"There are so many mysterious and unknown things in this world …"
Byron could not help but sigh as he sat in the office of the port's military management office.
Outside the window, the sound of the waves in the distance rose and fell, and the occasional chirp of seabirds skimming over the port area could be heard. The slanted sunlight shone all the way from the vast sea into the large buildings of the north port, casting distinct shadows on the new ramps, houses, towers, and walls. A group of soldiers was marching in a neat formation to the watchtower for the change of guard. Further away, magic cars loaded with supplies drove over the newly built cement road, and merchants who responded to the recruitment were lined up in front of the checkpoint, waiting to pass through. The roar of construction machinery came from further away — from the connecting bridge of Port No. 2.
A soft warm breeze was blowing in the office of the management office. Two visitor representatives sat in the armchairs beside the desk. One was a beautiful woman with long blue hair, wearing a long blue dress of unknown texture, and a golden pendant on her forehead. She was carefully studying a few crystal vessels on the table. The other was a woman covered in scales and tough skin, as if she was a fusion of a human and some kind of deep-sea creature. The latter was particularly eye-catching. Her lower limbs, which looked like a fusion of a sea snake and a fish, were "sitting" on the chair in a very awkward position. The extra half of her tail seemed to not know where to put it as it was shaking awkwardly. Although her upper body was obviously female, she had the characteristics of a deep-sea creature.
Byron could not help but look at the "Naga" again. He explained, "I'm sorry, Miss Helen. I don't mean to offend you, but this is the first time I see a Naga."
"This should be the first time everyone sees a Naga." The female Naga, who was sitting awkwardly on the chair, smiled as if she did not care. "After all, we have just … been reborn not long ago."
"Your crystal processing technology is different from before." The blue-haired woman sitting aside did not seem to care about the conversation between Byron and Helen. She curiously picked up the cup on the table and shook it. "I remember the last time I saw the artificial white crystal on land, there were a lot of impurities and bubbles in it. It can only be broken as the base material of the runes …"
"Err … handicrafts and utensils have been around for many years …" Byron did not mind the siren's interruption. He just looked a little confused. "Ms. Viola, can I ask when is the 'last time' that you mentioned?"
"… I can't remember clearly. I don't care much about things outside the field of technology, but I vaguely remember that at that time, you humans were still thinking of ways to break through the coastal blockade …" The blue-haired siren called Viola thought for a moment and nodded seriously. "Well, now you are also thinking of ways to break through the coastal blockade, so it should not have been that long ago."
Byron was stunned for a moment before he realized how the siren's timeline jumped. He was stunned. "You are not talking about the Age of Navigation 700 years ago … It's been seven centuries, Ms. Viola!"
The blue-haired siren spread out her hands. "You see, I told you it was not that long ago."
Even Byron, who had always been eloquent and had good reflexes, did not know how to respond to this topic. It was Naga Helen who helped to break the awkwardness. "The siren's concept of time is very different from that of humans, and Ms. Viola's concept of time is … very powerful even among the sirens. Please understand this. "
"Oh, oh … Of course, of course. In fact, I also know some long-lived races, so I can understand the difference in your concept of time." Byron was stunned for a moment before he nodded and said. He then stood up with a smile and opened his hands to welcome the two visitors from afar. "In short, thank you very much for the technical assistance provided by Io to Cecil. The technical team you brought is very important to the North Port. We are now in the critical period of the entire project. Are you interested in going to the shipyard with me? The rest of the technical team should be there already. "
Naga Helen immediately jumped down from the chair with a smile on her heterogenous face. "Of course, that's why we are here."
…
On the east side of the North Port, in the newly built shipyard near Shelter Bay, the roar of machinery was endless. The busy construction work was gradually coming to an end.
A new ship made of steel was lying quietly in the dry dock. A large number of support structures on both sides of the hull made it stable. On the scaffolding distributed along the hull and the skeleton, technical workers were checking the key structures of the new ship and confirming that the vital power ridge had been installed in place. In a few openings on the hull that had not been closed, welding flashes lit up one after another. The builders responsible for the construction were there to seal the mechanical structures and key sections.
On the ground at the end of the dock, there was a platform a few meters above the ground. The technicians responsible for the shipbuilding and some special 'guests' were gathered on this platform.
Some of them were humans wearing Cecil Navy uniforms or technician uniforms. The rest were beautiful women and 'nagas' with obvious deep-sea characteristics. These people were paying attention to the construction progress on the berth not far away. Some reached out and pointed at the various parts of the ship, while others held the drawings in their hands and were interpreting the contents of the drawings to the people next to them.
It was clear that the 'cooperation' of these people had just begun. There was still a clear sense of unfamiliarity between them. The human technicians could not help but cast curious glances at the sirens and the nagas. The latter were also curious about the other arcanotech devices in the shipbuilding facility. They would occasionally discuss and chat, but overall, the atmosphere was rather harmonious.
An arcanotech vehicle stopped near the platform. Byron, Viola, and Helen alighted from the vehicle. Helen was still curiously looking at the 'weird vehicle' that she had just ridden in, but Viola had already set her eyes on the berth. Byron looked at the platform not far away. His eyes swept across the sirens and nagas who were already mingling with his technicians. He could not help but mumble to himself, "Looks like the atmosphere is not bad …"
In fact, these technicians had just arrived at the North Harbor yesterday. They suddenly emerged from the nearby sea and startled the patrolling personnel on the beach. After a hurried welcome ceremony, these 'technical experts' who came from afar went straight to work.
