Odis was somewhat skeptical and walked the only street with cobblestones three times, but still couldn't find the Emerald Palace.
Just then, Odis encountered Aria, who had just come out of the bar, and she asked curiously, "What are you looking for?"
"The Emerald Palace," Odis said with a hint of helplessness.
Then he seemed to have thought of a solution: "Can you take me back?"
Aria initially thought he was joking, but after seeing his serious expression, she nodded and said, "Okay."
Twenty minutes later, Arya said, "This is really weird! We can't find the Emerald Palace!"
Odis was somewhat helpless; it seemed that having someone take her back was not going to work.
In other words, no matter what method is used, it is impossible to reach one's destination within two hours.
"Never mind," Odis said. "I'll treat you to a drink."
Fortunately, it's just that we can't go back to the Emerald Palace, the destination where the negative effects occurred; it's not that we can't go anywhere.
Aria hesitated for a moment before saying, "Okay."
She smiled and said, "I should have known better than to drink that 'Black Storm' earlier."
"Black Storm" is brewed from sugarcane and mango, and while it has a fruity aroma, it is also very strong in flavor, making it a favorite among female pirates.
At this point, Aria also realized that the reason they couldn't find the Emerald Palace was probably because of some item on Odis's person. Odis didn't say, so she didn't ask.
Upon re-entering the bar, Odis saw several familiar faces, some of whom were ship designers and others were scholars from Lacha Island, all there to chat and relax.
A captain loyal to the "Mysterious Queen" smiled upon seeing Arya and said, "Charming Arya, why are you back again? Did you miss me?"
Aria smiled and shook her head: "Forget it, if your thing were a little bigger, I might consider talking to you about sleeping together."
This remark caused everyone to burst into laughter, while the captain's face turned red, but he dared not retaliate.
Odis, who was following behind, was still not quite used to Intis's style.
The Intis are very open to that unique nighttime activity, and both men and women are open to it.
Arya appeared quite ladylike while in Backlund, but her true colors were revealed after returning to Rasha's Island.
Moreover, the Intis people's swear words are much more vulgar than those of the Loen people. In Backlund, even in factories and docks, where the lowest level of laborers gather, the most common curse word is something like "shit" or "stupid pig".
At the shipyard on Lacha Island, you can often hear foremen cursing things like "idiot who got fucked by a donkey" and "good-for-nothing who deserves to be fucked by a donkey."
Many times Odis lamented: Let the donkeys go; they are already exhausted from pulling the millstone all day.
Arriving at the bar, Aria ordered another "Black Storm," which cost 2 fenkin. Odis immediately did the mental conversion, estimating it to be about 1 soule and 8 pence.
Rupert hadn't been polite to Odice before. Few drinks were as expensive as "Crimson Blue Isle," usually under 8 pence. "Black Storm" was already considered quite expensive.
Odis spent 70 copes, or about 7 pence, on a glass of dark beer. He took a sip and found it to be rich and quite good.
The two exchanged a few words about shipbuilding before Odis asked, "Have you heard of the 'Red Lion' pirate crew?"
"I've heard of it," Arya said. "Because several important figures are extraordinary individuals who have reached the 'Hunter' pathway, some people suspect that it is a pirate group supported by the Fusaks."
"However, some people say that they are members of a secret organization because some people have seen that the pirate group perform some bloody sacrifices."
She paused and then said, "The sea is different from the land. A lot of information seems contradictory. To obtain useful information, you need to make your own judgments."
"Thank you!" Odis also noticed this. It seemed that the pirates and adventurers at sea loved to boast, and many seemingly plausible stories were just boasts.
Odis then asked, "Where can I recruit a reliable navigator?"
Everything else is secondary, but the navigator must be reliable. Odis doesn't want his maiden voyage to plunge into the unexplored and dangerous waters of the raging sea, or to do something as foolish as his ship sailing into a naval base or the Storm Church's fleet base.
"Go to the Navigators' Guild," Arya said. "You can ask the 'Queen' to write you a letter and have the guild master recommend a reliable navigator."
