God-level Hero

Staring at that extra golden, gleaming Athena Goddess Statue holding spear and shield in my backpack, Da Fei was so excited his breathing practically stopped. Not even talking about the hidden "face" effects, just that flat +20% to crops, fishing, and industry alone was already insanely busted!

The Flying was right in the middle of mass-developing the Mushroom Forest, and this extra 20% was basically like adding Jinka: sucking up nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium from five meters underground, one bag doing the work of two! As for fishing, do Sea Monsters count? And industry—at that instant, Da Fei suddenly remembered the winery blueprints he got from the Wine God Domain. Brewing wine should count as industry, right? Oh, and that grape vine should count as a crop, yeah? Which means, if we build a winery in the Central Village, this statue’s effect can be exploited to the max!

Then talking about the "face" value, let’s not even mention the God of Wine—so long as he dares to zone out for even a second, I’m confident I can run. The key thing is, I’m under the Sea God’s curse! With Athena’s face on my side, wouldn’t that cut down on a ton of troll-level crap happening to me?

This thing, I’m taking it no matter what!

Da Fei hurriedly asked in excitement, "Chief of Staff, this Divine Artifact is being loaned to me, right? Then when I complete the quest, will it become my reward?"

The Chief of Staff narrowed his eyes, stroked his beard, and slowly said, "Well, I did say before, we also borrowed this from the Moon Temple, so we can’t make the final call. However, if the Warrior’s Merit is truly outstanding and extraordinary, we can consider pleading with the Moon Goddess to see if she can help. In short, it all depends on people’s efforts."

"It all depends on people’s efforts," huh! The moment this old fox squints, you know he’s trying to scam me! Fine, even if it’s a pit, I’m still jumping in! Even if I don’t get it in the end, after this sweep the Holy Vine is definitely going to eat its fill.

Da Fei said boldly, "Please rest assured, Chief of Staff, I will definitely establish unparalleled Merit!"

The Chief of Staff laughed heartily, "As expected of a Warrior who crossed zones to get here, we have high hopes for you. If you have any operational requests, feel free to提出!"

The elder beside Da Fei immediately said, "Chief of Staff, by order of the King we accompanied the Warrior into the Underworld at the roots of the World Tree. We discovered that the Hell Race has been developing there for many years and already possesses eight major cities, posing a huge threat to the World Tree. At present, the Warrior’s warship has been heavily damaged in multiple confrontations with Demon God-level experts and is in urgent need of repairs and strengthening, so as to deal with the battle against the God of Wine and the Demon Gods!"

Truly worthy of being an elder, following me all this time wasn’t for nothing! Da Fei was overjoyed and quickly said, "Yeah, yeah, my Gun Cabin got completely blown up by Demon Gods teleporting into it. I need to build a God-level Gun Cabin that can block teleportation, and I don’t have many cannons left either, so I want high-powered super ship cannons! Also, dodging the God of Wine’s teleports was brutal. The ten A-grade Charging Crystals from Mage City I brought along were totally not enough. I earnestly request higher-grade crystals!"

This was just like when I took the Epic Quest for the Pool of Radiance back in the day—it was absolutely time to open the lion’s mouth wide. No way I’m missing this chance!

Super ship cannons are a must. Against Demon God-level experts, I don’t even dare let anyone stand on deck; we can only turtle inside the Gun Cabin and shell them with the ship’s guns. What Makar wouldn’t give me, I have to figure out some way to get through other channels. And the most crucial thing is the Charging Crystals. Once the crystals run out, we have to use Holy Vine Power. That’s the most loss-making deal ever. Those seven or eight teleports while dodging the God of Wine must have drained the crystals completely; otherwise Tamilia wouldn’t have bolted so decisively.

The Chief of Staff’s expression grew solemn as he pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke: "The Underworld is a place our power can hardly reach; it is indeed a major hidden danger. As for super ship cannons and the like, we’re very sorry, war machines are not the Elves’ specialty, and we really don’t have any. However, we can provide large quantities of Enchanted Crossbow Arrows. We’ll first sponsor the Warrior with 1000 bolts. If the Warrior needs more, then you’ll have to exchange Merit Points for them. You should know that normally only those at the Kingdom General Level are qualified to exchange for such expensive ammunition as Enchanted Crossbow Arrows."

Uh, sounds like these are basically the same type of ammo as the Phantom Crossbow Cannon shells Makar had? Da Fei could only nod, "Many thanks, Chief of Staff!"

The Chief of Staff sighed again, "As for the high-grade Charging Crystals the Warrior requires, sadly, we have no surplus stock. There’s nothing we can do about that."

You’ve got to be kidding me! Da Fei anxiously said, "What about the Gun Cabin then? Demon God-level experts teleport onto our ship from the Gun Cabin every time!" Hmph, I’m just not mentioning that I’ve got a barrier.

The Chief of Staff said seriously, "The Gun Cabin is the core of a warship’s combat capability, so it is indeed a key target for enemy strikes and must be a key focus of our defense—how about this, we’ll use World Tree timber to repair the Warrior’s hull, what do you say?"

Da Fei couldn’t help being stunned, "World Tree timber?"

The elder beside Da Fei excitedly tugged his clothes again, "Many thanks to the Chief of Staff for your generous support!"

