NOVPUB
Chapter 250
“Building a ship that can float on the Sea of Afterlife? I-is that even possible?”
Having just returned from the Sea of Afterlife herself, Esil couldn’t wrap her head around Suho’s idea.
It was a spiritual world where the souls of the dead drifted. It was a “sea” in name only, and it was really a dimension entirely different from any normal ocean. Suho’s plan to build a ship and sail across it was utterly incomprehensible.
“Would a ship even hold up there?” she asked. “No matter how sturdy the materials are, the moment they’re exposed to the air, they’ll decay in an instant.”
Suho shattered her worries with a single statement.
“We have all the materials we need right here.”
“I’m... sorry?”
Esil turned her head to follow the direction of Suho’s gaze.
“Oh!” she exclaimed.
This was the demon realm, and the trial had only just ended. It was still littered with the corpses of the Residents of the Rift, the creatures they’d just defeated in battle.
Of course, it was not quite precise to call them corpses. The Residents of the Rift had been destroyed completely and had returned to their original form: simple piles of weeds.
Suho shrugged. “I fought them there myself, remember? The weeds were all floating around on the surface of the Sea of the Afterlife. Well? We have enough material, don’t you think?”
Esil was so full of admiration that she was unable to immediately respond.
Of course these were good enough. These weeds had sprouted into being in the Sea of the Afterlife of their own accord. While they were called “weeds,” she knew from fighting them that their size and sturdiness almost made them tree-type magic beasts. They were perfect ship-building material. 𝑛𝘰𝘷𝑝𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝘮
Beru popped up again with a triumphant expression. “So clever, Young Monarch! Naturally, it is possible!”
His pride in Suho was palpable. Grinning from ear to ear, he clung to the hunter’s head, patting him fondly.
He hadn’t been this proud since the day he first heard baby Suho call him “ant.” It was probably around that time that he became even more enthusiastic about teaching Suho new words.
Something similar seemed to be happening now. Beru’s narrowed eyes glinted with a sharp, intellectual gleam like a calculating master instructor, and he swiftly went into exposition mode.
“To tell you the truth, there’s no race more suited to navigating the Sea of the Afterlife than demons,” he stated.
“Death,” the deadly curse and debuff, was the worst of its kind, gnawing away an individual’s life force in real time. Even if one did nothing but breathe, their health would fall at a rate of one hundred points per second. No matter how many potions Suho had downed, the depletion rate only barely slowed.
Falling into the dark waters only made things worse. The deeper one sank, the faster the debuff drained their life away.
However, this effect only applied to living beings like Suho. The shadow soldiers who had accompanied him at the time were completely unaffected by the debuff, and for a simple reason: They didn’t have any health to lose in the first place. They were already dead, their existence depending solely on Suho’s mana.
Essentially, the shadow soldiers were immortal. As long as Suho had mana to spare, his shadow army was invulnerable in the Sea of the Afterlife.
Beru continued, “And demons are equally unaffected in the Sea of the Afterlife! Although it is for a different reason.”
While not everything in this world could be explained in game terms, if one had to make a comparison, demons relied more on mana points than health points. In simple terms, they were accustomed to existing in spirit form. They had risen, after all, from souls corrupted by the weeds in the Sea of the Afterlife—namely, from the Residents of the Rift.
“It is said that in the distant past, the Sea of the Afterlife was home to the souls of demons,” Harmakan chimed in, quietly joining the conversation.
By nature, demonic spirits like Harmakan enjoyed conducting various experiments on souls. His mouth watered as he looked at the demons. All kinds of evil ideas were already sprouting inside his brain—the Evil Spirit Armor being one example.
“Hehe. I can’t wait to get my hands on them. If you entrust them to me, Master, I will craft the ‘demonic ships’ you desire. Of course, it will take some time to make enough vessels for all the demons gathered here.”
Harmakan seemed confident he could pull it off given enough time and materials.
Beru, unwilling to be outdone, shoved him aside.
“Young Monarch, demonic spirits may be useful, but there’s another race we should be employing for this task. As it so happens—”
“I know. I noticed,” Suho cut in.
He and Beru exchanged a knowing glance. He already knew which race the shadow ant was talking about.
Most people did not remember what they had witnessed as a baby, but very rarely, fragmented memories could resurface.
There was great variety among the races of beings that Suho had pulled up from the Sea of the Afterlife. Not all of them were powerful or impressive. In fact, the truly powerful ones were much deeper, too deep for his current level to retrieve.
However, some of the souls he had succeeded in extracting belonged to a race Suho vaguely recalled from when he was little, one he had seen in his father’s shadow world.
For example...
“The bearded dwarves,” Suho said.
At his words, shadowy figures emerged from the ground beneath his feet.
Beru’s smiling eyes curved even more in delight. “That’s right, Young Monarch. The bearded dwarves are terrible fighters, but they are exceptionally talented as blacksmiths.”
The dwarves had thick, bushy beards shrouded in swirling black shadows. Though they were short in stature, their bodies were broad and muscular.
[Shadow Dwarf - Level 1 - Normal Grade]
[Shadow Dwarf - Level 3 - Normal Grade]
[Shadow Dwarf - Level 1 - Knight Grade]
[...]
