Above The Sky
Chapter 187 - 187 176 Living Wooden Boat 23

187: Chapter 176: Living Wooden Boat (2/3) 187: Chapter 176: Living Wooden Boat (2/3) “Strange, I hadn’t noticed anything before, but as soon as I left, I was in danger, almost a certain death?”

Originally wanting to return home, Ian paused in his steps.

He certainly couldn’t ignore the red and black mist emanating from the Ironclad Shark, as it was undoubtedly related to his actions.

At the peak of the First Power Level, an Ironclad Shark theoretically had no natural enemies in the vicinity of the Southern Sea.

Even the Second Energy Level Totem Spirits, those two Soaring Surge Giant Eels, wouldn’t bother to leave the Odell Reef, a significant Natural Spiritual Energy Field, to catch a small shark for a meal.

The kind of threat that could endanger an adult Ironclad Shark was definitely not ordinary.

“Is it a mutation caused by the Labyrinth?”

Ian’s thoughts shifted, and his body was already on the move, quietly following the Ironclad Shark and tracking its movements: “It doesn’t seem like it—if it were a Labyrinth mutation, the impact would have been larger, and it would have faced danger while hunting with me.”

“Thinking about it, if I hadn’t shown up, this Ironclad Shark would likely still be looking for food and wouldn’t have had a full meal because of me.”

“It would need to go hunting, wandering, looking for prey, so it wouldn’t be in danger.”

Realizing this, the young man had some understanding in his heart: “The reason this shark is encountering danger is because it’s already full and doesn’t have much incentive to move, so it wanders around familiar waters…”

“There must be something unusual happening in the surrounding waters.”

By now, Ian had made up his mind to follow the Ironclad Shark to see what was happening.

It wasn’t just because the shark had some connection with his teacher, but also because Ian indeed needed such a Magical Beast assistant that could work with him to monitor the Southern Sea.

The young man couldn’t be in two places at once.

Living and studying on land meant he couldn’t be immediately aware of what was happening underwater, and if there were any significant events, he was likely to miss out on opportunities.

The shark’s human-like intelligence and wisdom proved its high potential, and if it was a bit lucky, it could advance to the Second Power Level and become a backup Totem Master for the Natives to worship, which wouldn’t be surprising.

Such a good assistant shouldn’t be allowed to face danger alone.

The Ironclad Shark was unaware of Ian following behind because the Fairy Wings could create a layer of water film that completely shielded the young man’s and the Giant Clam’s scent in his hand.

This shark, having feasted on exquisite food and gained a wealth of high-quality biological metal elements and Origin Quality from the Ironbone Swordfish, was now eager to return to its lair to digest these materials that could bring it a step closer to advancing.

Indeed—theoretically, sharks need to keep moving in order to get enough oxygen from their gills, and as they lack swim bladders, they would sink if they stopped moving.

But Terra’s sharks are not the same as Earth’s sharks.

The sharks here, aside from their appearance, are an entirely different species from Earth’s sharks.

Not only can their gills flap to draw in oxygen,

but Ironclad Sharks are also able to decompose water to obtain oxygen and hydrogen through their ‘Iron Armor Spine,’ using the oxygen for respiration and storing hydrogen in internal air sacs to provide immense buoyancy.

Thus, Ironclad Sharks do have nests.

Typically, an Ironclad Shark’s nest is situated around deep-sea mineral veins, where they use their sturdy metallic horns to hit the rock layers, and after shattering the rocks, they eat the metallic minerals within, digesting and converting them into their iron armor.

This collision creates a very deep sea cave, which becomes the Ironclad Shark’s nest.

They use it to digest the minerals and prey they had previously swallowed and as a place to rest during their advancement phase.

—Soon.

The very content Ironclad Shark swished its tail, feeling a premonition that after three to four more growth spurts, it would be ready to advance to the Second Power Level and become an Iron Armor Shark.

An Ironclad Shark could grow up to the Third Power Level ‘Isle Whale Shark,’ a very docile island-sized Behemoth that feeds on the high-temperature metallic mineral springs and lava near underwater volcanoes.

