The Shadow's True Form?

Elsewhere, although the shadow had retreated, Lin Yuan's crisis was not over yet.

The Death Seed in his hand had picked the worst possible moment to trigger its negative effect. One second after he activated the Shell Pump's jet, it began constantly draining his health.

The crucial thing was that, while it drained his health, Lin Yuan discovered he could not move!

Five seconds... ten seconds...

Lin Yuan floated seventy meters underwater, drifting with the current.

Fifteen seconds... twenty seconds...

A strange fish whose mouth took up more than half its body swam over to Lin Yuan and began biting this peculiar floating object.

Its teeth were sharp, but they were nowhere near capable of biting through Lin Yuan's one-meter-thick wooden deck.

After thirty seconds, Lin Yuan's body felt lighter, and he regained his ability to move.

With a backhanded light blade, he split the strange fish still gnawing futilely at him in two.

Then, still shaken, he looked at the Death Seed in his hand.

"Good grief. I thought this life-force-draining negative effect would barely affect me. Now it looks like that's not the case at all."

Over those thirty seconds, he had lost a total of 300 durability, which was indeed insignificant compared to his total of fifty thousand.

But who could stand being completely immobilized for thirty seconds at a critical moment?

If this thing had activated a few seconds earlier, he might already have been inside that shadow's belly.

Still, after the Death Seed's frenzied draining, he did feel a little closer to it.

He had a feeling that, if he summoned the Undead Legion now, Skeleton Pirate Captains would be the baseline, with a chance of summoning even higher-ranking undead.

From the looks of it, every time the Death Seed actively absorbed life force, its wielder could draw out more of its power, provided they survived.

Lin Yuan kept this in mind, then tossed the Death Seed back into the treasure collection room.

Who knew when this thing would go crazy again? Putting it away for now would give him more peace of mind.

Besides, it now seemed far more dangerous than he had imagined.

For example, if this thing began draining its wielder's health while summoning the Nether River...

Just imagining that scene was a thrill.

As for the Skeleton Pirates he had summoned earlier, Lin Yuan had dismissed them before putting the Death Seed away, since their movements were clumsy underwater.

"This next."

Lin Yuan forcefully pulled out the enormous pointed horn embedded in his stomach. After merging with the ship panel, he had neither a sense of pain nor any weak points, so doing this did not feel like anything.

After he pulled out the huge horn, only wisps of blood drifted from the wound. At the same time, the warehouse in the middle of the Lin Yuan's hull showed up in red, temporarily preventing him from storing or retrieving anything.

"Emergency Repair!"

This ability did not require him to take timber out of the warehouse. As long as there was timber in stock, it would be consumed automatically. It really was convenient.

Before long, the wound in Lin Yuan's stomach had healed completely, and the warehouse was repaired as well.

The injury caused by this horn looked frightening, but in fact, its power had dropped by more than half when it broke through the boundary between the Main Sea and the Shallow Sea. After the damage reduction from Wooden Armor, it had ultimately dealt less than 5,000 damage to Lin Yuan.

An injury sufficient to instantly kill ordinary players dozens of times was merely a light wound to Lin Yuan.

With the huge horn in his hand, information automatically flowed into Lin Yuan's mind.

[Frost Sea Serpent Horn]

[D-Rank Transcendent Material]

[A regenerating horn from a Frost Sea Serpent's head. It carries intense freezing power, ensuring its survival in the Main Sea.]

[Can be used by craftsmen as a material for forging Transcendent Equipment, or used as a ship's ram after simple processing.]

[Notice: In the Paradise Sea, this material can be consumed directly to add the special weapon "Frost Sea Serpent Ram" to a ship. Add it now?]

After a little thought, Lin Yuan chose "Yes."

One bird in the hand was worth ten in the bush.

Following Lin Yuan's choice, the Frost Sea Serpent Horn turned into a streak of light and merged into his body.

Before long, a sharp horn appeared at the bow of the Lin Yuan.

[The Lin Yuan has gained a skill: Frost Sea Serpent Ram]

[Frost Sea Serpent Ram: Summons a sea serpent ram to attack enemies. All enemies within attack range will be frozen by the cold. The precise freezing duration depends on the enemy's strength and surroundings.]

[Based on the weapon's power, grants an additional 400 Strength.]

Lin Yuan tested it. The ram's attack range was a little under five meters, much shorter than the harpoon's, but it was also far more powerful.

Moreover, unlike Harpoon Attack, which required him to point his right hand at the enemy, he could launch the ram attack simply by facing his head toward his opponent, making it highly unexpected.

And compared to the harpoon's five-minute cooldown, the ram attack had a cooldown of only ten seconds, allowing him to use it freely.

The additional 400 Strength was also very important to Lin Yuan, freeing him from the problem of relatively weak normal attacks.

"As expected of D-rank Transcendent Material. This ram has directly given both my attack power and control capabilities a qualitative boost."

Lin Yuan was very satisfied.

Of course, using a supernatural material directly as a weapon could not compare to having a "craftsman" forge it into Transcendent Equipment.

But Transcendent Equipment was only an aid to him. His true body was still the Lin Yuan, and this sea serpent horn was clearly more useful as ship equipment.

Besides, he had no idea where to find a "craftsman."

Although this encounter with the shadow had been dangerous, it had definitely been worth it.

Still, doubts lingered in Lin Yuan's mind:

"That shadow fired a Frost Sea Serpent Horn. Could its true form be a Frost Sea Serpent?"

"But a Frost Sea Serpent's material is only D-rank, on par with the Undead Tree's core. The shadow is definitely stronger than that!"

"Is it a special Frost Sea Serpent? Or did it use some special means to wield a Frost Sea Serpent's abilities?"

Lin Yuan recalled the earlier scene.

The instant that white light appeared, it had faintly illuminated the shadow's head. He vaguely remembered that he had indeed seen a pale snake's head.

But Lin Yuan kept feeling that something was wrong.

Troubled by this doubt, he did not linger underwater. He merely rounded up some magical creatures as reserve food for the Shell Pump, then returned to the surface.

The first thing he did upon returning to the surface was call Lilia out and tell her what had just happened.

"There's no way that thing was a Frost Sea Serpent!"

After hearing Lin Yuan's analysis, Lilia reached her conclusion without a second thought.

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because I don't know what a Frost Sea Serpent is, of course!" Lilia declared with complete confidence.

"...What kind of logic is that?" Lin Yuan thought Lilia was having another bout of stupidity, only to hear the doll girl argue with conviction:

"I don't keep the names of weaklings in my head! I know all the things that count as powerful in the Main Sea, like Ice Crystal Giant Pythons and Melville Giant Sharks! Frost Sea Serpents aren't among them."

"Could it be an especially powerful Frost Sea Serpent?"

"Oh, now that you mention it, I remember. I do know Frost Sea Serpents. The strongest among them evolve into Ice Crystal Giant Pythons."

"In that case, could the shadow be a Frost Sea Serpent on the verge of evolving?" Lin Yuan felt he had spotted something they had overlooked.

"Uneducated Captain, only the strongest Ice Crystal Giant Pythons qualify as powerful in the Main Sea. The ones that haven't evolved are all trash!"

"I see. Looks like that shadow really isn't a Frost Sea Serpent, then. But why can it fire a Frost Sea Serpent's horn?"

"...Uh, let me think about that..."

Seeing the doll girl start pounding her head again, Lin Yuan knew he could not count on her.

But then a thought occurred to him.

Perhaps he could ask Research Institute 3154?