Chapter 17: Mermaid Ancestor—Emotional Monster

Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Mermaid Ancestor—Emotional Monster

Chen Shang thought the matter was settled, but the next morning, another Mermaid arrived. It wasn’t the Elder, but another red-haired aristocrat. It brought even more gifts, and Chen Shang refused once again.

Then came the third day... the fourth day... the fifth day. Unable to bear it any longer, Chen Shang stopped a Mermaid who had come to deliver gifts and asked, "Just how many of you are there?"

The Mermaid answered respectfully, "My lord, the Merfolk Race has nearly two hundred million members, divided into seven major tribes, and each tribe has dozens of smaller branches..."

"Two hundred million?" Chen Shang thought, his mind buzzing.

If every branch of every tribe visited even once, he wouldn’t need to do anything else for the rest of the year. He wouldn’t even be able to finish accepting all the gifts. He finally understood why Leia had insisted on bringing him along. If he hadn’t come, these people would have found a way to harass her instead. She was busy researching the lake’s Holy Artifact by the shore; how could she possibly have the time to deal with this nonsense?

He took a deep breath and walked to the door, looking at the dense crowd of Mermaid figures gathered in the puddles outside. Then, he turned to the Creation Species standing in neat formations behind him and issued a command.

"Attention all units, form a circle. From here to there, do not let a single Mermaid inside."

The Creation Species stepped forward in perfect unison, forming an impenetrable perimeter around the small house. The Elite Warriors stood tall in the sunlight, the patterns on their carapaces resembling the faces of Demons. The Mermaids halted outside the circle, exchanging nervous glances. None dared to step forward.

Chen Shang breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door. Finally, he had time to seriously study Ben Bo’Erba’s Mechanical Armor.

Days passed, and Chen Shang’s research progressed much more smoothly than he had anticipated. It wasn’t because he was a genius, but rather because his entry system was practically a cheat. Others had to perceive Energy, dismantle rules, and deduce Runes from scratch.

He was different. All he had to do was activate the entry, and the ready-made answers were laid out before him. How the Energy flowed, how the structures changed, and how the rules operated—everything was perfectly clear. However, figuring out the Runes was only the beginning. Integrating them into a cohesive whole was no easy task, but fortunately, Chen Shang had plenty of time for trial and error.

Three months later, he created an interlocking Rune Array: forty-eight Runes, four subsystems, five connection points, and one master switch. Each Rune was embedded in the gaps of another, with Energy circulating endlessly between them, like a snake biting its own tail—connected end to end in a perpetual cycle.

Ben Bo’Erba had been thoroughly disassembled and was ready for the engraving attempt. There was also an unexpected bonus. As his understanding of the Runes deepened, Chen Shang became increasingly adept at activating the Ben Bo’Erba phrase, even forming a faint phantom around his body when he did so.

With the exact same hero stats, would a Newbie and a Master yield the same results?

Chen Shang carefully stored the blueprints. He needed to find Leia and ask for a few combat units to use for experiments. Although those units followed his commands, they were ultimately the Wizard’s property, and he didn’t dare dispose of them on a whim.

The Mermaid Holy Land was the same as always, bathed in sunlight. Leia was alone, painstakingly researching something. Just as Chen Shang was about to speak, a massive roar erupted from the center of the lake. The sound was deep and resonant, carrying an ancient sense of Power, like a behemoth that had slumbered for eons only to be violently kicked awake.

Water blasted into the sky, towering ten stories high. A gigantic figure slowly rose from the heart of the lake. It was completely translucent, resembling a mass of solidified smoke. It looked like a gargantuan Mermaid, but its face was highly illusory, constantly shifting to reflect a myriad of expressions: anger, joy, pain, resentment, and hope.

At the same time, a terrifying aura poured off it, bearing down on Chen Shang’s shoulders like a mountain. His knees buckled, his breathing grew labored, and his chest felt entirely blocked. He immediately activated Ben Bo’Erba, which finally made him feel much better.

Leia stood by the lake with her head tilted back, her face bearing an excitement Chen Shang had never seen before—a pure, visceral thrill.

"Look, Chen Shang! What’s sealed in this lake aren’t Ordinary Spiritual Fragments, but the residual consciousness of the Mermaid Ancestors!

"For tens of thousands of years, every individual who prayed by the lake left their Spiritual Power in the white sand at the bottom. They resonated, overlaid, and even fused with one another, forming a massive collective consciousness!"

She pointed at the translucent monster with unbridled excitement. "And now, I’ve activated them!"

Chen Shang remained silent. Leia didn’t have his Golden Finger entry, yet she had still managed to figure out the situation at the bottom of the lake relying solely on her foundation as a Wizard Apprentice. Furthermore, she had successfully triggered it—this was a realm Chen Shang currently couldn’t touch. He still had much to learn.

However, he swallowed hard and muttered, "Leia, your research has certainly borne fruit. But that thing doesn’t seem very friendly..."

As Chen Shang spoke, the monster let out an even deeper roar. The lake’s surface exploded once more, sending Water splashing in every direction!

"Should we consider taking cover?" Chen Shang asked.

"Take cover from what? It’s just a Tier Three Creature. What kind of trouble could it possibly cause?"

Chen Shang opened his mouth but said nothing. The aura of this thing was stronger than any creature he had ever encountered, including the Creation Species. Not even the Haimer Wizard had given him such an overwhelming sense of oppression.

Leia raised her left hand, and the silver bracelet on her wrist flashed. A beam of pale Blue light shot out from the bracelet, rapidly expanding in her palm to form a massive net. Every single thread glowed, vibrating faintly in the air.

The next moment, the net flew out, expanding wildly against the wind.

Sensing the danger, the monster spun around. Its twisted, illusory face roared madly. The entire lake trembled as rings of turbulent white waves spread outward, cracking the mud along the shore.

The net, however, seemed immune to such attacks and enveloped the creature directly. The monster began to struggle desperately, but it was entirely futile. Its translucent body warped and contracted within the mesh. The pale Blue threads dug deep into its flesh. The monster’s struggles grew weaker and weaker as its body shrank, diminishing from ten stories high to five, and then down to two...

Finally, it turned into a tiny Mermaid, which Leia promptly sealed inside a fist-sized glass jar.

As the lake’s surface calmed down, Leia excitedly shook the jar. "With this thing, I can finally consider advancing!"

Chen Shang was silent for a moment before asking, "Leia, what do you mean by a Tier Three Creature?"

"Hm? Have you not studied that yet?" Leia put the jar away and looked up at Chen Shang.

"Wizards classify the billions of races in the Endless Star Sea into Tiers One to Thirteen. The standard for each tier is the maximum physical strength a Pure Element Wizard of the corresponding Level can achieve without relying on any external means.

"Generally speaking, creatures in Tiers Five and Six are considered formidable combatants. A Tier Eight creature would be recognized as a God in certain worlds, while the Creator God of a world cluster typically sits at Tier Ten or Tier Eleven."