Chapter 44 - 44 The First Task
Lin Xiao slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he felt was that something was wrong; he had no legs.
Looking down at the snake tail wrapped in pitch-black scales, he remembered that he had descended into the body of a Black Scale Naga leader, and with a thought, he opened the attribute panel to check.
Race: Black Scale Naga (Saint Descend Incarnation Body).
Category: Sub-human Species.
Rank: Medium race.
Level: Level 2.
Profession: None.
Talent: Underwater breathing, Intermediate Strength, Intermediate Regeneration, Hard Scales Shell.
Skills: Bloodthirsty, Following Stroke, Basic Evasion LV1.
Expertise: Advanced Swimming, Intermediate Speed, Monkey Arm.
Constitution: 2.8+1 (You are a muscular barbarian.)
Strength: 2.7+2+1 (Natural Divine Power, nearly six times the strength of an adult male.)
Agility: 1.9+1+1 (You are already a top professional sprinter.)
Spirit: 1.1+1 (Your spirit is stronger than the average person; with training, you could potentially become a spellcaster.)
Assessment: This is a previously unrecorded amphibious humanoid species, possessing far greater strength than normal humans.
“Not bad at all!”
Before the descent, Lin Xiao had carefully selected this Black Scale Naga leader as an angel envoy, similar to how he had chosen the Fishman Leader to command his clan previously, to ensure better command over his followers for this final exam, he specifically picked the strongest Naga and expended a great amount of faith value to enhance it greatly.
Still at Level 2, but the talent and expertise had been strengthened.
Basic Strength turned into Intermediate Strength, with the strength bonus going from one point to two.
Basic Regeneration turned into Intermediate Regeneration, the effects of which hadn’t been tested yet, but it was surely going to be more powerful from the literal interpretation.
The scales shell became Hard Scales Shell, presumably with improved defense; the formidable constitution combined with this defensive enhancement would likely yield even better results.
Advanced Swimming needs no explanation, it just means swimming faster.
Basic Speed became Intermediate Speed, with the speed bonus increasing from 0.5 to 1 point.
In addition to a point of divinity granting a universal attribute bonus, his current strength had exceeded that of an average Level 3 creature, and he was comparable in strength to a Level 4 creature.
Furthermore, this angel envoy could advance normally; if he were to reach the racial cap of Level 4, his strength with all the enhancements could probably compare to a Fifth Level creature.
Closing the panel, Lin Xiao looked around; numerous Naga and Fishman were looking at him with anticipation.
When he had selected the envoy before, Lin Xiao had already announced a divine-mandate, so all his clan members were well aware of their purpose, and he didn’t need to waste his breath explaining anything. He grabbed two short spears and, with unfamiliar movements, swam to a stone over two meters high on the beach, raised the short spears high, and shouted in the common language:
“The might of our Main God has sent us to this plane to slay the heretics, my children, heed my command, let’s move out.”
XXX
Leaping directly off the rock, he swam toward the right side of the beach, following the map in his memory, his thick serpent tail rolling out a series of snake-shaped marks on the sand.
Many Nagas and Fishmen swiftly followed, forming a dark mass that rolled over the pristine white sand.
When he first studied the map, Lin Xiao had paid special attention to the area around the mission location. Their drop-off point was situated in a coral reef cluster to the north of a large Fishman tribe. Walking down for about three to four kilometers would get them there.
However, at this moment, he wasn’t leading his clan directly to the Fishman tribe. Instead, he was heading to another rocky beach less than a kilometer away, where he planned to first establish a home for his clan.
This final exam would last ten days, translating to ten years in Outland time.
For some unknown reason, the time flow in the Main World, Divine Realm, and all of Chaotic Void Sea’s Crystal Wall System was unified: one day in the Main World equaled one year in the Outland.
With such a lengthy duration, it was improbable to attack and then leave immediately. The Fishman tribe had around twenty thousand Fishmen, who couldn’t be eliminated swiftly even without resistance, let alone when they fought back. A frontal assault was definitely not an option; they needed to establish a base and gradually proceed with the conquest.
It wasn’t long before the group neared the stony beach, and from a distance, they could see a vast area where rocks jutted out above the sea surface. The ocean breeze carried with it the distinctive smell of the sea, which was particularly pleasant to the Nagas and Fishmen.
At Lin Xiao’s command, numerous Fishmen laborers plunged into the rocky beach, beginning to clear the environment.
The Nagas, on the other hand, entered the water and started patrolling around the rocky beach, which stretched for about seventeen to eighteen hundred meters and extended into the sea for less than five hundred meters.
The Fishmen served as both cannon fodder and hard labor for the Nagas, who in turn provided protection for the Fishmen.
Lin Xiao moved into the midst of the rocky beach as well, the cool seawater coursing over his body, bringing a refreshing sensation that seeped through the cracks of his scales, feeling very comfortable.
He swam to the side of a huge rock, about five or six meters high, and climbed up its gentle slope to take a commanding view of the surroundings.
To the east lay the boundless ocean, its waves rolling with the wind toward the shore.
To the west was the continent, where the majority of his classmates had their mission targets.
To the north was a flat beach, beyond which his vision failed to discern anything specific, except for the vague outlines of a massive shadow that appeared to be a distant mountain.
To the south was a rugged stretch of beach, where even the sand was coarser than on the north side. With the bright sun and clear skies, one could vaguely make out a very low shadow in the distance, likely the location of the coral reefs occupied by the large Fishman tribe.
The industrious Fishmen lifted stones, using the scattered rocks as foundations to construct bases. In the days to follow, they would bring more stones and gather wood, leaves, and grass from the land, mixing them with mud, sand, and fish blood to build a number of modest houses.
Lin Xiao estimated that completing this first mission would take at least one to two years.
There was plenty of time, so there was no need to rush. The first step was to familiarize themselves with the surroundings.
Almost six days had passed, and the rocky beach had vanished, replaced by fishman huts built upon the stones that rose above the water’s surface, as well as a few large grass huts in the center of the once rocky beach—the dwellings of the Nagas.
As for Lin Xiao himself, he resided in a stone pavilion built from stacked stones… right next to it.
Inside the pavilion, they enshrined his Holy Proof. Normally, his clan would pray at home, but every ten days, a large-scale prayer event was held to consolidate their faith.
On the first day that the stone pavilion was completed, Lin Xiao gathered all the Nagas and Fishmen of the tribe for a major prayer event, gaining a certain amount of faith value. The next day, he headed out with a dozen Nagas in tow.
It was time to begin the strategy against the nearby Fishman tribe.
During these days, Nagas and Fishmen who went out to fish occasionally encountered Fishmen from that large tribe. Lin Xiao specifically captured a few Fishmen and brought them back. They were the same species as his Grey ATist Fish People, albeit with slightly different scales. Their combat power was more or less the same.
But each of his Tribal Gray Fog Fish people knew Salted Fish Charge, Following Stroke, Basic Footwork, making them much stronger than the wild Fishmen.