Chapter 18: Old Man Cloud
Editor: Henyee Translations
Zhao Meng continued to read the messages below.
[Unlimited Energy]
"Uh…"
Combining this with the behaviour of the sunfish, Zhao Meng fell silent for a moment before continuing to skip the message.
[Rapid Growth]
This was the characteristic of sunfish; it grew very quickly.
Zhao Meng had seen the largest sunfish. Its size and weight were almost comparable to an elephant on land.
And this size of sunfish grew from a tadpole-sized small fish.
"But what's the use of this message to me?"
Zhao Meng continued reading.
[Deep Submersion Pressure Resistance]
Zhao Meng could understand this. After the sunfish grew to a certain size, it could enter the deep sea to hunt, and hide from certain predators by going deeper into the sea.
This message was useful for sunfish, but to Zhao Meng, who was on the mountain, it was useless.
Zhao Meng continued to browse the remaining messages.
"There aren't many useful ones!
"Looks like only the messages Rapid Self-Healing, Thick Skin, and Pain Suppression are useful!
"But how useful can these messages be to this world where demons and cultivators exist?"
At that thought, Zhao Meng sighed silently.
At this moment, he had the thought of going down the mountain again.
It was not easy for him to come to this world where cultivation was possible.
If he did not get out to experience the wonders of this world, and remained trapped on this mountain till his death, what was the point?
"Forget it! I don't have the ability to go down the mountain yet!
"I'll continue with the simulation!"
"Perhaps one day, I'll simulate a monkey and obtain the ability to climb and cross mountains. I might also have a chance to escape from this dangerous mountain!"
Thinking of this, with a thought, Zhao Meng once again arrived before the human-headed snake phantom. After bowing respectfully, he entered the simulation process.
One of the biggest differences between humans and animals was that they could understand the world through learning and experience.
Although the simulation of the sunfish was very difficult, after dozens of simulations, Zhao Meng had grasped lots of experience in being a fish.
His survivability had also greatly increased.
[10th year, 5th month, the breeding season has arrived. You have come to the breeding ground again!]
Zhao Meng, who was already familiar with the process, successfully completed his work.
During this period, he also spread some of his clouds to the nests of the other sunfish.
His behavior was not stopped by the male fish in the fish nest because the male sunfish here were already dead.
Large numbers of sunfish gathered in the breeding grounds naturally attracted predators. Some males had just built homes, and females had just laid eggs in their homes.
However, before they could use their white clouds to give life to these eggs, they unfortunately lost their lives.
Naturally, so many eggs should not be wasted. The surrounding sunfish would also spread their clouds here to complete the fertilization of the fish eggs.
As a sunfish, Zhao Meng naturally maintained this helpful characteristic.
[11th Year, Eating, Growing]
This time, Zhao Meng did not eat crazily. Instead, he maintained a certain appetite and tried his best to reduce the amount of shellfish he ate. He mainly fed on jellyfish.
Under such circumstances, he was already about the size of a water buffalo.
With the control of his appetite, the parasite environment in his body maintained its normal level and did not affect his normal development.
From his own estimation, with his current growth speed, in about ten years, he would be able to grow to the largest size of a sunfish.
[25th year, feeding, reproduction, and growth!]
After more than ten years of growth, Zhao Meng's size had already exceeded the largest sunfish he had ever seen.
However, he was still growing, but the speed of his growth was already very slow.
"Looks like I've reached my limit!
"I wonder what the lifespan of this sunfish is?"
At this moment, Zhao Meng was already the size of an elephant.
But even so, he still lived very carefully.
Because he had seen with his own eyes the scene of a sunfish, about his size, being eaten by seals.
The mobility of the sunfish was too slow, and it did not have any means of attack.
It could only let the predators eat it. When the predators were satisfied, it would take the opportunity to leave.
Observing this situation, Zhao Meng finally understood why the sunfish had a self-healing message.
"Although they are huge, they're still a buffet in the sea!"
[35th year, eating and reproducing.]
The older he got, the more careful Zhao Meng had to be.
"There are still no signs of aging!
"How long can this sunfish live?" Zhao Meng muttered to himself as he sensed his body's condition.
This simulation was arguably the longest of any animal.
And there were some side effects of becoming an animal for such a long time.
Sometimes, he would forget his human identity and completely treat himself as a sunfish.
Fortunately, every time his main consciousness became blurry, in his consciousness, the human-headed snake phantom would flicker and remove the consciousness of the fish, allowing him to maintain his normal personality.
This strange simulation system was protecting him!
[57th year, eating, reproducing]
Zhao Meng could still feel his body growing.
At this moment, his body was already larger than the largest creature on land.
This year, he finally felt a little old.
[82th year, eating, reproducing]
At this age, Zhao Meng could still spread his clouds.
He could even take over the breeding project of several female sunfish at the same time.
The old but vigorous Zhao Meng was already very old.
"Actually, I feel like I can still live? But…"
From his own feelings, Zhao Meng realized that it should not be a problem for a creature like the sunfish to live past a hundred years old. It might even live past two hundred years old.
But he did not want to continue the simulation.
Thirty years ago, when he entered his old age, Zhao Meng had carefully thought about the reason for this aging.
He found that the lifespan of sunfish was related to its diet, and that he aged faster after ingesting less shellfish.
After many attempts, Zhao Meng finally grasped the method to make himself old.
[87th year, your physical fitness decreased and you entered an aging state.] Zhao Meng finally welcomed his end.
Sensing that life was about to pass, he came to the surface of the sea, turned over, and began to bask in the sun.
The sunfish had many nicknames, for example, Three-Lacks, No-Float, Mouth-Not-Closing, Absent-Tailfin.
However, the most famous nickname was the Sunfish.
When humans were observing the sunfish, this type of fish often spent most of its time on the surface of the sea, sunbathing.
"The sun feels so good!"
Recalling his life, Zhao Meng thought of a question. How many fish eggs had he fertilized in his life?
How many of his descendants could grow up?
"Maybe a lot!"
Under the warm sunlight, Zhao Meng's simulation ended.
[Simulation successful]
-- Gift
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