Chapter 374: The Renaissance, White Sand Island Development Plan 1.0
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Nice, this level understands me well. I can’t believe it arranged such a great mission for me!”
As Su Mo gazed at Level 4’s new mission, the brooding look on his face vanished and was replaced with a look of suppressed glee!
The main reason he had chosen White Sand Island while escaping was because the island was located on many important trade routes.
All he needed to do to earn some quick cash on this “blessed land” was to keep his guns near him while he crushed everyone else passing by.
He would then be able to quickly accumulate a large amount of resources that other players could not achieve even if they were given a large amount of time, be it dozens of days or even a year and a half, and quickly overtake them.
Of course, if this were the real world instead, Su Mo might have restrained himself a little and forged his way ahead slowly.
However, the world currently before him was obviously a virtual challenge. The peace of the external world would not be the least bit affected even if he turned the entire place upside down.
“I have two goals now.”
“Firstly, I have to figure out a way to lower my wanted star level as quickly as possible. Otherwise, it could lead to a lot of trouble if I end up attracting unwanted attention while I’m up to no good.”
“Secondly, I need to find out how the other players are doing currently and how much time this world has before the great war!”
The mermaid clan was a very noble existence within this Deep Sea Fantasy World.
After realizing that this identity would give him many advantages, Su Mo gave up on taking off the merman costume.
Moreover, Su Mo could travel much faster now after two days of familiarizing himself with the outfit and traveling up and down the terrain while holding the three-pointed two-edged sword. He could even jump around the rocks now.
When Su Mo followed the same path back to the same large rock he had been sitting on previously. Things were just as he had expected them to be. The murlocs had not finished cleaning up yet.
However, Su Mo did not wait any longer as he now had a new goal in mind. Instead, he dragged his body toward the sand.
The area around the rock was where Su Mo had temporarily set up camp after arriving on the island. It was roughly 500 meters away from the beach on the southern part of the island.
Excluding the 100-meter sand strip in the middle, the remaining 400 meters were filled with lush coconut trees.
The first reason he had chosen this place was that there was a small cove on the beach in the south. He used that as a dock for his stolen wooden sailboat.
The second reason was that the island’s source of fresh water was located on the southern end. There would be no need to worry about someone sneaking up here and poisoning the waters.
Naturally, the murlocs bustling about on the beach would not have given such deep thought to Su Mo’s considerations.
As a matter of fact, their brains did not possess the capacity to even wonder why the noble merman prince would set up camp in a place like this either.
They were simple-minded creatures and were delighted as they watched the waves send up supplies onto the shore again and again!
“Children, be careful, don’t rip those clothes! We’ll have to use them again later!”
When Su Mo noticed how clumsy the murlocs were, he called out to them and hastened his movement.
“Yes, captain!”
All nine murlocs hollered back in response when they heard Su Mo calling out to them.
Slavery seemed to be something utilized to its maximum potential in this Deep Sea World.
Although Su Mo had saved these murlocs, they were still extremely obedient and acted as the island’s best laborers during these early days.
Were it not for White Sand Island’s dire need of basic supplies to build and develop facilities, Su Mo would have selected slave ships as his first looting target.
Besides, this group ruins was different from when he got his title in the external world, which drew a clear line between good and evil.
However, after getting secret help from the game’s level and obtaining information from the wasteland…
Su Mo knew that the trial world had become so twisted because the God of the Ocean did not keep an eye on it.
Perhaps it could also be that, even if the God of the Ocean was a part of this, it might still be programmed to result in his desired outcome.
Neither the God of the Ocean nor the game would pay attention to what you did during the process of the Battle.
Thus, Su Mo made a decision. He would lead the murlocs in pretending to be the Guardians of the Ocean!
At the very least, he could not make too many enemies or let passing ships know that there was a group of vicious pirates on White Sand Island during the initial trial period!
He wanted to make White Sand Island look like a famous seaside entertainment paradise to outsiders.
