NOVEL NEXT Chapter 177 Compass Eye
As soon as Hibroke finished speaking, a soft gray magical light surged from his hand, flowing as he waved it.
The entire ship's appearance underwent a subtle transformation.
The hull of the ship turned a pale white, with interwoven gold and silver letters appearing on the sides, spelling out "Sound of Dawn", surrounded by symbols resembling musical notes.
Then golden, blue, and silver stripes began to trace along the hull, instantly making the ship appear more beautiful, more... elegant.
Touches of orange-yellow and some red started to appear on some rooms and masts of the ship.
In just an instant, the ship's appearance was completely repainted from top to bottom.
Joyful and melodious singing sounded continuously; it seemed the Sound of Dawn loved her new look very much.
Listening to the music, Hibroke nodded in satisfaction—there was no better praise than the ship's own delight.
"You've got to treat her well; she's a beautiful lady,"
Hibroke said with a broad smile.
Akka nodded too, gazing at the ship with a smile, "Don't worry, I will."
Hibroke walked off the ship, came to the side, and addressed everyone on the deck, "Alright everyone, are you ready to take this ship on its maiden voyage?"
With that, he waved his hand towards the rear, where some shipyard workers pushed some equipment.
The whole ship began to shake.
The ship was placed on a giant trailer, beneath which ran a straight track extending all the way toward the sea.
Following the push, the ship slowly rolled along the track toward the water.
Huge splashes erupted as the Sound of Dawn floated onto the waves.
The sails automatically unfurled, then the self-adjusting spells activated, immediately capturing the surrounding wind and filling the sails full.
The ship sped quickly across the surface of the sea.
None of this was directed by Alka; it was entirely the Sound of Dawn acting on her own.
As the music rang out from the deck, everyone could feel the ship's excitement.
After half a year, she was sailing the ocean again, in a brand-new form.
It was like a rebirth.
She swiftly circled the entire island of the Great Cathedral, then returned to the shipyard's edge.
She slowly sailed back to the shipyard, docking at the berth, right beside the vessel they had used before.
At this point, their old Swallow had already been lowered off.
Everyone jumped down from the deck.
The apprentice they'd last seen trailing after Hibroke came over.
"Everyone, your old ship has been evaluated. Just leave her here when you leave,"
Alka nodded.
"Then I won't trouble you any further."
He finished speaking and left of his own accord.
He also left a pouch of coins in Alka's hand.
Such a low-level Spell Ship, it was worth only about 450 Golden Sails upon resale.
It was simply no match for the Sound of Dawn, of course—not even close.
"Alright, let's all head back to the old ship and move your belongings and supplies onto the Dawn Sound!"
Alka clapped his hands and called out to everyone.
"We're moving in!" Jason followed behind Alka, saying joyfully.
Having a ship truly of their own—what a different feeling it was.
Everyone quickly returned to their old ship, deftly moving their personal items, as well as the materials and tools stored on board, onto the Sound of Dawn.
Along with that, various little pieces of furniture and decorations they'd gotten for their rooms were also carried aboard.
Alka had the most stuff, since, on the old ship, he'd taken over an empty cabin and set up a temporary workshop.
But even a temporary workshop had involved a lot of expensive equipment and rare materials.
And so, everyone busied themselves back and forth between the two ships.
Luckily, all of them were skilled Touch-bearers, so handling the loads was no problem at all.
The sun raced across the sky overhead.
Little Lucilia stood by the central flower bed, gazing as the whole ship stretched out her welcoming arms.
"So this will be our new home from now on?"
After moving most of his things, Alka sat down next to her and, hearing this, responded with a smile, "That's right, this will be our new home."
He wasn't wrong; for them, this would truly be their home from now on.
As the two of them talked, the others had already started hunting for their own rooms.
There were plenty of rooms, all easily customizable, so of course everyone wanted to choose carefully.
Seeing all this, Alka lowered his head, reached out, and ruffled Lucilia's hair, asking, "Lucilia, do you want to pick a room too?"
At his words, Lucilia shook her head hard, flinging Alka's fingers aside, then said, "What do I need a room for? I can't leave you for long anyway—the Magic Mirror needs your magic power to keep going."
"Just pick one for now. I've made progress with my puppet work recently; I think I can make a perfect first version for you before we leave the Homeland Sea.
By then, even if you can't stray too far from me, your range of activity will definitely be much greater—you'll be able to move about freely on this ship at least."
Alka looked at Lucilia and tapped her doll's head again as he spoke.
The last upgrade had made the doll's head quite soft to the touch, so Alka couldn't help but always want to poke and squeeze it a little.