The First Companion

"Is this your ship?"

Young Arthur was still in that state where everything was new and exciting to him. Having grown up in Merlin's secluded little valley, the sight of the ocean was also incredibly fascinating.

After spending some extra time in King Arthur's world, Ethan returned to the Sea of Tranquility.

This time, he wasn't alone. The young King Arthur had come with him, and Ethan finally understood how the Teleportation Array brought people back.

For conscious beings, as long as they were within the range of the Magic Array and subjectively willing to 'follow' Ethan during the transit, the Teleportation Array would teleport them along.

However, for things without consciousness like ore, water, books, etc., Ethan had to 'bring' them back. Simply being within the array's range or just being touched by Ethan wouldn't cause them to be teleported back with him.

"So that's how it works."

After gaining some control over Space-Time Energy, Ethan finally received new information. Perhaps as his control increased, he would eventually understand the full mysteries of this Magic Array. At that point, he might be able to activate the Magic Array using his own Magic Power, without needing to rely on the Pointer to find specific Space-Time Energy.

Suddenly remembering something, Ethan turned his head to look at the hourglass placed not far away. Only a tiny bit of sand had flowed down, as if it had just started timing.

"So when I travel, time in this world stops?" Ethan shook his head. "No, that's not right. It must be that the time I return to is very close to the time I left. It seems this Magic Array isn't just capable of inter-world travel; it also involves the domain of time."

He turned back to look at Arthur. The blond youth had intentionally cut his long golden hair short because Ethan told him that long hair was difficult to manage while sailing at sea and short hair was more convenient. So, before setting off, he specifically got a haircut. Ethan noticed that after Arthur cut his hair, a small tuft of it was particularly noticeable, stubbornly refusing to lie flat against his head with the rest of his hair.

Besides that, young Arthur also possessed various equipment gifted by Merlin, including silver Light Armor and a blue battle robe, and a two-handed broadsword over 1.2 meters long. As for the many miscellaneous items, Ethan wasn't very clear about them, only knowing that Merlin had specifically cast a blessing spell on Arthur at the end, ensuring Arthur wouldn't drown in the sea.

Neither Ethan nor Arthur were very clear about the specific effect of this blessing. Arthur only felt a vague sense of familiarity with the vast, endless seawater.

In that short time, Arthur had already toured the entire ship and also noticed the smaller ship being towed behind: "Is that your Spoils of War?"

"No, this ship is my Spoils of War."

He had roughly explained the situation in the Sea of Tranquility before, but hadn't gone into such detail about his experiences here. Now that there was nothing else to do, he took the opportunity to explain.

"It seems there are quite a few shameless villains in this world."

"Without restrictions, many people will constantly push the boundaries of morality."

The interior space of this Caravel Sailboat was not only spacious but also divided into various areas, including a separate Captain's Cabin and Crew Quarters.

However, there were only two people on the ship now, and the Captain's Cabin was spacious enough. Ethan was using it directly as a shared resting area for both of them.

As for beds? Although Arthur was the heir to a kingdom, he had undergone various training since childhood. While he never lacked for food or clothing, he hadn't developed the habits of a noble in his daily life; the difference between him and ordinary people wasn't significant. Therefore, he didn't find anything wrong with the resting area's environment.

"I advise you to take off that armor and put it away properly. Wearing that thing all the time is just asking for trouble."

Ethan had taken off his armor the moment he returned. If he wore it any longer, he would probably turn into a baked potato.

The conditions in the Sea of Tranquility were excellent, which meant there was plenty of sunlight most of the time. Metal armor would become scorching hot under the sun in less than an hour.

This silly kid Arthur was already sweating profusely but hadn't even thought about taking off his armor. Ethan didn't know if he was adhering to the 'Code of Chivalry' or simply slow to react.

After Ethan finished speaking, he saw the kid hastily remove his armor and then let out a long sigh. Seeing this, Ethan realized it was likely the latter.

"But this place seems full of danger. Is it really okay not to wear armor at all times?"

"Don't worry, there's an advantage at sea: you can see very far. When you spot other ships, you'll have enough time to judge whether they are enemies and enough time to prepare for battle."

In fact, Ethan had only recently figured these things out himself, and now he was using them to educate Arthur.

