5 Completing the Spirit Sail

Zheng Yang ran more than 200 meters in one go, even siphoning one point of spirit power from the spirit vessel during his sprint, but the effects lasted for barely a minute as he ran at full speed. This made him realize that the spirit power's effects were determined by sheer quantity instead of time.

Furthermore, he also realized that the one point of spirit power he'd used had done more than just boost his strength by 50 percent. Instead, that single point had also enhanced other things. It had enhanced his speed and agility, his sight and hearing, and had even made his mind even sharper, and so on. His entire body had been enhanced.

But then again, it went without saying that the boost was temporary. The more areas the boost was used on and the greater the output, the faster the effects wore off.

In front of him, there was a piece of rock that was slightly higher than his waist, and he hid behind it. He panted hard as he looked at the woods he'd just escaped from. His pupils contracted when he saw that there was a huge black bear over two meters tall walking out of the woods with two smaller bears, slowly approaching the seaside to catch some fish.

"How can there be such a huge black bear?" Zheng Yang thought.

Zheng Yang was reeling with fright. It was lucky that he'd reacted quickly enough to prevent himself from being eaten and eventually reduced to bear excrement the next day.

After resting up for a bit, he left his hiding spot and jogged further inland. The black bear at the seaside far away looked up at him, but it simply continued fishing instead of chasing after him, possibly because it had more than enough fish to eat.

It took Zheng Yang two hours to venture inland, yet it only took him 30 to 40 minutes to return to where he had started. Zheng Yang took out the leftover fish from earlier in the morning and munched down on it, ignoring its fishy smell. Then he washed it down with a few gulps of freshwater to steel his nerves before continuing his way in the opposite direction.

His patience finally paid off. After walking for about two kilometers, he managed to find some spider webs at the edge of the woods near the sea. Coincidentally, a bird was caught in one of the webs, and it was struggling hard enough to attract Zheng Yang's attention. Zheng Yang considered himself rather lucky.

Looking sharp and focused, he took a closer look at the web when he got within about three meters of it, and managed to find a spider on the branches above it. The spider was about the size of two fists and had segmented, hairy long legs. The spider was very terrifying.

Zheng Yang slowly moved from his original position after confirming that there were no other spiders nearby. When he did so, he spotted the silver starlike dots on the spider's pitch-black back.

"That's a starback wolf spider alright."

Suddenly, Zheng Yang stiffened. From where he was standing, he was able to spot yet another starback spider on a branch about 20 to 30 centimeters above the other one. This spider was notably smaller than the other one.

"Wow, slick creatures indeed. Husband and wife, I guess."

A cold sweat broke out across his forehead, as he realized he'd almost fallen for their trap.

The bird caught on the web continued to struggle furiously, shaking the web intensely yet failing to break it all the same. The bird was no doubt very tenacious. The two starback wolf spiders continued to lay low without making a move, waiting patiently for their quarry to tire out before going down to the web to enjoy their meal.

"Target spotted. Now, how do I go about hunting them down, then?"

Zheng Yang fished a powerful slingshot and a bag of metal balls from his backpack. Cradling several of those metal balls in his palm so he could reload faster, he aimed at a certain target about seven to eight meters away from his side and fired, so as to test the contraption out, before aiming at one of the spiders.

However, he simply kept the slingshot primed and didn't fire even after quite a while, thinking that after he killed one, the other would definitely run away. Vitalizing a spirit sail required two web sacks, and he didn't want to head out to hunt for another one later.

"The poor bird isn't struggling as hard, so the wolf spiders should be about to eat soon… Will they both eat at the same time? Can the web bear the weight of two of those spiders and a bird? If the answer is no, then they'll probably eat separately."

Sure enough, just as Zheng Yang lowered his slingshot, absorbed in thought, he saw the smaller spider, which was lurking about in a high place, slowly climb down onto the web.

When the wolf spider bit down on the bird caught on the web, he pulled the slingshot without hesitation and aimed at the bigger spider. Then, he released the slingshot, the metal balls accurately penetrating the bigger wolf spider's brain. Without noting the spider's reaction, he quickly reloaded and locked his eyes on the smaller spider.

In his periphery, he saw that the one he'd hit dropped from where it stood, while the one still on the web stood stunned for a minute before getting ready to give up its prey and run. It was a pity that he'd already fired again by then, the shot penetrating that spider's brain just like it had the bigger one's.

