Chapter 18 Discovering the Island
I'm back. The familiar ship, the familiar sea level, and the familiar sunshine.
After only a month, Ethan had almost forgotten what it felt like to be bathed in warm sunlight.
"Although I gained a lot and made some good friends... I really don't want to go back to that cold, dark world."
Of course, if Ethan becomes powerful enough to instantly destroy everything in the future, he would be very happy to go back and help those who helped him.
"Perhaps, I should save their world from the gap between heaven and hell."
Having lived there for a month, some knowledge had already been disseminated by Akara and Zoul.
Strictly speaking, the Diablo world exists in three realms: Hell where demons live, Heaven where the divine beings live, and the human world sandwiched between Heaven and Hell, which is where he went.
The Rathma sect had long since realized that the most important thing in this world was the balance between Heaven and Hell. The dominance of either side would destroy all of humanity. This is also the core doctrine of the Rathma sect. It can be said that the existence of the Rathma sect is to maintain the world and the survival of humanity.
"What a miserable world."
Only then did Ethan understand why the demons could never be completely eradicated—because the heroes didn't dare to completely annihilate the demons. When the power of the angels gained absolute dominance, humans would become complete slaves to the divine race, a fate not necessarily better than being ruled by demons.
In essence, Heaven and Hell in that world were like two nations ruled by high-level beings. Humans just happened to live in the neutral zone between the two nations, naturally becoming targets for both races to win over—humanity could only survive the pincer attack of these two high-level beings by relying on the balance between them.
"Sigh~"
Thinking of Isendra and Zoul, who were about to embark on a journey to confront Diablo, he knew directly that their final fate wouldn't be good. Just like the heroes in Diablo 1, it was difficult for any of them to have a good end.
He looked at the bracers on his wrist, the rings on his fingers, the light armor on his body, and the long sword, iron rod... almost all of his equipment was taken from the Diablo world.
"I owe them a huge favor."
Having secretly made up his mind, Ethan tidied up his mood and began to organize his gains from this trip.
Several books, including Basic Magic Potionology, Basic Magic Array Knowledge, Introduction to Basic Elemental Magic, and a Handbook of Basic Swordsmanship Practice.
Several pieces of equipment: bracers, rings, light armor, an iron rod, and a long sword, all of which were magical equipment with various effects.
Excluding the knowledge that still required some time to digest, just by relying on the advantage of his equipment, he could easily defeat the self from a month ago.
"And I've accumulated a lot of close combat knowledge and fighting experience over the past month."
Only now could he be considered to have shed the identity of an ordinary fisherman's son and become a reliable adventurer.
"It's a pity I didn't find any spatial equipment."
Looking at the large and small bags piled up, Ethan felt a headache as he sorted through them.
He didn't know what kind of world he would go to in the future, but if he continued to collect various materials like this, just the books alone might fill up the space on the ship. Let alone searching for resources on the Floating-Sinking Islands, there wouldn't even be space to store food and water.
"Other things are fine, but paper books take up too much space... and in this world full of oceans, paper books are particularly troublesome to maintain."
The humid, salty air would cause great damage to paper books. If they weren't regularly taken out to air, they would quickly become moldy and damaged.
"I wonder if there's any way to store information in this world..."
He suddenly remembered the magic stone the clerk used to fill out his information when he applied for membership. Ethan looked down at the wristband hidden under his bracer. He remembered that this thing contained his information, and the Adventurer's Guild had a way to read it. Wasn't this exactly what he wanted?
"The clerk before wrote on paper first, and then stored it in the magic stone, which means this thing can directly read information from paper."
He secretly regretted not thinking of this before. He could have asked the other party for a similar tool to store his books and materials while he had surplus resources.
"Now I don't have any surplus resources. If I want to get a similar item, I'll have to properly search for Floating-Sinking Islands."
Ethan had always been very interested in the magical islands of this world. He really wanted to see what a serene sea area, where there was originally nothing, looked like when an island suddenly surfaced, and then transformed from a bare rock or coral island into an island rich in resources within just a few days. What a magical sight that must be.
"It must be spectacular."
Before he went to the Diablo world, the island pointer had locked onto an island. The only uncertainty was how much time had passed in this world while he was in the Diablo world for thirty days? Was that island still there?
He glanced at the pointer, which was still firmly pointing in one direction. Although he didn't know if it was the same island as before, at least it proved there was an island nearby that the pointer could lock onto.
