The Grand Fortune was about to sail out of the Naless Cocoon’s spiritual range.
The young sea beast didn’t have much ti left to consider.
[Yes, I can search my genetic mory and find its complete intelligence! And its weaknesses!]
’This sea beast has genetic mory?’
’Impressive.’
"Very good. Oh, right, I’ve seen another sea beast before, called the Dusk Whale."
"Do you have any information on it? You can give it to as well."
"I’m sure you understand this simple fact: the stronger I am, the better my chances of saving you!"
"The more you help , the more I’ll give you in return."
"In human society, this kind of behavior is called an Angel Round Investnt. It’s the best way to establish a win-win partnership. If you beco my ’investor sea beast,’ I won’t treat you poorly."
[Human.]
[Do not be... insatiable.]
Shi Ming shook his head.
"No, you’ve misunderstood. I’m not being greedy. I’m confirming whether you, as a sea beast, are trustworthy."
"Think about it carefully."
"All you’re giving up is so information, which I might not even be able to use. Your intel could overlap with what I already have and be completely useless. Are you unwilling to part with even a few words’ worth of information? You know that saving you will require to take enormous risks and pay a heavy price. And yet, you have given up nothing so far."
"No commitnt, no responsibility, no initiative?"
"If that’s the case, I have to seriously doubt whether you’ll keep your previous promises."
"Maybe after I go through all that trouble to free you, you’ll just swallow whole."
"I’m not a man who enjoys taking risks."
[Fine! You’ll get your information.]
"A pleasure doing business with you."
The Naless Cocoon trembled imperceptibly, sending invisible waves across the seabed.
Shi Ming was the first lifeline it had encountered.
For decades, it had been suppressed in the bottomless Great Rift Valley. It was long past the ti it should have erged from its cocoon, but it was being held down by those detestable humans, unable to make its debut into the world!
It had been searching for a creature that could help it. Unfortunately, powerful sea beasts didn’t dare approach these waters, and the weaker, more easily lured creatures couldn’t hear its whispers. Now that it had finally found one, if it missed this chance, there was no telling how long it would have to wait for another.
It didn’t want to miss this rare opportunity.
Just as the human had said, it was only so information. It truly didn’t require giving up anything tangible.
The cost was practically zero.
’I’ll just consider this that "Angel Round Investnt" thing he ntioned.’
’I’ve learned another new human word.’
Agreeing was one thing, but that didn’t an the Naless Cocoon would forgive Shi Ming for his "blasphemy." It had already decided to cooperate with this human on the surface. Once it was free, it would definitely eat him in one bite!
’What was that despicable behavior it had learned from humans called again?’
’Enduring humiliation to plot revenge?’
’Honeyed words, a sword in the gut?’
’The language of lowly creatures is so convoluted and hard to understand!’
The Naless Cocoon began to search its genetic bloodline for mories from its ancestors. These jumbled mories were extrely complex and redundant, usually a burden to it. Even with its imnse Spiritual Power, it typically wouldn’t read them voluntarily. Only during these years of imprisonnt since its birth had it selectively learned certain pieces of information, such as the thod to deal with the 27th-ranked item on the list of Strange Artifacts, the "Sealed Prison."
[Found it.]
[Human, prepare to receive it! Rember my... gift... and investnt.]
[Do not forget our... friendship.]
The Naless Cocoon was moved by its own "endurance of humiliation for revenge." It felt that it had paid too high a price and done too much against its own nature by deigning to call its relationship with this lowly creature a friendship just to escape this place.
"Don’t worry!"
"You and I are in the sa boat now. We’ll be facing the sa enemies."
The Naless Cocoon’s whispers ceased.
A vast amount of information, in the form of images, was transmitted into Shi Ming’s mind via Spiritual Power.
Shi Ming didn’t absorb these images directly. Instead, he first confird there were no traps before using his own Spiritual Power to begin deciphering them.
The intelligence consisted entirely of visual data, divided into two sections.
The first was on the Dusk Whale.
The second was on the Three-Eyed Golden Crow.
This intelligence included not only combat data but also strange images, fragnts, and mories. While deciphering them, Shi Ming could clearly perceive the sea beasts’ appearance, details, specific attack thods, and weaknesses, as if he were truly facing these two powerful creatures.
Shi Ming blinked.
’This Naless Cocoon is a real treasure!’
’But this Angel Round Investnt is a bit shabby. The benefits I’ve managed to squeeze out of it aren’t that great.’
It couldn’t be helped. This was its first interaction with a human, and it was still highly vigilant. If Shi Ming hadn’t been the first lifeline it had seen in all these years, it might not have gone all-in and placed its bet on a human.
’If I can find a way to get its mories or blood in the future, now *that* would be a real major investnt!’
’I’ll squeeze more out of it later when I get the chance!’
Shi Ming was well-versed in the art of investnt.
The Grand Fortune sailed faster and faster, gradually leaving Black Gold behind.
...
Shi Ming ticulously reviewed the mory fragnts he had obtained.
A brilliant golden bird, born from a stellar explosion, looked like a small sun.
