DOTM: Chapter 457/459

Chapter 457: Ethan's Way Of Finding Things

According to the original plan, after the Prinz Eugen arrived at the Sea of Miracles, it would not head to Miracle Island. It would try to avoid the Guild's attention and stay at sea.

While searching for an exit, he would lead his companions in learning some knowledge related to space travel and survival.

Of course, this knowledge couldn't be fully acquired in this world, so he had already planned to visit several space-themed worlds after arriving at the Sea of Miracles, and perhaps even acquire a few spaceships to use for now.

After all, Ethan already had a way to pack up large ships and take them with him. Although this spell had its limits, it was sufficient for the time being.

Betty's appearance changed everything. He realized he had to visit Miracle Island, gather some relevant information, and possibly find out the current situation of the Empire.

According to his speculation, something might have happened to the Empire, such as internal reforms or perhaps it had already perished, and this training ground had been abandoned or forgotten during some conflict, which was why this world had become the way it was now.

But what if, just in case? If the Empire still existed intact, and they had only slightly relaxed their supervision, still maintaining strong control over this star system, then rashly sailing out in a spaceship could very likely lead them straight into an enemy encirclement.

"Even if we land on the island, we don't need to dock the ship. We can take the Quinjet to the waters near the island under the cover of night and then swim ashore from the sea."

The reason for not using the Quinjet for landing was that the plane's noise was quite loud. There was basically no noise at night in this world, and a Quinjet flying too close would be easily discovered.

"That's a good idea."

"Leave the task of searching for hidden information and the like to me."

Ada actively took on this task. After joining Ethan's team, she had been mostly just following along, traveling with Ethan, experiencing the differences of various worlds. Other than that, she had been quietly improving her strength, without much opportunity to showcase her abilities and contribute to the team.

This time was an excellent opportunity. She was most skilled at things like infiltration, penetration, and searching for information.

Besides Ada, Selene would also go with them. In terms of stealth and infiltration, Selene was even better than Ada due to the abilities she possessed. She could hide in the shadows to provide support for Ada, because when it came to the ability to search for intelligence... she wasn't very professional.

Although Selene was a vampire who had lived for over six hundred years, the Death Dealers were a combat unit and were not particularly proficient in intelligence gathering.

"I will also go ashore with you. If anything unexpected happens, I will take you directly away."

When landing on the island, they were worried that using a teleportation portal might accidentally appear in a crowd and cause a commotion, so it was inconvenient to use magic for infiltration. However, leaving had no such concerns, and if necessary, Ethan's powerful combat ability could also resolve some threats by force.

The three of them formed a strong small team. Logan felt that these few, let alone infiltrating, could even flatten the entire Miracle Island without much difficulty.

He felt that Ethan going along was actually with the intention of blowing up the entire island if necessary, but he wouldn't say this out loud.

"Now that the serious matters are discussed, let's talk about something else."

Apart from Galahad and Mordred, who still needed normal sleep and rest, the others did not need sleep to recover their energy. Moreover, it was still early, and the energetic Mordred did not feel tired.

"What should we talk about?"

"Betty said this island uses special technology. I suspect this technology is related to time."

Ethan's words surprised everyone. They wondered if Ethan had made a mistake.

"Related to time? Has the technology of this so-called Empire advanced to the point where they can glimpse the mysteries of time?"

Logan wasn't a great mage, but he also knew how mysterious the field of time was. He didn't believe this Empire had mastered the secrets of time and could freely use the power of time.

"It's not necessarily that they've mastered time, maybe they've just created equipment that can use some time-related power."

Sometimes, creating a piece of equipment doesn't mean completely mastering the principles of a certain power. Perhaps they simply know that this thing is useful and what effect it has, but as for why it has this effect, even the developers are completely clueless.

This situation is very common in technological civilizations and countless in magical civilizations, so it is entirely possible that the Empire accidentally created some equipment with time-related power. This is not surprising at all.

"So you want to find this potential equipment?"

"This thing will help me improve my understanding of time."

