As Zhang Wei's body elements continually released power in the seawater, a large number of fish were stunned and floated to the surface, completing the collection of fortuitous encounters. However, Zhang Wei was unable to retrieve them, as his semi-elemental state had already affected his control over his own body.
"Is it bioelectricity..."
"The brain controls the body using bioelectricity... Prolonged semi-elementalization has, to some extent, disrupted the body's commands."
"And salt essence. Without the salt essence to strengthen bioelectricity, I would hardly be able to even blink right now..."
"Damn it, I can't muster any strength, too much has been absorbed by the seawater!"
"I'm losing consciousness..."
Fortunately, the surrounding creatures were stunned by the electricity, and this scene was enough to deter large predators. After Zhang Wei lost consciousness, due to the lack of energy, the semi-elementalization finally subsided.
...
The Core Continent, also known as the Initial Continent. According to archaeological surveys, this is where humanity originated. The environment here is also more suitable for human survival. Except for some desolate mountains and ancient forests, it is difficult to find ingredients above level five. This has led to an unprecedented prosperity for humans, who are not affected or diminished by various powerful creatures. On the Initial Continent, the population density is ten times that of the four outer continents! And when humans gather, sparks of wisdom always ignite. Places like the City of Progress are not uncommon on the Initial Continent.
Above the boundless sea, an artificial airship floated in the sky. This airship was largely constructed from lightweight wooden structures, with a massive, elongated balloon made of white elastic material at the very top. The bottom of the hull could be opened for casting nets. The words "Duo Duo Trading Company" were painted in red on the balloon.
As a net was cast down...
"Boss, come take a look, we've caught a person!"
A dark-skinned woman, wearing a red coat and a distinctive triangular sailor hat, indicated her identity.
The female captain said, "A person? Here?"
"Yes, they appear to be unconscious."
The female captain was quite surprised. This was 8,000 kilometers from the Ice Island estuary. How could someone be floating in the sea here? This was a dangerous area, consistently inhabited by sea beasts of levels 10-20! Had their ship just had an accident not long ago...
"Give him some food, then lock him in the storage room."
"Once we get back to Ice Island, we'll see if we can claim some money for saving his life."
This was standard practice. They wouldn't let an unidentified person found at sea wander around freely. This unidentified castaway was, naturally, Zhang Wei.
Two sailors carried Zhang Wei away. Bowl after bowl of fish soup was poured down his throat via a funnel. However, Zhang Wei's stomach was like a bottomless pit. Five pots of soup later, there was no reaction at all.
One sailor scratched his head and said, "I've never seen anything like this... What should we do now?"
The other replied, "We have plenty of fish and shrimp on the ship, and we sometimes throw them away. We also have a freshwater purification system. Bored as we are... I want to see how much this guy can actually eat!"
The two retrieved a large amount of ordinary ingredients from the cold storage. These ordinary fish and shrimp were bycatch from netting, usually thrown back into the sea afterwards. Some were kept to feed the sailors. In the sea, such ordinary fish and shrimp were the least valuable. They turned on the gas, roughly added some salt, and then ground the fish and shrimp into a paste, stewing them together to save Zhang Wei the trouble of chewing. Thus, barrel after barrel of minced fish and shrimp were poured into Zhang Wei's body.
Suddenly!
Zhang Wei's eyes snapped open! Sensing the foreign object in his mouth, he quickly pulled out the feeding tube. Then came...
A massive bout of vomiting!
"Ugh~~"
How disgusting! Since transmigrating, he had never eaten food this bad! His gourmet cells were all wailing. The intense stimulation instantly brought Zhang Wei to full consciousness!
"Huh?"
"Where is this?"
"Damn it, I fainted from overusing the Thunder Control Art."
"I should have summoned Warm Harbor before I lost consciousness..."
The sailor looked at the vomit on the floor with displeasure. "Hey, buddy, you'll have to clean this up yourself."
Zhang Wei immediately asked, "Where is this...?"
After a brief chat with the sailor, Zhang Wei learned that he was on a merchant fishing vessel of the Initial Continent, and an advanced one at that. The ship was armed enough to hunt powerful marine creatures of around level ten, and could even escape from the clutches of a level 15 sea bird. In terms of power classification, this long-distance fishing vessel was far superior to its counterparts on Blue Star.
