Chapter 439 - A Gift, A Grown “Heart”!
Chapter 439: A Gift, A Grown “Heart”!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The legends of Huaxia had a history that dated back ages ago.
These legends stemmed from the uniqueness of a cultural backbone, growing throughout the passage of time as it thrived into a one-of-a-kind existence.
Take the legend of “The Sun Shooter’ as an example—
The country of Huaxia itself told dozens of stories of heroes that shot the sun.
The Tujia tribe had legends of Luan Yu shooting down the sun; the Mongolian tribe told legends of Wu En that shot down the sun; the Blang tribe had the legends of Gumiya; the Zhuang tribe had the legends of Hang Hong.
The list of sun shooting legends continued on which included names such as Hou Ye, Te Kang, Lang Zheng, Zhang Guolao, Gui Sheng, and Yang Que.
These legends that were sung all across the place bore a striking similarity.
However, these sun-shooting legends were rare in countries abroad. Their legends seemed to revolve and develop more around a common theme of “worshiping” the sunrise.
Since obtaining the speedboat, Su Mo had guessed a correlation between it and the Western legends.
However, as the speedboat slowly emerged from the sea onto the surface and revealed its full body, Su Mo could not repress the shock in his heart.
The perimeter of the boat adorned an elegant coat of black paint with a hue of purple—a shade that hinted a slight mysteriousness.
However, imprinted on the left side of the boat was a painting that depicted a disheveled barbarian who was roaring at the skies.
The barbarian was drawn so vividly that it cast a shade of intimidation to any who gaze upon it.
On the right side was a painting of a “golden sunbird’ that had a distinct Eastern profile. The painting was gleaming in the faint light of gold.
The time had only inched a few minutes away from twelve in the noon; the sun hung brilliantly right in the middle of the skies.
Fascinatingly, the eyes of the barbarian seemed to gaze upwards too, as if it was following in the direction of the sun.
The sun in the painting too apparently solidified into a 3D image—beaming onto the physical sun in the skies as their lights danced together—the painted sun breathed out an attractive force as it gravitated the sunlight from the skies onto the boat.
“Kua Fu’s pursuit for the sun?”
The thought of Kua Fu’s tale suddenly rose in his mind. Along with the thought was a familiar light-headed sensation.
Looking at the Sun-chaser Speedboat, Su Mo’s gaze was suddenly teeming with a brooding intensity.
Similar to the time when he saw the story inscribed onto the back of the Mind Ring—
the tales of the Sun-chaser Speedboat gradually materialized in Su Mo’s vision
“My name is Wu Yuan. I hail from the mighty Wu tribe and my goal is…the sun in the skies!”
‘As a swaying motion lapsed, Su Mo’s vision snapped into a trance. The deep voice of a man rang in his ears.
His point of view snapped into another’s as a peculiar sensation took over.
Through the unique first person and third person’s point of view, he could have a glimpse at all the bizarre encounters that were recorded by the Sun-chaser Speedboat.
Unlike before, Wu Yuan’s story this time was told through a first person’s point of view as it unfolded.
It was as if Su Mo had become Wu Yuan. He could not control his body but he had some control over his line of sight.
Lowering his gaze, he saw foreign oceans that seemed to extend forever into the horizons.
As Su Mo’s line of sight drifted to the side, he was shocked to discover that—
‘The sea level here was merely a pathetic ten meters or so; he could see all the way to the seabed!
‘When he tumed to the skies, he saw nine suns hanging in the skies as they ceaselessly emanated blinding brilliance.
‘The intensity of the sunlight was rapidly evaporating the sea that carried the boat, dispersing a mist of white vapor everywhere.
“There are…nine suns here?”
It was as if the stories in Huaxia’s legends had sprung into life. Flabbergasted, Su Mo inhaled sharply in surprise.
Nine suns… No. It would be better to describe the nine suns as nine living beings.
These suns did not follow any of their regular orbits but floated freely like birds in the skies.
‘They were playing around happily. All the while, their brilliant luminance shot downward.
“Nine suns. Chasing the sun. Does this Wu Yuan want to shoot the sun down?”
Su Mo turned around. This time, Su Mo examined the interior of the speedboat!
‘There was a man standing in the cabin of the speedboat. However, being in the first-person point-of-view, Su Mo could not clearly discern the man’s face.
Yet, Su Mo could tell from the man’s apparels that this was the barbarian depicted in the painting on the side of the boat.
In his left hand, the barbarian was carrying a robust bow embellished with motifs of dragons.
His right hand was already occupied as he twiddled with a black arrow, solemnly in waiting.