The space-time orb he had was still improving slowly. Ethan already had a good understanding of space, but the field of time was still full of many unknowns for him. He had only just touched the threshold with the Time Stone. After all, he had used the Time Stone for too short a time, just borrowing a little time, and couldn't tinker with it whenever he wanted like the Space Stone.

No one had any objection to Ethan wanting to improve his strength. Anyway, no one was in a hurry to leave, so it didn't matter if Ethan wasted half a year on the island.

Mordred and Galahad didn't care either. After realizing that their own strength wasn't great, they had been working hard to improve themselves, and training could be done anywhere. Anyway, there were enough excellent teachers around them, and they could freely choose sparring partners.

The two of them weren't alone, because Maria Hill also needed to improve her strength. After the initial adjustment and determining the path she wanted to take for improvement, Hill was just lacking enough free time to focus on training.

Unlike the choices of most people on the ship, Hill gave up injecting any enhancement pharmacy first and directly began training the Holy Light.

She wanted to know if it was possible to master this extraordinary power with the qualities of an ordinary person, and at the same time, she wanted to understand more intuitively how much stronger she would be than an ordinary person once she mastered this power.

Perhaps influenced by her example, Mordred and Galahad, unwilling to be outdone, also did not ask for enhancement potions, although Mordred was still too young, and even if she wanted them, Ethan wouldn't give them to her.

Mordred began to focus on basic swordsmanship and the use of basic magic power. She could learn the former from Selene and practice the latter with Sherry.

Sometimes, training speed is slow because you lack a good training partner. If two people work hard together, even with slightly less talent, the progress speed is much faster than training alone.

There is no harm without comparison, and without harm, the sensitive nerves cannot be stimulated. And without stimulation, how can one work hard and train desperately?

After being stimulated several times, when Selene taught her, even if the basic movements were boring and tedious, she would practice diligently and would never express dissatisfaction.

Because Galahad was also training with her, she could very intuitively feel how solid and powerful Galahad's foundation was. Without using magic power to enhance himself, she simply couldn't defeat Galahad.

Moreover, Galahad had already begun to learn how to master magic power. Once Galahad also mastered magic power, her only advantage would disappear, and if she didn't work hard, she would become the weakest among everyone.

After a period of focused training, Maria Hill finally successfully sensed the Holy Light. Although it was only a very small amount of Holy Light, being able to sense the Holy Light here, in a place so far from the world of Azeroth, meant that Hill herself had talent in this area. As long as she continued to train diligently, she would definitely be able to grow into a powerful Paladin.

Compared to his diligently training companions, Ethan seemed a bit idle.

Apart from the initial large circle around the island, Ethan did not continue exploring the island to find that peculiar equipment. Instead, he spent the entire day lying in the shed, staring at a few small blades of grass without moving.

His state did not cause dissatisfaction among his companions, because other than liking to lie there and stare at the green grass, Ethan did not show any other abnormalities, so no one was worried about him.

The only one who was worried was Betty. The young girl had adjusted and adapted after a few days and had returned to normal. She was fully expecting to leave this island, but she didn't expect Ethan and his team to seem like they were settling down on the island for the long term.

Not only were there no signs of leaving, but the two tall and strong men even began collecting stones and wood to build real houses.

Perhaps for these local people, this island was a very good place to settle. Living out the rest of their lives on this island was a very good choice.

After all, this training ground didn't have much land, only a few islands that would always stay on the water. Most people had to constantly sail at sea to survive.

But here, they didn't need to live that wandering and uncertain life at sea. The island had enough space and resources to support enough people. If Betty were from this world, she would definitely stay and not leave.

But she wasn't. She knew what this world was, and she knew how vast the outside world was.

More importantly, her lifespan was very long, and she didn't want to be trapped here for hundreds of years.

After enduring for a few days, she finally couldn't stand it anymore. Seeing Ethan lying there again, she walked over and squatted beside him, asking the young captain who might have been hit by cruel reality when they were leaving.

"I'm looking for something. Once I find it, we'll leave."

"Then go look for it! I can help you look!" Betty scratched her head in a bit of a breakdown. "Do you think that thing will just come to you if you lie here?"

Ethan raised his head and gave Betty a particularly bright smile, nodding heavily.

