[Potato seeds, cabbage seeds, tomato seeds, blueberry seeds, strawberry seeds, let's buy a little of everything...]
[Orange trees, lemon trees, cherry trees, let's get two of each, though I'm not sure if they'll survive...]
At the market on Sea Serpent Island, Rogel and Lina were preparing crop seeds for the planting area.
Lina picked and chose, buying a large pile of crop seeds and fruit trees to bring on board.
Rogel was busy purchasing the furniture and tools needed on the ship.
It must be said, even just buying these still amounted to a considerable expense.
Luckily, Rogel had some money left, and Lina had her own little stash.
[We'll need to buy some medicines later, and I need to transplant some of the herbs from my backyard.]
Lina's preparations were very thorough.
She had long been looking forward to this voyage.
Rogel nodded, checked the items on the shopping list, and after the two of them confirmed there was nothing missing, they each went to take care of their own tasks.
On Felik's side, the ship was nearly completed, but there were still some tasks that needed Rogel's help to wrap up.
The day after tomorrow, they planned to officially set sail.
Rogel had many things to do over these two days.
If he were to handle all these by himself, there would surely be many oversights.
But fortunately, he had a beautiful and meticulous first mate and ship's doctor, Miss Lina.
Lina had prepared a list and made plans early on.
Old Nelson was also helping out, carefully writing down his past sailing experiences and handing them to Rogel, informing him of how to handle emergencies.
Many islanders would also come to Felik's dock during their spare time, curiously watching Rogel's ship.
[Mom, I want to have my own big ship in the future too, to sail on the sea!]
[And I want to find my own companions to adventure with!]
Boys and children voiced their eager expectations, filled with enthusiasm and hope, pursing their lips.
In a corner of the dock, a solitary figure of a boy quietly watched the big ship.
[Meow～]
The relaxed Big Orange yawned from the bench, basking in the sunlight, flicking its tail.
...
The dark, cold Deep Sea Area.
A fierce-looking tusked monster fish was tightly entangled by six tendril-like arms, thrashing violently.
However, under the grip of the Dark Sea Hunter's tentacles, it couldn't even move its tail fin.
Bloodstains were drawn by the tentacle spines, dyeing the seawater.
The narrow eyes of the Dark Sea Hunter gleamed with icy ferocity, as its left claw pierced the fish's eye, gripping the socket.
The monster fish, in pain, used all its strength for a final struggle before death.
But to no avail.
The Serrated Bone Blade of the Dark Sea Hunter pierced through its skull like a steel knife, killing it in one blow.
A blood mist burst forth in the sea.
The Dark Sea Hunter picked up pieces of the monster fish's corpse, devouring them voraciously.
[Your clone has killed a Black Rock Fish, gaining combat experience, current level lv4.]
Before long, the Dark Sea Hunter had devoured the entire Black Rock Fish, leaving only some remnants like dust settling on the seabed.
Today, Rogel instructed the Dark Sea Hunter to change its direction.
He no longer allowed the Dark Sea Hunter to collect materials from the sea floor but focused on hunting prey, striving to increase the Dark Sea Hunter's level before departure.
This way, after departure, he could have the Dark Sea Hunter begin exploring in the Water Cave.
After changing targets, the Dark Sea Hunter began developing at full force on the seabed.
However, Rogel set his sights on slightly higher-level marine creatures.
After all, sea fish and sea shrimp of level one or two could provide the Dark Sea Hunter with too little experience and energy.
After half a day of development, Rogel finally raised the Dark Sea Hunter's level by one more level.
Its body size also increased slightly due to yesterday's digestion and today's feeding.
Rogel noticed that with each growth of the Dark Sea Hunter, its color seemed to darken.
Perhaps it was because its shell had become harder?
The Dark Sea Hunter swam through the Deep Sea Area.
The six tendrils on its sides danced gracefully.
Combined with the fierce and domineering appearance of the Dark Sea Hunter, it carried a strangely menacing yet beautiful quality.
"Hmm? What's this?"
Rogel discovered something unusual.
It was a large pit on the seabed.
It looked like an open-pit mine, with a protruding sharp large rock above.
Due to insufficient light and distance, things in the dark were indistinguishable even from the Dark Sea Hunter's perspective.
Rogel controlled the Dark Sea Hunter to swim over.
As he approached, the contents of the pit gradually became clear.
When Rogel saw a rotten broken long wooden stick, he couldn't help but feel delighted.
A mast!
A sunken ship!
Rogel's eyes lit up.
The Dark Sea Hunter began swimming around, trying to see other places to confirm the existence of the sunken ship.
Swish swish!
As the Dark Sea Hunter swam near the rock wall, it saw a black creature with a hint of icy blue, resembling a vine pot.
Perhaps it was slow to react.
An ice crystal spike shot from the center of the vine pot-like creature, blasting towards the Dark Sea Hunter.
Rogel easily dodged the ice crystal spike.
The tentacles directly grabbed and held the spike.
Narrowing his eyes, Rogel broke the spike and looked at the rock wall of the pit.
Only to see these vine pot-like creatures densely covering the entire pit wall.
[Ghost Ice Barnacle]
[Type: Monster]
[Quality: Ordinary]
[Level: 1]
[Tier: Extraordinary]
[Explanation: A monster species from an unknown sea area, residing and reproducing here by chance.]
These vine pot-like monsters, with icy blue stripes, clung tightly to the pit wall. Due to the Dark Sea Hunter's high concealment ability, they were unaware of its presence.
Otherwise, they would have already amassed against Rogel.
So they were monsters...
Rogel was a bit surprised; he rarely found the presence of monsters in the Harmony Sea Area, mostly just creatures.
In the Mysterious Sea, the distinction between monsters and creatures seemed to lie in aggressiveness.
"Isn't this just an all-you-can-eat buffet."
Looking at these vine pots, Rogel was not worried but pleased.
Although these Ghost Ice Barnacles were not high in level, they were extraordinary species and numerous, able to provide energy and experience that sea fish and shrimp couldn't compare with.
Bang!
The Serrated Bone Blade easily cracked open the Ghost Ice Barnacle's hard shell like a bullet.
The Dark Sea Hunter began voraciously consuming its flesh and organs.
[Your clone killed a Ghost Ice Barnacle, gaining combat experience.]
The Dark Sea Hunter started knocking on these Ghost Ice Barnacles one by one.
[Your clone killed a Ghost Ice Barnacle, gaining combat experience.]
[Your clone killed a Ghost Ice Barnacle, gaining combat experience.]
[...]
Before long, a pile of barnacle shell fragments had fallen in the pit.
Despite being monsters, they surprisingly left no loot.
The Dark Sea Hunter felt satiated, ready to enter slumber and enhance its power.
Rogel did not immediately let it slumber.
Because before him, a wreck of a tattered large ship came into view.
On its mast, an unknown flag lay quietly, half-buried in silt.
On the flag, next to a white skull wearing a black hat, were two black bricks.
This flag had been lying on the sea floor for who knows how long, yet surprisingly had not disintegrated.
Black Brick Pirate Gang!