Chapter 320 - Status Promotion, Ocean Wind!
If one wanted to succeed, one would have to suffer through a lot of hard work.
Having downed an entire 52-degrees, 265ml bottle of Malanshan Erguotou, Su Mo wobbled along for some time. His gait slowly turned steadier as he forced himself...
To sober up!
This was the only benefit Su Mo had gained from drinking psychic energy water and recovering using the Mountain and Sea Painting Scroll card countless times.
He could somewhat control the acceleration of his blood circulation, quickly metabolizing the alcohol in his body.
With this kind of ability, if he could return to Earth, Su Mo would definitely be hailed as an "alcohol god" who would not get drunk even after consuming a thousand drinks.
However, on this wasteland, Su Mo was very clear that…
While drunk, he would not have to think of the kinds of pain he would later encounter in the talisman simulation world tonight.
However, when sober, the nightmare of having his whole body fractured and partially crippled could possibly "return"!
In the distance, the old master operating the excavator was still determinedly working through this dark night.
Seeing Su Mo coming over, he hastily went over to greet him. "Leader, the excavation you ordered last night, along with the assignment of building a… ditch—we've already finished the excavation. We've even completed the initial hardening of the dirt wall at the sides with the extra materials from the village. We've finished the initial construction of the ditch as well. Now we just need to wait for the water to be prepared at the village to fill it up. Timing-wise… it would probably take an hour."
He knew that when Su Mo came over, it would be to start the testing process.
Although the villagers had already long understood Su Mo's character, the old master was still a little nervous when speaking as the work had been delayed.
Hearing this, Su Mo only shook his head. "No worries. The construction timeframe I gave you was to complete it before nine tonight. It's just past seven now. If you're on track for your tasks in the future, you don't have to be afraid of me. It's fine. Go back to work!"
Waving his hand, under the old master's grateful gaze, Su Mo took one step at a time up the sturdy wooden stairs onto the ship.
Tonight, there were quite a few final tasks to complete before the second test.
Aside from activating the durability accumulation of the ship's Genesis ability, regarding the blessing Connie had enchanted the ship with, Su Mo had to upgrade and strengthen it again.
Although the lion priest's wind ability had been significantly improved in terms of programmability, in terms of actual strength, it was only sufficient for some ventilating and dust-cleaning chores.
Even Connie herself could only cast some ordinary wind magic to speed up movement speed.
Using this kind of blessing to resist the waterfall-like torrent of rain from above was akin to using a praying mantis's arm to block a car.
Fortunately, as Su Mo focused mentally and glanced through Hope One's properties in the system, a familiar transcendental blessing page popped out.
[Transcendent property: Gale (lv1) – Growth potential (two and a half stars)]
[Transcendent origin: The growth potential should have been a two-star ability, but with the talent of the priestess Connie under the god Oreo, the potential of this blessing increased by half a star. Within a certain range of the blessed object—Hope One—the power of the blessing can be controlled Hope One's captain, Su Mo. Please explore further to discover the specific functions.]
[First upgrade option: Upgrade the blessing. Increase the blessing's level from Lv1 to Lv2, enhancing the current abilities of the blessing to a certain extent. Expands the range of the blessing. There is a very small probability that the blessing will mutate and derive a second ability. (1180 survival points required)]
[Second upgrade option: Blessing reversion. Transform the blessing from the lion priest's blessing to the lion high priest's blessing. 100% chance of a second ability being derived. Moreover, there is a very small probability that the blessing's potential is increased and derives a third ability. (3800 survival points required)]
[Third upgrade option: Status promotion. Promote the rank of the Priestess Connie from lion priestess to Oreo's Saintess. There is an extremely high probability that the blessing's properties and potential are greatly improved. Moreover, during the first upgrade, there is a 100% probability that the blessing's properties will mutate, merging with the blessings the shelter currently has. (Survival points required 6850)]
[Comment: A Saintess, come get it!]
"Huh?"
Su Mo stared at the third upgrade option in shock.
In previous blessing upgrade processes, he had never seen such a strange upgrade option offered.
Based on the meaning of the words, the status promotion option was an upgrade that was not hard to understand.
It was because Connie had now joined the Oreo clan, so her identity was no longer that of a normal lion priestess anymore. She would now also have the heavy status of Saintess.
As the closest existence to the god, even if this status was just a title—like holding the emperor's edicts to command the princes in his name—it still had pivotal importance.
"And the third option can actually merge the shelter's blessings. Doesn't that mean…"
"It can merge with the mermaid's ability?"
The moment he thought of the three abilities the shelter's mermaid blessing brought, Su Mo could not help but get excited.
If Hope One could obtain the mermaid's foremost waterproofing ability, if the whole was submerged, a shield of water would automatically be formed.
Su Mo did not know whether this shield could stop the impact of the waterfall-like torrent of rain but, if it was used during a voyage out to sea, that would be awesome!
"Luckily I got Connie to join before the blessing. I never expected that there would be so many benefits to her joining the Oreo clan. It seems that, if I have time in the future, I have to properly dig through the hidden secrets behind all this."
Rubbing the rough and uneven welded joints on the guardrails, Su Mo did not hesitate and immediately chose the third upgrade option.
