novelraw Chapter 417 - 222 Day and Night_2
Chapter 417 - 222 Day and Night_2
"Is there such a large island?" Jason looked at the endless coast in front of him and couldn’t help but ask.
In the Homeland Sea, the largest island was not this big. The Homeland Sea is filled with very fragmented islands, their boundaries visible even from a distance. In other words, there was no truly large island, not even where the Holy Mother Church’s Great Cathedral is located.
"Really? You don’t have such large islands there?" Simon said, somewhat surprised.
Jason shook his head.
"The island where our Mertes Kingdom is located is such a large island; you can’t see its boundaries. But I’ve only seen that one."
From their conversation, Alka learned that other sea regions also had such large islands. The Homeland Sea had them too, but it was so vast that Alka and the others had only operated in a corner of the map before leaving. Yet, without exception, such large islands were extremely rare. The islands in all sea regions were very fragmented.
During their chat, they finally reached the island’s boundary and observed some of its features. Within their visible range, there was green vegetation, and most of the boundary consisted of steep, stone-like cliffs. Only on the far edge of the visible coastline could they see what appeared to be a beach, while the visible parts of the island were covered in vegetation and expansive wastelands. However, they could also see areas resembling forests.
The visible scenery was limited. Trees, protruding stone blocks, upward slopes, and mountain peaks blocked their view. Within this limited scene, there was nothing peculiar; it looked just like any ordinary island.
The invisible ship gradually approached the island’s boundary.
"Circle the boundary."
Upon hearing Alka’s command, the ship began to circle slowly, allowing the group to carefully observe the interior of this island.
Proceeding in this manner, the group circled for a full three hours, but still hadn’t seen any end to the island’s coastline. During these three hours, they saw no signs of human activity but did spot some animals moving within the coastal forest. These creatures were mostly unfamiliar.
"Could this be an uninhabited island?" Juanlu asked, after they had circled a large area with no results.
Alka shook his head and said, "For such a large island, we’re only scouting the perimeter. It’s very difficult to ascertain the situation inland. The probability of it being uninhabited is very low."
Of course, he didn’t speak with absolute certainty, especially since this was the Endless Sea, and they were new arrivals, completely unaware of the specific conditions here. Whether in the Homeland Sea or other sea regions, such a huge island would almost certainly be inhabited. But in the Endless Sea, who knows?
"By the way, have you all noticed something?" Julia suddenly asked, standing still.
Hearing this, everyone turned to look at him, their expressions puzzled.
Julia pointed to the sky with his finger and then asked, "How long has it been daylight today?"
Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly remembered. They had entered the gateway in the afternoon while on their previous course. If time flowed at the same rate on both sides, it should have been nighttime by now. The issue was, the duration they had floated in the dark space was uncertain. Alka hadn’t been awake initially either; he had only woken up partway through, and the ship had arrived here shortly after he regained consciousness.
"Perhaps while we were unconscious, a day or even several days passed," Simon said thoughtfully.
"No, that’s not right," Chadite interjected. She then stretched out her hand, and a faint glimmer of light coalesced on her palm. "I’m very sensitive to light now. When we first arrived in this sea area, the sky’s brightness was no different than it is now, and the sun’s position hasn’t changed at all."
This was something she could confirm.
"So, will the daytime here be very long?" Lucilia asked.
Chadite shook her head, indicating she didn’t know either.
In any case, with the sun remaining stationary for so long, there was definitely something unusual about the daylight here.
Seeing the others pondering, Jason shrugged and said, "I think it’s better if we don’t dwell on these things. You all said this place is chaotic. So, if it suddenly turned to night right now, it wouldn’t be strange at all, would it?"
That was true. The way the sea surface had undulated erratically, like a sheet of fabric, had already reshaped their worldview. The sun merely remaining stationary hadn’t shown any immediate adverse effects, at least not yet.
"So, should we continue circling?" one of them asked.
Alka nodded. "Continue. We haven’t found a suitable landing spot in these past few hours. Even if there are people here, they wouldn’t build a port in an unsuitable location, would they?"
If this was indeed an inhabited island, any settlement would naturally be built in a location suitable for constructing a port, or at least close to one.
After all, such areas are the natural locations for establishing a settlement.
The ship began moving again, and the others started paying a little more attention to any changes in the sky.
And so, they cruised along the coastline for another five hours approximately, but the sky still showed no change. During this process, they still made no significant discoveries, though Jason did manage to catch a few fish.
Finally, they found a very suitable bay for landing.