Translator: Aristophaneso Editor: Caron_
Devouring fifty tons of fish would increase the number of fish Chu Xian could have under absolute control by one; fifty tons equaled a hundred thousand catties. How much was a hundred thousand catties? All the fish that could live in a large reservoir.
Although there were many fish in the sea, Chu Xian needed to eat each fish one by one, and just the mechanics required to chew that much fish for a single increase would take at least a dozen days.
“If I want to grind through to the increase, I’ll have to go to the waters around the US or Australia and find large schools of fish!” Chu Xian thought to himself. There was a stupid amount of carp around the US and Australia that could boost his absolute control threshold to the ten thousand mark, and his growth rate would be much faster there as well.
Other than the ridiculous carps, there were some special fish species in the north and south including fish like the Patagonian Toothfish in Ross Sea around Antarctica, with thirty to forty thousand tons caught every year.
Fifty tons might sound like a lot for just a single increase in absolute rule, but Chu Xian did his research. In just the year 2000, the fish caught worldwide was about ninety eight million, four hundred thousand tons – 98,400,000. 50 tons was rather small in comparison.
And so Chu Xian wasn’t too worried about hitting any limit to the fish he could reform and control, and he didn’t foresee any problems to his personal growth.
After they finished a round of seine netting, it was already midnight. Chu Xian rubbed his stomach and asked Old Huang to cook the meter-long Spider Crab.
“It’s pretty good, but it can’t compare to the King Crab,” Chu Xian thought as he ate.
After his midnight snack, Chu Xian stretched, returned to his little room and went to sleep.
Some people might have difficulty with sleeping on board a rocking ship, but Chu Xian had a strong body and slept very well through the night.
Old Huang and the others were even more direct and just jumped into the water to rest in the sea.
Chu Xian rose with the sun, and after washing his face and brushing his teeth, he walked out onto the deck and quickly sent Sword One off to catch some lobsters for breakfast.
After eating some fruit, Chu Xian looked out at the vast sea and told Old Mu to start sailing.
They sailed a little over ten kilometers when Chu Xian decided to go for a swim. He took off his clothes and dove into the water. Other than Old Huang and Old Mu, the rest of the mermen followed.
Chu Xian turned into his fish form, fierce as a devil from hell. He swam along with Sword One and the others at his side.
The Mermaid stopped and acted as a landmark so the swimmers wouldn’t get lost at sea.
The crew was already out in the deep, around seventy or eighty meters below sea level, and already crossed that ineffable barrier of some forty to fifty meters that separated the beauty of the underwater world from the surface.
An incredible smorgasbord of colorful plants stretched in every direction like an endless underwater prairie.
Chu Xian stretched his senses out in every direction, with his sonar and control activated to collect information on the surrounding areas.
“Eh, are those sailfish [1]?” Chu Xian inwardly grunted with happy surprise. About a kilometer away was a small group of half a dozen fish, all over two meters long.
They were shaped like a moonfish, round and strong with a wide tail. They had a roundish face and a long and straight tail, with the back fins larger than the tail fins, the edges of which were round. Smaller fins extended from either side of the fish like the Chinese character 八.
Out of their greenish-brown bodies decorated with grey-white dotted lines, an upper jaw protruded like a sword. The first back fin was long and tall, creating a beautiful lifted curve that, when spread, looked like a sail on a boat or like a waving flag.
“Follow me!” Chu Xian commanded silently to the mermen.
The mermen swam much slower than Chu Xian but were still far faster than normal fish. With Chu Xian in the water, the occasional fish would instinctually attack him, sending themselves into his open jaws.
Now, however, more and more fish instinctually fled. Chu Xian’s fish form had grown even more terrifying with his pale body, large-scaled tailfin, grotesque head and menagerie of claws and hands. Chu Xian was as ugly as he could want.
Chu Xian didn’t care about how he looked and just went for convenience and viciousness in attacks – nothing else was important.
“We have good luck. The five sailfish are each two to three hundred catties and over three meters long!” Chu Xian thought as they neared the group and the details he could pick up grew clearer.
“Be careful!” Sailfish were just like swordfish; they had a long and dangerous looking sword bill.
However, to Chu Xian’s great surprise, just as they were about forty meters away from the group of sailfish, the five fish swam about in worry before darting away.
Chu Xian was stunned; he couldn’t compete in speed – he couldn’t even compare.
“Ah, forget it!” Chu Xian shook his head. It was very difficult to catch sailfish; they were faster than every other fish except perhaps the swordfish, and although it was sometimes possible to catch them through commercial fishing, swimming at them like Chu Xian the other mermen did was little different from a shark attack.
After these trips out to sea, Chu Xian discovered that sea creatures were typically just as smart as those who lived on land; they all knew to run from danger.
“Let’s go.” Apparently, turning into a fish and hunting for large fish was going to be quite difficult as the dolphins they encountered later fled when they approached.
Dolphins weren’t fish and were thus not under his control, and when he was a hundred meters away from the three dolphins, they immediately swam away.
The dolphins could reach sixty kilometers per hour in speed, far faster than Chu Xian currently.
His fastest speed was still around fifty kilometers per hour or around fifteen meters per second.
“It’s so difficult to catch them!” Chu Xian frowned deeply; if all large fish were so fast and alert, it would be difficult for him to catch any of them!
“Some fish should be less agile, and some should be more stupid!” Chu Xian comforted himself, but not long after, he stumbled upon another interesting fish.
The fish was transparent, and lines were faintly visible from inside its body.
Chu Xian swam quickly to the seabed. The closer he got, the clearer the fish appeared. It was as large as a human palm with a flat, flawless pure body.
There were about thirty to forty of this species of fish gathered around two recesses on the sea floor. Chu Xian quickly looked around but didn’t find anything special, so he activated his control ability.
Seabed Crystal Fish: Energy 221
Gift: None
“What an interesting little fish. I wonder how they taste or if I can breed them!” Chu Xian laughed as he swam over.
“Pu!” Just as he approached, a dozen worms burst out of the seabed and attacked him.
Chu Xian was shocked!