Pov: Vik
There is a small river here that comes from those mountains and flows straight toward the ocean on the southern side of this continent. I plan to follow that river to reach the ocean. From there, I will find a port city where I can buy a ship or cruiser. Then, I'll take that ship to cross the sea.
I also intend to teleport my disciples onto that ship once I secure one. It would be great to have ocean adventures.
System: "Host, I still recommend flying to shorten the travel time. Please don't let those childish impulses take over your rational mind."
Vik: "System, what's with the childish impulses comment? You are the childish one, not me. I am a completely rational snake."
System: "Yeah, you are a completely sane snake who wants to become a sea pirate to find treasures lost in time."
The system is getting personal again. I just said that as a joke. Sigh! I really think having an AI chatbot would be more helpful than dealing with this lunatic called System.
After following the river, I flew for eight hours straight. At my speed, the scenery passed in a blur. I saw many cities, like Azure Mountain City, come and go as I flew on, with great forests, mountains, and deserts coming into view.
Still, there was no sign of the ocean. This makes sense since this world is many times larger than Earth, with continents millions of miles wide. It's not even the biggest part, as oceans cover about 70% of the surface.
Without taking a break, I kept flying at full speed. My maximum speed, without using any techniques, should be around 40 Mach. I didn't want to use excessive spiritual energy to create a disturbance. I even attempted to hide the sound waves I generated while flying at that speed because I wanted to travel silently.
Not using teleportation is one reason for this. Teleportation leaves behind traces of spiritual energy in the environment, which can be used to track the person who teleported. I'm thinking about finding a way to bypass this issue, but I need time to consider it. For now, I choose to travel through the air, hiding in plain sight.
I'm sure every authority or special force out there is trying to find hidden locations and track me down using teleportation traces. They would never think I would be flying straight toward the ocean just above their heads.
Occasionally, I spotted strange beasts or plants and some beautiful scenery. Still, I needed to reach the ocean quickly, so I focused on traveling. After continuous travel for another two days, I finally felt the sea breeze on my face.
I reached my destination. After slowing down and traveling at a normal speed, I saw a port city much larger than Azure Mountain City. This city is not like Azure Mountain City. As I monitored it from the sky, I observed large walls around 50 meters high, built with reinforced alloy metal.
There are many high-tech guns and personnel stationed there. On the other side of that wall is wilderness with a few settlements, followed by a great forest filled with beasts. This is the typical layout of most cities in this world, as they need protection from beasts and dungeon hordes. However, Azure Mountain City is different because it has the protection of the Azure Mountain Range.
Another interesting feature of this city is its southern side, which serves as a port. Half of the city is a port. A few nautical miles away from this city port, there is also a large wall in the sea, likely built to protect against sea beasts. There are openings in that wall for ships to pass through, adding to the city's fortified defenses.
As I observed the city layout, I approached the city gates. Generally, I would prefer to go through the normal process, but as a wanted criminal, I silently entered the city, changing my appearance as well. I now looked like a middle-aged man with black hair, black eyes, and some facial hair. It was the exact appearance I had in my previous life before I died.
Changing my appearance, I roamed the city, which is called Southern Cram City in this world. I found this city quite interesting, but I didn't have time to explore or establish a base here. Maybe in the future, but for now, my main goal is to acquire a ship and sail toward the Western continent.
After gathering information from pedestrians and shopkeepers, I reached the port side of the city. I asked many people about ships, but most of them told me to buy a ticket for a regular cruise ship, as this place didn't sell ships to cross the ocean to other continents. At most, they had small to large fishing boats.
Even those fishing boats are larger than any cruiser or oil tanker from my previous life. But it makes sense, as the sea is much more dangerous than land in this world. In the end, my search led to those cruisers, known as continental cruisers in this world. These cruisers are enormous, made of metal.
The average cruiser is at least 5 kilometers long and weighs millions of tons. They are also heavily fortified with weapons and protected by high-level cultivators. But taking such a ship is difficult for me because it requires verification. Even if I forge some documents, I still can't have my adventures on a cruise filled with people equivalent to a small city.
I just wanted to travel by sea to experience the ocean adventure. If that's not possible, it would be more reasonable to go by air.
As I was pondering air travel, something caught my eye: a large submarine, rusting in a corner of the port, maybe parked in a junkyard. Curious, I approached that junkyard and asked the owner about the submarine. He told me it was an old model used a few hundred years ago to research sea depths after the first cataclysm.
But soon after, the next cataclysm came, and the deep sea became a forbidden zone for humanity. Many of these submarines went missing in action, leading to their decommissioning. Now, humanity travels only on the surface or at slight depths.
The owner continued sharing more history, but I had already decided to take this submarine. I asked him about buying it, and surprisingly, the price was pretty cheap—cheaper than the mansion in Azure Mountain City. Perhaps it's because it's considered junk now.
But that isn't a problem for me, as I can always ask System and Lina to repair and modify this submarine. I'm sure traveling in a submarine will be a next-level adventure for me.