DOTM: Chapter 454/456

Chapter 454: Training Ground

On the way back, Betty was very silent, but Ethan knew the girl had been quietly observing him and the others. Although she thought she was being very careful and cautious, unfortunately, it couldn't fool anyone present.

On the contrary, Ethan had noticed some things about Betty.

Considering she had just woken up from over 800 years of hibernation, Ethan initially controlled his walking pace, fearing Betty wouldn't be able to keep up.

But after walking for a while, he found that Betty showed almost no signs of falling behind and had no issues with physical exhaustion. He gradually increased their pace, returning to the group's normal speed, yet Betty still showed no signs of struggling.

If a normal human had just undergone such a long period of hibernation, they would have difficulty even walking after waking up, let alone moving quickly with a full set of equipment like this.

Even if the hibernation equipment she used was extremely powerful, and the injected agents could instantly restore her to her pre-hibernation state, a normal person carrying so much equipment and moving quickly for a distance would still feel tired, and at the very least, their breathing would change.

But Betty showed none of these signs, which indicated her physical condition.

Physical condition can reflect many things. For example, in this sea area, even Brad, who returned from the Sea of Miracles, was only a strong ordinary human who hadn't reached the human limit, let alone surpassed it.

Based on the information Ethan currently had, it seemed that to surpass the human limit in this sea area, one could only do so like Beckford, using special magic stones to undergo some extreme transformation of their life form.

Betty didn't seem to have undergone such a transformation, so why was her physical condition so strong?

Was it innate? Or enhanced later?

Combining the information Betty had revealed earlier, Ethan suddenly felt some curiosity about what they might encounter in that vast, boundless sea of stars.

After a few seconds of random thoughts, Ethan stopped.

He didn't need to go any further. His companions hadn't set up camp on the beach, but had built a camp on the grassland near the beach. They had already lit a bonfire and set up a few simple shelters for resting.

"The terrain here is slightly higher. We're not sure if that beach will be submerged by the sea during high tide."

This was a normal consideration. If it were Ethan choosing, he would also build the camp on slightly higher ground, rather than directly on the beach that could be swallowed by waves at any time.

"What's the situation with that girl?"

Because the area was flat, everyone had seen Ethan and the others returning from a distance, and there was a strange woman added to the group.

From her clothing and the weapon on her back, she didn't look like an adventurer from this world. Had Ethan gone to another world for a quick trip while he was out?

"I haven't figured out the specifics yet. I'll talk to her later, she should know what this island is about. As for how I met this girl, you can ask Laura or Ada if you're interested."

After giving the instructions, Ethan turned back and called out to Betty.

"You've been in hibernation for so long, do you need to replenish food and water?"

"I can only consume special nutrient agents right now. If possible, please give me some clean water."

Ethan nodded, whispered a few words to Logan, and then led Betty to a shelter in a relatively secluded corner.

These shelters were assembled using a few logs, slightly thicker branches, some wide leaves, and ropes made from twisted bark.

The technical difficulty wasn't high, anyone with patience and strength could build one. And this group had no shortage of strength, so they built several in one go.

It was convenient for Ethan to use now. After entering the shelter, Ethan motioned for Betty to sit down directly.

Beneath the grass was soft soil. There was nothing wrong with it except that it would dirty pants, besides, Betty's pants weren't afraid of getting dirty at all, soil would wash off with water.

As soon as the two sat down, Logan brought over a bottle of water and handed it to Betty.

"Thank you."

Betty didn't drink the water immediately after taking it. Instead, she kept looking at the bottle in her hand.

This was bottled water specifically for the Prinz Eugen. It looked like an ordinary plastic bottle on the outside, but it was actually made of a special polymer material, making it quite sturdy.

Inside was plain clean water. The Prinz Eugen had special equipment that could inject treated clean water into empty bottles that had been cleaned and sterilized, and then transport them through dedicated channels to almost any room, ensuring crew members could find water to drink at any time.

Besides being convenient to use on the ship, bottled water was also easy to carry. For this island landing, almost everyone brought many bottles.

This wasn't particularly special, but in Betty's eyes, it had a completely different meaning.

