Chapter 49: Moon Over the Sea
To make the “gems” meet the dwarf beastmen’s requirements, Chu Jiu had indeed deliberately made these candies exactly the same as those in the candy shop’s decorative paintings.
Looking at the crying little squirrel in front of him, Chu Jiu immediately thought of the grandpa in the candy shop.
What was Grandpa muttering at the time?
“Without gems, I can’t see my friend…”
Chu Jiu’s heart, like when he first heard those words, beat rapidly again.
He squatted down in front of the white-eared squirrel and honestly told him that these “gems” of his were imitations.
In the shop that originally sold these gems, there was a very old grandpa who seemed to know the special uses of these gems.
But Chu Jiu wasn’t sure if that grandpa was the “friend” the blacksmith was talking about.
At this time, the blacksmith had calmed down a lot.
He raised his paw and wiped his tears, saying:
“I, understand.”
“Excuse me, excuse me.”
He tried hard to regain his solemn and deep expression and asked Chu Jiu:
“You, ore?”
“First, give ore, then, forge.”
Chu Jiu: “…Uh…”
The three brothers hadn’t mentioned at all that forging equipment here required bringing your own materials!
At this time, the three brothers, who had followed along wanting to see if they could help, awkwardly explained: their bags always had ore! The matter of “handing over ore before smelting” was so natural and normal for them that they had never thought it needed to be explained in advance.
Chu Jiu sighed with a somewhat wry smile.
His current equipment couldn’t collect materials that were too hard, so there was no suitable ore for smelting in his backpack at all!
No high-hardness tools leading to the inability to collect high-level materials, the inability to collect high-level materials leading to no high-hardness tools—was this a dead cycle?
The squirrel carrying the axe tugged at his trouser leg:
“My, my axe, very hard!”
“Want to collect what? I, help you!”
The three little ones said in unison, “I, help you!”
Chu Jiu was stunned for a moment and then smiled, “That’s great. Let’s go then.”
He would go and collect the shieldskin fish lying on the shore!
*
The little squirrel was very excited about “finally being able to help a friend” and chattered non-stop on the way to the underground city.
When they arrived at the underground city and saw Chu Jiu whistling to summon the Bodo bird, it became even more excited, circling the Bodo bird several times:
“Never seen! Never seen!”
“So interesting! So interesting!”
Chu Jiu initially didn’t find anything unusual until he, carrying Little Can, called the little squirrels—and all of them came up and sat down properly—that he suddenly realized:
Huh? Didn’t Lu Qingyan say before that outside the underground mine, Little Can was with the Bodo bird?
If the little squirrels saw Lu Qingyan and Little Can when they left the mine, why didn’t they see the Bodo bird?
That strange sense of disharmony welled up in his heart for the third time.
He looked down at the little cat and hesitantly opened his mouth, “Little Can…?”
Little Can looked up at him, “Meow?”
Chu Jiu bit his lip and whispered, “That day you lost your memory, do you remember anything now?”
Could there be some very important detail that he hadn’t noticed yet?
Little Can’s ears twitched, and it looked away, “No.”
Chu Jiu could tell at a glance that the little guy was unhappy.
Regarding the amnesia, the little guy didn’t say anything, but he actually cared a lot in his heart.
…Forget it, he shouldn’t make things difficult for the little guy. He should go farm materials first.
*
The shieldskin fish that had been blown up three days ago still lay motionless on the shore at first glance.
But upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the bony plates and bones of the fish were indeed still very complete, but all the fish meat and even the internal organs were completely gone.
This fish had long been gnawed into an empty shell.
This was not surprising.
After all, there were many other carnivores in this area.
This fallen shieldskin fish was nothing more than a suddenly opened all-you-can-eat buffet for other animals, attracting countless zero-cost diners.
The little squirrel took off the [Dwarf Beastman Special Gas Mask] that Chu Jiu had temporarily made, looked at the incredibly complete skeleton, and was amazed, wondering how Chu Jiu had subdued such a large opponent.
Chu Jiu thought for a moment and very honestly told it, “Gave it a lot of sweets.”
Little squirrel: …???
It turns out sweets cannot be eaten too often!
*
Just as the little squirrel had said, its tools were indeed very hard.
