An Jin looked at Normanâs spiritual sea with a nervous face. The spiritual sea slowly expanded outward, and the spiritual silk inside the enlarged area was all deep black; the color was very deep, as if in the next moment it would spontaneously combust.
Normanâs face was hard, and because his teeth were clenched, both cheeks were now made of harsh contours. Sweat slipped along the wheat-colored neck, and soon his shirt had a large wet spot.
Obviously, he was suffering from severe pain.
The moment the spiritual sea ceased to change, the spiritual force was almost so extreme that one could not help but feel weak in the legs.
An Jin braced himself against the pool bank, barely maintaining the impulse to retreat, and softly shouted, âNorman?â
Norman did not hear; with the spiritual sea expansion, his spiritual power spread to his center, and everywhere he went, everything he sensed, all encroached upon his brain.
The palace near, the factory farther away, vehicles, pedestrians, buildings, machines, the light, the breeze, the sea; everything came together, as if it was going to squeeze his brain until it burst.
At the same time, the guards on the outside of the villa changed their faces, full of amazement and disbelief. How could this happen, isnât His Majesty SSS level? How could it be upgraded again?
They were trying to maintain a straight posture, and in a short while, a layer of sweat appeared on their foreheads.
In the next villa, HornĂĄd was frozen in place, and the test tube in his hand slipped down the middle and fell to the ground with a pop, breaking into two sections. He didnât even look at it, and withstanding the spiritual pressure, he opened the terminal and contacted the palace medical team.
âPrepare the white noise chamber.â
âMr. HornĂĄd, has His Majestyâs spiritual force escalated?â The medical team member spoke under his breath from the spiritual pressure, but his tone was extraordinarily excited.
HornĂĄd did not answer; he hung up the communication.
Just before he hung up, he received a communication from the escort leader Joseph. âMr. HornĂĄd, how is His Majesty doing?â
âIâm on my way to His Majesty,â said HornĂĄd, âyou take care to reinforce the palace guard. Bring someone here, we have to move His Majesty to the white noise room of the palace as soon as possible.â
The pedestrians and vehicles near the palace unanimously stopped and looked inside the palace in unison. They were far away, the pressure they bore was not very strong, but the feeling was extraordinarily clear. This spiritual force was at least SSS, and the pressure was coming from the palace; it was known that His Majesty was SSS, so what was going on now?
Soon, the topic about the palace emitting spiritual pressure exploded on Starnet, and netizens were talking about it.
[Could it be a guard that raised their spiritual power to SSS?]
[Impossible, the royal guard is full of adults, spiritual force level has been determined, it is impossible to upgrade again, downgrade is more likely.]
[Then how can there be SSS prestige?]
In the mermaid room, An Jin looked at Norman, who had his eyes closed, worried and nervous. Soon, he noticed something very unpleasant: Normanâs spiritual power was rapidly decreasing.
The white spiritual filaments turned gray at a speed visible to the naked eye, from the outside to the inside. In a short while, a large cluster of spiritual silk turned gray, and the gray kept spreading to the middle.
Norman was consuming spiritual power at high speed!
His eyes flashed with confusion, where did the spiritual power go?
Soon, he understood that the pressure he felt was caused by Normanâs consumption of spiritual power. His face was torn. He wanted to sing, but did not dare to sing. He did not dare because Norman listened to him sing to become like this, but if he did not sing and did not replenish the spiritual power, with the speed of Norman consuming spiritual power, it would be a very dangerous value.
He pondered for a moment, but decided to sing.
The light and pleasant song sounded, aqua blue energy particles flew into Normanâs spiritual sea, and gray spiritual silk turned into white, not long after turning gray again. Norman, who had fallen into the world of consciousness because of the elevated spiritual level, heard the voice, and his eyebrows moved slightly and his consciousness gradually returned.
Soon, An Jin found that the spiritual pressure was gradually reduced, and Normanâs spiritual power consumption was also slowing down.
HornĂĄd and Joseph, who had walked to the entrance of the mermaid room, and the escort team stopped in their tracks at the same time.