"Yes!"

(To be continued.)

Chapter 458: Extracting Time Energy

Betty thought Ethan was disheartened, which was why he had been lying there all day.

The truth was, Ethan had already found what he was looking for. The so-called device containing the power of time had been right under his nose all along.

He wasn't spacing out while observing the grass. Ever since he sensed something, he had been systematically breaking the grass in front of his shack, from left to right, pulling up the entire root, then most of it, then half of it, all the way to the rightmost blades where only a small tip was broken off.

During this process, he observed the recovery status of these grasses and found that the situation matched what he had sensed: the grasses grew at an astonishing speed, quickly returning to their original state.

Then... it was as if these grasses stopped growing, remaining consistently in that state.

It wasn't just the grass. Ethan had already discovered that all the plants on the entire island were in this state.

Trees, after being cut down, would regrow very quickly, and after reaching a certain size, they seemed to enter a state of stagnation, as if the time of the entire tree had been frozen.

Ethan stopped lying down and stood up, gently patting the dirt off his clothes.

"I've found the special technology you mentioned earlier that this island uses."

Only then did Betty realize what Ethan was looking for, but she hadn't seen him go out to search. He had been lying there the whole time.

However, she didn't care about that. What she cared about was, since the item had been found, when would they leave?

"Is the scenery here not good?"

Ethan looked at the surrounding environment: beautiful beaches, a clear blue sea, lush green grass, living in natural handmade wooden and stone houses, eating various wild game and seafood. Such a small island was simply a vacation or retirement paradise. If Ethan could have an island of his own, he would want it to be like this.

"It's not a matter of scenery or not."

Betty was very eager to return home. Although many years had passed, considering the long lifespan of the Empire's people, she still hoped to see her relatives.

"No need to rush, even if you didn't urge us, we were planning to leave."

Although Logan and O'Connell were happily busy building houses and farming on the island, they couldn't stay on this island forever. Everyone was aiming for the stars and the sea.

More importantly, after realizing that this world was just a military training ground for a certain country, they felt uncomfortable being within someone else's sphere of influence. Even if they wanted to enjoy life, they needed to find a place that was relatively free or entirely their own.

The reason they hadn't expressed a desire to leave was that everyone had their own things to do. Now that their goals were achieved, and Ethan had also found his target, they were going to leave even without Betty urging them.

Betty didn't know Ethan and the others' thoughts. During this time, she had been wandering around the island, focusing on another matter.

"Speaking of leaving, where exactly is your ship docked?"

This wasn't the first time she had asked this question. At first, Ethan replied that the ship was hidden.

Betty had adventured in this ocean back in the day and knew it was normal to hide a ship.

But during this time, she had circled the entire island, checked all the places where a ship could dock, and there were no hidden caves or similar places on the island. She couldn't figure out where Ethan had hidden the ship.

"At sea, it's docked quite far away, so you can't see it," Ethan explained to Betty. "Why is it docked so far? Because my ship is relatively large and cannot approach this island."

Since they were about to leave, there was no need for Ethan to hide these facts. Anyway, even if he didn't say anything, Betty would see it with her own eyes soon.

Betty didn't take Ethan's claim that his ship was very large seriously at all. As a student from the top military academy, who had grown up in the vast Empire that ruled this universe, she was skeptical of Ethan's definition of very large.

She thought these natives probably had never seen a truly large ship—not to mention the large warships used in space, even modern surface vessels used within a planet would be enough to scare these natives who were still using sailing ships to death.

Even if these natives had developed some technology, Betty still didn't think they could build more advanced ships...

It wasn't until the Quinjet from the Prinz Eugen deactivated its optical camouflage in front of her and slowly landed on the grass that Betty, with her mouth wide open and a look of disbelief, asked Jonathan beside her, "Has the outside world developed to this extent?"

"Our team... is quite special."

Jonathan didn't know how to answer and could only use such words to brush her off.

Of course, Betty wasn't satisfied. She wanted to turn back and ask Ethan if the natives outside had already mastered a higher level of civilization.

But when she turned her head, she saw Ethan standing alone, facing the entire island with his back to everyone.