"Duo Duo Trading Company..."
After the two sailors left, Zhang Wei quickly checked his body. The feeling of electricity leaking out had not disappeared, but he was currently so weak that he could not discharge electricity or maintain his elementalization. If his energy were replenished, he would likely turn into a leaking power station. He summoned a 'Charcoal-Grilled Ice Field Dragon Wing' and took a few casual bites. Energy gradually flowed in, and he faintly felt the onset of electrical discharge again...
"Damn it, what's wrong?"
"With this energy level, it's probably not even enough to sustain one Thunder Leap."
Looking out at the vast sea through the ship's railing, Zhang Wei sighed helplessly. It seemed he would have to take a couple of days off... He had been too busy lately.
In the storage room, Zhang Wei took out a large amount of literature, all related to lightning magic.
*The Possibility of Semi-Elementalization...*
*Transformation Process of Pure Energy Beings...*
*The Immortality of Lightning Sprites...*
*Legends of Fantasy Ingredients...*
*Nights of Heavy Rain and Thunder...*
For a long time, Zhang Wei's library had not been updated, except for the items from the Desert Pavilion and some spoils from the Land of Clouds. These were no longer sufficient to solve Zhang Wei's problems. However, the current situation was likely a consequence of prolonged semi-elementalization affecting his body, similar to how Human Skin Doll's previous skill development had turned him into something neither human nor ghost. But in this world, there wasn't anything a meal couldn't solve!
"Do I need to research a new dish again..."
At that moment.
Zhang Wei suddenly had a sensation. It seemed... a new sensory organ had been added. He could sense subtle changes in the world...
"It seems like it's going to rain."
"Damn, what kind of sensory organ is this, is it rheumatism?"
The sea...
The ship...
Without mobility, Zhang Wei knocked on the door of the storage room and asked the sweeping sailor at the door, "Brother, we're at sea, right?"
"Of course."
"So, where are we going?"
"Why do you need to know so much?"
Zhang Wei flipped his hand, and a gold coin appeared in his palm. A Beli! The mark was 1. This was not the smallest denomination. Below it were half Beli, quarter Beli, eighth Beli, sixteenth Beli, and so on. A sixteenth Beli could exchange for about 0.75 kilograms of ordinary grain, a stable purchasing power.
The sailor took the Beli and said, "We're at sea, but this time our target isn't fishing."
"Not fishing?"
"Long-distance voyage!"
The sailor said, "Our ship is the most advanced long-range hydrogen airship, equipped with a water purification system, fishing gear, freezing equipment, and a massive supply of provisions."
"Besides going far out to sea, we also take on long-distance transport business, like an ocean bus."
Zhang Wei nodded. "Then where is our destination?"
The sailor said mysteriously, "I'll tell you, it's Cave Beach!"
Cave Beach...
Zhang Wei felt a sense of familiarity. Wait! Wasn't this the place where Toriko, Coco, and Komatsu went to capture the Puffer Whale in the original work? Every ten years, the Puffer Whale would go there to lay eggs. Gourmet Hunters from all over had to cross a 800-meter deep, several dozen kilometers long, winding, and branching tunnel to reach it. Usually, out of a thousand Gourmet Hunters, only one could reach the correct location of Cave Beach!
"Could it be... the ten-year cycle has arrived."
The sailor grunted. "It seems you know about it too."
"The passengers we're transporting this time are all renowned gourmet hunters, explorers, and chefs from various regions. The ship is currently sailing at full speed, afraid of delaying."
Zhang Wei sighed helplessly. "I'm afraid we might be delayed... The direction we're heading towards is about to experience a massive thunderstorm."
At sea.
This meant a catastrophic storm! Neither flying nor sailing could escape it.
"Pah pah pah, you jinx!"
The sailor was furious! At sea, such talk was the most taboo, and sailors were very superstitious. He was about to throw the coin back at Zhang Wei, but then he remembered it was half a day's wages and grudgingly pocketed it.
Zhang Wei was helpless. Before he could resolve the issue of electricity leakage, this ship could not sink. With a gentle push, the heavy storage room door creaked with a grating sound, and the bolt snapped. In the sailors' expressions of utter horror, Zhang Wei walked out of the storage room and said, "It seems I need to have a chat with your leader."
...
