the Heavenly Realm’s ocean. If he were to act arbitrarily without consulting an expert, it was possible for him to cause an accident.
‘Skystorm… It should be possible to freeze it with Blizzard.’
But if he were to do that, he would also freeze all the nearby water.
On top of that, Lukas knew that doing so would affect the natural order. Even if he forcefully suppressed it, it was still possible for the ice to affect the livelihood of the sailors of Akad.
As a result, Lukas decided to stick with his current method. Although it would take a bit more time, at least he didn’t have any regrets about it now.
Tak.
He closed the book.
He’d read everything in it.
They were now on the fourth day of their voyage, and according to the captain, they would soon see Temple Island.
Lifting his stiff body, Lukas headed out to the deck.
—It was a very pleasant journey.
It even felt like the word ‘cruise’ would be a good descriptor for this voyage.
There was no crisis, no danger, and no accidents. (TL: RED FLAGS)
Lukas felt that the 3,000 erus the captain had demanded was a reasonable amount for his work.
There were many dead points around Temple Island, so the more experienced sailors usually wouldn’t go near that area. After all, no matter how good the pay was, you needed to be alive to enjoy it.
They understood that no amount of money could take priority over their lives.
“Do you only accept outsiders as customers?”
“…”
The captain took an ashtray from his pocket and tapped the ashes from his pipe onto it.
“If that was the case, I would’ve died from starvation a long time ago.”
It wasn’t like he was in a position to be picky about such things. He suddenly asked in a curious tone.
“Are you curious about my situation?”
“No.”
Lukas shook his head.
The captain chuckled for the first time.
“Hmm. I wish I had more customers like you.”
“…”
Lukas knew that there were people who wanted to live without forming bonds and relationships with others, and clearly, the captain was one of them. Perhaps, if he had the ability to be self-sufficient, he might have secluded himself deep in the mountains until he died.
The captain also didn’t seem to have the ability to be polite to his customers.
That’s why Lukas didn’t bother to ask anything. The captain pressed some more of what appeared to be tobacco leaves into his pipe before suddenly raising his head and looking in front of him. In the distance, a small island started to crest the horizon.
“It’s slowly coming into view. Prepare to disembark.”
(Note:
1.For those who might have forgotten, the Great World is made up of one supercontinent ‘Gaia’, and four ‘small’ worlds. You can check chapter 157 for a refresher.
2.Hanja is the Korean name for a traditional writing system consisting mainly of Chinese characters(Hanzi) that were incorporated and used since the Gojoseon period.)