As the man who had spent 20 thousand points on just the training ground, although spending close to 7000 points was quite a steep price, it definitely could not be considered painful!
Even after deducting such a large expense, he still had 26 thousand survival points remaining, which was still an ample amount!
"Waterproofing and favor from the marine races… please don't make it the underwater breathing ability!"
"Upgrade!"
The Underground Shelter's mermaid's blessing currently had three kinds of abilities. The second ability was underwater breathing, which was a completely rubbish ability for a ship to have.
However, as long as it fused with either the waterproofing ability or favor from the marine races ability, he would have gotten himself a steal.
As if it heard Su Mo's prayer, in the void, a green light slowly appeared and connected Hope One with the Underground Shelter in the distance.
In a scene that only Su Mo could see, the Underground Shelter's shelter core slowly floated out and gradually flew onto Hope One.
The mermaid water that currently occupied 60% of the shelter core, with the assistance of the system, spilled out endlessly in blue brilliance on top of Hope One.
Connie's blessing on Hope One—small whirlwind—also jumped out curiously from the captain's quarters. It hopped into the blue light and started bathing in it.
The green whirlwind that could be seen by the naked eye was no longer purely green after bathing in the light, instead taking on a blue hue.
Moreover, as time passed gradually, the small whirlwind that had originally been about the size of a bottlecap had grown into the size of a fist.
Su Mo could clearly feel that the blessing had undergone tremendous growth, and was several times stronger than the lion clan's wind ability in the Underground Shelter, which was floating around the small whirlwind, like a child pouncing into their mother's embrace, continuously pouring into it.
Hope One, covered by the blessing, shone with a pale green-blue light!
"This feeling is too right, too right!"
From the originally purely technologically-operated warship to the current incorporation of a mystical blessing, the reddish-gold light strengthened on the flag at the bow of Hope One.
With the retraction of the green light, the upgrade was completed!
Su Mo eagerly focus mentally again and summoned the new blessing's properties.
[Transcendent property: Ocean Wind (lv3) – Growth potential (four stars)]
[Transcendent origin: According to ancient folklore, the God of the Wind and the God of the Ocean controlled their own divine realms and did not interfere with each other. Therefore, the God of the Wind's wind became sourceless wind when it reached the sea, and the God of the Ocean's water became sourceless water when it reached the sky. Over time, the ocean's environment became worse and worse, occasionally setting off extinction-grade tsunamis. Later, under the main god's witness, the two gods signed a contract and created a new god position to control the water and wind on the ocean, calling it the God of the Ocean Wind.]
[Transcendent ability 1: Ocean (When on Hope One, the captain will have weak water controlling abilities and can control water on the surface of the ocean to a certain extent. Note: The current ability can only be used when the captain is on the sea. On land or under the sea, the default power is -100%).]
[Transcendent ability 2: Wind (While on Hope One, the captain will have considerable wind controlling abilities and can control wind above the surface of the ocean to a certain extent. Note: The current ability can only be used when the captain is on the sea. On land or under the sea, the default power is -100%).]
[Transcendent ability 3: Goodwill (As Hope One carries the blessing of the mermaid clan, it naturally receives the favor of marine creatures).]
[Comment: Please answer: Is the God of the Ocean Wind's appearance a conspiracy against the God of the Ocean or is it to weaken the God of the Wind?]
"A conspiracy against the God of the Ocean or to weaken the God of the Wind?"
Unlike previously, the system gave a rare question in its comment, and it was even an understandable one.
Ignoring the new abilities because they were temporarily unavailable due to the limitation of being at sea, Su Mo started thinking carefully.
The goal of going out to sea this time was the God of the Ocean.
Seeing that the system had given some information beforehand, as a liberal arts student, Su Mo was sensitive enough to read between the lines.
"Based on the current ocean and land area comparison, the ocean will occupy 80% of the wasteland. The God of the Wind would lose control over such a large area, which would seem like it would weaken it but, in fact, it had no control over the wind when it reached the sea previously, so giving up on such a large area of wind wouldn't hurt at all."
"But the God of the Ocean—even if its water reached the surface of the sea, it still had the right to control it. The addition of the God of the Ocean Wind position is equivalent to directly stripping off part of the God of the Ocean's authority—this would be weakening."
"Moreover, this God of the Ocean Wind is definitely a winner in life. It actually controls such a large territory and is pretty much invincible!"
"However, here's the problem. Who is this main god being mentioned here?"
To the humans who lived on the wasteland, each so-called god was a ticking time bomb that was able to cause 500 thousand disasters at any time.
Quietly recording the doubts he had and his analysis into his notebook, looking at the God of the Wind and the main god that were added into his records of godly positions, Su Mo stood up.
"If I can find the God of the Ocean when I go out to sea this time, perhaps I'll be able to find the answers to my questions."
"Now, however… I should collect my thoughts and return to the second testing!"
Having gone through the delayed upgrade, seeing that Hope One's new properties panel had already lit up, Su Mo no longer dallied and collected his thoughts, returning to the bridge.
At the same time, the mysterious Divulgence of Heaven's Secret talisman once again flew out. With a thought from Su Mo, the door of light opened once again.
Glancing behind him, with absolute confidence, Su Mo took a step forward.