Chapter 261: Divine Revelation and the Magic Ship

Chapter 261: Divine Revelation and the Magic Ship

"Here they come."

Koray narrowed his eyes.

Andrea's face darkened as she said, "The deep-sea Naga and Siren Mermaids consider the deep-sea region their territory. They never allow outsiders to enter, and attacks on ships are a common occurrence. Our three artificial islands under construction are frequently harassed by them."

"I see," Xie Man said with a half-smile. "It seems these neighbors don't like us very much."

Koray said coldly, "A few hard blows will teach them who they can't mess with."

Tajana and Feremin, standing nearby, already had eager expressions.

Seeing this, Xie Man smiled and said, "Since that's the case, let's go all out and gather some intelligence on the Siren Mermaids."

The team naturally followed Xie Man's lead. Once he spoke, the other four had no objections and began preparing for battle.

Andrea hesitated about calling up the gold-enchanted magic statues from the ship's hold, but since Xie Man and the others didn't mention it, she didn't bring it up.

The hunter sharks moved swiftly through the water, quickly reaching the ship.

More than a dozen Siren Mermaids began to sing, their beautiful voices spreading through the nearby sea, and a strange wave of energy enveloped the entire ship.

The remaining Siren Mermaids swiftly climbed up the ship's hull.

Their hands and snake tails seemed to have a suction ability similar to an octopus, allowing them to climb with incredible agility and smoothness.

This was a common tactic used by the Siren Mermaids against ships.

First, they would use their songs to put the creatures on board into a trance, making them unable to move, then they would board the ship and easily deal with the immobilized prey.

They had used this tactic countless times, always with great success.

But this time, something went wrong.

When the Siren Mermaids jumped onto the deck, they didn't see the expected dazed prey. Instead, they saw a few humans looking at them with interested eyes.

Those eyes made it seem as if the Siren Mermaids were the ones trapped.

Before the Siren Mermaids could react, the humans raised their hands, and in the next second, a barrage of magical projectiles rained down.

The dozen Siren Mermaids at the forefront were instantly turned into sieves!

Strange incantations followed from the mouths of the humans.

The Siren Mermaids finally snapped out of their daze and screamed, rushing towards the enemies.

The Siren Mermaids' illusions had no effect on third-level wizard apprentices.

Athir, Feremin, and Tajana had all taken Awakening potions in advance, completely ignoring the songs and screams in their ears.

With their strongest ability, illusions, rendered ineffective, the Siren Mermaids' combat effectiveness drastically dropped. They couldn't even get close to Xie Man and the others before being knocked down.

In just a few breaths, the hundred or so Siren Mermaids who had boarded the deck were reduced by half.

A Siren Mermaid who seemed to be the leader let out a fierce scream and leaped up, evading the oncoming magical projectiles. She swung her trident, aiming to stab Xie Man.

The sharp tip of the trident tore through the air with a piercing whistling sound, creating a rather intimidating scene.

But in the next second, a massive gray claw appeared out of nowhere, clawed through the Siren Mermaid's body. She didn't even have time to scream before she fell to the ground, lifeless.

Seeing their leader taken down, the Siren Mermaids finally panicked and jumped into the sea, riding the hunter sharks and joining their comrades below to flee.

But soon, they were horrified to find that the wizard apprentices were chasing them.

Using levitation spells or activating magical items, Xie Man and the others flew high in the sky, relentlessly casting spells to cut down the Siren Mermaids.

It wasn't until only five Siren Mermaids remained that Xie Man signaled everyone to stop. He cast a sleep spell to knock them out and used the Hand of the Mage to bring them back to the ship.

"Lock them up and interrogate them when we return to the bay," Xie Man said.

"Yes, sir."

Andrea bowed her head, genuinely impressed.

Today, she had truly witnessed the power of wizard apprentices.

Just five of them had routed over a hundred Siren Mermaids, nearly wiping them out entirely.

Such power was truly terrifying!

No wonder Lady Carolena held that man in such high regard.

If even the wizard apprentices were this powerful, how formidable must the full-fledged wizards be, who were said to be even mightier?

With the battle over, Xie Man and the others decided to end their field observation. The ship turned around and headed back.

The Star Alliance had established five city-states in Rainbow Bay, arranged in a curved line along the shore, facing the sea.

