Mermaid!

On the sea in front of the lighthouse, a dilapidated wooden boat bobbed with the waves.

Elias sat amidst a mess of ropes, fiddling with a metal buoy he had just hauled from the water.

If he hadn't seen that mysterious instrument suddenly appear at the top of the tower, he really wouldn't have remembered that such things were drifting in this sea.

"When I was alive, why didn't I see anyone installing such useful things in the sea?"

Edmond's voice rang lazily in his mind, carrying a hint of elderly sentiment.

"Infusing moonlight stones with full moon spirituality, then turning them into alchemical buoys to use resonance to ward off low-level monsters in the sea?"

"See, that's why they dare to send an ordinary person like you to be a Firebearer nowadays."

Elias rolled his eyes and pulled a glassy crystal emitting a faint, soft glow from a bag beside him.

This was the moonlight stone Edmond spoke of.

It was also part of the supplies sent by Captain Crowley, tucked away haphazardly at the bottom of a crate; Elias had originally thought it was fluorite for lighting.

"So, why does infusing full moon spirituality provide defense against sea beasts?"

Elias tossed the moonlight stone in his hand.

It had some weight to it.

"Because the reason the Moon Lord is called the Three-Phase Moon is that there are three phases of the moon, and the full moon corresponds to its authority of 'protection'."

Edmond explained in his previous missionary-like tone.

"What about the other two phases?"

He carefully embedded the moonlight stone into the buoy's slot.

With a soft 'click', the indicator light on top of the buoy, which had been extinguished, flickered twice.

Then, the light stayed on steadily.

It was just like what he had seen when looking down from the tower top in his hallucination.

"The waxing moon represents 'spirituality', while the waning moon represents 'passageway'. That so-called passageway is also the reason I can talk to you."

Elias nodded after hearing this.

It probably meant establishing some kind of channel to achieve a connection.

"By the way, why is it called a Firebearer?"

He threw the repaired buoy back into the sea and asked during the gap while rowing toward the next malfunction point.

"Because the fire at the top of the tower is very unusual."

Edmond seemed happy to have someone to listen to his explanation of common knowledge.

"That's no ordinary flame; it's a gift from the Dawn Lady, so it has a natural suppression effect on many evil creatures."

"The Dawn Lady?"

Elias caught the key point and frowned as he glanced at the top of the tower.

"I knew it; no wonder that fire looked strange."

"But since it's so powerful, why not just burn the monsters with the divine fire?"

"If it's a holy flame, why can ordinary whale oil ignite it?"

"You have too many questions."

Edmond couldn't help but complain.

"It comes from the Dawn Lady, but it isn't equal to the Dawn Lady's power. There's loss and transformation in between."

Old Ed paused and continued to explain:

"Take the whale oil, for example. That's no ordinary whale oil; it's the oil of a transcendent creature called a phosphor whale."

"Legend says the birth of these creatures is related to the Dawn Lady, and a trace of the bloodline of light flows within them."

"So, burning this whale oil serves as a medium to maintain the manifestation of the divine fire."

"It does have a burning effect, but not much; it's mostly for suppression."

"Suppression?"

Elias frowned.

He remembered the thrilling scene from last night.

"It didn't seem to suppress the carapace husk at all."

"When that thing was chasing me, I didn't see it being suppressed in the slightest."

"A carapace husk isn't an evil creature; at most, it's a transcendent creature."

Edmond retorted righteously.

"Holy shit, it's that ugly and it's not evil?"

Elias's eyes widened.

"Those bone spikes, those compound eyes—that's not evil? Then what counts as evil?"

"Regrettably."

"The Origin Web doesn't judge by looks."

Edmond's voice sounded indifferent.

"That's why they need to build another line of defense."

"Like these buoys, to prevent other deep-sea monsters from approaching."

"That's true."

Elias remarked.

He was just about to reach out for the second malfunctioning buoy when suddenly—

'Thud!'

A dull impact sound abruptly came from the bottom of the boat.

The hull shook violently.

Elias's hand froze in mid-air, and his heart skipped a beat.

Maybe it was an illusion?

Or maybe he hit a piece of floating rotten wood?