’The Three-Eyed Golden Crow.’
’The sun that the old man on the rchant ship said so A-rank Awakened saw in the Sea of Boiling... that must be this sea beast, right?’
’The culprit behind the extrely high temperatures of the Sea of Boiling.’
’A special creature incubated inside an asteroid. A ferocious, avian beast about five ters long that shines like the sun. Its blood is golden, and its entire body is scorching hot. Its surface temperature can exceed 600 degrees Celsius, its blood temperature can surpass 1500 degrees Celsius, and its heart temperature can reach over 3000 degrees Celsius. It is also highly radioactive.’
’The areas covered by its golden feathers have extrely high Defense Power.’
’It possesses extrely high spirituality and is said to be able to glimpse the future, allowing it to seek fortune and avoid disaster. But this cannot be verified.’
’Its weakness is its heart. Piercing its surface defenses with a sharp object and stabbing the heart will cause its high-temperature core to explode, leading to its natural demise.’
’Bathing in its blood after killing it...’
’...can allow a person to awaken the 54th-ranked S-rank skill, [Great Sun Wheel].’
’Eating its heart and third eye after killing it...’
’...can allow a person to awaken the 45th-ranked S-rank skill, [Great Prophecy].’
Just like the Black Tortoise, one sea beast could provide two skills.
Shi Ming wasn’t surprised.
There were over a hundred skills on the S-rank skill leaderboard, but in reality, there weren’t nearly that many S-rank sea beasts.
On the leaderboard, so S-rank skills were obtained through special thods. For example, the White Dragon Whale’s "Whale Fall" ca from the power of an A-rank sea beast. Another example was the "Third Law" from Formless Pure Ice, which ca from a Strange Artifact.
So sea beasts could provide several skills, like the Black Tortoise’s "Black Tortoise Shield" and "Desperate Ground."
The Three-Eyed Golden Crow was another such case.
’It doesn’t sound too difficult to kill.’
’If the description of Formless Pure Ice is correct, then its high temperature can be easily dealt with. Although I can’t withstand a blood temperature of nearly 1500 degrees, I can endure a low temperature of -45 degrees. With the first property of Formless Pure Ice, I can face the heat of the Sea of Boiling without fear and strike straight at its core.’
’But the difficult part is...’
’...if this sea beast can truly see the future and avoid disaster, it would never willingly face a powerful enemy and put itself in a deadly situation.’
’...’
As for the intelligence on the Dusk Whale, it highly overlapped with the information provided by the Eye of Intelligence.
Three states, three skills.
Inevitable death, inescapable entropy increase.
When it unleashes Ragnarok, it presents a tragic scene of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, symbolizing the end of the gods and heralding new life born from death.
The difference was, this was all in the form of video clips.
The reason he had asked the Naless Cocoon for information on the Dusk Whale was for cross-verification.
Who knew what kind of malicious thoughts a sea beast might have? By cross-referencing the information on the Dusk Whale with the intel he already possessed, if there was a fundantal conflict between what the Naless Cocoon provided and what the Eye of Intelligence showed, Shi Ming wouldn’t trust anything else it said.
But if there was no conflict, then the intelligence about the Three-Eyed Golden Crow would be far more valuable as a reference.
Of course, for Shi Ming, aside from the intel from the Eye of Intelligence, any information obtained from others was only for reference.
Nothing more.
...
...
...
「Black Gold.」
"Second-in-Command, we just detected an anomaly from the Naless Cocoon deep beneath the sea that lasted for nearly ten minutes. Its frequency was different from all previous ones. It seems to be a distress signal."
"A distress signal?"
The Second-in-Command looked up and adjusted her glasses.
She was a dark-skinned woman in her thirties with a strong scholarly air about her. At the sa ti, she was also an S-rank Awakened, one of Black Gold’s top combatants.
"If it’s really calling for help, that could be a good thing. A new, killable S-rank sea beast could bring new combat power to our Black Gold. We wouldn’t be so short-staffed for so many tasks."
Over the years, they had paid too much to guard this S-rank sea beast that couldn’t be killed and consud vast resources.
They had also endured too much criticism.
But they truly didn’t care.
Silent guardianship was the original mission of Black Gold.
Soone has to carry the heavy burden.
But if they could turn this Naless Cocoon into a sea beast trap, that would be quite good as well.
They had always had this plan.
It was just a pity that they had never managed to lure one in.
"Sigh!"
The Second-in-Command set down her glasses and leaned back in her rocking chair.
"When will we finally be able to get rid of this nace!"
She too wanted to take a proper vacation, to ride a simple little boat away from this sweltering place.
To go to Europe and see the freedom and romance there;
To go to the Dragon Country and experience Mount Everest, the only remaining plot of land from the Land Era;
To go to the ruins of Fujing Mountain and admire the famous Hai Sheng Ying;
And then travel to the Zero-Degree Ice Sea to feel what natural [Cold] was truly like.
Although the scenery on the Endless Ocean was largely the sa—just a vast, boundless sea—there were still so differences, after all.
She began to daydream...
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