Chapter 396: Strange Tanuki? Eevee!

The seed shop in Monte Town.

"Sir, thank you for coming." The shopkeeper divided the seeds Gao De needed into small bags, then put them together in a larger cloth bag, and handed them to Gao De.

Gao De carried a cloth bag in each hand, feeling happy as he walked toward the hotel where he was temporarily staying.

The cloth bag in his left hand contained the new tree seeds he had just collected from the town.

For him, every time he went out to perform a task, as long as he went to a new place, there would be a guaranteed gain: local new tree seeds.

There were really too many types of trees.

So even if they belonged to the small towns under the jurisdiction of Duon City, they possessed different tree seeds.

In his view, this was already somewhat like a collection game in some simulation management games in his previous life: collecting new tree seeds was lighting up a brand-new illustrated book.

And when the number of lit illustrated books reached a certain value, he would receive a reward (Yujia Te Xila promotion).

This sufficient positive feedback could be said to make him tireless in collecting tree seeds.

As for the bag in his right hand, it contained the Blood Crystal Wheat sent by Chief Ha Po.

This belonged to an unexpected gain, and a big gain at that.

He hadn't expected that just aiming for a free meal would lead to such an unexpected joy.

The next three days.

Gao De relied on a hand of Divine Berry baiting, combined with Tuan Zi, to carry out "fishing law enforcement" in the activity area of Shell-Stealing Crabs given by the Monte Town Sheriff's Office.

The harvest was abundant.

The spirituality and wisdom of ley line creatures were much higher than ordinary animals, but the nature in their bones was not so easy to suppress.

What's more, even for humans, how many people could resist when facing temptation?

In short, only three days of standard working hours from 8 am to 6 pm, plus a two-hour lunch break, ended, and the number of Shell-Stealing Crab eyeballs Gao De collected had already reached more than four hundred.

Actually, it was already more than three hundred on the first day, and the next two days belonged to the stage of checking for omissions and filling in gaps, catching those stray fish in twos and threes.

On the fourth day, continue Divine Berry baiting.

He tried every point, confirmed that no more Shell-Stealing Crabs appeared, and Gao De decisively chose to end the task and return home.

The reproduction speed of Shell-Stealing Crabs was extremely fast. Under normal circumstances, Hai Shao Bing mages performing tasks took a long time. Those Shell-Stealing Crabs were reproducing new small Shell-Stealing Crabs while being exterminated, thereby leading to a further increase in task time and task difficulty.

But Gao De's main style was to cut the Gordian knot, simply not giving these Shell-Stealing Crabs a chance to reproduce further, so his task completion time was also faster and faster.

Returning, Gao De didn't choose to take a boat anymore, but changed to a carriage.

Although the road network of the Jin Jin Quehua Dynasty was also equally developed and there were no dangerous areas without human habitation, the speed was definitely worse than the waterway.

But this was also for the sake of stability.

Compared to when he came, Gao De had an exotic egg on him that was discovered underwater, emitting fluorescent light, looking extremely extraordinary at a glance.

He was worried that continuing to take the waterway back to Duon, the "father" and "mother" of this egg could sense something and attract unnecessary trouble.

Although this possibility was not very high, it was not completely impossible, which was just spending a few more hours on the journey, so there was no need to take this risk.

Returning to Duon, Gao De first went to the Material Department to submit the task voucher and apply for task settlement.

Between the various offices on the first floor of the Hai Shao Bing, the news was very well-informed.

So when seeing the full bag of Shell-Stealing Crab eyeballs handed over by Gao De, Mage Ni Er immediately widened his eyes:

"【Crab Disaster Hidden Danger】 task wasn't it just accepted five or six days ago? It ended so quickly?"

He sized Gao De up and down.

He didn't remember wrong; Gao De was just a grassroots first-rank mage.

This kind of task completion speed should either appear on a high-rank mage, who had special methods, or it was a noble mage who could do it.

The reason for the latter was also very simple. Besides ordinary mage ability, noble mages also possessed a "money" ability. Naturally, it was easy to handle things with money.

The importance of a mage's privacy was a recognized truth, so even the Hai Shao Bing wouldn't pay too much attention to the means everyone used to complete tasks, as long as they ensured that the means were just.

Therefore, it was very common for noble mages to mobilize family forces to help "brush" tasks. In the Hai Shao Bing, although it wasn't said directly, it could be tacitly assumed to be compliant.

After all, family forces were also part of a mage's strength.

