Enemies Narrowly Meet

After mooring the boat, Ethan walked around the beach area. At first, he wanted to set up his camp on the beach, but after observing for a while, he realized it was too close to the sea. High tide might flood the resting place he'd worked so hard to build, so he had no choice but to move further inland.

"This spot is good."

He looked back. This was a small slope, a good distance from the woods, preventing anything from suddenly jumping out and catching him off guard.

The slightly higher ground would also prevent the rising tide from reaching him.

"Next, I need to build a shelter."

Ethan looked up at the sky. The clear sky had somehow become overcast, looking like it might rain any second.

If he couldn't build a place to shelter from the wind and rain quickly, he'd have to go back to the boat to rest.

After drifting at sea for so long, he really wanted to sleep soundly on land.

Even exploring the island would have to be put aside for now.

"Luckily, back in the Diablo World, I learned how to make tents using simple materials."

With Ethan's current strength, he couldn't easily cut down large trees, then use dazzling sword skills to chop the wood into the materials he needed, and then use amazing craftsmanship to build a perfect wooden house.

His current strength only allowed him to collect and carry some slightly sturdy branches; anything thicker than his wrist was his limit.

For the roof of the shelter, he found some wide and thick leaves, then peeled the bark off the branches and twisted it into rope. Combining these miscellaneous things, he made a simple tent.

Ethan went back and forth, making repairs. Finally, looking at the oddly shaped tent before him, he could only give a helpless wry smile: "At least it can shelter me from the wind and rain."

He casually patted it. Although the tent wasn't very aesthetically pleasing, it was quite sturdy. It shouldn't be blown down by the wind... probably...

Crawling into the tent, Ethan stretched languidly on the 'bed' made of large leaves, while planning in his mind where to start exploring the small island tomorrow.

"First, I'll walk around the island and take a look."

If possible, Ethan wanted to explore every inch of the island. He'd circle the island and then move inward circle by circle towards the center. This would ensure he walked through every part of the entire island, increasing his chances of finding Magic Stones.

But he also knew this method wasn't practical because it was too time-consuming.

When many adventurers found an island, their first choice was always to enter the central area to explore. It seemed to be a common rule that the most valuable things were in the center of the island.

"That's definitely wrong. Otherwise, the information that almost all islands have Magic Stones, which that person told me, would be common knowledge that everyone knows."

But the reality was that even old sailors like Wood, who had been at sea for several years, didn't necessarily know this.

"I'll still search slowly. First, I'll circle it, pick some standard reference points in a few directions, and then choose one direction to explore inward."

Eliminating directions one by one, although not as good as circling inward towards the center, was the most practical method right now.

"Doing this alone is a bit troublesome. It would be great if I had some help."

Humans are always social creatures. When he first went to sea, Ethan had just left the village after spending several years with many people. Everything was new when he first went to sea, and he didn't feel anything in particular.

Later, there was the pressure of survival, coupled with the discovery that the sea was not peaceful, and an urgent need to improve his strength. So, for a while, he didn't have the energy to think about these things.

Now that his strength had improved and his safety was somewhat guaranteed, the pressure of survival had suddenly decreased significantly. Coupled with adventuring with Isendra and Zul for a period, he had gotten used to having teammates. Suddenly being alone again inevitably made him feel a bit lonely.

"Given my situation, it's hard to find teammates."

Tossing and turning, Ethan drifted off to sleep with the sound of the rain getting louder. In his dream, he had many teammates and a really, really big ship. A group of companions lived happily on the ship, and after one adventure after another, they finally found the legendary Endless Land...

When Ethan opened his eyes, the sun had already risen. The warm sunlight made his simple tent feel cozy, and the leftover rainwater from last night had also disappeared.

Stepping out of the tent, he washed up using the rainwater he had deliberately stored last night. Ethan remembered his dream from before.

"Why were all the guys on my ship in my dream? Didn't I even manage to trick a single girl into joining? What kind of good ship is that!"

Angrily throwing the leaves in his hand to the ground, Ethan put on the armor Charsi had given him.

He had only worn this set of armor for half a day when he first returned to the Sea of Tranquility, and hadn't worn it since, only taking it out every day to wipe and maintain it.

Armor, even light armor, wasn't all that comfortable to wear.

