Chapter 34: Big Deal

I hope the captain of the Hope ship wasn't lying; he's definitely at this coordinate.

But his ship isn't special at all. It's just an ordinary large sailing ship, without any distinguishing features. The word "Hope" on the sails is probably something he painted himself.

The name of the ship should also be one he came up with, because regular ships can change their name once. Special ships, however, cannot change their names unless they merge with another...

There are several ships tied to the Hope ship with ropes. The image from the crystal ball can't fully capture what the ships look like, but Lucas can still guess a few of them.

One ship is large with fields on it, and people are farming. This one is probably the Farmer ship.

Another ship has huge, sharp ramming horns, its hull dark and covered with iron armor. This one is likely the Ironhead ship.

There's also a ship just rising from the sea, with a sealed hull that seems to be able to dive underwater... Lucas doesn't know what this ship is called, so he'll call it the Submarine ship for now.

The captain of the Hope ship, Lucas can see him too. He's a man wearing a neat white captain's uniform, exuding an air of authority.

Lucas doesn't know how he managed to bring these people together...

Lucas can't see Shawn Campbell's abilities, but if he could, he wouldn't be confused.

Shawn has two abilities:

Psychological Suggestion: Through verbal stimulation, this ability can raise or lower the attributes or sanity of oneself or others. The attribute change range is ±1, and sanity can change by ±20. People with high mental attributes can resist the suggestion. This lasts 24 hours, once every 24 hours.

Great Leadership: You are a born leader, capable of easily gaining others' trust and making them let their guard down. Followers grow 25% faster in all aspects except mental attributes. Those with high mental attributes might resist this effect.

How long has the Ocean Map been open? Not even a day!

There's no way Shawn could have gathered so many players in such a short time.

The only possibility is that these people must have formed an alliance even before the Ocean Map opened.

Maybe they ran into each other by chance, or maybe they were just caught up in some event. Lucas has no way of knowing.

Right now, he's not interested in alliances. Without cannons, he doesn't want to engage with other players—too passive!

Let alone hand over equipment and resources.

That would mean putting his life and belongings in someone else's hands.

Lucas has detailed maps of the sea and can effectively avoid contact with other players, which is one of the reasons he agreed to build the witch laboratory first.

But soon, various organizations began recruiting players in the world chat.

This put a lot of pressure on Lucas.

It's fine for now, but as the organizations grow, his space and resources as a lone wolf will become squeezed.

"I need to get stronger... Or maybe I should join a fleet, but I must have absolute freedom..."

Lucas likes to take fate into his own hands.

He finds a message from Shawn and sends a private message.

Shawn must have a lot of resources; he's a good potential trading partner. Lucas just happens to have a ship blueprint he can sell.

"Your ship is an ordinary one, right? I have a blueprint for a special ship, would you like to buy it?" Lucas adds the pirate ship blueprint info.

"Who are you, and how do you know this so well?"

"That's none of your business. I just want to make a deal," Lucas responds anonymously.

After a few minutes of silence, there's a reply.

"If you have the blueprint, you must know that upgrading regular ships is more efficient than upgrading special ships. I'm not in a hurry to use this blueprint, and this pirate ship blueprint isn't what I'm looking for."

This simple statement carries several meanings.

First, he's not seeing ship blueprints for the first time... This implies that he's killed people, and those people had special ships.

A chill runs down Lucas's spine.

The special ships around the Hope ship might not be the original owners of those ships.

Second, since he doesn't want the pirate ship blueprint, the price won't be high.

At the moment, blueprints haven't been sold publicly in the world chat, so the price is unclear.

Lucas thinks for a moment and offers an astronomical price.

Shawn has the Farmer ship, so he must have a lot of resources.

"I need two months' worth of food that can be stored for a long time, 200L of fresh water, 1200 wood, 800 cloth, 400 stone, 100 crystal, and 100 steel, 5000 conch coins, and fire-starting tools for the ship, like lighters."

One minute later, Shawn replies.

"You really are asking for a lot! I don't need it anymore, this blueprint isn't as valuable as you think!"

"Fine, goodbye!" Lucas replies decisively.

Not valuable?

Trying to fool me!

Special ships are limited, and the higher the level of the special ship, the greater the difference between it and regular ships.

The further you go, the more valuable the blueprint becomes!

Soon enough, Shawn sends a friend request.

