Chapter 298: Section 86: Sea Loach
Several days later.
“Alright, you can leave it here,” Pickled Fishman said to the Fishman youth at the city gates.
On the night the banquet ended, Pickled had taught the Helical Blade Combat Skill to the Fishman youth.
After learning it, the youth had sparred with Pickled and naturally had won.
Pickled cast a longing glance at the gates of Sea Eye City, sighed, and said quietly to the Fishman youth, “I still lost to you. I really don’t understand what’s in your head that you learn those Combat Skills so fast, haha!”
“You should’ve stayed here!”
...
“Try testing your Bloodline when you have the chance, I think it will be a surprise, perhaps even a big one.”
“By the next time we meet, you’ll probably be a different person altogether.”
“I’m leaving.”
The youth remained standing near the city gate, watching Pickled and his companions walk away until they were completely obscured by the stone houses.
Almost all the Fishmen from Brown Scale Sea Town chose to leave Sea Eye City.
Except for the Fishman youth.
The youth needed to gather more intelligence, and he had expressed his intention to join Man Ying the day after the banquet ended.
Man Ying, of course, accepted.
After all, the Fishman youth was a Black Iron Level powerhouse.
Even within Sea Eye City, Fishmen of the Silver Level were single-digit in number, and those of the Black Iron Level were genuine mainstays of power.
Moreover, from start to finish, Man Ying had a rather deep impression of the Fishman youth, so the youth officially became a member of the Man Yu Tribe, and his residence was no longer among the stone houses, but he moved into the Man Yu Fortress.
“Heh, leaving this place is wise. What use is there for you to stay?” Sword Scar approached the Fishman youth, disdain clear in his expression.
He was also there to see off the others.
A portion of the Fishmen from Swordfin Town also chose to leave today.
But he had stayed.
“Look at this!” Sword Scar pointed at his forehead, where there had previously been nothing, but now a new Divine Arts imprint had appeared.
“See it? This is the certification of eligibility for the Fish God’s trial. I stayed to participate in the trial. So what if you’ve joined the Man Yu Tribe? What can you do about it?”
“Outsiders will always just be outsiders.”
“No matter how hard you try, you’re just Brown Scale. You’re not even as good as Pickled, at least he still has a trace of Man Yu Bloodline in him.”
“Even if Lord Man Ying thinks highly of you, you’re just an enforcer. To truly be accepted by the higher-ups of the Man Yu, haha, don’t kid yourself!”
The Fishman youth remained silent.
No matter how Sword Scar mocked him, he remained undisturbed, as the former did not know the youth’s true identity and intentions.
The youth was actually more curious about how Sword Scar got his Divine Arts imprint.
Noticing the youth’s gaze fixated on the imprint on his forehead, Sword Scar smirked proudly, “Don’t even think about it. You can’t afford those tributes, pauper.”
“See this Sea Loach?”
As Sword Scar spoke, he nudged the seabed with his foot, and a loach immediately darted out from the sand.
This type of Sea Loach was dull and grey, very common, just like cats or dogs in a Human Race city.
Sea Loaches usually burrowed in the shallow layers of sea sand; now that it had been disturbed, it tried to flee.
But Sword Scar’s foot was quicker, pinning it down directly.
The Sea Loach struggled under Sword Scar’s foot, and he sneered at the Fishman youth, “Look, you’re just like this loach. Get it?”
“Brown Scale Bloodline? Black Iron is your limit.”
“But Swordfin Bloodline is different; we have Silver Level Bloodline!”
“When I pass the Fish God’s trial, I’ll come to settle the score with you.”
“Pickled, the humiliation you once brought upon me, I’ll make you repay it a hundredfold. Just you wait!”
“Good, I’ll wait,” the Fishman youth said with a pitiful look at Sword Scar, then turned and walked away.
What Sword Scar said wasn’t false.
The Swordfin Bloodline really was superior to the Brown Scale Bloodline; otherwise, Swordfin Town would not have suppressed Brown Scale Sea Town for so long.
Watching the Fishman youth walk away on his own, Sword Scar laughed smugly, about to leave when a group of Fishmen approached him.
“Sword Scar? Finally found you,” the leading Fishman had tragic green scales, with purplish pupils in his eyes.
These were the distinguishing features of a Poison Arrow Fishman.
The Poison Arrow Tribe and the Man Yu Tribe held comparable status, with Gold-Level Bloodlines.
Sword Scar’s morale instantly plummeted to the bottom, “Who are you? What do you want? I’m from the Man Yu Tribe!”
“Hehehe, just now you bullied a Brown Scale, you were so arrogant, weren’t you? Don’t worry, I’m not here to trouble you. It’s just a duel I’m after. How about it, do you dare to have a fair fight with me, warrior to warrior?” the leader of the Poison Arrow Fishmen taunted.
Sword Scar’s face turned very ugly, he gritted his teeth, and ultimately shook his head with difficulty, “Before the Fish God’s trial, I accept no challenges.”
As a result, the Poison Arrow Fishmen began to jeer, teasing Sword Scar with sarcastic remarks and labeling him a coward and spineless.
There were already many Fishmen at the city gates, and as they heard the clamor and mockery of the Poison Arrow Fishmen, onlookers turned their gazes toward the commotion.
Many Fishmen from the Man Yu Tribe were very angry, some waving their fists and shouting loudly, “That Swordfin Fishman, are you a coward? Are you so afraid that you allow your tribe to be insulted without accepting a challenge?!”
