Whale hunting didn’t require much preparation. The Dream of Salmon had been getting ready for this day for the past month. Everything was in place; all they lacked was the right opportunity.

Now, the opportunity had come.

The Dream of Salmon sailed ahead, with the Dayun following one nautical mile behind.

Shi Ming stood before the rust-stained, deadly Black Steel Flying Spears, gazing at the setting sun in the distance.

The two ships sailed one after the other toward the marked location of the White Dragon Whale. A month ago, when Chris discovered the creature, he had attached a stealth sonar marker of his own design to its massive body. As long as they were within 30 nautical miles, they could pinpoint its location.

For the past month, the Dream of Salmon had been tracking it constantly, never letting it out of their sight for a moment.

Now was the time to hunt.

...

On the vast, golden-dyed surface of the sea, the water glittered. With all preparations complete, Chris set up the super sonar device and cranked the power to maximum. The terminal attached to the White Dragon Whale’s body began to resonate on the same frequency.

"Captain! Mr. Ming! Twelve nautical miles ahead, 1,345 meters underwater!"

"Good!"

Against an ordinary A-rank sea beast, Shi Ming could hunt it down with his Ice Annihilation without needing to switch states.

The Dream of Salmon sailed across the surface like an ordinary drifter, emitting a scent alluring to sea beasts. Barrel after barrel of Beast Blood was pumped into the sea, meant to provoke the ferocity of any beasts lurking within!

SPLASH!

The golden water erupted in angry waves as a vicious whale, a full 65 meters long and half the size of the drifter, burst from the sea.

Its skin was smooth, yet ferocious and dark!

But in the sunlight, faint white scale patterns appeared, as if it were covered in a layer of crystalline dragon scales! Neither black nor white—or rather, a mix of both! If any designers saw this, it would surely provide immense inspiration.

[Wow! A golden epic!]

[White Dragon Whale!]

The greatest benefit of the Eye of Intelligence upgrading to the Eye of the World was that it could occasionally provide relevant intel reminders without consuming a charge!

Although its style was sometimes erratic, the intel it provided was undeniably timely and useful. As for its quirky style, the Eye of the World had once explained that it was an external reflection of Shi Ming’s own personality. Shi Ming didn’t believe it for a second.

[An extremely peculiar creature! Legend has it that it’s a unique sea beast that evolved after a black whale devoured a white dragon whelp in the deep sea! It combines the traits of both dragons and whales, making it an exceedingly rare existence even among A-rank sea beasts.]

[Double the bloodline, double the ferocity. Its temperament is extremely violent. Be careful!]

[Its heart concentrates the essence of both bloodlines and can allow a human to evolve the "Whale Fall" skill! But the world is always fair. All gifts have their price. The price of "Whale Fall" is the long duration of 1,024 days.]

[The easiest skill to obtain might just be the most difficult...]

[Even a top-ten S-rank skill would just require some killing, squeezing, and soaking, which might not even take you an hour. But acquiring this one requires your digestive system to endure it for 1,024 days!]

Shi Ming blinked, and the words vanished.

’So it really is the White Dragon Whale!’

’Acquiring its S-rank skill requires continuously eating it for nearly three years!’

"Stone Pillar, keep a constant watch for enemies in the area! Activate the Sea Patrol Radar at full capacity. We don’t want any rats showing up to cause trouble."

"Yes!"

"Captain Chris, prepare for the harvest."

"Right!"

An abrupt chill appeared, adding a touch of desolate solitude to the brilliant gold of the sunset.

An ice-forged greatsword materialized in Shi Ming’s hand.

The ferocious, black-and-white sea beast charged forward, its massive, fleshy maw gaping open, strings of saliva visible. The furious waves it kicked up overwhelmed the stabilizing ability of the Gold-rank drifter, tossing it about like a piece of seaweed.

Shi Ming stood firm, greatsword in hand.

"Brother Shi, two-thirds of the way up its body, four meters higher, is where its spine is closest to the surface! There’s a large protrusion there beneath the fat. If you can pierce it with a powerful blow, you’ll undoubtedly rob the beast of more than half its combat strength!"

"Got it!"

Chris had prepared many methods for dealing with this sea beast, but with an S-rank powerhouse present, they were now undoubtedly unnecessary.

The ship was already tilting precariously!

It was about to be thrown completely vertical.

’Found it!’

Shi Ming gripped the Ice Sword and channeled his power. The strength from his core and spine flowed down to his legs, and he leaped forcefully into the air. Against the backdrop of dusk and the setting sun, the Ice Sword in his hand suddenly grew larger and longer, refracting the light in a dazzling arc.

The chill condensed into a physical form, descending in an instant like divine punishment.

His control over his power and precision was getting better and better.

Shi Ming didn’t use his tenfold power. The White Dragon Whale was less than thirty meters from the Dream of Salmon, preparing to ram the ship with its massive body, when a freezing aura descended from the sky and plunged straight into its enormous frame.

HSSS...

The immense force brought the whale’s movements to an abrupt halt, and its body, weighing countless tons, began to plummet.

Its high-frequency roar made every crew member uncomfortable. The spout of water from its blowhole shot toward the clouds like a high-pressure geyser.