As time passed by, the speedboat accelerated—picking up speed as it closed in on the distance between him and the suns in the skies.
Finally, Wu Yuan notched the black arrow, aimed at the suns in the skies, and fired the crucial shot.
This shot seemed to have shattered the balance.
His hands worked swiftly as the longbow swallowed and spit out arrows ina flurry.
Within a moment, the nine suns in the skies were brought down to the last two; the barbarian had swiftly shot down seven.
The last two suns, apparently horrified, sped away to the edge of the skies.
‘Wu Yuan funneled the remainder of all his strength and shot his eighth arrow, striking the slower sun in their escape.
However, the distance apart was too great. The arrow did not manage to deliver the killing blow but merely dimmed its brilliance by a lot.
This shot exhausted all of Wu Yuan’s strength.
He collapsed, though not entirely. Part of him held on.
His eyes were widened with fury as he knelt on one knee on the boat. All the while, the Sun-chaser Speedboat drifted him forward.
Ever since, the two suns that survived now took turns to watch the skies for they were afraid of being wiped out. One became the morning sun; the other guarded the nights.
Through the bizarre space passage, the story inscribed onto the Sun-chaser Speedboat came to an end.
A dazzling light gleamed—
In the next second, Su Mo’s vision returned to normal as Hope One, Sun-chaser Speedboat and the seas that were familiar resurfaced back.
“Dude, what a high-end version of the sun-shooting story!
“Totally unbelievable. There are even details from Kua Fu’s pursuit for the sun weaved in between!”
Su Mo rubbed his eyes which were now sore and irritated from the prolonged exposure to the strong light.
As he rowed the lifeboat, he murmured a few commands for the system to initiate an evaluation.
A light of faint green blinked as a familiar panel slowly popped out; it had been long since the properties panel was last summoned.
[Sun-chaser Speedboat (Epic)]
[Description]: This is an epic boat inscribed with the story of “Wu Yuan’s pursuit of the sun”. As the boat embodied the unyielding spirit of Wu Yuan, it now possesses the ability of Light Immortality. It can absorb sunlight, moonlight, or any form of light emitted from a light source and convert it into
energy to sail indefinitely. As the epic story contains its own core, the boat has enormous growth potential. Primary components of the boat can be dismantled in the future and upgraded to a land carrier, air carrier, and even… space carrier!
[Voyage Energy Source]: Light energy
[Voyage Speed]: Cruise mode: 40 knots; Maximum speed: 60 knots
[Special Ability]:
Light Pursuer (The Sun-chaser Speedboat spent its entire life pursuing the light. Its strong core provides a driving force such that when the boat faces the sun, its speed is increased by 25%)
Untiring Drive (As long as there is light, the boat does not require any additional source of energy. The source of light includes but is not limited to: sunlight, moonlight, man-made light…)
‘Walking with the Light (If the speedboat absorbs light and its durability is above 5%, it will maintain a self-recovery speed of 15% every natural day, no matter the form of damage received. The speed of recovery is also influenced by the quality of the light source, enhancing it to a certain degree.)
Advanced Camouflage (The boat propelled purely by light energy will not produce any noise at all. At the same time, it can absorb various light waves from light-based detection systems.)
Dismantle (All primary components of the speedboat can be dismantled. It has immense potential for growth.)
[Comment]: This boat carries along… a gift left by a certain generation of Earthlings. Perhaps in the future, you could discover something different!
Su Mo inhaled sharply.
“These properties.
“And these comments from the system. How generous!”
Stepping onto the back of the deck, Su Mo was greeted with a properties panel. As he studied it, he was stunned at his discovery.
Ina certain context, the epic-grade Sun-chaser Speedboat, when compared to the initial version of Hope One was
Stronger by a wide margin!
Regardless of the changes to its properties, Hope One was simply a ship derived from a rare-grade destroyer blueprint at its core.
The various special abilities it possessed collectively served a general purpose of naval combat. There was barely any true sense of “growth”.
Even so, the battles of any ship would inevitably be on the seas.
The Sun-chaser Speedboat, however, was unbounded by that law for it was a beast!
In terms of naval combat, the speedboat could barely contest against the Hope One that stood colossally at a few tonnes. However, the growth potential that the speedboat had was extraordinary. Su Mo understood how terrifyingly valuable this epic-grade vessel was.
In other words, the Sun-chaser Speedboat was not a vessel, but a
Heart!
Possessing it meant possessing a source of light where power would be infinitely supplied and reparations would be infinitely provided.
