CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54: RECLAMATION

Fang Ka’s gaze lingered on Xia Lin for a moment, "Are you in some kind of trouble? How did you transform into a Sea Siren?"

Xia Lin looked somewhat helplessly at the underground cavern, hesitant and uncertain.

After a while, it was Parod who spoke up, "Honorable Lord Fang Ka, the Merfolk race has always yearned for freedom."

"Staying in this dark, sunless underground cavern for too long, many of our people with less resolve have fallen into becoming Sea Sirens."

"However, these Sea Sirens are still our companions at heart, and it’s truly hard for us to harm them."

"Ultimately, we decided to corner them on one side of the underground cavern, guarding against them to prevent them from harming other normal kin."

Fang Ka’s understanding of the Merfolk was previously limited to books, but now he truly understood.

He observed these Merfolk for a while before trying to speak, "Why don’t you leave this underground cavern and come to the island to accompany me."

The Merfolk race, except for the Golden Merfolk and Silver Merfolk, would undergo an evolution at 18, where their tails evolve into legs, allowing them to live both in water and on land from then on.

Golden Merfolk and Silver Merfolk do not experience this evolution; they maintain their human bodies with fish tails, reproducing externally separate from ordinary Merfolk.

This is one of the reasons they hold themselves as noble and unique.

These Merfolk before him were obviously not from the Merfolk Royal Family, nor were they Golden or Silver Merfolk.

Therefore, if they had reached adulthood, they could naturally live on land.

As for those not yet of age, they could live on the beach beside the Ancient Castle.

Fang Ka indeed required some natives to assist him right now; otherwise, relying solely on himself, he would waste too much time on these players.

Listening to Fang Ka’s words, Xia Lin was stunned for a moment, "Lord Fang Ka... but our initial agreement with Mage Kaen..."

Fang Ka interrupted her, "Matters I mention, my teacher generally would not oppose, so please be assured, my consent also means my teacher’s consent."

Xia Lin couldn’t help but recall the Demon Core Fang Ka had just presented.

Such a powerful and precious Demon Core that Mage Kaen would be willing to create for his disciple clearly meant this disciple held significant status.

When the time came, Mage Kaen wouldn’t blame them for the sake of this disciple.

The most critical thing was, staying in this underground cavern for too long meant more of her kin couldn’t endure and began transforming into Sea Sirens, which pained her heart.

Now that they finally had this opportunity, she didn’t want to let it slip by.

She turned her gaze to the kin around her.

She found them all looking at her with eyes full of longing and pleading.

Clearly, they all wanted to leave, not wishing to remain in this dark, sunless underground cavern any longer.

After brief consideration, she raised her head to look at Fang Ka, "Thank you very much, Lord Fang Ka, we are all very willing to accompany you."

She secretly decided that if Mage Kaen did blame them later, and Lord Fang Ka’s pleading was of no use, she would stand out and take full responsibility.

Fang Ka nodded in satisfaction at her words, then turned to the players behind him, "You all go find some vines and make ropes to pull them up."

The players became excited and quickly ran off into the distance.

Iron Black Pot touched the Caged Parrot, "Did you notice? Mage Fang Ka seems very happy?"

The Caged Parrot, annoyed, glanced at Iron Black Pot, "Of course they’re happy, not having to face us skeletons all day anymore."

"Just look at these... tsk tsk, handsome men and beautiful women, who wouldn’t be enthralled?"

Iron Black Pot reached out and tapped his helmet, "What’s wrong with skeletons? Bodies are just superficial; bones are the essence. True charm is shown in the way of bones."

Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching extended a hand and patted Iron Black Pot, "Well said, young man, you have the potential to join our orthopedics department."

Iron Black Pot grinned, "Of course... by the way, did you all notice, Mage Fang Ka was communicating with these Merfolk in a language completely unfamiliar to us?"

"Is there anyone skilled in multiple languages who understood it?"

The Caged Parrot responded to this, "I’m fluent in six languages and didn’t understand it. I suspect it’s either a niche language in reality or... a language created by this game?"

"After all, with all I’ve experienced, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game company created a language for authenticity as the native language of this game."

Iron Black Pot shook his head, "Can’t be certain, but I wouldn’t find anything created by this game surprising."

Soon, the players got a long rope woven from vines.

Mr. Zhou eagerly threw the long rope down.

A Merfolk reached out to grab the vine and quickly climbed up.

This Merfolk already had legs, indicating they were an adult.

Pink fish scales covered from the abdomen to the backs of the knees, giving the appearance of wearing pink pants.

Very soon, this Merfolk climbed up, cautiously glancing at the armored skeletons before gingerly moving to a nearby open space.

Then Merfolk below started climbing up one after another, following the vine.

Xia Lin spoke, "I’ll go to the Sea Siren side to cover the rear, and have the kin there come over before going up."

At Xia Lin’s words, a Pink Merfolk next to Xia Lin immediately said, "Sister Xia Lin, let me do it. I’ll cover the rear."

Xia Lin looked at her and gently shook her head, "Listen to me, you go up first; I’ll stay behind."

"I’m a Middle Tier Mage. With my abilities, stopping those Sea Sirens without killing them is a breeze."

"There won’t be any danger."

"And you, as a Knight practicing Battle Energy, trying to block them alone might easily cause casualties. I don’t want you to fall into a nightmare by killing former companions, only to become a Sea Siren."

Hearing Xia Lin’s words, the Pink Merfolk no longer argued, silently consenting.

Xia Lin lifted her head to look at Fang Ka, "Lord Fang Ka, I am going to the Sea Siren side now."

"To bring the kin from that side over, relying on my Water Magic, it won’t be a problem holding off those Sea Sirens for a while."

With those words, Xia Lin swam towards the east side of the underground cavern.

At this moment, her tail inadvertently surfaced.

Fang Ka couldn’t help but be slightly surprised, not expecting Xia Lin to still be an underage Merfolk.

After a short while, from the direction where Xia Lin swam off, many Merfolk hurriedly approached.