The boat's base speed had been increased to 14 knots. Even though the three motors hadn't been vitalized, they enhanced the boat's speed all the same.
When Zheng Yang was done reading the information on the boat, he went about tidying up the place.
Some of the things that he had previously put under the deck were chucked inside the floor cabinets, while he used the compartments for the batteries and other heavier things that he didn't need to take out often. All of those things, coupled with all manner of machinery and transmission components under the deck, as well as the two freshwater storage compartments and the fish hold, served to further lower the center of gravity of the boat.
There were places to sit all over the boat by the time he finished renovating it, unlike how it was before, where the passengers had to sit on the floor. Even the bow had stainless-steel rails as thick as fists to lean on, making the entire place feel very different.
When night came, he folded the solar panels, and the lights installed everywhere on the boat lit up, giving the place a rather homey feel. Despite looking minimalistic and even run-down, it was nonetheless truly his own place, and best of all, the cost of living was very low.
While still reveling in his achievement, he felt that familiar alert go off in his mind. Through the boat's perception, he quickly discovered a monkeylike thing with long hairs all over its body zipping under the bottom of the boat and then climbing up the gunwale at the stern.
"What? A water ghost?"
"There are actually water ghosts even at sea?"
The first thing he did was summon his vessel spirit and have it bite the ghost.
Then, he brandished his claws and siphoned some spirit power as he charged toward the stern.
Even though his bone claws weren't made of metal like those of Wolverine's, they nonetheless were inherently sharp due to the power from his mutated blood that, when boosted with spirit power, made his claws far sharper than his machete and even chef knives.
He no longer even needed blades when cutting up fish.
That water monkey thing climbed up the gunwale near the stern and leaped onto the boat, looking incredibly eerie. The demon bug vessel spirit zipped at its neck like a beam of black shadow, biting as soon as it touched skin.
Ksskk
The water monkey let out a high-pitched shriek and clapped down on the demon bug on its neck. Yet the bug actually let go right after biting down and targeted other places, moving very nimbly.
Zheng Yang immediately stepped out of the cabin, and the water monkey saw him. It glared at him with its eerie eyes and launched itself at him, no longer caring about the bug's attacks.
The water monkey had a terrifying look in its eyes, seemingly resenting anything it laid eyes on as if the entire world owed something big to its species.
Zheng Yang was startled when he saw this look, and he reflexively swiped his claws.
Pfftt
His awakened bloodline, coupled with a boost from spirit power, meant that all aspects of his body—sight, reaction, power, speed, and whatever else—were three times those of the average human.
That one swipe from his claws almost tore the water monkey thing from top to toe in five pieces, and a putrid stench immediately suffused the air.
"There's more of this thing?"
Two more water monkeys came within the boat's perception range, and they climbed up the boat from either side of the bow.
"Did I just barge into the lair of some water ghosts or what?"
Zheng Yang instructed his bug to charge at them, while he took huge strides past the cabin, coming to the bow.
The water ghosts weren't actually all that powerful. He was very experienced with two moves with the blade, and the moves were more than mere techniques, as they enhanced his coordination and combat consciousness. As a result, he was much more skilled in combat than an ordinary person.
As such, he was able to cut up those two water monkeys like how he diced vegetables, with just two easy swipes of his claws.
The spirit vessel then transmitted its intention of devouring the water monkeys' dead bodies, and Zheng Yang agreed to it right away. He thought of it as rearing a carnivorous steed. The dead bodies and bloodstains on the deck were quickly dissolved in less than a minute.
Spirit power material reserve reached 15 percent, while the vessel spirit's growth reached 22 percent.
He lifted the anchor and set sail right away after the commotion, noting that he wouldn't be able to spend the night there.
Before choosing to dock at the spot with the water monkeys, he had been observing the other places nearby. The place he found himself in at the moment was somewhere far away from the English Harbor. It was a rather rural place. The shore was a very steep hill, and while it resembled a beach, the place saw few visitors.
He was in no mood to look into why there were water monkeys around because he was wary of some kind of boss monsters waiting to fight him. He thought it best to just run away before he drew the attention of something else.
He turned on the LED floodlights at the bow and made his way back to the harbor, docking near the fishing boats.
"I have a feeling that I'm definitely gonna have that ghost ship dream tonight."
He took out the honing stick that he bought along with the hardware back in the afternoon and sharpened the edge of his machete, making it razor-sharp.
Eva called from her own phone near 10, discussing with him about the time they'd go out to sea the next day and what things to bring.
They set the time at seven in the morning. He and Emily both decided against letting her swim in the sea, so she was only allowed to bring some food, drinks, and fishing equipment and sit on the boat and fish with him.
…
Midnight came, and not long after he fell asleep, a shadow fell over his spirit vessel.
As expected, he found himself on the huge ghost ship again, his machete in hand.
The mist surrounding him quickly cleared after he took about a dozen steps forward. The barren masts that seemed to reach all the way to the heavens looked like crucifixes, with the broken strips of tattered sails waving about as if calling out to the dead and the handful of lamps on the ship emanating a blood-red glow.
He found himself standing on vast wooden flooring yet again, but unlike last time, he wasn't near that humongous deck at the bow. Instead, he found himself standing on a very, very tall tower at the center, right above that cabinlike structure that looked like a castle.
He was able to see that humongous deck from where he stood, as well as the vast, endless swath of darkness outside the deck.
The sight immediately made his skin crawl.
"The boarding location seems to be randomly picked every time, eh?"
He wondered if he would find himself in the street-like corridors of the hold below during one of his future visits and then, just like the shark monster, wind up swallowed by something terrifying in one of the rooms.
He had no idea if he would become a vegetable in real life if he were to die in the dream, but he definitely didn't want to find out.
As such, after seeing what was in front of him, he took several steps forward while turning to look behind him at the same time.
He saw a massive capstan taller than his waist over a dozen meters behind him, along with a massive headless dead body sitting on the floor, leaning against the capstan. The body was dressed in tattered sailor attire, and despite looking pale and bruised, the thing wasn't rotting.
He kept his guard up as he continued to watch his surroundings.
He kept having the feeling that he had become the center of the world, and that the crimson light was shining over him like a spotlight. He looked up right away, seeming to have realized something, and saw a lamp hanging on one of the yards on the mast above him, along with a tattered strip of sail dangling in the wind.
"Damn it!"
He felt goosebumps break out all over his skin. Up close, he was able to see that the center of the lamp was yellowish, despite casting a blood-red glow.
"No wonder the lights are blood-colored," he thought.
He gulped and continued making his way slowly to the edge.
The tower was built on top of some of the cabinlike structures, and it was very tall.
Yet there was an even taller tower and building behind him.
The multitiered cabinlike structure was right beneath his feet, and each level had corridors so wide that they might as well be streets. Every single level was over 10 meters tall, so it was no wonder the rooms were so huge.
"I wonder if there are terrifying monsters in every single one of those rooms," he thought.
He went to the edge of the tower and moved about lightly for fear of startling some of those things that might be inside those buildings.
He made a complete circle around the place before finding stairs right behind the capstan, but the headless body was nowhere to be found.
"No way. It was still there just moments ago…"