NOVEL NEXT 17. A “surge” in combat power
| [Some kind of unknown change has been detected in the body of one person on board. Please click on it for details.] |
Raine was still thinking when a system voice rang in his head, which came with a surprising message.
He immediately checked the details.
The first thing that popped into Raine's mind was a 3D image of a person spinning slowly.
This person was none other than Arsan.
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[Type of mutation: "benign mutation" caused by contact with unknown creatures] [Mutation stage: Unknown] [Level of mutation: Unknown] [Contagiousness: None] |
| [Mutation Description: Depending on the path of mutation, mutation can be divided into 'mixed mutation' and 'disseminated mutation'. The target human falls into the latter category - 'disseminated mutation'. The disseminated mutation is defined as contact with a mutated organism that leads to secondary mutation of the contactee through various pathways. The target human's mutation has been tested to have no ability to retransmit and is a "purely maternal disseminated mutation" that will not retransmit unless it encounters a disseminated Matrix. Currently, the target human is thinking clearly. It has active and non-destructive cell division in the body. Its strength is increasing slowly, and its accelerated cell division in the lungs is inferred to be the evolution of fish gills] |
Raine was confused. He had heard Avril talk about "Mutants", but this was the first time he had encountered one. And It was a newly transmitted "Mutant" that was in the process of disseminated mutation.
Raine couldn't help but look at the girl named Arsan, who was shorter than her sister and had been the last one to be rescued. At the time, she was in the worst condition out of all of them and looked almost dead.
Arsan was clearly not in the best spirits either, her eyes constantly looking at the dried fish that Raine had stocked on board and occasionally swallowing. She was eager to eat.
Raine immediately realized that the girl's cells were dividing and needed a lot of energy, which was why she was so hungry and unhinged.
If this was a disseminated mutation that didn't affect her thinking, then it was something worth trying.
And this family was quite nice. They hadn't hit the ship while at sea when they were in such a difficult situation...
After some deliberation, Raine decided to take in the three of them!
A rope tied to an oar slot quietly turned into a pattern conveying "sure" in the palm of Avril's hand.
"Okay, well, I agree with that proposition. But you must abide by the rules of this boat." Avril said.
"Really? that's great, ma'am. You'll be our Captain from now on. Of course, we're at your beck and call!" The men said excitedly.
Avril shrugged awkwardly, "Not me, this ship."
The man froze for a moment but immediately responded, "Yes, yes, listen to the ship. At sea, the ship is what we live on. Even the Captain can't screw with the ship. By the way, Captain, what do we call you from now on? I'll start. My name is Terry; this is my eldest daughter, sixteen years old, she can be called Armin, and this is Arsan, fifteen years old."
Avril was running out of ways to explain herself, the guys were taking her for the captain now, and all she could do was stick her tongue out at the bow.
"My name is Avril. You can just call me by my first name, so go and pack your things. We'll take some missions here now and won't be leaving for a while."
........................
When Armin and Arsan returned, they had nothing else on hand, just two sets of clothes.
Those who lived off the trading market relied on it for food and shelter, so there wasn't much to take.
With Arsan's family moving on to the boat, Terry naturally lives outside the cabin, and Avril is happy to squeeze in with Armin and Arsan. The little boat became a little crowded. Poor White, there is no room for him in the cabin now, and he has to live outside with Terry.
Raine hadn't shown his face until now. It was better for him to keep quiet with all the people here.
Once he had officially accepted Arai's family, Raine quickly opened his message template.
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[Host: Raine] [Vessel: Small double-planked boat] [Crew Size: 5 (assignable positions, open for details)] [Ship Speed: 3 knots (open for details)] [Combat Power: 5 (can be viewed in Crew Info)] [Load Capacity: 347.8/1000kg (open for details) [Evolution Points: 86.3/150] |
With the arrival of the three family members, Raine's load also increased by 200kg in one go, using up more than 30% of it before it was even loaded with cargo. But this little disadvantage was simply ignored by Raine in the face of the increased crew size and the increased combat power of the ship.
"Holy shit, I'm bursting at the seams with combat power now!" Raine exclaimed in hatred, "No, combat power 5, it's still like a minion ...... Whatever, it's much more fierce than before anyway!"
As the stats became more complex, many options appeared in sub-menus, and Raine wasted no time opening them.
The five crew members now all had their information templates. Only Avril's was simple, just her name and combat power. In contrast, Arsan's was more complex, with the addition of a "mutation panel" in addition to the basic information.
The crew and their combat power are White "1", Avril "0.5", Terry "1.5", Armin "0.5" and Arsan "0.5 (real time)"
"So, one Terry can beat three Avril ..." Raine couldn't help but feel like laughing. Avril was just too weak.
After these people, there was an option called "pending orders". Needless to say, it was for Raine to assign them to positions, but Raine was still a small ship, so he didn't need to make it so complicated. Besides, he wasn't familiar with Terry's family members yet, so he wouldn't assign them to positions so early.
After two days of waiting in the sea market, Avril finally got his assignment.
This time it was a transport mission, a large ship in front of him had contracted most of the cargo, and no one was willing to take the rest except Raine.
"Iron ore to the Mississippi market, time ... it doesn't matter. It's the last bit of cargo, anyway. It should be there in 7 days, 1 pearl."
The price for a 2-tonne shipment to the Mississippi trading market was 3 white pearls. Now Goldwell was only offering 1 pearl, even if it was the last bit of tailings, but no one wanted to go.
It was a trip anyway, so it was definitely more economical to haul a bit more.
"Let's go!" Avril said with her hand held high in excitement.
"It's you again ... Terry, you're running with them now?" Goldwell looked at Terry.
Terry nodded, "Thanks to Captain Avril for being willing to take us in. Otherwise, we really wouldn't have anywhere to go."
Goldwell nodded and whispered in Avril's ear while she was on shore, "Make the most of this transport, and I'll give you all the small orders on my side from now on."
"Eh? Why are you being so nice to us?"
"I'm not being nice to you! My son asked me to look after Arsan a bit more. The bastard was waiting for Arsan to come back."
Avril nodded in surprise and squeezed her eyes at Goldwell, "Don't worry, I won't mistreat them, and of course, getting more missions for us would be even better."