Setting sail

- "Finally..." Keith let out in a sigh. It had been over two months that Keith had embarked on a journey towards the ocean. Spawning in the center of the African continent certainly did not help with his projects and the young man had to travel several thousands of miles just to get to his destination.

Along the way, Keith was met with several roadblocks such as the lack of fuel and the annoyingly uneven landscape that sometimes required of him to deviate from his trajectory for hundred of miles because he had to go around some mountain ranges. Other than that, the young man spent most of his free time within the game, without forgetting about studying his university lessons, and managed to cross about a hundred miles of distance per day.

As for the fuel, Keith improved the size of his front wagon and installed a furnace in there to burn some biomass and supply all of his engines with the necessary power. This had also been a major roadblock that the young man has had to overcome but he was happy that he made it through without much troubles.

'Ah... This view is so soothing.' Keith thought. 'Anyways, let's get to work, I already have wasted too much time on this continent.' It was finally time for the young man to started working on his plans to build a ship that could stand off against the calamities of the sea.

The ocean certainly was a sight to behold. He did go to the ocean back in the real world with his parents, but it was really long ago, before he even started his economics courses at the university. Actually, this made him a bit nostalgic of the good old days.

'I should go and visit my parents more often.' He realized while unloading some of his machine parts off his land locomotive. For the incoming few months, Keith was planning on setting up a small camp in the area to produce all the resources he would need to build a large enough ship. In his plans, the young man had planned for a one hundred and thirty feet long boat with about twenty feet of width.

With such a size, Keith could be transporting most of his machines without overloading the ship too much. In any case, he certainly would have to leave some of it behind like the train he had built to bring him all the way to the ocean. It was kind of an inconveniant vehicle for daily use so it would certainly be rotting around in his next base anyways. That was why, the young man was not so emotional about leaving some of it behind.

For the next few weeks, Keith started working on the hull of the ship. Using some structure to hold it steady while he was working on it, the young man was progressing quite well on his build for the time being. It certainly was a huge progress but the resources he was using were plenty and he was also helped with the 'System' along the way. It did help a lot with construction in general.

Actually, Keith realized that the travel that led him to the ocean was unnecessarily long compared to other kind of activities. A boat should certainly take a lot longer for someone to build than simply traveling on a continent, and yet with such a pace the young man would be finished with his vehicle in about one and a half to two months as well.

Of course, he had also planned to put some engines on his build to help him with stabilisation, so it would certainly take another couple of weeks for him to complete, but other than that it was alarmingly short for a construction this large.

'Well, I guess they made a one to one representation of the Earth. As for the rest of the functionalities, they are all boosted thanks to the short day and night cycle as well as the crafting system.' He theorized while fixing some planks together using a nails.

After working hard for a whole day, Keith usually took a break by climbing on top of a large rock and admiring the horizon. His feets swaying in the air while the wind was ruffling his hair, the mind of the young man drifted away as he was enjoying such a peaceful scenery.

'Well, I guess that'll be my daily routine for the next few months. Let's enjoy this place before exiling myself to a faraway land.'

Pushing the boat along the tracks he built it onto, Keith climbed up the ladder on its side and started hoisting the sails. The structure slowly started gained speed. The young man took a hold onto the navigation bar and slowly turned it to both sides to check if everything was working as intended. He was feeling like a kid testing out a new toy.

- "Woohoo!" He exclaimed while the wind was brushing off the hair of his character. It appeared as if the masts were turning just as expected and the boat was comfortably sailing on the ocean. Although it was not really agitated as of now, it certainly was reassuring to see one's own creation working like a charm.

A grin appeared on Keith's face as he was thinking : 'Isn't that so cool? An entire boat that I could control by myself... It's just like those kids' dreams of becoming a pirate!'

Though, his experience was a bit ruined by the loud buzzing of the motors he had installed on the hull of his ship. It was a bit annoying but there was nothing he could do about it. These engines were necessary for his vehicle because it helped with its stability and the navigation itself.

After a few hours of testing his boat around the area, Keith dropped the anchor to make sure it would not be swept away by the waves and came back on shore to start tidying up his temporary base. He had not loaded the ship with all of his machines yet, only a small portion of it for testing purposes.

Keith was really glad he was done with his creation. It took him about two months and a half to build and it marked yet another chapter in his adventure within Project Overworld.

Though, Keith's mood quickly turned moody as he realized what he would have to let behind. Since the travel across the ocean could last entire months before he would dock to some islands or another continent, the young man would have to stock a lot more essential resources inside the cargo of his ship.

This included food, fuel and planks in case he needed to fix the hull of his ship on his journey. However, this also meant he would not be able to take all of his machines along with him and this made him a bit sad.

'I feel like I'm losing so much progress right now... But well, I certainly will be able to make up for it once I find a peacful place to establish my next base onto.' Keith meditated. In the end, the young man had already recycled the materials of his locomotive-type vehicle into the construction of his ship so there was nothing left of it. Other than that, there would not be enough space in his ship for the drilling machine nor his latest electrical generator.

Though, the shorter one was light enough to be transported and Keith was really happy that he would be able to access an electricity-producing machine on his way to the next continent. This would help him with some of his future projects, even though he would certainly have to restain his usage of it so not to consume the fuel that was intended for his ship's engines.

In that regard, the boat's engines would only be active on dangerous situation such as tempests and when the ocean was agitated. Keith could not simply be constantly draining fuel off of his stocks and he would not have enough resources for that purpose anyways.

After another couple of days of preparation, the young man climbed on his ship and turned towards the shore. 'Well, I guess it's time to go. Farewell civilization, farewell my problems! I'm now alone and free from other player's influence! May you all find peace and progress as a whole.'

Although he did not really mean that last part because he knew conflicts would always be lurking in the shadows within a civilization, he was really happy to be able to leave this place. He felt like he had to think of a speech even though he did not have any audience to listen to him.

This marked the end of a really long chapter and the beginning of a new one. It had been almost one year since the start of this game, in fact, and Keith went through a lot during that lapse.

First off, his collaboration with the New Dawn guild proved a bit more useful than he had expected. Though, now that he was able to look back on his progress he realized it had been a really good decision to leave his first base when he did back then. Their protection did help him progress a lot, but the ever-increasing amount of orders they were charging him with certainly was not going to be healthy for him in the future.

Afterwards, his journey continued as he settled near a peaceful lake. There, he made a lot of progress and got interested in various projects such as the creation of a mansion and his generators. Not to forget about his drilling machine that he would unfortunately have to leave behind because of the incoming journey.

Anways, even though the young man had lost quite a bit of progress along the way, he would be able to make up for it thanks to the huge amount of knowledge he had accumulated and the security that would be provided to him after settling across the ocean.

Thus, Keith's journey resumed, but this time on a totally different kind of landscape. The ocean seemed rather unwelcoming at first, but the young man had his own tools to tame this wild beast.

- "Alright, let's set sail to another continent!" He exclaimed before raising the anchor.