If you don't have a pit in your head, you probably won't have the idea of "I want to give it a try".

Because it's really not something that humans can easily bear.

Entering the second half of December, the North Rigalo Sea is cold and windy. When the Oriental Moon crossed the northernmost headland of Aurora, completely distancing itself from the Marina region of Suau, the barren and lonely white lighthouse that stood above the North Rical Sea was no longer to be seen. For the first time, the passengers felt the fact that human civilization had been left behind.

From here, they will not have any land contact for the next two months. Everyone depends on the ship itself for their livelihood and supplies – and this has been a hardship for first-time passengers just a week after fully embarking on the northern route.

The cold winter in the north is very different from the feeling of dampness in the south, and it is a manifestation of extreme cold. And in a region like the North Rigalo Sea, the cold winds make even the Suomirs, who are known for their hardiness, shiver.

This level of cold is not just cold, and you will feel a pain when the wind blows on your body. And because of the cold wind, the mouth is dry, which is why the sailors' lips are chapped all year round. And that's not all, when a first-time passenger has been nestled in the warm cabin and feels like he wants to come out to breathe, and because of the shaking of the ship, he subconsciously reaches out and grabs the fence.

Because of the action of clenching the fist, the skin of the fist peak joint directly "snapped" and collapsed, revealing bright red flesh and blood.

And because of the sluggishness of his mind due to the cold, he did not even notice the fact that his hands were open, but the sailors passing by noticed it and immediately drove him back to the cabin.

After returning to the warm cabin where the crowd had gathered, the passenger's gradual regain of consciousness caused him to scream in pain. The fact that it was only a moment of carelessness to cause such serious consequences was a disadvantage to mankind by the power of nature—but as the passengers trembled, the sailors said:

"You should be glad that this is a warm winter. ”

If it's a real winter, they'll lose even this lane. Because the sea would be completely frozen in such a northerly place, even if we were lucky enough to find a narrow navigable passage, if we were not careful, if the cold wind blew, the ship and the people would be frozen on the ice and unable to move.

People can only use pickaxes and ice shovels to try in vain to clear them, and only another cold wind blows, and the day's work will be completely wiped out.

Huge ships are considered majestic in the eyes of humans, and many people are often proud of the size of their ships. But when they are released into the endless North Rigalo Sea, they look like ants walking on the wide avenues of Parnila.

The northern part of Suomir, the continent at the far north end of the East Coast, is a bit like a human hand pointing upwards - the northernmost headland of Aurora, far from the lonely lighthouse is the southernmost part of this hand, about the tip of the thumb. Ships sailing eastward through the North Rical Sea would bid farewell to human society at the lighthouse, sailing in a straight line north for some distance before turning east.

After crossing the tip of the middle finger, the equivalent of a "human hand", the highest point on the mainland, the ship turned again and began to move in a southeasterly direction.

The most difficult part of the sea to navigate is at the northernmost point of the North Rical Sea, where you have to cross the "middle finger finger", because the weather is extremely cold, and even the extremely salty waters freeze. In this year's "warm winter" weather, we must always be careful not to be hit by the ice floes brought by the ocean currents, which will cause the hull to break and sink.

On a clear December day, looking northernmost from the left side of the ship's side, you can already see a patch of white in the distance.

They look like they're connected like the earth, but there's no land, it's all made up of ice that has been accumulated for an unknown number of years.

Even in summer, it is still covered with snow.

This is a very unimaginable scene - although the area where the Oriental Moon is located today is cold, the deep blue water has only a few ice floes, and the frozen white earth is not known how far away, even if it seems that it only takes a few days to reach it, but there is a saying that "the mountain runs the dead horse", and the situation is only worse on the sea.

And such a huge sea, which seems to be an endless expanse of waterways at the moment, freezes all over the place at the coldest time, leaving only a channel that is difficult for even ships to navigate.

It can only be said that the power of nature is really beyond the imagination of any human being.

The sailors' claims were not a sign of intimidation, a fact that was witnessed by all on the last day of December.

At first it was just the chatter of discussion in the cabin, but when the sound attracted everyone, and when they looked out from the frosty glass portholes below, the wreckage of the past, which was still faintly visible, swept away.

Frozen in ice, the huge wooden bow of the ship moves slowly with the ice floe.

On the side of the ship, the name "Cornkisto" – meaning "Conqueror" – written in Raman script is still clearly visible, and the time has not faded too much because it has been frozen in ice. This is a warship, a warship of one hundred and fifty years ago. The Padrosi people proved their pride and sent out a fleet to cross the Sea of North Rigallo for an eastward crusade.

After being frozen, as the sea moved, the ice split and was torn apart, and finally sealed in the ice floe, leaving only one-third of the front of the hull, which was almost four-fifths the size of the Oriental Moon. This massive ship was once the flagship of the Padrosi ocean-going navy, and the setbacks that this formidable naval fleet eventually suffered are also evident from this wreckage.

The big ships were almost frozen, and the sailors were lost. They were frozen on the surface of the sea for nearly two years, and when they finally reached the East, they were only one-twentieth the size, and all of them were scarred and discredited small sailing ships.

Putting an end to the dream of "conquering the East" were the pirate groups of the Great Eastern Sea, the self-confident Lamanites who eventually landed on the Eastern continent as captives and slaves. Many of the frozen fleets sank into the abyss as the ice melted, leaving only parts like the wreckage of the flagship Conqueror, still frozen in the ice floes, drifting alongside the currents.

It's as if nature is laughing at human arrogance.

Those who are in awe live only when they are in awe, and in the sailor's business, Captain Francisco is the most effective spokesperson for this saying.