Their levels didn’t matter to Suho. They weren’t going to fight, after all.
***
The bearded dwarves—that is, the shadow dwarves—were a bit more foul-tempered than expected. The lower-ranked ones couldn’t speak, but those who could were impatient to have their voices heard.
“Hahaha! Building ships to search for the World Tree?” one shouted, cackling.
“Ah! To think I’d be given such an exciting task after death!” another exclaimed.
Hearing Suho’s plan, their beards bristled with enthusiasm. Their eyes glittered like stars.
“If you’re in a hurry, why build everything on the spot?”
“Exactly. We have plenty of materials. Why don’t we start by making a bunch of rafts and get going immediately?”
“Once we’re on the Sea of the Afterlife, we can expand the ships as we go!”
“That’s right! If our materials are weeds that grow in the sea, we can retrieve as much as we need there.”
“This is great! Let’s do it!”
With that, the dwarves rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Before long, they had turned Suho’s plan into a tangible reality.
They shouted at the demons.
“You there! Demons!”
“Don’t just stand there! Carry these away!”
“Now, now! Don’t let your energy go to waste! Aren’t you going to work?”
The demons were caught off guard as they found themselves reduced to the dwarves’ assistants.
“Wait a second. I’m the ruler here,” Esil muttered, looking slightly put out. Before she knew it, the demons who were supposed to serve her found themselves taking orders from the shadow dwarves instead.
That aside, the speed at which the dwarves worked was nothing short of astounding.
“Hahaha! Rafts are a piece of cake!”
“All you need to do is bind logs together!”
“Master! All done!”
In no time, countless rafts lay completed in front of Suho.
A notification sounded.
[Item: “Raft of the Afterlife” has been crafted.]
[Item: “Raft of the Afterlife” crafting skill has been acquired.]
Soon, a new line was added to the “Crafting Skills” section at the end of his skill window.
[Crafting Skills]
[- Life-Giving Elixir
- Raft of the Afterlife]
As Suho glanced at the words “Raft of the Afterlife,” a description popped up.
[Item: Raft of the Afterlife]
[Acquisition Difficulty: E
Type: Mount
A clumsy raft made by binding together the weeds grown in the Sea of the Afterlife.
It has weak defense, but it can function as a ship on the Sea of the Afterlife.]
“It actually works,” Suho murmured. Seeing the last line of the description, he realized his plan had succeeded.
“With this, we can load the demons and set off immediately!” a dwarf shouted.
“Let’s go and see if they actually float!” another cried.
They were overwhelmed with excitement, their beard hairs standing on end. They were very eager to see if their creations would actually function on the Sea of the Afterlife.
One of the shadow dwarves at the back seemed even more spirited than the others.
“Goodness, what should I do with this? I had a little extra time, and it seems I got a bit too carried away!”
Another notification popped up.
[Item: “Boat of the Afterlife” has been crafted.]
[Crafting skill for the item: “Raft of the Afterlife” has been upgraded to crafting skill for the item: “Boat of the Afterlife.”]
“Hahaha! Well, this is hardly anything special. But all right! I just wanted to show you that we can gradually upgrade these rafts into something bigger,” the dwarf remarked. He stroked his beard and grinned slyly at Suho, clearly seeking praise.
The other dwarves glared at him with open disdain. It was a thinly veiled excuse, and they could all see through it—this dwarf simply wanted to stand out and make a lasting impression on Suho.
The others hadn’t chosen to make simple rafts because they lacked skill. Speed had been their top priority as they aimed to craft as many rafts as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Grinding their teeth in frustration, the other dwarves continued with their explanations.
“In any case, we’ll keep upgrading the ships once we reach the Sea of the Afterlife. Eventually, we’ll build larger, stronger vessels.”
“As for how many will ride in each raft at first... We’ll only need one dwarf, with ten demons to serve as laborers.”
“Until the ships are fully armed and fortified, you’ll need to assign some soldiers to defend us.”
“Once the battleships are complete, the soldiers will not be necessary. Speaking of warships,” one dwarf added thoughtfully, “should we consider adding cannons?”
The moment cannons were mentioned, Harmakan appeared as if on cue.
“Cannons for demons to use? I’ve already taken care of that,” he said.
He opened his palms and formed an evil magic circle.
“Hellsteel. It is a sturdy metal imbued with demonic energy, found only in the demon realm.”
He had not been idle while the shadow dwarves made their rafts. He had also executed a plan to impress Suho.
“Using hellsteel, I can craft cannons that fire concentrated demonic energy, Master.”
There was a flash of light.
[Harmakan has crafted the item: “Demonic Cannon.”]
“It’s really nothing too fancy, of course. Haha!”
As Suho observed the competition between Harmakan and the shadow dwarves, a sudden idea struck him.
“Wait a second,” he said. “Does that mean...”
He pulled out Kamish’s Wraths and held them up for the shadow dwarves to see.
“Can you fix these, too?”
The beards of every shadow dwarf seemed to prickle in unison.
“Blades... made of dragon teeth?!”
