One Man Army

Chapter 134 [Episode 69] The first Sailing Route Quest 1

@ The First Sailing Route Quest.

Ink-Black Dragon was really fast. The Sky-grade Ship that Sang Hyuk rode on his previous life was triple in size and was Terra-grade but compared to this ship, then it was almost like the difference between a bus and a high-end sports car.

And it has not yet even reached maximum speed.

The propulsion gauge went up and down between 80 ~ 85%, and the booster was not used at all.

The booster mounted on the Ink-Black Dragon was a booster enhanced by a ‘★’, so the speed was boosted to 300% when used.

Honestly, if Sang Hyuk cranked up the propulsion gauge to 100% while using the booster as well, the first sailing route would be traveled in an instant. But that would have not only consumed Magic Stones, but also skip the most needed thing, ‘experience’.

Now it was time to start putting experience first.

Kheruk, kheruk.

The 22 floating parasites stuck to the Ink-Black Dragon were ‘Red Hands Goblin’. These creatures typically found wandering on the Sky-sea clung to the ship right after the Ink-Black Dragon was revealed but at the first glance they were not ordinary monsters.

The average level is 82, and those who are in the group were similar to monsters in raid dungeons of the highest difficulty level by Lower Third World standards.

Then 22 of them appeared and were climbing rapidly up the hull to the deck of the Ink-Black Dragon. Because Gye Baek fixed the ranged bombardment correctly and successfully blew away seven of them, so it was not 22 but 29(at first) unwanted hitchhikers.

“Aspice grab aggro and Gye Baek together with Ilya clean them up one by one.”

In fact, the simplest way was to have Sang Hyuk drop the key and finish the Red Hands Goblins by himself. But Sang Hyuk had no intention of doing so.

Since Sang Hyuk has to deal with Sky Whales in the future, Dark Knight and Gye Baek had to take care of the common parasites living on the sea by themselves.

Later on, the more powerful bugs would be encountered, so his crew needed practice.

“It will take a bit of time to adapt, but if it was these two people, they can get through it well.”

Sang Hyuk believed in Gye Baek and Dark Knight. So he thought he didn’t need to help if it was not a life threatening crisis.

Having Ilya as a help was enough.

Actually, Aspice and Gye Baek were handling the Red Hands Goblins much easier than he thought. They were lucky because the title that they received adding strength in handling those monsters.

Title – ‘Sky-sea Explorer’

Rating? Unique

Explanation? You are the first dimensional traveler on Sky-sea. Your exploration spirit is already well known throughout the Sky-sea.

Effect – [Prefix: None] [Suffix: None] [Sustainable Effect: Never Get Seasick! (S): Increases the attack power and defense on the Sky-grade Ship by 10% during combat.]

Although the effect was limited to the Sky-sea, specifically to the Sky-grade Ship, but the effect was so good that Gye Baek and Dark Knight could fight better than they normally could.

Especially since the two of them have been a team many times, the cooperation was very solid. Added to it Ilya became a good helper for them, and Red Hands Goblin began to be sorted out one by one.

It took only 16 minutes for all 22 Red Hands Goblin to be cleaned up.

Of course, in Sang Hyuk’s eyes they still seemed a little short, but it was not bad considering that they were handling the first bugs.

Woodududuk, kwajik!

“Fiuh, this is better than I thought?”

Gye Baek mercilessly broke the neck of the last Red Hands Goblin remaining and sighed lightly.

“The floating parasites that float around here, are the weakest of all the bugs on the Sky-sea. Of course, you feel that they are weaker than you expected.”

Although Gye  Baek wanted praise, but Sang Hyuk was normally a person who was stingy with praise.

“Tsk, cold guy.”

Gye Baek grumbled while picking up the items that fell on the Sky-grade Ship deck.

[What do you want to do with the items?]

“Oh, let’s keep it in the warehouse first. If you have any item that you need or you want to have, then I guess you can tell us and take it. Anyway, the important things are the items dropped by the Sky Whales, so I think it would be better to distribute the miscellaneous items that the bugs dropped.”

Of course, the bugs would sometimes drop a decent item. But that was very rare. In particular, the items dropped by the bugs were the items that Sang Hyuk did not need.

The Ink-Black Dragon, that breaking through the first floating insects troop very easily, did not slow down and kept moving forward.

The Sky Whale did not appear as Sang Hyuk expected. Instead floating parasite troops appeared once more. But Gye Baek and Dark Knight, who have already become familiar to some extent with battle on Sky-grade Ship, have cleaned up the bugs faster than before.

This time as well, Sang Hyuk did not put down the key, so In-Black Dragon did not stop during the battle. Thanks to that, the Ink-Black Dragon just sailed through the whole first sailing route in only four hours.

Sang Hyuk was able to realize how fast Ink-Black Dragon was by recalling that the Sky-grade Ship he had rode on in his previous life took a full day to arrive at the destination of its first sailing route.

“The place we see in front of us is the destination of the first sailing route and actually the beginning of the Sky-sea, Red Mountain.”

Sang Hyuk called Gye Baek and Dark Knight to see it when Red Mountain came into view.

“Woaaa…. Huh? But that is……..”

Gye Baek, who looked at the Red Mountain, seemed to find something. And Sang Hyuk knew why he tilted his head like wondering something.

“Yes, it is the Sky Whale’s corpse. To be more exact, it is the 1st grade Sky Whale Red Mountain’s corpse.”

“Really? In a glance, I thought it was strange that something huge seemed to be lying down and I thought it was weird.”