At the same time, Ethan finally understood why medieval knights wore surcoats over their armor and used capes to cover their entire backs.

"I used to think capes were just for decoration, but it turns out they're not..."

One unavoidable thing about metal armor was that it absorbed heat when directly exposed to sunlight. If not covered by a cape and surcoat, it would become a mobile metal oven in slightly warm weather.

In winter, metal would absorb cold air. If not wrapped in a thick cloak, it would become a mobile freezer.

The set of armor Charsi gave him didn't have accessories like surcoats and capes, so Ethan couldn't stand being roasted after wearing it for less than half a day and had to take it off.

Ethan decided to wear it this time because he didn't know what dangers existed on this small island. To be safe, it was better to wear all his equipment.

Also, other than circling the island at first, most of the island was covered in dense woods. The leaves provided shade, preventing direct sunlight, so Ethan didn't have to worry about his armor turning into an oven.

"Or, I could consider adding a Magic Array to regulate the temperature on the armor."

Persisting in circling the island, Ethan, feeling his armor getting hotter and hotter, had to adjust his route, trying to walk under the shade of the trees.

Fortunately, this island wasn't particularly large, and Ethan's current stamina and walking speed weren't weak. He quickly circled the island and returned to his campsite.

"The island isn't big. I only walked for a little over half the night to circle it. While it's not dark yet, I can explore the woods."

He also needed to find some food. Along the way, he had already seen some Fruit trees. These were a specialty of this world. He had obtained some of this Fruit from the supplies he traded for at the guild before.

This Fruit was simply called Fruit. It was a fruit similar to a coconut, but smaller, with a green skin that was very fragile and could be cracked open with a light tap. It was hollow inside and contained clear water with a plant aroma.

Besides the clean water he prepared himself, this Fruit was the main source of water in this world. Almost every adventurer's ship would stock as much Fruit as possible.

Water stored in buckets will spoil and become undrinkable without a purifying Magic Stone, but this type of Fruit can be stored for a particularly long time.

Furthermore, Ethan speculated that the water inside this Fruit contained sufficient vitamins. In this world, which is poor in resources, many adventurers rely on dried salted fish, jerky, and temporarily caught seafood for food, with very little intake of vegetables. Yet, they don't suffer from the various seafaring illnesses he knows of. The most likely reason is the existence of these Fruits.

Before, Ethan relied on his ability to use the Water Creation Spell and didn't bring much Fruit. Now, he unexpectedly found a lot on this island, enough to fill a warehouse on his ship.

"I wonder if there's anything else?"

In the following days, Ethan's life became very routine again. He would wake up, wash up, eat, and then start exploring the island according to his previous plan, collecting food he recognized. For the ones he didn't recognize, he took a sample, preparing to take it back to the guild to inquire.

This was a miscalculation. I should have bought a guide to known foods or something similar.

After all, Ethan didn't have much experience. He was still figuring out many things, and many rules in this world were different from his previous life, so it was normal not to think of everything immediately. Fortunately, he always remembered his mistakes firmly to avoid repeating them.

Exploring like this, Ethan slowly approached the central area of the island.

There was nothing strange about the central area of this island; it was just a small dirt mound. Compared to the surrounding green trees, it looked a bit desolate, without even a single blade of grass.

Ethan had been here a few times before, but he still hadn't found anything strange.

Could it be underground?

If so, that would be troublesome. Ethan hadn't brought any digging tools. Was he supposed to dig with his long sword? If Kashya knew, would she cross planes to hack him to death with a single strike?

Just as Ethan was still hesitating whether to continue exploring other unknown areas or dig here first to see, footsteps suddenly came from the forest ahead. Immediately after, several people walked out of the woods.

Ethan looked up and found that there were familiar faces among them.

It was Rodney, one of the two people he had saved back then. The reason he had left Stat Island early was that he had noticed Rodney seemed to harbor ill intentions towards him.

Indeed, the guy's subsequent actions perfectly confirmed Ethan's judgment.

"Ha, it's you! To run into you here, you're really unlucky!" Rodney seemed surprised to run into Ethan too, but after two seconds of愣, his face immediately lit up with excitement. "Captain, it's this kid! He has the Combat Magic Stone he got from Wood!"