This was roughly equivalent to some online games in Gao De's previous life where RMB warriors spent money to ask big hands to carry them.

Having money, willful.

However, there was also an unspoken rule in this.

That was, tasks "brushed" would not receive special subsidies for "winning against the strong with the weak."

Gao De was neither a high-rank mage nor of noble origin, so why could he complete this tricky task so quickly?

Old Ni Er didn't understand.

Gao De smiled "shyly": "I traveled across the Green Tooth Mountain Range and the Treasure Sword Mountain Range. Searching for ley line creatures and killing ley line creatures can be said to be rich in experience."

This explanation could only be said to be barely acceptable. Old Ni Er naturally knew there must be other reasons, but asking again would be offensive, so he decisively stopped.

Thinking about it, Old Ni Er felt in his heart that it should be related to the specialty Gao De awakened.

Old Ni Er nimbly did the corresponding registration work, and then said to Gao De: "Wait for the task assessment to be completed, and we will send someone to notify you. However, this can be considered a task completion state for the time being. During this period, you can accept other tasks."

The 【Crab Disaster Hidden Danger】 task was special and required an observation period of half a month before confirming whether the task was completed.

Gao De had long known about this, so he was also very calm.

"Trouble Mage Ni Er." He put away his identity nameplate, left the Material Department, and headed to the library next door.

The books collected in the library on the first floor of the Mage Tower were mostly introductory books, used to increase knowledge. There was no truly precious mage knowledge or skill knowledge, so most of them were open to Hai Shao Bing mages for free.

Gao De searched for a circle, entered the book area for ley line creature introduction, and found the water beast section according to the classification.

For an excellent Hai Shao Bing mage, fully understanding the habits of various water beasts was a basic and essential skill.

Gao De also knew this point well and often came to the library to read and memorize water beast introductions.

But there was nothing related to the egg found underwater.

Gao De didn't think it was his omission or that his memory was too poor.

He felt it should be that the water beast to which this egg belonged was of a higher rank and was not listed in the common water beast catalog.

In the library, the introduction of that small part of rare water beasts belonged to the "paid column," and unlocking also required "military rank" level.

Gao De didn't be stingy either, paid to unlock all the rare water beast books that a first-rank apprentice mage could unlock, and then read them earnestly in the reading area of the library.

The result was that he flipped through all of them, but still didn't find the relevant content.

This was both a good thing and a bad thing.

The good thing was that the water beast to which this egg belonged might be even more powerful and rare than he had envisioned.

The bad thing was that he didn't know what kind of thing this was, and no matter how powerful and rare it was, it seemed useless.

He thought about it, turned a corner, and found the mage on duty on the first floor.

"You picked up a ley line creature egg on the water route to Monte Town to perform a task?" After hearing Gao De's intention, the mage on duty felt incredible.

The route of the passenger ship was fixed. How come others didn't discover it, but Gao De discovered it?

"Then, you flipped through the ley line creature introduction in the library and didn't find a water beast introduction that matched it, suspecting it was a high-rank or rare water beast?" While feeling incredible, he straightened his expression and confirmed further.

"Yes." Gao De nodded slightly.

The mage on duty looked at Gao De with an appreciative eye, thought for a moment, knew that the matter was of great importance, and continued: "I will report it immediately

After finishing his report, the duty mage walked toward the second floor, which was still a restricted area for Gao De.

After a moment, he returned, his expression a few degrees more solemn than before.

"Captain Merik happens to be here; he wants you to go up. Follow me."

Gao De was a bit stunned; he hadn't expected that a simple report would alarm a mage of that rank.

Led by the duty mage, he was guided all the way to an office on the third floor.

Pushing open the door, behind a black wooden desk in the room sat a mage whose age was between youth and middle age—Captain Merik.

Of course, for mages, especially those of high circles, age cannot be judged by appearance.

For instance, a third-circle mage has a lifespan reaching 375 years, and their prime is greatly extended; even at one hundred, they are still considered young, and their appearance remains that of a youth.

"First-rank Apprentice Mage Gao De?"

"Yes," Gao De said hurriedly.

"Your performance in the Lagos City water beast mission was good," Merik nodded slightly, a faint smile appearing on his face as if acknowledging Gao De's performance in that mission, before returning to the main topic. "Tell me the process of how you discovered that water beast egg in detail again."

The process of Tuanzi discovering the water beast egg was normal and had no secrets, so Gao De spilled everything quite readily.

"Under normal circumstances, your concern is correct."

