Chapter 458: Chapter 269: What Do You Want as Compensation?_1
 

“Head back, where are you going? I need to examine the statue.” Negris urged Ange in desperation.

The size of the Statue of the Goddess of Redemption far exceeded Negris’ expectations, so much so that he couldn’t grasp it with a single glance—when he saw a palm, he couldn’t see the face. When one saw the face, one couldn’t see its waist, and when they saw the waist, they lost sight of the palm.

Indeed, this was the ocean floor, and the water severely limited his vision. But the statue was still excessively large, so he anxiously wanted Ange to move closer in order to provide a clearer view.

However, Ange didn’t heed his request and turned towards the area behind the statue instead.

With Ange’s Soul Strength, his field of vision was considerably wider than Negris’, and he saw much more, he had already noticed what was there.

But the only thing that held his attention to such an extent that he ignored Negris was…

“I knew it, Kvada. You can’t resist when you see a farm, why is there a farm under the sea?” Negris cursed uncontrollably after he finally got a clear look at the location.

It was a large area of the ocean floor, clearly tended and organized into ‘fields’. Instead of furrows, the fields were configured with gravel pits positioned every three to four meters.

Pits around one meter in diameter had been dug into the ocean floor, spaced three to four meters apart in neat rows and columns, extending as far as Negris couldn’t see.

Each pit was filled with fist-sized gravel, clearly different from the ocean floor’s texture. The ocean floor was fertile silt, whereas the pits were filled with gravel that had clearly been transported from elsewhere.

Most of the gravel pits were empty, only a handful of them had seaweed growing between the stones.

The seaweeds were like strings of clear, moist grapes, forming clusters, the longest ones stretching for dozens of meters, swaying in the current.

The seaweed grew from the gravel, extending its roots around the stones before plunging into the surrounding silt.

Negris immediately saw the advantage of this formation, the seaweed roots could firmly attach to the gravels, and wouldn’t be easily swept away by the currents, enabling it to grow as long as possible.

If the seaweed was rooted in the silt, it would be swept away by the current once it grew to a few meters in length.

The gaps between the stones also provided room for the root system to stretch out and absorb the nutrients from the fertile soil.

This arrangement was certainly not a natural formation. It was painstakingly cultivated for seaweed farming, earning the title ‘field’.

“Can crops grow under the sea? Who cultivated these fields? Why are there only a few dozen, why didn’t they plant it all?” Negris was filled with questions.

Unlike before, Ange was no longer furious. He heard Negris’ question and said: “Field, sea field.”

“Yes, field, why are you grinning like an idiot, they’re not your fields.” Negris responded, irritated.

The only things expected to rescue Ange from his violent state were probably fields and farming.

“Learn to cultivate on our own.” Ange darted forward, stopping in front of one of the seaweeds. He examined it for a while before poking it with his finger.

Under the effect of the Instant Death Halo, the place where his finger touched began to wither and break. The broken part was carried away by the current.

“Has it not produced seeds?” Negris thought. He had been around Ange for long enough to consider himself a semi-skilled farmer by now.

Ange tore off a piece, dragged it to the ocean floor, and planted it in the silt, then poked it with his finger.

The seaweed quickly began to grow roots that penetrated the silt, growing rapidly.

However, after a while, presumably due to a lack of nutrients, it withered. Still, it confirmed that seaweed could propagate through cuttings.

Without hesitation, Ange proceeded to tear off the dozens of stray seaweeds nearby, cut them into segments, and took them back inside the Temple of Rest. He then casually dug a pond, filled it with water, and soaked the cuttings there.

Negris looked around, somewhat anxious. “Ange, isn’t this a bit problematic? These crops were clearly grown by someone, what if you take them all?”

“Pay.” Ange stated.

Indeed, it was a solution, but what if others only wanted seaweed and not the money… But with the pace of Ange’s harvest, he could probably make up for it in about three hours by giving a large piece of seaweed field to the other party.

Well, let’s just compensate. But how much is appropriate?

Ange didn’t care, even if Harvey came to chop him off now, he would finish his harvest first. While he was happily digging, Ange suddenly sensed a faint aura creeping towards him in the mud.

The water flow concealed its movements, the elements weakened its aura, the darkness eclipsed its form, much like an octopus, a predatory color-changer of the sea floor, creeping quietly over.

Such a small move naturally couldn’t escape Ange’s senses, but even though he sensed the other party’s aura, it was not threatening to him. Ange didn’t expose him, but just tilted his head to watch his movement.

For the sake of concealment, the other didn’t open its eyes as it moved. They feared their gaze or aura might alert the enemy. So, they just moved towards the general direction. When they were almost in the right position, it quietly raised its head, barely opening one eye.

The sight scared it so much it jumped up from the mud, for it found the two empty eyeholes of the enemy right in front of it, staring at it in silence.

Was it discovered?! The creature in the mud jumped up abruptly, revealing a metal baton it had been suppressing under its body, ready to hit Ange.

But Ange was faster; with a swoosh of his hand, he snatched the iron rod from it. It swung the rod-holding hands before Ange, only to whip the air.

Having lost its weapon, it was suddenly anxious and shouted at him, “Give it back to me, you thief, give back my Starfall rod.”

Speaking underwater was supposed to be impossible, but amazingly, it didn’t expel air from its mouth, but a spray of water that diffused like sound waves, so that Ange could hear its voice clearly.

Perhaps it should be she, not it. The attacker was actually a humanoid creature, just like a human being, with soft long hair, delicate features, and a tall and curvy body, even quite pretty.

Of course, this was from the perspective of Negris. Ange couldn’t tell if humans are pretty or not.

Some minor differences revealed the truth that she was not human, like the scales on her body, the webbing between her toes, the vertical eye lids, etc. She was a humanoid creature with marine characteristics.

Starfall rod? Ange looked at the baton in his hand, wasn’t it just a rusty iron rod? Why was it called the Starfall rod?

Ange returned it to her.

She picked up the rod and tried to hit Ange, but as soon as she swung it up, the rod was snatched back by Ange.

“Give it back to me, you little thief!”

Ange returned it to her.

She swung again, Ange stole it again. After a few times, she finally realized that she is no match for this skeleton frame. The next time she got it back, she burst into tears.

“You’re stealing food from our whole clan, we’re gonna starve, you thief. Don’t steal our food, please. Eat me instead, my meat tastes good.”

She burst into tears, her mouth emitting at a very high pitch. The sound waves hit the water in front of her and generated a large quantity of air bubbles that kept rising up, making gurgling noises.

Negris wanted to laugh, the sight of a head squealing and bubbling was too comical. But he could not, as Ange had stolen food from the entire clan, and it would be inhuman to laugh at it…

Well, I am not human, so what’s the point of being humane, hahaha…

“Compensate, what do you want?” Ange’s voice went straight into the female sea-person’s mind.

Obviously, this female sea person was the owner of these seaweed crops. Ange was just waiting for a fair compensation, otherwise, she would have been annihilated long ago.

PS: This chapter was supposed to be for yesterday. Today’s chapter is still under progress.