Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 34 Dimensional Scepter
A rare look of confusion crossed Zi Jin's face. "Although I have quite a few entanglements with them, it certainly doesn't warrant such a large-scale operation—" She suddenly thought of something and reached out to summon the Divine Favor Scepter she had used that night. "Could it be because of this?"

"The Pope's scepter?"

“No,” Violet replied. “The scepter of divine favor represents the favor of the divine will and has nothing to do with whether or not one is the pope.” She explained, “Of course, this pope is an exception. Augustus is the only person in history to hold both the official position of pope and the scepter.”

"Let me clarify, being the Pope and wielding this divine scepter are not the same thing, right?" Su Ming asked.

"Yes. Simply holding a scepter will only grant you an honorary but empty clerical position from the temple, such as a cardinal favored by the gods or something like that."

"Then why did you steal it?" Su Ming was puzzled. Wasn't this just asking for trouble? "We can make a small boat, throw the Divine Favor Scepter on it, and return it!"

Zi Jin thought for a moment about how to answer Su Ming's series of questions. "First of all, I did try to steal the scepter, but I failed." She explained the first question first, "The Divine Favor Scepter is not an ordinary object. It represents the god's recognition of the savior. Only those recognized by Him will have the scepter appear and be possessed—so I failed back then."

"Then how come it's in your hands now?" Su Ming was even more confused.

“It appeared on its own during the naval battle a few days ago,” Violet replied. “At that time, I was wondering why the Divine Scepter would abandon the current Pope and come to me.”

The scholar spread his hands, "It can't be that I did something that was recognized by the gods as a act of salvation, to the point that I surpassed Augustus, can it?"

No, you actually did it, and Su Ming already knows the answer.

Violet isolated him, doing everything in her power to keep him away from the crowd and drive away all the pursuers who tried to get close to him, single-handedly preventing a world-ending plague.

It's a heroic act of saving the world, no doubt about it!
"So you, an undead, received the Creator God's approval?" Su Ming covered his head. "Even on Earth, you'd be hunted down like mad! This is a crisis of doctrinal collapse; the Temple of Light would definitely do anything to silence you!"

Zijin looked surprised. "I was still thinking about whether I could use this to reconcile with them—I was being naive."

So, aside from spatial geometry, is the violet not too sensitive in political matters? Su thought to herself.

In short, the situation is far more serious now than it was at Cui'an Cliff. Returning the scepter to reduce hatred is out of the question; how can you return something that doesn't even have a physical form?

The only way out left for the two of them was to escape!

On the sand table, Su Ming labeled the Bihai Tanggu and the two Songstress-class ships as "Carrier Battle Group", the three main naval warships on the other side as "Three Squirrels Battle Group", and the three reconnaissance ships hiding on the mainland side on the left as "Onlookers".

The corydalis also marked the wind direction on the sand table, from southeast to northwest.

“The carrier strike group has a superior, advantageous position. Heading in this direction, our speed is too slow, and we'll remain constantly exposed to their abundant firepower,” she began analyzing the situation. “The Squirrel Strike Group is to the northeast; we're facing a 60-degree headwind, while they're facing a 60-degree tailwind. We're still at a disadvantage.”

"To the west lies the mainland, where we have even less room to maneuver."

"So we could only attach sails and use the power of a steam engine to propel the ship northward, parallel to the coast."

Violet completed the continuous analysis and gave tactical conclusions.

Su Ming shook his head and pointed to several ports not far from the northern landmass. "If we go this way, we'll be entangled by the newly arrived reinforcements from the north."

There may not be any ambushes there now, but if the Zhiyuan goes there, there definitely will be.

“But in this situation, we have the advantage, while they have the disadvantage. We have a chance to break through their defenses,” Zijin explained.

Su Ming considered it for a moment. He admitted that if the Zhiyuan had sufficient fuel, this would be a viable option. However, the Zhiyuan didn't have any, and the type of enemy that might appear in the north was unknown. If their sails were destroyed during the breakout attempt, and they lost their steam fuel, they would be doomed.

The current problem is still solving the fuel issue, while also eliminating the enemy's intelligence network; otherwise, we will remain on the defensive and eventually be wiped out.

"How fast can they run in a 45-degree headwind?" Su Ming suddenly asked.

Zijin hesitated for a moment before answering, "About three to four knots." Su Ming recalled the Pearl Duchy warships he had seen in the previous naval battle; they were all three-masted ships with soft sails, which were very ineffective against the wind.

Then there is hope!

Su Ming put down his pen and contacted the little troublemaker.

He pulled Miao Xin's phone from his chest and dialed a number. "Hello, ship design office, are the drawings I requested ready?"

****
Ten hours ago, at 8 PM.

The little troublemaker was lying on the high-speed train enjoying the breeze when Su Ming switched over, using Miao Xin's phone to log into the online shopping platform and find the ship design studio.

"Honey, a steam-powered sailing ship?"

Su Ming had previously obtained the electronic design blueprints for the Zhiyuan, which were stored on his old phone. He extracted them using a memory card and sent them to the studio.

"This is what the ship looks like now. It's powered by a steam engine. I need to add sail power," Su Ming explained.

Even for professionals, the designer who received the request replied quite late: "We could refer to the designs of historical sailing battleships. Are there any specific guidelines for the style of the sails?"

"Use airfoil rigid sails, with layout and shape determined by needs."

"That would be best. How tall is the mast?"

Su Ming asked Zi Jin how tall the mast could be without magical protection, given the strength of the Bone Fortress.

"About 120 meters," he replied to customer service.

“It doesn’t need to be that high, the boat will capsize,” the other person said. “Should we add plate-like keels to the bottom?”

"A water stabilizer is necessary; my system has very high requirements for sailing against the wind."

"Oh? What is the wind speed range in the sea area?" the other person asked.

Su Ming glanced at Zi Jin, who continued to give a speechless response.

"Let's proceed as usual," Su Ming said.

The other party thought for a moment, then said, "Let's add a set of side deflectors. Make them adjustable, is that possible?"

"can."

After paying the deposit, the other party said it would take two days to deliver the goods.

Su Ming directly resorted to the three-pronged approach of offering more money, urging the manuscript to be completed, and refusing to make any revisions.

"I want to see the blueprints within 12 hours!" he said domineeringly into the phone.

****
Su Ming contacted the studio and was told that the calculations were extensive and would take a while.

"So we're just going to wait?" the scholar asked, puzzled. "Although I'm terrible at spatial geometry, I can still manage to put up three masts and hoist sails, let alone you."

(End of this chapter)