"Just think about what I could do with 30 thousand pounds!" Zheng Yang thought, planning in silence.
He figured that he could first renovate parts of his boat, such as replacing the windows with glass. While the size of the boat had reached the maximum coverage area of the magic formation, preventing him from making the boat any bigger, there nonetheless was no problem with making adjustments to certain parts.
"I'll need to buy a satellite phone," he thought. "And then a photovoltaic generator thing. No need for something too big, just something large enough to provide enough energy for lighting and making meals. But if there's electricity on the boat, I could install a water supply system, instead of having to open up the deck and manually scoop up freshwater. And if I install a water supply system, I'll need something to pump seawater for flushing the toilet. I'll also need some foldable cots, tables, and chairs…
"And I'll need to register the sailboat and get a sailboat license.
"Motors… with the spirit vessel at the size it is now, one outboard motor definitely won't do. But if I continue to use outboard motors, then I won't have to alter the boat's structure that much. But motors for a boat of that size probably won't be that cheap."
There were a lot of things that Zheng Yang didn't yet know the price of, so he wasn't actually able to calculate just how much he could do with 30 thousand pounds.
"Give me your account so I can wire you the money right away." Entes took out his satellite phone and got ready to pay.
Zheng Yang was dumbfounded, as he had yet to open a bank account in this world.
"Wait until we get to the port. Help me get a satellite phone first, then I'll get an account opened," Zheng Yang replied frankly.
Zheng Yang saw no point in being polite to Entes, who clearly had more money than he knew what to do with.
At that moment, Jordan shouted from the bow, saying that he saw other vessels.
According to Zheng Yang's calculations, they were currently somewhere just 20 nautical miles away from the harbor, which meant that other vessels would be passing through this way, either leaving or going to the port. In theory, then, they should be seeing some ships around.
Zheng Yang walked out of the cabin and looked around with his binoculars. He saw a mid-size transport ship sailing further and further away. That ship was probably heading towards some large island nearby, and had coincidentally crossed paths with Zheng Yang's boat.
They actually only managed to spot one other vessel in the next hour—a rescue boat sent by the search and rescue team.
Entes actually hadn't bothered canceling his order from before, and Zheng Yang wondered if something was truly wrong with him, or if he was just doing it as an insurance of sorts. However, given the fact that they were so close to the harbor, the weather was fine, and they had accurate GPS, it was basically guaranteed that they would reach the port safely. After negotiating with the team and reducing the fee by 9000 pounds, Entes had the search and rescue team go home.
It was about six in the evening. The sun was setting, and the winds were growing even stronger, enabling the sailboat to reach a speed of nearly 10 knots.
Over half an hour later, they caught sight of some other vessels.
By then, they were truly near the port.
Zheng Yang was feeling rather restless. He had finally succeeded in leaving his "starting village" and was entering the wider world.
All of this was thanks to the ritual diagram and that old travelogue his parents had left him, as well as his father's teachings about the materials required for spirit vessels. All of this had enabled him, reborn as he was, to unleash his curiosity and give it a try. Otherwise, he would have probably stayed on the island for a while longer before finding an opportunity to leave on Hans' fishing boat.
"Zheng, what do you plan to do after you register the boat? Are you going to head home or will you set out to tour the world, or just something else?" Lisa's huge blue eyes blinked at him as she asked away.
Zheng Yang thought about her question seriously and answered, "I'll need to look for ways to earn a living. And I'll need to renovate the boat, just like how Entes put it, before thinking about touring the world."
"That so, eh?" Lisa pondered for a bit before saying, "Is this some kind of test that your elders are putting you through? Our father gave Entes a test several years ago, just a way to assess his abilities. He had him try to earn some money on his own, but that idiot lost a lot of money instead."
Entes felt rather irked and retorted, "I've only temporarily lost the money, Lisa. All those assets I have will definitely earn a lot of money in the future."
"Heh, you've been saying that for years now." Lisa didn't bother giving any face to her brother. Instead, she kept dissing him.
The siblings' exchange was interesting enough to Zheng Yang that he simply remained silent and watched.
However, Entes ignored Lisa altogether and said to Zheng Yang instead, "Speaking about earning money, I think I can give you some advice."
Lisa: "Whatever…"
Entes continued ignoring his sister and went on to say to Zheng Yang, "First, we need to assess what kind of resources you have at hand, both tangible and intangible, like social contacts. Then, we'll need to take stock of your abilities. Better still if they're related to your hobbies. We know now that you have a sailboat that's about 18 feet long and that you know how to man it. You also have basic sailing skills. Anything else?"
Zheng Yang thought for a bit and said, "Nothing else."
"Wait, what do you mean? You have nothing else but all that?
"Alright then, mate. Looks like you'll have to start from scratch. You still have a boat at least, no?" Entes paced back and forth for a bit before giving him further advice in a serious tone.
"Zheng, I think you could fish and sell your catch every day… of course, if you renovate your boat according to my plans, you'll be able to take jobs on sunny days and have some avid fishers come to fish on your boat. But that would run against your plans to earn money to get the renovation done. You don't have enough money for the renovations, right? You'll need at least 150 thousand pounds."
"150 thousand?" Zheng Yang's eyes widened.
Jordan turned around and added, "Hey, mate, that's Entes's standard, alright. He likes expensive stuff. But I say you could probably get more or less the same things for around 50 thousand pounds. Hell, you could even do with just 40 thousand. But of course, none of those things would look as good as the ones he proposed."
Zheng Yang thought that what Jordan said made sense. In fact, he was thinking that just 20 thousand pounds would be enough. He would only need to buy the raw materials and let the spirit vessel's self-modification ability do the rest of the renovations, which would save him a lot in terms of labor cost.
"Entes, I could actually take loans to finish the renovations, and then repay my debt with the money I earn," Zheng Yang then hinted.
It was a pity that Entes' haywire side showed again. "But this is a test given to you by your family," Entes said. "Wouldn't taking out loans make the test meaningless?"
Zheng Yang immediately went quiet. If he were to push his luck and ask Entes to lend him money, Entes might actually just agree to it. But then again, both parties weren't all that familiar with each other still, and if Zheng Yang were to put himself in Entes's shoes, he wouldn't lend money to someone he'd known for less than half a day either.
"I'll just leave it at that for the moment," he thought. "After all, I could always fish and sell my catch."
Zheng Yang finally saw the shoreline in the distance, just before the sun disappeared below the horizon.
The sky turned completely dark an hour later. The lights of the port city in the English Harbor was lit up, a sign of the place's prosperity and liveliness, making the moon look rather pale in comparison.
At that moment, Zheng Yang's boat glided into the port. He lowered the ball sail to decrease the boat's speed and worked together with Jordan. One of them worked the sail while the other took the wheel as they carefully avoided bumping into other vessels. Then, under Entes's guidance, they came to a dock meant specifically for sailboats.