When Chu Jiu used his iron machete or axe to smash the shieldskin fish’s bony plates, it would only make a dull thud without leaving even a white mark.
With one swing of the little squirrel’s pickaxe, a piece of black bony plate fell off.
Chu Jiu had originally thought about borrowing a pickaxe or shovel from the little squirrel and collecting together with it, but the little squirrel sternly refused, saying that “dwarf beastmen’s tools cannot be lent out.”
Perhaps for the little squirrel, these pickaxes and shovels were like their personal sabers and swords, and they wouldn’t even let others touch them, let alone borrow them.
So Chu Jiu didn’t insist, just watched as the little squirrels swarmed forward, jumped into the “shieldskin fish buffet” that only had outer walls and pillars left, and hammered away.
The little squirrel estimated that it would take about five or six hours of chopping to collect all the usable parts of this fish.
During this short period, to prevent other monsters from attacking the squirrels, Chu Jiu would definitely stay nearby and not go far to explore the map.
So what could these five or six hours be used for?
Chu Jiu calculated and simply wove a fish basket with bamboo strips, sat down on the shore, and began to fish.
Besides this ferocious shieldskin fish, there were some small, edible fish in this water.
Chu Jiu mixed flour and fruit together as bait, and without much effort, he caught many [Three-Leaf Fish].
[Three-Leaf Fish: Named for its shape resembling three leaves joined together and its flat body like a leaf bookmark. Besides being eaten, this fish has no greater use.]
Soon, Chu Jiu’s fish basket became full.
He was just about to lift the fish basket out of the water to go set up a pot to cook when he saw several silvery-white shadows break the surface of the water in front, spreading their wings and opening their big mouths as they flew towards him!
These were [Man-Eating Flying Fish]!
[Man-Eating Flying Fish: Their bodies are triangular, their mouths take up half of their heads, and their mouths are lined with rows of small, sharp, barbed teeth.
They are ferocious carnivorous fish that usually lie in ambush in the river. When the scent of food comes from the shore, they will try hard to flap their pectoral fins to “fly” out of the water and quickly tear at their prey. Although they are small, their speed makes them quite troublesome. If you see this fish flying towards you, it’s best to get out of the way quickly.]
Before Chu Jiu could even take a step back, a black shadow flashed beside him, rushing towards the oncoming army of piranhas like lightning—
Needless to say, it was Little Can.
Chu Jiu’s first reaction was a bit of worry, wanting to call it back, but he swallowed the words.
He knew Little Can would be fine.
Indeed.
In just a few seconds, Chu Jiu hadn’t even seen if Little Can had landed or paused in the middle, and the fiercely approaching school of piranhas all fell to the shore with a “patta patta” sound.
Looking again, all these fish had their heads removed, turning from carnivorous fish into thoroughly dead fish for eating.
Once the area above the water was finally clear, Little Can lightly touched the water surface with its hind legs and leaped back to Chu Jiu’s side.
It glanced at the spread of food below, pretending to be nonchalant, and looked at Chu Jiu with a blank expression.
Chu Jiu held back a smile and praised without reservation, “Amazing! You caught so many fish so quickly! And they’re all dangerous fish, you could get bitten if you’re not careful! Little Can is so sharp!”
Little Can pursed its lips and slightly raised its head, “Hmph.”
Chu Jiu collected the headless fish on the ground, estimated the amount, and decided to cook them together with the similarly sized three-leaf fish, making them all into fried fish.
He immediately set up a wok, added enough oil, coated the cleaned headless fish and three-leaf fish with a layer of seasoned coarse flour, and threw them into the hot oil to fry.
Before long, the flour turned golden brown.
Chu Jiu picked up a three-leaf fish, and with a slight force of his chopsticks, the flour-coated skin split in the middle, revealing the white, tender, and clearly striated fish meat.
He broke off half of the fish meat and put it in his mouth. The skin was crispy, the inside was juicy, fragrant but not greasy—truly good fish!
Chu Jiu handed the other half to Little Can to try. As expected, Little Can kept licking its paws after eating, and its tail curled in the air.
Looking at Little Can’s satisfied expression, Chu Jiu smiled and patted its head:
“Delicious, right?”
“The roasted chestnuts will be ready soon. I’ll have lunch with the little squirrels later.”
Little Can obediently meowed, not trying to snatch more food.
