We agreed to set sail, so you'd become the ruler of the deep sea?

Chapter 161 Legendary Talent - [Second Ship Soul]!
boom--

A sound like a mountain roaring and a tsunami crashed into Xia En's mind.

It sounded like the cries of sailors, mixed with desolate ship songs and invisible, raging waves.

However, unlike the previous upgrades, it seemed as if two similar yet different voices were echoing in Xia En's ears.

It was as if... the ends of his soul had split into two branches.

One was allocated to the Black Swan.

The other path extends into the void, and there is currently no one connected to it.

[Black Swan's "Firepower" +2!]

[Speed ​​+2!]

【"Sturdy" +2!】

[Mysterious +2!]

Mysterious power flowed into Xia En's body, subtly nourishing every strand of his flesh and blood, and slowly precipitating into an even more powerful force.

At this time, all of the attributes of the Black Swan finally broke through the 50 mark.

This means that Shane can use the [Heart of the Ship] to upgrade the hull a second time!
However, what he cares about more now is the new talent that is unlocked after the ship soul level is upgraded.

[Unlock Talent: Second Ship Soul]

[Quality: Legend]

[Description: Through persistent efforts, your bond with the "Black Swan" has reached a new stage.]

Now you can bind your second ship to your own fleet!

[Once a ship is bound to another vessel, the "Captain's Prestige" effect will be synchronized.]

However, the bond with the new ship's spirit also needs to be cultivated gradually.

[Only after its ship soul level is increased can it enjoy talents such as "Ship Soul Synchronization", "Submerged Anchor Point", and "Heart of the Ship".]

Double the fun, double the ship spirit!

"hiss……"

Upon reading the description, Xia En couldn't help but gasp.

Golden legend!

Without a doubt, this talent was the ability he had longed for—the ability to bind himself to a second ship.

The strength of this talent is obvious.

Powerful, needs no further explanation!

The attributes that [Captain's Prestige] can increase are already quite exaggerated.

Although the Black Swan has become extraordinary after several enhancements by Shane, its starting point was simply too low.

—A small boat that could only be sold for a little over three hundred silver snake coins, how powerful do you think it is?
If it weren't for developing feelings for each other during their time together, and not being able to switch ships after being bound together...

Shaun might actually do what some captains do and just buy a bigger and stronger ship.

Now, for this second ship, Xia En doesn't need to start from scratch; he can simply bind it to an already powerful vessel.

In that case, his strength will experience a huge surge!

Aside from the attributes, what surprised Shane even more was that talents such as [Ship Soul Synchronization] could also be applied to newly bound ships.

If we use [Communication with Ship Souls], wouldn't we be able to achieve double the blessing from both ship souls?
After unlocking the [Submerged Anchor Point] on a new ship, will the number of [Anchor Points] also increase?

Moreover, after that, Shane can send the two ships on different enhancement paths.

For example, let the Black Swan focus on the quality of life; let the new ship focus on the quality of mystery.

Children make choices; adults, of course, make them—

I have to be all!

Just imagining these scenarios filled Xia En with excitement and anticipation.

"Unfortunately, I sank the Blood Duke. If it had survived until now..."

Xia En sighed regretfully.

He never imagined that he would acquire the talent of [Second Ship Soul] so quickly.

But then I thought about it.

Even if the Blood Duke hadn't been sunk, Shane couldn't have carried so many burdens and prisoners to launch a blitzkrieg on Duke Island and Silvermoon Island.

He will most likely sell it off in the Chaos Islands.

It can only be said that Shane and the Blood Duke were destined to be together but not to stay together.

The other large ship that captivated Xia En was the ghost ship from the Misty Sea—the Diamond Star!
As the legendary ship that was used as "Noah's Ark", its attributes in all aspects are powerful enough.

Not to mention, it has now become a ghost ship that defies all logic.

Of course, Xia En also had a little bit of personal motives involved.

—Come on, that's a ghost ship!
Isn't that so cool!

Which captain hasn't fantasized about speeding across the sea in a ghost ship?
However, on the other hand, the Frosty Sea is too far away from the Misty Sea.

It will probably be another month or two before we see the Diamond Princess again.

