Old Charlie appeared hesitant."I"m afraid that"s not a good idea, ma"am. If we summon her now, the success rate of charming her is 0% - no creature would want to be controlled by others in times of extreme pain! I understand your desire to help her, but the behaviour of any female creature right after childbirth is unpredictable, and any action - even friendly ones - can lead to them attacking in a craze. But the most crucial point is that if we try to help her give birth, we may well bring her more pain instead! She"ll almost certainly act even crazier in order to protect her baby."
That seemed to convince Zi, but she was unwilling to let it go so easily.
"There must be something we can do. Are we just going to watch her die like this?"
Old Charlie observed the Cyclops a bit more before he said, "If I"m guessing correctly, the mother Cyclops must have experienced some sort of setback before. Most likely, in order to avoid a higher risk during her last pregnancy, she controlled the nutrition to the baby and made it grow too small, so although she was safe after the childbirth, the baby she gave birth to had died."
"The bad experience must have caused a deep psychological trauma in her, so this time, in order to make up for the mistake, she made the baby grow really big - from what I can see, it"s at least 50% bigger than normal! A typical case of overcompensation. The probability of having a normal delivery is zero!"
"However, if the baby can survive, it"ll certainly become really strong. The G.o.d of the Cyclopes, Mother Earth, is very fond of big Cyclops babies. She"d usually give them extraordinary biological powers."
Sheyan hesitated for a moment before he asked, "So, what"s your suggestion?"
"Let the mother die. We can bet on the vitality of this extrlarge baby, which should last longer than the mother. A newborn baby will usually recognise the first moving object they see as their mother, so taming them should be easy," replied Old Charlie in his usual mild, emotionless voice.
Zi shot him an icy stare, but Old Charlie just bowed slightly and stepped back as if he did not see it.
The old man was like an emotionless machine; he would often state the most advantageous but the most ruthless option. In fact, a team leader needed such a person by their side.
Sheyan closed his eyes. After a moment of silence, he spoke.
"Summoning such a powerful creature using the Ukiyo-e isn"t free. The summoning requires 50 achievement points and 200,000 utility points. Do you have them prepared, Sanzi?"
Sanzi could only smile bitterly.
"I"ve traded for some achievement points so I"ve gathered enough of those, but I"m still a bit short on utility points."
"Don"t worry, that"s not a problem," said Reef.
Sheyan told Sanzi, "You heard what Old Charlie said. I captured this Cyclops in order to create an opportunity for you. You"re the professional in trapping and charming creatures, so you decide the timing of the summoning."
"In that case, I choose to summon the Cyclops right now. Although I have no confidence in charming her, I at least have enough confidence in communicating with her. The Cyclopes should be highly intelligent creatures. Even though she"ll be hysterical and unreasonable because of the baby, I believe she"ll turn rational in the end for the sake of her baby"s survival," answered Sanzi decisively.
Sheyan nodded and said in a serious tone, "Okay. We"ll do as you say."
The look of antic.i.p.ation was clear on Sanzi"s face. He could not help shaking a little from the excitement as he gingerly placed a hand on the Ukiyo-e. Suddenly, a pale white light appeared on his hand, which flowed out like water and enshrouded the Ukiyo-e. Then, the light became more turbulent and surged across the ground, the walls and the ceiling.
They did not feel any discomfort in the white light, besides having their sight affected. When they regained their vision, they discovered that they were now in a small-scale separate dimension.
The separate dimension looked very much like the dimension Sheyan entered during his Growth Hunter promotion. It was only about ten square kilometers in size. The terrain and environment was also not unfamiliar to Sheyan; it looked as if an area of about ten square kilometers was cut out from the territory where the Cyclops lived, and thrown here.
A kilometer ahead of them was the Cyclops who was giving birth.
A series of notifications transmitted over from their Nightmare Imprints.