Chu Jiu looked at it and said gently: “I’ll make some ketchup later.”
“When winter comes, we can fry some fish, make some fries with ketchup, stir-fry a pot of chestnuts, make some hot fruit juice, and everyone can huddle in the house, eating, drinking, and playing checkers. Just thinking about it is wonderful!”
Little Can’s paw rested in Chu Jiu’s palm, its clear blue eyes full of longing.
Such a winter… must be very good.
*
Before long, the roasted chestnuts were ready.
The little squirrels’ work was done.
The black mountain-like shieldskin fish from before was now literally “nothing left.”
The little squirrels had processed it very cleanly, disassembling all the usable parts into [Shieldskin Fish Bony Plates for Smelting] or [Shieldskin Fish Shells to be Used as Brick Substitutes].
The little squirrel pointed to a pile of black materials beside it, wagging its tail, “Here, here, all here!”
Chu Jiu was extremely gratified, “Fantastic! Come eat chestnuts.”
The little squirrels had long smelled the sweet aroma of the chestnuts and were about to jump over with cheers when the squirrel carrying the axe remembered something, tugged on Chu Jiu’s trouser leg, and pointed to an inconspicuous small pile of materials, “That! That, different!”
Chu Jiu squatted down to take a look: a dark, dull-looking stone chip.
The little squirrel told Chu Jiu very confidently, “Very special! Very special!”
The moment Chu Jiu picked up the stone chip, the system immediately popped up a prompt:
[Congratulations, Host, for obtaining a rare item—Fragment of a Stone Unchanged by Time!]
[Fragment of a Stone Unchanged by Time: It is said that nothing in the world can resist time. But this stone seems to be an exception.
Even if time begins to accelerate unexpectedly, this stone, and the area it covers, will not be affected.
If enough of these fragments can be collected, perhaps something extraordinary will happen?]
Chu Jiu read this prompt back and forth several times but didn’t understand it.
He only got one useful piece of information: this fragment was very important, and he should try to collect as many as possible.
He put the fragment away and said to the little squirrel:
“Hmm, it is indeed very important. I’ll keep it.”
“Come on, wash your paws and let’s eat.”
*
After packing up all the raw materials mined by the little squirrels, Chu Jiu took out a small handful of “gems” and let the three brothers each choose one.
The three little ones were already quite full from eating chestnuts, but upon seeing these gems now, they immediately wanted to put them in their mouths while drooling.
Suddenly, the squirrel carrying the axe woke up, “Sweets! Not too many!”
Another one shuddered, thinking of the “sweetness-eating” shieldskin fish.
They looked at each other, took out a clean small leather pouch, wrapped the gems in leaves, and carefully stuffed them into the pouch.
“Eat tomorrow! Eat tomorrow!” they said in unison.
Chu Jiu smiled and replied, “Okay, eat tomorrow.”
After saying that, Chu Jiu looked at the expressions of the three little ones and tentatively asked, “Are you thinking that if you eat them tomorrow, there won’t be any the day after?”
The three little ones began to nod repeatedly.
The squirrel carrying the axe lowered its head, “If only, could trade, how good.”
The squirrel carrying the pickaxe drooped its tail, “I, can’t blacksmith.”
The squirrel carrying the shovel tugged at its ears, “Can’t trade, can’t trade.”
Chu Jiu thought for a moment and said, “Actually, you have something you can trade with me.”
The little squirrels suddenly perked up, looking at Chu Jiu with great anticipation.
While inwardly remarking that his tone and expression were becoming more and more like those of a bad guy tricking kindergarten children, Chu Jiu said:
“You can help me mine.”
“For me, going to ‘Sanctuary Valley’ to mine takes too much time, and my tools aren’t that good. If you help me mine, it would be very convenient.”
The little squirrels’ eyes immediately began to shine, “Really, can we?”
“Use ore, just, trade ‘gems’?”
Chu Jiu affirmed, “Yes.”
He also asked about the usual trading price of ordinary ore within the dwarf beastmen: about 1 portion of ore for 1 nut; rare ore was 1 portion of ore for 5 nuts.
And in the dwarf beastmen’s measurement system, “one portion” was roughly the amount a small squirrel could hold with both small arms at once.
So, if it was a gem, how should it be exchanged?