"Of course, it also depends on luck. Usually, the best navigators have already boarded someone else's ship."
She had also heard that Odis was going to build his own ship and start a pirate crew.
Odis nodded: "I'll go take a look when I have time."
Afterwards, the two chatted about some interesting stories from the sea. Odis had spent a long time talking with Rupert that evening and had heard quite a few interesting tales about the sea.
After chatting for a while, Aria exclaimed, "You've become one with the sea."
Two hours later, Odis made an appointment with Aria to visit the "Craftsmen's Guild" the next day, and then got up to say goodbye.
He hadn't walked far from the bar when he found the side entrance to the Emerald Palace.
Back in the spacious room prepared for him, Odis yawned, marveling at how rich his experience had been that evening.
Lost in thought, I drifted off to sleep.
The following morning, since there was nothing important to do at the shipyard, Odis asked Aria to accompany him to the "Craftsmen's Guild" to find a skilled "craftsman" to help him manufacture two sets of parts.
With Arya by their side and a personal letter from the "Queen," the "Chairman" led them to meet a senior "craftsman."
The craftsman lived in the industrial area and had built a small villa. The key feature was that he had a large yard where he could build a warehouse to store all sorts of odds and ends.
Upon entering the villa, one is greeted by a dazzling array of items, including weapons, materials, and more.
The chairman smiled and said, "The homes of 'craftsmen' are usually quite messy."
Especially skilled craftsmen simply don't have time to clean up these failed or unfinished products.
They also dislike having family members or servants help them tidy up, because that would make it harder for them to find what they need.
With the "chairman" leading the way, we arrived directly at the "craftsman's" workshop.
The "craftsman" was named Dif. He was in his thirties, with messy hair, but his beard was neatly groomed, and his clothes were relatively clean.
He was intently attaching an ornament to a captain's hat: "Just a moment."
Without even looking up, Dift said, "It'll be ready soon."
He carefully used tweezers to attach a silver clasp to the left side of the hat, which already had some silver ornaments. After placing the final silver clasp on top, without welding or sewing, the clasp was firmly fixed in place.
At the same time, Odis and the others sensed that once the last silver clasp was placed on, the hat gave off a completely different feeling.
Dave breathed a sigh of relief before asking, "Mr. Chairman, what's the matter?"
The guild leader smiled and introduced, "This is Mr. Odis. He came to the guild with a letter of recommendation from the Queen, hoping to find a reliable 'craftsman,' so I recommended you to him."
Upon hearing "the Queen's letter of recommendation," Dave immediately stood up and asked, "How can I help you?"
"I need you to help me manufacture these two parts." Odis took out the drawn blueprints.
It's like a square Rubik's Cube, with different occult symbols on each face.
The second item is a crystal-shaped object with two large magic circles and three small magic circles on it.
Seeing those magic arrays, Dave was somewhat mesmerized. After staring at them for a good half minute, he seemed to snap out of his reverie and said, "I heard Doyle say that the new chief designer has a very high level of knowledge in the occult."
"After seeing these magic arrays, I also hope to go to the Emerald Palace to study with the scholars."
Doyle is one of the scholars who is now studying under Odis.
Odis smiled and said, "You're welcome anytime."
Dave then asked, "May I ask where these extraordinary parts are intended to be used?"
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
"On an extraordinary puppet I designed," Odis said without hiding anything, "I need two of each of these two parts first, because I still need to do some verification. After my verification is completed, I may need more in bulk."
This is another core research project of Odis's over the past three years: extraordinary puppets.
Many extraordinary individuals through extraordinary means can create puppets, but basically, one needs to reach the level of a demigod.
Odis's puppets had no hierarchical requirements because he used the idea of combining intelligent robots with extraordinary abilities.
Odis often felt that having the mindset of the Common Era was her greatest "golden touch".
Many ideas that were difficult to achieve in that era can now be accomplished relatively easily with extraordinary power.
Even the most outstanding "craftsmen" of this era did not have such ideas, because they were unaware of those concepts.
