Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 128 The Scholar's Annoying Lesson (6K)

After sailing for another two hours, the sea began to roughen. Half a day later, the wind reached force 7, and the sea conditions became giant waves.

"The storm hasn't arrived yet!" Su Ming was somewhat surprised. According to the weather radar, there was no hurricane activity within a 500-kilometer radius.

"Otherwise, why do you think this place is called the Stormy Sea?" Beianqi rolled her eyes at them, truly showing that ignorance is bliss.

Since entering the area around Ling Island, the young mechanic has been completely engrossed in the bridge, even refusing to check her beloved equipment. As the only regular crew member on the White Triangle, she must shoulder her responsibilities when facing dangerous sea conditions!
But half a day passed, and the White Triangle remained as steady as if the stormy seas outside did not exist. The occasional swaying was as gentle as soothing a baby to sleep.

"The anti-shake effect is ridiculously good!" Beianqi complained, then felt sorry for her nervousness.

"The anti-roll fins still need adjustment. Will you cook dinner?" Su Ming asked while busy working.

Using a game analogy, a gyroscope increases the ship's health, which is equivalent to its mass; while anti-roll fins reduce damage, actively mitigating the impact of waves, and their performance improves with higher speed. Using both together yields even better results.

Speaking of cooking, Beianqi felt even more resentful. She had been making pancakes for several days in a row in preparation for the situation where she wouldn't be able to cook once she entered the stormy sea area.

So what exactly has she been busy with?

The girl glared angrily at Su Ming, "We're having pancakes for dinner tonight, we can't waste food!"

To be honest, Angie's pancakes are quite fragrant, and they're still relatively fresh and have the right texture.

"I don't really care, as long as Elisa doesn't object."

"Humph!"

After the White Triangle's shaking stabilized, the trio began manufacturing and testing a new weapon. For this resupply, Su Ming had requested a large quantity of alchemical explosives from the merchant guild. If a sea monster was discovered during the investigation, they would use Su Ming's original Plan Two to eliminate it.

"Is the sea monster really here?" Beanie asked.

“The possibility is not low,” Violet replied. “Ships are afraid of storms, but sea monsters are not. There is no better place to hide and conceal oneself.”

The Little Coat ship recently received another batch of magical materials, and the scholars have been crafting several magical items. Among them was a bracelet with a Swiftness spell, which was given to Su Ming for use.

"Can this energy be replenished once it's used up?" Su Ming put the bracelet on his wrist and felt it fit perfectly. The azure color of the wind-element crystal was also very beautiful.

“It can be replenished, but the number of times is not unlimited,” Violet replied.

"I'd like to practice."

"Don't use it yet. Wait until I train with you before using it."

Su Ming imagined a ferocious, burly man firing a gun into the air, grinning maliciously as he told the person acting as "prey" to run faster.

“…Okay,” he said helplessly.

****
On the second day after entering the stormy sea area, the radar of the White Triangle detected a ship that was quite large, with a tonnage about half that of the White Triangle.

This is a very strange thing in the stormy seas.

Su Ming analyzed the radar signal and discovered that it was a pirate ship that had appeared in the previous Battle of Mai Mang.

“What were these pirates thinking, coming here?” Beanie said.

Su Ming offered a guess: "Is it possible that they originally wanted to go to Ling Island, but were blocked by the Xingyu at Lingbei Port?"

Beian clapped her hands. "This speculation is reasonable."

The wind was strong, but the pirate ship wasn't moving fast, only at eight knots. Su Ming followed it for a while. He had originally hoped to find a base or some other ship to pick him up, but after a long time, he realized that the ship was just drifting aimlessly.

"Let's just arrest and interrogate them!" Zijin suggested. "If a storm comes, our ship will be fine, but they might sink!"

Su Ming has been quite tired these past few days. In order for the added anti-roll equipment to achieve better results, it needs to be linked with the ship's existing control system, and he has been making repeated adjustments.

Moreover, the waves were getting bigger, and the mass distribution and power strategy of the White Triangle had to be changed, making the task extremely difficult for this novice.

