1 I became a raft
Light gradually filled his vision as he regained consciousness and the azure sky and endless sea greeted his eyes.
"Where am I?"
Raine could only feel his head hurting. There seemed to be a huge distinction between his current location and how he got there and his memories.
"No, I'm dead, aren't I?" The last image Raine could recall was falling drunk into a lake and drowning, after which there was a series of painful struggles, suffocation, and blurred consciousness...
He should still be in the water as far as what his body could tell. Except, how did he get to the sea? Did the bottom of the lake have a passage to the sea?
Also, why could he float on the surface of the water? He couldn't swim. Was it the high density of salt water that made him buoyant?
Why hadn't he died?
A headache.
With a long sigh, Raine tried to touch his head with his hand. But bizarrely, he couldn't feel his arms and legs.
After Realizing this, Raine's mind stopped for half a second. This was definitely not a good sign! Could it be paraplegia?
He tried to look up to check his body.
Next, his perspective shifted to a birds eye view... which was bizarre. It felt like a shooter's first-person view switching to a third-person view!
Undoubtedly, this is not supposed to be a human's ability!
The scarier part is yet to come! After seeing his "body", Raine was completely stunned.
"What! Where's my head? Where are my limbs? Where is my body? Where is my brother? Why the fuck, there's only a row of tied bambo poles!"
It was beyond scary, it was so terrible.
Raine took a long time to come to terms with his current reality.
He was not riding on this raft in a soul state, he could clearly feel the water flow beneath him and the state of each bamboo, he could even see the fish passing underwater.
He was this raft!
"I get it. I've been fucking reborn as a raft!"
[The host's self-awareness has been completed.]
The voice that suddenly appeared in Raine's head startled him, even though he couldn't jump.
"What the hell?"
[Activating Super Battleship Evolution System]
"System?" With these words, Raine's already cold heart suddenly lit up with a glimmer of hope.
[Checking the time-space axis... Please wait]
[Date: 300th year of the Azure Era. Planet: Earth]
"This is Earth? And what's the Azure Era?" Raine said in amazement, "Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute! Don't fuck with me. Is this really Earth? Is there really an Azure Era on Earth?"
[Yes, this is Earth. According to the A.D. calendar, it should be 2379 A.D., but today's Earth is not the same Earth in your mind. Twenty years before the Azure Era, in 2059 A.D., World War III completely destroyed the Earth's ozone layer, and in the twenty years since then, global temperatures have risen, melting the North and South Pole's glaciers and causing global sea levels to rise, and 95 percent of the world's land mass has been submerged. The massive rise in global temperature and the stream of charged particles carried by the solar wind has contributed to the rapid evolution and mutation of life on Earth. Today over fifty percent of Earth's life has evolved and mutated.]
"Uh..." That is too much information, and Raine is a little confused.
"You said the oceans were flooded ninety-five percent. So there is still five percent? Where are those places? Are there still people there?"
[The habitable islands are almost permanently occupied by powerful fleets. As for the people you speak of, many still survive; only some have changed, and most live aboard ships. After all, undersea creatures are still extremely threatening to humans, large habitable islands are few, so the ships are most people's homes.]
In short, it is a time of evolution and competition for the sea and the sky, hence the name "The Azure Era"!
"Uh..." Raine couldn't help pondering.
[The host has no questions. The basic information distribution will continue.]
Before Raine could understand, the system's voice rang out again, and Raine could only put aside his thoughts for the moment and listen carefully.
[Host: Raine
Vessel: Three Pole Bamboo Raft
Crew size: 0
Speed: Not equipped with a propulsion system, not measurable
Combat Power: 0
Loading Capacity: 0/50kg
Evolutionary Progress: 0/10 (Wood)]
"I can evolve!" Raine listened intently to this long string of information and was instantly elated.
Although all his stats were currently "0", he still screamed out in excitement, although he couldn't scream ... he was just shouting in his heart.
"Oh sweet! I've got a system too!"
Now that Raine was finally no longer downcast, the whole person... the whole boat was different.
The facts were that Raine was reborn as a raft, and there is no point in brooding over it.
Now he was in the Azure Era. Ships had become the primary means of hegemony in this era of global navigation.
As long as he has this super warship system, anything is possible!
With a long sigh, Raine gazed profoundly into the distance, where the sea and sky were azure.
"What is wider than the sea is the sky, and what is wider than the sky is a man's breadth of mind! System, you have indeed chosen me with a unique eye! In my last life, I died meaninglessly, but in this life, with my own hands, I will go forward and gallop between the blue sky and the sea!"
[Host, firstly, you don't have hands. Secondly, you are now just a row of three-pole bamboo rafts; sailing too fast may lead to disintegration.]
"I... know! I'm just expressing my ambition! I mean, I will get stronger and stronger with my own efforts!"
[So what does the host mean by this statement? Can I interpret it as you automatically giving up the newbie gift pack?]
"Stop!" Raine yelled in his head, "Did you say newbie gift pack?"
[It's a prize package awarded to the host for completing self-awareness within the time limit, but you just said you had to do it on your own ...]
"Nonsense! What a load of crap! Don't I understand the principle of teamwork? Don't I understand the truth that strength is in numbers? Only by uniting all the forces that can be united can we achieve great things! Bring out the newbie pack!"