After hearing Gao De's account, Captain Merik said: "If a water beast egg is discovered on a passenger ship route, the parents of that egg are highly likely to be wandering nearby. This means a water beast has appeared on the route and must be reported and exterminated as soon as possible, otherwise, it is highly likely to cause great harm to the public."

"This is the basic awareness that a Sea Sentinel mage should possess."

"You reported it very promptly," Captain Merik first affirmed Gao De's actions, then circled back to the main topic. "However, the situation this time might be quite special."

"Did you bring that water beast egg?"

"I brought it." As Gao De spoke, he untied the bag from his waist. The bag was made of specially crafted leather, tough in texture, and could protect the items inside very well.

Inside was exactly the water beast egg that Tuanzi had discovered.

Reporting the matter was not an impulsive decision; he naturally had been prepared for a long time.

Gao De took the water beast egg out of the bag and placed it on the table.

Captain Merik stood up, carefully examined the fluorescence and patterns on it from top to bottom, and then placed his hand on the eggshell to feel it. Afterward, he sat back in his chair, his expression returning to calm.

"Captain Merik, what kind of water beast is this exactly?"

"It actually cannot even be counted as a water beast. Its original form was first discovered in the Green Tooth Mountain Range, so we didn't classify it among water beasts. Naturally, you won't find it in the water beast catalog. Its official name is Thunder Thunder Yili."

"Thunder Thunder Yili?" Gao De had never heard this name, and his confusion grew. "Then why would its egg appear in the water, and it is clear that the egg contains water elements?"

"This has to do with the Thunder Yili's own supernatural characteristics," Captain Merik explained to Gao De. "This is a type of ley line creature with supernatural transformation abilities."

"When they are in egg form, they are initially just gray, attribute-less eggs. Then they constantly absorb the elemental power of the surrounding environment and begin to possess their own attributes. Finally, when they hatch, they will change into different types of Thunder Yili due to the differences in the surrounding environment."

"Just like this Thunder Yili egg, because it stayed in the water for a long time and absorbed enough water elements, it turned into its current appearance. If it successfully hatches in the end, it will be a Water Thunder Yili."

Good heavens, isn't this an Eevee... Gao De's thoughts flashed through his mind.

Here, Captain Merik continued, "Thirteen years ago, we discovered a severely injured female Wind Thunder Yili in Dezhen that had just given birth. It should have been attacked by other ley line creatures. In short, shortly after we discovered it, it died."

"Later, we launched a search in the surrounding area and, sure enough, discovered another fourth-rank ley line creature, the culprit who attacked the female Wind Thunder Yili. Fortunately, it was discovered in time."

"It's just that the Thunder Yili egg the female Wind Thunder Yili gave birth to could never be found. However, it wasn't a big deal; without the mother's help, that Thunder Yili egg would likely be difficult to hatch, so we didn't continue searching."

"Dezhen is located in the vicinity of the waters where you discovered this Thunder Yili egg."

"So this Thunder Yili egg, I imagine, is the one left behind by that Wind Thunder Yili," Captain Merik concluded.

"I didn't expect it would hide it underwater. No wonder we couldn't find it."

"For inland river routes, we Sea Sentinels perform long-term maintenance and water beast extermination. Under normal circumstances, the possibility of water beasts hiding there is not high, but it is still very good that you have this awareness. I will record a third-class merit for you as a reward." Finally, Captain Merik gave Gao De a small surprise.

"Thank you." Gao De thanked him hurriedly. Afterward, looking at Captain Merik, he asked uncertainly: "Then, this Thunder Yili egg?"

"You can just take it back and play with it yourself," Captain Merik waved his hand, saying casually.

"Alright," Gao De put the Thunder Yili egg away, then couldn't help but ask: "May I ask what rank of ley line creature the Thunder Yili is?"

Captain Merik naturally knew what Gao De meant by this question and chuckled: "This thing doesn't just change its type according to the differences in the surrounding environment; even its rank does."

"Like the Wind Thunder Yili discovered before, it was a third-rank ley line creature. As for this Thunder Yili egg of yours, even if it really can hatch in the end, at most it will just be a first-rank Water Thunder Yili."

"And, whether it can hatch is still up in the air."

"If you want to learn more about the Thunder Yili," Captain Merik looked up at the duty mage following along and said casually, "Mage Fredi, take Gao De to the library on the second floor in a moment and take out the introduction to the Thunder Yili for him to look at."

Gao De was delighted: "Thank you, Captain Merik!"

(End of chapter)