Only then did Da Fei snap out of it! Right, the World Tree is a Tree God, so World Tree timber definitely counts as Divine Wood, right? Back then when we chopped down the Nasir Ancient Tree, we recovered a whole pile of rare timbers with different attributes. You can just imagine what the World Tree must be like!

Da Fei said excitedly, "Many thanks, Chief of Staff! Um, what can this Divine Wood be used for?"

The Chief of Staff sighed, "Although the World Tree looks grand and enormous, and her roots extend into various worlds and give birth to worlds of her own, not every piece of her wood is God-powered timber. In fact, the vast majority of the World Tree’s wood is ordinary wood. Her Divine Power is concentrated in only a small portion of the timber. These pieces can no longer really be described as conventional wood; the accurate term should be ’Divine level’, perhaps? Our Druids extract a small portion every few hundred years to craft extremely powerful Magic Wands. This batch I’m using was originally meant for Magic Wands as well, but I think that in the Warrior’s hands it will have greater impact. Your ship is worthy of this timber!"

Da Fei suddenly understood, surprised and delighted: "So you’re saying, once I use this kind of wood to build a gun cabin, my gun cabin will basically be a cabin-shaped Magic Wand?"

The Chief of Staff nodded: "Exactly. However, we can’t sponsor this for free. You need to exchange Alliance Merit for it. With your current Merit, Warrior, you should be able to afford it."

Wahahaha, the system really is stingy as hell, even with shit already pouring down on my head it still wants to charge me Merit! But whatever, what’s Merit good for anyway? At most for promotions, titles, and gear. Compared to the growth and safety of the Sky Ship, all that is just floating clouds!

Da Fei was overjoyed: "No problem, I’ll exchange it all! Oh, right, also, I want some equipment for a winery, for dealing with the God of Wine."

The Chief of Staff laughed: "A little thing like a winery isn’t even worth mentioning. Just pay some Gold Coins and I’ll have the Deputy Officer handle it for you. Now, the battle situation is urgent, so shall we immediately arrange gun cabin repairs for you, Warrior?"

Shit! I’m not done yet! Da Fei hurriedly said: "Chief of Staff, I still need to teleport back to the Underworld, remember?"

The Chief of Staff laughed: "That’s something we must implement on our side; Warrior, you don’t need to worry about that."

Da Fei hurriedly said: "Uh, and I still—"

The elder beside Da Fei tugged on his clothes again and whispered: "Warrior, you’re out of Merit..."

Fine, a guy with no Merit is basically a pile of crap. Nothing more to say, let’s just get to work.

So, after completing all the handover procedures, Da Fei’s Merit dropped to a pitiful three digits. Then, accompanied by the elder, Da Fei was teleported all the way back to the Sky Ship at the Alliance logistics base to quietly wait for the Kingdom maintenance squad to arrive, and in the meantime installed the face of Athena on the mast.

And just as Da Fei came aboard, Anlicia and Catherine were already waiting at the rail. Something’s up?

Sure enough, Anlicia said solemnly: "Lord City Lord, we may have found the reason for our Mysterious Stealth Navigation failure, because under normal circumstances this skill really should only be able to succeed at sea."

Da Fei said in surprise: "But we succeeded multiple times up in the sky above the Sulfur Blood Sea?"

Anlicia nodded: "That’s exactly what we want to verify! I believe the reason it worked in the Sulfur Blood Sea is because there’s extremely low-visibility sulfurous smoke there. Even without seawater providing mist for the arcane, it already achieves a perfect concealment effect. Add the arcane and Reconnaissance Skill bonuses on top, and the absence of the Sailing Skill can practically be ignored!"

Catherine nodded: "It’s like a black guy jumping into a pile of coal. Even if he doesn’t use any skill, no one can find him—"

Apu! I hate racist remarks the most. Come here and let me pull down your pants and spank your ass!

Catherine continued: "In fact, among the three combined elements of Mysterious Stealth Navigation, the Sailing Skill is not indispensable, because Sailing doesn’t actually contribute to concealment. Its role is only to prevent irregular movement on the water from disrupting the concealment effect."

Anlicia nodded: "In other words, the Sailing Skill can be replaced by other skills!"

Da Fei’s heart trembled and he hurriedly asked: "Replaced by what skill?" Damn, asking what I already know—the Aviation Skill replacing the Sailing Skill, obviously!

Anlicia smiled: "Of course by the skill you, Lord City Lord, are currently developing. So we’d like to ask you to test our idea. We first create an environment with extremely low visibility smoke, then try using the skill again. If it succeeds, you might achieve a breakthrough in your research, my Lord. After all, you now have insights in Fluid Mechanics as theoretical support, which is completely different from back then when there was no theoretical backing and even a lucky success would yield no gains."

Da Fei’s brow twitched. That’s right! If it were a skill that already exists in the game, then as long as you succeed by chance you could gain an understanding. But my Aviation Skill is a skill that doesn’t exist in the game; it has to be self-developed. Without Fluid Mechanics as theoretical support, even if I succeed I wouldn’t gain any insight. Just like countless people saw apples fall, yet only Newton comprehended the three laws from a falling apple!

Da Fei looked up at the sky, where there was a cloud made of rain in the wind: "No need to manufacture anything, we’ll just use that place!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)