Five Frozen Centuries - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Preparing To Sail 4
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As water had high heat capacity, the energy that it could have absorbed or released during temperature changes were vast. That meant there would not be huge temperature variations while living near the sea. It would have been warm during the winter and cool during the summer due to the sea breeze which helped to regulate the surrounding temperatures. One could get food from the ocean, and it helped that seawater could also be evaporated into salt.
Wei Huo had already begun constructing a cabin on the shore. He also found a suitable piece of land for farming and planted the Tree-Men’s seeds before putting up a fence to protect it. He had done all he could, and whether the Tree-Men species could be revived was now up to those seeds. 2
However, there were also troubles at the seaside such as typhoons or tsunamis.
When the Northern continent arrived at its designated location, its drifting speed began decreasing which triggered yet another strong earthquake. If it was not for Wei Huo who had set up wooden piles on the coast in advance, the farming land he had reclaimed could have been washed away.
The earthquake’s magnitude which recently occurred was not too great, measuring around 7-magnitude. After the Northern continent slowed its drifting speed, the temperatures stopped dropping. It was even picking up again because spring had arrived. 1
After being busy for over 100 years, Wei Huo could finally enjoy life for the first time.
He laid down on the beach and basked in the sun. He was enjoying the sea breeze while looking at drifting clouds on the horizon when God’s voice appeared again.
“Releasing 10,000 units of ‘God’s Envoy’ artificial intelligence beings.
“Gameworld fine-tuning begins. The first test begins.”
Wei Huo was taken aback. He got up from the beach and realized that games were usually tested several times before they were officially launched. The most important part of these tests was to find flaws. Game companies would usually seek out professional players to test their game for any bugs. Based on the feedback from those gamers, they would then modify the game to make it more entertaining. 2
Wei Huo was taken aback. Were those 10,000 units of artificial intelligence beings deployed to test the game?
It was indeed very godly!
Just as God’s voice disappeared, countless colorful rays of divine light fell from the skies and flew in the direction of the Central continent. God’s voice could be heard again.
“The Central continent is officially open.” 1
The Central continent is open? Wei Huo could not help but stare in the southern direction. He could not miss the chance and had to get to the Central continent to find Magic Stones so that he could purchase those items in the Item Mall. He could no longer improve his Qi-Training Skill at the moment without the external help of natural treasures and precious Cultivation Resources Spots. It was indeed difficult to improve one’s Qi Cultivation rank.
Although his current lifespan exceeded 500 years, who knew how long the time halt was going to last? What if it lasted for a thousand years or two? 1
He needed to get his hands on those Magic Stones. He had no choice but to continue his journey toward the Central continent!
Before he could begin his journey, he needed to build a boat to get to the Central continent. It must not be an ordinary boat either. It had to be a huge ship with sails, and it needed a compass as well.
Fortunately, God had already given players the basic ability to build long ago. Wei Huo did not know how to build cabins initially, but with that ability, he could do it as long as he found a cabin’s blueprint among the icons. The cabin would then build itself by placing the blueprint on the floor together with materials needed on top of it. Was it not magical? 6
Yes, it was magical, but at the same time, it was a game. There was no need to dwell on the details so much. 1
It was no wonder that the blueprint icon also contained a blueprint for medium-sized sailboats as well as a blueprint for pirate ships. However, the materials needed to build them were not limited to only wood. Wei Huo dragged the blueprint of a pirate ship onto the seashore and watched as a faint outline of a sailboat appeared on the sea.
However, there were too many materials needed for that blueprint to be gathered that one or two days will not be enough.
That was not an issue for Wei Huo who had all the time in the world. He spent the next two decades collecting various materials for the ship. 11
The Fatty Tiger had changed vastly over the last two decades. Although it was still fat, it was getting lazier. At times, it would even lie on the coast and bask in the sun all day.
At other times, it would stare blankly at a tree for the whole day. It was no longer active other than hunting. It could just lie down and sleep for the whole day with only moving its feet once in a while.
Its fur was getting darker, and its gaze was gradually becoming empty. Over time, It could no longer hunt like it.
Wei Huo knew those signs meant that the tiger’s end was near. Its lifespan was already almost twice the average lifespan of a normal tiger. Nonetheless, animals could not resist their biggest enemy of all, death!
The Lifespan Menu only showed that Fatty Two’s lifespan was 60 years, but Wei Huo was unclear if the 60 years meant 60 years and 364 days or 60 years and 1 day. He was unsure if the tiger was currently 59 years and 364 days old or 59 years and 1 day old. 4
Anyways it was going to die sooner or later. The Attributes Menu would not lie about something like that, and furthermore Wei Huo could not do anything to help it.
Any living creature had to face this head-on; death!
No living creature would be spared by it! 6
On that day when Wei Huo was having another sail trial, Fatty Tiger who had been lying under the sun got up all of a sudden and walked staggeringly towards the shore. It arrived at a meadow surrounded with flowers on the ground. There was a row of fences on one side and tiny trees within the fenced up area. Those were bred from the seeds that Tree-Man left with Wei Huo. Although they had begun to grow, it did not seem like they were turning into new clan members of the Tree-Men. Wei Huo had to leave them to travel to the Central continent. 1
It was his seventh sail trial today. Wei Huo was going to embark on his journey once he had everything ready.
However, for some reason, the Fatty Tiger came over to the meadow today and stared at those flowers blankly. It began doing things it had never done such as sniffed the blooming blue flowers, and stared blankly at a towering tree on a hill in the distance. It looked to the south again with squinted eyes and stared at the clouds on the horizon. Eventually, it stood up with its head held high and looked up at the scorching sun up in the sky before it collapsed… 3
Under the mild breeze, its collapse in the meadow seemed like nothing had happened at all.
Wei Huo had brought the panda along with him for the sail trial this time to let it get used to sailing. As the panda could not get used to it the past six times, they could not go on their journey right away. However for some reason today, the panda was no longer making a fuss. It laid lazily on the deck and seemed deep in thought about something.
There was definitely nothing wrong with the ship. That ship was built in some peculiar way, produced by the system. Its quality was guaranteed.
Wei Huo was confident that they could officially get on with their journey very soon.
They could leave as long as they had stocked up on some resources and prepared a few tools.
Wei Huo could not find Fatty Tiger when he returned, but with the panda’s heightened sense of smell, they found the tiger collapsed in the meadow. It was laying there quietly and seemed like it was just sleeping.
It was not the first time Wei Huo had encountered something like this. However, that was different from hypothermia symptoms. The Fatty Tiger was not panting, and it seemed like it was not in pain either. It was often reminiscing about something, and would blankly stare into space at times. Sometimes, it would take a walk and wag its tail while other times it would lick Wei Huo’s palm.
However, the tiger was extraordinarily quiet today.
The panda walked over. It would usually be mischievous and walk while swaying its body, but it was quiet today. It had walked over to the tiger’s body and sniffed it.
It did not cry or have any painful expression on its face. There was nothing. The Giant Panda just looked up at Wei Huo and walked off.
Wei Huo did not walk over. He could see everything in the Health Menu.
‘Name: Fatty Tiger.’
‘Gender: Male.’ 1
‘Status: Dead.’ 14