This mere pirate ship wasn't even enough to fill a tooth gap for the MK71. So he handed over command to Beanie and went to catch up on his sleep.

****
When Su Ming woke up, there was indeed a large group of soaking wet pirates on the ship. Their feet were bound, a group of zombies were guarding them, and there were many wounded people in the cabin.

As for the body, Seneca was again assigned to have its bones removed.

He had already completed his previous work, and Violet added the processed bones to the White Triangle. The more than a thousand corpses piled up in the ship's hold ultimately added eight tons to the White Triangle's weight.

The low utilization rate left Su Ming speechless; no wonder the Undead Bone System was declining.

If we calculate based on 10 gold coins per corpse, the White Triangle, with its skeleton hull alone, is the most dazzling ship in the entire sea, and its price is equivalent to several fleets.

Su Ming belatedly felt awe at being able to drive such an awesome thing so soon after arriving in this other world.

"How come there are so many dead and injured?" Su Ming asked. Were the pirates really that stubborn?

Violet was clearly exhausted and didn't reply, but Beanie was in slightly better condition. "It's none of our business. As soon as I got close to them, I fired surrender and distress flares, and then we started the rescue and containment."

"Oh, what happened?"

“Internal strife is common among pirate groups,” Beanie replied. “I did a quick interrogation, and it turns out there were originally many orcs on this ship who were the leaders of the last operation. After the raid failed, the pirates listened to them and fled to Ling Island, only to encounter the Star Rain Fleet.”

Su Ming could guess the rest; in their panic, they fled into the stormy seas. Then, faced with the treacherous sea conditions and a hopeless situation, the pirates grew resentful of the instigators.

It was only natural that they rebelled and fought.

“It’s a bit of a pity that all those orcs were killed,” Bianchi said. “Sister Elisa examined their souls, and their memories were very incomplete. She couldn’t find any information about the zombie base.”

"It's alright. We investigated all along, and there are only so many islands around Ling Island suitable for a base." Su Ming walked up to Zi Jin and asked, "How are you?"

"I'm fine, just tired," Violet replied.

"Then you guys go and rest. Is there anything you need me to take over?"

There are quite a few things to handle during the handover. First, there are the wounded pirates. Violet has already treated them, but many others still need further treatment.

Then the pirate ship became useless, so Violet smashed it to pieces and carried hundreds of tons of its hull onto the ship. She also captured several lifeboats, which she tossed askew onto the deck.

Beanie also scavenged a large amount of supplies from the pirate ship, but she didn't have time to organize them, and the cabin was a mess.

"We'll have to switch to a shift system," Su Ming said, since we're currently in the stormy seas. "I'll work the night shift, and the two of you can work the day shift, how about that?"

This is almost the only feasible allocation. Su Ming is more versatile in terms of shipping on the White Triangle, while Beianqi cannot utilize the undead resources on board.

Zijin nodded in agreement, and the two girls went to rest first.

Su Ming took the ship's log and began to handle various matters. He first inspected the prisoners, checked their numbers, and recorded the inspection time and situation in the log.

When the pirates made requests for drinking water, Su Ming did not refuse. Seeing that the wet pirates were cold, Su Ming modified the structure of the White Triangle's chimney, allowing some of the hot smoke to pass through the side walls of the cabin where they were being held.

The temperature in the detention cell quickly began to rise and become warm.

He then began to examine the wounded. Violet handled the situation fairly well; she had learned Su Ming's method of cleaning the wounds with alcohol, then using water to heal the outer layer, and left the rest to fate.

After all, they were the enemy, and there were many wounded; she couldn't afford to expend too much energy on them.

"Why aren't there any seriously injured people?" Su Ming asked casually, noting down several injured patients in his log who required continued monitoring.

"Lord Chestnut Owl has already given those brothers a quick death," a pirate replied cautiously.

Su Ming paused for a moment while writing, then continued writing.

****
Upon reaching the supply warehouse, it was a chaotic mess, piled high with items, many of which were soaked and exuded a salty, damp smell, likely from being wetted by waves during transport. What should have been a simple task became difficult in the stormy seas, no wonder the two girls were so exhausted.