“You’ll see that often in the future. Every permanent safe area in the Sky-sea is built on the body of a Sky Whale of second grade or more and left there. For your information, if a Sky Whale of 2nd grade or more died on the Sky-sea then the body does not disappear ever.”

Gye Baek and Dark Knight, who listened to Sang Hyuk, took a closer look at the Red Mountain.

It was very strange that the permanent safe area was set on the body of the Sky Whale itself.

“There is an NPC on top of that. They are the Sun people who have fallen for several reasons from the Continent of the Sun, now they’re usually called the Moon People.”

Sang Hyuk was friendly and detailed as always. in fact, Gye Baek and Dark Knight were still wondering where Sang Hyuk got such information, but they have not asked him as Sang Hyuk was reluctant to answer it.

This was in consideration of each other.

Sang Hyuk was able to convey this in detail because they gave him implicit consent to not ask for the source of the information. (TL Note: Gye Baek and Dark Knight could get this kind of information because they didn’t ask for the source. If they persisted in asking for the source, they might not have gotten on the Ship in the first place.)

“Well, then let’s port in.”

Dururuk, Sang Hyuk turned the key in his hand to one side and directed the Ink-Black Dragon to the stern of Red Mountain.

* * * *

Sang Hyuk, who safely docked Ink-Black Dragon to the marina, immediately got off the boat. Of course Gye Baek and Dark Knight also followed Sang Hyuk and Ilya, and Sang Hyuk cancelled the summon for Ilya.

Sang Hyuk put away the Ink-Black Dragon into the Spirit Virtual Space when everyone is down. Basically, at the marina no Sky-grade Ship could be anchored.

Based on the Lower Third World standards, Red Mountain was a city. It was an island and at the same time, it was a city.

When three people entered the Red Mountain, NPCs called the Moon people looked at the three people out of the corner of their eyes.

Sang Hyuk has maintained a basic favor with moon People thanks to the title effect, but it was natural for them to be alert to Gye Baek and Dark Knight because they were strangers.

“Maybe we should stay here for a few days and catch the bugs that pop up in the sea near the Red Mountain. First, let’s do that so you guys can gain more favorability from the Moon People of this island. In the meantime, I’ll go and find out about the sailing route quest.”

“You don’t need to gain more favor?”

“Oh, because of my title effect, I already have high favorability. So maybe I can talk to them.”

Floating parasites, of course, tried to climb the Red Mountain. But they only climbed up to the beach because they could not get in to the Boundary Area installed in the Safe Area. So, there were a lot of bugs near the Red Mountain.

“All right. Then since we are going to hunt, call us.”

Gye Baek left with Dark Knight to catch bugs.

Neither of them doubted his words because their confidence in Sang Hyuk was 100%. Of course Sang Hyuk had no intention to lie to them.

The three men’s history with each other led to this faith.

“Blue Sky Sailing Route? Why is a dimensional traveler looking for the Blue Sky Sailing Route?”

The one-legged old NPC, whose name was known on Sky-sea in the past, looked up at Sang Hyuk with his head tilted. Sang Hyuk directly give the keyword without turning around to see the reaction directly.

Blue Sky Sailing Route was the keyword to get the sailing route quest. Originally, this word also had to be earned through deep conversation with Moon People, but Sang Hyuk already knew the keyword and skipped the process as usual.

“It is for finishing the fight you could not finish.”

This time, he got directly to the point.

Because this conversation with this NPC served as a turning point and the result was based on it, so if you knew the answer, this straightforward style was the best.

“The fight is part of the Sun people. Nothing will change due to merely one dimensional traveler’s intervention.”

Obviously, the old NPC, who is responsible for Red Mountain and who gives the first sailing route quest, was not easily caught. If you are a regular user, you have to invest time on this NPC to barely get the quest.

However, Sang Hyuk already knew all the keywords and was possible to almost receive the sailing route quest in less than 10 minutes.

“Something has changed. You do not even have the courage to go to back to Continent of the Sun, but we are different. We will use the Immortal’s power given to us to break through this rough Sky-sea, and I swear we will reach the Continent of the Sun. And we will change this twisted world.”

Sang Hyuk spoke the three key points.

“The Sun People without the courage to go up.”

“Immortal’s power.”

“Turning around this twisted world.”

Sang Hyuk thought that the NPC would have to offer the sailing route quest with these three points.

“Hyuu… There is no word to say….”

The old NPC sighs once and goes on.

“Blue Sky Sailing Route Quest does not mean one sailing route. Many sailing routes in Sky-sea are connected to each other like spider webs and all of these sailing routes together is called the Blue Sky Sailing Route. So, whatever sailing route that you pioneering, that would be your sailing route. To get the Blue Sky Sailing Route, you need a vessel to hold the sailing route. Hunt a 9th grade Sky Whale off the coast of the Red Mountain and bring the heart of the Sky Whale. Then I will make it as a ‘Sky Compass’.”

You’ve received the beginning [Link 1] of the Sailing Route Quest, Blue Sky Sailing Route.

“Done.”

If you mount the Sky Compass on the key of Ink-Black Dragon, you are not only recording the sailing route of the Ink-Black Dragon automatically, but it also gives you the directions to go further. Of course, the sailing route has to be updated to continue the sailing route quest and to make the Sky Compass operate normally.

It was a must item to get to the Continent of the Sun called the Heavenly World.

Chapter 134 [Episode 69] The first Sailing Route Quest 1 – End