Chapter 345: Sunlight Under the Sea
From the mont the first enemy attack occurred, Garrett didn’t feel much.
After all, he hadn’t even left his room. It was Bernard who went out with a big bone club to take a look and ca back an hour later, telling him that a giant octopus had climbed onto the deck—
That morning, Garrett even got to eat grilled octopus legs. Although the grilling was not perfect and the sauce a bit odd, it made him quite nostalgic. The taste reminded him of the small barbecue shop 100 ters behind the hospital...
During the second attack, Garrett was strolling on the deck, fittingly casting a Burning Hand spell, turning an attacking rman into a fish candle. He dared not cast Dragon’s Breath for fear of accidentally burning through the deck.
Then, as a non-combatant, he was promptly sent below deck. This attack bore no gains, not even an octopus leg to gnaw on.
By the third attack, Garrett felt sothing was amiss. How could there be such a coincidence, three waves in less than 24 hours? The narwhal almost punched a hole through the bottom of the ship!
The captain, with a grave face, sought out Master Serano. The two magicians sat down to murmur amongst themselves, activating the ship’s magical array to scan the hull and even applying underwater magic to themselves to inspect the hull from below. Upon their return to the ship, they announced the reason for the successive attacks:
"It’s ’Fabruti’s Curse’."
"What?"
Garrett looked up, puzzled.
Fabruti... that na sounded familiar. Right, the old dwarf ntioned the demon god Fabruti in his mythological story yesterday, saying his blood turned into fierce sea monsters after his death. But that was a myth! Myths an they don’t actually exist, right?
"Fabruti’s Curse is a special alchemical potion," Master Serano said gravely.
"Simply put, it coats the surface of the ship, continuously attracting sea monsters to attack. During this process, the blood spilled by the monsters further increases ’Fabruti’s Curse’s’ allure to other sea monsters."
This was troubleso. Sea monsters attack the ship—get killed—attract more sea monsters—get killed again—an endless cycle...
Garrett sucked in a cold breath. The captain added:
"We found a large amount of paste-like potion covering the dents on the ship’s side, created by yesterday’s ballista attack. Although we’ve scraped off the potion, the part contaminated on the ship’s body will take about seven days to dissipate. We suspect that the whaling ship, in its final throes and out of a sense of revenge, used the ballista to hit our ship with the potion."
God knows what important person was on that ship! ’Fabruti’s Curse,’ a potion not easily concocted...
"What do we do?" the bearded dwarf Wiglaf called out loudly. Most dwarves are warriors, and even the few priests among them lack the ability to fly. To be continuously attacked by sea beasts for seven days...
The deep sea harbors all kinds of creatures. If a powerful magical beast retaliates, they might not care for themselves, but involving Master Talbert would be troubleso.
"Don’t worry, ’The Philosopher’s Stone’ is a powerful alchemical ship. We are confident in facing any challenges..." The captain raised his voice. Before he could finish, the ship lurched, throwing everyone off balance—
The next wave of monster attacks began!
"@#￥%......"
Garrett was once again rushed off the deck. This battle was larger in scale than the one at noon and lasted nearly two hours. After the fight, Garrett could see that the captain’s face was much more somber than at noon.
After thinking it over, Garrett quietly sought out Master Serano to inquire about "Fabruti’s Curse." The master mage shook his head with difficulty:
"This alchemical potion is quite rare and difficult to counter once afflicted. We didn’t bring any of the key ingredients for the antidote this ti. Actually, there is one thod, but we don’t have the conditions right now..."
"What thod?"
"Sunlight. Bringing the ship into a dry dock and exposing the hull to sunlight for just one day and night would completely neutralize ’Fabruti’s Curse’."
"Just sunlight? Other light won’t work?"
"No... We’ve tried everything..."
In magic, there are nurous spells capable of summoning light, from the 0-level Flash to the 7th-level Glorious Rebuke and Radiant Aura, enough to fill a book. However, the council’s experints showed that these spells largely had no effect on "Fabruti’s Curse."
Even so, as a last resort, the ship’s magicians still went down to try. The results were that only a few point-to-point beams could decompose the potion. And the decomposition rate couldn’t
keep up with the next monster attack, the blood contaminating the hull causing negative effects.
As for relying on sunlight... it was already night, and even if the magicians could find a piece of land and cast spells to lift the alchemical ship onto land, that would be after an entire night.
Garrett pondered. If only sunlight and not magically summoned light worked, perhaps it was due to the type of light waves?
"Master Mage, I have an idea we might try?"
Garrett had conducted prism experints with various light-based spells, like Flash, Illumination, and Gaze of Light, and failed to decompose ultraviolet light—aning, they had no bactericidal effect. In other words, generating a large amount of ultraviolet light in seawater might accelerate the decomposition of the potion?
He rummaged through his space bag for items. Electrical wires, a hand-cranked generator, a rcury arc rectifier... clumsily assembled together. Master Serano watched with furrowed brows:
"Why complicate it? Leave it to !"
With a flick of his wrist, seawater levitated into a large wooden bucket dragged over by the sailors. Connecting the rcury arc rectifier to the wires and dipping it into the bucket, the ends rested on the outside of the bucket. The master mage closed his eyes briefly, and instantly, a bright white arc fell upon the wires, directly passing through the rectifier.
A serene blue glow quickly flickered within the bucket.
This... works?
You’re a transmutation mage, and here I thought you were a conjurer!
Garrett was astonished. Master Serano paid him no mind, stepped to the bucket’s edge, and quickly dropped a few drops of the potion in. Before he could proceed, a nearby magician cast a Light spell and exclaid:
"It works! The curse is dissolving!"
The entire crew rejoiced. Master Serano lifted his gaze, his sharp eyes almost piercing Garrett:
"What’s this... how many more do you have? Bring them!"
"It’s a rcury arc rectifier. I only have one left," Garrett honestly answered. Seeing Master Serano’s sigh, he quickly added:
"It’s easy to make! Just put rcury into a very clear glass bottle, insert graphite rods, and vacuum it!" As for issues with the wires, insulation, and generating electricity, you’ll figure it out...
Master Serano silently tapped his space bag. The next mont, bright white rcury flew out like a dragon, and glass rose into the air, automatically lting, solidifying, and shaping...
Before long, two rows of ghostly blue lights illuminated both sides of The Philosopher’s Stone.
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