They came earlier than everyone expected. Fortunately, the relevant news had already reached Byron's ears a few weeks ago. Much information about the nagas and sirens had been conveyed to the main staff of the various facilities in the port through video and audio materials in recent weeks. These 'deep-sea visitors' did not cause any chaos in the North Harbor.
This special group of 'deep-sea experts' was led by the siren 'Viola'. This beautiful lady with blue hair claimed to be a 'deep-sea witch'. According to the siren, this seemed to be a technical title. Other than that, Viola also had two main Naga assistants. One of them was Helen, and the other was a male Naga nicknamed the 'Philosopher'. The Naga did not show up in the management office. Instead, he followed the other sirens and Nagas to the shipyard early in the morning. Now, he was standing on a platform not far away. However, Byron could not distinguish the Naga's appearance, and he could not tell which one was the Naga.
"This is the ship you built …" Viola's eyes moved slowly on the berth. The big ship with a metal shell was reflected in her beautiful eyes. She looked at the streamlined bottom of the ship, the magical wings on both sides of the hull, and some structures on the deck. She nodded slightly and said, "The man-made ship on land is very different from our means of transportation, but at least it looks very reasonable."
"There is nothing wrong with the external structure." Helen nodded. "But … we did not expect you to have progressed to this step. I thought you would wait for us to come before you really start building the new ship. "
"When the north port started construction, no one could tell when you would come. We can't just stop everything and wait for other people's technical team," Byron said with a smile. "And we have experience in inland shipbuilding. Although this experience may not be useful at sea, it is more than enough to build an experimental offshore model ship. For us, not only can the facilities in the north port get on track as soon as possible, but it is also valuable experience."
Byron was very frank, but there were still some things that he did not say. In fact, before the technical team of the sirens set off, Gwen had discussed the construction of the ship with him. There was a rule that both of them agreed on. Whether the third party's technical experts would come or not, or when they would come, Cecil's own research and development and construction projects should go according to plan. Even if this would cause some loss of resources, it was all worth it from the perspective of solid foundation, mastering the technology, and accumulating experience.
After all, foreigners were foreigners. No matter how good the technical experts were, they were not his own. It was good to have a good relationship with more allies, but it was unwise to completely base one's major project on the help of other people's technical experts.
Byron did not know whether the Witch of the Deep Sea and the Naga, who was once the Child of the Storm, had thought of this, but he did not care. He just looked at the beautiful steel ship on the berth with some pride and smiled. "It's a beautiful ship, isn't it?"
"Does it have a name?" Helen looked at Byron with curiosity in her tawny eyes.
"… In fact, I wanted to name it 'The Pea' at first, but His Majesty did not agree. My daughter even nagged me for half an hour." Byron shrugged. "Now its official name is' Curiosity '. I think it fits its position very well. It will be a symbol of human exploration of the sea again after the end of the classical age of navigation. We will use it to reopen the coastal route of the northwest ring of the continent and try to explore the boundary between the distant sea and the offshore sea."
"Curiosity … It's indeed a good name." Helen blinked. Her long scaly tail swept the ground with a rustling sound. "Curiosity …"
The Naga's tone seemed to be a little complicated. She might have thought of the courage and exploratory heart when humans first stepped into the sea, or the brief glory of the Church of Storm in the classical age of navigation, or the regretful situation when the storm priests fell into darkness and humans were far away from the sea for hundreds of years. However, the scales on her cheeks and the body that she had not fully mastered made it impossible for her to make rich expressions like when she was a human. So in the end, all her sighs could only be reduced to a sigh.
…
On the platform at the end of the dry dock, a tall male Naga with deep-set eyes and pale blue scales on his skin withdrew his gaze from the sea at the end of the dock.
Next to him, a Naga's companion joked. "Philosopher, are you going to write a poem again? You have been sighing like this today. "
"I'm just thinking about what else the Curiosity needs to be perfected and modified in time." The tall male naga with sunken eyes glanced at his companion beside him. "The technology used in this ship is very unfamiliar to us. Back then, the ships built by the Church of Storms were powered by magic, manpower, and sails, but the Curiosity mainly relies on arcanotech machinery to propel it … The power system is different, so the ship's hull structure and various characteristics during navigation will be different. These are things that must be considered."
"Indeed." A siren deep-water technician nodded. "Although we are here to provide technical support, we also have to study the human arcanotech technology to figure out how to support it."
"Human …" The Naga technician, nicknamed 'Philosopher', could not help but murmur softly when he heard the word. But then he shook his head. "But no matter how it changes, the laws of nature will always remain the same. The basic principles of ship navigation will not change much."
His statement quickly gained the approval of the technicians present. These technicians, who came from different races and forces and even had a different way of understanding the world, gathered together again and began to study the drawings of Curiosity.
Standing not far from the platform, Byron paid attention to the movements of the technicians on the platform. As a Transcendent, he could hear their discussion. The 'Admiral' did not know about purely technical matters, but he understood things beyond the technology.
In the matter of exploring the sea, the Typhon people were indeed a step ahead. They started earlier and had a richer foundation. They had a better coastline and a natural harbor. Between the coastal sea and the distant sea, there was a unique natural island chain that could be used to build forward bases. Their advantages were too big to ignore.
But the Cecil people were still full of confidence to catch up.
The Cecil people knew arcanotech, the Nagas, who were once the Children of Storms, knew how to build ships, and the sirens knew the sea.
Now, these three things had come together.
This was the advantage of the Cecil people in this field.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