A target as huge as a man's fist and just three meters away was hardly even a challenge for Zheng Yang, who had been playing with slingshots since a very young age. After he—the parallel counterpart—had awakened, he'd spent the following two months shooting birds whenever he had the chance. As such, he, too, had gotten very familiar with a slingshot.

He observed the spiders carefully as he quickly stuffed the slingshot into the backpack and took out the net bag and the machete. Then, he shoved the dead starback tarantulas into the bag and, after slinging his backpack onto his back, quickly ran off.

He remembered that starback wolf spiders were social creatures that lived in groups. As such, it was imperative that he didn't get into any accidents at the very last minute. Now that he had the materials he needed, it was only natural that he left the scene as quickly as possible.

He went straight back to his spirit vessel. The intense workout, coupled with the scorching sun above, made him rather dizzy.

After confirming that he wasn't being chased by hordes of wolf spiders, he finally rested easy and proceeded to take big gulps of freshwater.

Then, he immediately started to dissect the starback wolf spiders with a sharp knife. While he'd never learned about the anatomy of starback wolf spiders, he had nonetheless killed his fair share of birds, bugs, fish, and other small animals for food since he was young. His father had also taught him a thing or two about dissecting animals. As such, he was somehow able to identify the internal organs of the spiders he dissected without too much trouble, and located the required web sacks, which he then placed in a glass container.

He buried the remains of the wolf spiders in the sand. Then, he packed up his things and dragged his boat back into the water.

It was only noon, and it would still be another three hours before Hans picked him up. He considered his options and ended up deciding to vitalize the sail only after he got home later that night, for fear of being short on spirit power for the process. Vitalizing the sail at night would allow him to complete the process using moonlight.

"Well then, let's get to fishing," he thought. "That should help get rid of the trauma caused by that fish thing last night."

He rowed the boat out ten meters. There wasn't any wind at the moment, so he simply put the sail up to shield himself from the scorching sun and then started to fish.

"Once the spirit sail is done, I'll continue expanding the spirit vessel. I'll at least need to make a hold of some kind so I can get out to sea all on my own. I'll need to think of ways to make a living at nearby ports before mechanizing the boat further and having it undergo self-modifications."

…

Hans' fishing boat came back early, at about 2 pm. They'd encountered a huge school of fish and had had a decent catch. The fish hold was already filled to the brim, and they couldn't put any more in there.

Zheng Yang had also had a good catch, managing to fill his netting bag so full that he couldn't put any more fish inside. He also had no intention of catching more fish just to dry them out in the sun, as he thought that would be rather disgusting, so he'd stopped fishing for quite some time.

He dragged his boat back to the side of Hans' fishing boat and climbed into it. Afterward, he used some of the pans and utensils on the boat to cook a fish he'd caught earlier that day, doing his best to make it into a suitable lunch. While Old Hans had already taken his lunch before, he nonetheless had his son take over the wheel while he himself ate some fish with a glass of liquor.

Old Hans was very pleased with his catch that day, and he enthusiastically invited Zheng Yang to celebrate at his place that night.

They didn't go straight home, instead veering off-course to a mid-sized transport ship that belonged to a seafood company that bought fishermen's catches in the region. They then sold their catch and headed home to their island.

They reached the harbor in the evening. When he got back home, Zheng Yang took out the fish he'd caught and hung them up in his compound to dry before heading out to Hans' place for dinner.

He returned to the harbor at about 8 pm and dragged his spirit boat to the beach, letting the sail down and putting the required materials on the boat one after another.

The moon was bright in the night sky. He willed and activated the magic formation on his boat, giving his boat the order to vitalize the sail.

The magic formation appeared on the boat's body and shimmered with a silver light as it absorbed the light from the moon. The materials then quickly melted and seeped into the boat. The magic formation spread out to cover the triangular sail and eventually formed yet another comparatively independent magic formation that was still connected to the main formation on the boat.

The vitalization of the boat was now complete. The silver light on the magic formation dimmed and returned to the body and sail of the boat, but he sensed that the boat was still drawing the moonlight in the night sky, absorbing it into its body and sail.

This was very awkward. After all, no one would let the sails of a docked vessel down at nighttime. Yet, if he didn't do so, his spirit vessel wouldn't be able to recharge.