Until the song stopped and the spiritual pressure disappeared, HornĂĄd hesitated for a moment and knocked on the door, calling, âYour Majesty?â
âIâm fine.â His voice was hoarse, and although he was answering HornĂĄdâs words, his eyes were on the little mermaid. He reached out and rubbed the top of the little mermaidâs hair in his half-kneeling position, and seeing that the little mermaidâs little face had not yet relaxed, he did not resist and gently squeezed the little mermaidâs chin, leaving it at the touch of a button.
His voice was softer as he looked at the little Mermaid and said, âDonât be afraid.â
An Jinâs tense emotions were broken up by the touch of the chin, and he was relieved to hear Normanâs words. He was slightly relieved to see Normanâs spiritual sea regain stability and not continue to consume spiritual power.
HornĂĄd asked, âYour Majesty, shall I give you a checkup?â
An Jin also looked at Norman with doubt and concern in his eyes.
Norman got up. âCome in.â
HornĂĄd pushed open the door. Norman saw Joseph and ordered, âDo not receive visits tonight.â
Joseph saluted. âYes.â He turned and left with his escort.
HornĂĄd examined Norman, and although he had a suspicion in his mind, he could not help but be excited when he saw the result. âYour Majesty, your spiritual rank is restored!â
An Jin was listening to them with his hands on the shore. When he heard this, he froze. His rank was restored? So, Normanâs original spiritual sea was this big?
Normanâs brown eyes were bright, his expression calm, but inwardly this set off a huge wave. Since he fell into spiritual riots two years ago and his spiritual power dropped from SSS to SS, he never thought there would be a day he would recover.
His SSS spiritual power was a powerful deterrent to the outer stars and to certain restless people in Siao. For the sake of Siaoâs peace and stability, he had not revealed the news of his spiritual power downgrade to anyone but HornĂĄd.
HornĂĄd instantly waved his fist excitedly, like he was ten years younger.
âMy God, Your Majesty, this is a miracle! What have you done? Why is it suddenly upgraded? If you can promote it, all those fallen pride of heaven will become a powerful fighting force for Siao!â He looked at Norman with burning eyes. âYour Majesty, what happened before the upgrade?â
An Jin, stunned by HornĂĄdâs excitement, sank silently into the water, showing only half of his face.
Norman saw the young mermaidâs appearance, pondered for a moment, and said to HornĂĄd, âSpiritual force reached a state of fullness.â
HornĂĄdâs inner heart sank into a lemon, and his burning eyes calmed down. The spiritual power of the Siao was good enough to maintain the daily routine, and it was a fantasy to fill it up.
HornĂĄd thought to himself, probably only His Majesty could achieve this effect; after all, An An was capable and thoughtful, singing to His Majesty every day.
âYou just had an overflow of spiritual power; the upgrade cannot be hidden. You have to come out and explain, Iâm afraid.â
At this time, Normanâs terminal lightly rang, Tang Rinâs account received a message from Dean Yuna, [Mr. Tang, are you considering my proposal?]
Norman scrolled up and saw the message Yuna had sent him five minutes ago.
[An Anâs rut is approaching, so I propose to let An An choose a match now so that things donât get too rushed in the end. If you agree, I can help you contact the breeders of the intermediate upper mermaid to agree on a time for An An and their mermaid to meet.]
Normanâs sword brows furrowed, inwardly he was very much repelled by the idea of giving the little mermaid a âblind dateâ and simply refused. [I donât agree.]
He stared at the three words of Mr. Tang and suddenly felt uncomfortable. He returned to the home page, and saw a plus sign at the upper right corner of Tang Rinâs smooth talk, indicating too many unread messages.
He clicked on it, and in addition to various messages requesting him to let the little mermaid live, there were also messages wanting to pair with the little mermaid, and about wanting to buy the little mermaid.
Norman deleted all the messages with a sullen face.
When he was initially blacklisted, he didnât care much about it; it was more convenient to use Tang Rinâs identity instead. After all, his real identity was troublesome when he went out.
After showing the little mermaid, he didnât feel that his being on the blacklist had any effect either, he even felt better with Tang Rinâs identity and was more comfortable taking the little mermaid out.
However, now, everyone referred to the little mermaid as âthe mermaid of Tang Rinâs familyâ, and it was inappropriate for him to even mention the little mermaid because heâs on the blacklist, which made him inexplicably unhappy.