Just as she was about to go over and ask something, she was pulled back by Selene beside her. "Don't disturb him now."

"What is he doing?"

Betty noticed that everyone else had already boarded the aircraft, and only Ethan remained on the island.

"He is going to retrieve some things."

Compared to Betty, who had no idea what was going on, Ethan had already explained his discovery and what he was about to do in detail to his companions.

The power of time he had been searching for was always right under their feet. The island itself was the device that possessed the ability to manipulate time.

Ethan wasn't sure what technology the Empire used, but they had managed to integrate a portion of time energy into the island, allowing the plants on the island to accelerate their growth when needed, and then stop growing after reaching a certain stage.

The function of this time energy was to maintain the island in a perfect state, making people feel comfortable on the island.

After arriving here, everyone had a feeling of not sensing the passage of time. This was the effect caused by the dissipation of this time energy.

After realizing this, Ethan didn't bother to search further. Instead, he continuously sensed the time energy and established a preliminary connection with it.

After that, he was going to extract all this energy.

Extracting a certain type of energy is not difficult for mages of any system. For most mages, it is as simple as eating and drinking water.

These energies were also unowned dissipated energy, and extracting them had no resistance at all.

The only problem was that no one could be sure what would happen to the island once the time energy was completely extracted.

Even Ethan wasn't sure what changes would occur.

In a good scenario, there would be no change, except that the island would not recover quickly after being cut down as before, but would need to regrow like normal plants or completely die and not recover.

In a bad scenario, perhaps the entire island's energy system would be destroyed by Ethan, and the island would directly collapse and be annihilated. This was highly possible.

So Ethan didn't act immediately but waited until everyone had completed their planned goals: Mordred needed to re-hone her combat skills; Galahad needed to learn basic magical knowledge; Hill was training to improve her Holy Light; even Logan was using farming to refine his Druid spells...

It wasn't until everyone had completed their training plans and were ready to leave that Ethan prepared to extract these energies.

The Quinjet slowly ascended into the air. The rear hatch of the plane was not closed, but left open. Several people stood at the hatch, wanting to see how Ethan planned to extract these time energies.

Betty was among them. She didn't know what Ethan was going to do, but that didn't stop her from grabbing a prime spot to see what exactly Ethan was up to.

Ethan looked back and saw that the Quinjet had slowly flown out of the island's range and stopped about a hundred meters from the coast. Only then did he begin to extract the time energy from the island beneath his feet.

He didn't need any tools. The space-time orb on his left hand was the best tool.

Ever since he established a connection with these energies, the space-time orb on his left hand had been wanting to extract all of them.

Fortunately, Ethan's control over the space-time orb far exceeded what it was back then, allowing him to suppress it well and prevent it from automatically extracting time energy.

Now there was no need to continue suppressing it. As Ethan released the restriction and allowed the space-time orb to extract the energy beneath his feet, the entire island flashed with a faint light. The space-time orb on Ethan's left hand emitted an even more dazzling light, enveloping Ethan himself in the light.

From a distance, Ethan looked like he had turned into a blue orb of light, and at the same time, the light on the island seemed to flow slowly, continuously surging towards that orb of light.

For Logan and the others, what was happening before their eyes was nothing. Ethan had created much grander scenes over the years. Compared to those, this was not much different from using a magic circle for transportation at ordinary times, except that the area covered by the light was a bit larger.

Moreover, the duration of these lights was not long. They quickly dissipated, so there was nothing much to see. Except for Betty, who was still staring in a daze with her mouth wide open, the others found seats and sat down.

After a long while, Betty looked at Ethan standing alone on the island, slightly regaining her senses. As if remembering something, she asked Selene beside her, "Are we going to pick him up?"

"No, he will catch up on his own."

"Catch up?" Betty looked at Ethan, who was dressed casually and didn't seem to have any special equipment on him. "How will he catch up?"

Selene didn't say anything because she didn't need to answer. Betty had already seen the answer—Ethan didn't use any tools, but slowly floated into the air, then turned around and flew straight towards them.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 459: Storage Space Upgrade

Ethan looked helplessly at Betty, who was always standing beside him, constantly looking him up and down as if searching for something. "You can just ask whatever you want to know."

