บท 18: Golden Spirit
บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation
Very soon, Meng Chao sorted out the entire Giant Yellow-patterned Tail Scorpion, including the rather corrosive acid and the fatal poisonous needle. Everything was put aside in perfect shape or contained in bottles.
A notification popped up at the corner of Meng Chao's eyes.
[Congratulations for completing your first standard gathering of materials, Fire Relayer.
[Resources are the most important factor for the survival and development of a civilization. All the wars of civilizations are centered around resources. The ones who gather resources are the most important soldiers of all civilizations.
[Your civilization will become stronger because of the resources you gathered. Increased contribution points by 3. The Skillfulness of your Specialist Level Basic Harvesting Skill has increased by 1.1%.]
Meng Chao whistled.
But he then noticed that the area behind him was silent, and the atmosphere was a little strange.
When he turned his head around, he found everyone, including his father, looking at him as if they were staring at a ghost.
"…"
Meng Chao realized that due to his eagerness to try out his past skills, he had dissected the scorpion a little too quickly and vigorously.
Even though he was only at the second level of his Basic Harvesting Skill, what he mastered was the future version of the skill, which had been improved for the sake of achieving perfection.
Besides, his muscle fibers and nerve endings had just been polished by Perfect Level Basic Gun Technique, and his control over his breathing, heartbeat, and other minor actions were much higher than those of normal harvesters.
This was not the standard of a high school student. This was the standard of a veteran in the field of harvesters!
"Dad, uncles, now that things have progressed to this point, I have a secret that I must tell you." After being silent for a while, he forced himself to give an explanation. "In truth, since I was young, I've had the dream of becoming an ace harvester. Whenever my dad went to work, I'd practice hard in secret.
"In this era, it's not hard to find specimens and monster models that are incredibly similar to the real deal. It's also easy to find monster diagrams and lively 3D images online.
"When I was injured last year, I knew that the chances of me getting into university were slim to none, so I became even more determined to become a harvester. I descended into a frenzy and practiced ten times harder than before. Ninth High School is a key high school, so my biology teachers are all monster specialists. They gave me private classes, and I learned a lot from them.
"Besides, I was influenced by my surroundings and learned from my family. And since you know that the heavens will always reward the faithful, I managed to reach my current standard."
The harvesters all looked as if they had just woken up from a dream.
They were uneducated folk, and they had an instinctive respect toward legendary key high schools, so they subconsciously accepted this explanation and looked at Meng Yishan in envy.
"Big Brother Meng, you're so lucky. With such a great successor, you can enjoy your life in the future!"
But Meng Yishan was puzzled. "A'chao, you wanted to be a harvester since you were young? I've never heard you mention this before. Why?"
Meng Chao's face turned red. "It's because… you're the person I idolize the most! I believed that the job you took was the greatest in the world, and I swore when I was young that I'd turn out to be someone like you!"
Meng Yishan was stunned.
Then, he thought, 'Well, that's true. When I was young, I was rather cool. It's only logical that my son would treat me as his model.'
Meng Chao's face turned even redder. "As for why I didn't mention it… I just found it embarrassing to admit that I idolized my own father. It's too cheesy."
His father laughed. "You silly boy. Even if you didn't say it, did you think I wouldn't be able to tell that you idolize me?"
He completely believed in his words, and he found himself gratified as well as sad.
He was gratified because his son was mature and skilled, hence making him a natural-born harvester.
But he was sad because he was useless and could not get enough resources for his son to get into a college.
It had to be known that the qualifications to become a harvester were very low, even if it could offer a lot of money.
Any person could harvest a normal monster. It was no different from killing cattle.
But if someone wanted to harvest the kings of monsters, such as the Nightmarish Beasts, Hell Beasts, and Apocalyptic Beasts, they had to possess supernatural abilities.
With his son's talents, if he became a superhuman, he might actually have the chance to become an ace harvester.
By then, all of the peerless fighters in Dragon City would respectfully ask him to take care of their monsters.
But now, his son could only work at the lowest level of the harvester circle, just like them...
"Dad, should we continue?" Meng Chao interrupted his father's thoughts. "After going through the real deal just now, I found that it does connect to the theories I learned in class. I think I've found the correct feeling for harvesting."
The father-son pair worked together and harvested seven more Giant Yellow-patterned Tail Scorpion.
Meng Yishan's group was amazed time and again. Everyone regarded Meng Chao differently now.
He gained a lot from his work.
His Skillfulness with the Basic Harvesting Skill continued accumulating, and the memories from his previous life became clearer and more solid in his mind. Every time he swung his knife and cut off a monster's limb, separated a bundle of nerves, or sucked out a ball of sticky liquid, the feeling he had at his fingertips was so amazing that he could not put it to words.
Suddenly, he froze.
"Golden Spirit?"
The Golden Spirit was the mutated form of the Giant Yellow-patterned Tail Scorpion.
It was slightly smaller than a normal giant scorpion, but it was five times more poisonous than the normal giant scorpion. Its poison needle and poison liquid could be fired to a distance of dozens of meters.
It also possessed a certain degree of mimicry skills. It often pretended to be a normal giant scorpion to launch a fatal attack on its prey.
The battlefield was filled with smoke and fire, so when this Golden Spirit joined the other Giant Yellow-patterned Tail Scorpions, no one noticed it.
"You can even identify Golden Spirits?" The harvesters observed the creature for a moment before they cried out in surprise.
"My biology teacher taught it just recently."
