[Name: Black Iron Supply Chest][Type: Treasure Chest][Description: Open to receive a moderate supply of materials.]The second gacha wasn’t equipment — Yang Yi felt a bit disappointed.Still, supplies were exactly what they desperately needed right now.Rebuilding the ship earlier had almost emptied out all their reserves.Yang Yi opened the chest.[You received: Wood ×200, Cloth ×200, Stone ×200, Iron ×50, Crystal ×50, Sulfur ×50.]“So much?” Yang Yi couldn’t believe his eyes.Wood and cloth were one thing, but he hadn’t expected to get so many high-grade materials.The Black Iron Supply Chest was terrifyingly generous!No wonder the Heart of Steel had handed out 100 units of wood without blinking — they clearly weren’t short on resources.Just then, a private message popped up — it was Captain Xu Da of the Gale.“Brother Yang, I’m planning to form a fleet. Interested in joining?”Yang Yi hadn’t expected to be so popular, but he still refused politely.“Sorry, I don’t plan to join any fleets for now.”“Alright. If you change your mind, message me anytime. My Gale Fleet will always have a spot for you!”“Thanks!”After declining, Yang Yi couldn’t help but sigh at how fast everyone was moving.The world map had only just opened, and already people were scrambling to form their own fleets.“Should I ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) start one myself…?”The thought suddenly crossed his mind.He didn’t like depending on others, but running a fleet sounded like a hassle — too much management, too many strings attached.As he was thinking, Suna came running up, face flushed, eyes bright with excitement.“Did you just get a ton of supplies?”“Yeah, I opened a Black Iron Supply Chest.”“And this thing on the ground…?”Her gaze instantly locked onto the huge Bobbit worm head lying there.Before it was mounted, it was only the size of a palm — easy to pick up — crafted with exquisite precision, lifelike to the point of eeriness.Suna picked it up, examining it carefully, touching here and there, jotting notes in her notebook.When she pulled out a dagger, Yang Yi couldn’t hold back anymore. He snatched the worm head away at once.“Stop! That’s a rare piece of equipment! What if you break it?”Suna: “……”After being scolded, she reluctantly gave up the idea of dissecting it and explained her real motive.“I want to build an expansion building.”“Which one?”Suna scribbled something in her log, and soon a system prompt appeared for Yang Yi.[Crew member Suna requests to construct: Witch’s Laboratory.]Construction Requirements: Expansion Slots ×2, Wood ×200, Cloth ×200, Stone ×100, Iron ×50, Crystal ×50, Sulfur ×20.Once built, this structure cannot be dismantled. Please confirm carefully.“Witch’s Laboratory?”Yang Yi blinked in confusion.He was sure that such a building didn’t even exist in the standard expansion list.And it required so many resources — plus two expansion slots!He quickly checked his available list of ship expansions.Aside from the extra cargo bay, ancient war room, and great statue the Nightmare already had, there were two more that came from the Astrologer’s Ship:[Watchtower]: Scans up to 1,000 nautical miles. If any islands are detected, they’ll appear on the sea chart. Cooldown: 3 days.Requirements: Expansion Slot ×1, Wood ×200, Cloth ×100, Stone ×100, Crystal ×30.[Glass Cannon]: A powerful but unstable cannon that’s prone to shattering.Requirements: Expansion Slot ×1, Crystal ×100, Sulfur ×20.“Where did you even see this Witch’s Lab? It’s not in my list.” Yang Yi looked at her suspiciously.“It’s an exclusive expansion from my talent! Totally worth it.” Suna’s tone was full of confidence.“Hmm…” Yang Yi hesitated.He had originally planned to build the cannon first.That way, if they encountered another giant Bobbit worm or any large sea creature, they’d at least have some means of fighting back.Next on his list was the Watchtower — islands offered richer resources than the open sea and often contained treasure chests. Frequent island expeditions would give them a massive advantage.But this Witch’s Laboratory? He had no clue what it actually did — and it would take up two slots.That meant until the ship reached level 3, the Nyxstar wouldn’t have room to build a cannon at all.If they ran into another armed ship, they’d be sitting ducks.“No way.” Yang Yi shook his head firmly. “The cannon comes first. Everything else can wait.”“Come on, please?” Suna pleaded, tugging at his sleeve. “Just this once! After this, I won’t ask for anything again, I swear.”“Uh… stop tugging already!” Yang Yi scolded, pulling his arm away.This woman was no simple character — that act of hers was pure manipulation!And it reminded him of something important: he had to manage his crew’s relationships properly.If resentment or conflict built up, it could easily lead to betrayal later on — a knife in the back.So he asked directly:“Alright, tell me. What exactly does this Witch’s Laboratory do?”Suna’s crimson eyes lit up — there was hope! She had been ready to give up, but now she eagerly explained:“The lab provides various research tools. It lets me study the structure of aberrant monsters and develop my own potion formulas!”“You can develop potions?” Yang Yi’s curiosity was piqued.Suna seized the moment and pulled out a vial of liquid.“Take this Vita-Coconut Boost drink, for example. Are you sure its formula ratio is perfect? What if I add something else?”She handed him a test tube. The system displayed no details except:[Name: Unknown Potion][Type: Consumable / Magic Potion / Unique][Quality: ??][Description: You’ll only know what it does after drinking it.]“Go on, drink it! If I had a lab, I could make much better ones.”“You didn’t poison this, did you?”“Of course not!”“So the others are poisoned then?”“All medicine is poisonous in large doses! Just drink it already!” she snapped, annoyed, then snatched the vial back and drank half of it herself.Since she’d done that, Yang Yi couldn’t very well back out.He swallowed the rest of it, feeling both nervous and resigned.The liquid slid down smoothly but had a pungent, fishy stench that hit his brain like a slap.He was about to curse — but stopped short when the system updated.[Stamina +10. Stamina recovery speed +50%.] (He’d only drunk half.)[Name: Vital Siren Juice][Type: Consumable / Magic Potion / Unique][Quality: Fine]*[Description: A magic potion created by Witch Suna, made from the mucus secreted by sirens, mixed with salt and vitality coconuts.Restores 15 stamina and increases stamina recovery speed by 75% for 8 hours.Overuse may cause poisoning.]“You… made this?” Yang Yi stared, stunned.“Yep! And if I had a lab, I could make even better ones.”Yang Yi was floored.Being able to develop new formulas — that was insanely powerful. Even his toes could tell how valuable that was.Suna was practically a walking gold mine!With her, he’d never have to worry about running out of vitality coconuts again.He could just have her brew stronger potions whenever he needed.He was the captain — it was perfectly natural to assign duties to his crew. They were supposed to obey, after all!“Alright then. Build your lab.” Yang Yi agreed and approved her construction request in the logbook.He had no idea…That one decision — and that one sip of her “potion” — would someday become the thing he most regretted in his life.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.