DOTM: Chapter 464/465

Chapter 464: The Last Look

The Sea of Storms had arrived... Well, it was here! For the current Prinz Eugen, was there anything about the Sea of Storms that still warranted everyone's attention?

Other than the ship rocking more intensely, no one felt any difference compared to the previous voyage.

Although this Sea of Storms was filled with tornadoes, whirlpools, and occasional lightning strikes in addition to strong winds and waves, the Prinz Eugen could still navigate freely through this perilous area. The harsh sea conditions were no longer enough to capture anyone's attention.

Only Betty initially ran to the bridge and paid attention for a while. After realizing that the Prinz Eugen was even more powerful and sturdy than she had imagined, she stopped staying on the bridge every day.

After spending time together, although Ethan had not specifically introduced the Prinz Eugen to Betty, she was, after all, a reserve military talent who had received systematic education in a military academy of an advanced civilization. As long as she abandoned her initial idea of "viewing lower civilization lifeforms," she quickly realized how excellent a warship the Prinz Eugen was.

Such a ship was even more advanced and powerful than the vessels she had taken when preparing to challenge the Sea of Storms back then. In Betty's opinion, this ship was no worse than some of the spacecraft used by the Empire.

"How large is this Sea of Storms?"

Betty was the only one on the ship who knew these details, so Hill could only ask Betty.

"At the ship's current speed, we'll actually be through in no time."

The Sea of Storms was a test, but it was not considered very difficult. As long as you had a decent ship, you could cross this sea within a week.

At the Prinz Eugen's speed, it would likely pass through the Sea of Storms and reach the outermost Ring Sea – the Sea of Miracles – within three days.

Furthermore, unlike those wooden sailing ships, when crossing the Sea of Storms, the crew on wooden vessels had to be constantly vigilant, constantly fighting against the storm, carefully ensuring that the ship would not suffer damage, and promptly handling any damage that occurred.

But the Prinz Eugen was too sturdy. The steel warship with astonishing defense did not need to worry about this bit of storm causing damage to the hull at all. Everyone could go about their own business, and there was no need to nervously stay at their posts to prevent various potential situations.

Even if a problem did occur, the damage control equipment would deploy promptly. Nanobots could perfectly repair any damage, and there was no need for the crew to operate them. The Prinz Eugen's intelligent system could make the correct judgment immediately and dispatch repair robots in time.

Betty had known for a long time that this ship was equipped with artificial intelligence. She was no longer surprised by it and had even gradually gotten used to life on this ship.

What she was most curious about now was still the peculiar abilities Ethan and the others possessed.

Magic? Holy Light?

Could humans actually possess such miraculous power? How did he do it? Had all the people on this training ground undergone such a miraculous evolution?

She had many questions in her head, but most of them had not been answered yet. She believed she would figure out the "truth" sooner or later.

Unfortunately, she had not been able to see Ethan often recently. The captain had been hiding in that strange space lately, and she did not know what he was researching. He said he was studying some changes in magic attributes, words she could not understand the meaning of at all.

It was not strange that Betty could not understand. In fact, most people on the ship could not truly understand what Ethan was doing.

In everyone's eyes, he was just staring blankly at that increasingly large piece of land.

The island seed, after this period of cultivation, had successfully turned into a piece of land.

From its initial size of just one square meter, it had now become a piece of land about the size of the island they had previously landed on. Ethan had been sitting there all this time, without moving from his spot.

When people came here to "water" it, they could all see their captain, occasionally greeting him, chatting, or asking for guidance on training matters.

Ethan answered all sorts of questions normally, and there was nothing special about him other than sitting still in his original spot.

Even if asked what he was doing, he would directly reply, "I'm observing the composition of the earth!"

Everyone replied one after another: "Can't understand!" "Don't get it!" "Speak in plain language!"

Then Ethan stopped talking.

There was no way to explain it. If Tony were here, he might understand more. As for the people in front of him, they were just bored and came over to chat a bit. If Ethan were to explain a lot about what elements were contained within the earth, what substances it was composed of, how he should use magic power to construct such a structure, and what benefits mastering the earth's composition would have for his path in magic... they would probably run away before he even finished the first point.

So Ethan did not delve too deeply into these topics and continued his training, observing how this island seed transformed energy into land brimming with vigorous life.

