SWDnovel Chapter 102 Knight DuckMorning Star Watchers
Chapter 102 Knight DuckMorning Star Watchers
Chapter 102 Knight Duck/Morning Star Watchers (Two-in-One)
All that could be seen was that the ivory raised by Duck B, along with Duck B's body, was emitting white light. Under the white light, the ivory, like wax melted by high temperature, slowly overlapped, intertwined, and finally completely merged with the outline of Duck B's entire body!
Duck B's entire body seemed to be injected with a violent force, suddenly rising higher and expanding!
The original round body shape, which was like a small ball falling on a large ball, instantly transformed into a well-defined, powerful inverted triangle body with clearly visible muscle contours, like a devilishly muscular duck that just came out of the gym!
The tortoise shell that was originally on its back was moved to its left hand, becoming a spiked shield that could protect half of its body. The walrus tusk completely changed its shape in the white light, straightening and sharpening the tip with a cold glint, and finally transforming into a white bone knight's lance—the [Mammoth Ivory Lance]!
"Gah—!!!"
Having completed its transformation, Duck B raised its head and let out a long cry full of power and high fighting spirit!
With a gun in his right arm and a shield in his left, he crouches slightly, a standard knight's charging stance!
Facing the mammoth walrus that had charged close and whose only eye was flashing with a frenzied bloodlust, DuckB showed no fear and even took the initiative to meet it!
It used its shield to deflect the walrus's fierce charge, while simultaneously thrusting its spear at the walrus's relatively vulnerable face!
Bone spears have natural bleeding grooves, and the wounds caused by them are extremely difficult to heal, with blood flowing out rapidly.
Even more surprisingly, Duck B's spear techniques were methodical and skillful, including thrusting, picking, flicking, and sweeping. Clearly, the results of its long-term observation and practice of crab claws and harpoons were now being integrated and displayed!
"Good!" Yu Wang nodded with satisfaction as he watched from the side. After evolving, Duck B's strength had grown far beyond expectations.
However, the next second, his pupils suddenly contracted!
After a swift thrust, Duck B did not immediately retract his spear. Instead, the spear paused slightly, and a crackling light blue electric current quickly wrapped around the entire white bone spear!
At the tip of the gun, lightning coalesced, emitting a dangerous low hum!
DuckB actually used the survivor's ability, the Charged Electric Gun!
The mammoth walrus clearly hadn't expected the duck to have this trick up its sleeve; a strong sense of paralysis instantly spread through half its body, and its movements suddenly froze.
Duck B seized the opportunity, took a short stride, and performed a double jump in the air, delivering a fatal blow to the walrus's face!
*Pfft!*
A fatal blow, the spear piercing through the brain!
[Congratulations! Your summoned creature, Knight Duck, has killed a Mammoth Walrus. Disassembling it yields 400 units of Walrus Meat, 1 Mammoth Ivory Gun, 1 Severely Damaged Walrus Hide, and 50 units of Walrus Fat.]
The system notification flashed by, but Yu Wang had no time to check the rich spoils of war.
Go check Duck B's attributes immediately.
【Knight Duck】
[Level: 3]
[Type: Summoned Item]
[HP: 800/800]
[Skills: Fearless Heart, Charged Electric Gun (Limited Time), Heroic Leap (Limited Time)]
[Recovery time: 20 days]
[Description: Through day and night of working together and sharing battle experiences, it has forged a special bond with you that transcends ordinary summoning contracts.]
Your combat skills are now being shared.
It is your loyal shield-bearer and a reliable ally you can entrust your back to. And its potential extends far beyond this—(ps: Yes, you, you're starting to hold the kid back! Hurry up and upgrade your crappy ship! Don't hinder the genius duck's growth!)
Combat skills are being shared?
Upon seeing the description, Yu Wang also opened his own panel and found the "Abilities" section.
[Abilities: Wealth Perception, Flesh and Blood Remodeling, Fearless Heart, Bubble Helmet (Limited Time), All Things Grow (Limited Time)]
Heroic Leap (Limited Time), Energy-Storing Electric Gun (Limited Time)
Sure enough, a permanent ability called Fearless Heart had appeared. He quickly clicked to view the detailed description:
[Fearless Heart (Passive)]
[Effect: When your health points decrease, you gain a temporary boost to all attributes based on the percentage lost. The lower your health points, the greater the boost. The boost reaches its peak when your health points are below 10%, with a significant increase.]
