Ethan cared about this message because it was from Brent. The message wasn't addressed to one specific person, but to many.
Unfortunately, Ethan couldn't check the full content of the message. It wasn't that he couldn't operate the ship's console or that he lacked the authority to access it. The information had simply been cleared, leaving behind only a record: a brief note informing Ethan that there had been a message from Brent, along with a small portion of its content.
All the details were gone. Ethan was surprised there was even a communication device on this ship and was curious about what the message had said.
"What message did Brent send?"
The crew of the ship knew a bit about it. Although Captain Salva was weak, he was sharp and quick-witted. He wasn't stingy when it came to sharing benefits with his subordinates. The message from Brent had also been shared with many of them, so Ethan quickly learned what had happened.
In fact, this ship was headed for the central island, and their attempt to loot Ethan along the way was also related to the message Brent had sent.
Salva had planned to respond to Brent's call and head for the central island.
Although the so-called "important matter" was unclear, Ethan had learned that Brent had invited many adventurers this time. And it wasn't just any adventurer who received the invitation—only those of a certain strength level would hear from Brent.
Only adventurers with a communication device installed on their ship could receive the message. This naturally excluded ordinary adventurers, since only those with a certain amount of strength and wealth would equip their ships with such devices.
Adventurers of this level typically operated far from the central island, heading deeper along the route. Their voyages were long, and without a communication device, they would be at a disadvantage in an emergency. So most adventurers operating in the middle or rear routes would have one installed.
Brent used this method to disseminate the message as a way to filter adventurers. Only those strong enough would receive his invitation.
The reason for doing so was that he had discovered a serious problem along the route and wanted to recruit enough powerful adventurers to resolve it.
"That's it?"
By this time, the Eternal and the Goddess of Dawn had pulled up alongside the Wind of Darkness, sandwiching it between them. Cleo and Logan stood beside Ethan, listening to him explain the situation.
Logan wasn't familiar with Brent. Cleo knew more about the name, but admitted that he had never seen Brent in person. Most of what he knew was secondhand.
"The message is still too vague. We don't even know what the so-called big trouble is."
Logan didn't care much about the big trouble. He was more interested in what on this ship could be looted than Cleo was.
After glancing around, he did find something useful. "There are a lot of cannons on this ship. We still don't have enough on board. We could add more."
"..."
Ethan hadn't had enough funds initially, so he had only equipped a dozen cannons. Aside from the two at the front, there were only a few on each side. The previous naval battle had clearly revealed the problem of insufficient firepower.
By contrast, although the Eternal had only one layer of cannons, the positions were fully outfitted, making it much more formidable than Ethan's ship.
"We'll talk about that later..."
Ethan waved his hand, signaling Logan not to worry about it for now. Unexpectedly, Diana was quite interested in Logan's proposal and said, "I've got nothing else to do!" Then she ran off and began moving intact cannons from the Wind of Darkness to the Goddess of Dawn.
With her strength, moving a cannon wasn't hard at all. She could even carry two at a time, one in each hand. She did so without saying a word. Only Cleo, who understood her strength, wasn't surprised, and continued discussing Brent's message with Ethan.
"Are you interested in this recruitment?"
"I wasn't before, but now I'm a little curious."
Ethan was indeed a bit interested. Another reason was that he didn't currently have anything else to do, so he might as well go and see what Brent was up to.
"I'm also planning to turn back." Cleo simply stated his intention to return to the central island and take a look. He was curious about this so-called big trouble. Besides, it was rare for powerful adventurers to be recruited like this. If he hadn't known about it, fine. But now that he did, he felt like he'd miss out on something if he didn't go.
Since everyone was planning to return to the central island, the next thing to discuss was how to divide the spoils of this victory.
The stern of the Wind of Darkness had been damaged by Ethan, but even if that section were completely destroyed, it wouldn't be too difficult to repair. As long as the keel and hull remained intact, a little repair work would restore it to a good ship.