"If you have anything you want to ask, just ask!"

Ethan watched Betty take a sip of water, then take out a tube-like object from her vest-like clothing. After fiddling with it a couple of times, she squeezed some paste into her mouth and swallowed it with the clean water.

After Betty swallowed everything in her mouth, she held up the bottle in her hand and asked Ethan, "Are these bottles made by yourselves?"

"Before answering that question, I think it's better to first clarify the meaning of 'you'."

Betty's expression became a little awkward. She realized that the man opposite her had learned something from her words, which wasn't good. She had originally wanted to ask more questions and confirm some things before deciding whether to tell the truth.

"I think it's better for us to tell each other what we know. Only then can we resolve our questions. Hiding things from each other is meaningless."

"You're right."

Betty felt that Ethan's words made sense, but she was deeply worried, fearing the other party couldn't accept the cruel reality. So she still wasn't prepared to tell everything, or rather, she planned to keep some things back.

Unfortunately, Ethan wouldn't give her the chance to keep things back. He immediately cut to the chase. "You know where this place is, right?"

"Uh..." Betty thought for a long time, unable to figure out how to answer the question with some reservations. "I know."

She secretly glanced at Ethan again, and their eyes met. Just as she was feeling a bit flustered and didn't know what to say to get by, she heard Ethan opposite her say something that surprised her.

"I know what you're worried about. You might think I'm an ignorant native of this place, unable to accept the cruel reality... What I want to tell you is, you're overthinking it. No matter what kind of truth you tell me, I won't find it unacceptable."

As a transmigrator who came to this world, then gained the ability to freely travel through multiple cosmic planes, learned magical spells from top mages like Isandra, Merlin, and the Ancient One, and even obtained Ares's blood to create enhancement potions, evolving himself to the demigod level.

And having gathered a large number of companions from multiple worlds who only existed in fantasy in his previous life, and even engaged in countless indescribable acts with one of the goddesses, what else could possibly surprise him?

According to his speculation, this so-called ocean world was simply a testing ground or examination site for that powerful force known as the Empire, because Betty had previously said she was a student here to undergo assessment.

The so-called natives of this world were likely low-level life forms specifically created by some advanced civilization, whose purpose was to fill this place and make it closer to a normal world.

In the eyes of Betty, a student of the military academy who had slept for over 800 years, Ethan was perhaps just such a pitiful, ignorant, clueless native who knew nothing about the truth of this world.

Betty did indeed think so. After realizing that her thoughts had been guessed by the man in front of her, she finally said, "Okay, since you say so, then I just hope you can remain calm after hearing the truth."

Ethan spread his hands, gesturing for her to speak. After hesitating one last time, Betty gave up struggling and slowly told the truth.

As Betty narrated, Ethan finally confirmed his speculation.

Just as he had expected, this so-called ocean world was actually a military training ground for that powerful force known as the Empire.

The entire world, including the ocean, floating islands, and various monsters, were all created using powerful technological means. The natives of this world were also low-level life forms created by the Empire using biotechnology.

The Empire possessed extremely powerful gene regulation technology. After generations of optimization, the Empire's citizens had long completed the evolution of their life forms from ordinary life to higher life.

Therefore, Imperial citizens possessed physical conditions far surpassing ordinary humans and much longer lifespans. The fact that Betty's body showed no abnormalities after sleeping in the hibernation pod for so long was not only due to the high quality of the pod but also related to her own strong physical condition.

In contrast, fragile life forms whose lifespans rarely reached a hundred years and were particularly susceptible to various diseases were not regarded as true people by the Imperial citizens, but merely low-level creatures used as consumables.

Ethan, in the eyes of Betty, an Imperial citizen, was a low-level creature.

As she said this, Betty kept observing Ethan, surprised to find that Ethan seemed completely unaffected. This cruel reality hadn't agitated the young man, which made Betty breathe a slight sigh of relief.

As long as the other party didn't go mad and lose control from the shock of reality, there was nothing left that couldn't be said.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 455: Unlucky Betty

After explaining most of the world's truth, Betty began to introduce the place they were in.

