DOTM: Chapter 232/233

Chapter 232: Set Sail Ahead of Schedule
Improving Logan's physical fitness alone wasn't difficult. To strengthen his body this time, Ethan had done extensive research on enhancement potions. Moreover, because Logan possessed a self-healing factor, the side effects of many potions could be ignored outright. In fact, strengthening him was even easier than strengthening Ethan himself.

"The problem now is that there are no suitable raw materials."

Ethan had already identified the necessary raw materials but hadn't had the chance to travel to those worlds yet.

"So you need to collect space-time energy first?"

"I'm planning to collect as much space-time energy as possible when we first enter the channel and boost everyone's strength. That way, even if we encounter the same trouble Brent did, it won't be enough to threaten us."

In truth, everyone was already strong enough to protect themselves, but Ethan preferred overkill—like using the battleship's main cannon to blast a fishing boat. It made him feel safer.

If possible, he wanted all his companions to become overwhelmingly powerful. Not just to defend themselves, but to crush their enemies completely. That way, they could enjoy the wonders of these strange worlds without worry. Every adventure would feel like a sightseeing trip. Ideally, wherever they sailed next, they'd still be able to overpower any foes.

"What about Laura? Is she the same as me?"

"Laura is still in her growth phase. If we strengthen her now, she might surpass you in the future." Ethan wasn't entirely sure how to train Laura. After all, she was still very young. He planned to have her take some basic mage courses to see if she had any talent in that area.

If she did, the potential would be beautiful—and just thinking about it was exciting.

As for Loki, there was no need to worry. The power of the Casket of Ancient Winters would keep him busy for a long time. Fully mastering that frost power was no easy task, and it was no less challenging than Ethan's mastery over Holy Light energy.

Especially with such extreme energy types, it might not be hard to use them in basic ways, but to gain full control and turn them into one's own power—well, even Loki, the most gifted mage of Asgard's new generation, would need years, possibly decades, to achieve that.

"Selene, have you decided on your training direction?"

"For now, Selene is simpler than either of you."

Ethan wasn't just saying that. After transforming into a vampire, Selene naturally aligned with dark attributes. Her spiritual power was also stronger than that of an average person, so she could learn dark attribute spells to enhance her strength.

Ethan thought a vampire like Selene was perfectly suited to study blood-related spells. Although he didn't have much material on that subject yet, it didn't stop Selene from laying the foundation—such as better utilizing her spiritual strength and slowly strengthening it.

"I even think that as her spiritual strength grows, she might awaken some instinctual spells or abilities."

For example, the ability to extract memories through blood could be developed into a formal spell. That way, Selene could gather information with just a drop of blood, without even needing to bite.

Ethan believed in acting on ideas right away, and his own strengthening had already come to an end. Besides regular physical and spiritual training, he now spent his days teaching Laura and Selene some basics of spiritual training.

After training together for a while, Ethan discovered that both Laura and Selene were quite talented. Their spiritual power was significantly stronger than average.

In fact, Logan's spiritual power was also very resilient, but he lacked talent when it came to spiritual cultivation.

Loki observed the entire process. Most of the time, he just sat silently with his scepter. Selene and Logan thought he simply couldn't be bothered to chat with a group of "mortals," but Ethan knew the truth—Loki was constantly practicing energy control. It put a lot of pressure on Ethan.

When the unstable factor in the team was training so obsessively, trouble was bound to come!

To prevent Loki from maxing out too early and becoming uncontrollable, Ethan had no choice but to work harder. He even began considering whether they should set out to sea ahead of schedule and take a detour to collect more space-time energy.

During this visit to the shipyard for maintenance, Ethan had specifically requested the installation of a communication device on the Goddess of Dawn. That way, once Brent finished handling his affairs, he could contact Ethan through the device, and they could arrange a meeting point.

After some thought, this plan seemed viable. It also avoided the awkwardness of departing with Brent and needing an excuse to part ways. Otherwise, Ethan would miss the chance to collect space-time energy.