[Description: The courage to forge ahead in dire straits, the fighting spirit to burn in times of peril. Wounds will not deter you, but will instead fuel your further progress! True warriors never fear pain!]
"Good heavens!" A glint flashed in Yu Wang's eyes. "With the combination of flesh and blood remodeling to protect vital points, the coral amulet to reduce the effects of pain, and this fearless heart," he became increasingly ferocious as he was wounded—a veritable god of war with weakened health!
As the system states, the strength of the summoned creatures is closely linked to the ship's level.
In other words, the level of the summoned creature will not exceed the level of the ship. If you want DuckB to evolve further, it is urgent to upgrade the level of "Little Yellow Duck" as soon as possible!
Although upgrading from level 3 to level 4 no longer requires running around searching for specific materials as before, empty core fragments and basic materials are sufficient.
It can be seen as a transformative leap, with the resources required to go from level 3 to 4 being more than those required to go from level 0 to 3 combined.
A single special ship requires a whopping 200 empty nuclear fragments!
Add to that the dauntingly high cost of each of the nearly three thousand basic materials, and it's an astronomical sum that would deter any ordinary survivor.
Yu Wang glanced at the sky; the afterglow of the setting sun had begun to dye the sea red, and there was not much time left before he met Zhang Xinlan before dark.
Without further delay, he immediately sent a command via mental link to the sea helmet worm, which was still diligently "working" with a colorful sea caterpillar in the nearby waters.
Being interrupted halfway through something good clearly frustrated the energetic sea helmet worm.
But under the puppet gu's forced command, no matter how unwilling it was, it could only obediently clock in for work.
Seeing the sea helmet worm's pathetic, reluctant departure, Yu Wang was exasperated: "You two are reproductively isolated! What's the point of wasting your energy? It's a complete waste of your strength!"
"Gurgle gurgle————"
Fortunately, the sea helmet beetle still had plenty of energy left, and in less than five minutes it carried Yu Wang and Duck B back to the boat.
At this moment, Yu Wang finally began to examine the spoils of his hunt for the mammoth walrus.
First, a weapon item called "Mammoth Ivory Gun" was dropped. It is of green quality and can be kept as a substitute for the Crab Claw Harpoon.
The walrus skin was covered in scratches and wounds, so it didn't look very appealing. I'll keep it to make sleeping bags.
As for mammoth walrus meat, Yu Wang doesn't plan to use it for any new summons this time.
The reason is clear: the awakening time of a summoned creature is limited. Each summoning requires resources, and once a summoned creature is raised to a higher level, even more resources are needed to awaken it again.
Moreover, mammoth walruses are not extraordinary creatures, and their meat is not actually rare.
The summoned ducks won't be anything special at level 1.
Instead of scattering resources and summoning a bunch of weaklings with unknown potential and only average combat strength, which might not even be able to deplete the opponent's stamina when facing a truly powerful enemy, they would be easily wiped out.
Instead, we should concentrate our resources on nurturing ducks that have already shown great potential and growth.
Secondly, and most importantly: DuckB can share combat skills with him!
The more and more sophisticated the combat skills that a gifted duckling learns, the greater the benefits it will receive!
If he were to focus on training other ducks at this time, it would inevitably consume duck B's growth resources, delaying the progress of this "genius student," which would indirectly slow down the improvement of his own combat ability.
Having made up his mind, Yu Wang got busy, collecting the rhinoceros beetles that had been busy all day. These rhinoceros beetles, which were as big as heads, cultivated by Lin Che, were excellent at collecting drifting objects. They flew around the ship in batches every day, and could collect any drifting objects that were not too smooth.
After being trained by Duck C, these beetles have learned to stack resource boxes together and store ordinary resources in the ship's hold.
Besides needing to eat and drink, they also leave behind scabbed insect droppings on the ship's hull. The rhinoceros beetles are so useful that they are comparable to the automated harvesting robotic arms that will only appear in the mid-game.
Following a recent habit that Yu Wang and Zhang Xinlan had developed, after dark they would gather the resource boxes they had found during the day together, and Zhang Xinlan would use her "Eagle Eye" skill to separate the boxes that contained monsters from those that did not.
Raise your weapon again and open and kill the monsters in each box.
As darkness fell, Zhang Xinlan still hadn't returned, seemingly still gathering resources on the island. Yu Wang looked anxiously towards the main island. The agreed meeting time had long passed, but she was nowhere to be seen, and even his private messages remained unanswered.
An ominous premonition crept into my heart.
