Chapter 1510
Chapter 1510 - 1506
1,391 words
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7 min read
"...So that’s how it is, this world doesn’t have a name."
"World? What is a world? Is it this ocean?"
The Fishman uncle in front of him seemed a bit confused. Isn’t it just this sea and this sky?
"Oh, I mean this land..... this ocean."
"This is the Sea of Stars, swim north for ten days, and you’ll reach the Moon Star Sea, where it’s said the moon fell."
The Fishmen here were quite talkative, especially after learning that Lu Ping’an and his "spouse" had come from afar, searching for a good place to settle.
An excellent Hunter and a seemingly frail but medically skilled Witch Doctor—no village could refuse such talents.
Thus, after resupplying for two days in the Fishman Tribe, Lu Ping’an became one of them.
Believe it or not, having seen quite a few Fishmen, they started to appear quite handsome.....cough cough, this might be an instance of the body influencing the consciousness. Lu Ping’an just hoped it wasn’t permanent.
The various Fish Heads that used to populate Lu Ping’an’s consciousness now seemed like normal uncles and aunties to him.
"It’s okay, once you switch back, you’ll return to normal after a couple of days..." Big Cat..... Tall Fish Chris was pretty open about it.
She also often switched between different life forms and was accustomed to such bodily adjustments.
She straightforwardly said that this kind of "Self Cognition Adjustment" might be permanent for other life forms, but for those above the Rule-level, it’s nothing special.
High-tier life forms are ’untouched by aftermath,’ and essentially, as manipulators of life, they have already undergone ’independent evolution’ and are the sole existences that ’refuse normal changes.’
This was also the premise for creating Clones in Nuwa Lake, the reason being the Life system’s Rule-level, and existences below this level would disappear if they merged into it... In the Rebirth Business Group, besides Lu himself, only Chris could use this.
Fang Wen could too, but she dared not enter the pool due to her modified body (she still wasn’t ’recognized’ by the facility), and even if her integration with an Avatar succeeded, without her metal body and modification techniques, she’d basically be done for.
Chris chatted idly while preparing medicine; in such an environment, even the mere ability of a 1-tier Healer allowed various "seaweed bands" to still serve as quality treatment items.
Lu Ping’an smacked his lips without saying much.
He wasn’t in a position to comment, feeling that the main reason Fishmen had started to look refined was this very Fishman before him.
Lu Ping’an still chose a model with Shark-type Fishmen attributes, such Fishmen with powerful shark teeth and strong fins are highly desirable warrior candidates in any tribe.
But the Fishman tribes Lu Ping’an had encountered before were quite primitive... those robust enough to hunt and speak had authority, while those in need of teamwork, the weaker ones, were completely neglected and left to fend for themselves.
What made Lu Ping’an feel helpless was that the "abandoned" ones also regarded all this as normal; the weak, the disabled were meant to be discarded.
"Stop staring at me," Chris, being stared intently by Lu Ping’an, felt a bit annoyed.
Nowadays, Chris took the form of a ’Naga Mermaid’ with noticeable fish-like lower limbs and a humanoid upper half... It’s worth mentioning that within the local Fishmen’s aesthetic view, she was known as an ’Ugly Fishfolk.’
Clearly, what mammals consider beautiful, to fish or amphibians, might just be a bald ape.
Actually, animals like cats and pandas, which were considered cute by humans, also resembled human infants quite a bit; this intermingling of life’s instincts into animal aesthetics is all too normal.
The greater the biological and DNA difference, the harder it is to understand each other’s "aesthetics"; most people don’t find insects or deep-sea creatures cute, and this is the reason why.
"Perhaps, in the eyes of the local Fishmen, ’Ugly Fishfolk’ is just a confusing act of sticking a gorilla’s face to a human."
"I always feel like you’re thinking something very rude," Chris frowned, her intuition always quite good.
"It’s just your imagination..." Lu Ping’an smiled and then served the meal.
Unlike most of the food in the village, this was a rare cooked dish. The "Lamp Flowers" on the grilled fish allowed the underwater warriors to have the right to eat hot food too.
𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
Without the aid of Divine Grace, Lu Ping’an truly experienced the world of the Fishmen and became more certain of his responsibilities.
Perhaps in the current environment, the "Underwater Lamp Flower" really was a necessity for all life forms... Even the Fishmen, with their underwater breathing and vision abilities, needed enough warmth to maintain their body temperature; the only reason they didn’t eat cooked food was that they had never had it before.
"How’s the progress on Seed collection?" Chris took a few bites and then set it down.
Though by Fishman standards, this grilled fish, seasoned and skillfully cut, was considered super delicious, it still felt inferior to swine food to her.
She was only eating to satisfy the needs of her fragile body, the lowest level of intake.
"Very good, they are all helping me collect, even went to neighboring villages to trade. It should be done within two days."
This world was quite primitive, there were no unified coins, but bartering was always effective. Lu Ping’an hunted a few huge fish and easily became a local rich man.
It’s worth mentioning that the local fish and beasts were quite ferocious, apparently a result of repeated species selection.
What Lu Ping’an needed to collect were various local plant species, and it would be much easier for him if he could mobilize the local manpower.
He spent more time collecting local hydrological data and communicating with the local villagers to understand the situation.
After really chatting a lot, Lu Ping’an felt there was no essential difference between them and the Fishmen in his own world...
"They live quite hard lives, basically unmanaged wild tribes with ’recruitment groups’ coming regularly, taking away most of the young adults, and in recent years even the middle-aged and elderly..."
Fishmen had a strong reproductive capacity, and villages were probably scattered throughout the world. This world, as one of the "soldier source" worlds, frequently saw bizarre situations where grandchildren and grandfathers went to war together... In fact, Fishmen were a kind of longevity species, but Lu Ping’an hadn’t seen anyone over thirty in this village, even those in their twenties were considered ’village elder grandpas.’
Lu Ping’an was still hesitant about whether to explore further ahead; it might take going to the next world to obtain more resources and species.
He collected more of the local legends and stories, but even the nearby villages knew little... Books and writing were too luxurious for them.
"Man, this sea is poisonous..." Lu Ping’an could feel the subtle power of Octopus in the water, which made living beings more inclined towards instinct.
Hungry they eat, angry they kill, otherwise they just reproduce... They were a group with some intelligence, but without knowledge or culture, ’humanoid.’
Lu Ping’an sighed. Based on what he knew, he didn’t think the real-world Fishmen were like the mindless primitives in many games.
In fact, from his previous research, they should have a rather brilliant underwater kingdom and culture, more akin to the legendary marine nations.
Just from one village, Lu Ping’an saw a vast number of Fishman subspecies and hybrids; perhaps their ancestors weren’t even from the same world, now driven to the frontline to be herded like ’cattle and sheep.’
Lu Ping’an was certain that the so-called soldier source worlds probably only made sense when the frontlines were in a state of war, and it was likely these Fishmen were specifically driven here.
Maybe consider some Mentor Theory? Perhaps a spark of starlight?
But ultimately, Lu Ping’an shook his head; in the Extraordinary World, their chances of resistance were nearly zero.
"Report to the committee, see what they can do..."
— End of Chapter 1510 —