The Almighty Ring

“What’s going on?” asked Jiang Fei as he approached the Fishmen that were gathered around something.

“Look! Explorer! Look!” said the Elder Fishman as he brought Jiang Fei to the center of the courtyard. Well, technically, it was not even considered as a courtyard as it was just the beach with a small bonfire in the middle. The place would change from time to time but as long as there was a bonfire, it served as the gathering point to distribute fishes to the entire tribe.

There was usually a tarp made of seaweed used to store fishes but this time, instead of fishes, there was a fish. To be precise, a Mermaid. The little girl was beautiful.

Jiang Fei’s heart literally skipped a beat when he laid eyes on the unconscious Mermaid. Everything about her was perfect. Her complexion, body, especially those massive bombs that were about to explode from her crop top!

Jiang Fei’s eyes trailed down to her lower half of the body. As a Mermaid, she did not have legs, instead, she had a long beautiful, glittering fishtail. Sadly, she had lost many of her scales and there was blood oozing out from a few spots. The blood was dark red, almost one shade close to being black. It was as if she had been poisoned. The wounds on her tail were obvious as the blood would not stop flowing. It looked like she had been bitten by a large megalodon. From the looks of it, she had lost too much blood. Be it the effects of the poison or blood loss, this poor little Mermaid would die if Jiang Fei did not do something.

Injured Little Mermaid Princess (Mermaid, High Lord)

Level: 88

Health Points: 12,755 / 45,000,000

Note: The Eldest Princess of the Merfolk.

Jiang Fei had a quick look at her stats and confirmed that she had taken too much damage. The little Mermaid had only 0.03% of her total health left. She was dying.

“What happened to her?” asked Jiang Fei.

Merfolk and Fishman were different species, obviously. The Fishmen race was nothing but the jester of the sea. Struggling to even survive in a non-hostile environment. Jiang Fei had even seen how their “war” was and could not even consider them as a proper civilization.

The Merfolk race, on the other hand, were the kings of the sea. Even though the war between the Celestials and the Nephilims had been going on for centuries, the two races had never once crossed the borders of the ocean. There were two races that ruled over the oceans; the Merfolk and the Nagas.

Merfolk were considered as half humanoids since they possessed the upper body similar to that of a human and the lower half of a fish. The Nagas were different, they had the lower half of a snake. The two races had self-declared to be the rulers of the oceans. The Merfolk specialized in magic and had a natural affinity to water. Nagas, on the other hand, were natural born warriors. Newborn Nagas had two arms and as they grew older and stronger, new arms would grow. Most of them had six arms and sometimes even eight arms. If the Merfolk or the Nagas were serious, not even the Celestials or the Demons could stand against them, especially the Nagas for their strength allowed them to fight a dragon toe to toe.

There was a saying that there cannot be two lions in a pride. Even though the ocean was as big as the world was, it was still too small for two rulers. Hence, as proud as they could be, the Nagas and the Merfolk were natural enemies and would never bow down to anyone besides their own kin.

The moment Jiang Fei asked the Fishmen about the cause of the little Mermaid’s injuries, every single Fishmen answered the same thing, the Nagas. The poor Mermaid was attacked by them and was brought ashore by the kind yet cowardly Fishmen tribe.

“Great Explorer, can you save her?” said the elder Fishman as he pleaded Jiang Fei.

“Do you know her?” asked Jiang Fei.

“But of course! This is the beloved daughter of the Master of the Seven Seas, King Elric. Her ruling grounds include this island of ours. Hence, we are her subjects. If she perishes here, the great King Elric would surely have us all killed!” cried the elder.

“Master of the Seven Seas? Sounds amazing!” said Jiang Fei.

“Don’t be impressed by the title. The seven seas are just a small territory in the Sea of Purgatory. At best, King Elric is only as strong as an Overlord. He and the Tyrant of the Ocean, Morgan, are currently disputing sovereignty over the Eastern Sea of the Sea of Purgatory. As a matter of fact, the two “rulers” had come up with their own titles! It was a childish competition of who could name themselves better. If it isn’t in the waters, my brother alone could defeat over ten of them combined!” said Isabella as she snickered away.

“I see,” Jiang Fei replied. The already deceased Curtis aside, Jiang Fei had witnessed the overwhelming power of Otis, the Elder Prince. Even though he was only a mid-tier Overlord, it would not be strange for him to defeat a few low tier Overlord boss.

“So… Are we going to let this go?” asked Jiang Fei as he pointed at the bleeding Mermaid princess.

He had more than enough Underwater Breathing Potion for him to sustain his entire hunting duration. To him, saving the Mermaid and the wellbeing of the Fishman was not of his concern. Saving the Mermaid was optional. Leaving her to die would do nothing to Jiang Fei, saving her would earn him a good treasure, perhaps. Jiang Fei was worried about not being able to get enough compensation for his deeds!

“Save her then,” said Isabella.

“Huh? Are you sure? Didn’t you act out when I tried to save Sylphy that one time?” said Jiang Fei as he grinned.

“Hey! I didn’t act out alright? I’m only asking you to save her, not court the poor Mermaid!” said Isabella as she pouted and sulked. The only reason she wanted Jiang Fei to rescue the Mermaid was to gain benefit for the Demon race.

The war between the Light and the Shadow had spanned far too long. Having the Dragon race on their side was good leverage to the Light Faction. Besides that, almost all races and species were already involved in this war. Still, both sides were equally strong and the war was in a stalemate. Having to get the Merfolk on their side would be borrowing the power of the oceans! The Demon race would gain a powerful ally and might even win the war.

“Very well, my princess. Don’t regret this later!” said Jiang Fei. He did not think as far as Isabella and had only thought about gaining the fastest interest by saving the daughter of King Elric.

“Thank you, great Explorer! Please save her quick! She cannot die here! She cannot die on this island!” cried the elder Fishman. Jiang Fei was almost thrown when he heard the last sentence. He was basically saying that the princess could die anywhere else but the Fishmen’s island!

“I hope that your daddy would bestow us some good stuff! Or my good stuff would go to waste!” said Jiang Fei as he took out an item from his inventory.

Blood Lingzhi Mushroom (Herb, Epic)

Use: Produce Potions.

Note: A powerful herb with superior healing properties.

Jiang Fei had only seven of these in the beginning. Reviving Isabella had consumed five and he had used one of them to trade for an Elemental Water from the Elven Queen. That piece of mushroom was the last one in his inventory.

Even though it was priceless, the superior healing properties could not be applied to players. Players would only need healing potion or even a healer to recover fully. This Blood Lingzhi Mushroom’s function was to bring NPCs back from the dead. No matter how severe the wounds were, as long as the mushroom was applied, the NPC would be revived.

“HRRGH!”

Jiang Fei slammed the mushroom in his hand and ground it into tiny irregular sized pieces. After that, he spread them all onto the Mermaid’s wound.

Once the mushroom pieces seeped into the body, more dark-red blood oozed out immediately. After a while, the blood turned lighter. Soon, the bleeding stopped once the blood returned to its original red color. The wounds started to heal and the scales started to grow back. The already glistering tail became more beautiful as the Mermaid slowly regained her health.