Training Ground Number 1001 was a venue specifically for the Imperial Military Academy's assessment, targeting disciplines like Command, Piloting, and Combat. Betty was a student in the Piloting discipline.

"Students will be sent to the central area of the training ground. After leaving their basic equipment, they need to leave the training ground within a certain time. As long as they can successfully reach the finish line, they are considered qualified. The specific score is calculated based on the time taken."

Ethan nodded. This wasn't difficult for him to understand, and he also learned why this world had a clear hierarchical division.

The environment of the initial Sea of Calm was relatively peaceful, allowing students to adapt here before setting sail to challenge the next sea area, which was the area Ethan was currently in.

Here they could accumulate some strength, mainly focusing on ship upgrades, and then, after their equipment met certain requirements, enter the route, pass through the second Sea of Storms, and reach the outermost Sea of Miracles.

The increasingly complex sea conditions along the way, in addition to testing the students' piloting and command abilities, also had corresponding requirements for combat capabilities.

"Do you all participate in the assessment in teams of several students?"

Betty didn't expect Ethan to notice this, but there was nothing to hide, so she nodded directly. "This is also a reference standard for calculating the final score. Before the assessment begins, it will be determined whether students participate in teams or individually."

Participating individually would yield a higher overall evaluation than participating in a team. Basically, students who achieved high scores completed the exam individually, as this meant the student had no obvious weaknesses in both piloting and combat.

However, students in the Command discipline who wanted to achieve high scores must choose to participate in teams. Otherwise, no matter how well they completed it alone, they could only get a passing score. This was because one of the reference standards for testing the command ability of Command discipline students was the speed at which the team completed the assessment and the condition of the team members.

If there were casualties among team members, the score would not be very good. If the entire team died and only the commander came out, not only would they not get a passing score, but they would even be held accountable, ranging from expulsion to facing a military tribunal.

Ethan just listened to a general overview of these matters. He wasn't very interested in these details. What he cared about was something else.

"Does this training ground have an energy field on its outermost layer?"

"Of course."

Outside the training ground was an energy field, which served as a partial atmosphere. Besides that, it had many other functions, such as making the sky look more like a real sky. It also ensured that people inside couldn't leave this place easily and that people outside couldn't enter here easily.

"The energy field can also create corresponding weather conditions."

This was why the lid in the sky and the clouds were almost at the same height, because various weather effects were created by these energy fields.

Ethan thought for a moment and then asked a more important question.

"Then what about the exit?"

Since it was a training ground, it wouldn't be a completely enclosed facility. At the very least, there had to be an entrance and exit passage.

Hearing this question, Betty looked at Ethan in surprise, as if she hadn't expected him to be thinking about the exit. The thought in her mind was, Does this person want to escape this place? Does he really understand what the universe means?

It wasn't surprising that Betty had such thoughts. In her impression, the natives of this world were controlled at a rather backward level of civilization. With the level of civilization the natives possessed, they couldn't even conquer a single planet, not even if there were no higher-level civilizations on it.

Someone like this, actually attempting to leave this training ground? Betty felt Ethan was thinking a bit too much.

"Using a special controller, a temporary passage can be opened at a specific location on that energy field. That's how I came in originally."

Ethan nodded. Actually, it didn't matter to him whether there was an exit or not. At worst, he could just open a portal directly on the energy field and teleport his spaceship outside.

For Ethan, who had mastered more and more abilities, a mere energy layer couldn't stop him at all.

"How did you get trapped here?"

As soon as this was mentioned, Betty seemed very down, but she still briefly recounted her experience.

The story was nothing special. Basically, Betty and her classmates were undergoing the assessment together, but their team was very unlucky. The progress wasn't smooth, and they even suffered casualties not long after setting off.

The most terrifying thing wasn't the casualties, but that the first person to die was actually the commander.

This was too bizarre, so bizarre that no one had ever heard of such a precedent. Betty and her companions were a bit at a loss, not knowing what to do next.

Some even suggested giving up this assessment and just waiting for the rescue team to arrive.