In fact, in the majority of environments, this heart outperformed the Matter Conversion Engine.
“A gift
“Could this be the path that another generation had walked through?”
Su Mo’s hand brushed every inch of the boat as he patiently studied it, examining it for clues that would hint where this gift came from.
Compared to Hope One, the wood on this boat was slightly softer, indicating a lack in its rigidity.
The wood, however, exhibited a peculiar ability—it could absorb the sunlight that shone from above.
‘The unique Light Pursuer ability allowed it to capture and convert light energy into kinetic energy. That energy would then be stored somewhere underneath the deck.
Su Mo scoured the boat for its source of propulsion. His search would lead him to discover the source in a small box that was merely a meter square wide and could not be opened.
Still astonished, Su Mo slowly jogged over to the cockpit.
It was indeed as how the system had evaluated. On this ship, he observed plenty of impressions that Earthlings had left.
For instance, this cockpit did not fashion a traditional ship’s wheel. Rather, a modern lever system was employed along with the aid of computer intelligence.
The seats were not dressed with antiquated rubber too. Instead, they were embellished with grand sofas—a perfect fit for modern aesthetics.
Although nobody powered up the boat, the words, “charging in progress” were displayed on a thirteen-inch screen located in the center of the cockpit.
“Ten minutes, to charge 2%…
“This efficiency isn’t too bad. It’d probably take only ten or so hours for a full charge. The only question is how long it can last once I start it up!”
The entire speedboat was similar to the modular items; only high-end items were used.
Even the interconnecting wires were packed within another body of an object, leaving barely any surface exposed.
In this situation, there was no other way but to utterly dismantle everything and inspect each individual unit.
This mechanism to secure confidentiality was all too common and extremely handy.
Luckily for Su Mo, he was not bothered by the question of retrieving the heart for he solely wanted the functionality of the speedboat.
With an air of grandiose, Su Mo planted himself in the master seat. He seemed to be familiar with it as he scanned around and immediately found the start button which was apparent in the middle.
He pressed the button, and the boat began to throb for around two or three seconds.
The boat did not make any noise due to its special ability. However, the screen within the cockpit displayed a message, “Welcome, Captain.”
Su Mo was unsure whether the game had wiped out all internal documents. So, he browsed around the navigation system and gave up once he realized there was no valuable information at all to be found.
It was Su Mo’s first time maneuvering the boat. He first tried to disengage the handbrake, then slammed hard onto the gas pedal.
Yet, the speedboat reacted immediately at a frightening speed. Its thrusting power could seemingly be summoned at will. Within half a second, the boat had fiercely launched itself ahead.
The intense inertia rocked the boat. The sofas were secured in place by screws and metal plates.
Even Su Mo, who was in full control, was sent flying from the control seat.
Fortunately, Su Mo was equipped with the Oracle Experience Card which boosted his form by 20-fold.
In midair, he executed two sequences of somersault that came naturally to him and landed firmly in place back where he originally stood.
“Dang, this thrust is definitely intense
“Back on Hope One, I could barely feel how fast it was cruising at 40 knots. Looking at it now, it sure is frightening!”
This experience was similar to someone’s first time riding in an electric vehicle; except that the solar-powered thrust packed a greater punch than the electric ones.
In mere seconds, its speed had reached more than 70 km/h.
Su Mo wiped the beads of cold sweat on his head and resumed his position back at the control seat. With greater caution now, he slowly pressed on the gas pedal.
This time, the boat cruised smoothly, picking up speed gently.
‘The boat made no noise as it accelerated. Taking the helm of the Sun-chaser Speedboat now was surprisingly comfortable
In five minutes, Su Mo had sailed and pivoted around Hope One thrice. He gradually started to familiarize himself with the various aspects of the Sun-chaser Speedboat.
“There’s no documentation of the speedboat’s system at all. If it were someone else, they would have to manually steer the boat.
“However, I’m fine without these things. It isn’t a big deal to me.
“ll just make copies of the Operating System. Then, this speedboat will have its own automatic navigation system!
“Actually, there’s no better time to do it than now. I’ll just copy the Operating System over and immediately set sail. At a good speed, I can make it back the day after tomorrow!”
Now that he possessed the Sun-chaser Speedboat., thoughts began to ponder in his heart. Su Mo quickly calculated the duration for the Ocean God’s Oracle Experience Card, and he made a decision.
Although he still had some expendable time, he should be devoting the time to repairing rockets and learning the rockets’ launch mechanisms.
By then, the task of studying the speedboat could be completed as he made his way to the New World.. There would be plenty of time for that then!