More importantly, Ethan discovered that this piece of land actually possessed gravity itself, which could be considered a pleasant surprise.

If Ethan could glimpse the mysteries of gravity from this, even if he could not truly apply it, even if he could only integrate it into his sea of magic power, it would still have great benefits.

Perhaps it was because his previous training using the Reality Stone had already laid a very solid foundation for Ethan. This time, observing the birth of the island, he actually truly mastered the earth element.

Additionally, he also grasped a small part of the mysteries of energies like gravity and life. He could now condense magic power into a piece of land as he wished, and even freely transform this "land" into the form he desired.

That was not all. He discovered that he had not just comprehended the "earth element," because when this island grew, it did not just condense into a piece of land. It also contained various ores, could form volcanoes, and so on. Therefore, Ethan gained a lot this time. Unconsciously, the magical power he had mastered could already roughly piece together a diversified world.

"This small world can also be further improved."

Initially, Ethan had not completely figured out how this world should be built.

Apart from the central island, this world actually had no sky or ground, but this space had boundaries, so they could be used as sky and ground with some effort.

After incorporating the two elements of Holy Light and Shadow, day and night were barely simulated in this small world. According to the magic Ethan had designed beforehand, there would also be the sun, moonlight, and stars in the sky. However, these were not real suns, moons, and stars. They were essentially energy displayed in the desired form to produce similar effects, fundamentally similar to illusions, or rather, holographic images with a more realistic experience.

But Ethan had never figured out how to deal with the ocean and the seabed. Now, he had a way.

He began to adjust the island beneath him, causing its bottom to extend outwards until it filled the entire lower part of the space.

At the same time, the central area began to rise. In any case, the height of this space was sufficient, the rising terrain of this island would not pierce the sky.

This way, Ethan only needed to fill the surrounding area with enough water to form an ocean, encircling the central island.

But this alone would not work. If it were just like this, it would only be stagnant water. Ethan had to make this ocean "alive." Coincidentally, he had gained a little insight into the mystery of "life" from this island, which he could use here. This created a peculiar "symbiotic" relationship between the seawater and the island, and at the same time, the surrounding seawater was no longer stagnant but full of "vitality."

"I just don't know if life will be born in this ocean after a long time..."

While experiencing his newly mastered power, Ethan made some detailed adjustments to the island: he significantly raised the originally not-so-tall mountain peaks, causing snow to accumulate at the top. This way, some of the snow would melt, forming streams flowing down from the mountain and converging into rivers that eventually flowed into the sea. This was also creating "living water" and could also bring natural rain and snow weather to this space.

Ethan also conveniently created several hot springs on the mountain and even modified one of the spring outlets. At the cost of destroying an Arcane Spring, he connected this spring outlet to a space filled with arcane energy, making this space possess rich magical energy. This way, in addition to being suitable for relaxation, it could also serve as a good magic training ground. In the long run, this room could become another power source for the Prinz Eugen. Even if the arc reactor had problems, the entire warship could be propelled by pure magical energy.

Coupled with the island itself being full of vigorous life, it was suitable for Laura and Logan to practice Druid spells. It also contained the power of Holy Light and Shadow, so Selene and Hill could also cultivate here.

Looking at the island, which was bare but had undergone a great transformation, Ethan nodded in satisfaction. Coupled with the gains from his training during this period, he felt that staying any longer was meaningless.

He should also go out and take a look. Incidentally, he should let Logan and Laura start using their Druid abilities to stimulate the accelerated growth of plants on the island. Otherwise, a bare rocky island would not be a perfect vacation spot.

Ethan, who headed straight for the bridge, found that there was no one there except Hill. Ethan stood by the window and looked out, only to realize that everyone had gone to the deck to sunbathe.

Turning back to look at Hill, who was checking data, Ethan's head was full of question marks. "Didn't we enter the Sea of Storms?" How did this clear blue sea and sky look like the Sea of Storms? It seemed even more comfortable than the route they had been on.

Hill sighed and answered the captain's question helplessly. "We've already broken out of the Sea of Storms. If you go to the stern now, Captain, you should still be able to see the Sea of Storms one last time."

(To be continued.)

Chapter 465: The Sea That Never Misses

A final look?

