Chapter 40: Lord of the Coast
Over the next two days, Ian spent his time on the boat continuously testing his ideas.
At first, Ian found that using the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword to instantly slash seven times was no problem, because how many times he could cut only depended on his speed. However, when he later tried to use the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword simultaneously with a Flash Slash, he repeatedly failed!
He initially thought these two skills couldn't be combined, but when he carefully analyzed it, he discovered the issue was actually with his Psychic Power usage.
For the Flash Slash of the Wise General Mitsumasa Card, the Psychic Power allocation was mainly focused on three areas: the legs, the arms, and the blade. Psychic Power channeled to the legs was for that instant burst of speed, to the arms for faster and more powerful swings, and to the blade for increased destructive force. When using Flash Slash alone, Ian could normally achieve this distribution.
However, when he wanted to combine it with the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword, things changed.
The Evil King Flame Slayer Sword skill channeled almost all Psychic Power onto the blade—no, to be precise, onto a ring around the blade! There was a tiny gap between it and the sword itself.
The reason for this was that the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword used Psychic Power entirely to maintain flames, forming a high-temperature flame edge around the blade. This high-temperature flame edge was sharper than the weapon itself, cutting objects by melting them through heat. In other words, it was very much like a flame cutter.
As a result, the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword and Flash Slash created a conflict the moment Psychic Power was channeled onto the blade.
Ian tried to remove the portion of Psychic Power that Flash Slash channeled onto the blade, maintaining only the flame edge around it. But when he attempted this, he found it extremely difficult!
It wasn't impossible, but it was very hard to do. Ian could already control the output of his Psychic Power freely to some extent, considered flexible in its use. However, when he tried to make even slight adjustments to these two skills, he found the Psychic Power flow became incredibly sluggish! This attempt at modification caused his Psychic Power consumption to skyrocket by an unknown factor!
After just one experiment, Ian felt his Psychic Power was almost completely drained. The headache he hadn't experienced in a long time returned.
When he checked his attributes in his mind, Ian found his Psychic Power had dropped to just 2 points!
Damn! Over a hundred points of Psychic Power used in one go! Ian was startled himself.
Although the proficiency of the Intermediate Psychic Power Training skill had increased a bit, Ian still felt it wasn't worth it. Sitting down to think it over, he concluded: This kind of fusion and modification of skills wasn't impossible, but it was limited by his basic skills! That's right, it was limited by his Psychic Power Training skill!
Maybe when Psychic Power Training reached the Advanced level, this consumption would decrease? Then the sluggishness in its use might also lessen significantly?
Thinking this, Ian had to temporarily abandon his plan to create his own skills. He couldn't try anymore now anyway, and could only wait for his Psychic Power to slowly recover.
From the food he had bought, Ian took an apple, bit into it, and lay back on the boat, checking the system in his mind.
This kind of self-created skill probably had other limitations. For one thing, Ian could already think of one: if either the Wise General Mitsumasa Card or the Flying Shadow Card was removed, the self-created skill might become ineffective. After all, Ian's so-called self-created skills were all based on these two cards.
Replacing the Flying Shadow Card with Shelley's Card, Ian used his last 2 Psychic Power points to try mimicking the Psychic Power usage of the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword. As expected, even when his Psychic Power was attached to the outer ring of the blade, it couldn't produce a flame reaction.
This was the reason for the lack of bonus effect after removing the card, right? Ian wasn't surprised; it was what he had expected.
Looking at Shelley's healing card, Ian had thought when he first drew it whether he could use his healing card to treat Kuina. But then he remembered what Ivankov had said: ordinary healing was useless for Kuina, because she no longer had physical injuries. Her wounds were entirely in the realm of consciousness.
Even if equipping Shelley's Card allowed healing with Psychic Power, it probably couldn't reach the realm of consciousness, right?
What kind of stimulus would it take to wake Kuina up? Ian felt troubled. The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became. So he re-equipped the Flying Shadow Card, exited the system interface, got up, pulled a book from his bag, and lay back in the cabin to read.
This book was a gift from Koby before Ian left. Koby had noticed Ian's lack of knowledge about sailing, so he gave him this book. Its title was interesting: "Three Thousand Questions About the Great Voyage!"
Seeing the title, Ian felt utterly dumbfounded. At that moment, he had a feeling like seeing "Blue Cat's Three Thousand Naive Questions"!
But the content was good. It listed many common-sense questions about sailing, like why you should regularly wash the deck, or what signs indicate an approaching storm at sea. At first, Ian read with great interest, but since he hadn't read text-based books like this in years, he gradually grew drowsy.