He was clearly the closest and most trusted person to the little mermaid. He looked down, the little mermaid, tilting his head to look at him, and the little mermaid line of sight, his face unconsciously softened. He immediately made a decision in his mind, pulled up the surveillance of the hover car Little Silver was in when he attacked him, and contacted the adjutant: [I want to appeal, remove the blacklist as soon as possible.]
The adjutant received the message, a little surprised. Removing the blacklist now obviously meant wanting to auction for a mermaid. Then his face tightened, could it be that the topic of conversation on Starnet was related to His Majesty?
After the spiritual level went up, there was more need for the mermaid to deliver the spiritual force. The upgrade was His Majesty?
And if it was His Majesty, then it meant that His Majesty was SS before, His Majestyâs spiritual force downgraded! His heart raced, not daring to think any further. Downgraded and then upgraded, this was too incredible. If word got out, he didnât know how many people would go crazy!
HornĂĄd saw Norman close the terminal and voiced his concern, âYou just restored your SSS spiritual force. Do not worry about people starting small thoughts, butâŠthe condition of your spiritual force upgrade, is spiritual force sufficient. I am afraid that there will be people questioning you.â He paused, adding, âQuestioning your private consumption of a large number of A-type soothing agent.â
Type A soothing agent applications were open to the public, adhering to the principle of fairness and justice, and no specials were allowed.
âWhat does it have to do with soothing agents?â Norman looked at the little mermaid. âI have An An.â
An Jin looked into his deep brown eyes. His heartbeat went haywire and he averted his eyes.
HornĂĄd was about to say something else when he heard Norman say, âItâs An Anâs bedtime, letâs go out first.â Norman looked at the little mermaid. âAn An good night.â
An Jin waved. âGood night, Norman.â Then he looked at HornĂĄd. âGood night, Mr. HornĂĄd.â
HornĂĄd waved with a smile and walked out of the mermaid room. He couldnât help but exclaim, âAn An is so well behaved! Heâll get a lot of screams if the support group sees him like this.â
Norman thought to himself, Never!
HornĂĄd remembered the business. âYou want to tell about An An giving you spiritual power? But youâre still on the blacklist.â
Norman said, âNot anymore.â
Half an hour later, Tang Rin, who had recently seen a huge increase in his number of followers, finally had an update: [Iâm surprised An An is so close to him; I canât help but be jealous.]
Immediately, a fish fan replied: [What? Close to who?]
[Mr. Tang, please let An An go live!]
[Mr. Tang, share An Anâs photo, please!]
Norman scanned it and inwardly commented seriously: Netizens really dare to think. How could he possibly share the little mermaidâs photos? Impossible.
When HornĂĄd saw Tang Rinâs dynamic, he suspected that His Majesty might have suffered a brain injury when he upgraded. And by elimination, thought with joy in his heart that he was the one who made His Majesty jealous!
When he woke up in the morning, An Jin subconsciously looked at the bottom of the pool, and the moment he turned his head, it suddenly occurred to him that the tail scales had finished changing! He was about to turn his head back when a light flashed in his eyes, and he froze and hurriedly looked over.
A piece of scales less than a centimeter wide, was quietly sinking at the bottom of the water. An Jin subconsciously touched his face, and soon felt a small piece of partial soft touch on his right cheek. He took a deep breath, swam to the bottom of the pool, picked the scales up, and went to the bathroom.
He stared in the mirror and looked closer at the area where the scales had fallen off. The new scales were also blue-white, lighter than the color of the tail, almost white.
Norman froze when he walked into the mermaid room and saw the little mermaidâs pose.
The little mermaidâs head emerged a little, and his eyes were all blocked by the pool wall at once, exactly as they had been the day he decided to wear the dress. He guessed, âFishtail dress torn?â He walked to the closet, where a long row of fishtail dresses were hanging in all colors, mostly blue.
An Jin shook his head. âNo.â
He thought about it, but he couldnât keep hiding down here, so he poked his head out.
Norman immediately noticed that a piece of fish scale had fallen off the little mermaidâs face and asked seriously, âDoes it hurt?â
An Jin shook his head and whispered, âItâs ugly.â
Normanâs eyes flashed with laughter, thinking that although the little mermaid didnât like hair ornaments, he still loved beauty as much as any other mermaid. He said seriously, âItâs not ugly.â
An Jin thought it was comforting, but was relieved to see Normanâs serious expression. âThatâs good, I canât scare anyone anyway.â He added after a pause, âI hope Mr. HornĂĄd is as receptive as you are.â
HornĂĄd reacted more strongly than Norman and worried about the little mermaidâs health, but the test results showed that he was healthy.
