Chapter 397: Mental Secret
After the dragonman youngster devoured Hai Ping's saint corpse with his Bloodcore, he unexpectedly gained two types of fishman bloodlines.
This outcome surprised him.
The concentrations of the two fishman bloodlines were 52% and 11%, respectively.
He experimented with mutations one after another. The 52% concentration of fishman blood transformed him into a yellow green fishman—tall, burly, with bulging muscles and sturdy bones.
Due to its distinct characteristics, the dragonman youngster easily identified it through the tower spirit's records: this was the Barbarian Fish bloodline.
The Barbarian Fish bloodline was a gold level lineage.
Currently, it possesses only one innate talent: racial magic—Berserk.
The Berserk talent was commonly found among barbarian tribes.
The Frost Continent was even larger than the Sheng Ming Continent and the domain of the barbarians in the main world.
Once a barbarian entered Berserk, their individual combat power surged severalfold. The more formidable the barbarian warrior, the greater the destructive force of their Berserk state. This led to the legendary prestige of elite barbarian warriors spreading far and wide.
In ancient times, barbarians and dragons were equally renowned, reigning as the world's dominant races. The Berserk talent played a pivotal role in this.
Had it not been for the critical drawback of losing rationality during the Berserk state, the course of world history and the status of the barbarians would have been utterly transformed.
Of course, certain barbarian prodigies could maintain composure during their Berserk state.
This proved that the drawback of Berserk could be overcome.
Berserk was a racial magic with an exceptionally high barrier to entry. If its drawback was conquered, its ceiling became extraordinarily high, making it a world-class, top level talent.
The primary reason the Barbarian Fish bloodline bore the 'Barbarian' term was precisely this Berserk talent.
The dragonman youngster attempted the Berserk state in the meditation chamber. Just as it was about to take effect, he sensed he would lose his sanity and decisively halted the process.
The gold level fishman bloodline held little appeal for him.
The Bloodline of the Flame Dragon King was legend level.
The current concentration of the Flame Dragon King bloodline remained at 34%. During their time in Snow Bird Harbor, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps conducted multiple transactions with the city lord, allowing the dragonman youngster to absorb numerous dragon beast materials. However, since most were from white dragon bloodline beasts and wyverns, they offered no benefit to the Flame Dragon King bloodline.
Even so, the boost from 34% Flame Dragon King blood far surpassed that of 52% fishman blood. Whether in defense or recovery, the former vastly exceeded the latter.
After all, the former was legendary level blood, while the latter was merely gold level, a full tier below, separated by the saint level.
What intrigued the dragonman youngster more was the 11% fishman bloodline.
Upon activating this bloodline, the dragonman youngster's appearance transformed into what Zhong Yong witnessed—thick layers of fat, not as tall as the Barbarian Fish bloodline form but still standing at 1.6 meters, with deep blue fish scales and black wavy patterns.
“A mere 11% concentration could cause such complete physical transformation—this bloodline is exceptionally potent!”
The dragonman youngster remained unaware that this fishman bloodline surpassed even the Flaming Dragon King's in grade, being the god level Surging Wave fishman bloodline!
War Merchant's database offered no clear matching results.
“With only 11% blood concentration, many bloodline traits haven't manifested yet."
“If Zi Di were here, we might be able to test it with a blood-testing potion."
But that was only a “might.”
Blood-testing potions weren't accurate; they were full of pitfalls.
“Calculating the time, Zi Di should be departing Snow Bird Harbor for the royal capital soon.”
The dragonman youngster sighed at this thought.
He longed to return.
The journey to the royal capital was crucial for the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
But there was nothing he could do. He had been unexpectedly teleported into the Ocean Mother Nest. Even now, he didn't know his exact coordinates.
“With the Anti-investigation and Prophecy spell, Deceptive Disguise spell, and Zong Ge by her side, the mercenary corps should be fine for the short term.”
“Hopefully, the connection with Snow Bird Harbor City Lord will prove useful, allowing the royal capital's network to lend support.”
The dragonman youngster gathered his thoughts and focused on the present.
The Ocean Mother Nest isolated its inhabitants from the outside world, existing almost entirely in isolation. His current predicament could only be overcome through his own efforts, relying solely on himself to break through.
“I must quickly become familiar with this fishman form to prevent the worst-case scenario.”
“The Affinity Aura has already been tested. Next up are Mental Flogging and Mind's Eye.”
The Surging Wave fishman bloodline had granted the youngster four transcendent talents.
In addition to the above three, there was also a healing spell.
The healing spell was the first to be tested, and it proved highly effective.