The afternoon sun was scorching, but the sea breeze was very comfortable. In this pleasant environment, Ian soon fell asleep. The book lay on his face, trembling slightly with his snoring.
If Koby were here, he'd probably be amazed at Ian's carelessness: sailing alone and sleeping without even dropping anchor! Didn't he worry about the wind changing direction and getting lost again?
Maybe Ian was just asking for trouble. Not long after he fell asleep, a huge shadow suddenly appeared beneath the sea surface!
That shadow was as big as a Marine warship, dozens of times larger than Ian's small boat. The shadow swam underwater, sometimes disappearing, sometimes reappearing. Anyone experienced would immediately recognize this as a sign of a ferocious carnivorous sea beast preparing to hunt.
As for the target of the hunt, it was naturally Ian's small boat on the surface. Such sea beasts, having attacked humans before, knew well that small boats usually carried people—a decent meal.
Meanwhile, Ian was still sleeping soundly, completely unaware of what was happening beneath the surface.
When the sea beast below began charging toward Ian's boat, its rapid swimming stirred up waves, waking Ian from the vibration.
But before he could understand what was happening, he saw the sea surface bulge, and then a huge mouth full of sharp teeth burst out of the water, biting straight at the bow of his boat!
With a crack, the once-sturdy little boat shattered into flying splinters under that bite.
Ian, just waking up, was stunned by the sight. His mind went blank, unable to grasp the situation.
It wasn't until the sea beast that attacked his boat leaped out of the water that Ian saw its true form. It was a creature over a hundred meters long, looking like a sea snake or electric eel, but with a head like a crocodile. Its huge mouth was full of sharp teeth, and its entire back had a long fin. Its body was thicker than Ian's small boat.
This was a sea beast known as the Lord of the Coast!
Yes, the same species as the Lord of the Coast that had bitten off Shanks' arm. This giant sea beast, with a crocodile-like head and a sea snake-like body, was famously ferocious in the East Blue. They often lurked in the coastal waters of islands, attacking fishermen and lone travelers' boats. Ordinary people, once encountering them, had no choice but to wait for death.
The book Koby gave Ian had an introduction to the Lord of the Coast. Notably, this huge and ferocious Lord of the Coast was only classified as a sea beast, not a Sea King.
Even Sea Kings were divided into ordinary, large, and giant categories. Ian had been in this world for so long, but this was his first time seeing such a huge sea beast. He wondered just how big a real Sea King could be?
The Lord of the Coast bit through the bow but didn't catch the expected food. Its body arced through the air with a huge splash and plunged back into the sea.
It had misjudged, thinking it was attacking a fishing boat. Fishermen usually cast nets from the bow or stern. Having attacked many fishing boats before, it followed past experience and didn't directly hit the hull. But it didn't realize that Ian, sleeping this time, was in the middle of the boat, so it didn't catch him on the first try.
Even so, Ian felt a wave of fear.
Then came a surge of anger, because he saw his cabin starting to flood! The Lord of the Coast had shattered his bow, meaning the small boat was wrecked. Even Ian, as clueless as he was, knew what a wrecked boat meant on the vast ocean.
Hastily grabbing the bag of food and rescuing a barrel of rum to shoulder, Ian's small boat was already sinking.
At the same time, the Lord of the Coast surfaced again. Its sea snake-like body coiled in rings, and its fierce, carnivorous vertical pupils coldly fixed on Ian on the boat. The next second, it opened its mouth wide and lunged at Ian again.
Gritting his teeth, Ian stomped on the boat, using the force to leap into the air, dodging the Lord of the Coast's attack. Its huge mouth crushed Ian's small boat into a pile of debris.
"Beast! Do you really think I'm your meal?!"
Ian felt like his lungs were about to burst with rage. As he fell, he flipped his wrist, drew the Sword Saint Longsword from his back, and with a flash of cold light, slashed fiercely at the Lord of the Coast's neck!
"ROOOOAR!!!!"
A miserable roar erupted from the Lord of the Coast's mouth, echoing across the nearby sea. It never expected this prey to be such a tough nut to crack.
A thin cut appeared on its neck, running all the way around. As it roared, the cut burst open, spraying blood far and wide. By the time the Lord of the Coast's body crashed into the sea, its head was completely severed from its body.
Even without using Psychic Power for skills, Ian had killed it with a single slash!
Flipping mid-air and landing, Ian stood on the Lord of the Coast's body. His boat had sunk; this was the only place he could stand.
For some reason, the dead Lord of the Coast didn't sink. Probably because Ian had killed it so quickly that air remained in its lungs or swim bladder. Its nearly hundred-meter-long body became a temporary floating island, drifting on the surface.
Ian felt utterly despairing. What was he going to do now?