Without further hesitation, he immediately opened the fleet management interface and finally found the green dot representing Zhang Xinlan in the northwest of the island.
Yu Wang quickly pulled up a hand-drawn map for comparison.
The area on the northwest side is marked on the map with a simple shed and several stick figure symbols, indicating the possible presence of an indigenous settlement.
"Oh no!" Yu Wang's heart sank. "Zhang Xinlan has been captured by savages?!"
In this world, the indigenous peoples on remote islands may not necessarily worship any particular deity, and their behavior may not follow common sense.
"Equivalent to a savage in the real world who is isolated from the world, and may not even be able to speak a common language!"
They are xenophobic, primitive, and may even retain some cruel sacrificial customs.
If things go wrong, the little cockroach might meet with disaster, becoming a "roasted cockroach" or worse!
This was Yu Wang's first reaction. Fortunately, Zhang Xinlan had already replied to the message he sent and let him know she was safe.
Don't open your mouth to swat a cockroach: "I'm almost done with my work, I'll be back soon, don't worry. When I get back, I'll cook a black and white ray feast!"
Upon seeing the reply, Yu Wang breathed a slight sigh of relief, but his doubts were not completely dispelled. He checked her location again; she was still at the tribal settlement.
"Handling things over? What kind of things can you handle in an indigenous settlement?"
Yu Wang frowned, deciding that he would only feel at ease if he went to see for himself.
The Little Yellow Duck changed direction and sped off towards the northwest side of the main island.
By the time he arrived at the outer sea area of the marked ethnic settlement, it was already completely dark, and a blood moon hung high in the sky.
The imagined primitive and savage scene did not appear. On the contrary, the shore was brightly lit and bustling with people!
It was a fairly large settlement of seal people, with houses built from seaweed, wood, and rocks arranged in a pleasing, staggered pattern.
The people coming and going are dressed in traditional ethnic costumes, indicating that it is not an uncivilized primitive settlement.
At this moment, a lively bonfire feast is being held in the open space in the center of the settlement!
Many members of the spotted seal tribe sat around a huge campfire, feasting on a meal. The air was filled with the mixed aromas of grilled fish, stewed seafood, and some peculiar spices, and laughter filled the air.
Zhang Xinlan was in the dimly lit kitchen area by the campfire, busy helping out with the food alongside Duck C.
One moment she's chopping vegetables, the next she's washing fruits and vegetables; Duck C has practically become the one serving the food.
At this moment, she was talking to an old spotted seal with a particularly robust build and a necklace of animal teeth around his neck, as well as a young spotted seal that looked somewhat familiar. After a while, the old spotted seal handed her a small pottery jar, which Zhang Xinlan took with a smile and carefully smelled the contents.
Yu Wang quietly piloted the Little Yellow Duck ashore without disturbing too many people.
Upon closer inspection, he realized that the young seal waiter was none other than the seal waiter who had served them at the "Guo Di Lao" branch before!
At this point, the banquet seemed to be on track, and there was no need to continue serving dishes.
The Little Yellow Duck was very conspicuous at night. Zhang Xinlan saw Yu Wang, waved to him, said a few words to the old chieftain and the spotted seal, and then got up and walked over.
"What's going on?" Yu Wang asked in a low voice, his gaze sweeping over the lively banquet scene and the seal people who were looking over with curiosity.
"Perhaps it's a case of 'no fight, no friendship'?"
Zhang Xinlan recounted the story in detail.
It turns out that this young man with the spotted seal was the same waiter from the previous "Guo Di Lao" branch.
His name is A-Jiao. After the previous incident involving Yu Wang's "environmental inspector," this incident inadvertently prompted Beaver Manager to conduct a thorough overhaul of the branch.
After Princess Xili finished her banquet, she praised the hotel's environment and service highly. Several surprise environmental inspections were subsequently conducted, and the hotel passed all inspections with excellent results.
Manager Beaver was praised by headquarters for this, and as long as the performance targets are met, he can be promoted to a branch in a larger and more prosperous sea area!
As an important part of the "meritorious service" process, Ah Jiao not only got a raise and successfully became a foreman from a junior worker, but also received a special promotion and was allowed to perform the ceremony ahead of schedule, becoming a shallow believer of the "God of Cookery"!
This was an incredibly joyous occasion for Ah Jiao, who came from an ordinary seal-man tribe!
As long as he diligently makes offerings and practices diligently, and accumulates a few years of experience to become a general believer or even a devout believer, his future will be so bright that it will keep people up at night!