Ethan was a man of action. As soon as the shipyard confirmed that his ship had completed maintenance and that all new equipment was finely tuned, he rushed to find Brent.

"You're heading out early?"

"Yes. I'm going to check out the situation first. Consider it a test run to see if my ship can handle the sea conditions there."

He had already thought through the reasons. The situation did warrant caution. Brent had mentioned before that his old ship couldn't even move in the drastically changed sea. Although many ships had suffered damage after long voyages, he had said that the severity of the sea conditions near the end of the route had increased significantly.

He had even told Ethan previously that the reason he stayed so long on the island wasn't just to wait for the other captains, but also to finish the final adjustments on his new ship.

Brent had been operating in these waters for years and had attempted the sea route several times. Yet, the ship he used never looked much better than the Goddess of Dawn. That wasn't without reason.

He had been collecting data from the route and based on that, built a new and more powerful ship. This incident had merely forced him to reveal his plans earlier. It wasn't a spontaneous decision to start building.

Ethan hadn't seen Brent's new ship yet, but he was sure it wasn't an ordinary sailing warship. Metal armor plating was almost a given—it would provide greater stability and defense. It would definitely include magic stone thrusters too. He wasn't sure if a magic stone shield generator would also be installed.

He figured it likely was. Brent had been preparing for years. If he had the resources to build a new ship, it was hard to imagine he wouldn't include a shield generator—especially if it was key to passing through the Sea of Storms.

Brent probably intended to use the new ship to break through the Sea of Storms. Now that he had been forced to reveal his trump card early, it would delay things a bit more.

"That's fine. If you find your ship isn't suited for that sea area, just come back."

Compared to group travel, it was better for both parties to split up after arrival. At least this way, Ethan could scout the area alone and decide whether to continue with the operation.

Brent believed Ethan had great potential. Though he didn't fully understand Ethan's current strength, he figured Ethan probably still needed more time to build up funds and acquire better ships and equipment, since he hadn't been sailing these waters long.

Still, Ethan had joined out of good will. Brent couldn't just say, "You're too weak. Go train some more!" and drive him away.

"Alright then. When I set off, I'll take the route that leads toward the visible part of the Sea of Storms. If you want to join me after receiving word, just head in that direction."

This was a standard way to rendezvous at sea. The visible part of the Sea of Storms—the "wall" that seemed to connect sea and sky—was a common landmark. The default route would take them to the inner side, closer to the central island.

For the northern route, that meant sailing southward along the "wall."

After chatting a bit more, Ethan said goodbye to Brent and returned to the residence. Logan and the others had already packed and were waiting on his word. When Ethan suggested leaving early, they didn't hesitate.

The central island might be peaceful and comfortable, but it made them restless. Everything there was built around adventurers. Laura even said it was more boring than staying on the ship. She relied on video games to get by.

After packing and checking out of the residence, they returned to the Goddess of Dawn.

With their early departure confirmed and the ship fully maintained, Ethan asked the dock workers to stock up on all necessary supplies. Even though it was already dusk by the time everything was ready, he still chose to set sail.

"It's called the Goddess of Dawn, but we always set off at dusk."

Both Logan and Selene already knew why Ethan was in such a rush to get out to sea. But just as Ethan was adjusting their course to sail north, he awkwardly noticed the space-time orb in his hand was pointing firmly south.

Without hesitation, Ethan changed course to follow the orb's direction. He had set out to sea for space-time energy, after all. It didn't matter if the direction changed. He could adjust course after collecting enough energy, as long as the orb didn't keep pointing further and further south.

Thankfully, that didn't happen. After a few days of gathering space-time energy, Ethan didn't immediately activate the shuttle circle.

Instead, he turned north, planning to collect as much energy as possible along the way. Once they entered the route, he'd decide when to use the shuttle based on the situation.

"Are we all going together this time when we use the circle?"

Ethan glanced at the people on board. Loki was still sitting there, staring blankly with his scepter in hand. The God of Mischief had basically become the God of Training. He maintained this posture almost all day, only taking breaks for meals. After hearing Ethan's question, he just gave a nod.

