Chapter 653-Lost City of Atlantis
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
7th month, 15th day, the voyage squadron crossed the Suez Canal and stopped at the Alexander Port in Egypt. After restocking, they set off once again to cross the Mediterranean Ocean.
The Mediterranean Ocean was the oldest ocean in the world, possessing a longer history than even the Atlantic Ocean. It was where Egypt, Babylon, and even European civilizations started.
When crossing the Mediterranean, the squadron had to stop for one or two days when they reached each important port.
First was to trade, trading the tea and porcelain that they had brought from China and selling off the spices and peppers from South East Asia.
Be it in ancient times or in the game, these items were loved by the west. The main group of people who bought them were not the players but the nobles of the natives.
The goods were highly rare, and even if the prices were 10 times their cost, they were still welcomed.
Along the way, the squadron would purchase some western specialties like clocks, watches, glass products, diamonds, and agate stones.
Once they transported these items back to the country, they would be able to sell them off for a high price.
Secondly, they needed to set up eyes and networks along the way.
The Black Snake Guards intelligence officers would set up intel stations in the various areas. Their strategy was to work with the local people, spending large amounts of gold to buy intel.
If not, yellow skinned people in a foreign country would be simply too obvious.
Of course, the end goal was to subdue the locals to make them serve Shanhai City loyally. The intel gathered would be sent to Friendship City then reported back to the headquarters.
For the specific trading, Ouyang Shuo naturally did not need to worry about that. This trip was a trading trip and also an excursion. Every place they went to, Ouyang Shuo would bring some Personal Guards to walk around and enjoy the sights and sounds of the Mediterranean.
In Athens, Ouyang Shuo took a look at the Parthenon that Gaia had restored, meeting Athena. In Rome, Ouyang Shuo visited the Pantheon, even watching beast battles in the colosseum, witnessing the strength of the Spartan soldiers.
The Mediterranean countries were mostly warm to the voyage squadron.
In truth, when the voyage squadron had attacked Singapore, their image had turned into that of an invasive force.
But in Somalia, the voyage squadron had redeemed themselves. They helped the players destroy the pirates, even obtaining land from the Somalia King, which changed their image for the better.
When they went to Spain, the voyage squadron bumped into the Spanish Squadron.
The current Spanish Squadron had started to show glimpses of their might. The entire Mediterranean was seen as the inner lake of Spain; it was a place where they could do as they wished.
In history, under the support of the Spanish royal family, Columbus found America. After that, the famous Spanish Squadron even ruled an entire era.
When the two squadrons met, the atmosphere was a little awkward.
Like the voyage squadron, the current Spanish Squadron was equipped with cannons. Moreover, these cannons were naturally far more advanced than the heavy cannons of the voyage squadron.
If they really were to fight, both sides would suffer heavy casualties.
Luckily, the worse-case scenario did not appear. After acknowledging one another, they went their separate ways. The Spanish Squadron had not completely controlled the Mediterranean, so they did not want to create extra problems.
One must not forget that their neighbor Portugal also possessed a strong naval country. Their battles in the Mediterranean were going to be interesting.
After going past the Spanish ocean region, they entered the Gibraltar Straits.
The Gibraltar Straits were located at the south side of Spain and the north west of Africa, an important door connecting the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 90 thousand meters in length.
The narrowest point of the straits were 13 thousand meters, and the west side was the widest at 43 thousand meters. The shallowest was 301 meters deep, and the deepest was 1181 meters, with an average depth of 375 meters.
From the Atlantic to here, the currents flowing into the Mediterranean ran at four thousand meters per hour. In early years, it was used by Atlantic sailors to swiftly enter the Mediterranean.
When the squadron arrived at the Gibraltar Straits, Ouyang Shuo suddenly remembered the large-scale scenario quest-The Lost City of Atlantis.
Atlantis was a huge and rich empire; it was the first advanced civilization in the world. The earliest descriptions of it appeared in the works of Greek philosopher Plato.
Plato used a conversation method to describe Atlantis for the first time, "Around nine thousand years of Solon, opposite the Heracles Stone Pillar, was an island wrapped by the ocean. This was the island of Atlantis. Atlantis was about to start a war with Athens, but who knew that it would face an earthquake and a flood. In less than a day, it sunk to the bottom of the ocean, becoming an obstacle of the Greeks to ocean travel."
The Heracles Stone Pillar was in the Gibraltar Straits.