Of course, ideas alone are not enough. For example, Russell provided many ideas back then, the most famous of which was the tank. However, after failing to find oil, he was at a loss and only left behind some design drawings that seemed like mere conjecture.
Before his time travel, Odis was a researcher, and for him, there was a very scientific logic to solving this problem.
For example, his first thought was to replace petroleum with methanol or ethanol.
Another thing he did was search for energy unique to this world, and he found it very quickly: spirituality.
Ultimately, Odis decided to use spirituality because it is widely present in the world, requires no processing, and can be collected and used at any time once a suitable magic circle is available.
Most importantly, Odis speculated that the spirituality of the entire Earth seemed to be related to the "Chaotic Sea," and as long as that source existed, there would always be an abundance of spirituality available on Earth.
This is an almost inexhaustible resource, and it doesn't cost even a penny.
These are the core of Odis's research, the research he was unwilling to show in Backlund.
"Extraordinary puppets?" Dave was somewhat surprised; this was a realm he never even dared to dream of.
Not only him, but even the president of the "Craftsmen's Guild" was very surprised.
"Extraordinary puppets?" Aria thought she had misheard. She had heard that demigods of the "Artisan" pathway, also known as the "Knowledgeable" pathway, seemed to have the ability to create extraordinary puppets.
However, Odis was not an extraordinary being through the "craftsman" path, and he was by no means a demigod.
That's strange. How could he create an "extraordinary puppet"?
Odis did not continue to explain, but instead asked, "Are you sure?"
The crystal-shaped part wasn't difficult to make, but the Rubik's Cube-shaped part had a very complex internal structure.
Dift carefully examined the blueprints before saying, "No problem."
Although he didn't understand the function of those symbols, creating complex and extraordinary parts was his forte, and all he needed to do was carve the symbols according to the blueprints.
Odis breathed a slight sigh of relief and then asked, "Approximately how much will it cost?"
After a rough estimate, Dave said, "Small parts require 1,000 Felkin, and large parts require 300 Felkin."
The small part is the Rubik's Cube-shaped part.
Odis converted it, and it came to approximately 42 pounds and 12.5 pounds respectively.
The price is within an acceptable range.
After saying goodbye to Deeph, Odis and Aria went to the foundry in the factory district, where Odis needed to make a batch of steel and copper parts.
He had also drawn up the corresponding blueprints, and all that was needed was to cast the product according to the shape of the blueprints.
...
A few more days passed, and Odis spent his days busy building ships and his evenings wandering around the islands, chatting with pirates and adventurers whenever he had the chance.
After a few days, he also gained a certain understanding of this sea.
The large ship being built for Bernadette is taking shape at an astonishing speed. Odis had originally thought it would take several months to build, but now it seems that in a few days they will begin to install the magic array for the power system on the ship.
But this raised another problem: the spiritual and extraordinary materials needed for the magic circle had not yet arrived. Bernadette took this matter very seriously and mobilized her own channels to purchase the necessary materials. She even personally went to various places to urge the transactions to be completed as soon as possible.
Based on the current speed, it should be able to meet Odis's needs.
On Monday afternoon, Odis announced in advance that he would be taking a half-day off, and everyone took a break as well. The scholars and ship designers had been suffering from insomnia due to Odis's antics these past few days.
Ship designers have it a bit easier, since they just need to work overtime to finish their tasks.
However, Odis assigned the scholars a heavy workload, and because it involved many mystical theories that they had never encountered before, they often racked their brains and stayed up all night, yet still found it difficult to complete the tasks set by Odis.
Some people even fainted while doing the questions.
Odis was somewhat helpless, but if they learned at a leisurely pace, the ship might be built by the time they finished learning all the theoretical knowledge.
Around 2 p.m., Odis lay in an armchair and read for a while, then pretended to be sleepy and took a nap.
At exactly three o'clock, his vision was shrouded in gray mist, and he arrived once again at the Tarot Club's venue, in that giant hall, on one side of a mottled long table.
As soon as she appeared, Odis noticed that there was a new member on her left.
He was slightly taken aback: a vampire servant of a certain Earth Mother Goddess Church.