White Bay, located in the center, was the command center for the exploration of Rainbow Bay and the city-state under Andrea's jurisdiction.

As soon as they returned to White Bay, Xie Man and the others immediately interrogated the Siren Mermaids.

Sirens are skilled in illusions and have a high resistance to both Charm Person and Hypnosis.

In the end, it was Andrea herself who had to personally intervene, torturing the five sirens until they were on the brink of death, their will nearly broken. Only then did Cole and Sheman step in to successfully extract the information they needed from the sirens.

"How did it go? Did you get anything?" Attil asked eagerly as soon as Sheman and Cole returned to the council chamber.

"We did get some information," Sheman replied, his expression somewhat peculiar. "Those sirens said they were able to learn those combat techniques and enhance their illusion powers because they received divine revelations?"

Divine revelations?

Attil and Fleming exchanged puzzled glances.

Tajana's face changed, recalling the events in the Demon Spider City.

"So, the sirens also received the favor of a deity?" Attil frowned, pondering.

Sheman shook his head. "I think there's something fishy about this."

"Although they claim it's a divine revelation, the sirens have never seen any divine signs or received any divine commands."

"Among the entire siren race, the only one who claims to have received such a divine revelation is their chieftain, and all the combat techniques and illusion cultivation methods were also passed down through the chieftain to the rest of the clan."

"That does sound suspicious," Attil's brow furrowed.

Generally, the more devout and fervent a believer's faith, the more benefits the deity can gain from them.

The best way to enhance a believer's faith is to show divine miracles and grant them power.

Yet, the sirens have never seen any divine signs, and the so-called granting of power is merely the passing down of combat techniques and illusion cultivation methods, leaving the sirens to train on their own.

This method of granting power seems too simple and plain.

"Unless it's not a true deity, but someone pretending to be one," Cole suddenly interjected.

Everyone was taken aback.

Pretending to be a deity?

What could be the purpose?

Just to control the sirens?

Tajana suddenly turned to Andrea. "Why did the sirens attack Deep Sea Nagar? Was it for territory?"

Andrea was taken aback but then shook her head. "The Rainbow Sea is vast and rich in resources; there's no need to fight over territory. What they truly seek is the Heart of the Sea."

"The Heart of the Sea?" Sheman thought for a moment, but he had never heard of anything like it.

Andrea explained, "The Heart of the Sea is the essence of the ocean, inheriting the calm and serene aspect of the sea. It has the power to drive away sea monsters and calm storms and tsunamis. If placed at the center of a sea region, it can transform that area into a safe and prosperous settlement, free from the threats of sea monsters and disasters."

"Generally, the more Hearts of the Sea a marine race possesses, the larger the area they can occupy, and the more likely they are to thrive. That's why Deep Sea Nagar and the sirens often fight each other to steal each other's Hearts of the Sea."

Hearing Andrea's explanation, everyone marveled.

"I never thought such a wondrous thing existed in the world," Fleming couldn't help but exclaim, his expression suddenly changing.

"If we could get a Heart of the Sea and place it on our ship, we wouldn't have to worry about storms or sea monster attacks!"

Andrea smiled, "Theoretically, yes, but doing so would make all the marine races attack our ship to steal the Heart of the Sea. They can all sense it."

"Don't underestimate the Heart of the Sea's allure to marine races."

Fleming chuckled awkwardly.

After some discussion, no one could come up with a definitive solution.

Seeing this, Sheman decided, "I'll compile a report on the divine revelations and submit it to the teacher. How to handle this will be up to the teacher. Our immediate priority is to assist Lady Andrea in constructing the three artificial islands and establishing a foothold in the Rainbow Sea."

Everyone exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

Half a month later.

The support ships and puppets finally arrived at White Bay City.

In addition to the accompanying magic golem legion, there was also the Magic Rune Knights.

To Sheman's surprise, the leader of the support force was none other than the current leader of the Magic Rune Knights, Sienn.

"Sienn, why are you personally leading the escort?"

"Lord Sheman, it's been a while."

Sienn bowed to Sheman and then smiled, explaining, "There's a special team among the support force, and I came along to assess the situation."

Sheman's interest was piqued. "What kind of team requires you, the leader, to come in person?"

Sienn turned and gave an order, and a knight immediately ran off.

Before long, a squad of knights jogged up to Sienn and Sheman, lining up and awaiting orders.

