Chapter 367 - We Are Proper People, So We Can Keep Farming Titles!
Truth be told, whether it was on Earth or on the wasteland, people always loved an educational live broadcast stream.
Other than the acid rain disaster, during the second live broadcast stream, even if Su Mo deliberately instigated the people who were mocking others and were exaggerating their own on the world channel…
He still gave his viewers detailed explanations and answers to their questions!
On the other hand, Garfield was taking the concept of an educational stream to another level.
This was both a lesson and a demonstration at the same time.
While watching other live broadcast streams, Su Mo had always kept silent; he always treated the chat function as a restricted function.
However, after Su Mo watched Garfield share the details about obtaining the title without any reservations, he gave his plaudits for the first time.
"Not bad at all, keep it up. Humankind needs more people like you!"
After that, he watched the ensuing uproar in the chat and the redness on Garfield's face. Su Mo then left the stream and returned to the real world.
The ocean appeared in front of him once more and, under the Operating System's control, during the time when Su Mo consciousness was occupied with the live broadcast stream, Hope One stayed on course as it sped across the ocean.
The migrating birds perched on the pole did not leave after finishing the watermelon. Instead, they seemed to have acknowledged Su Mo's kindness, mingling with Moore and playing around.
As Su Mo watched this peaceful and serene image playing out in front of him, he comfortably shrugged his shoulders and smiled as he stared into the endless ocean horizon.
Those from the enduring faction like the ones in the Mulanje Mountain Shelter were quite abundant, but Garfield relied on his own abilities to change everyone else's opinion about the enduring faction.
After just an hour of explanation, about 5% of the people were beginning to be influenced. At this rate, they might even join the enduring faction.
Humankind always possessed smart people.
It was just that they did not have enough time. Two months was too short a period for them to develop.
Special forces from Earth, wilderness survival experts, and even survival hobbyists…
The advantage that they had became increasingly obvious as time progressed.
At the same time, because the second disaster ended early, and thanks to the advent of the welfare disaster, humankind was developing in many ways and had embarked on a boundless path to growth.
For example, even the title that Garfield shared would have an influence on the ocean battles to some degree!
"The title "Friend of the Ocean" isn't attractive enough for me. In fact, since I don't need to rely on the ocean for resources, I should…"
"Grind some levels using my advantage. Let's try increasing the level of this title, shall we?"
An increase in all physical fitness properties was a very useful trait to humans, especially to someone who possessed an enhanced physique like Su Mo.
Humankind would have to work hard even after obtaining such an enormous advantage. Whether it was a +1 to all physical fitness properties, or the 50% increase in energy recovery, the title's stat improvement was palpable.
Thus Su Mo knew how impactful this turn of events was.
"Moore, get ready, we'll go down to the sea in a while."
"We have to rake in something big today!"
They merely harvested a few strands of aquatic plants when they had descended into the sea this morning. There was no sign of any fish at all.
At this moment, however, Su Mo immediately got to his feet and hollered at Moore while giving commands to the OS through his Bluetooth headset.
"OS, activate the sonar function and sweep the area to locate the spot with the most marine creatures and then stop the ship nearby!"
Finding "fish" using sonar.
Very few people in modern civilization would be as extravagant as Su Mo was right now.
The energy cranked out by the matter conversion engine was channeled into the sonar, but it was not wasteful at all since the energy could not be stored. Since that was the case, it would be really wasteful if he did not use it then!
As the OS received the command, Hope One slowed down its speed after a while.
Soon enough, the ship weighed anchor in an area of the ocean where the top of a little hill could be seen jutting out from the surface of the water.
In this area, Su Mo immediately received a signal even while he was still gearing up.
"My goodness, there are over a hundred thousand search spots within just these fifty kilometers. That's quite a lot."
The first step in obtaining the title only required fifty marine creatures.
For a typical person, this might have been a somewhat difficult task, but when Su Mo noticed Moore rubbing his paws together, he smiled as he put on the second suit he obtained after the Simba costume…
A merman costume!
That costume was the second thing that Su Mo upgraded after the Defense Master.
