Chapter 336 - 308: The Fishman Race’s Painstaking Efforts
Only after the stack of Cards was pressed into his hand did Qin Ziwen finally accept them. He couldn’t be blamed for his caution; after all, he was on someone else’s turf and still didn’t know what their intentions were.
’Just because they hand them over, does that mean I should actually take them?’
’I had to make a show of refusing first to see how they’d react.’
After handing the Cards to Qin Ziwen, the Fishman Leader turned, left the alcove, and called the little yellow Fishman aside.
As if aware he had done something audacious, Lorne seemed nervous. He kept his head down as he followed his father.
The two Fishmen walked out of the temple, one in front of the other.
...
"Twelve Cards... What a lavish gift." Qin Ziwen glanced through the stack. The absence of a red glow meant there were no Function Cards, which was a little disappointing.
But while there were no Function Cards, there was a rich variety of other colors.
There was a purple-and-gold Advanced Recruitment Card.
A metallic blue Advanced Building Card—in fact, there were two of them.
A dark green Advanced Enhancement Card.
A dark gold Breakthrough Card.
A white Blank Expansion Card (Large).
A yellow Building Enhancement Card.
A light pink Healing Card.
A bright silver Growth Card.
And a gray Ordinary Building Card—gray was the most common, with three in total.
The variety of colors was so rich it was almost dizzying.
"So loaded," Qin Ziwen marveled. He’d truly run into an undersea tycoon.
’It felt like even more Cards than he got from the weekly settlement.’
Qin Ziwen first looked at the purple-and-gold Advanced Recruitment Card.
[Advanced Recruitment Card] 1x Extraordinary Fishman Heroic Warrior
Qin Ziwen stared at the name. It sounded impressive.
This was the first time he had ever obtained a Card that could directly summon an Extraordinary Unit.
The color alone was different from that of an ordinary purple Recruitment Card.
’This was a regal purple-and-gold.’
It simply looked prestigious.
The face of the Card depicted a deep-sea background. In the image was a Fishman with a physique somewhat similar to the Fishman Leader’s, but it looked even more powerful. Its deltoids and trapezius muscles were highly developed, giving it a V-tapered torso, and its head was somewhat squarish.
’It looks a bit like... a sperm whale-man?’
On its abdomen were a full eighteen ab muscles.
Qin Ziwen put the Card away. He felt the Fishman Leader must have had a specific reason for giving him this particular Recruitment Card.
A Card that could summon an Extraordinary Warrior of the Fishman Race.
Besides this novel Extraordinary Recruitment Card, the items that most caught Qin Ziwen’s attention were the two Advanced Building Cards.
[Advanced Building] Weather Altar (Area Requirement: 10x10)
[Advanced Building] Fishman Cave (Area Requirement: 100x100)
And with the Blank Expansion Card (Large) also in the deck, the space required to build the Fishman Cave was already covered.
As for a small errand boy of a building like the Weather Altar, he didn’t need to give it much thought. Any old micro-sized Expansion Card could fit it.
The dark green Advanced Enhancement Card was identical to one he had used before. It could increase an Extraordinary Unit’s base physical stats by one Star Level and also raise one of its Ability Levels by 1.
The yellow Building Enhancement Card was the same type he had just used: a [Building Enhancement Card] Space x1.
It could expand an Advanced Building’s internal space to ten times its original size.
The light pink Healing Card was an Internal Injury Healing Card.
Qin Ziwen thought of the Thousand-Eyed Snake’s venom. This Card would be perfect for neutralizing it.
Then there was the Growth Card, which could shorten a pet’s growth period by one year.
He was beginning to think the Fishman Leader hadn’t given him these Cards at random.
Some of the Cards had clear synergies with one another.
As for the final Ordinary Building Cards, all three were different.
[Building Card] 1x Level 3 Undersea Algae Garden, [Building Card] 1x Level 3 Undersea Ranch, [Building Card] 1x Level 3 Deep Sea Dock.
When Qin Ziwen saw the Level of the Ordinary Building Cards, his heart skipped a beat. They were all Level 3 Buildings.
It took four identical Level 1 Buildings to combine into a single Level 3 Building of the same name.
In other words, this wasn’t just three Ordinary Building Cards—it was the equivalent of twelve!
Unlike the less intuitive names of the Advanced Buildings, the purposes of these three could be guessed from their names alone.
The Fishman Race’s "vegetable garden," "ranch," and "shipyard."
Recalling the plan to send some of the Fishmen to his Home, it seemed the Fishman Leader had not only arranged for the people but had also provided the buildings they would need to survive.
He then considered that the Fishman Race needed to live in water.
Qin Ziwen had a good idea of what kind of building the Fishman Cave must be.
It must be "housing" for the Fishmen.
No wonder its footprint was so large. The Building Enhancement Card was probably included out of concern that the living space would otherwise be too cramped for them.
The leader had clearly gone to great pains for his people.
After receiving the Cards and assessing their uses, Qin Ziwen put them away.
Getting so many Cards at once was a pleasant surprise. They would all count toward his gains during the weekly settlement, and his rewards would be doubled.
When he walked out of the altar area, the main hall was somewhat empty. Cao Biansheng told him that the unselected Fishmen of the Sacrificial Race had taken it in stride, leaving without any fuss.
Perhaps, deep down, they weren’t all that willing to leave their home for a strange, new place anyway.
The Little Fishman, on the other hand, was brimming with energy and seemed curious about everything.
Qin Ziwen narrowed his eyes. ’I suspect,’ he thought, ’that the Little Fishman’s participation in the selection was also part of the Fishman Leader’s plan.’
’Even if I had chosen other members of the Sacrificial Race, he probably would have found some other way to push Lorne into my group.’
’Why is he in such a rush to entrust his child to me? Is it because the Fishman Tribe’s living conditions are becoming increasingly harsh? Or is there some other reason?’
Just as Qin Ziwen was speculating, he heard voices from outside the door.
The Fishman Leader walked in, leading Lorne by the hand.
Upon entering the temple, Lorne glanced first at the Fishman Leader, then at Qin Ziwen.
Letting go of the large hand, Lorne trotted over and came to a stop before Qin Ziwen, his legs pressed tightly together.
"Welcome aboard." Qin Ziwen extended his right hand.
A joyful expression appeared on Lorne’s face. He quickly raised his small hand, grabbed Qin Ziwen’s, and shook it vigorously.
"BABA BA~!"
"Master, it says it will become an excellent Fishman Warrior," Pura said quietly.
The Fishman Leader then made a sound.
Pura translated, "He says the party to hunt the Thousand-Eyed Death God is ready and would like to invite us to observe the hunt."
Although Qin Ziwen was puzzled, he didn’t let it show.
’The Fishman Race wants to hunt the Thousand-Eyed Snake themselves?’
’Then why did they ask me before if I had a way to deal with it?’
’Was that a test, or do they have something else in mind?’
But if the Fishman Race was willing to be the vanguard, that was a good thing. He could join in, stay far back, and just get credit for an assist.
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