Even the most experienced sailors could easily die if they lost their sense of awe. On the day of the beginning of January, they witnessed it with their own eyes. The Eastern Moon, which had lowered its sails at that time, was moving at a very slow pace - it was often foggy when crossing the sea at the very end of the "middle finger" point, and it was terrible to cooperate with the ice floe in this kind of winter. Even with extreme caution, the hull of the Oriental Moon still heard the faint sound of collision from time to time.

Sailors scattered on both sides of the ship and picked up long bamboo poles and whaling forks, and as the ship moved slowly, they used bamboo poles to push away the oversized ice floes to prevent the ship from being trapped by the ice floes.

Because of the lack of manpower, experienced old passengers and newcomer passengers such as Henry and Mira, who have a calmer personality, are also asked to help. In this kind of closed space, the spirit of everyone for me and me for everyone has been brought into full play, after all, if you are selfish, you can't escape if something happens to others.

It was like a popular game of billiards in the high society of the Padrosi Empire: sailors chose the angle and size of the ice floe, pushed them out with force from their calves and waist, and used the impact between the ice floes to keep the distant ones from approaching.

If you don't do this right, you will get tired quickly, but our Sage and Luo An Maiden, who happened to try it, noticed that it was very similar to the way of swordsmanship, and they seemed very handy.

The boring repetitive activities are very stressful, and the skin is easy to crack due to the biting cold wind. However, because of their participation in the labor, the two also shared the sailors' skin care products - a moisturizer made of whale fat and green herb juice, which was applied to the bare skin to effectively retain moisture and prevent it from cracking easily due to excessive dryness.

Gifts from the ocean's largest creatures are a necessity for navigation, as are candles and lamp oils that light the cabins and provide a little heat. After boiling and refining the lamp oil, the remaining paste is placed after adding the curing agent and candle wick, and after condensation, it is poured out of the mold to become a high-quality and inexpensive lighting appliance.

However, this candle has a strong smell and is slightly more advanced and will be spiced up to cover it. The candles used by the most advanced high society are made of beeswax, which has a pleasant honey aroma when burned.

Naturally, the Moon of the East could not have been of high quality, because of the enormous consumption of ocean voyages. Each time, they buy in bulk box by box, and even a tenth of the price difference can be a huge expense if multiplied by the quantity.

Fortunately, the weather was cold, and even if it burned a lot, the smell was not very strong, but after more than ten years of candle cultivation, there was already a strong smell in the cabin of the Oriental Moon.

This smell is not only on this ship, but also on other ships that burn whale lamp oil and candles all year round. Coupled with the salty smell of the sea breeze, the reason why even more experienced people can distinguish the sailors from the crowd by their sense of smell rather than their words and deeds.

The smell of burning in confined spaces is far stronger than that of everyday use by civilians. Not only does this whale oil provide illumination, but it can also be used to treat a wide range of skin ailments. It can be said that the voyage of humans without whales is almost impossible.

But even with the best of preparations, there are still situations where the unexpected happens.

On the other side, a shout rang out: "Larley, Larley!" the sailors shouted in the Lamani language, a word meaning "net", apparently they had discovered something.

Henry and Mira looked at each other and walked over, and Galeva, wrapped in blankets, and the other passengers came out of the cabin because of the commotion.

The huge long-pole fishing net was handed over hand by hand, and the sound of "boom-" soon rang out, and two or three tall Suomir sailors pulled a barrel from the sea. When it is lowered, the flowery Lamanite language of the port of Parniera above is clearly visible.

"It's rum. Captain Francisco took the kitten named "Kurlo" in his arms with one hand, warmed it with his body temperature, and walked over, and spoke.

"There's more!" shouted the sailors who looked at the side of the board, "There's that too!"

The contents of the barrels that had been sealed were scooped up one after another, and the sailors examined them a lot, salvaging as many as possible the contents of some of the barrels that had been frozen and soaked in water, and threw the unusable ones back into the sea.

"Where is this—" Halfway through Galeva's inquiring words were replaced by silence, for broken planks began to appear among the things that floated with the barrels—their origin was self-evident.

"It's the Encicroni, she's the only one of the five ships from the port of Parnilla. Francisco took a bottle of spirits from the sailor's hand, held the cat in one hand and uncorked it with the other, and walked to the sea: "Old Rudolph has always been a short-tempered and not clever enough. ”

"Rest in peace. The captain poured the liquor into the water and spoke.

"Rest in peace. ”

The sailors repeated their captain's words in unison, while the Roan Maiden glanced at a long-dead and blue-frozen, human corpse in the distance—she shivered at the sight of a large part of her body being gnawed and broken.

"They started an hour before us, but they were so far ahead, obviously they were running too fast. ”

"Slow is steady, steady is fast. The Encigroni was so anxious as it passed through here that the ice floe broke through the hull and sank. Captain Francisco noticed Mira's eyes and explained to her: "In the sea at this temperature, it only takes a short moment for a person to fall and lose consciousness. Unless you happen to be neck and neck when there is an accident, even if you see it, you probably won't be able to rush over. ”

"If you are saved, you will die quickly due to hypothermia. ”

"It's just unlucky. ”

"Come on. He was one of the four captains who wouldn't take Mademoiselle with him. The captain said, "So maybe it's not bad luck to bring women on board, on the contrary, you are our goddess of luck, hahaha." ”

Captain Francisco, who was not good-looking, said this in polite terms, and laughed happily.

It's just that no one else has the means to share that ease.

The blue sea was full of murderous opportunities beneath the surface, and their perils did not end after crossing the coldest of regions.

The next stretch of water to the east has very strong currents.

If they are not careful, they will follow in the footsteps of Enzigroni.