Lost at Sea

"I saw you marking our position based on our heading and speed the whole time," the scholar said.

"The margin of error is too large, and I'm a rookie. Put it this way: that navigation chart is useless now. We're lost at sea," Su Ming admitted honestly.

Zijin frowned. Even though this was her first time at sea, she knew getting lost out here was extremely serious. She had grown up hearing stories about people who lost their way and perished in the ocean.

"Detailed, comprehensive oceanographic data has always been a closely guarded secret of the transoceanic merchant guilds," Zijin said. "I rarely paid attention to that sort of thing, so I didn't collect any."

"Is there a magical solution?" Su Ming asked. "We can't keep wandering around now. We're almost out of fuel."

"There's a positioning spell based on rune towers, but it only works within a hundred nautical miles of shore." Zijin was thinking hard too. "We've gone too far out. Supposedly, you can navigate by observing the stars and the sun, but that requires specialized equipment."

"I can get the equipment." Su Ming thought of a sextant. "But I'd need an astronomical almanac for your world."

Celestial navigation depended on a complete, precise astronomical almanac and a set of calculation tables based on the different latitudes and longitudes of Planet Taiya.

"I'm familiar with star charts, but astronomical tables-do you think I'd have something involving spherical geometry?" Zijin countered. "Even a titled scholar wouldn't like a book where you recognize every word but can't understand a thing when they're put together!"

All right, that was a dead end. Su Ming decided to try another approach.

He looked up. "Zijin, how high can you fly?"

"If I'm in normal condition and giving it my all, five hundred meters," Zijin answered.

"Huh? I saw Archbishop Stanton fly above the rain clouds that day. That had to be at least a thousand meters!"

"He holds the Western Continent's altitude record," Zijin answered. "Ordinary mages can only manage two or three hundred meters. I'm already among the best."

Su Ming had been about to mention that the huge bone dragon that had suddenly appeared had flown even higher than Stanton, but the scholar was already asking why he wanted to fly high.

"To survey the terrain," Su Ming said. "The higher you fly, the farther you can see. If the weather's good, you can make out the terrain in the distance."

"How high would you have to fly for that, a thousand meters, two thousand?" Zijin thought for a moment, then suddenly understood. "You mean your world has something that impressive?"

"More than you can count, but materials are very limited right now, so I can't make them." Su Ming thought it over and actually came up with something. "There is one thing we could try."

Su Ming switched to Little Spiky Head and began searching for tethered sounding balloons. He soon found some suppliers and chose one that made marine survey equipment.

There wasn't much money in Miao Xin's account. He had gotten some cash from the nursing home director yesterday, but he couldn't deposit it anytime soon. So he could only pick it up in person.

After checking Miao Xin's spiritual energy, Su Ming decided to wait until evening. There wasn't much difference between day and night for Little Spiky Head, but ghosts were far more energy-efficient at night.

Of course, it was also easier to stay hidden at night.

After disconnecting, he found that Zijin had finished the first stage of the spell and had begun examining his body again, pondering something.

"How is it?" Su Ming asked.

"I have bad news," the girl said.

"What is it?" Su Ming grew nervous.

"I can't cook. So could you make a meal before you fall asleep?"

"..."

There was plenty of seaweed in these waters, and Zijin had gathered quite a lot. Su Ming forced himself to cook a large pot of seaweed soup and fry a few salted fish.

It was a bit much, but he wasn't sure whether he'd be able to get up again that evening, so making extra couldn't hurt.

The skeleton servant was a decent learner. After being shown once or twice, it could imitate the work well enough, but he had to do the chopping and preparation himself. Otherwise, what it made would make people question their lives.

Su Ming had little appetite, but he still forced himself to eat until he was half full. Then he climbed into bed and fell into a deep sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already evening. Su Ming looked beside him. Zijin was still focused on maintaining the spell, and fatigue had appeared on her normally expressionless face.

She had only just recovered from a serious illness herself, Su Ming sighed.

Su Ming didn't stand on ceremony. He concentrated and began connecting to Little Spiky Head. Being lost at sea was a very serious matter, and they had to deal with it as soon as possible.

They also had pursuers after them, which was no joke. They had to figure out where they were as soon as possible.

Su Ming switched his perspective to Earth and fused the two undead. Then he gave Miao Xin a direction to run in while he focused on searching for a route.

The "supplier" he had chosen this time was in a city three hundred kilometers away. As usual, they would take a high-speed train. Su Ming gave Miao Xin the direction and distance, then watched her jump onto the train without a hitch.

Since getting Miao Xin, Su Ming felt things had become much easier. The ghost girl could carry out instructions and would contact Su Ming if anything came up, saving him a great deal of trouble.

The train ride would take about an hour. Su Ming had Little Spiky Head lie down on the roof of a carriage, then separated the two undead and had Miao Xin keep watch before disconnecting.

"A cable?" Zijin asked.

"Right, a very light, thin cable, three thousand meters long," Su Ming said. "Earth has them, but I can't find the materials needed for teleportation and reconstruction."

Zijin thought for a moment. "There isn't one ready-made, but I can make one."

"How long will it take?"

"About three hours."

"Then sorry for the trouble, but please get started right away," Su Ming said.

Zijin had been about to say something, but she understood that this was the top priority. She stopped the disease-curing spell, got up, and went to the alchemy room.

Su Ming didn't sit idle either. He organized the power unit's operating records and adjusted the equipment's parameters again. Then he remembered something: perhaps it was time to place a new order with the ship design studio.

The alarm rang. Su Ming checked and saw that the train was almost at its destination.

Su Ming connected again, took out his phone to check his current position, then jumped off the train at an intersection.

Yesterday, at the village shop in the mountains, Su Ming had also found a set of lightweight sportswear for Little Spiky Head. He no longer tried to cover Little Spiky Head up completely. As long as he moved fast enough and wore some clothes, people would have a hard time determining what he was.

Even if someone photographed him, they would definitely imagine he was a robot. In any case, robots had already become the new industrial glass beads, had officially lost their mystique, and would become as common as cabbages sooner or later.

Su Ming was very satisfied with Little Spiky Head's current mobility. At a full sprint, he was about as fast as a car. Combined with the high-speed rail network reaching in every direction, it gave him a real sense of how vast the world was. He wasn't sure whether he would be targeted again, but if he kept moving at this speed, even the state apparatus would have a headache dealing with him!

The supplier's warehouse was on the outskirts of the city, in an old industrial park where rent was cheap. Su Ming scanned a shared bicycle. Cycling saved more energy, and even riding at breakneck speed wouldn't attract as much suspicion.