Volume 10 The Call from the Sea Chapter 3 Mutual Preparations

While Li Bin was wrestling with a headache, over in the sea outside the city of Chanas, Xuanyue was experiencing a headache of his own.

This male with waist-length purple hair, gorgeous silver pupils, gray scaly wings, and a cute face currently wore an expression of profound distress.

Just moments ago, the two combat heroes he had sent out to gather intelligence had returned. One of them, a half-purgatory mermaid whose body had originally been grayish-white, had turned completely green. Before she could even speak, a glob of black blood spewed directly from her mouth.

The other was even more dramatic, having been dragged back directly by the half-purgatory mermaid. This half-purgatory sea monster, completely free of any external wounds, was already dead beyond all doubt.

"What is the meaning of this?" Xuanyue forced himself to calm his mood.

"Master, the moment we slipped into those waters, I felt myself poisoned. Number 17 was even less fortunate; the instant he popped his head up, he collapsed directly. I couldn't even tell what had happened to him," the half-purgatory mermaid answered honestly.

Xuanyue pulled the corpse of the half-purgatory sea monster over, examined it for a long time, and finally said, "This is not your fault. It is instant-death magic. It seems there is a harbinger of doom residing within that city. Number 17 is dead; notify the ranks that a replacement must be chosen. Pick one out of five from the highest-level troops."

Number 1's half-purgatory mermaid acknowledged the order and immediately departed. Half an hour later, having cleansed the severe poison from her body, Number 1 returned leading a sea snake.

Xuanyue glanced at the sea snake and asked, "What are its attributes?"

"It is a combat sea snake, an 11th-tier free-faction troop with venomous attacks, body elongation, and other abilities," Number 1 answered truthfully. "Aside from the three sea dragons you forbade us to touch, this is the strongest unit in our roster."

Xuanyue nodded and said, "A good choice this time. Since it possesses venomous attacks, its poison resistance should naturally be higher."

With that, Xuanyue plucked a silver thorn from his own body and drove it directly into the combat sea snake. The pierced sea snake's body shuddered violently, after which its dark gray skin began to shift toward a grayish-green, and a pair of arm-like appendages sprouted beneath its head.

Xuanyue then instructed, "Take it down to the Demon Sacrificial Abyss and assign one hundred ordinary troops to it. If it fails to transform into a combat hero there, offer it as a sacrifice. If it succeeds in transforming into a combat hero, bestow upon it the designation of Number 17 and send it out to scout."

Upon hearing this, Number 1 asked no further questions and dragged the paralyzed half-purgatory combat sea snake away.

Meanwhile, inside the city of Chanas, Li Bin also received a report from the harbinger of doom, stating that during patrol duties today, they had discovered two enemies infiltrating from the open sea. After casting Death Sentence, one was executed while the other escaped.

Li Bin understood this was merely a probing attack by the enemy. Without a proper response, subsequent waves of enemy assaults would likely follow one after another.

At this juncture, Fat Crocodile offered Li Bin an idea: "Since we already know the direction from which the enemy is coming, why not turn the sea right before us into a moat? That way, even if they dare to step foot here, they will suffer heavy losses."

Li Bin's heart stirred at these words. Realizing that under the current circumstances this was indeed an excellent strategy, he asked, "I can handle the modifications, but do you think we should place something into these waters?"

"Of course we should! Let me tell you, I happen to have a batch of aquatic troops under my command that I originally intended to march alongside your navy. It seems they will have to be put to use here first," Fat Crocodile said eagerly, pulling out a stack of blueprints.

Li Bin examined the blueprints and discovered they depicted two biological nests built for the underwater environment: the Crocodile Lair and the Python Den.

Fat Crocodile explained, "These are the two most perfected new species from my designs. Look, the Crocodile Lair can produce sixth-tier corrosive poison crocodiles, which are formidable in melee combat and venomous attacks. The Python Den produces tenth-tier three-headed corpse pythons—I designed all three heads: one for melee attacks, one for ranged attacks, and the last for magic attacks..."

"What about the other troops?" Li Bin certainly didn't believe Fat Crocodile had only designed these two types of units.

"Well, I do have some other units like these, but none of them have seen actual combat, so they cannot be deployed effectively yet," Fat Crocodile answered honestly.

Hearing this, Li Bin pressed no further and casually handed the blueprints over to Sejmogen to process.

Li Bin then produced the fruits of his own research from the past few days and placed them before Fat Crocodile, saying, "These are the units I have designed. I've been thinking that even after we repel the enemy, won't we still need a navy? Take a look at these now and share your thoughts."

Fat Crocodile took the blueprints and saw that Li Bin's approach to modifying undead troops was completely different from his own. While Fat Crocodile transformed the living into the undead, Li Bin converted the undead into machinery.

The topmost blueprint, for instance, detailed modifications to the most crucial element of naval warfare: the warship. The entire vessel completely abandoned timber, using the sturdiest bones for its construction instead. Due to Li Bin's unfamiliarity with navigation arts, he quite decisively discarded conventional wind sails. Instead, the primary propulsion source for the entire ship would be steel drive shafts endlessly powered by three cohorts of corpse soldiers.

Driven by the ceaseless labor of these corpse soldiers, the vessel could achieve the speed of a normal ship sailing with a favorable wind regardless of whether there was any breeze. Consequently, Li Bin designated this craft the Speed Bone Ship.

Li Bin also incorporated new weapon designs onto the vessel. The virulent sweeper he had initially crafted was one such example, though he had now upgraded it to an icy sweeper. The projectiles fired had also been changed from toxic sand mummies to skeleton soldiers who had swallowed freezing potions.

The sole mission of these skeleton soldier projectiles was to embrace the enemy, wait for the freezing potion to take effect, and drag everything in the vicinity—encased in a two-meter-wide giant ice ball—up to the surface of the sea.

Once hauled to the surface, the enemies trapped within the ice balls would become helpless target practice for Li Bin's subordinates.

Additionally, Li Bin outfitted the Speed Bone Ship with one squad of death ballistas and two stone statue ballistas, signaling his intention to forge the Speed Bone Ship into a long-range combat warship.

After reviewing Li Bin's designs, Fat Crocodile hesitated before saying, "Li Bin, this design of yours is wonderful, but haven't you noticed a major flaw with your warship?"

"Is it that the warship lacks sufficient space?" Li Bin smiled and spoke the very words Fat Crocodile had intended to say. "Then take a look at this, which I just acquired..."

Fat Crocodile took it, glanced at it, and immediately froze in shock. "The blueprint for a ghost ship? Could it be that you..."

"Tore it apart."