Surprises at Every Turn

As Yinsen slowly walked away, the voices of the two men discussing the matter gradually became too faint to hear.

He acted as if he did not care about it at all and went straight to handle his own business.

However, once he entered the Reference Room, laid out everything he wanted to read, and sat down, he began wondering whether he should make a proactive attack.

"If we only load food and water, the Caravel Sailboat's speed and maneuverability should be brought into full play. Gino would have a hard time gaining any advantage in a pursuit at sea."

But after thinking it over, that would also give the other side an opportunity to use the Magic Cannon. If the ship he had just repaired and even modified was badly damaged, it would be a bit of a loss.

"They seemed to have fled last time because they had no cannonballs, but who knows whether they've restocked during this time?"

After thinking about it for a while, he felt that fighting at sea would still put him at a disadvantage. It would be better to wait quietly until they came ashore before dealing with them. That would completely neutralize the threat of the Magic Cannon, while his lack of naval battle experience could also be ignored.

"They can't drift at sea forever. I need to be patient!"

A good hunter had to possess sufficient patience. If he lost his patience, he would instead leave his prey a chance to escape—or even counterattack.

As he repeatedly reminded himself of this, Yinsen calmed down and began flipping through the materials.

Once he started reading, he became completely absorbed.

Only through the records stored by the guild did Yinsen learn that the Sea of Tranquility had a fixed connection to the ocean on the other side of the Sea of Storms.

After all, the existence of a "passage" through the Sea of Storms was no secret. However, that passage remained extremely dangerous to most adventurers in the Sea of Tranquility. One careless mistake, and they might be completely annihilated by the raging torrential rain.

Conversely, those dangers were not so frightening to stronger adventurers.

Greater strength, better, sturdier, and larger ships—perhaps even equipped with Magic Stone Technology devices Yinsen did not yet understand. It might be difficult for them to cross the Sea of Storms, but that passage could not stop them.

These people were active in the other sea region, and the biggest reason they did not return to the Sea of Tranquility was that the Sea of Tranquility was simply too barren.

To them, the Sea of Tranquility had another name: the Sea of Barrenness. It simply could not sustain adventurers of their level. It was merely a training ground for green rookies learning how to make their way across the ocean.

Yinsen pinched the bridge of his nose. His earlier guess had indeed been right. The Sea of Tranquility was a "Newbie Village." There was no meaning in throwing his weight around here. Setting his sights on breaking out of this sea and reaching the next sea region as soon as possible was the right choice.

At the same time, the guild was indeed the colossal entity he had imagined. It was not merely the center of all life in the Sea of Tranquility; it held the same position in the next sea region as well.

The Sea of Tranquility's guild collected Supplies, and a considerable portion of them was transported to the guild's base in the next sea region in exchange for things more useful here—such as more food and more basic consumables, including large quantities of low-quality magic stones.

One major reason high-quality magic stones were so rare in the Sea of Tranquility was that the guild collected and shipped them away. Nor did many adventurers in the Sea of Tranquility have the means to stockpile high-quality magic stones. What they pursued more were basic necessities of life. Food and water were never enough.

If Yinsen had not possessed a cheat like the Space-Time Pointer, and had not happened to learn the Water Creation Spell to solve his drinking water problem, this issue would probably have given him a terrible headache as well—if he ran out of food, he could still catch seafood from the ocean to get by for a while, but water was an indispensable resource.

As he had said before, Yinsen's "starting setup" had truly been incredibly lucky. Almost every time, he obtained exactly what he needed most urgently.

Thinking of this, Yinsen unconsciously looked toward his left hand.

"Once or twice is luck, but would three or four times still be luck? Maybe it isn't completely random like I previously guessed?"

That was difficult to determine. Without finding new Space-Time Energy to replenish it, there was no way to continue practicing.

After checking that no one was around, he casually summoned the Space-Time Pointer.

He was merely taking a casual look. He had not expected that, in the middle of the night while he was still on the island, he would suddenly detect new Space-Time Energy or anything like that.

But that was how things were—always full of surprises, or perhaps shocks.

This time, a surprise suddenly appeared.

"Space-Time Energy?"

Looking at the clear pointer with only a single arrow, Yinsen could only sigh. I was overthinking it before. I'm just plain lucky!

Having unexpectedly discovered Space-Time Energy, Yinsen did not plan to remain in the Reference Room any longer. He had already copied these materials with the Book of Inheritance, so he could take his time reading them after returning.

As for Space-Time Energy, he still had not thoroughly figured it out. Setting aside how it appeared, its patterns of appearance, locations, and intensity gave him no clue at all. It all seemed completely random.