With everything pending, a bunch of zombies waited blankly for instructions.

Su Ming thought for a moment, then summoned White Skull and Seneca, and had them lead the zombies to begin clearing things out.

Su Ming selectively ignored the trivial matter that Seneca had already worked an entire day shift.

The fuel depot was overflowing with unprocessed ship hulls. Normally, crushing fuel is a simple task that can be done independently, but these pirate ships have a lot of metal armor and attachments on their hulls, requiring someone with a brain to direct the operation.

Su Ming decided to postpone it and wait until Seneca's day shift tomorrow to finish the job.

The mechanical materials warehouse wasn't in much better shape either. The cannons and equipment from the pirate ship had been roughly dismantled and were now being sorted by material, but they could only be put aside for the time being.

Su Ming lamented the White Triangle's lack of human resources. Unfortunately, his and Violet's wanted status prevented them from freely hiring and recruiting companions. Seneca, a prisoner-of-war, could only be used cautiously.

We need to find a way to solve this problem.

****
Su Ming was busy all night with various chores. When Bei Anqi arrived at the cabin, she found that he had distributed a large amount of food to the pirates. The pancakes she had painstakingly baked had also been divided into bags.

"Su Ming!" the girl shouted, "I have no problem with you processing extra cakes, but it's too much of a waste that you're feeding them to these prisoners!"

"The food given to the pirates was the seawater that was brought over from their ship and would spoil if they didn't eat it," Su Ming explained. "As for these cakes, they were meant for them to eat when they came ashore."

"Going ashore?" Zijin walked in and asked curiously. "We'll have a morning meeting and hand over the responsibilities," Su Ming said, also feeling sleepy.

The three of them went to the operations room, where Su Ming placed a log containing a lot of information on the table.

"Check the logs for the progress on the supplies organization. I have an idea about the pirates." Su Ming unfolded the nautical chart. A few days ago, when the Mimosa came, it brought them a detailed map and information on the Ling Island waters. "We will be passing through an island group soon. Most of them are not large, but the three main islands are all over ten square kilometers in size."

"You want to send pirates to the island to search?" Zi Jin immediately understood Su Ming's idea. "These pirates aren't part of the orc gang; they can definitely be used. It's more efficient than us searching ourselves, and more effective than sending zombies to the island!"

Su Ming nodded. “My plan is for us to pass by these three larger islands in turn, drop off small boats, let the pirates land on the islands to search, and then bring them back at night.” He drew the round-trip route on the nautical chart. “The White Triangle will go to the other islands in between, the smaller ones will circle the islands and be checked with binoculars, and the larger ones will be flown over by the Violet or sent to land on the islands by plane.”

Two-pronged approach doubles efficiency!
“Indeed, this way, the entire sea area can be searched in a day,” Beanie said, then asked the crucial question, “How do you get these pirates to obey?”

Instead, Violet chimed in, "I can put alchemical collars on the pirates who land on the island, which will explode thirteen hours later. That way, they won't dare to run away!"

Beianqi continued, "Are the pirates just going through the motions?"

Su Ming presented a plan he had already considered. "We'll motivate the pirates through a system of rewards and punishments. For example, we can randomly toss some magic balls onto the island. Finding a ball will earn a reward, as will finding a suspicious location. Pirates who perform well can be given food or something. As for punishment—" He thought for a moment, "They won't be allowed to return to the Triangle until they've collected a certain number of balls!"

Beanie spoke up, about to say, "If that's the case, you shouldn't have fed the pirates so well."

Violet stopped her.

"The idea is good," Zijin said to Su Ming. "Leave the details to us, go and get something to eat and rest."

"it is good."

Su Ming rubbed his neck and got out of the driver's seat. He really felt like he was back in the busiest time at the factory, working day and night shifts. It was a pity this was another world; there were no noisy coworkers to go out for barbecue and chat with to relieve stress.

