On the deck of the Future, Leyton, with Pace already appeased, walked towards the cabin, just as Frank came out from inside.
Leyton glanced at the barrel of oddly shaped mushrooms in Frank's arms, his mouth twitching slightly as he said, "Good evening, Frank, what are you planning to do with those?"
Frank showed a hearty smile, temporarily placing the wooden barrel he was holding aside, and then said, "Hey, Al, you're finally back. I was just about to write to you for a new batch of Monster corpses."
"These are all failed mushroom experiments. Although they can achieve rapid reproduction by consuming the flesh and blood of Monsters, they accumulate toxins and pollution internally. I'm about to dump them into the sea."
Leyton looked at the strange mushrooms in the wooden barrel. Under the crimson Moonlight, he could clearly see some undulations on the surface of the mushrooms, as if they were faintly breathing.
Don't they need to be deactivated beforehand? What if these things become an ecological disaster in the sea? Leyton sighed inwardly, then pondered and said, "Accumulating toxins and pollution, can the pollution be concentrated by forming fruits? If so, the parts other than the fruits would be usable."
As he spoke, he raised his right hand forward, and a cluster of slowly rotating Star sand quickly condensed in his palm. Star after Star emerged, dense and dazzling.
These Stars scattered rays of light from mid-air, converging into a dazzling fluorescent white glow that enveloped all the mushrooms in the wooden barrel. Those strange, faintly breathing mushrooms were quickly dissolved by the starlight, collapsing and dissipating.
Frank's eyes lit up when he saw this scene, and he said with some excitement, "This ability is very suitable for cleaning up experimental residues! It's so convenient."
As expected of you, Leyton sighed inwardly, then suggested with a hint of question, "You could try raising something like a Venus flytrap and then feeding it those discarded experimental products."
"Keeping something like that on the ship is too dangerous, and the components of my experimental products are too complex. It would be troublesome if the accumulated toxins and pollution caused it to mutate and lose control."
Frank shook his head, rejecting the suggestion, then looked at Pace, who was squatting nearby, and said, "I've recently developed a plant that can grow fish. As long as you put the prepared seeds into the belly of a live fish beforehand and then bury it in the soil, within a day, the seeds will grow into thick vines and produce fresh fish."
"And we can freely choose the type of fish, except that all fish grown from these vines taste the same, and the texture might be different from normal fish. Other than that, they are no different from normal fish."
The black cat, squatting on the deck, arched its back, staring at Frank as if it had seen an archenemy, "What kind of Demons are you! Why would you do this to my little dried fish!"
"To be honest, those fish aren't little dried fish until they're dried, so I haven't done anything bad to your little dried fish."
Frank sternly corrected Pace, stating that he hadn't messed with its beloved little dried fish.
Plant a fish in the soil in the morning and harvest a basket of fish in the evening. Is the next step to grow a Sister Moon?
Thoughts churned in Leyton's mind for a while, and he couldn't help but look at Frank with some curiosity, asking, "Can you grow other creatures besides fish? After all, we're at sea; various sea fish are the least scarce."
"Not yet. The body structures of different species are not the same. Currently, this plant can only replicate and grow fish bodies."
"What do you want to eat? Beef or lamb? Or poultry? When the Future restocks next time, I'll have them prepare more. By then, I should be able to develop plants that grow cattle, sheep, or even chickens and ducks."
Frank spoke with some excitement, his expression visibly growing more enthusiastic.
"I was just curious. These meats aren't hard to buy. I don't think it's necessary to specifically research this kind of plant. Instead of researching these novel plants, it would be better to improve some existing crops."
"For example, combining coffee, milk, and sugar to directly produce ready-to-brew coffee."
"That's a great idea! Why didn't I think of that before? Although most of the Sailors on the ship don't like coffee, we could set up a production line and sell these products externally to fund research."
Frank grew more and more excited as he spoke, directly putting his arm around Leyton's shoulder and saying, "Come on, let's go to the mess hall for a late-night snack. We can talk while we eat. So many inspirations are suddenly flooding my mind..."
The next morning, the Future traveled a long distance along the whaling route, and the number of ships in the surrounding sea area significantly decreased.
Leyton sat on the ship's rail at the bow of the Future, enjoying the sunrise over the sea while feeling the crisp morning sea breeze.
He casually pulled out a pale yellow blank sheet of paper from the void, gently rubbed his right fingers together, and created a translucent pen made of starlight, continuously sketching on the paper. The pen made of starlight miraculously left colorful lines on the paper.
Pace curled up against the ship's rail, yawning sleepily and complaining disgruntledly, "Meow... Why are you up so early, not sleeping, running to the bow to feel the wind? And why did you drag me out of my nest!"
"Do you want to eat the special little dried fish Frank prepared for you? The kind that was planted last night and just picked from the vine this morning."
Leyton said in a calm voice while sketching colorful lines on the paper.
Pace stopped talking, lowered its head, and huddled into a ball. It felt that eating fish grown by Frank was the greatest insult to a cat.
Klein appeared on the deck at some point. With one hand, he pressed down on his semi-tall silk top hat to prevent it from being blown away by the whistling sea wind, while hesitantly saying, "Fish that were grown?"