Taverns, beauties, inns, restaurants, shipyards, mercenary guilds, gladiatorial arenas…
These were all things that sailors and pirates back on Earth had enjoyed during the Middle Ages, and Su Mo decided to replicate them all on White Sand Island.
By relying on these people who came and went, Su Mo could learn about everything that happened on the seas without even stepping foot outside his island home base.
When that happened, he could secretly develop his forces while openly gathering wealth and information.
With those two in hand, Su Mo was confident that he could take on even the high-ranking bigwigs in the God of the Ocean’s army.
There was an additional reason as to why Su Mo had decided to develop this island.
“According to the notification prompt issued by the commander’s decree, only about an hour has passed in the external world. In that case, half an hour in the external world is equivalent to a full day in the trial world.”
“There are 72 hours in 3 days. I can stay in the trial world for 144 days, which is equivalent to a full 5 months!”
“There’s so much time that I can put what I recently learned about basic territorial infrastructure development into practice. That way, I won’t be fumbling around in the dark when I arrive at the New World!”
Although Su Mo knew that the levels coming after this would be very bothersome, and that he might even have to leave the trial early if he failed a level, he still felt energy coursing through him as he made his plans.
After directing the murlocs to swiftly clear the spoils and destroy all of the evidence, Su Mo took all the murlocs back to the temporary camp.
Since they had only arrived that morning, the campsite was still in a shabby state. There was not even a simple cabin built for them to sleep in at night.
This would have been a major undertaking had it happened during the early days of the wasteland.
However, now…
Su Mo simply retrieved two excellent-quality axes and demonstrated on the spot how to chop down trees and build a cabin.
As Su Mo watched as the nine murlocs ran happily toward the broad-leaved trees some distance away. He smiled before returning his attention to his stolen map.
Although the ship styles and folklore of the Deep Sea World were similar to that of the Middle Ages back on Earth, ship routes were extremely well-developed here due to blessings from the Gods.
This map recorded not only every named place within a three-thousand nautical mile radius, but also annotated some basic information that was important to know about those locations.
This helped Su Mo resolve one of his biggest problems, which was his unfamiliarity with the Deep Sea World.
“Since this world is controlled by the Gods, the Deep Sea King is, strictly speaking, not actually a king. Instead, the official with the most power would be the priest in charge of communicating with the Gods.”
“The nearest large-scale official institution would be the Atlantean Metropolis, which is located a thousand and eight hundred nautical miles away. The place where I escaped from must be this Bayou Town.”
After calculating the direction and distance he had fled, Su Mo found it easy to locate the place where he had spawned on the map.
Bayou Town and White Sand Island were 140 nautical miles away from each other. If a small sailboat sailed directly downwind for the entire journey, the time needed to travel that distance was roughly 14 hours.
Bayou Town was one of Sand County’s satellite towns and had become the backbone of the satellite towns’ economy because it had an abundance of treasure fishes that could be sold at a high price in the Deep Sea World.
If passing merchant ships were not at full capacity, they would usually stop by Bayou Town to purchase treasure fishes so that they could later export them and earn a profit from the price difference.
White Sand Island happened to be located in a place that had to be passed through to get to Bayou Town.
The waters on this route were calm during the day, which made it seem like an ideal route to travel. However, the winds blew toward the east, which was the opposite of the direction the ships would be traveling in, which meant they had to sail at slow speeds.
Thus, ships that passed by would all dock at the nearby uninhabited islands to spruce up their ships.
When night fell and the wind’s direction changed from east to west, everyone would board their ships once more and arrive at Bayou Town just as the sun rose.
The best time for fishermen to sell the treasure fishes they had caught during the night was early morning.
Then, after loading their ships with the freshest fishes, the ships would continue sailing non-stop toward their final destination.
“This route has been developed and used for three and a half years, and the value of the treasure fishes have also been recognized by the nearby towns. This route’s importance is rated at two and a half stars, which means that plenty of merchant ships will use it.”