Betty stopped pacing and circling around Ethan. She was actually checking his clothes, or whether he was wearing any small, special equipment. But after looking carefully, besides his simple clothes, the only things on Ethan were the ring on his finger and the pendant around his neck.

Neither of these items looked like tools that could make someone fly. It wasn't that similar equipment couldn't be made, but she didn't believe the indigenous people of this training ground had technology advanced enough to create such portable flight devices.

"Why can you fly?"

"Why can't I fly?"

Ethan's counter-question annoyed Betty. She felt like he was just toying with her. "How can people fly? Did you use some special device?"

"No."

Ethan really wasn't using any device. In the past, he needed magic to fly, but ever since he learned a more instinctive way of flying, he rarely used magic for it. Although flying with magic was cooler, it was indeed a bit more troublesome.

Now, when he wanted to fly, it was just like walking or running, completely instinctive, and it didn't consume magic. The speed wasn't slow either, and he had gradually grown to like this method of flying.

"Then how did you fly?"

"I just flew. There's no difference from walking or running."

Betty scratched her head. She couldn't understand the principle at all. Had the people of this training ground undergone some unknown evolution? Was the Empire's tolerance of this training ground actually because it had been turned into a large experimental observation area? Did they want to see how the people of this world would evolve?

She didn't voice her guesses, otherwise Ethan would definitely tell her clearly that she was overthinking it. Because in this world, Ethan was the only one who could fly. Even among the crew of the Prinz Eugen, only he possessed the ability to fly.

As for the second person who might learn to fly... if Laura's druid magic continued to improve, perhaps she could learn to transform into a bird. Then she could become the second person on the ship to master the ability to fly.

Betty didn't get the answer she wanted from Ethan, but she quickly lost interest in the matter because the Quinjet was very fast and soon returned to where the Prinz Eugen was anchored.

As the Prinz Eugen deactivated its stealth, a steel warship with a displacement of over 20,000 tons abruptly appeared on the sea surface.

Although she still had many questions, Betty, who also wanted to see what Ethan's ship was like, was once again stunned.

She had originally wanted to check the condition of Ethan's ship to determine if it was capable of crossing the stormy waters. If there were any issues, she could remind Ethan early to upgrade his ship. Betty believed that with the knowledge she possessed, she could provide excellent suggestions, and as long as Ethan upgraded and modified his ship according to her advice, the stormy waters wouldn't be a problem.

But what the heck was this ship in front of her? Had the age of sail in this world already passed?

Looking at that chimney, it seemed like a steam-powered warship, as introduced in textbooks? Had the indigenous people here already developed technology to the steam engine era?

If that were the case, it was no wonder more and more local adventurers had reached the outermost ring sea, the area Ethan had previously called the Sea of Miracles.

The Quinjet didn't land immediately upon reaching the Prinz Eugen's flight deck. It waited until the deck opened, revealing the internal hangar bay, before beginning its descent. The Quinjet could take off and land vertically, allowing it to land directly inside instead of stopping outside.

After the plane landed steadily and everyone started disembarking one after another, Ethan asked Ada to take Betty to the living quarters to choose a room, and then give her a brief tour of the environment.

Unlike the other companions on the ship, Betty wouldn't receive a detailed manual about the Prinz Eugen's layout, nor would she be allowed to fully understand all the functions of the ship. The only things she would be able to know were the functions of the living areas, such as the various daily facilities in the rooms, and the locations of the mess hall, recreation room, and other areas.

Areas like the engine room where the reactor was located, or the ammunition storage where various missiles and shells were stored, would not be open to her. Even if she wanted to wander around the ship and find these places herself, she wouldn't be able to get in.

Because she would only receive temporary access on the ship, those areas were only accessible to official crew members.

Of course, Betty didn't know any of this now. She still thought it was just an ordinary steam-powered warship. Even so, she was already very surprised and increasingly curious about what had happened in this training ground during the hundreds of years she had slept.

