Chapter 1061: Misjudgment, the Meaning of Civilization

"Kanuasi Gantusi?"

Psionic communication is a more direct method of exchange than language; it is generally believed that even two parties of different races and cultures can achieve relatively accurate mutual understanding through it.

However, the psionic information transmitted by this giant octopus, still hanging on the cliff face, was incredibly chaotic and even contained self-contradictory parts.

If not for the relatively clear emotions of warning, dissatisfaction, anger, and wariness contained within, Xia Duo would have thought this giant octopus was a lunatic.

If he wanted to, he could use his Perception Field to cast a spell and transmit psionic information to the giant octopus, but the creature did not seem very intelligent, so Xia Duo abandoned the idea of communicating.

The only reason he maintained the Perception Field was to buy time for the Yuanfang.

There was no doubt that the giant octopus had discovered the Yuanfang earlier; Xia Duo could even distinguish parts of the content related to the Yuanfang from the chaotic information the creature transmitted.

This part was quite interesting: the giant octopus believed the Yuanfang was also a giant sea beast, and as for the humans on the Yuanfang, they were merely the beast's vassals.

For this reason, the giant octopus even reported its own name—Kanuasi Gantusi.

However, in the giant octopus's expression, "Kanuasi Gantusi" was not just its name, but also its race.

In other words, this giant octopus was likely not just a mutated or oversized octopus, but an independent species.

This result was relatively easy for Xia Duo to accept; honestly, if such giant octopuses existed in large numbers, the Narrow Sea would likely have been filled with them long ago.

According to relevant records and the introduction from Captain Bill, the sea monsters in the Narrow Sea—that is, these giant marine creatures—all have different forms.

Most have the form of normal fish; forms like the octopus are relatively rare.

Moreover, unless a ship bumps into their mouths, these sea monsters will only attack reluctantly; under normal circumstances, they do not actively attack humans, nor do they even venture into near-shore areas.

Of course, no matter the form, sea monsters are relatively rare; at least from human discovery records, they are quite limited.

Xia Duo encountered two on his very first voyage; he didn't know if he was lucky or unlucky.

But regardless, the worst-case scenario did not occur, and that was enough.

Since the giant octopus regarded the Yuanfang as a giant sea beast, Xia Duo would just accept it; as long as the octopus didn't attack the Yuanfang, that was fine—8,000 Gold Coins was not a small sum.

If converted to the currency of his hometown, that would be nearly 1.6 million!

Just like that, Xia Duo stood in a standoff with the giant octopus using his Perception Field; he would not dispel the field, and the giant octopus would not come down from the cliff, nor would it stop broadcasting psionic information.

This scene was somewhat comical, yet it was happening in reality.

From the giant octopus's subsequent psionic information, Xia Duo finally found the reason: the reason it thought the Yuanfang was a giant sea beast lay with Xia Duo himself.

The existence of a special Bloodline is not sensitive to humans; one could even say it is completely imperceptible.

Only Mages who are proficient in Transmutation spells, and specifically in the Domain of the human body, can relatively easily discover the existence of a special Bloodline from the connection characteristics between the Magic Net and the human body.

But this is for humans as non-magical creatures; if it were a magical creature like the giant octopus, Magic is like an instinct to them.

Their perception of special Bloodlines might be more sensitive than that of humans.

The giant octopus kept thinking the Yuanfang was a giant sea beast because Xia Duo stayed on the ship the whole time, influencing its judgment.

In a sense, Xia Duo could almost be considered a living figurehead capable of protecting a ship.

Unfortunately, Xia Duo was not skilled in how to be a qualified figurehead, so even though the giant octopus had already shown signs of wariness, he still did not dispel the Perception Field.

This standoff lasted until Xia Duo's true body on the Yuanfang heard Niya relay a notification from Captain Bill—Shouwang Dao was almost here!

Xia Duo's true body looked up, and sure enough, a huge gap appeared in the Strait Mountains to the west of the Yuanfang, and a solitary island was located exactly in the middle of the gap.

That was Shouwang Dao!

At this moment, the Yuanfang was already very close to Shouwang Dao; Xia Duo could even see the Mage Tower standing on the cliff at the edge of the island, or rather—

A lighthouse would also work.

Although the sun had already set and the sunlight was not as strong as at noon, the Yuanfang, sailing westward toward the gap in the Strait Mountains, was facing exactly the direction of the sunset!

The light blooming from the top of the Mage Tower on Shouwang Dao was actually stronger than the sunlight at this angle!

One could imagine that if it were night, that light might be seen by passing ships from a very great distance.

Having reached this point, Xia Duo was unwilling to continue the standoff with the giant octopus; if he kept it up and accidentally provoked the creature, it would truly be an unprovoked disaster.

However, before dispelling the Perception Field, he used it to cast a psionic spell and transmit a warning message to the giant octopus, the gist of which was—

The sea surface is under my protection; don't come to the surface if you have nothing to do!

After transmitting this message, Xia Duo didn't expect the giant octopus to reply, but just as he was about to dispel the Perception Field, the giant octopus actually replied to him!

The information the other party replied with was still chaotic, but Xia Duo captured one point: the giant octopus lived in the deep sea and had only come to the surface this time to chase a large whale.

The other party was essentially offering an explanation, so Xia Duo quickly quit while he was ahead and did not continue the exchange; he was worried about being exposed if he kept talking.

Furthermore, with the giant octopus's chaotic consciousness, it was difficult for it to make any long-term guarantee about not coming to the surface; it was enough to just let it leave this time.

One had to know that the Yuanfang still had to return tomorrow; if they were blocked halfway, that would be awkward.

However, the exchange with the giant octopus also made Xia Duo think that if he had saved the large whale earlier, he might have gained a more stable subject for communication.

Judging from the large whale's final resolute act of suicide, its Wisdom was clearly higher than that of the giant octopus.

But unfortunately, in this world, having high Wisdom does not necessarily mean being strong; one also needs methods and tools to fully utilize that Wisdom.

In this world, there is no doubt that Magic is such a method and tool.

If that large whale had known (non-Bloodline) Magic, perhaps it would have been the giant octopus that died in that battle.

Even if that large whale had possessed a spell or item similar to the Pioneer Scepter that could grant immunity to psionic spells, it would not have been finished off by the giant octopus almost without injury.

This was something Xia Duo only learned later; he initially didn't know the giant octopus possessed Psionic Ability; perhaps those murloc vassals were controlled by it using Psionic Ability.

And besides transmitting information and control, Psionic Ability could certainly also be used as a means of direct attack; what a pity for that large whale!

Perhaps it possessed a decent Bloodline Ability (at least it had the summoning of a Water Element), but it could not conduct true Magic research, and in the end, it died so stiflingly.

Perhaps it was because there were too few of its kind!

With this experience, Xia Duo could increasingly understand the meaning of civilization: only by gathering the most, the broadest, and the most comprehensive Wisdom can one cope with the infinitely unknown future.