To Sheman's surprise, the knights were not riding black rock leopards or dragon antelopes, but a type of sub-dragon with shimmering bright blue scales.

"Is this... a Water Drake?" Xie Man's face showed surprise.

"Exactly." Xien smiled, "By Lord Su Nan's order, the Dragon Forest has opened new ranches for Water Drakes, Winged Drakes, and Storm Drakes. These Water Drakes are the latest batch from the ranch, assigned to the Mage Mark Knights to form a specialized naval force, the Water Drake Knights."

"However, since the Water Drake Knights are newly formed, their current number is not large, only over a hundred."

"That's still impressive." Xie Man marveled.

Just like the Dragon Antelope Knights, the Water Drake Knights were clearly an elite force, each member a legendary-level warrior!

A hundred members meant a hundred Legendary Level Warriors!

The arrival of such an army would significantly bolster the Star Alliance's combat strength in the Rainbow Sea, a timely boost indeed.

What could he possibly complain about?

Xie Man then headed to the harbor to inspect the support ships.

Athir and Tiana were already at the harbor, curiously examining the ships.

To Xie Man's surprise, he had expected the magic ships developed by the Starlight Academy to be abnormally large, but upon seeing them in person, he found that they were only slightly bigger than ordinary sea vessels.

They barely rivaled some of the larger sea ships.

What set them apart was that the entire ship was made of metal, with intricate rune patterns covering the surface, gleaming with a cold metallic sheen under the sunlight, resembling a steel behemoth anchored at the harbor.

Andrelia was already dumbstruck.

It was her first time seeing a ship entirely made of metal.

Xie Man and the others were more composed, having seen grand structures like the Dragon Bone Tower, making them more accepting of magic ships.

They then entered the ship's cabin.

Inside, they discovered that the ship's interior was a different world, the actual space far larger than it appeared from the outside.

"So that's how it works, using spatial expansion technology." Fleiming marveled, "How much gold would it cost to build such a magic ship?"

Xien grinned and said, "The student from the Starlight Academy who delivered the ship to me said it's a Tier 2-C Magic Ship, costing around 150,000 gold coins each."

"150,000 gold coins!" Fleiming gasped.

Xie Man, Cole, and Athir, however, remained unperturbed.

They had participated in the war to unify the underground world and had seen countless high-cost puppets, making them quite accustomed to such costs.

150,000 gold coins was roughly equivalent to three gold golems, less than a third of the cost of a secret puppet.

Xien continued, "The student also mentioned that this magic ship is equipped with ten magic cannons, each capable of instantly killing a First Circle Legendary creature, and a main spell turret that can take down a Third Circle Legendary creature with a single shot."

"Wow, that's impressive!" Fleiming was visibly shaken, "No wonder it costs 150,000 gold coins."

Athir laughed, "Sounds like it would consume a lot of mana stones."

Tiana suddenly asked, "You said this is a Tier 2-C Magic Ship, does that mean there are higher-tier magic ships?"

Xien nodded, "Correct, there are three tiers of magic ships in total."

"The lowest tier, Tier 1, are small vessels focusing on mobility and agility."

"Next are Tier 2 ships, which are medium-sized and equipped with powerful long-range combat capabilities, able to carry a certain number of troops."

"The highest tier is Tier 3, although the Starlight Academy hasn't built a physical model yet. According to them, the most significant feature of a Tier 3 ship is its ability to fly."

Flight capability!

The eyes of the present wizard apprentices lit up.

If the ships could fly, it would make maritime travel much easier, and they wouldn't have to worry about sea monster attacks anymore.

With powerful long-range combat capabilities, such ships would be invincible maritime fortresses!

"Unfortunately, if we had three Tier 3 magic ships stationed above the three artificial islands, we wouldn't fear deep-sea Nagas or Siren sea monsters. They could be slaughtered in droves!" Fleiming sighed.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Xie Man asked, "How many magic ships are being sent this time?"

"Twelve Tier 1 ships and three Tier 2 ships."

Xie Man nodded inwardly.

With the support of these magic ships, both the defense of the artificial islands and maritime exploration would become much easier, no longer as passive as before.

As they toured and conversed, they unknowingly arrived at a cabin door.

Xien pointed to the cabin and said, "The new type of puppets are inside."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end