Betty and her companions did not choose to give up the exam, but instead continued to push forward, eventually successfully reaching this route. It seemed that the only remaining challenge was the Sea of Storms not far ahead.

As for the various monsters along the route, as long as they were careful and dodged in time, they didn't need to worry too much. Even if they occasionally encountered them, there were combat students with decent strength in the team.

For Betty's team, the biggest problem was still the lack of a commander. When encountering issues, everyone acted on their own, each having their own ideas, and they often got into arguments over small matters.

This resulted in the team's progress always being slow, so they had another argument when they arrived at this island.

"This island is actually a resting point before the Sea of Storms, but it's also a test."

"A test?"

After Betty's explanation, Ethan learned that although this island had no mental interference, the entire island was deliberately designed to make people feel comfortable.

Beaches, grasslands, mountains, forests, coupled with the almost imperceptible passage of time, made it easy for people to have the idea of staying here comfortably for a longer period.

If too much time was accidentally wasted here, then the assessment could easily result in failing due to the wasted time.

There was also an option here, which was to choose to give up the subsequent exams on this island. In that case, although this exam would be judged as a failure, they would receive an additional opportunity for a retest.

So, upon arriving at this island, Betty's team had an argument. The result of the argument was that the team split, and they even almost broke out into physical conflict.

Betty watched her classmates' relationships become increasingly tense and lost confidence in completing this exam, so she chose to stay here and give up this exam.

This time, Betty instead became the target of concentrated attacks from her classmates. These companions not only didn't leave her anything but even wanted to snatch all the equipment she carried. Although they were ultimately prevented by another classmate who had a good relationship with her, it also made Betty completely lose trust in these companions.

Betty escaped from the team while everyone was resting at night, then found a hidden mountain cave, sent out a distress signal from inside, and quietly waited for the rescue team to arrive.

In the following days, she secretly observed her classmates from a distance. They didn't look for her and quickly left by ship. Betty thus remained on the island waiting for rescue.

As the awaited rescue was slow to come and she had to find food every day, Betty eventually chose to go into hibernation.

The Empire's hibernation pod technology was very advanced. One only needed to carry a nano-device about the size of a finger on their person. This small thing could transform into a huge hibernation pod when activated, and could also serve as a single-person life support device to wait for rescue in space when necessary.

However, once deployed, it would be completely fixed in shape and could not revert back into such a small nano-device to be put away.

"This island doesn't sink into the sea like other islands?"

More questions arose in Ethan's mind. Since this island wouldn't sink, why didn't the so-called Guild develop it into another unsinkable island base? Considering it was next to the Sea of Storms, it seemed it could serve as a transit station between the two sea areas?

"This island will always remain on the surface of the sea. It's said that some very special technology is used to ensure the environment on the island always remains in a beautiful state."

Ethan was somewhat interested in this so-called special technology. Unfortunately, Betty didn't know much about this technology. She was just a student participating in the exam and only knew the names of many technologies the Empire possessed. She hadn't even heard of many advanced technologies.

She hadn't known about the magical technology that kept the island in a beautiful state for years before. She only heard about it when she participated in this exam, but she didn't know the specifics.

"Since this island is always on the surface of the sea and is so beautiful, why haven't any natives come to live on the island?"

Betty did know this point, because before participating in the assessment, there were detailed explanations regarding various situations.

"Ships belonging to non-students cannot approach this island. First of all, there are often Floating and Sinking Islands appearing long-term around the island's periphery. Without the positioning device specifically for students, the island pointer used by ordinary navigators will only lead them to other islands."

Ethan this time just proceeded in a straight line and didn't use the island pointer to look for Floating and Sinking Islands, which was why he unexpectedly discovered this place.

"When ships without a special identification device approach this island, they will be subjected to things like lightning, storms or blizzards, giant whirlpools, etc... However, these facilities may have lost their effect, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to approach here at all."

Ethan rubbed his chin. He now really wanted to tell Betty: he had just charged through blizzards and countless giant whirlpools.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 456: The Road Ahead Gradually Becomes Clearer

Having asked everything he could, Ethan had gained a deeper understanding of this world.