Leyton nodded without raising his head, "Frank, the First Mate on this ship, you should have already met him. He is a Druid, and his greatest hobby is researching all sorts of strange plants and animals."
"He recently achieved the feat of burying fish in the soil at night and harvesting a 'grapevine' of fish the next morning. He is currently vigorously promoting his products to others. If you go to the mess hall now, all the fish dishes you see will be ones he grew last night."
"...That's hard to comment on, but there shouldn't be a shortage of fish at sea, right?"
Klein's mouth twitched. From his limited observations since last night, he felt that the Sailors on the Future were all a bit problematic... This Admiral of Stars brought a ship full of problematic children, including the person and cat in front of him.
As the two spoke, two whaling ships appeared on the sea ahead. They quickly reacted as soon as they noticed the flag flying on the Future.
The two whaling ships swiftly adjusted their positions, turning their sides towards the Future, with cannons mounted on their gunwales ready to fire.
A deep blue, almost violet, glow flashed in Leyton's eyes. His gaze crossed the vast distance, clearly seeing the situation on the two whaling ships.
The tall, fair-haired fishermen from the Gargas Archipelago held steel forks and firearms, standing or squatting, watching the Future's direction with extreme vigilance.
Leading them was a tall woman, almost a small giant, whose body gave off a particularly heavy feeling, indicating she was exceptionally strong in combat.
A Guardian? With this strength, she should be a leader among the indigenous people of the Gargas Archipelago. Leyton pondered for a few moments, then stopped thinking about the matter.
The Future ignored the reactions of the two whaling ships and passed by them directly, heading deeper into the whaling route.
After sailing for nearly another half hour, several pirate ships appeared in the sea ahead. They flew different flags, seemingly not belonging to the same pirate group.
As the Future approached, these pirate ships, like startled birds, quickly fled the area.
"What are they doing?" Klein turned his head to Leyton, who was sitting on the ship's rail, with some confusion.
A deep blue, almost violet, glow quickly swirled in Leyton's eyes. After collecting the surrounding information through Eyes of Mystery Prying, the glow in his eyes gradually faded, and he looked at the nearby sea, saying softly, "Someone discovered a Fourth Epoch ruin at the bottom of the sea here. Those pirates were probably preparing to send people down to investigate it."
Klein recalled the news he had heard earlier in Nas's bar. So it had already spread. No wonder those pirates had so openly proclaimed the news at the time.
Thinking of this, Klein looked at Leyton with some curiosity and asked, "Does that Fourth Epoch ruin really exist?"
Leyton recalled his own situation and chuckled, "It's not really a ruin, just a deep-sea drilling well that connects to things deep underground because it's so deep."
Drilling well? Can the technology of this era drill wells in the deep sea? Is it relying on Beyonder powers? Could it be something Roselle left behind when he was looking for oil?
Thoughts raced through Klein's mind. He vaguely grasped something, but it vanished in an instant, and he couldn't truly understand.
Leyton calmly glanced at Klein, then his gaze passed over him and landed on the crew members of the Future who were emerging from the cabin.
Before he could greet them, Frank and Nina had already approached.
"Good morning, Al, and Gehrman, you're both up very early. I didn't even see you in the dining room."
"Pace, you ungrateful little thing, you abandoned me as soon as Al came back to the ship, didn't you? Do you know I was tossing and turning in bed alone last night?"
Nina, with exaggerated expressions and movements, half-squatted and, before Pace could react, scooped it into her arms, vigorously kneading it against her somewhat oversized chest. The sea breeze blew past her, carrying a pungent smell of alcohol.
"Mmph mph... Help meow~"
"I can barely breathe."
Pace struggled in Nina's arms for a long time, finally managing to get its head out, looking at Leyton with a weak and helpless gaze.
Leyton subtly averted his gaze, pretending not to see Pace's pleading look.
"Hey, Al, good morning! Where's that Bugs Bunny you raised, the one in the suit and tie? Where is he? Quickly, call him out to play with me."
Nina kneaded Pace in her arms while briefly greeting Leyton, then immediately began asking about Bugs Bunny's whereabouts. As she spoke, she kept looking around, searching for Bugs Bunny.
"I left him on the Southern Continent. The place I'm going is quite dangerous, and I wouldn't be able to take good care of him."
"Besides, you can't have your cake and eat it too, you know."
As he spoke, Leyton pointed to Pace, who was being held in Nina's arms.
Nina used one hand to push Pace's head back in, and said dismissively, "Isn't that normal? Aren't all you men the same, coaxing the one at home while still thinking about the ones at the Red Theater?"
That's a bit of friendly fire. Although I'm out at sea, I don't have a family, and I wouldn't go to a place like the Red Theater. Even if I did, it would only be to complete a mission... Klein defended himself inwardly, recalling her information.
"Seabed Murderer" Nina, Boatswain of the Star Pirates, bounty 3600 pounds... He had seen too many wanted posters; sometimes, when he saw a wanted person, he couldn't immediately recall their information.
While Klein was recalling her identity, Nina had already begun to introduce herself, "Good morning, Mr. Sparrow. I am Nina, the Boatswain of the Future and the Navigator's deputy."