Chapter 112: The Maritime Race Is Over
With a little over an hour left before the game ended, the group decided to do nothing for the remaining time and just wait quietly on the boat for it to be over.
With this plan in mind, the group began to paddle, gradually moving away from the Isle Turtle.
Watching the Isle Turtle’s silhouette shrink in the distance, they couldn’t help but let out a collective sigh of relief.
Just then, the once-calm surface of the water suddenly began to ripple.
Immediately after, a Cetabeast burst from the water, letting out a cheerful cry in Yuzu Garner’s direction.
"So this is where you are! I’ve finally found you."
Looking at the Cetabeast floating in front of their boat, Moira Lynch asked curiously, "Did you need us for something?"
The Cetabeast flicked its tail and replied, "Thank you for helping us purify the sea."
"Us?"
The Cetabeast nodded and let out a call. Immediately, many more Cetabeasts surfaced, all greeting Moira Lynch.
Moira Lynch replied graciously, "Don’t mention it. It was the least I could do. Besides, you helped us too."
"Um..." The Cetabeast’s tone suddenly grew hesitant, as if it was embarrassed.
Seeing this, Moira Lynch asked, "Is there something else?"
"Um, I was hoping you could tell us the secret to purifying the sea. Don’t worry, we won’t take it for free. We can trade you something else for it."
At this, the other Cetabeasts remained silent, but they all stared at Moira Lynch with expectant eyes.
"I can do that, but what will you trade me for it?"
The Cetabeast chirped.
"What do you want?"
Moira Lynch thought for a moment and said, "I want Sea Pearls."
The Cetabeast froze for a moment, then asked, "You only want Sea Pearls?"
Moira Lynch nodded.
"Alright, no problem. Wait for us here. We’ll be right back."
"Then you’d better be quick. There’s only a little over an hour left, and we’ll be leaving once the competition is over."
"Don’t worry, we’re very fast."
After saying this, the Cetabeast vanished into the sea along with the others.
Once the Cetabeasts had left, Kai York sidled up curiously and asked, "Moira, what were you just talking about with those Cetabeasts?"
"We helped them eliminate the invaders and purify the sea, so they came to thank us."
Upon hearing this, Kai York’s expression turned to one of understanding, but he then added with some disappointment, "Honestly, these fish... Coming to say thanks without bringing a gift. They have no sense of social etiquette at all."
"They’re fish, not people. Of course they don’t understand social etiquette," Hugh Finch said slowly.
Seeing that there was still time, and since she had nothing better to do, Moira Lynch took out her fishing rod and started fishing.
The other three watched, their eyes green with envy.
About half an hour later, Moira sensed the Cetabeasts had returned, but she didn’t signal for them to surface.
She took a one-square-meter Space Button from her storage and stuffed it full of Purification Moss.
Then, using her spiritual power, she completed the transaction with the Cetabeasts.
After carefully explaining how to cultivate the Purification Moss, Moira gleefully inspected the Sea Pearls the Cetabeasts had brought.
There were a thousand or more, and every single one was large and perfectly round. It was clear they had been carefully hand-picked.
’Where are all the rejected Sea Pearls? I want those too!’ Moira thought.
’You might find them not pretty enough, but I’m not picky!’
Unfortunately, the Cetabeasts didn’t hear her inner shouts.
After stowing the Sea Pearls away, Moira Lynch went back to fishing.
Just then, a pink tail appeared near the boat. With a powerful flick, it sent seven or eight orange-colored fish flying into the cabin.
The group, suddenly pelted by the fish, froze for a moment with stunned expressions.
Moira Lynch was the first to snap out of it. "What are you all staring at? Grab the fish!"
[Orange Fish: Boneless, edible. One of the Cetabeasts’ favorite foods.]
Moira Lynch took out a large stainless steel basin that they had used for rice. The rice was gone, so after a quick rinse with water, she gathered the seven or eight Orange Fish inside.
But that wasn’t all. More and more fish were being flung onto the boat.
Moira Lynch and the others scrambled to collect the fish.
Once a stainless steel basin was full, they swapped it for another.
When all the stainless steel basins were full, they started clearing out the Soldier Food Vines.
After they tossed the vines onto the surface of the sea, the Cetabeasts seemed to misunderstand something and began flinging fish aboard even faster.
Just then, the screen of the Learning Machine flickered.
[Soldier Food Rattan is one of the Cetabeasts’ favorite foods. They rarely get to eat it, so they become exceptionally excited when someone gives it to them.]
So, their act of tossing out the Soldier Food Rattan had been interpreted by the Cetabeasts as a gift in return.
’Wasn’t this a classic case of accidental success?’
In any case, for the rest of the time, the Cetabeasts continuously flung fish into their boat.
And to make room for more fish, they had no choice but to keep tossing the Soldier Food Vines into the sea.
In their eyes, since they had dozens of Soldier Food Rattan plants, they wouldn’t be short on Soldier Food Vines in the future.
But in the Cetabeasts’ eyes, they had an abundance of fish, while Soldier Food Vines were a rare delicacy.
The group didn’t stop what they were doing until the system’s countdown echoed in their ears.
[Game over. Players who failed to complete the mission will lose their eligibility to participate. The next round will begin in one month. In three seconds, all players will be teleported out of the current game instance.]
[Three, two, one.]
Moira Lynch’s vision went black. When she opened her eyes again, she was back home. In front of her were the beef hoof bones from the meal she hadn’t had time to clean up.
She checked the time and was surprised to see that only a minute had passed.
She remembered five minutes had passed after the last game ended, but that game had also been significantly longer than this one.
[Congratulations, players. As a full team that cleared the instance without harming a single other contestant, the System and the competition officials will grant you a special reward.]
Suddenly, a mechanical voice sounded in the ears of Moira Lynch, Shane Rhodes, Kai York, and Hugh Finch simultaneously.
’Clearing it as a full team was accurate, but saying they hadn’t harmed any other contestants was...’
"It probably means we didn’t eliminate anyone," Hugh Finch said.
’The bad news was, those scoundrels were still alive. The good news was, because they were still alive, the team got a reward from the System and the competition officials.’
"System, can we specify our reward?" Moira Lynch asked suddenly.
[The reward from the competition officials has been transferred to the System.]
"In other words, the reward from the officials can’t be specified, but the System’s reward can be, right?"
Moira Lynch smiled like a sly little fox.