After HornĂĄd and Norman left, An Jin went into his holographic part-time job and then exercised as usual. He had reached the peak state of level two of his water ability and would be able to upgrade in the next two days.
Norman returned to the military headquarters and the adjutant reported that his appeal had been accepted and the result would be available today.
So at noon, the internet was still buzzing about who was actually escalating at the palace when the Academy of Scientific Research and the Mermaid Protection Society issued separate announcements stating that His Majesty had not harmed the mermaid.
The entire appeal process was completely open on the internet.
Netizens were puzzled by His Majestyâs appeal after most of a year, and when they saw another announcement from the conservancy, they couldnât help but speculate.
His Majesty passed the Conservancyâs qualificationâhe was able to accept the transfer of a mermaid.
The netizens were too late to guess whose mermaid His Majesty was going to take over, when Tang Rin posted a dynamic: [His Majesty and An An are very compatible and get along very well. I have decided that An An will be gifted to His Majesty.]
Norman went to his private account, which he hadnât used in a million years, and expressed his thanks.
HornĂĄd, who knew everything, thought with an expressionless face, Oh, His Majesty turned out to be jealous of himself.
The netizens, on the other hand, had been sending lemons under Normanâs unrestrained words. Of course, there were people who suspected that the transfer of the pure color mermaid by Tang Rin was not simple; however, the two sides were complete with all the formalities and the protection association followed the whole process, which fully met the transfer requirements.
The fans who originally requested An An to open a live stream and share An Anâs photos all gathered under Normanâs open talk.
Norman completely ignored it. He replied directly on His Majestyâs official platform to the doubts of the netizens in the past two days: [The palace upgrade is me, SS to SSS. Could be upgraded because the spiritual force is full. I would like to thank An An.]
All of a sudden, the whole star network was shaken.
With sufficient spiritual power, was it possible to restore the original rank? Thus, many fallen geniuses left messages on the official website of the palace as well as the military ministry, pleading for the Type A soothing agent to be sold to the public.
In the evening, he told the little mermaid about the transfer and observed the reaction of the little mermaid.
An Jin looked at him suspiciously. âItâs the same. Tang Rin is also you.â After thinking about it, he added, âThatâs good!â
With that, he nodded his little head in affirmation.
Normanâs eyes flashed with laughter; the little mermaid was clearly complimenting him on purpose, and he realized he was a bit strange. What reaction did he want from the little mermaid?
In the morning, An Jin made sure Norman left, put on his helmet to go to the holographic world to remove the meat skewer impurities, and then went offline. He went into the bathroom, sat against the door, and took out a level three beast core.
An hour later, the green beast core he was holding in his left hand was dull, with a few cracks emerging in the middle. He opened his eyes, exhaled lightly, and his eyes shone brightly after seeing the expanding spiritual sea once againâhis water ability had been upgraded to level three!
But just having been upgraded, the spiritual power remaining was very low, so he took out a second-class beast core, ready to absorb energy to restore some spiritual power. However, when his sight touched his fingers, he froze.
His long nails were gone!
At this time, his hands were long and white, the nails round, the length and fingertips were comparable, and at first glance, almost identical to human hands. Before, his attention was on the upgrade; now his attention turned to his hands, only to find the fingernails were vaguely itchy. His heart tightened and he turned his hand back to observe the nail, and at first glance, he did not perceive anything.
But the finger still itched a little, and he did not hold back, pinching the index finger fingertip.
There was a very light click sound, and accompanied by the sound, the index fingerâs nail instantly elongated to a total length of more than three centimeters.
The nails were nearly transparent, with a metallic luster, and very thin, yet at a glance you could tell that they were very sharp. An Jin froze and hurriedly let go of the fingertip. Two seconds later, the nail shortened and was flush with the fingertip.
An Jin put his hand in front of his eyes and gently peeled the fingertip, and saw that there was a very small slit between the nail and the flesh of the fingernail, which could not be detected without looking at it like this. He pondered for a moment and then pinched the tip of the nail. It was accompanied by a very light, almost inaudible click sound, and the nail instantly became longer.