The squirrel carrying the pickaxe hissed, “Too precious! Too precious!”
The squirrel carrying the axe looked serious, “Find chief, chief decide!”
So, the little squirrels couldn’t wait to lead Chu Jiu back to the underground city. They didn’t even bother going back to the blacksmith shop but first found their uncle, the chief, and began to discuss this “biggest deal for the dwarf beastmen in nearly 100 years.”
The final price agreed upon was 10 portions of ordinary ore for 1 gem, and 5 portions of rare ore for 1 gem. From then on, Chu Jiu no longer needed to mine the ore from Sanctuary Valley himself; he could just come to the underground city to “place an order.”
After agreeing on the price, Chief Squirrel couldn’t help but blush, feeling as if he had lowballed and deceived the human.
In fact, Chu Jiu’s face was also flushed, marveling at how much more of a shrewd businessman he was becoming.
Thus, this great deal, where both parties felt they had gotten a great advantage, a trade that would be an undeniable mark in the near history of the dwarf beastmen, was finalized.
At the same time, Chu Jiu received a system prompt:
[Congratulations, Host, for triggering the hidden condition “Wealthy and Generous Gem Merchant”!]
[Regional Development has increased to 10.5%!]
Receiving this prompt and once again gaining a full 1% of development, Chu Jiu was very happy but not surprised.
After all, when he set up the “sales point” for the Chestnut Spirit before, he had already thought that perhaps trading with other non-human races would also bring a significant amount of development.
This reward perfectly confirmed that idea.
The system was silent for three seconds before jumping up with another prompt:
[Congratulations, Host, your level has increased. You are now an Level 8 Pioneer]
[Host has learned the active skill “Spirit Body Swap”. Please use it cautiously.]
[Spirit Body Swap: When the Host urgently needs to use a large amount of Spirit Power, they can actively swap Spirit Power with Stamina. Current Spirit Power: 5 points, Stamina: 300 points. After swapping, Spirit Power becomes 300 points, Stamina becomes 5 points.
This skill has an effective duration of 10 minutes.
Caution: Improper use of this skill can easily cause serious harm. It is not recommended to use this skill unless absolutely necessary.]
…This skill is really a bit strange.
Under what circumstances would one need so much Spirit Power at once? Even when making props, you can break it down and do it slowly, recovering Spirit Power by sleeping and eating in between.
Chu Jiu didn’t quite understand and planned to think carefully about how to use this skill when he had time.
*
After discussing the “big deal” with the chief, Chu Jiu hurriedly went to the blacksmith shop and handed the shieldskin fish bony plates to the white-eared squirrel.
This time, Chu Jiu finally understood why the other party required customers to hand over the raw materials first.
This experienced blacksmith would comprehensively estimate and judge based on the nature, quantity, and characteristics of the materials, and then tell the customer: what this material is most suitable for making, what the approximate quality of the finished product would be, and whether there were any special effects.
As for the bony plates Chu Jiu had brought back this time, the white-eared squirrel touched and tapped them for a long time, and the conclusion he reached was:
If used to make weapons, they would be up to excellent quality weapons, with no additional effects;
If used to make armor, they would be up to excellent quality equipment, but would sacrifice agility.
To what extent would agility be sacrificed?
To the point where you couldn’t run at all when wearing it.
That is to say, if enemies were chasing and attacking from behind, Chu Jiu, wearing armor made from the shieldskin fish bony plates, would only be able to slowly walk away step by step while being beaten.
What a picture of unwavering composure in the face of danger.
Chu Jiu thought about this scene in his head and decisively said, “Make weapons.”
The blacksmith then asked what kind of weapons he wanted.
Chu Jiu said, “A dagger, a machete, a shovel, twenty arrows, and thirty miniature arrows.”
The dagger was for personal use, the machete and shovel were to replace his existing ordinary quality iron machete and shovel, the twenty arrows were for backup, and the thirty miniature arrows were for Little Can.
Little Can’s archery skills were much better than his, so it was more practical to make more for it.
The blacksmith estimated and said that there would still be a little material left. Not much, so he could make a small single-handed dagger or a small boomerang.
Chu Jiu thought for a moment, walked to the corner, and asked Little Can, “Do you want any weapons? Besides your current bow and arrows, do you want a saber as well?”
