Chapter 121: The Third-Level Guidance of the Olm

[Guidance Task (Stage 3): Guide and utilize the Essence of Water to strengthen and awaken aquatic life forms. Once 100 of these vassal aquatic life forms reach the Level 2 stage, the avatar will receive a special reward from the game for advancing to a Level 3 life form.]

"Note: Please try to choose aquatic life forms with greater potential for awakening."

"Hint: On Blue Star, the larger the adult size of a life form, the greater its potential usually is."

When Ji Yu once again descended into the body of the olm, he immediately noticed the Stage 3 guidance task. Looking at the prompt, he couldn't help but feel a bit speechless. The game itself stated that larger life forms on Blue Star possess greater potential, yet it had not provided him with the life form that possessed the greatest potential for his avatar. Much like the fawn and the olm, if not for the blessing of special traits, their potential would be truly frustrating—especially the olm. Just imagine, under normal conditions, the limit for an olm as a Level 1 life form is a mere 0.05. This was...

Ji Yu was at a loss for words, though he soon understood. After all, the game had initially chosen him—a sickly person—as a player, which showed that the game itself did not harbor any "discrimination." It was highly likely that the game selected its avatars much like how Ji Yu obtained the game itself: through a combination of luck and destiny. Thinking of it this way, the game was actually quite harmonious. Ji Yu couldn't help but smile at the thought.

"A hundred vassals, and all must be Level 2 life forms."

Ji Yu pondered carefully and soon found the best option in his mind: whales. Whether it was orcas or blue whales, these were aquatic creatures of significant size on Blue Star. Marine life is diverse, and given Ji Yu's lack of knowledge about oceanic creatures, whales were the best option he could conceive. With this in mind, he immediately planned to head out to sea.

The fawn was currently absolutely safe, and the oak tree was developing with unusual stability; the only one left for Ji Yu to attend to was the olm. As for the olm itself, its current vitality was a mere 26.37. It only gained 0.05 vitality per night through its own meditation. After Ji Yu descended, relying on the boosted buff, he could only add 0.06 vitality per hour. At this rate, who knows how long it would take to reach the limit of 100? A full day of 12 hours would only yield an increase of 0.72. By this calculation, it would take nearly a hundred days—more than three months—for the olm to reach the limit of a Level 2 life form. Without the fawn’s life-grafting or the oak’s awakening rewards, the olm’s growth was undoubtedly the slowest.

However, compared to the fawn and the oak, the olm had an advantage they lacked: it could fly. Therefore, the speed of growth was not an issue; Ji Yu could find a time to have the olm fly to the Ryan Federation and have the fawn accelerate its growth. Following this logic, the first thing the olm needed to do was prepare for the breakthrough to a Level 3 life form. Thus, finding aquatic life with higher potential became the most important part of his current tasks.

Having resolved his thoughts, Ji Yu prepared to control the olm to leave the river area where the farm was located. It was the weekend, and the little girl might have had her own affairs, as she did not come to look for the olm. Ji Yu felt a slight surprise at this, but didn't dwell on it. After taking one last look at the distant farmhouse, he soared into the sky.

This time, he had far more experience than yesterday, so his high-altitude gliding was quite stable. Looking down at the ground from such a height, the expansive view felt truly wonderful—it even made up for the regret that Ji Yu could not fly in the city. The journey was peaceful; under the effect of his mimicry—which acted like invisibility—the olm successfully reached the ocean in less than half an hour.

Once in the sea, because the olm was now sufficiently large, Ji Yu no longer needed to be as cautious as before. With its size of over two hundred meters and its powerful abilities, the olm was definitely an apex predator in the sea. Even if he were to encounter mutated marine creatures, Ji Yu was certain the olm could handle them. Thus, he controlled the olm to swim deep into the ocean floor.

At the same time, Ji Yu used the temperature of the seawater to determine his direction, swimming toward the cold northern waters. Although his knowledge of most marine life was limited, he knew quite a bit about blue whales. He had enjoyed watching nature documentaries, and he had seen many segments specifically about blue whales. Although it had been a long time since he watched those documentaries, he remembered that blue whales liked to feed on krill near the Arctic Ocean. Therefore, heading to the northern seas was definitely the right move to find a pod.

As he traveled, Ji Yu felt a strong curiosity about the oceanic scenery and dove into the deep sea to get a better look at the underwater views and various fish. Regrettably, as he neared the seabed, most of what he saw was marine debris. White plastic and various human-made products were everywhere in the waters near the Western Continent. Fish were also very scarce. Seeing this, Ji Yu's mood plummeted; the human pollution of the ocean was truly more severe than he had imagined.

However, the only thing that brought him relief was that as he swam deeper, schools of fish began to appear, and coral reefs gradually came into view. During this time, he saw a wide variety of marine life: eels, flounders, and even tuna, along with many others he did not recognize. But as soon as these fish caught sight of the terrifying silhouette of the olm, they would all flee instantly. Ji Yu just smiled at this and increased his speed.

During this journey, he spotted schools of sharks and pods of orcas, but these were not his current targets. He might come back to cultivate some orcas later, but his priority remained the blue whale. He let the olm continue swimming toward the cold waters and told it to summon him once a blue whale was found. Meanwhile, Ji Yu logged off to search for relevant videos, hoping to cram some knowledge about the marine life of the Western Continent's seas.

And so, while the olm was somewhat afraid of swimming alone through the deep sea, Ji Yu lay on his bed, watching ocean documentaries and related videos. Two hours later, he was suddenly pulled back into the game by the olm’s call.