Now, it was Betty's turn to question Ethan. She was curious why he hadn't become particularly violent, as she thought any intelligent being would become extremely agitated upon hearing they were puppets controlled by higher beings—and the safety rules distributed before the exam had also stated this.

Although in the eyes of Betty and other Empire citizens, the native inhabitants of this training ground were indeed lower life forms, they were still intelligent beings. There had long been a debate among the Empire's populace about whether it was right or wrong to use intelligent beings in this way, with many considering the practice inhumane and advocating for its prohibition.

However, the Empire's military had always treated such civilian groups as if they didn't exist. The thousands of military training grounds created by the Empire contained countless lower life forms. While initially bred using technology, many of the earlier-numbered training grounds had already self-propagated for several generations.

These training grounds were like miniature civilized planets, except their civilization level was artificially suppressed to a certain tier to better serve the military.

To better control these native inhabitants, students were generally not allowed to reveal the truth to them. Only when necessary could they seek help from the natives to escape difficulties, although the natives who helped students rarely had a good outcome, the most common fate was being destroyed by the military.

Betty was struggling with whether to reveal these things. She worried that if she did, Ethan, who was currently calm, would become angry. Helping out of kindness only to meet such an end? No one could tolerate that.

If she didn't say anything, she felt that if keeping it a secret ultimately led to Ethan's death, her conscience wouldn't be clear.

But if she did say it, would Ethan, in his anger, turn on her?

Betty's internal struggle was fully evident on her face. After all, she was just a student with limited experience and didn't know how to hide her true thoughts.

Ethan had been through many things in multiple worlds and could easily see such obvious distress.

"Is something bothering you?"

"Uh... it's nothing..."

Betty thought long and hard, but in the end, she didn't say it. Instead, she asked about the current situation outside.

Ethan glanced at Betty again, decided not to press further, and told her what he knew.

Betty seemed a bit surprised when she learned that many native adventurer groups had already reached the outermost sea area.

She felt relieved upon hearing that the adventurers were trapped in the outermost Sea of Miracles, unsure of which direction to go, thinking that this was how things should be.

When Ethan mentioned the Guild, Betty became even more relaxed. She found that the situation outside hadn't changed much from what she knew, only that the native inhabitants had slightly advanced their technology, allowing them to venture into the outermost sea area.

Betty lowered her head and thought for a while, then asked Ethan if he planned to brave the Sea of Storms to reach the Sea of Miracles.

"It's precisely because I was preparing to brave the Sea of Storms, and didn't use a compass to find an island, that I unexpectedly discovered this place."

Betty didn't understand Ethan's logic. If he was going to brave the Sea of Storms, wouldn't the correct approach be to stop at an island beforehand to resupply?

What kind of operation was this? Just heading straight into the Sea of Storms? She was starting to doubt whether this young captain could help her escape.

"My team is quite special and doesn't need any extra supplies."

Ethan simply explained briefly without saying too much. He looked at Betty, who seemed to have no more questions, and then at the setting sun, which was almost dipping below the horizon.

Turning on the portable lamp that was already in the shack, Ethan pointed to the bed made of leaves nearby. "You can rest here. If you need anything, you can find me by the campfire. I won't be resting tonight, I'll be there the whole time."

With a stranger present, especially one who might be hiding secrets, Ethan wouldn't let her roam freely without supervision.

The shacks built by Logan and the others were arranged in a fan shape, with the campfire located directly facing all of them. By watching the campfire, he could clearly see the situation in all the shacks. If Betty wanted to come out and do something, she couldn't escape Ethan's sight.

"If I need anything, I'll come find you there."

Ethan nodded and then walked out of the shack.

By this time, everyone had gathered around the campfire, processing the prey they had caught earlier. When Ethan returned, he saw an animal resembling a sheep and two animals similar to pheasants.

There were no professional chefs on the Prinz Eugen. Basically, whoever had free time helped out with the processing. As for the cooking, whoever had time was responsible, which was mostly Selene, Ada, and Annette.

Logan would occasionally help, but he wouldn't actively do these things if someone else was responsible. O'Connell was sometimes willing to help, but he couldn't cook at all.