He came to the workshop alone; Beianchi had left him breakfast. He rummaged through the storeroom and found a bottle of beer, opened it, poured himself a glass, and took a sip. It was stronger than anything he'd ever had before, and the taste was quite different.

Su Ming didn't understand why he missed home so often. He knew he wasn't a good transmigrator. His past experiences were unremarkable, uninteresting, and arduous, but those times always kept popping into his mind.

Su Ming shook his head, dismissing these random thoughts. He still had time before bed, so he went to Zi Jin's library and picked out a few rune books. If he were on Earth, he would definitely play a game of League of Legends or watch an anime series.

However, this is another world. If Miao Xin's understanding of the Mark of the Dead was slightly worse when he became a vengeful spirit, he would have lost contact with Earth. If he had misjudged the direction of the Ice Blade Technique when he faced Bing Shuyeshia earlier, he would already be a corpse.

This isn't about knowledge changing your destiny; knowledge *is* your destiny!
At the very back of the bookshelf, Su Ming saw a copy of "Principles of Economics".

Considering he needed to learn about the economics and culture of this other world, he took out the book, intending to browse through it, but strangely, he couldn't turn the pages.

Su Ming looked at the cover again. Below the title was a six-pointed star rune, with each point representing a different magical element in color. Pressing it would light up the rune.

"What kind of mystery is it now?" Su thought to himself. He took the book with him and went back to his room.

****
During the handover that evening, the two girls told him that yesterday's search mission had been successfully completed. The White Triangle was heading to the next island group, hoping to arrive before the storm.

Su Ming calculated the speed and increased the ship's speed by two knots. With the anti-roll equipment, the ship's stability was enhanced, and the maximum speed was increased accordingly. He activated the weather radar and discovered that a storm was forming 500 kilometers away. However, no one could accurately predict the storm's development or its direction; they could only continue monitoring it.

He then began to inspect the ship's cabins. In the area where the pirates were being held, he found more than a dozen pirates hanging there, their bodies covered in whip marks.

Su Ming frowned. He counted the pirates; five were missing. Two groups of pirates hadn't found enough balls, and Violet had killed their leaders on the spot, while the rest were hung up and whipped as a warning.

They were too rough with the whipping, and three more died.

Su Ming finished his work and returned to his workshop. He didn't turn on the light, but looked at the moon outside the porthole, letting his thoughts churn.

Familiar footsteps sounded, and Su Ming turned around in surprise. Sure enough, it was Zi Jin. The girl had already taken a shower and changed into an off-shoulder nightgown; her skin was as white as snow in the moonlight.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Su Ming asked.

"Something seems off about you," Violet said. "What's wrong?"

Su Ming shook his head. "No, I was just thinking about some things."

Zijin said, "I warned them before they landed on the island, but some pirates still dared to fool us. I must punish them according to the law."

“I understand all of that,” Su Ming explained. “I’m just a little unaccustomed to it.”

“Su Ming, you can actually do it. You are very intelligent.”

"Thank you, but it's okay to be a little sentimental once in a while, right?" Su Ming replied, somewhat absentmindedly.

Pirates are not important.

The impact of the manuscript he saw in that book last night before bed has still not subsided for him.

Zi Jin walked to the open kitchen counter in the corner, picked up a fruit knife from the shelf, and magic flowed up it, making the blade glow with a dark light. "Su Ming, I missed a lesson in your training, and I've decided to make it up today."

Seeing this situation, Su Ming felt a sense of unease.

"Please inflict damage on me. Otherwise, I will not end this!" As soon as Violet finished speaking, she vanished from the spot.

"Wait!" Su Ming instantly activated the Swiftness Bracelet on his wrist and left his original position. A flash of light appeared, and the long table in the workspace was cut in half.

"Are you serious?!" Su Ming retreated again, grabbing several chairs to block in front of him. They were shattered to pieces, and several black magic orbs hidden within exploded, but were easily blocked by the shield on Violet's body.

Su Ming didn't waste any more words and smashed the porthole before jumping out.