"I've witnessed the effects of the Affinity Aura. In this form, it's my first meeting with Zhong Yong, yet I managed to draw out the true thoughts of this silver level magician. This transcendent ability significantly enhances my leadership and interpersonal skills, making it an exceptionally valuable support ability."
"However, the only test subject so far has been Zhong Yong. I wonder how effective it would be on races other than fishmen."
"Mental Flogging... involves using one's own mental energy to lash out at the target. The intensity of the lash depends partly on the caster's mental strength and partly on their active control."
Bloodlines contained all the life information of an individual.
Higher level bloodlines carried vastly more data than lower ones.
The dragonman youngster had gained four transcendent talents from the Surging Wave fishman bloodline, each accompanied by detailed information instinctively.
The dragonman youngster did not know the nature of this bloodline yet possessed innate understanding of these four innate spells.
In truth, the information within a higher bloodline naturally identifies its own lineage.
For instance, when a dragon hatchling is born from an abandoned dragon egg. Its bloodline information would inherently let it know it was a dragon. It would also specify whether it belonged to a particular type of dragon, such as a green dragon or a red dragon.
However, the dragonman youngster possessed only an 11% concentration of the Surging Wave fishman bloodline, resulting in incomplete information.
The presence of information for all four extraordinary talents was not mere luck. The fact that he could actually use them indicated that this portion of the information was relatively intact. Even if incomplete, it certainly exceeded 50%.
Thus, the dragonman youngster knew both the names of these four transcendent talents and their general nature.
However, the actual effects when used had to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.
Given that the youngster possessed only 11% Surging Wave fishman bloodline, the racial magic effects he could manifest would inevitably be far weaker than those of a carrier with 100% bloodline.
The dragonman youngster showed little interest in the Mental Flogging racial magic.
Given a choice, he would prefer to replace this offensive transcendent talent with the defensive Mental Barrier.
That was his true weakness.
For offensive capabilities, he had numerous alternatives, like weapons, equipment, spell scrolls, and so forth.
"The final of the four transcendent talents is Mind's Eye. According to the bloodline records: when the user employs this racial magic, they gain a unique transcendent vision. Within this field of vision, all living beings reveal fragments of their mental secrets."
The first question that arose in the dragonman youngster's mind upon receiving this information was: “What exactly are these so-called mental secrets?”
Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing.
The bloodline information abruptly ended, offering no further explanation.
To test this transcendent talent, the dragonman youngster first considered Zhong Yong as his target.
However, he remembered Zhong Yong was currently engaged in alchemy work. This task was far more important than the youngster experimenting with his newly acquired ability.
Therefore, in the end, the youngster only tested the Affinity Aura ability on Zhong Yong.
“Clearly, Mind's Eye is a reconnaissance skill, likely similar to the ski goggles,” the youngster speculated inwardly.
The ski goggles, forged by Bu Quan, could mark external threats and their relative danger level to the user.
This practical alchemy device had proven immensely helpful to the youngster.
The former dragonman youngster, now a fishman youngster, activated Mind's Eye.
He first scanned his own body, but nothing unusual appeared.
“Does this skill not work on oneself?”
After pondering, the fishman youngster headed to the storage room.
There, he discovered a large quantity of tide snake eggs.
They had gathered many of these eggs during their time on Snake Rat Island. Though they had sold some later, they still retained the majority of them.
Under the Mind's Eye, these tide snake eggs all displayed an almost identical white glow.
This white light wasn't pure white, but rather a milky white. To the fishman youngster, it radiated a sense of young, hopeful vitality.
"Compared to colored light, this mental perception is far more significant. Thus, the essence of the Mind's Eye lies not in vision, but in the mind, it prioritizes spiritual sensation."
“As for why they appear white... could it be because these tide snakes haven't hatched yet, leaving Mind's Eye blank?”
He also keenly observed that the milky white glow emanating from each tide snake egg exhibited subtle variations.
While most appeared spherical, some displayed unusual shapes.
Beyond this, the size of the milky white light clusters also differed. Some tide snake eggs were large, yet their milky white light clusters remained small. Others were quite small, yet the milky-white spheres they projected within the mental vision were substantial in volume.
“What does this mean?”
"Could it be that eggs with larger milky-white spheres hatch tide snakes with richer mental worlds? Or perhaps higher spiritual potential?"
After letting his thoughts wander briefly, the fishman youngster fetched a mirror and examined the eggs through its surface.
Yet the eggs reflected in the mirror showed no unusual signs.
The fishman youngster couldn't discern a single milky-white light cluster.