However, Elias still immediately quickened his movements, compressing the installation process that originally took a minute into thirty seconds.

'Thud!'

The sound rang out again.

This time it was heavier than before, as if something underwater had slammed hard against the keel.

Elias's hand shook, and he almost dropped the last moonlight stone into the sea.

He forced himself to steady his mind and successfully got the last damaged alchemical buoy running. Seeing the green light turn on, he finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

Without any hesitation, he grabbed the oars and began to paddle frantically.

Return!

Return immediately!

He missed his dilapidated but at least solid reef island immensely right now.

He had spent quite a while mentally preparing himself just to come out and inspect the buoys.

After all, the memory of the giant sea beast before his 'death' still lingered in his mind.

Even though he could later confirm it was just a hallucination brought by the dream demon, he was still apprehensive.

The feeling of being swallowed by a giant mouth was simply too real.

So much so that before setting off, he had searched the entire beach like a madman, trying to find another stone slab with a Warding Glyph.

Unfortunately, it was a pity.

Good luck doesn't strike the same person every time.

He dug on the beach for half a day and found nothing but two hermit crabs.

To be safe, Elias stopped rowing and fished two glass bottles out of the bag at his feet.

These were 'Molotov cocktails' he had made using a bit of whale oil.

The mouths of the bottles were tightly stuffed with cloth. To prevent seawater from wetting the fuses, he had specifically sealed the bottle mouths with wax and kept the fuse parts dry.

As long as he encountered danger, he just had to insert the fuse, light it, and throw it.

This had already become a path of least resistance for him.

After all, in his previous life while playing games, throwing a Molotov cocktail was always the right move when in doubt.

Then he prepared a dagger hidden in his boot.

Of course, there was also that single-action revolver.

And the carapace husk headplate wrapped around his arm.

This headplate was large, about 50 centimeters in diameter, serving perfectly as a temporary shield.

That's right, the dead carapace husk's headplate, neck plate, and shoulder plate were still intact. Elias had put in a lot of effort to pry a piece off that already somewhat smelly corpse with a knife.

Only then did he dare to head out to sea.

"Look at how cowardly you are!"

Edmond took the opportunity to make sarcastic remarks in his mind, his tone full of disdain for Elias's 'ready for a great battle' appearance.

"Yeah, well, you haven't been eaten by a fish the size of a mountain."

Elias said as his hands didn't stop for a second, warily watching the sea surface while adjusting the position of the Molotov cocktails to ensure they were within reach.

"Boom!"

Edmond was about to talk back to Elias when a loud noise interrupted all communication.

A massive force struck from the side, as if an out-of-control truck had slammed hard into the waist of the small boat.

The boat instantly lost its balance and was struck hard by a giant fish tail about a meter and a half long, causing it to flip over directly.

The world spun in that instant.

But driven by survival instinct, Elias's reaction was startlingly fast.

In that split second, he abruptly drew the pistol from his waist.

That was his last physical reliance!

It couldn't get wet! He absolutely couldn't let the gunpowder get damp!

He used all his strength to raise his right hand holding the gun high above his head, as if surrendering to some non-existent deity.

At the same time, his left hand gripped the gunwale tightly. Using his core strength, he dove and climbed onto the overturned hull like a flexible loach before the boat completely flipped over.

This series of movements was as smooth as flowing water, practically an acrobatic feat.

One could only say that people can achieve incredible things depending on their environment.

If someone had told Jiang Huan in his previous life that he could quickly secure his safety during a sea beast attack, he would have thought the person was joking.

At this moment, the boat was upside down on the sea. Elias lay miserably on the bottom of the boat, which was covered in barnacles and seaweed, soaked to the bone, with only his right hand holding the gun still stubbornly raised in the air.

The fish tail alone was a meter and a half long, how big must this thing be...

What the...

Elias was thinking this as he looked at the sea surface, still shaken.

He saw the thing slowly surface in the water, revealing a part of its appearance—

It was the siren from his hallucination.

Wet long hair, skin that was pale with a deathly grey tint, and although the upper body was covered in fine scales, the silhouette of a woman could vaguely be seen.

Of course, one could also say it was a mermaid.

"That actually wasn't a hallucination back then?!"