An Jin let go, and the nail retracted.
An Jin looked at the rounded fingertips and thought to himself that it would be nice to be able to shrink them and make life a lot easier. He squeezed the tip of the nail again to feel the long nail popping out.
After a few tries, he found that he didnât need to pinch; as long as his fingers exerted force, the nails would automatically pop out and retract when the force was removed, very smart. After he practiced, he took a second grade beast core out.
After absorbing it, he recovered a small spiritual force; he did not continue to absorb the beast coreâs energy, just waiting for his own recovery. He plopped down on the crab mount, opened the terminal, and ordered one of the steamed crabs.
At breakfast, he had already removed all the impurities from the breakfast ingredients and crabs, and now he was just waiting for the chef to steam them.
Ten minutes later, the chef brought the steamed crab to the mermaid room with the dipping sauce. An Jin swam to the shore, quickly reached out, and tested the temperature with his fingertips. It felt a little hot, so he ran the water ability and wrapped the crab in a ball of water.
After a while, he ran his fingers through the water ball to feel the temperature of the crab, and felt that it was not hot anymore, so he withdrew the ability. He skillfully lifted the crab shells. The rich fragrance of crab yolk came to him, his eyes curved, and he scooped up a spoonful and ate a full bite first, then used his nails to split the crab.
After splitting all the crab legs off, he picked up a large crab pincer, placed it vertically on the dinner plate, extended his index finger, and with slight finger pressure, his nails popped out with a whoosh.
He cut from the top end down, as he always did, splitting the crab pincer in two. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the new nails, although they looked thinner than the previous ones, were sharper and harder.
At night, when Norman entered the mermaid room, An Jin had both hands on the shore with his long nails fully visible. He had originally thought to let Norman notice that his nails had changed color before telling Norman exactly how his nails had changed.
After all, he and Norman met every day, and Norman would always notice. However, Norman had a rare preoccupation and seemed to be distracted, looking at him and not noticing the change in his nails.
An Jin looked at Norman suspiciously and decided to ask, âIs something wrong?â
Norman met the little mermaidâs clear blue eyes and clenched his fist. Though reluctantly, he decided to ask the little mermaidâs opinion. He told him about the little mermaid going into heat and then asked with a serious face, âDo you want a mermaid to spend time with you?â
An Jin was stunned. He had heard of animals going into heat, but when the word was applied to himself, he felt a million shocks. Spend it? Thatâs not what he thought!
He shook his head quickly. âI donât want to!â He looked at Norman nervously. âYouâre not going toâŠbreed me, are you?â
âOf course not.â Norman wrinkled his brow at the little mermaid. âWhat makes you think that?â
An Jin pursed his lips, unable to explain that he had heard others suggest it to Norman before; after all, at that time, in Normanâs opinion, he did not understand interstellar. He whispered, âThereâs a lot of talk about mermaids on Starnet.â He looked up at Norman with his little head, and his tone was firm. âI donât want a mermaidâŠâ he paused awkwardly, âto spend time with me.â
Norman was inwardly delighted, however thinking of the information he found at noon, he did not want to conceal it from the little mermaid. âA mermaidâs first heat period will be more difficult.â
An Jinâs cheeks burned and he lowered his eyes. It was embarrassing and humiliating to discuss this issue with Norman, and he said, âIâm not afraid.â
Norman was happy to confirm the little mermaidâs attitude and said with a serious face, âI will help you.â
An Jinâs eyes widened and his face seemed to be on fire. âNo!â
âLittle Silver has experience. Tomorrow Iâll ask Mu Chen to bring Little Silver, and you can let Little Silver teach you the experience.â
An Jin was slightly relieved, so it was this kind of help.
The thought of learning this experience from Little Silver made the tips of his ears redden. He subconsciously wanted to refuse, but then he thought that he was a novice mermaid and did not know much about mermaids, so it would be even more embarrassing if something happened that he could not anticipate when he came into heat.
So he whispered his thanks, âThank you.â
The next afternoon, near the time Norman returned, An Jin couldnât help but be distracted, his eyes falling on the screen, his eyes flashing over the subtitles without actually remembering a single word. Just thinking about what he and Little Silver were discussing tonight made him curl up his tail and bury his face in his hair. Fortunately, humans did not understand mermaid language.