Little Can holding a saber, just thinking about it was cool and stylish.
Little Can rested its chin on Chu Jiu’s shoulder, half-closed its eyes, and thought for a long time before meowing, “I want a long spear, that can be thrown over there.”
It scratched its head with its paw, its ice-blue eyes showing a hint of confusion, “But I can’t quite remember what that long spear should look like…”
It seemed that besides the bow and arrow, I was quite good at using a long spear.
But why can’t I remember the shape of my most commonly used spear?
Chu Jiu’s heart stirred, and he immediately took out charcoal and a wooden board, quickly sketching a pattern of a long spear, “Is the spear you’re talking about like this?”
Little Can’s eyes widened instantly, and its tail stood straight up, “That’s it!”
It looked at Chu Jiu, no longer trying to hide its expression as it usually did, but with an extremely rare sparkle in its eyes, its cat face full of unadulterated surprise, “Exactly what I was thinking! You, you, you know what I’m thinking?”
Hehe, Chu Jiu knows what I’m thinking!
I only said “long spear,” and he drew the long spear that’s most suitable for me. He must be…
However, Chu Jiu’s next words made Little Can’s tail freeze instantly:
“What a coincidence, I saw Lu Qingyan using a long spear like this before.”
“I even asked him what material that spear was made of, and I was thinking I could forge one myself.”
Little Can: “…”
Looking at Little Can, who had stiffened into a statue, Chu Jiu finally realized something was wrong.
He stopped mentioning the scene at that time, lowered his voice, and said gently, “Little guy, are you… unhappy?”
Little Can: “…Meow, meow.” — “How could I be, I’m quite happy.”
Chu Jiu thought carefully and said, “I understand. I shouldn’t have talked about things that happened while you had amnesia.”
The little cat had always been brooding over this matter, and his occasional mentions would definitely make it feel uncomfortable.
Chu Jiu said sincerely, “I’m sorry, I won’t mention it again, okay?”
Little Can: “…Meow, meow meow, meow meow.” — “No, you don’t need to apologize, I’m not… I’m not unhappy with you…”
I’m… just very angry with myself for not being by your side at that time.
This kind of thing will definitely not happen again.
Despite Little Can’s explanation, Chu Jiu was still somewhat puzzled.
He finally just rubbed Little Can’s forehead and said softly, “Then, I’ll ask the blacksmith to forge such a long spear specifically for you.”
*
Three days later, the blacksmith had forged the weapons Chu Jiu needed.
Every item, from the dagger to the arrows, was a low-key dark black with a natural matte finish.
Judging by appearance alone, whether compared to those given by the system or those seen in the human blacksmith shop before, the quality of this batch of weapons was simply too much better.
Little Can, upon receiving its exclusive long spear, was uncontrollably excited. It wielded it in its paws with extreme agility, stunning bow-tied squirrel and the three brothers.
Chu Jiu originally wanted to use gems or nuts as a thank-you gift, but the blacksmith shook his head and refused.
The white-eared squirrel’s tail twitched uneasily, and it hesitantly opened its mouth:
“I, have a request.”
Chu Jiu immediately said, “Please speak.”
Blacksmith: “I want to go to human city, see friend.”
As soon as the blacksmith finished speaking, bow-tied squirrel and the three brothers all gasped, frantically gesturing and describing how far the human city was and how dangerous the monsters along the way were.
Chu Jiu pondered for a moment and said, “You want to go to that gem shop to see that grandpa?”
The three brothers shook their heads frantically, “Human, life very short. Perhaps, not him, not him.”
The blacksmith slowly took out a leaf: “I, speaking, difficult.”
“I, write down, I, read aloud.”
He cleared his throat lightly, looked down at the leaf, and read out word by word:
“I know human lives are very short. I know perhaps my friend is no longer in this world.”
“But I still want to go and see the place where he once lived.”
“I want to know if the city that my ancestors and his ancestors built together is really as prosperous and grand as he said, to hear the sound of the rushing sea, and to see the moon hanging over the sea.”
After the blacksmith finished reading, no one else present spoke.
After a long while, Chu Jiu squatted down and said seriously, “Sir, I’ll take you. I’ll take you to Sea Moon City, to the gem shop to look for your friend, to listen to the sound of the sea, and to see the moon over the sea.”
Thank you for the new chapter