Twelve hours later.
The airship hovered in the distance, observing the rolling thunderclouds far away. The female captain said in disbelief, "How exactly did you discover it?"
"Our ship is equipped with the most advanced star-gazing compass. Yesterday, it didn't predict this giant storm." The star-gazing compass was somewhat similar to a weather forecast. Its accuracy was said to be as high as 76.5%. For sailors, this was a highly effective life-saving equipment.
"How I discovered it... I don't quite understand either." Zhang Wei chuckled bitterly, still puzzled by his new rheumatic skill. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Zhang Wei suddenly had a thought, could it be a perception of lightning attributes? A sensitivity to large-scale electrical discharge phenomena in nature?
Zhang Wei tried to close his eyes. It was as if he were in a void, and far in the distance, countless bright lights flickered, winding like snakes...
Indeed! Zhang Wei refined his perception further. He seemed to be able to sense even the tiny wandering specks of light in the air. "Electrons? Unlikely?" "Perhaps free static electricity in the air?"
Whatever it was. Zhang Wei had acquired a new skill. This ability, similar to electromagnetic induction, was akin to Coco's in the original work, possessing considerable power to see through illusions and secret realms!
...
After several days, the fleet finally arrived at the entrance of Cave Beach. This was also Zhang Wei's destination. He had been coveting the Puffer Whale from the original work for a long time. The entrance to Cave Beach was currently bustling with activity. There were many ships like Duo Duo Trading Company's, and a large number of gourmet hunters disembarked. Counting them roughly, there were tens of thousands of people! These individuals were all burly and tall, or strangely attired. Judging by the calluses and scars on their hands and their demeanor, they were all highly experienced experts.
However... their levels were so low! Mostly levels 5-10, with very few above 15. On the Great Glacier, this would be the equivalent of someone who had just left manual labor. Yet here, they exuded a faint aura of authority and the demeanor of peerless experts. Zhang Wei had only seen such a demeanor in individuals like the Ten Elites of the North. A sense of absurdity arose within him.
Just then, a woman in a tight-fitting leather outfit, with a sexy and graceful figure, appeared beside Zhang Wei. This female captain had a healthy tan, and her clothing was adorned with various outdoor equipment. Her face looked somewhat familiar.
"Are you... that captain?"
The female captain smiled and said, "That's right, but being a captain is just a part-time job. My true identity is a gourmet explorer, wandering all over the world!"
Looking at the female captain's strength, estimated to be around level eight, Zhang Wei was quite speechless. Zhang Wei reckoned she wouldn't even be eligible to enlist as a Wolf Valley volunteer soldier.
The female captain said, "You were able to escape the storage room and predict the rain in advance. You must have some skill. Would you like to join my team and search for the Puffer Whale together?"
Zhang Wei was about to refuse, but the female captain dropped another bombshell: "I have a map of the cave!"
A map... If it were any other time, Zhang Wei wouldn't care about caves. Two spiraling fist-blasts would easily carve a tunnel downwards. But now, with insufficient energy and an unstable body...
"Alright then."
"I accept."
The female captain smiled brightly and extended her hand. "Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Lola Mansour!"
"Zhang Wei."
...
Besides Zhang Wei, Lola had two other teammates. One was a tall, strong man, and the other was a胖妹 who was even taller than him. The strong man wore well-equipped gear, complete with ropes, knives, and medicine. The胖妹 carried an iron pot on her back, appearing to be a chef like Zhang Wei.
After greeting them, Lola enthusiastically introduced the others. "Gourmet Hunter Fu Long, a powerful middle-aged man who once ambushed and captured a level 22 Quad-Horned Lizard! He is experienced, has captured nearly a hundred types of beast-type ingredients, and his combat prowess is renowned."
"Chef Chun Niang, her culinary skills are exquisite, proficient in various cuisines, and particularly skilled in outdoor cooking, able to create delicious dishes in rudimentary environments."
"This is Zhang Wei, someone I rescued at sea. He can predict storms from hundreds of miles away and possesses extremely keen senses. I believe he will be of great help to our operation."
Fu Long looked at Zhang Wei's casual attire, fair skin, and frowned. "We're just saying, is this kind of person really useful?"
"This underground cave is a dangerous place, not a playground for children. An unreliable teammate could put all of us in danger!"