It took Oliver and Root nearly an hour to secure all the silver crabs around them. Root was exhausted afterward, breathing heavily. Fortunately, his oxygen tank still had ten percent remaining, ensuring he wouldn’t suffocate anyti soon.
Oliver gathered the net, creating a bundle of captured silver crabs. Despite the bundle being twice his size, he carried it effortlessly.
"It’s ti to leave," Oliver stated.
Root took a deep breath and nodded. They had co for the silver crabs and had caught enough; only a few remained inside. There was no point in staying there any longer.
Oliver nodded back and promptly began to swim upward. As before, he waited for Root and, grasping him, propelled them forward. This ti, he was extra careful not to snag the crab bundle anywhere inside, which resulted in a slower ascent.
This deceleration excited the larger crabs outside the turtle shell.
They thrashed their back flippers, trying to catch them. Oliver was prepared and used his mana to imdiately pick up speed once they left the interior of the turtle’s carcass. He quickly left the crabs behind and swam up to the boat.
Root didn’t even have to do anything as he found himself swiftly moving through the water towards the boat. Within seconds, they were back.
Oliver motioned for Root to enter first. Root nodded and went inside.
anwhile, Oliver carefully tied the bundle of silver crabs to the side of the boat. Carrying them inside would not be easy, so he decided to hang them there for the ti being. Once he was done, Oliver also entered the boat.
The boat’s system pumped water out of the airlock as Oliver entered.
"Phoo..."
Oliver exhaled the air in his lungs and breathed in the fresh air. A mont of vertigo hit him due to the rapid change in pressure and air quality.
Ignoring it, as he always did, he walked into the boat, dragging his wet diving gear. Then he noticed Root standing near the rear cargo area, looking confused. Seeing his furrowed brows, Oliver guessed Root was thinking about sothing deeply.
"What?" he asked.
Root blinked, snapping out of his deep thought.
"Hm!" he exclaid, noticing Oliver nearby. "Boss, when did you get here?"
"Just now," Oliver replied, sliding out of his diving suit.
"Oh!"
"What is it?"
"What?"
"What are you thinking about?" Oliver asked when he saw Root looking back at the cargo area.
The bundles of dragon at were neatly placed in this area. And when he glanced at them, Root showed a peculiar glint in his eyes.
"Oh! Nothing in particular. But I feel like sothing is different," he replied.
"How different?"
If it had been soone else, Oliver would have ignored it. But Root said sothing was different about the cargo area, so it imdiately captured his attention.
"Hm! I don’t know. But I feel sothing is different," he said again.
"Is that so..."
Oliver looked through the cargo area to see if he could find sothing amiss, but he didn’t notice anything.
Maybe it was just a feeling.
Perhaps Root made a mistake.
Oliver didn’t sense any danger, so he stashed the diving gear in their cupboards and decided to ignore it. Root did the sa and changed his clothes before moving to the cockpit.
A few minutes later, the boat left the water and flew towards the steep mountain in the middle of the island. It was almost noon. The bright sun was beaming down its light, heating the atmosphere. It was wet, hot, damp, cloudy, and windy that day.
The boat flew quickly and hovered above a large open area on the mountain. It was big enough to park the boat and set up camp. Once the boat landed nicely on the surface, Oliver and Root alighted, carrying grills, a stove, and cooking ingredients.
Their stomachs were growling as they placed them on the ground nearby.
"You set up the table. I will cook," Oliver said.
Root was happy to do less work and imdiately went into the boat to bring the table and foldable chairs. anwhile, Oliver humd so random song playing in his earphones and brought out a slab of flood dragon at.
The silver crab bundle hanging on the side of the boat sensed the mana-rich, nutritious block of at and made a weird rattling sound.
A few of them bashed their claws and tried to break out of the net binding them. Oliver glanced over before promptly ignoring them.
The net he used was highly durable. Even a D-ranked mana beast would find it difficult to cut through the net, so he was not worried that these small crabs would escape.
Suddenly, a new thought ca to him.
’Should I grill a few of them?’ he asked himself and walked closer. The silver crabs were known to be a delicacy. They were sought after by many because of their rich umami flavor and soft at.
’After grilling the dragon, maybe I should grill a few of those too,’ Oliver decided.
Even though the silver crabs were delicious, the dragon at would certainly be better because of its higher rank. If properly cooked, it might even surpass the crabs. So, humming a tune, he went back to slicing the dragon at.
The thick slab of at was hard to cut without infusing mana into the knife. A golden glow enveloped Oliver as he sliced them up and tenderized the at.
"Great!" Oliver muttered once he was done.
Then he chopped so potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, onions, and fruits and placed them on a plate.
He was not going to make sothing elaborate today.
A simple dish of grilled dragon at, so sauce he brought, and grilled veggies would suffice.
Promptly after slicing the vegetables and at, he lit the grill and waited for the charcoal to burn. Then, he seasoned the at with salt and pepper before placing it on the grill. It would take a while for it to cook.
"Root, co here," he called out.
With his mouth watering, Root ca up to Oliver. "Yes, boss," he said while glancing at the fatty at, glistening in oil.
"The food will be ready in a few minutes. You go there and dig a hole two ters wide and four ters deep."
The excitent in Root’s face disappeared in a flash.
"Huh? Why?" he asked.
"We need to keep the crabs alive. So dig a hole and put them inside. For the next few days, your goal would be keeping them alive."
"Why?"
"As I said before. I need to catch sothing with the crabs."
"Can I do it later?" Root avoided eye contact and asked.
"No."
However, Oliver didn’t let him squirm his way out.
The young Root was not a lazy person; he was just tired. After going through all that, he wanted so rest. But Oliver ignored it and made him work again.
From Oliver’s perspective, simple chores like digging a hole, diving to the depths of the lake, and catching crabs were relaxing jobs. However, Root was not a psycho like him. Though it was less taxing work, it still drained him ntally, like all normal people.
Finally, after talking with Oliver for a while, Root dragged himself into the boat to get the tools. He silently complained about Oliver in his mind as he picked up the shovel and pickaxe, heading to a nearby area to dig a hole.
The ground on the hill was barren with little grass and shrubs, and the reason for that was the hard, rocky ground below. Nothing could grow in these harsh conditions. To dig a hole, Root explored the nearby areas and found a patch of softer ground.
Then he crouched down and touched the soil, passing mana into it in a steady stream to vaguely scan the ground. Although his sensory abilities were weak, he could at least tell if the ground was filled with rock or not. Thus, he checked the area around carefully.
The few patches of soft ground he found turned out to be just a few inches deep with rocks below. It would be difficult to dig into the rock, so he abandoned the spots and moved on. After a few minutes of searching, he finally found a place he could dig.
Releasing a deep sigh, he picked up the shovel and began to dig.
He marked the outline of the hole before digging faster and faster. As a D-ranked superhuman, he had enough mana to quickly dig into the hard ground. For the next few minutes, he robotically dug the ground, cleared the dirt, and moved rocks to create a large pit two ters wide and four ters deep.
By that ti, he was covered in dirt. He sighed again.
’Perhaps it was a bad idea to join the guild of that slave driver,’ he mused with pity. He regretted his previous decision.
Lin Yue would most likely have survived even without his help. As a clan with a deep background, they would have life-saving artifacts on them.
"Did I sell my soul to the devil to save her?" he muttered under his breath.
"ROOT! The food is ready," he suddenly heard a shout.
Root flinched.
"Ah!" he exclaid and ca out of the pit, covered in dirt.
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