Logan, Laura, and Selene all said they would go too. After all, this world was getting boring. Now that they were back at sea, no one knew how long they'd be drifting. They might as well take the chance to visit other worlds.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 233: It's Time to Show Your Training Achievements

The speed at which space-time energy was collected gradually increased. Especially after entering the air route, although there wasn't much energy in each location, it was particularly easy to find. Ethan could continuously gather energy from one point to the next without stopping.

However, once the collection reached a certain threshold, he no longer continued, instead steering the Goddess of Dawn back onto the scheduled route and pushing forward steadily.

"Aren't you going to activate that magic of yours? Let's head to another world and relax for a bit?"

Life at sea was dull and repetitive, and each voyage took a considerable amount of time. Ethan had already spent a significant chunk of it just collecting energy.

During that time, he had received a message from Brent, who had already formed a temporary fleet with several captains who had agreed to join this "expedition." They were currently heading along this route.

Because it was a joint operation involving multiple warships, and since the sailing speeds varied, they had to maintain a relatively low pace. As such, it would still be quite a while before Brent and his group arrived.

Ethan intended to use this time to see how the sea had changed.

"If we can get close, we'll participate in this operation. After confirming that, I'll activate the teleportation magic and head to a new world to search for things."

If the Goddess of Dawn couldn't withstand the conditions in that sea, he wouldn't force it, and would withdraw immediately, then inform Brent that he couldn't proceed.

In that case, it wouldn't matter when he activated the teleportation spell.

As the Goddess of Dawn advanced deeper, the sea conditions indeed worsened earlier than expected.

Compared to the same point on the previous route, they should have just reached the middle section. Yet the natural elements—waves, currents, and so on—were already far worse. The Goddess of Dawn even collided with a piece of floating ice.

Fortunately, due to heavy snowfall and low visibility, their speed had been very slow. The ice floe itself was fragile and caused no damage to the ship.

Even so, everyone aboard broke into a cold sweat. Even Loki, who always maintained an elegant demeanor, was briefly stunned. Then he said to Ethan with absolute seriousness, "If this happens again, I'd rather you just toss me into some other world."

As the dignified second prince of Asgard, it would be too humiliating to sink in a shipwreck caused by ice.

"Be careful. That shouldn't happen again."

At that moment, Ethan was especially grateful he hadn't named the ship Titanic. Otherwise, who knew what would have happened.

After inspecting every cabin below deck, Ethan even stood on the water to examine the outside of the ship thoroughly. Thankfully, there was no damage, and they continued sailing.

He couldn't help being cautious. The sea conditions were worsening, the waves rising higher. When they first entered the route, they had been able to sail relatively smoothly. Now, even with the balance system activated, the swaying and bobbing were so intense that even those who didn't normally get seasick felt dizzy.

"I strongly recommend that we go to another world and rest now."

After enduring for a while, Loki finally couldn't take it. Thinking of his status as the prince of Asgard—how had he ended up in this situation? Even when defeated and imprisoned, he had been treated to fine food and drink. While he wasn't technically a prisoner aboard Ethan's ship, life here was worse than captivity.

"While I'd like to say I can still endure, for the sake of maintaining the crew's combat readiness, I agree with Loki's suggestion."

Selene said nothing. Even though her already pale complexion looked worse now, she remained silent. Laura had stopped playing video games altogether, hugging Auriel, whose eyes had turned into spirals, and begging Ethan to take her somewhere fun instead of riding this "pirate ship" all day.

"If you hadn't brought it up… I was about to say I can't take it anymore either."

Taking advantage of a brief spell of calmer weather, Ethan told everyone to pack up and prepare to travel to another world to rest. He wasn't expecting to gain anything from this trip—he just wanted to unwind.

If they kept pressing on in their current state, they'd reach the destination too exhausted to fight, which was not a good sign.

At this point, Ethan was nearly certain. Even if the Goddess of Dawn could hold out under normal conditions, the crew definitely could not.

