Chapter 106: Chapter 106: No Need to Be Too Polite
Returning to the open sea, Faye Yardley felt like she’d been reborn.
Holding the Water-Repelling Pearl, she followed Bella Dillon straight up to the surface. As soon as her head broke the water, Faye Yardley pulled a small wooden boat from her backpack, and she and Bella climbed aboard.
’Damn it. I even marked the location of that Silver Treasure Box. But coming out from the bottom of The Murkwood Loch in that cave put me somewhere completely different from where I went in.’
Fortunately, she wasn’t too far from her raft. It probably wouldn’t even take an hour to row the boat over.
"Bella Dillon, have you evolved? Other than your fish lips, the rest of you is barely different from us humans."
As Faye Yardley spoke, she handed Bella a face mask. "Put this on, and no one will ever know you’re one of The Merfolk."
Bella Dillon: "..."
"Being one of The Merfolk is great," Bella Dillon said, holding out her hand. "See? Fine scales. Aren’t they shiny?"
"Haha... So, did you accomplish your goal for this trip?"
"Not really. This was just an accident," Bella Dillon said joyfully. "Of course, this transformation is far beyond what I expected. It’s just that you don’t seem to have gotten much out of this trip."
Bella Dillon thought for a moment, then pulled a silver scale from her body and handed it to Faye Yardley. "An elder from my family gave me this. It’s a protective talisman. It should have one or two uses left. Consider it your reward."
Faye snatched it in a second, a huge grin spreading across her face. "Thanks, Bella! You’re honestly the most beautiful Merfolk I’ve ever met."
’I basically went out, did nothing, and still hit the jackpot,’ she thought.
’But if Bella Dillon thinks I got the short end of the stick, then I got the short end of the stick. I can’t just refuse the reward she’s offering.’
"Then let’s dissolve our contract. I need to go back to The Merfolk."
Faye Yardley chuckled. "How about you give me a ride back to my raft first?"
Bella Dillon gave her a look, then jumped into the sea. A moment later, the small wooden boat shot forward toward the raft like an arrow released from a bow.
She had thought the journey would take nearly an hour, but now they arrived in just over five minutes. The speed and strength of Merfolk in the water were frighteningly enviable.
Faye Yardley stepped directly from the small boat onto her raft, then turned and waved to Bella Dillon. "Contract dissolved! Goodbye, Bella."
Bella Dillon surfaced, her upper body rising from the sea, and waved back. "Goodbye."
Then, she dove into the water and quickly disappeared from sight.
"Sister, you’re back! The system announced that another 11 large districts within Veridia have been merged. They’ve opened a national channel and a cross-district trading channel. There are restrictions on both, but overall, it gives us a lot more options."
"A national channel and cross-district trading?" Faye Yardley’s interest was piqued. She immediately had the system open the national channel.
[District 2: Why did they merge the districts without our consent? I just dropped off two leaderboards! Who’s going to compensate me for the rewards?]
[District 1010: Why can’t we be part of the big merge? Our number might be a little high, but we’re still fundamentally in The Heartlands region!]
[District 269: Thank you for the merge! I found my family! Sob... I’m so happy.]
[District 101: Who’s the powerhouse that triggered this merge? Don’t tell me it’s someone from our district again. Everyone can figure out the benefits of merging on their own. I just want to ask, with the temperature constantly rising, has anyone found a blueprint for an ice maker?]
[District 888: Huh, so the temperature is the same in everyone’s sea region. We just went through a severe cold spell, and now it looks like a heatwave is coming. What do we do? A lot of people in our district froze or starved to death during the cold. The heat has to be better than the cold, right?]
After a few glances, seeing nothing particularly useful, Faye Yardley switched her view to the regional channel.
But the regional channel was also filled with talk about the same things, and there was even a hint of superiority in their tone.
Faye Yardley had no idea what they felt so superior about. ’So what if your districts merged a few days earlier?’
She switched to the group chat.
The familiar "99+" new messages killed any desire to scroll up and read through them.
Wade Warren: Guys, I just got a small ice maker. But there’s a special note saying the ice it makes isn’t safe to eat.
Bonnie Callahan: Wow, Mr. Warren, your luck’s gotten better!
Gavin Donovan: These Otherkin are too greedy. We went at it with them.
Wade Warren: Take it easy, man. Every single one of those Otherkin is fierce. If you can send them away by taking a small loss, just take the loss.
Gavin Donovan: The boss’s brother can’t stand to lose even an inch. That fight just now felt great!
Kyle Lewis: I think you mean Donovan is the one who never takes a loss.
Faye Yardley: Donovan, is anyone hurt?
Gavin Donovan: Boss, you’re back! We’re all fine.
Soon, her communication device rang. It was a call from her brother. Faye Yardley answered immediately.
Ethan Yardley laughed. "Faye, have you run into any Otherkin over there? I’m telling you, you don’t need to be too polite with them."
Faye Yardley wanted to roll her eyes. "I already ran into a Merfolk, and we had a very pleasant collaboration. I accepted her reward, and she’s already left my raft to return to The Merfolk."
"Oh, okay. As long as you’re all right. If you run into trouble, just use an Invitation Card to call me."
"Uh-huh. So which clan of Otherkin did you guys kill?"
"The Octopoids, I think. All those tentacles covered in suckers are just disgusting."
"Killing them must have dropped something, right?"
"Yeah, but nothing good. And you can’t even turn the Octopoids into octopus for a barbecue."
Looking at her brother’s disappointed expression, Faye Yardley really felt like she didn’t know him anymore. ’What the hell? His tastes are even weirder than Bella Dillon’s!’
"Ahem, Faye, why are you looking at your big bro like that? Did you finally notice I’ve gotten more handsome?"
"More abstract, maybe."
"That’s not important. What’s important is that your big bro fished up two Iron Treasure Boxes these past few days. I’ll send them over for you to open."
"All these days, and only two Iron Treasure Boxes? Did you already open them yourself?"
"What’s with that look? Other people haven’t even found one! This is already really impressive, okay?"
Faye Yardley really didn’t want to crush his spirit, but his skill level was on the low end, even among average people.
"By the way, I have something for you, too. You’ll need to gather the materials yourself."
As she spoke, Faye Yardley sent her brother the Training Room Construction Blueprint and the Warehouse Expansion Blueprint that she had redeemed from the Dungeon.
"Whoa, sis, you’re a godsend!"
"Okay, that’s enough. I’m hanging up."
After hanging up, Faye Yardley took out her own Training Room Construction Blueprint and started surveying the empty space on her raft, planning the best place to put it.
Eamon ran over excitedly, hugging a large watermelon. "Sister, we have a bumper crop of watermelons and cotton!"
"That’s amazing, Eamon! Let’s cut one open and have a taste."
Faye Yardley then built the training room behind the house. It took up a hundred square meters.
She had Willow take the watermelon to be cut while she went back to her room to rinse off.
Come to think of it, she hadn’t had a proper rest in the last three or four days. After the shower, she felt much more refreshed.
Coming downstairs to eat the sliced watermelon was pure bliss.
"Sister, what should we do with the cotton? The weather is getting hot now. Should Eamon keep planting more?"
Faye Yardley finished another slice of watermelon before replying, "Yes, we need it. The more cotton the better. We can just sell it to Mr. Pierce later."
