Sea Change

"Sakun... Sakun..."

"Bang!"

"Rumble!"

Sakun slammed into the hard stone walls again and again, frantically using its abilities to batter its way out of the underground water prison. The water inside evaporated in wave after wave, but more kept flowing in without end!

Lu Zhiyu watched Sakun through a fist-sized window in the ceiling of the water prison. He had trapped it inside with the Dimensional Gate some time ago and had been observing the limits of its abilities. "So far, the highest temperature it can control is 783 degrees, and the lowest is minus seventy!"

Sakun spotted Lu Zhiyu and angrily attacked him. But its abilities had been granted by Lu Zhiyu, and all he had to do was use his mental power to calm the movement of its molecules. The attacks had no effect on him at all. Sakun used its mental power to control its own body, flying around the prison and crashing into the walls without pause, as if it never tired!

Lu Zhiyu was a little disappointed. "As expected, the life template is still too simple. Its abilities are too limited, and they're easily countered. Though the main reason is that Sakun has no intelligence and doesn't know how to use its abilities well!"

That was only true by Lu Zhiyu's standards. With control over temperature and powerful mental strength, Sakun could destroy a village and kill hundreds or even thousands of people with just a few casual attacks. Its hard shell and powerful healing made it immune to most attacks. If it entered a city, it would be a natural disaster to ordinary people!

After leaving the Zero-Degree Sea Monster Sakun to study for a while and uncovering most of its secrets, Lu Zhiyu decided to release it. He dumped it into the South Sea, then followed it across the ocean in his yacht.

Although Sakun could fly, it still couldn't do without water. It usually stayed submerged and rarely left the sea's surface. After observing its movements and behavior for a while, Lu Zhiyu stopped paying attention to it altogether. Sakun had finally escaped his clutches and disappeared into the vast ocean.

It was the Maria World's first mythical creature, a being that truly possessed supernatural power. It had no natural enemies in the entire ocean, and no other creature could stand against it. It was the undisputed ruler.

But its chaotic, disordered mind made it little better than a beast, rampaging through the world. What Lu Zhiyu had least expected was that, as it roamed freely through the ocean, it would begin to contaminate the creatures living there.

Unlike Lu Zhiyu, Sakun didn't gather and control its Deified Cells. Even when its cells scattered, it made no effort to collect or manage them. It often went berserk, ramming into reefs and small islands on the seabed. The cells it shed when injured spread through the ocean, and the many creatures that absorbed Sakun's Deified Cells began to mutate and evolve. Soon, large creatures began appearing in the sea. They were called sea monsters, while Sakun itself came to be revered as a sea god.

Sakun roamed the ocean, and its offspring were called the Children of the Sea God. They included gigantic octopuses, massive squids, jellyfish capable of controlling explosions and releasing freezing air, and fish shaped like bullets. Each one was enormous, often measuring dozens of meters long.

Sakun itself was much smaller than they were. But with a mere thought, it could control the temperature within a radius of dozens or even hundreds of meters. It could burn you to ash or freeze you into an ice statue in an instant. No matter how massive a creature was, its size meant nothing. To the people of the world, Sakun was a god—a deity they could not resist.

But these Children of the Sea God were utterly beyond ordinary people's ability to resist. They also gave birth to countless descendants. Over the decades, nearly every gigantic sea monster in the ocean could be considered one of Sakun's offspring.

With the small amount of Blood of Sakun inside their bodies, these descendants inherited some of its abilities. Some could release flames, others could unleash ice. Some were gigantic, while others had exceptionally hard bodies.

Meanwhile, across the ocean, the people of the Alan Continent grew more eager to explore the sea with each passing day. The ocean yielded more and more fish, and its mysteries continually drew the fishermen and sailors of the Alan Continent.

The number of nations on the Alan Continent also continued to grow. After more than a thousand years of development, both humans and beastfolk had formed their own kingdoms and cultivated all kinds of cultures and civilizations. The two races had gradually spread across most of the continent, and now they were turning their attention to the even vaster ocean.

The boundless ocean was a man's greatest romance. The unknown brought fear, but it also fired the imagination. Fishing was not the only source of its bounty. Once the first ship sailed across the sea and discovered that its routes could connect the southern and northern nations of the continent, the possibilities became clear.

In the real world, the journey would mean crossing countless mountains and passing through several countries. Taxes and travel expenses alone would be enough to daunt anyone. But traveling by sea was different: it could save a great deal of time and money.

When the first adventurer to open a sea route returned from afar with precious furs, spices, plants, herbs, and all kinds of rare goods, earning a dazzling fortune in gold, people began rushing to sea in droves, launching maritime trade.

Ship after ship set sail for the ocean, laden with hopes and dreams of wealth. For a time, the sea became everyone's hope. Nothing brought money faster than a single voyage. And if someone was lucky enough to discover a safe passage no one had found before, it could be the key to lifting their entire family to prominence.

Nobles, commoners, slaves, merchants, and officials alike all began flocking to the sea. Ports sprang up, small fishing villages grew into great coastal cities, and goods piled high on the docks.

The boom in seafaring also spurred the shipbuilding industry. People started with wooden fishing boats, then, through years of experience at sea, invented vessels that could sail by harnessing the wind: sailing ships.

At first, sails couldn't be turned, so they could only be used when the wind was favorable. When it wasn't, sailors had to lower the sails and row. So people invented turning sails, allowing ships to move even against the wind.

By now, shipbuilders could construct ocean-going vessels thirty meters long and six to eight meters wide, capable of carrying 60,000 kilograms: sea ships. People sailed them across the ocean, but they still couldn't conquer it. In strong winds and high waves, or when they entered dangerous areas full of reefs, they often ended up shipwrecked, with everyone aboard lost.

And as they ventured farther into the ocean, they encountered the nightmare they would remember most vividly!

Several sea ships sailed across the ocean. Each had three masts and was sturdy and strong. Even small deadly waves and storms posed no challenge; they could pass through them with ease. This was a fleet belonging to the Golden Rose Family of the human Luman Kingdom.

The fleet's captain, Schroeder, wore his captain's hat as he sailed across the ocean. The weather was calm, with no sign of a storm, and everything was going smoothly. Schroeder was in high spirits. Life aboard ship was dull: there were no women and nothing to do for entertainment, so the crew had taken to playing a card game that had recently become popular in the human kingdoms of the Alan Continent. Since its inventor had been a sailor, it was known as Sailor Cards!

Most of the crew had gathered on deck to play cards and drink. The sailors on duty were wiping down the floor or inspecting the masts and sails. Mealtime was approaching, and the kitchen was preparing food. A sea ship was like a small society, with a great many people living aboard.

A sailor standing on deck with a bucket, staring into space out of boredom, suddenly spotted a dark shape on the sea ahead. He scratched his balding head. "What's that?"

Lu Zhiyu: You're afraid of Sakun? Do you have any idea who the most terrifying one really is?

Lu Zhiyu: You know nothing about power!