[ You have used the summoning function of a special item from a Golden Side Mission, Ukiyo-e. ]
[ The creature you summoned is the 8th-tier legendary creature, Cyclops. ]
[ The creature is a hostile creature. Because of its high tier, it will be placed in a favourable environment for it. However, no other creatures will interfere with your actions. ]
[ The summoning cost is 50 achievement points and 200,000 utility points. The summoning lasts for 6 minutes. Because the owner of the Ukiyo-e is an Imperial Colonel, you will be given 3 additional minutes. ]
[ Please make good use of the time to execute your plans. ]
Once the prompt was over, the contestants" feet landed on the Mushroom Rock plain. Sheyan could not help feeling a little nostalgic at the sight of this familiar scenery. On this plain, he had overcome multiple life and death situations and used every last drop of his brainpower to fight against the harsh environment, against the fierce beasts, and most of all, against a divided group of humans! It was probably the hardest battle he had ever fought.
Sanzi knew he only had nine minutes, so he acted immediately. He held in his hands an animal he caught before coming here. It looked like a roe deer and it was still alive. With the animal in hand, Sanzi walked towards the Cyclops.
Sheyan frowned upon seeing that.
"Are you going alone? Let me go with you. If you anger that monster, she can send you into the state of near death with one hit."
But Sanzi seemed confident. He smiled and a.s.sured Sheyan, "Believe me, brother, your Charm isn"t as high as mine, so it"s totally counter-productive for you to go with me."
As Sheyan watched Sanzi"s thin figure slowly move forward, he suddenly realised with a jolt that Sanzi was not even sixteen years old yet! He was still a teenager, and he already had to face such dangers!
Sheyan really wanted to call Sanzi back, but Sanzi"s confident smile was still in sight. A few different expressions flashed through Sheyan"s face, but he could only sigh in the end. He knew that if he called Sanzi back, Sanzi"s confidence would take a huge hit and he would become a useless person.
At this time, Zi came over to him. She seemed to understand Sheyan"s mood. She took his hand in hers and comforted him in a whisper, "Sanzi is a Chosen, a person favoured by the Realm. Although he"s young, he"s deeply influenced by you. He"s not someone who would make promises lightly. If he says he"s confident, I think you can rest a.s.sured."
Sheyan sighed again. He grabbed Zi"s hand tightly and refused to let go, causing Zi to blush in embarra.s.sment and stomp on Sheyan"s foot. Sheyan completely ignored the attack. One must not give up any chance to take advantage.
Sanzi walked very slowly and he would even stop here and there. When he got close, he hunched down and walked with his body bent. It was a strange sight.
Old Charlie explained to Sheyan while keeping his voice low, "This way of walking is the way Cyclopes would normally act when they enter each other"s territory. It"s difficult to activate the biological power of collecting earth when the body is bent. The object held in this manner means it"s a gift for the pa.s.sage, a toll fee - the only criterion the Cyclopes use to judge whether an object is valuable is whether it can be eaten. Judging from Mr. Sanzi"s behaviour and actions, he must have given the problem a lot of thoughts before he acted."
Despite having difficulty breathing and being in extreme pain, the alert Cyclops still noticed the approaching Sanzi. She immediately activated her biological power. A large rock quickly formed on her right hand.
But at that moment, Sanzi suddenly stopped walking. A string of unintelligible murmurs came out from his mouth while he raised the poor roe deer in his hand a few times.
"Sanzi has learned the language of the Cyclopes? Already?" asked Sheyan in surprise.
Due to Sanzi"s words and actions, the Cyclops hesitated for a moment. Then, she slowly retracted her power. The deadly rock scattered into soil again.
She could not feel any threat from the little creature in front of her. Not only that, there was even a peaceful vibe coming from his body. The language he used and his posture also made the Cyclops feel an inexplicable sense of familiarity. After all, when a creature was tormented by pain, their emotion would become more fragile. Sanzi thus managed to approach the Cyclops.
Sanzi still very cautiously stood a distance away to avoid aggravating the pain-tormented beast. He pointed at himself and introduced himself in the Cyclops language which he had memorised.
"I"m someone who has acquired the grace of Mother Earth and possess the soul of a Cyclops in my body. Although I"ve lost the power to control the earth, I can still communicate with our kind through the soul."
After saying this, Sanzi first gave the Cyclops a moment to digest his words, then used his spiritual communication ability.
"How is your child doing?"
Sanzi"s voice appeared in the Cyclops"s mind due to the spiritual communication! The giant beast stared wide-eyed at Sanzi in shock. In a bout of nervousness, a rock instantly appeared again in her gigantic three-fingered palm. However, after giving Sanzi a few doubtful glances, she managed to restrain her impulse to throw the rock, and put it down onto the ground.