After he witnessed how versatile the Simba costume was, he anticipated that he would frequently come in contact with the foreign races on the ocean, so Su Mo decided to upgrade another costume, which now had a weird buff among its properties.
Even though he spent a hefty sum of 3000 survival points, its properties were far more ridiculous than any other diving suit back on Earth!
[Merman costume (Rare quality]
[Description: A merman costume that's imbued with soul. While wearing it, you will possess an appeal similar to that of a merman.]
[Special Abilities:]
[Disguise (While wearing it, your traits will be masked even while communicating with mermen and mermaids. Other than through direct physical contact, it would be tough to see through your disguise)]
[Water Affinity (While wearing it, default ocean swimming speed +100%, ignores all water pressure above a depth of a hundred meters, and increases default underwater breath duration by 30 minutes when inhaling air)]
[Toughness (Will not collapse under high pressure)]
[Attraction (As a merman, mermaids will have a strong attraction to your pheromones)]
[Comment: We will not laugh at your costume unless we cannot help it!]
With those four special abilities, and because of the second "Water Affinity" ability, wearing the costume underwater felt as if he was at home in the water as he was on land; there was no discomfort at all.
However, this rare quality costume was not without its flaws. For example, the tail end of this costume was literally a fish's tail, so walking while wearing it would be extremely tedious.
Su Mo stared at the curious Moore, curled his fingers, and exerted a little force with his legs as he leapt onto Moore's back.
"Let's go! Carry me and we'll enter the sea together. I'll let you have your fill of fish today!"
Moore's eyes lit up the moment Su Mo mentioned fish. The different cooking styles of fish flashed across his mind at the same time.
Su Mo lay on Moore's back but, before descending into the sea through the emergency passageway, Su Mo whipped out his arm and browsed through the World Channel for a moment.
As expected, in just half an hour, quite a number of people in the World Channel had already obtained the title.
As time went by, the numbers continued to increase at a terrifying pace.
"If I'm going to overtake these people, I'll have to pick up the pace. I have to get this title to level two in two hours!"
Su Mo stared at the opening leading out to the ocean. His thoughts raced as he recalled the process that Garfield explained and demonstrated earlier, and then with a slight push, he jumped off Moore's back into the water.
As the sun shone down brightly, and under the protection of the merman costume, the temperature of the water felt very comfortable and he did not feel even an ounce of water pressure.
"The first important step is to catch 50 fishes, bring them away from the ocean, and then release them!"
Su Mo watched as Moore went into a frenzy chasing the shoals of fish, after which he did not dawdle either as he began executing the first step of the process.
In this area of the ocean that Hope One was situated, most of the fish that had appeared looked similar to a dolphin.
No person on Earth had ever seen a fish like this but, in just half a day, it had already been named. Most of the people on the wasteland, including Garfield, called it "treasure fish".
It swam slowly, was not very cautious, and contained almost no bones. These were the "advantages" of this treasure fish.
In fact, as soon as it was caught, it could be made into fresh sashimi slices because of the lack of pollution here compared to Earth. This fish was the best source of food right now across the wasteland.
"Good little treasure fishies, come to me!"
With the costume and his physique, Su Mo's swimming speed was as swift as an actual fish, cutting through the ocean waters.
Of course, these treasure fish were not cautious toward humans at all, and much less so toward other friendly marine creatures.
Su Mo did not miss with his first strike and he successfully caught four fishes in both hands.
He then flexed his legs, beating his tail against the water current, and surfaced. After he made sure that his arms had cleared the surface of the water, Su Mo loosened his grip on the fishes and let them fall back into the ocean.
The fishes had to be caught and then released from midair. Even if the treasure fishes were friendly by nature, they still swam away after being subjected to such treatment.
"Even if a fish was caught twice, only the first catch would only be counted, so I don't have to worry about them swimming away!"
Su Mo floated on the surface of the water as it glistened under the sunlight. The glow of the wasteland's sun also began to soften as it painted a soft red color across the sky.
After Su Mo analyzed the situation on the surface briefly, he dived down once again. Within just six minutes, he had completed the first step of the process.