From the perspective of immediate combat power, perhaps it would be more appropriate to find a large ship nearby to bind with?
After careful consideration, Shane felt that there was no need for him to rush into binding a new ship.

This mentality is somewhat similar to "rerolling for a good starting character" when playing mobile games.

Although you still have to start from scratch with a newly created account, the starting level affects your gameplay experience for a period of time.

For example.

【Black Swan】is like drawing an R-rank character at the start of the game; after a series of training, it has broken through its original limitations and has the potential to become an SSR.

Now that I can bind a second ship, I naturally hope to get an SSR character with both potential and strength, rather than just binding any ship.

Soon, Xia En calmed his fluctuating thoughts and turned his attention back to reality.

At this moment, the seawater before him was still filled with endless human-shaped ashes struggling and writhing from the volcanic ash.

But around him, there were also many extinguished dust particles.

These are the traces left behind after those humanoid embers "died".

Upon witnessing this scene, the remaining humanoid embers subtly changed their gaze towards Shain and the murmurs they uttered.

"He can kill us..."

"He can extinguish our fire..."

"That's great..."

Miraculously, they temporarily regained their sanity, and their frantic roars even turned into humble pleas.

"Please, take my fire away..."

"I've had enough..."

At this moment, it's less that Xia En is absorbing the embers of their power, and more that they are vying to send that power into Xia En's body.

This absorption efficiency is naturally extremely high, but the cost is that the burning pain in Shane's body becomes increasingly intense.

The power of the ship's soul has also fallen to an extremely dangerous level.

At that moment, a wriggling, female-looking ash-humanoid figure, leading a small figure, swam up to Shane.

"I beg you, help this child escape from endless torment..."

To be honest, Shane is also suffering from unprecedented pain right now.

Every part of the body seemed to be burning in invisible flames.

If the projected body had flesh and blood, the flesh and bones would most likely have melted and then been scorched until solidified.

The Chaos Demonic Runes on his body were glowing with a dark red light, and he was constantly experiencing intense swelling pain.

It is obvious that the magic runes have an upper limit to the amount of arcane power they can contain.

Such a violent influx was pushing its limits time and time again, to the point that Shane had the illusion that he was about to be torn apart by the magical runes spreading all over his body.

It looked as if he was about to explode and die at any moment.

But before that, Shane reached out his hand to the two embers in front of him.

An invisible heat flowed from the mother and child into Xia En's body, and the dark red color on their bodies gradually dissipated, finally extinguishing the eerie flames.

The mother said softly, "Thank you, kind person..."

Then, their bodies disintegrated.

Xia En also felt the heat within his body reach its limit. He looked down and found that his skin had become transparent and was gradually being stained by the embers.

Like a firefly, fire ignited within him, overflowing with light—

Amidst countless ashes, this projected form also became a part of them.

……

……

[Submarine mission over!]

Please select your loot!

【1. Embers and Dust】

In the captain's cabin, Shane opened his eyes, a faint dark red glow remaining in them.

"call……"

He let out a long breath and murmured with lingering fear, "This is the first time I've died like this during all my dives."

The pain from being burned by the Ember's secret power seemed to linger throughout his body, refusing to subside.

However, although this "submarine voyage" experience was quite torturous, the rewards were also incredibly rich.

The mere fact that the ship's soul level was raised to LV5 was enough to bring Shane a pleasant surprise.

Of course, Shane's improvement doesn't stop there.

He took off his shirt and looked at himself in the mirror.

On that handsome, streamlined, muscular body, dark red lines appeared with exceptional clarity, covering his chest and limbs.

This added a touch of eerie charm to this already fit body.

Upon closer inspection, the patterns seem to wriggle and shift slightly with the flow of blood, creating a sensation of drawing the souls of others into them.

A mysterious power, as hot and scorching as magma, is contained within, flowing slowly.

It can unleash extremely terrifying power at any time.

[Talent: Chaos Runes (Rare) → (Precious)!]

Upon seeing this notification, Shane couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

One dive mission raised this talent by three levels!

The magnitude of this leap is nothing short of exaggerated.

Xia En extended his finger, and with a thought, a small flame appeared at his fingertip.

He had a premonition that if he fully utilized the magic runes on his body, the flame could immediately turn into a raging fire that could burn down a town!

