Chapter 325 — Another Great Harvest and Shi Ying's Ambition

Shi Jin was already immune to the handsome photo on the certificate; what he was curious about now was the data chip for the First Bureau's codex, and how the information it held differed from that of the Third and Eleventh Bureaus.

The Third Bureau's Breeding Codex recorded all kinds of cultivation data, the Eleventh Bureau's recorded all kinds of archaeological data — so what about the First Bureau?

"Could it be that this one records all sorts of PY techniques?" Shi Jin wondered as he picked up the chip.

"How could it!" said Feng Jin.

"This records the Donghuang Ancient Kingdom's collected data on every known totem-level lifeform in the world — friend or foe alike. Totems of the totem zones, totem data from the other six nations, all of it can be looked up here. Because generally speaking, when it comes to the point where First Bureau members must act, the incident will almost certainly involve totems."

Shi Jin nodded. So that was it.

Still, it felt less useful than the Third and Eleventh Bureau codexes...

Never mind. With this, he would know from now on which totems were easy to bully and which ones to walk around when he saw them. That was all right.

"What's this?" Shi Jin looked curiously at the other certificate.

He picked it up and saw it was a certificate from the Environmental Protection Department. Boring.

"This certificate is special. Unlike the ones Brigadier Xiao Qin and the others hold, the authority it grants is equal to that of members of Donghuang's other thirteen bureaus: priority use and development of marine resources, and in times of necessity, the mobilization of the navy's legendary forces and military weapons."

"Of course, at present you are the only one who holds this certificate. As for whether the Marine Environmental Protection Department can become Donghuang's Fourteenth Bureau, that depends on how things develop from here. After all, you are the only one qualified to hold this certificate — a Fourteenth Bureau would be very hard to establish on its own."

Feng Jin's expression turned strange. There was no one else quite like him.

Shi Jin now had a pile of titles; just looking at them made Feng Jin afraid.

"Are you trying to collect credentials from all fourteen bureaus and summon a mechanical legend?"

"This one's good!" Shi Jin's eyes lit up, and he put away the Ministry of Environmental Protection credentials as well.

A moment later he blinked. "There's more?"

"There's more."

Feng Jin continued to produce three more resources.

"The legendary resource hasn't been approved yet, but along with the Ministry of Environmental Protection credentials came these water-type resources. Didn't you say last time that you wanted high-quality water-type resources for the Canghai Sprite?"

"These are the first batch we've selected as suitable."

Shi Jin looked over.

They were grade-two, grade-six, and grade-seven resources respectively.

Their energy grades differed, but what mattered most was their quality.

Every one of them had once been a legendary-grade resource — all of legendary quality.

Feng Jin pointed to one of them, a water-blue elemental core.

"An elemental core. In a certain ancient era, undersea volcanoes erupted and the Eastern Hemisphere was struck by an unprecedented super-tsunami. The tsunami even gained life and became an elemental lifeform — a totem from the very moment of its birth. It rampaged across the East, but just as it was about to reach the Donghuang Continent, it was slain by the combined forces of land creatures."

"This is its elemental core. Because it contains a mighty power of fluctuation, it is also called the Sea Wave Stone. But too many ages have passed, and countless creatures may have fought over and used the Sea Wave Stone; its energy grade has now fallen to grade two."

"Even so, though it no longer holds a powerful water-type force, the supreme fluctuation mystery imprinted upon it is still worth a water-type pet beast's contemplation."

Then Feng Jin pointed to another one — a fist-sized, deep-blue meteorite.

"A water-type alien star. In ancient times, a meteorite carrying water-type power fell toward Blue Star. Generally speaking, unless a meteorite is exceptionally large, few can survive the high temperatures of the atmosphere. But this water-type meteorite was special: not large, yet thanks to its peculiar structure it feared no heat, and it successfully landed somewhere in Donghuang."

"It is special in another way too. It was originally a legendary-grade resource, and it fell to grade six because of Time Accumulation. Its effect is that it contains the 'Power of Star-Praying' — a water-type pet beast holding this meteorite can sense the natural water force from beyond the heavens. Truly wondrous."

"And this last one, a grade-seven water droplet called the Memory Crystal, is an item in which a deceased Donghuang totem — a rare dual-type totem of water and Time Accumulation — stored the mastery experience of water-elemental power at the transcendent grade. It too was originally a legendary-grade resource, but after being used many times, most of the skill experience within it has been digested; little remains, and so its energy grade naturally fell as well."

"Even so, for water-elemental lifeforms below overlord level, it is a rare treasure. Carrying the Memory Crystal, one can rapidly raise proficiency in water-type skills. Driven by the Memory Crystal, the Canghai Sprite's reincarnated body will improve its skill proficiency very quickly, and in time, propelled by skill grade, breaking through to overlord will be no difficult matter."

"These are the resources most carefully selected as suitable for the Canghai Sprite's reincarnated body at present. In truth, the national resource vault holds many, many more water-type resources, all of which you can search through the Third Bureau's illustrated guide. And if the Environmental Protection Bureau has any other special needs beyond these, they can be met later as well," Feng Jin said.

"For instance, when it draws extremely close to overlord level... a legendary-grade water-type resource... ahem, that should be possible too."

The Memory Crystal guaranteed the steady growth of the Canghai Sprite's reincarnated body; communication with the water force beyond the heavens was a special power the Canghai Sprite had never possessed even in life; and the Sea Wave Stone guaranteed its combat technique. In the Donghuang Association's view, these three low-grade resources of legendary quality would be enough to forge the Canghai Sprite's reincarnated body into a mighty overlord.

As for true legendary-grade resources, so long as the Canghai Sprite needed them, the Donghuang Association would not be stingy.

In the Donghuang Association's view, the most important thing was to quickly cultivate Su Su to overlord level and have her receive the Canghai Sprite's inheritance.

Of course, they dared not pull up the seedlings to help them grow. Leveling up too fast was no good either — there would be no time to befriend the Canghai Sprite, and if the reincarnated body spent too short a time with it, that too would hinder the building of a bond.

The Donghuang Association still wanted to play it safe.

"Good." Shi Jin was satisfied.

Not bad.

Water fluctuation, vibration technique — Su Su could use them to some degree through her water-elemental mastery, but she was certainly not proficient. The Power of Star-Praying? That she had never touched at all. And the Memory Crystal — honestly, that was what interested Shi Jin most.

Not because it might save Shi Jin the effort of adding points to water-elemental mastery a few times, but because it had been created by a Time Accumulation-type skill. What if Su Su swallowed it and gained a similar ability?

"What a haul." Beside him, the Gem Cat's face was full of envy.