Pov: Vik
Lina looked at me, then at the submarine, and said quietly, "Its white color will make it more beautiful in the dark ocean. I will name it 'Great White.'"
"Great White" is a very impressive name, I complimented Lina's naming skill. After that, I teleported the submarine, now called Great White, to the open seas, away from the coastal city. My disciple Lu Xiaoran, along with Roman and Lina, were already standing on the outer bridge, gazing at the vast ocean. I took a deep breath and opened the hatch. One by one, everyone entered.
I left Lu Xiaoran's parents and Sherry back at Great Fire Forest for safety, as I wasn't sure what this ocean held. However, I felt confident we would have a great adventure on this trip before reaching the Western continent.
The interior of the submarine is as cozy as it gets. It is more like a large mansion than a typical combat submarine, with many rooms for my students to choose from, plus a captain's room and the main control room where all the controls are located. I made it centralized, so everything is controlled from there. Essentially, the control room manages the purple nanobots and the main functions of the submarine. Other than changing the course of the submarine, all tasks can be handled by these nanobots; we only need to press a button and give a command. I designed it so that one person could easily operate the submarine.
Once inside, I first showed everyone the available rooms in the submarine and told them to pick one. Then, I revealed other features. The submarine has a cultivation chamber, which, while not as advanced as the Anonymous Hall, still provides four times the concentration of energy found outside.
One of the most important features is an empty gate at the back of the submarine, just before the core and thrusters. This is a teleportation gate that I can open at any time using the power of the submarine's core. It establishes a connection with the Anonymous Hall regardless of distance, as long as we are in this world. This serves as our escape route if anything goes wrong while exploring the sea. We could quickly return to the Great Fire Forest.
To check its effectiveness, I opened it. A bluish portal appeared inside the large gate. Through it, I reached back to the Anonymous Hall, specifically the main hall. After confirming its function one last time, I returned, taking Pushpa with me as I had left her in my room at the Anonymous Hall.
After grabbing Pushpa, I set her on my shoulder, her usual spot. My disciples saw me come back from the portal with Pushpa but weren't surprised. They already expected the portal to work properly. We continued exploring more features of the submarine, especially the attack capabilities, and everything worked perfectly.
I then moved to the control room. I told my disciples to take the side seats since there are four seats total. Despite the room being larger, there are only four seats: my main seat and three for my disciples. In front of those seats is a glass screen displaying every detail and function of the submarine.
Since I was one of the people who built it, I was already familiar with the controls. I started the thrust and directed the submarine westward, our destination. The submarine gradually picked up speed and soon submerged. Our sonar began to work, providing a clear view and a 3D map of everything within a thousand miles of us. Currently, our surroundings included merchant ships, cruise vessels, and other utility boats navigating to and from the port city.
With a happy expression, I set off on my first sea voyage.
Time skip...
It has been two days since my disciples and I began our journey in the submarine. During this time, I told my disciples to practice in the Anonymous Hall. Teleporting them back is as easy as opening a gate with the system and the Anonymous Hall. Meanwhile, I kept control of the submarine throughout these two days.
Lina and the others urged me to rest, but as a high-level cultivator, I don't need much rest. I prefer to cultivate while controlling the submarine because much of my cultivation involves brainstorming and trying to uncover the mysteries of this new Prana energy. This energy is the only thing preventing me from advancing beyond the Nascent Soul level. In normal circumstances, I could have already reached the peak of the Void Traveling Realm or even the Void Refining Realm with continuous cultivation and the resources provided by the Anonymous Hall.
However, I still haven't discovered anything related to Prana energy that could help me break through this bottleneck. I call my situation a bottleneck because as long as I don't progress in my understanding of Prana energy, none of my cultivation can advance further. This situation also offers me a chance to deepen my cultivation system.
I have a feeling that once I unravel the mystery of Prana energy, the rewards will exceed anything I could achieve through regular cultivation. So, I continued my experiments, mainly observing marine creatures to see if they hold Prana energy and how it flows within their bodies. So far, the only beings lacking Prana energy are dead bodies; everything alive contains it.
I began observing the underwater world while controlling the submarine. I encountered many creatures. We were still in a relatively safe area of the ocean, with the true depths still some distance away. However, I discovered creatures ranging from one meter to one kilometer in size in the shallow waters. Thanks to the stealth mode of the submarine, none of these creatures noticed us; we were invisible to them until they accidentally bumped into us.
I was deep in observation when an SOS message suddenly appeared on the screen. My system, connected to the submarine's main controls, informed me.
System: "Host, I just received an SOS signal from a nearby ship that encountered some kind of accident. Do you want to help them?"
This was the first time I encountered a situation like this. Given that we were still in shallow waters, we occasionally passed cruisers and tankers heading to or from the port city, in addition to some fishing boats.
After pondering for a moment, I replied, "System, let's help those guys."
With that decision, I redirected the submarine toward the ship, unaware that this act of kindness would lead me to find another disciple, or perhaps another villain of destiny.