At the same time, even though Su Mo noticed that the game panel had not issued any notifications, he did not panic. Instead, he proceeded with the second step.
When the marine creatures appeared on the wasteland this time around, floating microbes and aquatic plants were included as well.
After Su Mo searched among the aquatic plants, he found a few white shrimp the size of a thumb latching onto the plants.
This type of shrimp was the treasure fish's favorite food.
As for the second step of the process, as long as Su Mo could find enough white shrimp to feed 50 treasure fishes, he would complete the second step!
To other players on the wasteland, this was a very tedious task to perform.
Aquatic plants were often located ten meters below the surface. With that kind of depth, few swimmers dared to risk it.
Thus, they could only float on the surface and use the most primitive fishing methods to try and uproot the plants or just head to the trading market to buy some white shrimp, which were currently very expensive, so that they could feed the treasure fishes.
However, to Su Mo, ten meters below sea level was no different from the depth of half a meter. After four to five minutes of searching around, he found all the shrimp he needed to feed the treasure fishes.
As for feeding the fishes, that was also very easy.
The fishes that Moore caught were thrown into a large wooden barrel that floated on the water. Moore had already captured 50 fishes and placed them into that huge barrel after just over ten minutes of effort.
After putting the fish food into the barrel, Su Mo looked on as the treasure fishes wolfed down the food. He floated on the surface and stared into the distance, waiting patiently.
Approximately three minutes later, the game panel seemed to come alive, and a sweet-sounding notification rang in the air.
[The game has detected that player "Su Mo" has completed the requirements for the "Friend of the Ocean" title. Designating a random mission to obtain the title.]
[Mission designation complete. Your current mission is to save the treasure fishes inside the barrel.]
"Oh? So it's this mission? Now that's easy!"
After reading the game's notification, Su Mo then shifted his gaze to the treasure fishes struggling inside the barrel. He hollered out to Moore, consoled him, and then flipped the barrel over.
The next second, the treasure fishes frantically jumped into the water. After they had swum about 25 meters away, the game then acknowledged that the mission had been completed.
[It has been detected that the mission is complete. Congratulations to the player "Su Mo" for obtaining the title "Friend of the Ocean".]
Su Mo focused his thoughts and switched the interface to the game's title selection panel. After switching from the "Hardworking Gardener" title to his newly obtained title, a sudden surge of power coursed through his body.
The power felt a little strange; it felt exactly like the power the three-pointed two-edged sword granted him as he held it in his hands.
Even though it belonged to him, it felt like there was still a barrier in between him and power, as if the game was reminding him that this was the function of a title.
Su Mo was not surprised at all. After he realized he had activated the title completely, he got out of the water and sent a signal through his Bluetooth headset.
After a while, Su Mo looked on as Connie brought her vice captain, Li Li the black bear, with her along with approximately 40 other members of the foreign races. They each held a wooden barrel similar to Moore's. Su Mo then delightfully waved at them, signaling that everyone could start the process as well.
Just like an amateur diving team, the foreign races' did not look good going into the water, splashing water all across the surface.
As the vanguard, they did not know anything else other than swimming, which they were thankfully at least somewhat proficient at.
At that moment, as Su Mo observed the foreign races chaotically scrambling about looking for treasure fishes in the ocean, a smile suddenly appeared on Su Mo's face.
Acts of kindness were required to level up his title.
According to the spirit of the notification Su Mo got when he received his title, these acts of kindness might refer to helping out the fishes in the sea.
After he waited more than twenty minutes, after Connie gave the signal, Su Mo quickly began to speed through the ocean, flipping over the wooden barrels of the foreign races.
Each basin contained around 60 fishes.
After he flipped over the 25th basin, the long-awaited notification finally rang out once more.
[Dear player "Su Mo", it has been detected that you have reached the required kindness value. Automatically triggering a mission to level up the "Friend of the Ocean" title. Will you accept?]
"Yes!"
[Mission designation complete. Your current mission is to, while in combat, defeat the mischievous lightning bear warrior!]