Perhaps this branch of spotted seals could move to a larger island with more resources!
Some even moved to the city!
Ah Jiao was overjoyed. Taking advantage of her time off, she rushed back to her tribe's island to share the good news with her family and the chief.
The old clan chief was naturally proud and held a grand banquet to celebrate the emergence of a promising "city dweller" in the clan.
Zhang Xinlan's presence here was purely coincidental.
She was originally gathering wild fruit on the other side of the main island when she was drawn by the commotion of the banquet. As she approached to investigate, she was spotted by the patrolling young sealmen. There was some tension between them at first, but Ah Jiao happened to come out to get some fresh air with the patrol team and recognized Zhang Xinlan at a glance.
The image of him stuffing a whole plate of fatty beef into his mouth is something Leopard will never forget.
When acquaintances meet, misunderstandings are cleared up.
At the banquet, Zhang Xinlan smelled a unique blend of spices, a secret recipe of the spotted seal tribe, used for marinating and grilling.
She then suggested that she wanted to buy some finished spices.
The old clan chief was warm and hospitable. He also learned that Zhang Xinlan was the benefactor who helped Ajiao make contributions to "Guodi Lao" and thus gained the favor of the God of Cookery. In his opinion, a little bit of his own seasoning was worthless. So he waved his hand and planned to give it away for free.
However, Zhang Xinlan refused to take advantage of the situation and insisted on buying it or exchanging it for labor.
Seeing how serious she was, the old clan chief couldn't refuse her and had no choice but to agree with a smile.
Ah Jiao arranged a job that wasn't tiring for me.
Zhang Xinlan had just been working for payment, and the spices she received in exchange were in the small earthenware jar in her hand.
"I see—" Yu Wang was both amused and exasperated after hearing this.
However, the atmosphere here is indeed quite nice.
The campfire was warm, and the food was plentiful, including dishes made from many rare and hard-to-find fish.
The seal people mostly have simple and honest eyes, and their laughter is constant. Compared to the life-and-death struggles and unpredictable human nature at sea, they have a rare sense of peace and warmth.
At this moment, the young spotted seal, Ajiao, approached somewhat embarrassedly, his round eyes full of apology: "Um—guests, I'm so sorry for my rudeness to you earlier in the shop!"
He scratched his head and continued, "I had never seen a real human before, I had only heard some guests talk about humans—well, not very good rumors, so I subconsciously assumed that all humans were like that, so at the time—"
He appeared very sincere, his face clearly showing that he knew he was wrong.
Yu Wang waved his hand, indicating that he didn't care.
He genuinely didn't care. Compared to Ah Jiao's minor offense stemming from prejudice, the malice he had witnessed from some of the indigenous people in his previous life could already be described as hatred.
For example, deliberately setting up a trap to lure humans in and kill them. Seeing that they really didn't blame them, A-Jiao breathed a sigh of relief and invited the two to join the ongoing banquet even more enthusiastically.
After a good meal and drinks, both hosts and guests enjoyed themselves immensely.
During the banquet, low-level monsters would occasionally climb ashore and attempt to attack the settlement.
But the patrolling seal warriors reacted quickly and worked in perfect coordination, driving these uninvited guests back in no time.
Yu Wang noticed that some spotted seal warriors seemed to be able to predict the enemy's attack trajectory in advance when faced with an attack, and could always avoid the sharp edge at just the right time, and then counterattack.
"That's the power bestowed upon us by the gods we worship in our settlement," A-Jiao explained, seeing Yu Wang's interest. "When we're about to face a dangerous attack, a red 'danger' marker will appear in our vision, reminding us to dodge."
He paused, his tone somewhat helpless: "But that's all there is to it. There's only a 'Danger' warning, no other information, such as the direction of the attack, the type of attack, or the damage level—it all depends on your own judgment and reaction."
Moreover, the triggering conditions seem to be quite stringent.
Ah Jiao lowered her voice and said, "Because they are too useless, the younger generation, including myself, has started to worship new gods."
As the banquet drew to a close, the atmosphere grew increasingly harmonious.
During this time, Yu Wang and Zhang Xinlan did not eat and drink for free; together with the patrol team, they dealt with several monster attacks.
No wonder Ah Jiao has always been eager to lead her people to move to a big city.
At least there, there are dedicated security teams, so there's no need to worry about being attacked at night, and the elderly and children in the community don't have to live in fear at night.
After the banquet ended, Ajiao whispered with the old clan chief for a while. Not long after, the old clan chief signaled the clansmen to bring up something.