The 65-meter-long great whale’s entire body arched violently, unable to control its convulsions!

"Yes!"

"Precise and deadly!"

Chris was ecstatic when he saw the six-meter-long greatsword plunge unerringly into the White Dragon Whale’s spine. ’As expected of a young and promising S-rank Awakened!’ That strike had hit the weak point dead-on. The hunt was already more than halfway to success. Now, as long as they could withstand its counterattack, their harvest was assured.

ROAR!

The White Dragon Whale had intended to ram and sink the drifter as usual, then devour the food hidden inside. But now, in excruciating pain, it instinctively gulped down massive amounts of seawater and air, and its entire body began to rapidly inflate!

Its shimmering white scales bulged as it prepared to unleash a ultimate strike!

A-rank skill, Whale Burst!

This skill wasn’t the same as a natural whale explosion; it didn’t require sacrificing its life. It merely used its instantly inflated body to compress all the long-accumulated power within its flesh and then unleash it in a powerful blow against its enemy.

The larger the body and the longer the accumulation time, the more powerful the burst of energy.

But before Shi Ming, it was a step too slow.

"Explode!"

Before the whale could burst, the Ice Sword already had.

The greatsword, buried deep within the White Dragon Whale’s body, suddenly doubled in size and exploded from the inside!

This inside-out attack perfectly bypassed the White Dragon Whale’s thick defenses and layer of blubber. The massive attack the sea beast had been preparing came to a grinding halt. Its tens-of-meters-long body twitched and arched like a loach, throwing up waves dozens of meters high.

It wanted to escape!

The twelve specially-made, heavy iron anchors of the Dream of Salmon shot out, embedding themselves deep into the corresponding parts of the giant, ferocious sea beast. They wrapped tightly around its bones, and using the powerful stabilizing ability of the Gold-rank drifter—fueled by vast amounts of Dome Crystals and High-Level Sea Crystal Stones—they held it fast.

The Dream of Salmon was 130 meters long, twice the length of the ferocious sea beast.

And yet, it could only barely hold it in place.

It was dragged along, riding the waves in an unbalanced manner. The ship’s unique structure made it difficult to sink, and the two were locked in a stalemate.

"Brother Shi, that’s enough! Its strength is slowly fading."

"Leave the rest to us."

The White Dragon Whale tried to dive. Chris was worried that Shi Ming’s underwater combat abilities might be average, so upon hearing Chris’s words, Shi Ming leaped from the great whale’s back onto the ship without needing to reveal the power of his Calm Sea Pearl.

Having just fought a bloody battle, his right arm had instantly come into contact with the power in the whale’s blood. Since the White Dragon Whale was not yet dead or dormant, and its body was so huge, the Right Arm Red Pattern only managed to absorb the power from the blood in the immediate vicinity.

[Successfully bathed in the blood of the White Dragon Whale.]

[Skill Acquired: Whale Burst.]

[Your Physical Strength and Endurance have both exceeded 100. You may choose to devour an A-rank skill to obtain stat points. Do you wish to use the Descent of the Titan skill to devour the A-rank skill Whale Burst and gain +8 Attack Power, +18 Physical Strength, +7 Endurance, +7 Defense Power, and +12 Spiritual Power?]

’An A-rank skill in exchange for 52 stat points?’

’Skills are about quality, not quantity.’

Besides, he’d learned from Mel, the female captain of the Golden Bodhi, that the more skills one had, the greater the burden on the body. Shi Ming’s Physical Strength and Endurance were both very high, so in principle, he could handle a dozen or so skills without issue. But his ambitions were lofty; he deeply coveted the S-rank skills of the Dusk Whale and Formless Pure Ice.

He even hoped to one day take the head of the Great Black Heaven Dragon!

’A Holy Hall Level Skill! Who wouldn’t desire that!’

Even the blood of the Nameless Cocoon had an absorption threshold, and the Great Black Heaven Dragon’s was most likely the same. Only by withstanding the erosion of its blood could he obtain the power within.

’For him, stat points are the real necessity!’

’They have more long-term value.’

’Yes! Devour!’

A jolt went through Shi Ming!

He felt a distinct improvement in his body. His right arm, gripping the Frost Greatsword, felt even more powerful!

"Captain!"

"An unidentified ship is approaching! It’s entered the ten-nautical-mile limit. Suspected to be a hostile drifter."

Chris snapped out of his tense commanding and turned to Shi Ming for help. "Brother Shi! That must be the Beheading Great Saber! They’re here to snatch the spoils of our victory!"

Shi Ming stood steadily on the deck, the greatsword in his hand exuding a biting chill.

"Don’t worry."

"We’ve fulfilled our end of the deal. Your experience was very useful to me. More than half of this White Dragon Whale’s blood is mine, and the rest is yours. No one is taking it."

The White Dragon Whale...

Chris heard the name "White Dragon Whale."

He froze for a moment, then felt a mix of shame and gratitude.

...

’The Beheading Great Saber?’

’Even if the Black Society itself showed up today, it wouldn’t change a thing.’

’Both the Sheri and the Dayun have reached a bottleneck.’

’Upgrading either one will require a crucial item.’