Sword Scar clenched his teeth in fury.
The actions and words of the Poison Arrow Fishmen were extremely humiliating to the martially inclined Fishmen.
“You’re nothing but a Sea Loach, you know?”
“Only capable of hiding in the mud and sand, even a Fishman baby has more courage than you!”
“Swordfin Tribe, huh, nothing special!”
Amidst these taunts, Sword Scar bowed his head in escape and hurried away from the city gate.
Not far away, the Fishman youth watched the humiliating scene engulfing Sword Scar. Yet he didn’t feel the slightest pleasure or happiness, rather a sense of bleakness.
Because he thought of Suancai.
The kindness expressed by Suancai made the Fishman youth understand that he was regarded as a friend.
Sword Scar looked down on Suancai and their weary travels, and was in turn despised by the Poison Arrow Fishmen.
Just as people once looked down upon Big Guy and Goblin Sanda.
Bloodline divides the lives of different races into levels of superiority and inferiority. The gaps between different bloodlines are hard to bridge.
What difference is there between Suancai’s longing and envy and that of Bai Ya?
At that moment, the Fishman youth suddenly admired the War Merchant.
This legendary Alchemist Grandmaster had obtained a Blood Core and instead of greedily enjoying it himself, he researched and experimented, attempting to apply the Blood Core in a broader domain to help more entities.
“Too bad I’m only a Knight, not an Alchemist.”
The Fishman youth sighed inwardly.
What exactly is a Blood Core?
The youth had only managed to discover its function.
In reality, he still couldn’t manipulate it intricately. Big Guy had died due to bloodline conflict, so the youth didn’t dare to risk using the Blood Core.
The Blood Core was even more unreasonable than that suspicious Fire Gun resembling Dragon’s Kiss; it revealed no aura at all, so the youth was unable to judge its grade.
The youth took away Tower Spirit and also many, many records of the War Merchant’s experiments with the Blood Core. Using the methods researched by the War Merchant, the youth could forcibly infuse a certain bloodline from the Blood Core into another life form.
However, myriad flaws remained unresolved.
After receiving a bloodline, life forms basically experienced bloodline conflict, which had very severe consequences, almost certainly ending in death. Out of the few survivors from the limited cases, the subjects were paralyzed, lost their senses, suffered continuous seizures, enduring a fate worse than death.
The War Merchant’s latest progress was in man-made magical beasts.
Starting from embryos, he infused bloodlines and ultimately created Magic Beasts such as gun scorpions and Blade Spiders. Although these Magic Beasts could survive, they still had significant drawbacks.
They couldn’t regulate their Magic Power on their own. Without balanced Magic Power, they couldn’t form Demon Crystals.
Once they were out of a Magic Prohibition Ring environment, they would suffer from the backlash of chaotic magic within their bodies, and would ultimately die. Sometimes, severe internal magic conflicts even triggered explosions.
“Let’s not think about these things.” The youth gathered his emotions, looked around, and had already entered the marketplace within the city.
Fishmen traders were selling various items here, and most of them were food—fish, shellfish, crabs, lobsters, octopuses, seaweed, kelp, and so on.
Based on what the Fishman youth had learned over these days, there were three major markets in Sea Eye City.
This one mainly sold living necessities. There was also a more upscale market that sold Transcendent equipment as well as Combat Skills and Fighting energy techniques, among others.
Fishmen conducted their trade mostly with shell money.
Often, they also bartered goods.
Of course, Gold Coins, Silver Coins, and Copper Coins, which were used by major races like the Human Race, Elf Clan, Dwarves, Beast Race, and so on, were also somewhat used in the Fishman markets.
These currencies were typically involved in more high-end trade.
The Fishman youth had a handful of shell money, which was a reward from Man Ying for his excellent performance in the Voracious Shoal Trench.
He looked around and sometimes stopped at a stall to inquire about prices.
“Take a look at this rubber sea cucumber, black, thick, and solid! I’ll sell you one for merely three large shell coins. It’s especially suitable for a Black Iron Fighter like yourself. They’re easy to eat. You just need to peel the skin right off, and inside, the meat is very tender.”
Shell money consisted of large and small denominations; the large coins were quite valuable.
“How much for this green turban snail?”
“Three for a large coin.”
“What about the Sea Loach?”
“Are you sure, sir? Ten small coins, and I’ll give you a whole basket!”
Dinner was sumptuous.
Sword Scar peeled the rubber sea cucumber and shoved it into his mouth.
He chewed it viciously several times and, before completely breaking it down, swallowed it.
“Hmph, they want to anger me so that I lose my life in a duel, to seize my Divine Arts imprint. No way!”
With a thump, Sword Scar’s fist slammed onto the table.
“Poison Arrow Tribe, I’ll remember today’s humiliation!”
“When I pass the Fish God’s trial and become a Silver Fighter, I’ll take care of that runner first.”
“Then I’ll deal with you lot!”
“One at a time, no rush.”
Sword Scar took out another rubber sea cucumber, venting his anger through his appetite, oblivious that an unassuming Sea Loach had emerged from the sea bed’s mud and come up behind him.
The next moment, a flash of red light appeared, and the Dragon-man youth revealed himself!
Puff!
Sharp Dragon Claws suddenly pierced Sword Scar’s body, directly crushing his heart.