The rest were unreliable. Currently, the most reliable cook on the ship was actually the very young Sherry—she learned by helping Annette cook and was clearly more talented than her mother. This was a truly speechless fact.

Seeing Ethan approach, Selene handed him a bowl of thick soup containing chunks of meat and fresh wild vegetables they had gathered.

Ethan took the bowl, inhaled the steaming aroma, and sat down directly by the campfire. Logan had chopped some trees from nearby, and these logs were placed around the fire, serving as stools so everyone didn't have to sit on the ground.

Having lived in this ocean for a while, everyone had become experts in wilderness survival, not only knowing how to survive but even learning how to make their lives more comfortable.

"What did you find out?"

While drinking the soup, Ethan told everyone the information he had gathered. They didn't have any strong reactions after hearing it, because none of them, except for Ethan, were native to this world.

If anyone had the right to feel upset, it was only Ethan, but Ethan had a soul from another world and wasn't that bothered by such things.

Besides, he had already evolved into a demigod through his own efforts, and in this situation, the concept of being a controlled low-level puppet felt severely unreal.

"From this information, we can infer one thing." Logan held a piece of fragrant grilled lamb leg in his hand. "If we want to leave this training ground, we might encounter some trouble."

Regardless of their true situation, in the eyes of the Empire people in this world, they were the local natives of this training ground, puppet creatures to be strictly controlled, who must do what they should do according to the life paths arranged for them.

Actions like trying to break free from control and escape the training ground would surely incur the displeasure of those people and would inevitably lead to violent suppression.

"Currently, our spaceship is still in the planning stage. Wouldn't that put us in a very passive position?"

Even if they didn't need space combat, being trapped within the opponent's sphere of influence would definitely put them in a passive position once combat began. However, there was no need to worry too much about this. If the situation turned bad, Ethan could take everyone to another world to hide for a while and then return to fight back after getting the spaceship.

Anyway, no matter how long they stayed in other worlds, only a moment would pass in this world. They had a sufficiently strong trump card for a counterattack.

"We don't need to worry too much either."

Ada sipped her soup in small mouthfuls. She wasn't eating little to maintain a perfect figure, she had already finished. The pile of bones on the ground by her feet showed that she hadn't eaten any less than the sturdy Logan.

"From Betty's experience... and the technological advancement of those local adventurers, it seems that the so-called Empire no longer has such strong control over this training ground."

"Not only that, but no matter what, a student sent out a distress signal, and yet over eight hundred years have passed, and there's no sign of a rescue team..."

Ethan shrugged. This didn't look like something a force that treated the training ground as its own backyard would do, unless Betty had offended someone powerful who wanted to use this opportunity to get rid of her, which was why no one came to rescue her.

But this possibility wasn't very likely either. Even if a rescue team didn't come, weren't there other students passing by here? No one discovered her hibernation pod for over eight hundred years?

This island wasn't particularly large, and while Betty's chosen spot was hidden, it wasn't difficult to find. Could she have been so unlucky that no one ever discovered it?

"Perhaps this island hasn't been visited for a long time."

If that were the case, then something might have happened to the so-called Empire, perhaps they had abandoned this training ground, which was why the native inhabitants here were able to start improving their civilization level and develop technology based on the use of magic stones.

Logan casually tossed the gnawed bone aside. "If that's the case, then no one will stop us from leaving this place, but it's best to be prepared to deal with potential enemies."

Ethan nodded. They couldn't just think positively, they had to be prepared for the worst possible scenario that might arise.

"The question now is, what role does the Guild play in all of this?"

No one present was foolish; they instantly realized what kind of organization the Guild was.

"What else could it be? Lackeys helping the Empire forces better control the local residents, of course." Laura's evaluation was blunt, and everyone felt it was very fitting.

The Guild almost monopolized all technology and magic stone transactions in this world and could even control what level of equipment could be used in each sea area. To say they weren't an organization established by the Empire, even a fool wouldn't believe it.

At this moment, Ethan was considering whether he could get more information from the Guild.

(To be continued.)