Ethan led everyone back to the bridge. Everyone was curious about what improvements and changes he had experienced after absorbing the time energy.

The time spent on the island wasn't particularly long, but it was a period of rest and adjustment. For example, Mordred had fully utilized this time to refine her fundamentals, Galahad had even grasped a trace of magic, so what changes had Ethan undergone?

"The changes aren't huge, but they are very important."

Standing in the open space in the center of the bridge, everyone quietly waited for Ethan to demonstrate. He didn't keep them in suspense, directly extended his left hand, and with a gentle shake, the ring he was wearing on his finger shattered into points of light.

"First of all, this spatial ring is no longer useful."

The space-time orb had always been walking with a limp. The affected ability wasn't just related to time; it also affected spatial abilities.

After absorbing a certain amount of time energy, the first thing Ethan discovered was the specific coordinates of the storage space he had always carried with him.

Through the space-time orb, he had completely locked onto this space. Even though this space was created by Ethan himself, it still needed an object to assist in positioning, or to act as a door, which was the function of the spatial ring.

But from now on, Ethan no longer needed this ring to locate the space. He could directly control the storage space, meaning this space had become his personal portable space.

"Not only that, but most importantly, I can freeze time inside this portable space."

What Ethan had always wanted most was a storage space that he could carry with him and where time was frozen inside. That way, he could store food, water, and weapons and armor that he didn't temporarily need, without worrying about spoilage or damage from lack of long-term maintenance.

With such a space, he could store things he didn't need for as long as he wanted. He could even store some hot meals and take them out to eat when needed—ensuring they were fresh and hot.

"Sounds good." Logan felt that suddenly going to some relatively desolate worlds with Ethan in the future wouldn't be unbearable anymore, at least they wouldn't have to worry about food and drink. "So, has the capacity of your storage space changed?"

"It's about the size of a basketball arena."

Even a small basketball arena could hold a few thousand people without much difficulty. Moreover, a storage space doesn't need to consider things like tiered stands, seats, and various facilities, meaning the space can hold more items than a real basketball arena.

Smaller spacecraft or fighter jets like the Quinjet no longer needed magic that required putting them into containers. They could be directly stored in the storage space and taken away.

"It'll be much more convenient to carry things in the future too."

"That's not the main point yet." Ethan smiled and said something that surprised everyone even more. "Thanks to this cluster of time energy, I've somewhat grasped a bit of the mysteries of time. Especially with this storage space as a reference, I can upgrade your storage items."

Currently, everyone in Ethan's team had been given a storage item. Although it wasn't as large as the ring on Ethan's hand, it was enough to carry personal belongings and some weapons and equipment.

These storage items had the same problem as Ethan's previous storage ring: the contents couldn't be kept fresh. They needed to be taken out regularly for sorting and maintenance, especially water and food, which were only carried when they were on a mission and not usually stored to avoid spoilage.

It was precisely because of this reason that everyone had never been dissatisfied with the capacity of their storage equipment. Storing one set of gear and weapons was enough, and the remaining space was for carrying some emergency medicine and food. If too much was stored, sorting it out each time was a hassle.

Now Ethan could upgrade their storage items, so they wouldn't have to worry about those troubles anymore. Therefore, the capacity also needed to be appropriately upgraded.

Just as everyone started speaking up, stating what kind of storage item they wanted, Betty arrived at the bridge after choosing her room.

And then she was stunned once again.

She had already been surprised when choosing a room. This warship, which looked very primitive, seemed much more advanced inside than she had imagined.

The various automated facilities, complete living amenities, and comfortable living environment made her feel like she had arrived on an Imperial spaceship—the kind used for travel, like a space cruiser. The military warships she had traveled on before didn't have living conditions as good as this ship.

After arriving at the bridge, she doubted she was even on a steam-powered surface vessel. The operational interfaces and holographic projections made her suspect she had arrived on the bridge of an Imperial warship.

If she had been rescued by an Imperial rescue team and then saw these things, it wouldn't be surprising. But wasn't Ethan a native adventurer from the training ground? Had the local technology advanced to this extent?

"Did I really... only sleep for eight hundred years?"

(To be continued.)