"call!"

With a gentle blow, Xia En extinguished the flame.

He wasn't reckless enough to test that capability on the Black Swan.

But clearly, he has added a trump card, a different attack method than numerical superiority.

After briefly experiencing his enhanced physique, Xia En composed himself and recalled the [Emerald City] he had just seen, many questions arising in his mind.

First, there's this eerie [Ember Power].

Do normal volcanic eruptions, or even the burial of volcanic ash, really subject victims to endless burning?
Or perhaps the volcano itself is abnormal.

Or perhaps this wasn't just an ordinary volcanic eruption, but a premeditated massacre!

Someone wants to use this [Ember Power] to plunge the entire population of the [Emerald City] into an endless hell on earth.

The thought of this possibility sent chills down Xia En's spine.

What kind of deep-seated hatred could drive someone to commit such a heinous act?

On the other hand.

The power of the embers, coupled with the restless proof of the Lord of Cinder, naturally reminded Shaun of the king who left behind the treasure of the embers—the Lord of Cinder!
Could this mysterious power be his doing?

Although it was just a gut feeling, Shane instinctively denied the conjecture.

The man in his memory who burned himself like kindling on the throne of fire wouldn't do such a thing.

The last point of doubt is...

Legend has it that the civilization of elves lies buried beneath the frigid sea, but according to Shane's observations, the humanoid embers in the Emerald City seem to be just ordinary humans.

Its architectural style also fails to reveal any unique characteristics of elves...

squeak-

Just as Shane was pondering these questions, the door to the captain's cabin was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Along with this came Joey's questioning voice.

"Captain, I'm coming in!"

"...?!"

Xia En was stunned for a moment, not yet able to react.

Their eyes met those of a small, white-haired, red-eyed head peeking in from outside the door.

Looking at Shane, who was shirtless and showing off her beautiful body, Joey, who was wearing a fluffy fox fur coat, quickly turned from white to red.

Soon, even the base of her ears turned crimson.

...I really want to touch it.

A thought suddenly popped into Joey's head.

'How...how could you do this! That's the respected captain! This is so...so shameless!'

She shook her head vigorously, trying to dispel the reverie in her mind.

Although Joey had bathed intimately with Shane on the island of the Sirens, and had seen his smooth and beautiful muscle lines.

But at that time, out of courtesy, Xia En would at least wear a thin set of clothes.

Moreover, the feeling of actively showing something out and accidentally bumping into it is completely different.

It's like something good suddenly happened today.

Not to mention, the dark red, eerie patterns amplified Xia En's inherent "alluring" aura.

The indentations and lines between the abdominal muscles, in particular, have a strange attraction.

Seeing Joey staring intently at his abs, Shane was a little confused.

Is this thing really that special for women?

"...Ahem."

Xia En coughed twice and reminded him, "Joey, why did you suddenly come in?"

"what!"

Joey immediately snapped out of her daze and quickly waved her little hands to explain.

"It was the knight who reminded me that the captain might be suffering from some kind of pain, so he sent me to the captain's cabin to check on him."

"I had already knocked on the door, but the captain didn't answer. In my panic, I..."

After hearing this, Xia En understood.

Ann possesses the talent of "Knight's Protection".

It's likely that when Xia En absorbed the [Ember Power], some of his mental anguish was shared with him, which is why he became aware of it.

As for not hearing the knocking, it was also because of the increased level of the ship soul and the overwhelming impact of the [Ember Power].

Thinking of this, Xia En reassured her, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Joey breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."

Seeing that Xia En's gaze was still fixed on her, he carefully reminded her, "I need to change my clothes, why don't you go out for a bit?"

But suddenly, at that moment...

clang!clang!clang!
A sudden alarm bell rang from the deck, causing the two men's expressions to change drastically.

Shane immediately put on a coat and rushed onto the deck with Joey.

Upon reaching the deck, the sight before him caused Shane to frown slightly.

The ice sheet on the sea surface was cracking open.

One after another, sea beasts covered in magical patterns emerged from the ice, breaking through the glacier and gnawing at the ice crystals.

They roared deafeningly and surged toward the Black Swan like a tidal wave!
(End of this chapter)