Chapter 421 One Condition <TOC> Chapter 423 Gathering
Translator: SumTLMan
The last time they encountered danger in the Ice Cavern, it was mainly due to Isabella’s fragmented soul reviving without warning. Now that Isabella has returned to the Soul Domain, there is basically no significant danger in the Ice Cavern other than the cold.
Angel chose the materials and planned to craft nearby in the Ice Cavern.
To keep the secret of the holographic tablet, Angel’s crafting this time still unfolded the Nightmare Domain and activated Boundless Silence. After implementing double security measures, he took out the materials and prepared to craft.
He had two goals for crafting this time: first, to create an illusory world item for Gloria; second, to create a flying vehicle.
He planned to craft the flying vehicle first because he had already completed the preliminary preparations for crafting the vehicle when he was in the surface world of Watthelmgrass. He just needed to gather the materials to start crafting. As for the illusory world item for Gloria, he still needed some time to consider a specific plan.
The core part of the vehicle is the power system. He didn’t bother researching this part but instead planned to use a blueprint for a miniature power system available in the —Basics of Alchemy Collection—.
Its name—Leap Core.
Among all similar power systems, the Leap Core has the highest cost-performance ratio, and he can gather the required materials.
After choosing the power system, he also needed to choose a shell that could accommodate and drive the Leap Core. Although this part is not as important as the power system, it is the most crucial step. After all, to have a superior user experience, appearance is essential. Moreover, this step involves carving magic runes or combining mechanical alchemy to determine the future direction of the vehicle.
In the —Basics of Alchemy Collection—, there are many types and branches of shells compatible with the Leap Core power system. There are flying vehicles with floating magic runes, transformable land vehicles with mechanical alchemy, and even watercraft.
There are single-type and compound-type vehicles. The so-called compound-type vehicles are those that can function on sea, land, and air.
However, compound-type vehicles usually require magic formation enchantments rather than rune enchantments. This means that the crafted vehicles are likely to be intermediate or higher.
However, Angel considered the possibility of multiple passengers in the vessel… After all, he still had to carry Tororo, and it wouldn’t be fair to let him stay in the bracelet all the time. So, he didn’t plan to choose an extremely thin shell, so thin that it resembled a knight’s sword.
Moreover, even if it was thinner, as long as the same power device was used, the shape change would not significantly increase the speed.
So, it was better to choose a more spacious and comfortable vessel.
“A magic carpet? Although it’s easy to pack up, an additional protective rune needs to be drawn.”
“A floating cottage? It looks good, and the furnishings inside can be custom designed, but is it too extravagant? It can be considered for now.”
“A single-person airship? It looks a bit too bulky.”
“A broom? It’s quite common, but several people sitting side by side on the broom handle would make for a beautiful sight that is hard to bear.”
“Tail Fur? No.”
There were about dozens of suitable shells for this power device that were suitable for flying vehicles listed in the book. Angel flipped through them one by one, and most of them were rejected by his subjective consciousness.
In the end, his gaze settled on a small passenger vehicle.
This was a small boat, which looked a bit like the boats sailing in the Watthelmgrass Canal. However, this small boat had both ends curved like a crescent moon. From this point of view, it was very similar to the Venetian “Gondola” that Angel had seen in documentaries on Earth.
But if one ignored the two ends and looked at the structure in the middle, it was somewhat similar to a Chinese covered boat. It was divided into two areas, front and back, with the front area being open and the rear area having a semi-covered space with starry curtains.
When he saw this boat, Angel’s eyes lit up.
Based on the boat’s size, it could easily accommodate two people, and the design diagram showed that the two ends could be folded and separated, saving a lot of space, since there wasn’t much storage space left in his bracelet.
The appearance was also exquisite, with curved eaves, pointed corners, and star and moon carvings.
After comparing it with other shells, Angel finally chose this crescent boat as the shell for the flying vehicle.
During the crafting process, aside from crafting the Leap Core which stalled Angel for a while, the other crafting steps were mostly successful on the first try. The large floating magic rune on the shell, with the help of holographic tablet projection, was also error-free.
Two days later, Angel successfully crafted the flying vehicle.
Moreover, the final product brought an unexpected surprise to Angel!
It turned out that although most of the alchemy materials were low-grade or even ungraded materials, they were magical materials. As long as they were smelted, they could potentially trigger special effects.