Meng Chao smiled faintly and exercised his wrist and fingers. "Prepare No.9, No.14, and No.20 hilts, along with No.5, No.8, and No.11 knives, as well as armor-shattering hammers and bone exploration needles. Also, prepare some cooling and stabilizing liquid with a density of 35%. Please add 1% of mithril into it. We might be able to get high-grade materials from Golden Spirits, so we need to properly preserve it."
He did not notice it, but he accidentally revealed the domineering air of someone at Specialist Level.
Meng Yishan and the others put on hesitant faces. "A'chao, we should just leave it. We can use a cooling spray to make sure that the carcass is preserved at perfect condition. Later on, we'll have Superintendent Gu handle it."
Superintendent Gu was the best harvester in Prosperous Resource Recovery Company.
Meng Yishan and his party were all uneducated people. They were built large and strong. After being in the field for more than ten years, they did not have a lot of problems with handling normal monsters.
But Golden Spirits were ranked near the top of the pyramid of normal monsters. They were just one line away from becoming superbeasts.
Their internal structures were complicated. They had poison liquid and acid in them, and they sometimes even had etherealized organs and crystals.
This sort of high-grade monster was usually handled by Supervisor Gu or the superhumans who killed it. For example, if Mr. Hu killed it, Supervisor Gu would handle the monster's carcass.
Meng Chao had forgotten about this rule.
But…
He drew close to the fatal wound on the Golden Spirit and sniffed it. Then, he cautiously dipped his finger into the sticky liquid that flowed out of the wound to sense its stickiness.
"No can do. The part connecting this Golden Spirit's body and tail has been pierced. Its nerve cord and neurosphere have been exposed to air for too long. If we wait any longer, its flesh will start changing. The spirit energy in it will run rampant, and it might turn into an untimed bomb that will blow up at any moment."
He shook his head and said, "It's impossible for us to wait for others to come over. We have to race against the clock and get as many materials from it as possible."
The harvesters stared at each other at a loss.
Meng Yishan sniffed at the monster. "The smell is indeed a little off."
"Even if it's a little off, we can't do anything about it." One of the harvesters spoke out of good will. "A'chao, you don't understand. Our skills are not good enough, and it's difficult for us to handle such a high-grade monster. If we make a mistake and Mr. Hu blames us, our lives will be miserable.
"But if the materials get spoilt? That will not be our problem. The battlefield is very chaotic, and no one can guarantee that they can harvest each monster perfectly."
Meng Chao was still unwilling to give up.
He knew that his father was affiliated to Prosperous, and the basic salary the company gave was very low. Everyone had to rely on their performance to get extra money.
Based on the difficulty of harvesting normal monsters, their level of danger, and the condition of the materials harvested, the value of the materials should be around two to four points.
The value of a Golden Spirit was several times higher than that of a normal Giant Yellow-patterned Tail Scorpion, so how could he give up on it so easily?
Shick.
Light flashed, and the knife went straight into the fatal wound of the Golden Spirit.
With another flash, the shell around the armor was completely removed, revealing the shuddering contents under it.
"It's fine. Uncles, please rest for a while. Dad, help me out please. Remember the famous teacher who came from another school to Ninth High School for training? Coincidentally, he taught me the way to dissect Golden Spirits," Meng Chao said faintly.
"Ah!"
When everyone saw how reckless he was, they were shocked.
Meng Yishan frowned a little as well, but his son had already pulled open the wound, and the materials of the monster were quickly rotting and getting spoilt. Hence, he could only move behind his son with great determination.
"Rest for a while. I'm the one who cut open the Golden Spirit. If anything happens, I'll take the blame." He waved his hand.
The harvesters were stunned. Then, a moment later, they surrounded the monster.
"Big Brother Meng, how could you say that? A'chao is like our son. We can't let you take the blame on your own."
"We might be uneducated, but we can still handle one Golden Spirit!"
"Big Brother Meng, don't even think about taking all of the profit from this Golden Spirit. If there's money, we have to earn it together, and if something happens, we have to bear it together!"
As he listened to the teasing, Meng Chao's heart filled with warmth, and his hands moved even faster.
Everyone saw that his stability, accuracy, and meticulousness had increased compared to earlier. His fingers were like feathers, but also like scalpels. They quickly removed a large amount of materials.
The faint, golden materials released a light but strange aroma. The creature before him was completely different from a normal giant scorpion. When it was submerged in a stabilizing solution, it would be like a delicacy.
The group started drooling.
Meng Yishan was originally a little worried, but his son's masterful skills allowed him to relax and filled him with delight.
So he decided to hold the full set of tools in his hand and just focus on serving as his son's assistant.
The father-son pair worked well together, and soon, they dealt with the most crucial part of the Golden Spirit.
"Switch to a No.11 knife. Widen the incision by another 3 mm. Use the liquid suction device to clean up the operating area. Spray microporous polysaccharide hemostatic powder of 5% density to delay the speed at which the cells decay."
Meng Chao's instructions were clear and orderly.
At the moment the sticky liquid at the operating area was sucked clean, Meng Chao used two scalpels. One of them was large and straight, and the other small and curved. The two scalpels turned into two balls of silver whirlwind.
The harvesters could no longer see Meng Chao's actions clearly. They only heard whooshing sounds as the Golden Spirit's tail was emptied out.
With a light hook, Meng Chao got himself a yellow crystal in his hands.
"An etherealized neurosphere!"
The experienced harvesters were shocked.
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