Considering the ship's overall configuration, its value was definitely high. The two sides agreed to transport it back to the central island and sell it. The materials gained from the sale would be distributed proportionally.
Ethan, having contributed the most, would naturally receive the largest share. Although the Eternal had only provided some assistance during the battle, it would also receive a portion. Combined with the Spring of Life Ethan had gifted earlier, Cleo had made quite a profit on this voyage.
Aside from the ship itself, the materials onboard were also divided. Diana had already removed several cannons. The magic stones and food stored on the ship were counted. After taking what belonged to him, Ethan temporarily handed the ship over to part of Mizzi's crew, who were responsible for piloting it back.
The remaining crew of the Wind of Darkness were taken into custody by the Eternal. There weren't many left, and the Goddess of Dawn didn't have enough people to manage them, so the Eternal handled that too.
None of these jobs came for free. Piloting the ship back to the central island and guarding the prisoners would all be compensated, and the accounts would be settled once they arrived.
With everything negotiated, Ethan returned to the Goddess of Dawn.
The three ships formed a temporary fleet: the Eternal at the front, the Wind of Darkness in the middle, and the Goddess of Dawn at the rear, advancing in a single line toward the route's exit.
The Goddess of Dawn took the rear position because it had the highest speed and greatest maneuverability. If something went wrong, it could reposition itself quickly.
From the back, it was also easier to monitor the other two ships. If anything happened, it could respond immediately. After all, both the Eternal and the Wind of Darkness were holding prisoners. If trouble broke out on either ship, the Goddess of Dawn at the rear would be the first to detect it. With Ethan or Diana aboard, they had more than enough strength to deal with any threats.
Standing back at the helm, Ethan played with the magic stone obtained in this battle.
In terms of energy intensity, this magic stone wasn't particularly powerful. But its function was interesting. Considering how Salva used it, it seemed quite handy.
Creating a windless area to aid in escape. The Wind of Darkness had initially gained an advantage with the wind, and this stone had contributed to that.
"Working on something weird again?"
Diana and Logan had just finished placing the cannons they'd salvaged onto the appropriate gunports on the second deck. They returned to the upper deck, neither winded nor flushed.
As soon as they came up, they saw Ethan staring intently at the stone in his hand. Diana had seen this kind of scene too many times. She used to be careful not to disturb him in this state. Now, there was no need for such caution. The two of them were too familiar.
"No research. Just looking."
After examining it for a while, Ethan considered several potential uses, but ultimately found it rather underwhelming.
Maybe this magic stone would be useful in the early or even middle parts of the route, but it would be nearly useless in the later sections.
By that stage, even sailing warships would be equipped with propulsion systems. A windless zone wouldn't hinder such ships, and the advantage of adjusting wind direction would also be neutralized.
"No wonder Salva had to carefully choose his targets each time. This thing is useless against adventurers with a certain level of power. If it had more energy, maybe it could be used to generate strong winds."
For now, the main benefit this stone offered Ethan was to help his ship accelerate and maintain a more favorable wind direction.
But even then, he had just tested it and found that its effectiveness depended on the current environment. If the wind was blowing from the north, and you wanted to change it to the south, that was impossible. At best, it could adjust the northwest wind slightly toward the west or north.
"Can't it just follow the trend and strengthen the wind a bit?"
This discovery made him lose interest in the stone. He began to consider how much material it could be exchanged for, or if it had other value.
Ultimately, the magic stone's power was too weak to meet Ethan's needs. It was more like an interesting toy, or maybe a bargaining chip for urgently needed supplies.
Since he had already asked Tony Stark to build an "ultra-modern warship," perhaps he should gather some magic stone equipment unique to this world to see if their technology could be integrated into his new vessel.
"Seems like a viable idea."
Putting away the magic stone, Ethan realized he should head to the Marvel world soon. He needed to touch base with Tony. After all, designing the ship he wanted had already taken a lot of time, let alone building it.
(To be continued.)
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