Shi Ming also wanted to finalize the cooperation as soon as possible.

He didn’t know how strong the Dusk Whale’s senses were for the Formless Pure Ice, or from how far away it could detect it.

During their last close encounter, had the Da Yu been marked by it?

Even with the Formless Pure Ice hidden away, could it still follow the "scent" to his doorstep?

When he was upgrading the Formless Pure Ice, the sea beast had started hunting him from a great distance. It had even pursued him from Greenland all the way past the Northern Tropic Line. Such powerful perseverance proved it was dead set on its target. Now that Shi Ming had returned to Europe, he really didn’t want to wake up one day, completely unprepared, to find a giant whale at his doorstep.

’A ticking time bomb!’

This time, he wanted to be fully prepared and take the initiative.

’I need to master an effective way to hunt cetaceans as soon as possible!’

’I’ll take the fight to it!’

"Give me the communicator. I’ll talk to the captain of the Dream of Salmon."

"Yes, Captain."

The people of the Wandering Era clearly lacked negotiation experience.

They were no match for Shi Ming, who came from the Land Era.

Shi Ming handled the subsequent communications personally. Within a few hours, after briefly confirming the preliminary terms of cooperation over long-range communication, he also got a general idea of the whaler’s overall strength from Chris, the captain of the Dream of Salmon, and obtained some intelligence on them.

According to Chris’s description, the Dream of Salmon currently had two A-rank Awakened and three B-rank Awakened.

The overall strength revealed by the other party themselves was completely unreliable.

’When you’re out and about, you can be whoever you say you are.’

Although part of the Twelve-Star Alliance, the Dream of Salmon was quite independent. It had hunkered down in Northwest Europe, relying on whaling to accumulate wealth. Its contribution points within the alliance were frighteningly low, preventing it from receiving adequate support from the Twelve Stars for free. This time, they had gotten lucky and found the coordinates of an A-rank sea beast, but Chris’s current strength wasn’t enough to handle it.

But he didn’t have the wealth to hire other A-rank Awakened. His only option was a "deferred payment" method, using potential spoils from the hunt—spoils that might or might not materialize—as a reward.

In the eyes of others, this was a classic "getting something for nothing" ploy.

Hunting an A-rank sea beast was extremely risky.

Not only could they easily end up with nothing, but there was also a chance of complete failure.

Expecting people to join an adventure without any upfront payment? Chris couldn’t use his reputation as a guarantee like Wright could, and the Dream of Salmon was no Fontainebleau. Its appeal was pitiful.

So far, Shi Ming was the first and only person to have proactively contacted them.

He was, in fact, the only outside help they could find.

The agreement made over the communicator was not binding in the slightest. The real cooperation could only be finalized after the two met in person. What made Shi Ming a little concerned was that the Dream of Salmon’s current coordinates were near Novi, one hundred and seventy nautical miles from the Twelve Stars.

It was also very close to the Dusk Whale’s location, only a little over four hundred nautical miles away.

This distance was... delicate.

’If I stay vigilant, it should be fine.’

’Boundaries are meant to be tested.’

...

...

...

Along the way, there was a small interlude.

The Da Yu sailed past Poland at a normal speed, once again facing the Twelve Stars from across the water. A massive, blurry shadow hung low on the horizon like a Mirage, gradually solidifying at the water’s edge into what looked like an indestructible ocean fortress.

This was the first King-level Wandering Ship Shi Ming had ever encountered.

He didn’t stop.

He was practically a moving treasure trove right now.

Until he found an effective method of disguise, he wouldn’t set foot on a single King-level Wandering Ship.

’Hm?’

The moment he saw it, a reminder from his Eye of the World appeared once more.

[A magnificent ship, a pillar of the Wandering Era, which also holds far too many secrets.]

[In the top-level research lab of this ship lies a stone stele salvaged from the deep sea. The Twelve Stars call it the "Eternal Stele." That’s right, it is another piece of the Divine Revelation Stele! It not only represents the glory of the Twelve Stars but is also an object of study for scientists and researchers. Just like with Xirang, they are also researching the meaning of the text on it! This is extremely difficult! You must know, even with thirty years of experience, Xirang still needs over twenty days to barely decipher a single character, and that’s using the computer with Da Yu’s highest computational power!]

[This stele also contains information that is very important to you.]

[Trying to take it by force would be the stupidest course of action.]

[This ship’s strength far exceeds your imagination! Its King-level Trait, "Sovereign’s Descent," is incredibly powerful. All General-level or lower Wandering Ships are like scrap metal before it! All sea beasts below A-rank can only exert 10% of their power when facing it!]

[Neither of your two General-level Wandering Ships can immunize themselves against King-level Traits.]

[Perhaps you can rely on other methods, a more roundabout approach?]

Shi Ming blinked, and the words from the Eye of the World vanished as if they had never appeared.

The Divine Revelation Stele.

Shi Ming had a piece in his system space—Divine Revelation Stele III, to be exact.

His Divine Revelation Stele III had just over a thousand characters, classifying it as a small stele. In contrast, the large stele on the Mount Everest Summit had a staggering thirty-three thousand characters, containing far more information than his piece. The one the Twelve Stars were secretly researching was probably about the same size as his. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

No matter how confident Shi Ming was, he wouldn’t make an enemy of a King-level Wandering Ship.

’This is very important information, but I can only wait for an opportunity.’

For now, keeping the appointment was more important.

’If it’s meant to be, we’ll meet again.’

...

Ever since entering Northwest Europe, Shi Ming had been periodically checking the Map of the Endless Sea to monitor the Dusk Whale’s position. He hadn’t taken out the Formless Pure Ice even once, so the black dot’s location hadn’t changed significantly.

Once past the Twelve Stars, they weren’t far from the appointed location.

The temperature turned a little cooler.

There was a sense of desolation unique to Northern Europe.

Appearing along with the sunset at sea was a large ship flying a flag with a salmon emblem. It emerged from the horizon at dusk.

The setting sun was the color of blood.

The whaler’s bleached flag was also stained with blood, and its mottled hull exuded a sharp aura forged through countless battles. Piled high on the wide deck were large chunks of whale carcasses—all of them, without exception, were the remains of cetacean sea beasts.

In the Land Era, humans had relied on whaling for food.

In the Wandering Era, they relied on past experience to hunt giant cetacean sea beasts, harvesting their vast quantities of blood to earn the capital needed to survive in this world.

From a distance, Chris waved his right hand in a Novi-style greeting to welcome his guest from afar.

As the two ships drew near, the moment he saw Shi Ming, a look of shock appeared on his face, characterized by his thick brows and large eyes. He then glanced around at the hull of the Da Yu.

Then he burst out laughing.

"HAHAHA!"

"The hero who rammed the Pharaoh! Young Shi Ming!"

"Looks like our luck is in! With young Shi Ming here—a man who dares to go head-to-head with a General-level Wandering Ship—that beast will surely bleed out in the ocean!"

"Welcome to the Dream of Salmon!"

...

’This is the trouble with being famous.’

Shi Ming had applied some facial disguise before setting out, but it was clearly not very effective.

He felt it was necessary to find the special product from the European Sea Region known as the "Tear of the Earth Sea" to alter his appearance for his next mission.