Endless Ocean: Survival Begins with a Dugout Canoe

"It’s time to leave."

...

After settling all his affairs in the First Civilization Cosmic Country, impersonating Lord Ron of the Thirty-Seventh Cosmic Country, and temporarily transferring his authority to the Angler, Shi Ming left New God Star and returned to the *Great Fortune*, hidden in a nearby Star Domain.

This drifter ship, brought from the Endless Ocean, had stood guard here like a sentinel during this time.

Now, it was reunited with its master.

...

The moment Ah Jian saw Shi Ming again, it sensed that its master had grown even stronger. A special field now radiated from Shi Ming. Just by standing there, he seemed as vast and profound as the starry sky itself.

’As expected of Master.’

’And as expected of me, for choosing him so early on.’

The Three-Eyed Golden Crow was not one to endure loneliness, but it had no choice but to wait obediently aboard the *Great Fortune*. Fortunately, the ship had a communications terminal connecting to the nearby Star Sea Civilizations—much like the internet in the Endless Ocean—which it used to alleviate its boredom.

"CAW CAW, Master, are we finally leaving this place? Are we going back to the Endless Ocean, or to other Cosmic Countries? I heard that in the nearby Fourth Cosmic Country, there are four Evil Ancestors who kill without batting an eye. Their strength is all above the Pillar Stone level, and one of them has even reached the New God Realm. If we’re traveling through the Dark Cosmos, we’ll have to go around that area to avoid conflict."

"Stupid bird. And here I thought your Holy Hall Skills were fate-aspected. Can’t you even sense Master’s current strength?"

Ah Jian retorted immediately.

’Hilarious!’

’Who is Master? Why would he ever avoid those four pieces of trash! This bird is such a blockhead, hopelessly shortsighted. If it were up to me, we’d just stomp over everything. A bloody massacre!’

"..."

"Go around? They’re the ones who should be avoiding Master’s might!"

Shi Ming had heard of the reputation of the four Evil Ancestors of the Fourth Cosmic Country.

"Evil Ancestor" was merely a title, much like "Sovereign." Their lineage was said to be ancient; each generation of rulers was given the title of "Evil Ancestor," and there were always four of them. These four Evil Ancestors presided over the four domains of their Cosmic Country. Their presence placed the Fourth Cosmic Country firmly in the top tier of power among all Cosmic Countries.

But in Shi Ming’s eyes, those Evil Ancestors were no different from any other Nirvana-level creature.

’Not worth my attention.’

If he encountered them, he wouldn’t mind seeing to it that they were succeeded in short order.

He took out seven Nirvana Skill Origins from his storage, and they floated in a line inside the ship’s cabin. The seven Nirvana Origins, each a different color, radiated powers of different attributes, momentarily dazzling Ah Jian and the Three-Eyed Golden Crow.

"This..."

Ah Jian knew its master well and already had a guess, but it was still hard to believe.

’Seven Nirvana Origins?!’

’When did Nirvana Tier creatures become so cheap? Were their Origins now just fruit, ripe for the picking?’

The Three-Eyed Golden Crow, however, was practically drooling.

’It’s true what they say: a fine bird chooses a worthy perch! If I had stayed at the bottom of the Endless Ocean, content to be the Abyss Lord’s personal air conditioner, I’d never have reached the Holy Hall Tier in my entire life, let alone Nirvana Tier. But now, after following Master through the stars for less than two years, seven Nirvana Origins are laid out before me, mine for the choosing!’

’This is the reward for choosing the right master!’

It stared at Shi Ming, its eyes filled with uncontainable joy.

Shi Ming didn’t keep them in suspense. He had brought out these seven Nirvana Origins precisely to raise the strength of Ah Jian and the Three-Eyed Golden Crow to the next level.

"You can each choose two Origins that suit you. Absorb them as quickly as possible and advance to the Nirvana Tier. Soon, the *Great Fortune* will leave this Star Domain and head for the Chaos Lands on the edge of the Star Sea. At the Holy Hall Tier, your strength is still too weak. You can’t even protect yourselves."

HISSS...

’Two of them!’

Ah Jian and the Three-Eyed Golden Crow pointedly ignored the stinging comment that "your strength is still too weak. You can’t even protect yourselves." They focused on the crucial part of Shi Ming’s instructions—not one, but *two*! This wasn’t a simple matter of 1+1=2. A powerhouse who had mastered two Nirvana Origins was several times stronger, in both might and mobility, than someone with only one.

’Seven Origins, and we can mix and match freely.’

While the Three-Eyed Golden Crow was still basking in its immense joy, Ah Jian had already made its choice.

It chose [Perfection] from Bertutan and [Empty Shell] from Ron. The former would synergize with its Infinite Insect traits, allowing its spawned subclones to be as close to perfect as possible, with no weaknesses. The latter, despite being an empty shell, offered incredible mobility. Moreover, its master was bound to have surplus Nirvana Origins; mastering [Empty Shell] meant it could utilize those extra Origins at any time. The stronger its master became, the more it would benefit.

Although the Three-Eyed Golden Crow was a step behind, there were still very suitable choices for it among the five remaining Nirvana Origins. It was especially shocked to see two fate-aspected Nirvana Origins—a type rarely seen in the Star Sea—just lying there for the taking!

It chose [Fixed Calamity] from Candela and [Mind-Control] from Ron, the latter of which had once been loaded into the [Empty Shell].

[Fixed Calamity] was a fate-aspected skill that could lock onto a target’s most calamitous stream of fate for a period of time and amplify it by a factor of three to five. It was essentially a mini version of "Fate-Setting." The difference was that Fate-Setting allowed one to see all streams of fate and their probabilities, and could raise the probability of a chosen stream to nearly 100%. In contrast, [Fixed Calamity] could only identify the target’s most calamitous fate-stream and amplify its probability three to five times.

But even so, a skill like [Fixed Calamity] that could manipulate an opponent’s fate was already considered extremely powerful.

As for [Mind-Control], it was originally what Ron had loaded into [Empty Shell]. After Ron’s death, [Mind-Control] separated from [Empty Shell] and likewise became part of Shi Ming’s collection.

...

Seeing that Ah Jian and the Three-Eyed Golden Crow had both chosen their Nirvana Origins, Shi Ming put the remaining Origins away.

These included [Predestination] from Ron, [Shining Head]—the "life-saving fee" from Bai Yimo—and an unused Nirvana Origin called [Sea of Bitterness] found among the remains of the Time Giant, Candela. This wasn’t Shi Ming’s entire collection; he had three other, more common Nirvana Origins in his storage. He simply hadn’t brought them out as they were incompatible with Ah Jian and the Three-Eyed Golden Crow.

As for Shi Ming’s mount, the queen of the Centaur Race from the Cave of the Stars, she was already a Nirvana Powerhouse. Furthermore, her intelligence was undeveloped and her actions were guided mostly by instinct, so Shi Ming didn’t offer her an additional Nirvana Origin.

...