1082: Land

Land

Ning reached below the tree and grabbed onto one of the fruit before picking it. He used his sword to give it a slight cut and drank everything without wasting a single drop of the fruit.1

He threw away the skin and watched the distant horizon to hopefully see some boat or ship. 

It had been 3 weeks since the turtle started moving and Ning had once again gotten bored. All he did was stay on top of the tree and watched the ocean while occasionally eating the fruit.

Thankfully, the fruit wasn't as bad to eat as it used to be the first time around. He had eaten so much of the fruit that he had gotten used to it by now.

Ning no longer had to take a dump every time he drank the juices. By now, the liquid would stay in his body long enough that he could simply pee and e done with it.

Ning jumped from one tree and landed on the other one. His body felt supremely flexible and strong, something that should not be the case unless he was improving himself with the energy.

Ning couldn't help but wonder what energy he was absorbing from the juices of the fruit. He felt like he should know the answer, but given that he had removed all of his knowledge about the other energies, he was drawing a blank each time.

"I swear I saw this energy when I was in Genesis," Ning thought, but he still didn't remember it.

A few more days passed and Ning was getting tired of everything. He was on the verge of just giving up and teleporting to the closest land when he noticed something.

There was a small boat in the distance. It looked small from where he was, so he wasn't sure if he could tell the size or not.

He immediately jumped from the tree and ran up to a pile of leaves he had prepared long ago. He took a rock he had found and struck it hard with his sword.

He could see the sparks flying in the shadows as they fell on the leaves. He tried a few more times and got a fire going. He piled a few more leaves on top and climbed back on top of the closest tree.

"HEY! HERE!" he shouted as loud as he could, hoping the people on that boat could hear his screams in the ocean.

He wasn't sure how far his shouts could travel, but given that it was an open ocean, he had very high hopes.

Black smoke started filling the sky, trailing behind him as the turtle continued moving through the ocean.

Ning continued shouting, but it didn't look like the people were listening at all. Let alone listening, they seemed to be drifting away.

"Wait, no!" Ning shouted and piled up some more leaves to create stronger smoke, but those people were definitely leaving.

Ning was worried that they would get far away, and then he would no longer get a chance to leave this island.

As he thought that, he noticed a small land on the horizon. That was the closest he had gotten to any single land since he had arrived here nearly 2 months ago.

"Hell no," he thought. "I am not gonna miss this."

He jumped down from the tall tree, landing on his own two feet as he ran towards the shore in the direction of the boat and the land.

He waited to see the direction of the turtle and realized that the turtle had still a few ways to go before it was close to the land.

As hours passed, the land came closer and closer to him, which was still many kilometers away.

Ning looked for the boats, but most of them had disappeared already. 

"Dammit, no boats," he thought and looked towards the land in the distance that was definitely perpendicular in direction to the path of where the turtle was heading.

"I'm not missing this," Ning thought. "Not a chance."

Without hesitation, he jumped into the waves on the beach and started swimming away. The water was cold, but that was surprisingly not very uncomfortable.

After a few strokes in the water, he realized that he didn't need to do much to stay afloat. All he had to do was hold onto his sword which floated on top of the water without sinking at all.

Ning could put his entire body's weight on the sword and it still wouldn't sink even the slightest.

"Haha!" Ning shouted and started swimming with just his legs while his body was on the flat side of the sword. He had to be careful not the cut himself, but that was about it.

Everything else from here on out was simple.

"I hope no sea beasts attack me though," he thought. He remembered the snake from long ago and shuddered. The giant snake was something that could wrap around the island at least 5 times. 

If such massive beasts were here as well, it would be extremely problematic.

Fortunately, no beasts appeared at all. Ning continued swimming for hours and he didn't even notice a single fish.

The sun was starting to get low by now, but there was still enough light in the sky. And with that, he noticed a small fishing boat not far away from him.

"Help!" he shouted with a tired voice. Even if his body was strong, after swimming for so long, Ning was surprised at how weak he felt. "Help!" 

He shouted a few more times before the fishermen saw him. They rowed their boat towards him and pulled him up onto their boat.

"Dear lord, young man. Are you okay?" one of the men asked.

Ning wanted to nod to say he was okay, but he was surprised that all he could do was shake from the cold.

"Let the young man heat up first," another man said. "Take off your clothes. They will only make you colder. Here, take this blanket."

Ning shook uncontrollably, but he managed to sneak a 'thank you' in his shaking.

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