While he was at it, he also taught Arthur some common sense about living at sea. Ethan then told him to organize his luggage – Arthur hadn't brought a small amount; there were several large boxes.

He himself went to the place where he stored his books. Taking out Merlin's Legacy Tome with his left hand, and with Mental Power activating it, the Legacy Tome floated in the air in front of his left palm. The open pages faced the rows of books and emitted a white light, absorbing these books one by one.

Merlin's Legacy Tome, when recording information, could either fully absorb the book or simply copy the data.

Simply copying the data was more troublesome, took more time, and required more Mental Power to activate. Full absorption was much simpler; a beam of light would shine, and the targeted book would slowly disappear within the light, while its contents were completely recorded by the Legacy Tome. When reading, it was no different from reading the original book, as if only the cover had been changed.

"This is a huge help."

He would collect more and more books in the future. Although his memory would constantly improve, there was too much he needed to learn now. No matter how good his memory was, it would still take time to read each book one by one. So, the number of books would definitely increase. This would save him a lot of trouble.

Returning to the deck in high spirits, Ethan saw Arthur standing on the Poop Deck, constantly looking around, occasionally staring blankly at something – perhaps the calm sea surface, the azure sky, or maybe a fish suddenly leaping out of the water.

Finally, Arthur's gaze settled on the ship beneath his feet. He turned to Ethan, who was standing on the deck, and asked, "Is a ship like this difficult to build?"

"Uh…"

Ethan didn't know how to answer this question. He was completely ignorant about shipbuilding and didn't know what the shipbuilding technology was like in this world. He could only answer based on some impressions in his mind.

"I'm not entirely sure, but based on the productivity of your world, if it's built by ordinary people without using magic, then it's very troublesome… And not only is it troublesome to build, but the wood used for shipbuilding isn't easy to find either."

Thanks to reading many novels in his previous life, there was indeed some information about building sailing ships among them.

For sailing ships like this, the wood used had strict requirements. Even if suitable wood was found, it needed to be processed for a long time before it could be used as raw material for a ship.

Among them, the Keel, the most important backbone of the ship, had even higher requirements for materials!

Arthur nodded, then continued to ask.

"A ship like this… it's not the best ship, is it?"

He had initially thought this ship was already very good. It could sail steadily and swiftly across the sea while loaded with cargo and towing another ship. If his kingdom had ships like this, they would be invincible at sea.

But he quickly remembered that Ethan himself had said he had only recently started adventuring on this ocean, and this ship was snatched from another group of bandits – just a few bandits who were slightly stronger than ordinary people.

Thinking about it this way, perhaps this ship could only be considered average in this world? Otherwise, how could those few bandits keep this ship in a world without the suppression of powerful laws? This could only prove that while ships like this were decent, they weren't top-tier in this world.

Ethan also had this guess, and he was certain there were better ships – otherwise, how could he cross the Sea of Storms? With this slightly smaller Caravel Sailboat? That would be suicide.

However, he didn't know what the better ships in this ocean were like yet, so he could only tell Arthur about ships from other worlds.

Ethan gave Arthur a rough overview of things like steam engines, internal combustion engines, and even nuclear power. Hearing about so many incredible warships, the young Arthur suddenly understood why Merlin was so insistent that he travel with Ethan.

"You were right," he said. "Traveling with you really does broaden my horizons."

After just the first day, Arthur felt his trip was already well worth it.

Over the next few days, Ethan adjusted his schedule slightly. In addition to his original training plans, he added sparring sessions with Arthur.

Higher-level cultivation of his own Mental Power and mastery of Space-Time Energy... the former was still scheduled for before bed, while the latter had to wait until he collected more Space-Time Energy, as the Pointer's stored Space-Time Energy was completely depleted.

Ethan and Arthur's days became very monotonous and routine until one day, as they gradually approached Stat Island. Just as Ethan was about to introduce Arthur to this central city of the Sea of Tranquility, the two of them suddenly spotted a large ship on the distant horizon.

Using the Telescope, they could clearly see the ship's appearance: it was at least twice the size of Ethan's Caravel Sailboat.

But that wasn't the main point. The main point was that they seemed to have ill intentions. After spotting Ethan and the others, they immediately changed course and charged towards them. At the same time, something resembling a cannon muzzle appeared at the front of the ship.