Although their overall strength was completely unequal, Violet only used the dark element and severed the power connection from the Bone Fortress. Darkness is the weakest element in Elisa's form, meaning Su Ming actually had an advantage in magic power in some respects!
Su Ming analyzed the current situation, while linking with the nearby zombies and using damage transfer. A ripple flashed, and the transfer effect was dispelled.

"Natural rhythms!"

This is not a spell, but a domain; all rule-based spells are disabled.

Su Ming almost cursed. This sealed almost half of his spells! Rules and control had been Su Ming's main focus during this period, consuming a lot of his learning energy.

So what advantage is there?!

Violet emerged from the cabin, unleashing several magic orbs at high speed. Ignoring them, Su Ming met them head-on with a series of even faster orbs.

Withering Fog!

The scholar's shield lit up, negating the damage, but the side effects of the 'mist' stubbornly penetrated and continued to take effect, completely obscuring her senses and vision.

success!

It was worth it that Su Ming deliberately enhanced the piercing ability of this spell. With the help of his already powerful magic penetration, even Zi Jin was hit.

He dodged the magic orb that had lost its mental lock, and rushed towards his opponent, a thorny whip appearing in his hand.

Although Violet is not weak in melee combat, it would be too stupid to shoot at a veteran mage. The only way is to bravely get close!

"Phantom!" A humanoid figure retreated rapidly from the girl's form, captured by Su Ming's psychic vision. He ignored the illusion that remained in place, channeled his magic, and swiftly lashed out with his whip.

Having repeatedly suffered losses against Violet's illusions, Su Ming specifically learned 'Silent Vision,' but it was sealed by the Natural Domain. Fortunately, this was also one of the anticipated scenarios; Su Ming's enhanced psionic vision was already able to distinguish illusions by their details.

The one that stayed in place is definitely fake!
The thorny whip struck the girl who had drifted away with pinpoint accuracy, and the end of the whip quickly wrapped around her body, but Su Ming found it to be very light.

Something is wrong!

The illusion shattered, and Zijin, who remained in the same spot, stepped forward and plunged her knife into Su Ming's abdomen!
Numbness and excruciating pain surged through him in an instant, leaving Su Ming's mind blank. He stared at the expressionless girl, finding it hard to believe that he had actually been stabbed by her.

Violet withdrew her blade, the splattered blood staining her plain nightgown and translucent skin. The girl remained calm, raising her hand to stab again.

Su Ming reached out, and the Dark Blade materialized in his hand. He endured the excruciating pain and lunged forward, only to find that he had also pierced through Zi Jin's chest.

The magical shield that had been protecting the girl was somehow dispelled, and warm blood once again bloomed between the two of them.

"Violet!" Su Ming gritted his teeth, his voice filled with anger as he spoke. "You're so cruel!"

Su Ming opened his palm, and it was empty; there was no magic blade there.

A hint of annoyance flashed in Violet's eyes. "When did you find out!"

The scene before them shattered like glass, and the wounds and blood on the two disappeared. The real scene reassembled, and they were still in the workshop. The broken tables, chairs, and portholes were all restored, but the pain Su Ming felt remained; his entire abdomen was still convulsing.

"I can't mistake your illusion, so the only explanation is that both are false." Su Ming panted, sweat pouring down his face.

“You’re really confident.” Zi Jin stepped forward and placed her palm on Su Ming’s lower abdomen.

“After all, we’ve been researching this specifically for so long.” Su Ming tried to stand up straight, but a spasm caused him to bend back down. “Pain manipulation?”

"Yes, it's been enhanced." The girl's palm glowed with the faint light of a water-based dispel spell, which relieved the pain in his abdomen.

　上次月票结算到4800，5月实际5800。今天在5K的基础上加更1k。

　　Continuing in June, thank you for your support and care!
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　　Thank you to readers Pipi Cat, Caramel Meow Meow, 510630, 806508, Monster Master, Rice Vinegar Omi, Miss Qinliu's Dog, Little Window Ghost, Doesn't Eat Vegetables scq, Bedtime Scientist, Autumn Prisoner Tree, Braised Hair Dryer, and Qingfeng is Not Right for their donations.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)