"According to Uncle Wood's words, the existence time of the islands is not fixed, but before they sink and disappear, they will frequently vibrate. The shorter the interval between vibrations, the closer it is to sinking."
This was all stuff Wood had told him before. Later, he also asked the staff at the guild and got more specific information.
After a Floating-Sinking Island surfaces, various life forms begin to appear at an astonishing speed. The fastest is three days, but the slowest is uncertain; perhaps new life will appear on the island even in the second before it sinks.
These life forms are mainly plants, with relatively few animals—if there are animals on the island, it proves that the island will exist for at least a year or more.
According to the guild's records, there have been no records of Floating-Sinking Islands with animals sinking less than a year after their appearance.
"I can imagine plants... but how do these animals... appear out of thin air...?"
Ethan racked his brain but couldn't figure it out, feeling that many rules of this world were beyond his imagination.
Sitting at the bow of the Dawn Maiden, Ethan was splashed by the waves the bow cut through. He let his thoughts wander while recovering the mental energy he had just consumed.
Back in the Sea of Tranquility, he resumed his daily routine of cultivation. However, compared to before when he could only practice mental energy and Water Creation in a monotonous way, he now had several more subjects.
He had gained a lot of experience in close-quarters combat, but his foundation was too weak, and the practice time was too short. He had no right to be proud or complacent.
He also began practicing the basic swordsmanship Kasia had given him—all basic movements. The handbook was filled with detailed notes on various precautions, covering almost all possible mistakes and questions a beginner might have.
Practice was tedious and boring. Fortunately, there wasn't much Ethan could do on this small ship, and he was alone. He couldn't even find someone to talk to. The only things he could do every day were practice, practice, and more practice.
Perhaps the rapid increase in his mental energy before was also related to this environment—besides diligently practicing and studying, he couldn't find anything else to pass the time.
Even now, he could only fill his 'schedule' with practice.
The monotonous and regular days seemed to pass particularly slowly. Although he felt his strength increasing every day, which made him not resist this kind of training and even enjoy it, there were times when Ethan would wish for some change, even if it was just a gust of wind making the waves a little bigger and causing some minor trouble for his voyage.
"Sure enough, so many people in my past life courted death because they were just bored!"
As he was muttering this, a small black dot seemed to appear on the distant sea surface. Ethan stared at it for a long time, and after confirming he wasn't seeing things, he immediately picked up his binoculars to get a clearer look.
"It's an island!"
Ethan stood at the bow and watched for a full ten minutes, afraid that he was just seeing things out of boredom. Only when he was sure it was a real island did he put down the binoculars.
He checked against the direction the pointer was indicating, and it was indeed the island that had appeared ahead. The continuous sailing for more than ten days seemed to be coming to an end, and Ethan was particularly happy.
"As long as it's not the same old endless sea, it's something to be happy about!"
An island also meant food. Ethan had brought a lot of food on this voyage and had replenished some rations in the Diablo world. Occasionally, he also supplemented his food supply by fishing or even using a net to catch seafood, but the continuous sailing had consumed most of his stores. If he couldn't find an island, he would have to consider adjusting his direction to find the next spatio-temporal energy point.
"If that clerk didn't lie to me, then I have a high probability of finding magic stones, which should allow me to exchange for what I want."
He didn't expect high-quality magic stones; even average quality would be enough to exchange for sufficient food and water. Ethan could appropriately reduce the quantity of these supplies and instead exchange for an item that could be used to record information.
As he was contemplating this, the appearance of the island gradually became clear. This was an already formed island with very lush vegetation. Looking at it from the ship, his eyes were met with a sea of green. Because his view was blocked by the dense plants, he wasn't sure if there were animals on the island.
Ethan controlled the ship's speed and slightly adjusted his direction so that his ship wasn't heading straight towards the island but would pass by it a little, thus circling the island. This also made it easier for him to observe the waters near the island and find a suitable place to anchor.
With almost no effort, Ethan found a good spot.
It was a small natural harbor. The entrance wasn't very wide, and there were a few rocks standing tall, but the widest part was just enough for Ethan's ship to enter. The water depth inside the small bay was appropriate, the surface was calm, and through the clear water, he could clearly see that there were no hidden reefs below, only fine sand. Even if the tide went out and the ship was grounded, it wouldn't be damaged.
"What a great place!"
Not only did Ethan find a place to dock, but this stretch of coast could even serve as his temporary camp on this island.