Chapter 167 Slime’s Transportation Work (3K) 1
Translator: 549690339 ‘ ‘—
Lord Shepherd wasn’t aware he was about to be brought into disrepute. He merely watched the departure of the merchant group called “Flying Wing” until they vanished deep into the wilderness, then he sent his Camera Falcon to continue its surveillance.
“It seems there’s no issue letting Sophia and Daisy pretend to be players and communicate with other players,” he thought.
That is one of the advantages of having witches on the team.
In fact, Sophia is the most suitable person to be put forward since the other witches have one or several additional distinctive features.
Daisy has a fluffy fox tail, Lian Yue has a wolf tail, while Irene has a pair of deer antlers on her head. Only Sophia, when in human form, doesn’t have any external distinguishing features, except for some quirks in her speech, which she can control.
Even Isloa has certain distinct features, albeit hidden beneath her clothing. Their negotiation skills seem to be in order, too,” he thought.
Mu Yuan considered.
The deal he just made with the “Flying Wing” merchant team was also an examination for Sophia and Daisy. He didn’t have high expectations, he wasn’t asking for exceptional results, but they at least had to perform above average and not be easily misled.
So far, Sophia and Daisy seem to have done well. Daisy has a special talent that can subtly influence others, giving her a negotiation advantage.
“Charm Will”
“Description: This talent increases Daisy’s affability and reduces others’ hostility and resistance towards her. This talent passively takes effect, and deliberately triggering it can greatly enhance its effect and weaken the target’s will.”
Daisy actively triggering her talent would be a blatant move and therefore easily detectable.
But without active use, its influence is imperceptible and can’t even be called an influence. It’s like how handsome and beautiful people tend to be treated more favorably. Daisy is simply further leveraging this treatment on top of her inherent advantage.
With this in mind, the nearly fully prepared merchant team could make an attempt at more distant travels.
The next day,
The Tianyuan Trade Delegation – temporarily named ‘Guang Yuan’, meaning ‘prosperous wealth’ — set off.
Their destination, Shiling Town, had already been confirmed.
The key personnel included Sophia, Daisy, Lu Liu, and Miss Duo.
Lu Liu, as the head of the security team, brought along a group of elite guards, some of whom had even awakened a sense of self-awareness.
Naturally, they were quite naive and mainly responsible for fighting and maintaining morale. The burden of interacting with others fell on Sophia and Daisy.
Even so, as this was their first time in these roles, the Great Lord remained concerned. He planned to remotely control Sophia and Daisy throughout the journey.
Duo Lai was deployed to serve as the communication antenna and base station.
Mr. Mu’s “Spiritual Link” talent had expanded its effective range to several hundred kilometers along with his raised level and spiritual strength. While still within the Tianyuan Territory, he could remotely control Sophia located in Staling Town. However, this would be a one-on-one interaction and rather taxing.
In addition, Duo Lai also served as an auxiliary transport.
The reason she was only a backup was because the merchant team had to have their own transport resources in order to keep business running, instead of relying on General Duo Lai for long-distance transportation, even though…
Duo Lai’s “Dimensional Pocket” was spacious, far beyond the storage capacity of regular space equipment, and quite convenient for carrying goods.
The merchant team must have their own mode of transport.
In the inner circle of the Tai Xuan Alliance, wagons and various other transport vehicles could be used on flat roads. But they were not suitable for fringe territories, especially those nestled in forests and mountains.
The mode of transport must be able to cross mountains and hills.
The “Flying Wing” merchant team used ‘Rock Beasts’, which were large, endurance-strong, and had a large carrying capacity. Their disadvantage was that they were somewhat cumbersome and slow-moving.
Rock Beasts are one of the most commonly used transport animals in merchant teams. Some larger and top-tier trading houses might even possess their own unique transport animals or transport puppets.
The conditions in Tianyuan were somewhat limited. They could specifically purchase types of transport troops like Rock Beasts and then train them, but it would be quite wasteful in terms of expenditure and energy.
Thus, Mu Yuan used the resources at hand. From the existing idle troops that did nothing apart from eating all day, a suitable transport beast was selected.
Yes, it was the slimes!
“Duo Lai, are the slimes’ transport training okay?”
“Of course, gu-ji~!
“When Benduo is in charge, how could there be a problem, gu-ji-!”
Duo Lai banged her chest confidently.
While she often came up short, she showed talent way beyond her learning ability when it came to instructing her own kind.
After all, Duo Lai once held the title of ‘Transport Squadron Captain’.
It’s precisely because Duo Lai was skilled at transporting goods even before she evolved that Mu Yuan conceived the idea of letting the slimes transport goods.
Not far away, Halberd Guards and Big Halberdiers, with intelligence and the help of civilian aids, transported several boxes of packed goods.
The boxes were wrapped with some anti-corrosive materials. Of course, their resistance wasn’t very strong since the cost had to be considered.
Mu Yuan picked up a box with one hand and came to a Slime that was faintly gold, large, and from a distance looked like a pile of golden manure.
He rubbed its soft belly and said, “Come, swallow this box of goods. Remember don’t eat it.”
“Gu-ji~!”
The Golden Slime’s big eyes flickered, its body slightly rocked forward, as if indicating it understood.