No wonder Brent had to switch to an ironclad ship. Besides its metal armor, it likely had stronger balance and stabilizer systems to help it stay steady in such rough seas.

"Ready?"

Everyone was carrying bags big and small, filled with clean water, dry rations, and essential weapons and ammo. Only Loki carried his scepter. Ethan knew this guy's "personal space" or illusions could handle clothing, and as for food and supplies, he'd just shamelessly rely on Ethan.

Once everyone was set, Ethan activated the shuttle circle.

With a burst of blue light, and perhaps still reeling from the previous few days, even Ethan felt the teleportation was a little shaky. Everyone experienced a moment of dizziness.

Fortunately, it passed quickly. Once they came to, they felt solid ground beneath their feet.

"Finally, not at sea anymore."

It didn't matter where they were. As long as they were on land, that was enough. Ethan looked around and found they were standing in a forest.

Towering trees surrounded them. The canopy was so dense that barely any sunlight reached the ground.

Looking up, they could see beams of bright sunlight filtering through the leaves. Even that was enough to light the forest well.

"Where are we?"

"No idea."

Ethan couldn't tell where they were. All he saw was forest—he couldn't make any specific judgment. At the very least, they needed to encounter someone.

"What do we do now?"

"Pick a direction and see if we can find people… or other creatures."

The first half sounded normal. The second half made Logan and Selene realize that they had truly come to another world—not necessarily Earth.

Logan had followed Ethan through several worlds before and had only encountered humans. They were basically different versions of Earth, with the occasional alien or a being like Loki who looked human.

For Selene, this was her first time visiting another world. During their time at sea and shopping on the central island, everyone she saw had been human. She had never imagined this was even a possibility.

"Can't you tell just by looking at the plants? Do they look the same as on Earth?"

Logan reached for a branch to examine it, but quickly pulled back. Since they didn't know where they were, who could say if the plant was harmful?

"From what I can see, these plants are basically the same as those on Earth. Nothing stands out."

That was also why Ethan couldn't make a judgment. In order to learn potion-making, he had studied most of Earth's herbology and even observed many plant types in detail. That allowed him to guess which world he was in, given similar flora.

To him, the plants they were seeing now looked just like Earth's. The odds of still being on Earth were actually quite high.

After wandering the forest for a while, Ethan figured they probably wouldn't make it out today. They had just picked a random direction and kept moving forward.

"Meow!"

Auriel, who had been resting quietly on Laura's shoulder, suddenly stood upright, arched her back, and raised her tail. It looked like she had detected danger and was alerting the group.

"Hmm?"

Auriel could use a mental-link ability to let everyone understand her meaning, so even without seeing her stance, they knew an enemy was approaching.

That wasn't surprising. What shocked Ethan and Logan was that several people in the group had detection abilities—like Logan's beast-like perception—yet Auriel had sensed the enemy first? Even Ethan was taken aback.

"Was her perception always this strong?"

Putting that thought aside, Ethan had already drawn his Battle Cross. Since his staff was damaged and he hadn't made a new one yet, the Battle Cross was now his main weapon.

The weapon hadn't been upgraded. While it could release an energy blade with Holy Light attributes, it was a pseudo-Holy Light he had crafted earlier. Its purity was nowhere near the level of the Holy Light from his chest or what the Cross of Light implied.

Still, as a longsword, its sharpness rivaled that of high-end crafted weapons. So when a gray wolf suddenly rushed out and charged at Ethan, he sliced it cleanly in two with one strike.

But that wasn't the end of the attack. Ethan didn't lower his guard just because he'd killed a single gray wolf. More soon emerged from the woods.

"Are there this many wolves?"

Looking out into the distance, more wolves appeared behind the ones already surrounding them. Before long, they were encircled, three layers deep.

"Tsk."

Ethan casually sheathed the Battle Cross. With this many wolves, cutting them down one by one would take forever.

Just as Logan thought Ethan was about to unleash some big spell, he saw his captain take a step back, position himself behind Loki, and pat him on the back.

"It's time to show your training achievements."

(To be continued.)