Chapter 345: Chapter 342: Black Pearl Aquaculture (5th Update, Alliance Hierarch additional update 9/18)
 

Magic Medicine Liszt understood well.

However, with the added meaning of “auxiliary,” it became somewhat obscure and impressive.

“To understand from the literal meaning, ‘auxiliary’ means to help. So, does it mean that when made into a magic potion, it can aid in the digestion of magic power, or does it mean that it can help other magic potions to grow? Or does it imply that when mixed with other magic potions to create a new potion, the effect would be better?”

This was impossible to deduce.

Liszt could only wait; he planned to cultivate more new varieties of auxiliary magic potion Dragon Hollyhock, which would take some time. Even with the boost from the Dragon Kui Bug, it would still be two to three months before he would see results.

He repressed his curiosity about the auxiliary magic medicine.

He reviewed the new mission.

“Mission: Sea Sprite Ake, Acherloides Truth, has discovered a magical coral reef that is submerged at high tide and emerges as a circular reef at low tide. It teems with Tridacnas, whose shells contain numerous Black Pearls. Why not harvest some? Reward: One piece of magic equipment.”

“Hmm!”

This mission made Liszt’s eyes light up, Ake had actually discovered a coral reef, which was home to Tridacnas capable of producing Black Pearls.

It quickly reminded him of the Tridacna he had salvaged near the shore last year.

Although not a sea monster, it could produce Black Pearls with magical properties. He had thought it was a Tridacna from the deep sea bottom, accidentally washed ashore. Unexpectedly, they originally lived in the coral reefs near Fresh Flower Town.

Without a doubt.

This kind of Tridacna could develop into an industry—the Black Pearl industry.

The Sapphire Family had a Tranquil Lake on Blue Dragon Island, where they raised low-level sea monsters, Pearl Oysters, which produced a large quantity of White Pearls every year. These were sought after by noblewomen as fine jewelry, with certain calming and soothing effects. Black Pearls had better effects, were larger in size, and could easily replace White Pearls.

He quickly arrived at the Sea View Villa.

He blew the horn, summoning Ake, who had been swimming in the ocean.

“Brother.” Ake emerged from a shell, with Mangrove Minor Elf Nami sitting on his shoulder, the minor elf having become Ake’s companion for swimming through the sea and was no longer a stranger to Liszt.

“Ake, have you discovered a coral reef?”

“Brother, you already know? Ake just found that coral reef yesterday. When the tide goes out, they emerge above the water, looking like a very large circular lake. Many shells live inside, a bit different from Ake’s own shell—similar to the Tridacna shells at the entrance of brother’s castle.”

After hearing this, Liszt said, “Ake, these are Tridacnas, and they can produce Black Pearls. It’s the kind of Black Pearl I gave you before, a very precious material for magic equipment, and it can develop into the Black Pearl industry. I would like you to clarify the exact location of the coral reef and determine its distance.”

“Ake knows, from here, it’s about southeast, nearly thirty kilometers away from the shore,” Ake replied.

Thirty kilometers, that is about a two-hour journey for the Fresh Flower Vessel.

After waiting for the Fresh Flower Vessel to return, and timing the low tide, Liszt directly ordered Captain Kostor to set sail, following the direction Ake pointed out. Along the way, Ake would occasionally surface, guiding Liszt’s course with his own trajectory, which Liszt then relayed to Kostor.

Finally, at three o’clock in the afternoon, they saw the coral reef that had already emerged above the water.

It was shaped a bit like China’s South China Sea Huaguang Reef. Now with the tide out, the circular reef was exposed, and the white sands, developed from corals, had all weathered into finesse.

Stepping on it was very soft.

“My lord, who would have thought there could be such beautiful coral reefs around Fresh Flower Town? It’s unbelievable.” Even Captain Kostor, who had spent years at sea, had never seen such lovely islands and reefs.

Seagulls circled overhead, and the azure seawater was divided by the ring-shaped reef; the deep blue of the ocean lay outside, while within was a light blue lagoon. Near the sandy shores, the vivid colors of the corals were clearly visible. Captain Kostor deduced from the colors that the lagoon was only about ten meters deep—quite shallow.

Since Ake had already explored and confirmed that there were no sea monsters here, Liszt directly ordered his men to dive for Tridacna.

Before long, sailors were emerging, one after another, cradling small Tridacna. These were ones that grew near the coast, with the largest being no bigger than a washbasin.

When they pried one open, they indeed found black pearls inside, but they were only the size of a fingernail—small black pearls.

The magic power inside them was also very dim.

Despite this, Captain Kostor couldn’t help exclaiming, “My lord, are… are these Calming Sea Pearls? Why are they so small?” He knew that the Calming Sea Pearls aboard the Fresh Flower Vessel were made from black pearls.

He had participated in the Tridacna harvesting before and remembered clearly that even the smallest black pearl was the size of a fist.

“Of course, small Tridacna will only have small black pearls. There are also larger Tridacna in this lagoon, and once they are harvested, we can collect larger black pearls.”

“Can we harvest black pearls as big as the Calming Sea Pearls?” Captain Kostor’s eyes sparkled.

“It’s difficult, who knows whether there are any super-sized Tridacna living inside.” Liszt shook his head. He had sent Ake to observe the lagoon, and the largest Tridacna they found had a diameter of only one and a half meters. Compared to the nearly three-meter diameter Tridacna back at the castle, it was half the size.

The bigger the Tridacna, the larger the black pearls they could nurture, after all, it takes a long time for small black pearls to grow to the size of a washbasin.

It was also unknown whether that super-sized Tridacna grew up in this lagoon or not.

“You lead the sailors to search for larger Tridacna. Return these small ones to continue growing, and we will harvest a batch of large ones.”

“As you wish.”

Captain Kostor immediately led people to dive and search for large Tridacna. The exposed coral reefs did not seem too large, and looking across the lagoon, it felt like a distance of five or six kilometers. Nearly oval in shape, the lagoon was about twenty to thirty square kilometers in area.

It was somewhat smaller than Fresh Flower Town.

While it was easy to find Tridacna, searching for large ones was not. After half a day of diving, the sailors had only found two large Tridacna with a diameter exceeding one meter.

They hauled them up with ropes and fishing nets, and it was almost dark by then.

“This should count as completing the mission, having collected a batch of black pearls, right?” Liszt called out the Smoke Mission and saw that the task description hadn’t changed.

Unsure whether it was because the black pearls were still in the shells of the Tridacna or because they didn’t collect enough, he then instructed the sailors to drag a few smaller Tridacna they had found previously onto the ship as well.

Only then did he announce they would return.

Back at the castle, the first thing he did was open these Tridacna shells, but to their disappointment, the two large Tridacna shells only contained five fist-sized black pearls. The smaller Tridacna shells only had some fragmented small black pearls, none even the size of a ping pong ball.

“It seems that my dream of creating Calming Sea Pearls from black pearls to arm the fleet will have to be put on hold… Finding three black pearls suitable for making Calming Sea Pearls in the beginning was really just luck.”

He composed himself.

He summoned the Smoke Mission again, and this time, the Smoke Serpent Script finally changed.

“Mission completed, reward: one Soul Storage Vessel.”