After putting all the materials back where they belonged, Yinsen left the Reference Room.

It was already the latter half of the night.

The moon hanging high in the sky was round and bright, and the Night Sky, adorned with countless stars, was as beautiful as a painting.

Unfortunately, Yinsen had no interest in appreciating it. He simply moved in the direction indicated by the Space-Time Pointer. Every so often, after confirming that no one was nearby, he would check the pointer to make sure he had not gone off course.

"I wonder if it's on this island."

Judging by the fact that the Space-Time Pointer showed only one arrow, it should not be far away. But he could not be sure whether that distance exceeded the island's maximum diameter. If it happened to be in the nearby sea, then tonight would be a wasted effort.

Yet he had been especially lucky lately. Not long after leaving the guild's reference library, before he had even left the guild's Building Complex, he had already found that Space-Time Energy.

"Doesn't seem like much?"

He could now initially control this Space-Time Energy. He no longer had to be like Back Then, only able to absorb it where he found it, with the Teleportation Magic Array triggering as soon as the absorption was complete.

Not only was that highly conspicuous, it was also extremely passive.

Now, there had been a slight change. After absorbing the energy into his body, he could clearly sense that the mass of energy had gathered within the magic array on his left hand—it had not affected his Mental Power because of its entry.

After absorbing the Space-Time Energy, the pattern of a magic array also appeared on the back of his left hand. If one looked closely, they would discover that the magic array was faintly glowing.

This meant that the magic array was activated and could be triggered at any time. At the same time, it meant that he still lacked control over this energy. He had merely forcibly suppressed it.

"It seems that the reason I was able to practice controlling it so smoothly before was because the magic array had already activated. Most of the energy had erupted and been consumed during the first traversal, while the remaining energy had become relatively stable. That was why my practice back then was so easy."

"This newly absorbed energy is different. It is more active and harder to control. This batch is relatively weak and small in quantity, yet I can only barely suppress it. If there had been more Space-Time Energy, I might already have been passively teleported away."

After slightly stabilizing the restless Space-Time Energy, Yinsen did not intend to keep grinding against this mass of energy. Instead, he went straight back to the dormitory and knocked on Arthur's door.

Ben had thought Arthur would take some time to answer the door. After all, he was still dizzy from undergoing Knowledge Transfer, and it was the middle of the night—most people would have been sound asleep at this hour.

Reality proved that he had underestimated the young King Arthur. Not long after Ben knocked, the blond youth appeared before Yinsen fully armed.

Judging by his expression, neither the earlier dizziness nor the lack of sleep seemed to have affected him in the slightest.

"You moved surprisingly fast."

"If you came to see me at this hour, there must be some emergency. Besides, I keep my equipment within reach while resting, so I was able to get ready quickly."

Yinsen nodded. Their current environment was far from peaceful, and maintaining a healthy level of vigilance was a good habit.

"It's not that urgent. You still have time to organize your equipment properly, then come to my room and we can talk."

Arthur shook his head. "No need. I keep all my equipment packed up, so I can just grab the bag and go when necessary." As he spoke, he picked up a heavy backpack from beside his feet. "Let's head over to your place now. Looks like I still have time to wash my face."

Yinsen went to his room with Arthur, then locked the door behind them. Being cautious, he even propped a chair against it... Hmm, Yinsen suddenly felt as though something was off.

Arthur, who was wiping his face with a towel, did not put down his backpack and waited for Yinsen to speak.

"I found Space-Time Energy on the island just now, so we may be making another Plane Travel."

When Yinsen revealed the faintly glowing magic array on his left hand, Arthur immediately understood why Yinsen had dragged him out of bed in the middle of the night.

"This island has Space-Time Energy too?"

"It's my first time collecting it on land as well. It seems Space-Time Energy doesn't necessarily appear only at sea. Perhaps we'll be able to collect it on those Floating Islands in the future too."

Arthur nodded. After all, Yinsen had not traveled between planes many times, and there were still many things he was feeling out.

"Then let's set off right away!"

Unlike Arthur, Yinsen needed to spend a little time organizing his equipment. Only after he had finished did he activate the Time-Space Traversing Magic Array.

The familiar magic array, the familiar sensation of his vision being filled with light until he could see nothing, and the Space-Time Energy, which had gradually become less restless and stopped releasing enormous fluctuations as Yinsen's control improved—under Yinsen's careful guidance, the energy unleashed by this traversal finally no longer stood out like a torch in the night.

Once the light faded, Yinsen and Arthur successfully completed the crossing. But the moment he saw their surroundings clearly, a large sign off to the side made Yinsen feel utterly miserable: Welcome to Raccoon City!