“If I want to loot, no, I mean, if I want to collect toll charges, it would be most suitable to do it between noon to evening while they are resting!”
As Su Mo made careful and thoughtful plans in his mind, he used his knuckles to tap on several spots on the map where merchant ships would likely dock to rest.
It was not easy to be a pirate on the seas.
If he could summon Hope One over, Su Mo would not be afraid to raise his wanted star level to six stars, much less be afraid to loot these merchant ships.
However, there was only a small sailboat on White Sand Island now. If the other party ended up sailing a large merchant ship, and even if you ignored their weapons and the ship’s sturdiness…
The small sailboat would never be able to catch up to them if they turned and sailed away once they sensed that something was not right.
Moreover, the Level 4 mission was extremely specific. He needed to loot everything off a merchant ship.
That would require him to either not fight the battle at all, or to fight it until the very end.
Thus, the only time he could strike was when the other ship was moored at the water’s edge, and while the sailors were resting onshore.
At that point, all he needed to do was to sneak onto the ship and gain control over the person in charge of steering the ship, which would ensure the cargo ship would not be able to sail away; then Su Mo could decide on whether he should kill them or let them go.
Su Mo, who was busy plotting his devious plan, did not even realize how much stronger he had become compared to two months ago.
Two months ago, when faced with a group of thugs chiseling away at the Underground Shelter’s outer walls, Su Mo was so nervous that he needed to hype himself up before he dared to dash out and kill the enemy.
Two months later, Su Mo could look at a map and twiddle his thumbs as he planned a small battle that could involve well over a hundred people.
Growth was always something that happened silently.
The change in Su Mo’s mentality and strength was what allowed him to gradually transform into a powerful person.
The aura that a powerful person like him exuded in his movements was also what allowed Su Mo to easily subdue those nine murlocs.
As his plan gradually took shape, White Sand Island’s sky slowly turned dark.
Since it was an isolated island, the air slowly became cold and wet after night fell. Although the coconut trees provided some shelter, the sea breeze still caused living creatures to experience a swift drop in body temperature whenever it blew past.
After helping the murlocs build two cabins, White Sand Island’s first “sacrificial ritual” officially began.
Two bonfires were lit, and the pot on the left one contained a tasty treasure fish stew while the one on the right contained a paste made from hardtack.
The nine murlocs joined hands and formed a circle around Su Mo, who was seasoning the food in the pots. They danced circles around him as they sang.
“Thank you to the great God of the Ocean, whose existence blessed us with the ability to reproduce in the Deep Sea World. You were the one who sent the commander to us and saved us from slavery!”
“Thank you to the great God of Cooking, we thank you for giving us this scrumptious food that will keep us from freezing during this cold night!”
“Thank you to the mighty commander, who drove the evil Guardians of the Ocean away and protected our right to freedom in the Deep Sea World!”
After saying those three sentences in the human language, the murlocs’ prayers changed back into the foreign races’ obscure and difficult-to-understand language again. It sounded quite harmonious when paired with the crackling sounds that the bonfire was emitting.
“God of Cooking?”
For some unknown reason, an indescribable feeling washed over Su Mo as he listened to the murlocs’ prayers.
The faint calls buried in the depths of his heart, that had been there since the first two days of the trial, seemed to have become clearer as he listened to the murlocs’ chants from a close distance.
It sounded like a voice was telling him something, and trying to pass a message to him.
However, when Su Mo took into account the fact that he was in the trial world, and that the game might be observing him, he suppressed the urge to attempt “transforming” into his alter-ego and instead focused on seasoning the food in front of him.
As Su Mo poured a bottle of psychic energy water into the soup and noticed how the look in the murlocs’ eyes immediately changed, he laughed and announced the start of the feast.
“Eat, eat. You will probably soon be part of my team in the Deep Sea World!”
“Try your best to become stronger as quickly as possible!”
