Chapter 475 Return
Returning to the Columbus, Gothe immediately asked the captain to take out the sheepskin map and mark the location of the desert island on the map with ink.
"Marked as Bingxiao Island." He said solemnly.
This is an important resource point with great potential.
· In the future, the island is very likely to become a fourth-level ice cave that even the guardians of the snowfield have not mastered. Naturally, they have to find a way to control it. Moreover, although Bingxiao Island is above the sea, it is also right on the route between the Northern Territory and the Plantagenet Dynasty.
If we can hold this island in our hands, it will be extremely convenient for collecting ice demons regularly or as an emergency supply point in the future.
After making these arrangements, and watching the Columbus put away its anchor and set sail again, Gothe returned to his cabin with the newly harvested spiral horn and ice devil.
The spiral horn is a high-quality material for making a fifth-level water or ice-type staff. Whether it is kept for future use or sold in the City of Black Sails, it is a good choice. He has not yet made up his mind.
As for the four third-level ice demons...
The night was long and full of dreams, and he happened to be idle at the moment. Gothe immediately took out the ice crystal bottle and began to upgrade his [Frozen Blade+].
He took out the stored ice crystal fragments from his ears.
The blue ice needles exude a mysterious and powerful aura.
As a second-level frozen blade, when Gaode was still a first-level mage, it had 20 degrees of piercing damage and 40 degrees of cold damage.
This is the basic power value.
After Gaode is promoted to a second-level mage, its power can be further enhanced by casting [Frozen Blade+] through the level-up process.
In addition, the intermediate-level Ice Blessed Body also has a certain power increase against [Frozen Blade+].
In addition, if the ice elemental mana cultivated through "The Secret of Ice" is used to cast [Frozen Blade+], the power can continue to increase.
Of course, considering that Gaode's "Secret of Ice" is currently only a second-class mage apprentice's training progress, that little magic power is not enough to support him to cast this spell.
But in the foreseeable future, this will happen sooner or later.
With so many bonuses, there is no doubt that [Frozen Blade+] will remain the ace output spell in Gothic's spell library for a long time to come.
In this case, it is undoubtedly an extremely cost-effective thing to upgrade the level of ice crystal fragments and strengthen its basic spell damage.
With a click, Gaode opened the bottle.
The blue air representing the ice evil sprang up.
Gothe placed the ice crystal fragments in the shape of ice needles in the center of the airflow. The blue ice demon immediately surged forward like a tide, completely wrapping the blue ice needles, forming a constantly rotating cocoon of light.
Then, he closed his eyes slightly, and his 299 mental power was like countless pairs of delicate hands. He began to peel off the third-level ice demon according to the strengthening method, and then guided it to integrate into his own ice crystal fragments.
Although the Ice Demon's level has gone up a level, Gaode's mental strength has increased even more.
So compared to the last time I strengthened the Frozen Blade, this time it was even easier, and the peeling process was as smooth as flowing water.
With a total time of less than half an hour, Gaode was able to peel off all the three ice demons and merge them into the ice crystal fragments.
After being integrated into three third-level ice demons, this blue ice needle was naturally upgraded to a third-level ice blade.
A large level of improvement brings extremely obvious changes to the ice crystal fragments.
First of all, from the appearance, the color of the entire ice needle changed from the crystal clear blue at the second level to a deep indigo, like condensed deep sea ice.
A spiraling dark pattern appears on the surface of the needle body.
The most eye-catching thing is the tip of the needle - the originally smooth tip split into three sharp barbs. The inside of the barbs is covered with jagged fine edges, shining with a cold light that can cut the air.
The changes in appearance are so obvious, and the improvement in power is even more immediate.
Because of the [Insight] ability of Mandora's Magic Eye, Gothe can judge the power of the spell without having to test the spell.
He cast the upgraded [Frozen Blade+] once and quickly got the precise value.
The first is the puncture damage in the first stage, which has been increased from 20 degrees at the second level to 30 degrees.
Then the cold damage in the second stage was increased from 40 degrees in the second stage to 76 degrees.
The total power has already exceeded one hundred degrees, and when combined with other various bonuses, the actual power that can be unleashed far exceeds that of a second-level mage.
The following voyage had no more twists and turns, and no unexpected events occurred. With everyone's caution, the Columbus continued its journey towards the Plantagenet Dynasty.
On the seventh day after leaving Bingxiao Island, the lookout suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs: "We have reached the boundary on the Evenraya Ridge!"
Others may not be surprised. It was the first time for Gothe and Lanvin to experience a transoceanic voyage, so they rushed to the deck to check the situation as soon as they heard the sound.
At this moment, the cold air has not dissipated, and there are even a few strands of ice hanging on the edge of the ship's side.
