Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship-Chapter 136 - The New Weekly Issue

Nighttime.

In the courtyard, Yang Yi was swinging the newly forged Ironbreaker (Imitation) greatsword.

After feeding three long-legged sardines into the Life Furnace, it finally emitted the light of life, boosting Yang Yi’s experience gain rate by 25%.

Seizing the opportunity, Yang Yi focused on training to increase his base attributes above 7 before entering the Fertile Sea Region.

That way, even without transforming into a werewolf, he could still wield the greatsword using the strength boost from his Madness state. Plus, he’d also benefit from Body Enhancement and the nighttime bonus. His combat power would reach a whole new level.

After two hours of training, his Stamina had nearly reached 30.

His Strength experience had climbed to 1352 — still a long way from hitting Strength 7.

Glancing at the time, Yang Yi figured the Maritime Weekly was about to be released, so he headed over to the octopus-headed vending machine.

By the time he got there, news of the weekly's release was already spreading in the chat channel. Two copies of the paper rolled out from the vending’s mouth. He handed one to Suna and returned to the captain’s cabin, where he lay on the bed and began reading.

The paper had two big headlines. The first, of course, was related to the Collector intel, titled:

“Shocking! The Proper Way to Trade with the Collector”

—Intel provided by One-Eye.

Yang Yi’s eye twitched as he read the headline, it felt oddly off somehow. Seemed like that guy Song Yingwen had a knack for writing clickbait titles. Laughter echoed from the adjacent room.

Yang Yi shook his head.

He had no intention of correcting Song Yingwen’s titling habits; the guy was more of a professional than he was. How he chose to use the intel Yang Yi had provided was entirely up to him.

Yang Yi quickly skimmed through the article, ten lines at a glance, and confirmed it more or less matched what he’d shared.

The core idea: make the most of the first few chances to probe the Collector’s preferences, then tailor your offerings accordingly.

Easy to say, hard to do.

If you kept choosing the wrong items, well… you were pretty much screwed.

In the middle of the article was a large photo — One-Eye mid-trade with the Collector, holding a lump of pixelated black goo.

A note in the corner explained it was an evil statue, but most players wouldn’t read the notes or even if they saw it, they might ignore it. As a result, some bizarre rumors started circulating in the chat channel:

“One-Eye submitted a defense thesis, and the Collector didn’t dare reject it!”

“Told you, defense papers are exactly what the Collector wants!”

“That armour looks awesome, One-Eye! Mind sharing the stats? What tier is it?”

“The Collector is really tall — even sitting down, he's gotta be over 1.5 metres...”

“...”

Yang Yi took a glance at the chat and, sure enough, there it was. It was probably the effect Song Yingwen had been going for, otherwise he would’ve labeled the statue clearly instead of burying it in a tiny note.

Yang Yi didn’t care either way.

He turned to the second headline:

“Speculations on Transcendence”

—Submitted by Justice Knight.

This person was likely a VIP too, probably strong, and most likely unaffiliated with any fleet since they always submitted intel under a solo codename. All in all, very similar to Yang Yi’s own approach.

“Could he have ascended to Transcendence?” Yang Yi wondered.

He skimmed the article and quickly dismissed the idea. The Justice Knight was strong, but not quite there, stuck at attribute level 10. That’s what led to the article.

“Most gear, at least anything below Epic grade, only provides limited attribute bonuses and cannot exceed the mortal limit of Attribute 10. This includes consumables like potions. After factoring in talents and gear, my base attributes can reach 10, but cannot break past it. Therefore, I believe that breaking the Attribute 10 limit is the key to becoming Transcendent. And the secret lies within the Path to Transcendence. The attribute gains from these paths may allow one to surpass the limit of 10…”

Yang Yi read it thoroughly, it felt more like a summary of observations. If he’d written it himself, it would’ve packed more punch.

Actually, talents could break through the attribute 10 ceiling, it depended on which ones.

Madness State didn’t work but Refuse to Die did.

And boosts from the Path to Transcendence also weren’t bound by the level 10 limit — for example, Body Enhancement, Werewolf Form, and even the third eye granted by Corruption.

Yang Yi finished reading the Maritime Turmoil section and flipped to the back of the newspaper.

There, a prominent ad caught his eye, it was for the crystal greatswords and large shields. It had been placed by Song Yingwen at Yang Yi’s request, free of charge.

Yang Yi had specifically asked him to keep One-Eye’s identity hidden. Otherwise, if his ID got exposed, he might get bombarded with messages, which would be a major hassle.

The reason for placing the ad in the newspaper was to speed up the sales of the crystal weapons and shields. This way, he wouldn't need to hawk them in the chat channels anymore, he could just wait for buyers to come to him, saving him a lot of trouble.

Both the greatswords and shields were priced in Shell Coins, and Yang Yi had built in a 5,000-coin range for bargaining, encouraging buyers to make counteroffers.

Afterwards, he browsed through the entire trade section, hoping to spot some high-tier gear worth buying. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything appealing.

The items were extremely expensive. After all, they could upgrade any fine-quality gear to rare-grade, and their price was almost on par with rare weapons, around 80,000 Shell Coins, and prices rarely dropped.

Often, you’d even need to offer extra to seal the deal.

The reason for the high cost was simple, they could upgrade firearms from fine to rare quality. A gun that originally sold for tens of thousands could instantly jump to a six-figure value.

“Looks like collecting enhancement stones might be a bit tricky…” Yang Yi muttered to himself.

He planned to gather a few enhancement stones to upgrade Suna’s witch set.

“Buying low-tier Artisan Engraving Stones for a high price! PM me if you're selling!”

Yang Yi sent a message into the global chat to see if anyone was selling. At the same time, he noticed a few new private messages, all from people inquiring about the crystal equipment, including Shen Guanquan.

Shen wanted five Ironbreaker (Imitation) greatswords and five crystal large shields. He paid the full price upfront: 20,000 Shell Coins per item.

Other players were mostly interested in the greatswords. Weapons usually took priority over armour, after all.

Besides Shen Guanquan, who was an old acquaintance and paid in full, the rest only paid a deposit of 1,000 coins. It wasn’t much.

If someone wasn’t even willing to put down 1,000 coins, Yang Yi wouldn’t consider the deal anyway. The stock was limited, and it was first come, first served.

In just three hours, he received twelve additional pre-orders — ten greatswords and two large shields. By the following day at the latest, the entire batch of crystal weapons would likely be sold out.

After that, it would just be a matter of forging the weapons and shields, then delivering them one by one.

“Maybe I can ask He Qi about enhancement stones. He did give me my first one, after all — he might have some extras…”

Yang Yi planned to ask him tomorrow. It was already late, and he badly needed sleep to recover his energy.

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