For example, Angel is most familiar with the material—Earth Demon Blood Copper. Although Earth Demon Blood Copper is not a ranked material, items made from it have significantly improved hardness and wear resistance, with a minuscule chance of obtaining special effects.
These special effects arising from the material itself have an extremely low probability of occurring, and are considered highly rare.
Therefore, alchemists usually disregard them during crafting. However, if they happen to trigger a special effect from a material, it is considered a bonus.
If not, it doesn’t matter; but once luck strikes and a special effect emerges, it is equivalent to an alchemy item possessing multiple effects. This can greatly increase its value and ranking. If a high-level item or strategic item gains a special effect, its value is simply immeasurable.
But this is something that can be encountered but not sought after.
Since Angel began learning alchemy, he has consumed materials in the range of “hundreds of tons.” Yet, he never had a stroke of luck, but this time, inadvertently crafting a flying vehicle brought him an unexpected surprise!
The material responsible for this surprise was called “Tide Shell.” Moreover, it was a material that Angel had considered replacing multiple times during the crafting process.
Tide Shell is a small, white seashell. Unlike other shells that sink to the seafloor or drift ashore, Tide Shells love floating on the sea surface.
Due to ocean currents, wind, and other factors, the sea surface often has white, pearl-like foam. These white foam clusters form diverse shapes. Tide Shells enjoy hiding in this white foam, concealing their shapes while drifting with the waves.
Tide Shells are commonly used in the crafting of watercraft bases, allowing the craft to navigate more swiftly on water.
Although Angel was crafting a ship-shaped flying vehicle, it was still a flying vehicle rather than a watercraft. While the ship-shaped flying vehicle could still enter the water, its sailing speed was similar to that of ordinary ships. Even using Tide Shells would only slightly increase the speed, similar to the force of a strong wind blowing.
Therefore, Angel initially did not plan to use Tide Shells, as they were more suitable for watercraft.
However, the patterns of the Tide Shells were beautiful, and their color was a pure white, matching well with the gray-white wood of the ship’s bottom. After comparing several materials, Angel still felt that the Tide Shell’s pattern and color were the best fit for the base.
After careful consideration, Angel decided to use it, treating it as an embellishment.
As a result, this embellishment unexpectedly presented Angel with a tremendous gift.
…
The crafting of the flying vehicle was successful, and Angel, for convenience, directly named the little boat “Gondola.”
The Gondola was 10.36 meters long and 2.78 meters wide. Its overall color was gradient, with the primary tone being black with a hint of blue, while the bottom was the milky white of the Tide Shells.
The two upward-curving horns were colored like the night sky, adorned with starry gemstones. At the tip of each horn, there was a representation of the sun and the moon, respectively. The sun and moon were held up by two goddess figures, each draped in a thin veil and with wings on their backs.
It was clear that the horns were intricately designed, and the rest of the structure was no exception. In particular, the “awning” partition at the rear featured extremely delicate patterns, coupled with understated yet luxurious colors and adorned with a semi-transparent starry veil that enveloped the entire vessel. Just from the appearance, it was filled with an aura of mystery and elegance.
Moreover, the most eye-catching part of the entire ship was its bottom.
Due to the narrowness of the Ice Cavern and the speed of the flying vehicle, problems could easily arise. Therefore, Angel did not immediately test it, but instead used the inscribed levitation rune to keep it hovering in mid-air.
When the Gondola was suspended in the air, the bottom of the ship became exposed.
Though it was suspended in the air, Angel could vaguely see the water ripples and white foam around the ship’s bottom that would normally only appear on the surface of the sea. When propelling the Gondola forward, these ripples would form corresponding waves, as if it were in the water.
If Angel hadn’t known he had the Gondola suspended in mid-air, just looking at the water ripples and white foam around the bottom, he would have thought it was on the sea surface.
It was an illusion, yet not an illusion.
This was the great gift given by the “Tide Shell” — wherever the ship went, it would be the ocean.
The effect of the Tide Shell was to increase a certain amount of speed while traveling on the water’s surface. Angel had hit the jackpot, activating the special effect of the “Tide Shell.” Now, its speed amplification was not limited to the water surface, but it could also increase speed in the sky.
Because it treated the sky as the ocean too!
This meant that the speed of the flying vehicle would be even faster!
This was a perfect 1+1=3 deal, and it could be said that the Gondola Angel created, with the help of the “Tide Shell” effect, could completely rival the speed of an intermediate flying vehicle!