In the coastal dwellers’ tales, the whale shark’s roar is a harbinger of tsunamis and earthquakes, and it never harms humans.

This was real.

In order to procure sufficient high-quality alloy, some Descendants of the Sea even reached an agreement with certain docile Isle Whale Sharks around the offshore islands of Whale Song Cliff—the creatures would bring high-quality ore veins from the deep sea to the activity areas of Humans, and in return, Humans would hand over a portion of the produced alloy materials as food to these giant sharks.

It was a win-win cooperation.

The Third Power Level was still far away, but if it became a Second Energy Level, then even those two Soaring Surge Gargantuan Eels wouldn’t be terrifying at all.

The Ironclad Shark’s vague thoughts even had a clear plan—once it reached the Second Energy Level, it would claim a spot at Odell Reef, then find several mates to breed a clan there.

Such a good Natural Spiritual Energy Field, occupied by those eels for so many years, was simply a waste!

If it were up to it, having occupied the Spirit Energy Field for so long, it would have already become an Isle Whale Shark, the undisputed master of this sea area’s nest!

— Once I become the master of the nest, I’ll monopolize the ore veins, take a bite of iron, then a bite of nickel, and then head over to the sea rift on the eastern side to drink some magma…

Imagining the future in such satisfaction, the Ironclad Shark’s swimming speed quickened a bit more.

Until a hand reached out, grabbing its tail, and a tremendous force suddenly emerged, halting it.

“Stop moving forward.”

The voice, with which it had just become familiar not long ago, rose up, the new boss’s calm tone quietly echoing from behind: “If you keep going, you’ll become someone else’s prey.”

The fuzzy sound waves and the clear Spirit Energy will transmitted, causing the behemoth to obediently stop moving.

And when Ian saw the deep red mist on the behemoth’s body thinning from thick to surging and then gradually receding to an ordinary deep blue, he knew that the threat to the Ironclad Shark was nearby, and because of his intervention, it could no longer affect the Ironclad Shark.

Slowly scanning the surrounding sea area, Ian’s silver-green halo in his eyes shone brighter, even the giant shark swimming around the young man felt as if it was completely seen through, experiencing a strong sensation of being scrutinized.

It was at this moment, through the dual scanning of his Spirit Energy and the Silver Chip, that Ian located the source of the ‘threat’.

It was a series of ‘nets’.

Or rather, strands floating in the sea that, with the surging of the water, kept flowing like ‘roots’.

This place was about a hundred and fifty meters below the sea level, where the moonlight of the deep night couldn’t penetrate, thus completely silent and dark.

But in the darkness, there were strands interwoven together, forming a net that floated in the water.

These root-like strands were fine and long, stretching from the surface of the sea, acting like fishing nets sifting through everything in this sea area, Ian saw a wandering fish touch the root network, then the roots, as if alive, entwined around it, tightly binding the fish that should have been able to brush past the net’s opening.

Of course, some fish that touched the net were not entangled, but those fish were of quite low quality, appearing gray in the Foresight View—the least also had to be an ordinary white.

“…Elf living nets?”

Narrowing his eyes, Ian felt this seemed to be the strange sublimation fishing gear he often heard about from the local fishermen—a network of roots with its own life, that automatically selected and distinguished prey.

“The existence of a living net implies there’s a Living Tree Ship above—why would there be an Elf Living Tree Ship here?”

Ian looked up from within the sea.

The range of his Foresight View quickly spanned a distance of a hundred and fifty meters, glimpsing the situation above the sea’s surface: “Let me see if it’s an Elf merchant ship from Canaan Moore running over here…

Indeed, only their official merchant ships could pose a sufficient threat to a Magical Beast like the Ironclad Shark.”

Then, as the range of Foresight View’s prescience domain expanded further, the young man’s eyes widened.

“Shit.” He inadvertently expressed his astonishment, “What the hell is this?”

“Why on earth would there be an entire Elf Fleet in this desolate place?!”