[Hope Ship Captain Shawn Campbell wants to add you as a friend]

Lucas rejects it outright; he doesn't want to expose his identity.

Once they become friends, his name and ship name will be known to Shawn.

"You're really overthinking this! How about joining my New World Fleet? I can give you a great starting point."

"You want to freeload off my blueprint? No way!"

"Heh..." Shawn sends a smiley emoji. "Your price is too high. I can't offer that much right now. How about this..."

"I also have some non-perishable dry food stored, but I can only give you one month's worth. The other month will be fresh food, like vegetables, fruits, and fish.

As for the resources, I can give you half of what you asked for. I've got a lot of ships to upgrade myself.

5000 conch coins is fine, but the fire-starting tools... I can't produce those, and I have to be responsible for the safety of my crew, so I can't sell them to you!"

"But I'll give you a rare space item, which is definitely worth it!"

He attaches the information for the item.

[Name: Greedy Stomach]

[Type: Relic]

[Quality: Rare]

[Description: The stomach of an unknown beast, still active even after being detached.

It has a 10 cubic meter storage space, but it must be fed whenever it's opened or it will bite.

PS: Cannot store food, the bodies of demon beasts will be eaten clean, leaving only bones and shells, no effect on gacha.]

Lucas reads the item information and gasps.

Shawn really is loaded! Especially with this stomach, it's a pleasant surprise! Lucas really wants it.

But this thing definitely has some major side effects. It's not just about biting; it's bound to decrease sanity while using it, which is why Shawn is selling it.

So Lucas hesitantly asks, "This stomach is a relic, doesn't it reduce sanity every time you open it?"

"Uh... I won't hide it from you. It reduces 20 sanity. If you don't want it, I have other things, but they're not as high quality."

"Forget it!" Lucas quickly responds. "I'll take it! I'll just control how often I use it!"

The deal is successfully made.

"Pleasure doing business. If you have anything else you want to sell in the future, feel free to contact me first. I won't shortchange you!"

"If I have anything, I'll reach out to you."

Lucas exits the chat.

The blueprint is finally sold.

Based on its potential value, Lucas might have taken a small loss.

But for now, the price he got for it is already pretty good!

He tosses the blueprint into the Octopus Head gacha machine, and soon, a large amount of resources are deposited.

The Octopus Head spits out food, 20 black loaves of bread, 10 sausages, and a bunch of dried fish.

In addition, there are some fresh vegetables and fish, including 5 cabbages, 5 cucumbers, 1 apple, 1 pear, and a large tuna.

This food is enough for one person to eat for sixty days.

Finally, it spits out a black, palm-sized bag. It feels smooth, like a preserved egg, and it's the Greedy Stomach.

Lucas tries to open the bag, using all his strength, but as soon as he cracks it open, the bag lets out a loud shriek, giving him a scare.

[Strange sound, your sanity drops by 5]

"How do I use this thing?"

He tries putting a dried fish into the bag, and it reacts. The bag sucks the fish inside, then calmly opens.

Lucas tentatively reaches inside, but the feeling is a bit prickly and slippery, making it disgusting. The stomach lets out a laugh as if it's being tickled.

[You feel strangely nauseous, your sanity drops by 10]

Lucas frowns. This thing really has huge side effects, and probably not many people would dare to use it.

The space inside is huge, so Lucas no longer needs to worry about storage. Plus, the stomach can be hung on his waist.

He opens his log and checks the ship's inventory. The resources are in place.

The conch coins are now in Lucas's account.

"Did you sell something? Give me some more conch coins!" Seraphina almost immediately sends him a message.

The downside of sharing ship interfaces is that you can't hide your goods.

Lucas replies helplessly, "I can give you 1000 more conch coins, but that's all!"

He transfers 1000 to her.

He hopes Seraphina can come up with some results soon, or he won't be able to afford her!

Lucas moves all the food into the ship's hold and installs the Bobbit worm head.

As soon as it's installed, the head grows larger, and when it opens its jaws, it's 10 meters wide—lifelike and can be controlled while steering.

The jaws are incredibly sharp, but unfortunately, there's nothing to try them on at the moment.

He throws the red fishing net into the sea.

He's had the net for a while but didn't use it in the storm, so now he finally uses it!

It works by collecting a certain number of items over time.

Once everything is set, Lucas grabs a fishing rod and starts fishing.

There are still 4 hours before dark, so he may as well catch whatever he can. It would be a waste of time to do nothing.