“So, must we observe the living beings themselves directly?”
To verify this, the fishman youngster made a special trip back to the cockpit. Through the monitoring devices there, he observed the tide snake eggs in the storage room once more.
Still, not a single milky-white light cluster was visible.
Returning to the storage room, the fishman youngster retrieved his ski goggles and donned them.
However, he did not activate the alchemy device, choosing instead to simply look through the lenses.
This time, he still saw countless milky-white light clusters.
The fishman youngster fell deep in thought.
Moments later, he retrieved several pieces of glass. These panes were exceptionally clear and thick. They were spare parts for the Deep Sea Monster Fish's portholes.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish possessed numerous circular portholes. These windows employed exceptionally thick glass, capable of withstanding external water pressure while allowing one-way light transmission.
This meant crew members could observe the exterior from within the ship, yet nothing inside was visible from outside.
The fishman youngster continued observing the tide snake eggs through these panes.
When the glass panels reached eleven in number, the luminous anomaly in his mental vision vanished.
“So, if too many barriers separate me from the observation target, I won't be able to perceive the mental secret either.”
“Could I try observing that saint level sea beast?”
Once this thought surfaced in the fishman youngster's mind, he couldn't suppress it.
To be honest, it was a bit risky.
After all, it was a reconnaissance skill. Using it risked awakening the slumbering saint level sea beast and provoking its wrath.
After careful consideration, the fishman youngster concluded the risk was relatively low.
First, the Mind's Eye was not an offensive skill, merely reconnaissance. The saint level sea beast was currently asleep, making it unlikely to be startled awake.
Second, the fishman youngster had complete confidence in his Anti-investigation and Prophecy spell and Deceptive Disguise spell. These had consumed god level materials. They had consistently provided protection for the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps without a single slip-up.
Finally, the fishman youngster realized he had no choice but to take the risk. Because next, he would deploy those dual-eared reconnaissance puppets to conduct a thorough, genuine reconnaissance of the Ocean Mother Nest. Compared to sonic transmission and reception, the Mind's Eye's reconnaissance power was far weaker, making the chance of waking or angering the saint level sea beast much smaller.
Rather than risking greater danger later, it was better to use this innate ability now and see.
After making his decision, the fishman youngster first went to the cockpit to make preparations, bringing the Deep Sea Monster Fish to its maximum operational state.
Then, he moved to a window suitable for direct observation.
Standing before the window, he once again activated his transcendent talent, Mind's Eye.
A blood-red, volcano-like mass of mental light instantly filled his field of vision. The crimson light resembled both fire and blood, radiating profound fury and hatred.
At the base of this volcanic mass lay vast swathes of pitch-black darkness, evoking an unfathomable sense of mental abyss.
Merely observing this anomaly subjected the fishman youngster's mind to a violent assault of rage and world-defying hatred!
The fishman youngster hastily withdrew his mental vision, and in the next instant, his sight returned to normal.
“What on earth is going on?”
“Wasn't the saint level sea beast supposed to grow in isolation, free from want, pure as a blank sheet of paper?”
Doubt and alarm surged within the fishman youngster.
In his estimation, the saint level sea beast should have been a giant sea beast cub. Instead, he discovered a world-weary murderer!
The difference between the two was simply too vast.
“Did I misread it?”
“No, this direct mental perception cannot be wrong.”
“So, what exactly is going on?”
As if responding to the fishman youngster's inner doubts, a powerful disturbance suddenly erupted within the Ocean Mother Nest.
In the next instant, a massive horde of sharp-clawed water monkeys was teleported inside!
The saint level sea beast awoke!
It stretched its limbs, emitting furious mental waves, and charged in while the water monkeys were still dazed.
Only then did the fishman youngster realize the saint level sea beast was a colossal octopus!
The octopus sea beast wildly lashed its tentacles, unleashing a bloody carnage among the water monkeys.
After a brutal slaughter, the water monkeys became the sea beast's meal, swallowed whole, one by one.
Watching the saint level sea beast's savage display, cold sweat beaded on the fishman youngster's forehead.
“It seems this teleportation phenomenon has been ongoing for quite some time, it's not just us this time!”
“That's why this saint level sea beast is so ferocious and brutal.”
“If not for the Anti-investigation and Prophecy spell and Deceptive Disguise spell, the Deep Sea Monster Fish would have been torn apart the instant it was teleported in!”
The thought sent a chill down the fishman youngster's spine.
His brow furrowed deeply as he sank into profound distress: “How on earth am I supposed to tame such a ferocious saint level sea beast?”