It advanced slowly, swallowed the box measuring one meter in all dimensions into its body like a mass of condensed liquid. The whole process wasn’t fast, it didn’t own the skill ‘Condensing Liquid Shaping’ after all. But because they’ possessed decent wisdom, they knew how to use their condensed liquid-like body.
After about ten or so seconds, the box was ingested into the Golden Slime’s body and seemed to solidify inside. No matter how the Golden Slime wobbled, the box wasn’t likely to fall out.
Moreover, the Golden Slime even demonstrated a “Leap” on the spot.
Leaping high, when it landed, its body continued to jiggle like a large belly while the goods inside remained undamaged.
“How about that? Impressive, isn’t it? This is all thanks to my teachings-!” Duo Lai puffed out her chest.
Mu Yuan ruffled its hair, “Yes, yes, very impressive.”
It indeed achieved the goal he set.
Considering the size of the Golden Slimes, stuffing a box into four out of six of them wouldn’t make them too bloated, and it won’t affect their mobility after stuffing them. Although the Slimes move slowly by crawling and rubbing, they are swift if they resort to bouncing, which makes it easy for them to leap ’ around in the mountains and forests.
Since this was their first time, Mu Yuan only planned to test it on a small scale.
The caravan was also small in scale, only bringing along six “Golden Transport Shmes”, along with ten Royal Guards, ten Big Halberdiers, ten God Archers, and their usual tool, the Camera Falcon.
That’s it.
The guards all wore standardized equipment with unified identifiers, and he also specially made uniform ‘small capes’ for the Golden Slimes, engraved with the Guang Yuan Business Association’ s logo.
Furthermore, he provided portable tents, daily necessities, tools, and so forth for key personnel like Lu Liu, Sophia, Daisy, and Duo Lai.
Lord Shepherd was very meticulous.
But since it was their first time and he lacked experience, he had to prepare everything he could think of.
“Isn’t it a bit too much?”
Isloa watched tools pouring in from space and broke into a sweat.
Sophia and Daisy felt the same.
However, they were deeply touched.
With a lord like this, what were the sisters waiting for? Rush forward!
Cheers for Lord!
“We’ve got Duo Lai’s storage bag for this trip, the more we can take with it, the better. We will learn from our trial and error.”
“Understood.”
Isloa thought it made sense.
Indeed, this was a man Mars General had referred to as ‘Father Steadfast’.
Mu Yuan looked at Sophia, Daisy, Lu Liu, and Duo Lai… well, forget Duo Lai He turned to the first three and said, “The primary objective for this trip is not just to sell goods, but to familiarize yourselves with the outside environment, and secondly, to understand the local market in Shiling Town.”
Mu Yuan was also curious about the real lord’s city out there.
The official cities are usually the most prosperous and most constructed in the lord’s domain.
However, he had never seen it before, and the few pictures he found on the internet were too one-sided.
“Understood! Servant!”
Half an hour later, at the southern exit of the Tianyuan Territory.
The Fearless General, Lu Liu, dressed in black treasure armor and holding the Shield of the Earth Rock in one hand while a black spear hung from his back Standing more than two meters tall, his mere presence was enough to project an indescribable oppressive power.
Guarding, marching, and commanding soldiers were Lu Liu’s responsibilities.
Witch-type talents, like Sophia and others, knew more comprehensive knowledge.
But Lu Liu, a soldier by profession, also had his advantages. Their fighting intuition and acuity were deeply ingrained in them.
This was a soldier, with his main duty being combat.
Without external factors, a player would never beat an equally-ranked soldier of the same skill level with emerging intelligence.
Even though Sophia is six levels higher than Lu Liu, her chances of winning in a fight against him are probably less than 20%.
Of course, their professions were different.
Suddenly, the caravan started long journey. Mu Yuan, acting like a worrying mother, gave them numerous reminders. Seeing Isloa covering her mouth to hide her laughter, and Duo Lai’s head drooping as though she had already fallen asleep, he finally bid them farewell with a wave and a heavy heart.
Before long, the caravan disappeared from sight.
Pop- Pop- Pop-
In the rugged forests, one golden ball after another maintained a synchronised rhythm. You leap, I leap.
They leapt over streams and over hills.
The rest of the guards also leapt agilely through the forest, their speed much faster than yesterday’s Flying Wing caravan.
After all, the Slime transport workers were flexible and had already entered the professional stage.
Sophia and Daisy, both elite-level, moved through the forest as though they were walking on flat ground. As they walked, they examined the information given by their lord while discussing with each other. They wouldn’t waste a single moment.
Lu Liu, on the other hand, remained serious, his gaze moving inch by inch over their surroundings. Even though there were no signs of any monsters at the moment, he didn’t let his guard down in the slightest.
That was his attitude.
Duo Lai looked left and right, feeling like it was somewhat redundant?
It was only when the caravan had travelled more than a hundred kilometers and Lu Liu ordered a temporary stop to rest that Duo Lai came out of her daze and began her performance as Chef Duo Lai.
After they had eaten and rested, the caravan set off once again.
According to estimates, the journey from the Tianyuan Territory to the distant Shiling Town will take more than half a day. Since this was their first trip and they were unfamiliar with the route, they might end up taking even longer.