Strictly speaking, as long as Ethan and the others continued to live in this training ground and sail on this ring-shaped sea called the Sea of Miracles, they would often see the black wall that seemed to connect the sky and the sea.

It was just that they no longer needed to rush into this sea area and suffer.

It took many years and many things to get from the initial Sea of Calm to this point, but Ethan did not feel any sense of "finally reaching this point" and exhaling a long breath.

For Ethan and everyone on the ship, breaking out of the Sea of Storms and arriving at the Sea of Miracles was just a beginning.

"There is still the vast and boundless sea of stars waiting for us. There is no need to be in such a hurry to reminisce about the past."

Ethan did not run to the stern to look at the Sea of Storms, but stood on the bridge and looked out the window at the people sunbathing on the deck.

Everyone was lying there quietly, drinking drinks, reading books, sunbathing, and chatting. Except for Mordred, that crazy girl who climbed onto the barrel of the main gun to feel the sea breeze, everyone else was behaving normally.

"Aren't you going?"

"I'm checking the system data on the Prinz Eugen. If there are no problems, I'll go down later." Hill did not stop working. These tasks could be handled by the Prinz Eugen's intelligent system for automatic checks, but Hill was more used to checking them herself. "Aren't you going down? You seem to need the sun more than I do."

"I'm not thinking about sunbathing right now."

The Prinz Eugen had successfully arrived at the Sea of Miracles. The next step, according to the plan, was to approach the Island of Miracles, then anchor at a relatively distant spot, and Ethan, along with Selene and Ada, would go to the island to gather some information and see if they could find any clues.

During her time living on the ship, Betty had inadvertently revealed some information. Ada had gotten along well with Betty during this period, and this elite spy had managed to extract some extra details from Betty.

The most important point was that the so-called destination was not on the Island of Miracles, but on the other side of the Sea of Miracles corresponding to the island's position.

In other words, for the Prinz Eugen to reach the destination that Betty and the other trainees wanted to reach, they would have to travel at least half the distance around this ring-shaped sea to find that place.

According to the information Brad provided initially, there was no second unsinkable island on the Sea of Miracles besides the Island of Miracles. So this so-called destination was either hidden in the air or hidden underwater.

Of course, it did not matter which one it was. At worst, Ethan could just leave the training ground directly after getting a spaceship, without necessarily having to open a passage to get out.

The reason he wanted to find this destination was to understand more about this empire, because according to the information Ada had extracted, this empire had no sympathy for their group of "low-grade consumables" and would not treat them as people. Once they lost control, the response they would take would not be too friendly.

To put it simply, there was over a ninety percent chance of war breaking out.

"I originally wanted to get an ordinary spaceship ready to use directly when needed... Now it seems it's safer to get a battleship."

At the very least, he needed to get a space fighter. Unless an ordinary spaceship underwent a series of modifications, he did not dare to use it now.

"What kind of spaceship did you originally want to get?"

Hill was very curious about what kind of ship Ethan wanted to get, especially when she thought that she might be responsible for commanding this ship as well.

"Well..." Ethan did not know how to explain it, but fortunately he could use magic, and it would be much easier to understand with images. "It's probably like this."

He made a gesture of holding something in front of him with both hands. The light between his hands twisted and changed for a moment, finally turning into a holographic image.

Similar to the scene where Ethan demonstrated the Gold Cloth to the Dwarf King, he introduced the appearance and general situation of the spaceship he wanted to "get."

"This is a space exploration ship called the Prometheus. It has four engines and is mainly propelled by two reactors..

."

As for the flight speed, the original plot did mention this: the Prometheus took twenty-eight months to reach a place thirty-four light-years away from Earth.

According to the analysis of countless "great minds" in his previous life based on special relativity, the Prometheus could fly at a constant speed infinitely close to the speed of light.

The only thing certain was that the Prometheus did not have warp drive capability, and some of the technology it contained was far less advanced than the ships owned by the advanced civilizations in the Marvel universe.

Currently, Tony Stark had more advanced technology in his hands. Given time, Tony could build more advanced spaceships.

So, from the beginning, Ethan simply considered the Prometheus as an alternative, a temporary transitional item to take everyone into the universe when necessary.

Anyway, they did not know where to sail in this universe and did not have a specific place they wanted to go. Not having warp drive capability was not a problem, and the long voyage would not bore Ethan and others who had the ability to travel between planes.