It was a golden resource chest!
According to our deity, this is a treasure that can "fish for humans to do errands for us."
The old clan chief patted the treasure chest and said with a hint of helplessness, "Although our clan is not wealthy, we would never do such a despicable thing. This thing is useless except for taking up space, and it can easily lead some unscrupulous clansmen to have wicked thoughts."
This box is just gathering dust here, so we might as well give it to you as compensation for the previous misunderstanding.
Ah Jiao chuckled and said, "Yes, yes, you can take it. This thing is very heavy, and it will be quite troublesome to carry it around when we migrate in a while."
Yu Wang looked at the golden treasure chest and a thought struck him.
He happened to have three of the [Golden Treasure Chest Keys] he had obtained earlier! This was like a godsend!
"Then I'll accept it without hesitation, thank you, clan chief! If there's an opportunity later, I'll give A-Jiao a hand." Yu Wang accepted it gladly without any pretense of refusal.
The old clan chief was pleased to see that he readily accepted the gift. He also warmly invited the two men and the two ducks to watch their traditional sacrificial dance, which had been passed down through generations.
The dance was bold and powerful, full of the spirit of a primitive war dance. As the priest danced, he chanted the deeds of his ancestors in a desolate and ancient melody.
Out of politeness, Yu Wang did not open the gold resource box immediately, but temporarily stored it in his spatial backpack.
All she could think about was getting back to the ship and unpacking the boxes, so she was a little distracted from the dance.
As they listened, they discovered that the ancestors of these seals were indeed quite remarkable.
Their ancestors were soldiers who followed a powerful god and participated in the divine war that swept across the seas.
He returned to his hometown with great honor after being seriously injured midway through the journey. He then choreographed his experience into this dance so that future generations would remember him forever.
Moreover, the equipment he wore when he joined the army back then has been preserved, and it's still a complete set.
[Morning Star Watcher Set (Damaged)]
[Quality: Not available for viewing at this time]
[Description: Born in that glorious era, now severely rusted and damaged, its brilliance lost, leaving only the lingering warmth of history and its heavy story.]
"Our ancestors wore this very uniform, following the gods, fighting in battles across the land—it was truly a vast and magnificent era, a time teeming with heroes!"
The old patriarch stroked the cold armor plates with one hand and rubbed his beard with the other, his gaze distant and filled with reminiscence.
Ah Jiao, standing nearby, secretly tugged at Yu Wang's sleeve and whispered, "Grandpa Chief is telling those old, worn-out hero stories again. Although they sound impressive, our ancestor was just an ordinary soldier in the Watchtower Army. Even the name of the commander he served under is only vaguely recorded in the family genealogy—"
Looking at the tattered "Morning Star Watchers" outfit and listening to the old clan chief's glorious reminiscences and Ajiao's pragmatic, somewhat sabotaging mutterings, Yu Wang couldn't help but smile knowingly.
He looked up. The blood moon emitted an ominous red light, but in the depths of the sky, far from the blood moon, countless stars still stubbornly twinkled, persisting in their struggle against the blood moon.
What kind of war was the War of Gods?
The rugged and powerful sacrificial dance ended, the bonfire was dying down, and the crackling charcoal reflected the slightly weary faces of the spotted seal tribe.
The banquet has finally come to a complete end.
It was already late at night, and Yu Wang declined the clan chief's invitation to stay and returned to the ship to spend the night.
"Welcome to visit again sometime! But we might have moved by then, so if you want to find me, go to the No. 10 branch of Guodi Lao." Ah Jiao waved his forefins and said sincerely.
After spending the night together, his impression of humans has changed drastically.
"Definitely. I also wish you a bright future at Guodi Lao and hope you become a devout believer soon." Yu Wang nodded in response.
Zhang Xinlan waved to them, carefully protecting the small earthenware jar containing spices in her arms.
Once the young spotted seal warriors responsible for escorting the ship had disappeared from sight and it was clear that there were no "outsiders" around, the Little Yellow Duck slowly sailed away from the shore.
The two looked at each other on the deck, and a long-suppressed excitement flashed in their eyes simultaneously.
Bang!
The gold resource box was placed on the deck.
"Are there any monsters?" Yu Wang asked in a low voice. "I already checked, so you can open it without worry!"
Once they were sure it was safe, the two could no longer contain themselves.
Immediately afterwards, from the dark sea, the greedy laughter of a man and a woman, mixed together, could be clearly heard: "Hehehe."