Chapter 23: Ship Built, The Sea Farmer

Ye Jun opened the small merchant ship blueprint.

Small Merchant Ship: the hull is 120 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. Materials required: wood (1000 cubic meters of fine ship wood), hemp rope (200 meters), tung oil (20 barrels), sailcloth (30 meters).

Current inventory: 200 cubic meters of fine ship wood.

Unfortunately, the parachute rope was nylon and not hemp, so it couldn’t be used for shipbuilding.

But Ye Jun didn’t lack money now.

He opened the in-game store and checked.

Fine ship wood 30 copper coins per cubic meter.

Would you like to purchase it?

Purchased 800 cubic meters, minus 24,000 copper coins.

Hemp rope: 10 copper coins/meter, purchased 200 meters, minus 2000 copper coins.

Canvas: 50 copper coins/meter, purchased 30 meters, minus 1500 copper coins.

Tung oil: 1200 copper coins/barrel, purchased 20 barrels, minus 24000 copper coins.

Tung oil was especially expensive during warfare and often fought over, and the price of it was almost as high as a piece of bronze equipment.

Total: 51,500 coins, leaving a balance of 8,000 coins.

Looking at his drastically shrinking balance, he felt like it was quite a trip back to the past.

With plenty of materials already, there was no need to wait. He began the construction.

Ye Jun had had enough of getting wet, and besides, the weather at sea was unpredictable, so who knew when a storm would come?

“One small merchant ship blueprint consumed, would you like to begin construction?”

The prompt sounded and the merchant ship blueprint in Ye Jun’s hand burst into flames.

It turned out that building a ship had to consume a blueprint, no wonder blueprints were sold so expensively—one blueprint cost 1000 silver coins. Fortunately, Ye Jun got it by checking in, otherwise, he couldn’t even afford to buy the blueprint.

It made sense that if it weren’t for the game’s setup, there was no way he would know how to build a ship even if he had gathered enough materials.

Building a ship wasn’t a job for one person.

As the blueprint turned into a streak of light, a voice sounded.

“Building a small merchant ship, supplies required, complete, equipment required: bronze-grade construction hammer, qualified. Construction begins!”

All of a sudden, Ye Jun landed on a piece of fine ship wood with a construction hammer in hand, and a series of clanking sounds rang out, along with the sound of a saw cutting.

A deck was automatically formed.

As his construction hammer continued to fall and the raw materials dwindled, a deck, various formwork, and masts appeared.

With that, Ye Jun processed all the materials.

Every part was tightly sewn and every piece of the deck was perfectly put together.

The seams and gaps were filled with tung oil-soaked hemp rope, and then the whole ship was brushed with tung oil.

To top it all off, it was time to erect the mast and hang the sailcloth.

Gradually, a small merchant ship began to emerge into view.

It was done!

“Successful construction of a small merchant ship, +1 Builder Level, obtained the title of Intermediate Builder. Rewarded silver-grade construction hammer (boosts the durability of builds by 30%).”

The bronze-grade construction hammer flashed brightly and transformed into a silver-grade hammer.

Not only did he get silver-grade equipment, but he also became an Intermediate Builder, a great gain.

“Small merchant ship: the first step to conquering the sea, fear storms no more, and a lucky one like you will never encounter a tsunami.”

Although it was a small merchant ship, it was 120 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. It floated quietly on the sea. The raft next to it was like a junk pile of scrap iron placed next to a luxury sports car.

Ye Jun began transferring supplies, carrying the contents of the raft to the merchant ship.

Fireplace, crucible, equipment, doll, fishing net, and water purifier.

Although it was a small merchant ship, it had living quarters and a storage, as well as a galley.

All he had to forge was an iron pot.

Ye Jun could then cook properly.

However, the cabin was not very well lit, and the windows were covered with waterproof canvas.

Ye Jun thought about it and purchased twenty pieces of glass at the in-game store.

“Purchased Glass*20, minus 2000 copper coins.”

‘Start the transformation.’

Ye Jun tapped on the window with his construction hammer and the windows soon changed shape and jaws appeared to mount the glass.

Immediately, the cabin became bright and comfortable to look at.

He threw all the supplies that weren’t crucial into the bilge.

The fireplace was still placed on the deck. Ye Jun had set up a guardrail next to it to avoid problems with the fireplace setting the ship on fire.

This ship was all he had.

The raft wasn’t wasted; Ye Jun dismantled it all and threw the wood into the bilge. It was dozens of cubic meters of wood, and it was fine to use as firewood. It shouldn’t be wasted.

The raft that had been packed disappeared from the sea, leaving only a merchant ship.

Ye Jun wasn’t idle on the ship either.

He built a bed and some furniture from the leftover good wood from tearing down the raft.

This was as easy as eating and drinking for him as an Intermediate Builder.

The silver-grade construction hammer built something quickly and well; it even had a pattern that automatically appeared on the wood.

It was no longer a piece of wooden furniture, it was a work of art.

Pots and pans, kitchen accommodation, furniture, and more all in one place.

With the necessities of life taken care of, all that was left was food.

Ye Jun wasn’t short of food, but after eating fish for so long, he did get tired of eating it.

He had wanted to grow vegetables on his own, but the raft was just too small.

Now with a merchant ship, the empty decks were just right for growing fruits and vegetables.

This would save him from trading for vegetables.

The wild greens tasted terrible, and if it weren’t for the sake of vitamin supplementation he wouldn’t have eaten them.

Ye Jun built more than 20 open wooden boxes, each one a meter long and a meter wide, and arranged them neatly one by one on the deck.

And then there was the soil.

This was simple. Ye Jun just traded a few catties of fish for a large amount of black soil.

The black soil was the perennially decomposing soils of the deciduous forests of the northern regions, rich in nutrients and minerals, and was best used for planting.

Ye Jun planted the watermelon seeds left by the watermelon he ate before. The watermelon seeds needed 100 days to grow before bearing fruit. If it were in modern society, Ye Jun definitely wouldn’t be able to wait, but this was a survival game, and Ye Jun had made preparations for the long term.

In addition to that, Ye Jun purchased some more vegetable seeds from the in-game store.

“Cabbage seeds: 100 hundred copper coins/bag.”

“Cucumber seeds: 100 copper coins/bag.”

“Watercress seeds: 100 copper coins/bag.”

“Tomato seeds: 100 copper coins/bag.”

Ye Jun got some of each. He didn’t have much experience growing them and wasn’t sure what vegetables were suitable for the climate at sea.

It was only because he had enough money and food that he could conduct such an experiment. For the vast majority of players, 100 copper coins were simply an astronomical amount—it would be better spent on bread.

The entire deck was packed, and Ye Jun was filled with anticipation, imagining a future where the deck was lush and fragrant with melons and fruits.

Once upon a time, he fantasized countless times about quitting his job to find a place with beautiful mountains, developing some fields, raising a few dogs, growing some fruits and vegetables, doing some fishing, and being a carefree, relaxed farmer.

He never expected that this would now be achieved at sea.