Following the point of his observation hand, Gothe saw a huge blue-grey shadow arching under the plane in the distance. It was the remnant of the Evenlaya Mountains sinking into the sea, and it was the natural dividing line between the Northern Sea and the Sword Sea.
The top of the ridge is only a few tens of meters away from the water. The waves crash into it and break into snow-white foam, like a silver rim surrounding this natural boundary monument.
What is even more amazing is the boundary between the sea water: on the left side, the sea water is a deep indigo color that is almost dark blue, and you can still see scattered ice floes; on the right side, it suddenly turns into a translucent turquoise, and you can vaguely see the swaying coral bushes underwater.
As the Columbus cautiously sailed through a gap in the ocean ridge, the ship suddenly swayed.
It is not wind and waves, but the current disturbance caused by the rapid change of water temperature.
This means that the Columbus officially crossed the Evenraya Mountains and entered the sea area belonging to the Plantagenet Dynasty, that is, the Sword Sea.
Once entering the Sword Sea, it was as if the world had changed, and the entire voyage was completely different.
The first is the completely different climate.
The temperature rose sharply, but within half an hour, the thin frost on the deck turned into water droplets, ticking along the cracks in the wooden boards.
The crew took off their heavy woolen coats one after another, revealing linen shirts soaked with sweat underneath.
The cold-resistant seabirds that were originally standing on the comb pole suddenly began to flutter anxiously, fluttering across the comb pole, and circled towards the north - they could not stand the sudden increase in temperature and wanted to escape back to the familiar cold area.
The rise in temperature has also brought about changes in the biological species in the sea and in the sky.
A group of seabirds with feathers like tempered gold powder flew after the stern of the ship. Their beaks were sharp and long, and from time to time they plunged into the water to pick up shiny silver fish.
That is the golden-winged gull unique to the Jianhai Sea. It specializes in eating rainbow trout in warm water areas.
Hands of coral reefs gradually appeared in the sea water on both sides of the ship. Groups of palm-sized fish swam among them, and their scales reflected the colorful colors.
Compared to the ice-shelled sea crabs and black-backed whales covered in spikes in the north, the creatures here seem to have been painted with more colors by the Creator.
The other thing is that it is no longer inaccessible.
An hour later.
The Plantagenet Dynasty's navigation and commerce industries were extremely developed.
Therefore, on the Sword Sea, you can see many merchant ships loaded with goods or merchandise from various regions and flying the flags of various chambers of commerce every day.
And most of them are large ships. Compared with these merchant ships, the Columbus is like the difference between a small shrimp and a big fish.
At the Plantagenet waters, both the captain and the sailors were obviously in a much more relaxed state of mind.
Compared with the dangers lurking in the north, the sea areas of the Plantagenet Dynasty firstly have less extreme weather, and secondly, there is no need to worry too much about attacks by sea beasts and birds.
In addition, there are many lighthouses, the charts are extremely clear, and there are patrolling dynasty fleets.
It is equivalent to entering a safe zone from the wild.
At the captain's signal, the sailors set both sails to their fullest, and the ship reached the fastest speed. The ship's hull split the turquoise water, and its track was like an ever-extending silver ribbon, heading towards the Lagos Port in Lagos City.
There, the Columbus will carry out a wave of supplies, get ready, and then set off for the City of Black Sails.
Of course, the route from entering the Sword Sea to arriving at the Port of Lagos will take half a month to a month due to different conditions such as wind conditions, ocean current speeds, ship performance, etc., during which time it will pass through dozens of large ports.
From this, we can see the vast territory of the Plantagenet Dynasty, the development of the Sword Sea, and the development of the economy.
However, the only port that the Columbus can dock at is the Port of Lagos.
This is because the system of the Plantagenet Dynasty was extremely complete. Merchant ships did not have to dock at the port for supplies at will, but required a series of specific documents and strictly followed the regulations.
First of all, it is the ship’s nationality certificate, which is equivalent to the “identity certificate” of the merchant ship. It is issued by the ship’s flag country to indicate the ship’s nationality.
The Plantagenet Dynasty has strict management of ship nationality. Merchant ships must hold this certificate so that the port can confirm its legal identity, know which country the ship comes from, and then decide whether to allow it to enter the port.
If this certificate is missing, the ship will be regarded as an unidentified vessel by the port and will be refused entry.
· The Columbus was actually produced at the Harland Shipyard in Lagos City, with complete procedures. It is a pure Plantagenet-registered merchant ship, and the corresponding nationality certificate is naturally available.
Mainly two other documents: logbook and cargo manifest.
The former records in detail many key information during the merchant ship's voyage, such as navigation route, departure and expected arrival time, ports passed, weather conditions encountered, cargo loading and unloading conditions, and daily activities of the crew.