"An exploration ship?"

"An exploration ship."

Hill understood why Ethan gave up on this choice. Under the current circumstances, a ship without combat capabilities was really unsuitable. If they flew into space only to find themselves surrounded by an enemy fleet, would they not become a sitting duck?

"You would actually want to get an exploration ship."

"It's just for temporary emergency use." In fact, the reason he was thinking about this ship was that Ethan really liked the appearance of the Prometheus. Maybe he could still get that ship in the future if he was bored. Anyway, if he did not take it, the ship would be destroyed; it would be too wasteful to just be damaged like that.

It would be better if he took it back and modified it. At least it could be used as a "landing craft." Because the Prometheus had the ability to enter and exit atmospheric environments, while many large space battleships were not convenient for entering the atmosphere and could only stay in orbit.

Maria Hill was still a bit unaccustomed to Ethan's way of doing things, which was "as long as I like it, the function doesn't matter." She was more concerned with the practical use of the ship. In her opinion, the Prometheus was undoubtedly not a good choice.

However, this was not her domain after all, and she did not specifically express a different opinion on Ethan's idea. At most, she would remind the captain: Let's focus on space battleships with strong firepower or survivability for now!

"Well, there are actually a few options."

There were quite a few options for space battleships with firepower. For example, in a world where humans and bugs were locked in a death struggle, there were space battleships. If Ethan wanted, he might even be able to conveniently abduct a super strong pilot and a marine assault captain.

In another world where humans, bugs, and another race were in a mixed battle, there were also space battleships with powerful firepower, and he could also conveniently abduct a female soldier who would throw a nuclear bomb at the drop of a hat.

And in another world where humans fought bugs while singing, there were still powerful space battleships, with bonus singers and fighters...

"Why are they all bugs?"

Listening to Ethan's introduction, Hill felt uncomfortable all over. How terrifying must that world be? To actually fight bugs in the universe, how terrifying must those bugs be? What was even more terrifying was that in several worlds, humans were fighting bugs. Were bugs actually the overlords of the multiverse?

Also, what the heck was that singing and fighting bugs?

Ethan shrugged. He did not explain too much. When Hill was interested, he would take her to those worlds for a tour and she would understand.

Instead of going to the deck to sunbathe with everyone, Ethan went directly back to his room to rest.

For the next period of time, everyone on the Prinz Eugen lived a stable, regular life. Everyone was busy with their own affairs, and the island was growing as Ethan had planned. After Logan and Laura had the island to practice their Druid spells, they had a relatively "natural" environment, which allowed both of their Druid powers to make considerable progress.

Logan was even finally able to cast Druid healing spells, which was truly a huge step forward. Although the progress was a bit slow, given Logan's lifespan, this guy might actually grind himself into a Great Druid over his long life.

The progress of others was not as fast as these two, but it was not slow either. In this situation, everyone was a little reluctant to do anything else and wanted to focus on pushing their strength to a bottleneck first.

This was like when many people play games and are just about to level up and change professions. At this time, they want to put everything else aside. They will talk about other things after they finish this period.

Selene and Ada did not fall into a state of frenzied training, so Ethan's previous plan of a "stealth operation" was carried out as usual.

With the close cooperation of the three, the stealth operation was completed in just one night. The excellent spy Ada brought back all the information she could gather.

Not much of this information was useful. Most of it was meaningless. Among it, only one piece of information caught Ethan's attention.

"Since over eight hundred years ago, the Guild seems to have lost contact with the Empire. They are now just doing fixed jobs generation after generation in a routine manner, not out of loyalty to the Empire, but because it allows them to maintain their status in this world."

Everyone gathered in the dedicated conference room, listening to Ada's report on this mission.

"Overly outdated information in the Guild has been destroyed. The goal of collecting information about the Empire from the Guild's records cannot be achieved."

Ada was not discouraged by the mission failure. She continued to introduce her findings in a calm and relaxed tone. "However, there is one piece of information worth noting: every ten years, the Guild sends out a direct fleet to conduct a voyage around the Sea of Miracles."

Everyone looked at the projected sea chart of the Sea of Miracles.

"Their route has been different every time over the years, but this area... the Guild's direct fleet will never miss it!"

(To be continued.)