Legends had it that the descendants of the ocean God stayed in Atlantis and had great worship for the ocean. It and the Lemuria Civilizations existed on earth. Lemuria was located on an ancient continent northeast of Australia. These two civilizations had been sunk around 10 thousand years ago.
The indigenous Indians of America had described in their works, "The earth had four generations of humans. The first were giants; they didn't come from here but from the skies, dying from hunger. The second were killed by fire. The third were ape men, and they killed one another. The fourth was located between the sun and the waters, being destroyed by a huge flood."
Atlantis and Lemuria belonged to the fourth generation.
Modern day scientist found that before the huge flood, the earth was just one giant continent, and it had highly advanced civilizations. In one global catastrophe, they sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
The thing that caused the huge apocalypse was a large-scale earthquake that led to tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. The ash clouds affected even plants all the way in England.
The power of the earthquake was four thousand times that of the Hiroshima nuclear bombs.
In the recent century, archaeologists found traces of civilizations at the bottom of the ocean, seemingly proving the existence of Atlantis.
In the game, Gaia made this legend real.
Ouyang Shuo clearly remembered at the end of the 4th year, a Spanish traveler went out to sea alone and met a huge storm, capsizing and sinking into the ocean.
Luckily for him, this player known as Gerald Pick had a special item known as the underwater breathing device, similar to the water avoidance bead in Chinese legend. This item allowed players to spend an extended period of time underwater.
Completely due to luck, he found Atlantis, which was submerged at the bottom of the ocean. Hence, he activated a large-scale storyline quest, shocking the entirety of Europe.
Gerald Pick was only a spark. In the end, close to 100 thousand people joined in, and the countries around the Mediterranean basically all threw themselves in.
The end result was that Atlantis rose once more, laying it roots in the Mediterranean Ocean. The civilizations that had disappeared once again showed itself to the world.
The lucky Gerald Pick also became the best player amongst the Spanish players, and his fame grew greater than many Lords.
Thinking about this, a little hope shone in Ouyang Shuo's eyes.
He did not have the water avoidance bead, but he did have a mysterious buddy, the Nian Beast Little Green. In Friendship City, the Little Green, who had swallowed the inner pellet of the White Lion, had suddenly woken up, evolving into a God Beast subspecies.
This evolution totally changed it.
Name: Little Green (God Beast subspecies)
Home: Yashan City Protector Beast
Race: Ink Jade Qilin Beast (subspecies of Qilin)
Combat strength: High Gold Grade
Talent: Water Control (increases combat strength in water by 80%, no currents will stop it)
Skill: Slayer (raises fury stat by 85%), Charge (raises combat power by 85%)
Specialty: Deterrence (Raises territory safety by 35%, natural threat to all ocean beasts, raises safety of territory ocean regions by 40%), Protector (raise territory defense by 25%)
Cultivation Method: Black Qilin Seven Purgatory Technique
Cultivation Skill: Heaven Strike (Shoots out a bolt of lightning, bringing with it a numbing effect)
Evaluation: Fierce beast of olden legends, the descendant of the fierce dragon and the black Qilin. After swallowing the inner pellet of the God Beast White Lion, it successfully evolved once, and its bloodline upgraded to a subspecies of Qilin. As a protector beast, it can continue to bring out its Qilin bloodlinem and it can evolve again.
In truth, Little Green not upgrading to a god beast surprised Ouyang Shuo. One could only say that the Qilin god beast was far superior when compared to the White Lion. Moreover, the White Lion could only be considered a god beast subspecies.
After all, on that nameless island, the dead old Qilin was just a spirit, and it still had such powers. In comparison, the White Lion did not seem like a god beast.
Between god beasts, there could be differences like the gap between the heavens and earth.
Hence, although Little Green had swallowed its inner pellet, it had only evolved into a subspecies. Luckily, it was just one step away from becoming a god beast.
Apart from the identity of territory protector beast, the Black Qilin Seven Purgatory Method that it cultivated was the key to Little Green's growth.
The White Lion inner pellet just helped to speed up the process.
This evolution had caused a huge change to its stats. Not only did it awaken a talent, but it also strengthened the original specialties and skills.
The evolved Little Green was getting more and more worthy of its name of Overlord of the Oceans.
Hence, to the current Little Green, going deep into the ocean was an easy matter. The only difficulty was for Ouyang Shuo to pinpoint the exact location of Atlantis.
To find a sunken city at the bottom of the vast ocean, how easy could that be?