"I am Captain David Yates of the Steel Heart. Can you see my message?" David sent a message over the region's channel.
At this point, only three players were left in the buffer zone, so he wasn't worried about contacting the wrong person.
"Hello! I'm Captain Lucas Hall of the Nightmare Star!" Lucas replied.
"Captain Hall, where's your ship? I don't see it," David asked.
"It sank," Lucas answered.
"What?!" David froze in shock.
He didn't know that a sunken ship could be rebuilt. He thought it was the end.
Once Lucas explained the situation, David realized his mistake.
"You're short seven units of wood? No problem, I'll send you 100 units of wood right now," David replied immediately. "But once your ship is repaired, could you help me out?"
Lucas thought for a moment before agreeing.
Time was tight, the black mist was drawing closer, and both needed to work together to escape.
Seeing Lucas agree, David finally felt at ease and responded, "I'm heading over now. Don't attack me. You've got a pistol hanging from your waist, so we're good."
Lucas was surprised.
The Steel Heart was still at least a few kilometers away, so how had David spotted those details? Did he have binoculars?
But in reality, it was David's special ability.
He had two skills.
[Eagle Eye: Perception +2, exceptional vision, excels at tracking and aiming.]
The second skill was unlocked after David killed numerous giant sea beasts.
[Firepower First: With sufficient firepower, you'll face any enemy head-on without your sanity dropping below 50. The truth only exists within the cannon's range!]
The Steel Heart gradually neared the island, and the black mist had already covered half the sky. It was now only 15 nautical miles away from the ship.
At this distance, shouting was enough to communicate without the need for the chat log.
David shouted, "I'll use the harpoon gun to send you the wood. Don't be scared!"
With that, the harpoon fired, sending a large bundle of wood landing just a few meters from Lucas.
It wasn't too much or too little—exactly 100 units of wood.
With enough materials, Lucas wasted no time. He immediately found a suitable spot and started the ship reconstruction in the log.
Once he confirmed the action, the materials floated up, breaking into small pieces before forming a new ship.
The ship was about 30 meters long, still resembling the ghost ship, but much larger than before.
The hull was still worn, covered in barnacles, and the ship's bow was tied with the captain's bones, draped with seaweed as if it had just emerged from the water.
Compared to the Nightmare Star, the biggest difference was in the ship's center.
There was now a giant crystal ball in front of the mast.
A small portion of the hull was covered in rusted iron, making it look sturdier than before.
[Nightmare Star, Level 2, Durability: 1000/1000, Capacity: 3000 units, Speed: 60 knots]
[Hull Skills:
Nightmare: Sleep quality on the ship is extremely poor, causing nightmares. Energy recovery efficiency -75%. Only applies to the captain.
Curse of the Fisher: Normal fish cannot be caught, but the chance of catching abnormal items increases.
Astrology: Displays the surrounding sea map with a radius of 150 nautical miles, viewable in the crystal ball. Can set alerts to vibrate when other players appear.
Peeping: Can search for ship names, player names, and get the ship's coordinates, view images of the ship. Limit one target per day.]
[Description: Merged with a ghost ship... hope you won't regret it!]
After reading the ship's details, Lucas was generally satisfied.
The ship had become sturdier and faster after the merger.
In addition, the astrology skill had evolved, increasing the map's range, and the "Peeping" skill now covered the entire map.
"Let's go, let's board!" Lucas called out to Seraphina.
Once onboard the Nightmare Star, Lucas noticed that the interior had changed as well.
Next to the captain's room, there was now a bedroom—Seraphina's room.
The ship's hold had expanded, with two additional slots to build more structures.
It was essentially like combining the potential of two ships into one.
All the previous items were still onboard, including the pirate outfits, fishing nets, fishing rods, coconuts, food, and fresh water.
Even the giant insect corpse that Lucas had previously shot in the head had been left behind, much to his surprise!
Meanwhile, David was anxious.
He was worried that Lucas might just leave him behind and set sail without a second thought.
Though David was confident he could hang onto the Nightmare Star, if Lucas truly abandoned him, it would mean his end.
Luckily, Lucas wasn't foolish.
[Captain Lucas Hall of the Nightmare Star has sent you a friend request.]
David accepted it immediately.
Then Lucas sent a private message: "I'm heading to the stern now. Throw over the grappling hook."
Seeing the message, David breathed a sigh of relief. He walked out of the bridge, headed to the bow, and faced Lucas.
The Steel Heart was much larger than the Nightmare Star, so Lucas could only see half of David's body.
David was still somewhat cautious, but he approached.
"Captain Yates, your ship is so big!" Lucas said.
"I have to warn you in advance—if my ship can't pull yours at 15 knots, don't blame me for abandoning you. And don't attack me, deal?"
David paused, his face shifting through various expressions.
After a long moment, he finally responded, "In that case, can I come aboard your ship to take shelter?"
"No problem!" Lucas agreed immediately.
After all, the ship could be rebuilt, but the people were what mattered. Without them, everything was over.
David threw the grappling hook.
Lucas caught it and secured it in several places on the ship to distribute the strain evenly, ensuring no one spot would take all the weight.
As for the durability of the grappling hook's rope, there was no need to worry—it was marked as infinitely durable in the log!
Once everything was secured, Lucas sent a message to Seraphina, instructing her to accelerate.
The Steel Heart also revved up its engines.
Both captains' hearts raced as they watched the ships pick up speed.
11 knots!
12 knots!
The speed kept increasing until it reached 16 knots.
With the ship speed surpassing 15 knots, both of them finally relaxed.
If it had remained under 15 knots... things would have been troublesome.
Luckily, the Nightmare Star had the power to push forward, and the two ships were now faster than the approaching black mist by 2 nautical miles.