Port officials will carefully check the logbook when a merchant ship applies to dock for supplies to assess whether the ship's navigation status is normal and whether there are any potential risks.
If the log records are confusing or questionable, such as routes deviating from routine, time records being inconsistent, etc., the port may conduct a more in-depth investigation of the merchant ship, or even refuse it to dock, to prevent illegal activities from being carried out under the cover of merchant ships.
The latter requires a detailed list of the types, quantities, origins and destinations of the goods carried on the ship.
This document is crucial because different ports have different regulations on import and export goods, and some goods may be restricted or prohibited by certain ports. It is also an important way to prevent smuggling.
· Merchant ships provide accurate cargo lists so that port officials can quickly check, determine whether the goods meet the port entry requirements, and decide whether to grant permission to dock for replenishment.
· Of course Columbus also has these two things...but they are mixed with a lot of water.
· As a merchant ship traveling between Lagos Port and Valar Bay, in order to conceal the existence of the Northern Territory, the sailing route recorded in the logbook was Lagos Port-Oro Island.
Oro Island is a large island located on the Sword Sea and belongs to the island country Oro Principality.
Although the Plantagenet Dynasty has always adhered to the concept of non-expansion and non-aggression since its founding.
However, due to various reasons, there were not many principalities that surrendered to the Plantagenet Dynasty and sought asylum and became tributaries of the Plantagenet Dynasty.
The Principality of Oro is one of them.
As an island country, the Principality of Oro has relatively limited resources, a backward economy, and insufficient national strength. In addition, it is attacked by sea beasts and birds all year round, and the lives of the people in the country are miserable.
In this case, the Principality of Oro finally chose to surrender to the Plantagenet Dynasty and voluntarily became a vassal state of the Plantagenet Dynasty in exchange for the protection of the Plantagenet Dynasty.
As a price, the Principality of Oro needs to pay tribute to the Plantagenet Dynasty every year and pay regular financial and resource payments, including the most famous ore of the Principality of Oro: Oro Sea Rock.
In addition, the Principality of Oro also needs to make it clear through a covenant that it regards the Plantagenet Dynasty as its suzerainty and recognizes the suzerainty of the Plantagenet Dynasty.
Henceforth, any change of monarch in the Principality of Oro requires the approval of the Plantagenet Dynasty.
Finally, alliances with other countries are no longer allowed, and diplomatic activities must be conducted with the consent of the Plantagenet Dynasty.
But with the protection of the Plantagenet Dynasty, the Principality of Oro finally no longer wanted to suffer from the irregular attacks of the earth-line creatures, and obtained limited economic cooperation and was allowed to participate in the Plantagenet Dynasty's shipping network.
Affected by these two factors, the national strength of the entire country and even the living standards of the people have suddenly risen by several levels.
Because it is a vassal state of the Plantagenet Dynasty, the Plantagenet Dynasty has a relatively relaxed review of merchant ships traveling between the Principality of Oro and the Plantagenet Dynasty.
And because the Principality of Oro still retains its autonomy, the port information between the two is independent, which allows Gothe to exploit loopholes.
The entire operation process is not complicated. In the name of Harland Shipyard, a shell chamber of commerce was first established in the Principality of Oro.
Then the sailing route clearly written on the logbook was Lagos Port and Oro Island, which was used to cover up the actual route of Lagos Port to Varal Bay.
To be honest, the whole "counterfeiting" process is not perfect.
But this world is not like Gaode's previous life, where the Internet exists, and all kinds of information can be interconnected after being connected to the Internet. Instead, it is relatively closed, and everyone manages their own affairs.
Hence, as long as Harland Shipyard does not overdo it and attracts the attention of others, it is not difficult to hide the truth.
But the premise is that you can’t mess around.
Halland Shipyard in the Port of Lagos is a long-established shipyard, coupled with money to build relationships, port officials are very lax in reviewing the ships of Harland Shipyard, almost just for show.
But in other ports, if you are not familiar with the place, you are not treated like this. If you enter the port hastily, the logbook and cargo manifest cannot withstand careful inspection.
To be honest, even if it can withstand scrutiny, the port officials will go out of their way to find some trivial questions just to give you a slap in the face.
Hence, there is a default axiom in the industry: having to stop at the port for resupply once less will save a lot of costs.
In order to save costs and avoid exposure, the Columbus brought enough supplies at Varal Bay, which was enough to support it all the way south, heading straight to the port of Lagos.
In the next ten days, the Columbus shuttled on the busy Sword Sea route.
During the day, follow the caravan’s path and use the ocean currents to speed up; at night, rely on the light of the distant lighthouse to identify the direction.
In the evening of the tenth day, the port of Lagos came into view.
“Half sail, get ready to enter the harbor!” the captain shouted.