“Modify the ship? That’s not possible, is it?” The captains were all very confused. It would be understandable if they had modified ships when they were alive, but now their ships were already ghost ships, completely different from normal vessels.
Just like when I controlled the lighthouse before, these ghost ships were no longer mere objects but undead beings, resurrected from sunken ships. The resurrected crew members were merely vassals of the ghost ships, insignificant goblins that relied on the ghost ships for their existence.
Even adding advanced cannons and steel armor to the ghost ships would be useless, as they wouldn’t be integrated. Any externally attached weapons would only be corroded and decay due to the death qi.
Of course, there was a way: the equipment needed to assimilate with the ghost ships, transforming the modified equipment into undead as well. Many ghost ship captains who drifted at sea knew how to do this, though it took some time.
Could this undead master also use similar magic, modifying the ghost ships with undead arts? The captains watched expectantly, obeying my command to summon the crew members down.
Instantly, countless zombie pirates, skeleton sailors, ghost crew members, and ghoul navies disembarked from the ships. Various demons and monsters gathered on the shore, as if celebrating Halloween night.
Although Hoffman had fallen, the navy soldiers still harbored animosity towards the pirates, and the atmosphere remained somewhat tense. Fortunately, most of them were lower-level crew members, many forced into such circumstances and lacking strong allegiances.
“Lester, have your people restore their appetite. Bring up the drinks and food, give them a long-awaited treat,” I said. The glutton believers immediately dispersed among the sailors, while the Qing people brought over the wine and meat.
This wine and meat were provided by the Qing people. Although the quantity was large, it didn’t cost much, certainly much cheaper than buying a warship.
Originally, I intended to prepare these things myself, but Mr. Zhang and the others said I was doing too much and felt uneasy not contributing.
I asked them to prepare the food and drinks, but they were reluctant, thinking the task was too easy. I told them that in ancient times, provisions always came first in times of war and that logistics and supply were always of utmost importance and could not be taken lightly. Only then did they agree.
In reality, providing food for the glutton believers was quite a stressful task. The mission I assigned to the Qing people was not light, and it was only now that they realized a significant portion of it was for the undead.
This also exists in the Eastern Taoist magic system, called blood food or sacrifices, where the dead are fed to make them work for oneself. In fact, the ingredients for feeding the dead in the East are even more cruel and disgusting.
As the undead, amazed, discovered they could enjoy appetite and delicious food and began to devour it, I walked up to the first ghost ship, a staff appearing in my hand. I had retrieved it from my main body.
I began to cast a spell on the Victory Goddess Exclamation Mark. The staff greatly amplified my magic. What I was using now was not undead magic but a transformation spell.
They all watched me in surprise. They initially thought I was going to modify the ship, but unexpectedly, I produced a staff first. Was she planning to enchant the ghost ship?
However, what happened next stunned everyone. In a short period, the rotten wood of the ghost ship turned into silver-gray steel, which quickly covered the entire hull, even obscuring the original side cannon ports.
Then, the superstructure also turned into steel, the mast became a chimney, two dual-barreled ship cannons appeared at the bow, and four-barreled torpedo tubes emerged on both sides.
After the ghost ship was modified, it was unrecognizable, or rather, completely renewed. The original rotten and eerie ghost ship had completely disappeared, replaced by a brand-new warship.
“What, what is this?!” the ghost ship captain exclaimed in disbelief, his own ship completely unrecognizable!
“Just a cruiser, don’t be too surprised. There’s more to surprise you with later,” I said, pointing the staff towards the Black Tulip.
Just like before, this ghost ship was rapidly changing its appearance, soon becoming a warship similar in appearance to the one beside it, with only minor differences in weaponry.
“What is a cruiser? And I, my…” the skull captain also watched the steel warship with awe. It had completely surpassed his understanding of ships, and his beloved vessel had taken on someone else’s form.
After transforming two ships, I drank a magic potion. The consumption was too great, and I needed a potion to restore my magic power to continue casting spells on the larger blood-colored pirate ship.
“Wait, stop! My Blood Hawk! Don’t mess with it! It has a special function of raining blood to corrode metal and wood!” Aniya shouted.
“Don’t worry, I’m just using a transformation spell. Its essence won’t change. Its appearance has changed, but it’s still a ghost ship, and its special abilities will be retained,” I said as I cast the spell.
“That’s not the point!” Aniya yelled, but she couldn’t stop me from continuing to cast the spell and watched helplessly as her beloved vessel transformed into a much larger and more imposing warship than the two pirate speedboats.
It was a battleship with two triple turrets at the front, one triple turret at the stern, and numerous secondary guns, rapid-fire guns, and anti-aircraft guns covering both sides densely.
Since I owned all these ships, the ghost ships offered no resistance; they even cooperated with my transformations. I easily transformed the last ship, Sea Power’s Hammer, into a battleship as well.
It was the same principle as when I turned mummies into puppets during grave robbing. Only these ghost ships were larger and required more magic. In reality, hostile mummies would resist mentally, while ghost ships cooperated completely, making it easier.
Another difficulty was the internal structure. If only the exterior was changed, the ghost ship transformed into a steel warship would have no combat capability. I modified the interior entirely with transformation spells.
This included steam turbines, ammunition handling systems, fire control, shells and torpedoes, engines, fire sprinkler systems, and even the crew quarters. I redesigned everything.
This drew upon a vast amount of shipbuilding knowledge that emerged when I was drawing diagrams. I could even build larger, stronger, and more advanced warships, but that would be too shocking. The current warships transformed were roughly at World War II levels.
Finally, I transformed the Viking Dragon Ship into a fast destroyer, leaving a slight characteristic for each ship, such as their dragon prows, statues of heroes holding hammers, blood-red hulls, pirate flags, and so on.
