Chapter 262 - 261: Fallen Scale
Chapter 262: Chapter 261: Fallen Scale
[You took a bite of flesh from the great loach. It ate your kind, and now you eat it. Such are the rules of the pond.]
[You did not rush to devour the entire loach. Instead, you bit off a small piece each day, eating slowly.]
[As you ate, you lay dormant deep within the silt. Your body grew from two inches to three, and then to four inches long.]
[The dry season came. The pond’s surface fell inch by inch, and the silt began to crack.]
[Unlike the other loaches struggling in the cracked mud, you had already followed a fissure in the pond bed much earlier, burrowing deep into the damp earth below. Your choice is—]
[1. Form a cocoon in the damp mud and await the rainy season.]
[2. Follow the fissure downward in search of groundwater.]
[3. Emerge from the fissure and crawl away from the pond.]
"Choose one."
[You mixed the mucus from your body with damp mud, forming a hard cocoon. Inside, you did not eat, drink, breathe, or even have a heartbeat, entering a state of near non-existence. Gained Trait: Mud Cocoon.]
[An unknown amount of time passed before rainwater soaked through the cracked pond bed. The mud cocoon softened, and you broke free. The pond had returned, but it was not as you remembered.]
[The water was deeper, the aquatic plants more lush, and there were several types of fish you had never seen before. Your body had grown from four inches to a foot long. You were still a loach, but you were no longer one that others could prey on at will.]
[You did not rush to expand your territory or compete with the new fish for food. You swam into a stone crevice in the deepest part of the pond and continued to lie dormant. You would occasionally emerge to hunt at night or to breathe the air on rainy days, but you spent most of your time in the darkness.]
[The years flowed by. The pond became a lake, the lake became a swamp, and the swamp became a river.]
[You migrated and lay dormant time and again, adapting to the changing environment. Your body grew from one foot to three, then from three feet to five, and then it grew no more.]
[It wasn’t that you couldn’t grow bigger; you intentionally chose not to. You had discovered that the larger you became, the larger a target you presented and the more energy you consumed. Your goal wasn’t to become bigger, but to live longer. Gained Trait: Preserving Obscurity.]
[After countless more years, you poked your head out from the silt of the riverbed and saw a golden dragon soar across the sky. A dragon.]
[It was the most powerful being you had ever seen. Its scales shimmered golden in the sunlight, its whiskers drifted on the wind, and its horns pierced the very heavens. As you watched it, you felt no envy, no jealousy—only a profound sense of calm.]
[This has triggered the sole unique choice of this themed simulation. Please choose carefully.]
[1. Emerge from the mud, follow the dragon, and seek the path to Dragon Transformation.]
[2. Continue to lie dormant and wait for the next opportunity.]
[3. Observe the dragon, then return to the mud.]
Zhu Ge looked at the three options, the corners of his lips turning up into a slight smile.
’It’s here!’
’The unique choice!’
’Finally, after Kunpeng and Spider, I have another chance to obtain a unique trait!’
As for which of the three to pick, the choice was obvious.
"I choose three!"
[You sank back into the silt and closed your eyes. The dragon flew away. You did not give chase. You had no need for dragon transformation. You understood now: lying dormant wasn’t about becoming something else, but about becoming more of what you already were.]
[The loach has the way of the loach, and the dragon has the way of the dragon. You are not a dragon; you are a loach. To lie dormant in the mud, to feed in the mud, to die in the mud—this is your way. Gained Unique Trait: Fallen Scale.]
[This simulation has ended.]
[Traits Acquired: Endurance, Opportunism, Mud Cocoon, Preserving Obscurity, Fallen Scale.]
[Please select one trait.]
’Finally!’
’The unique trait is here!’
Just as Zhu Ge had expected, the theme of this simulation—dormancy—wasn’t about lying low forever.
It was just like the hexagram.
A hidden dragon in the abyss is destined to one day soar through the heavens.
’I need to see what this trait does.’
Zhu Ge immediately inspected the so-called "Fallen Scale" trait.
[Fallen Scale: With hate and rage, my clan’s halberd is reforged; I dare command the galaxy to become a new firmament.]
As expected, all unique traits came with a description like this.
To discover its true use, he would have to experiment with it himself.
However, he could probably guess its general function from the contents of the simulation.
Maybe he could try it out in his next battle.
But in the very next moment, the simulator in Zhu Ge’s mind suddenly updated.
[Name: Zhu Ge]
[Lifespan: 286 years]
[Trait: Fallen Scale (Passive)]
[Inventory: Kunpeng, Spider, Secret]
’Passive?!’
Zhu Ge couldn’t help his surprise.
’This [Fallen Scale] is passively equipped!’
Zhu Ge could sense that he could also choose to actively unequip Fallen Scale. ’But for a passive unique trait that doesn’t consume any lifespan, why would I ever do that?’
’What in the world does this do...?’
Zhu Ge focused and tried to perceive it.
After a moment of careful perception and speculation, he finally began to understand some of the unique trait’s effects.
The most important part, the most incredible ability in Zhu Ge’s mind, was that it was passively equipped and consumed no lifespan.
This was the best part.
Beyond that, Zhu Ge discovered the trait’s first effect.
[Accumulation]!
Humans—or rather, most living beings—constantly radiate various forms of energy.
This includes the heat from their bodies and the stray thoughts from their minds.
The effect of [Accumulation] was that it allowed Zhu Ge to gather and store these energies, then release them all at once when needed.
Simply put, it was like giving Zhu Ge a second chance to turn defeat into victory!
By releasing this stored power, which was of the same origin as his own, at a time when his body and mind were completely exhausted, Zhu Ge could instantly recover from a near-death state.
It was like a boss’s second phase in a video game.
But besides [Accumulation], Zhu Ge discovered another aspect of [Fallen Scale].
[Dragon Transformation]!
He hadn’t expected [Fallen Scale] to contain a trait like this.
Zhu Ge remembered obtaining this trait during his first attempt at this themed simulation.
Back then, the loach had turned into a flood dragon.
He never thought he would obtain it again like this.
He remembered the effect of [Dragon Transformation]: when equipped, it allowed him to selectively undergo a transformation, changing his physical body.
It wasn’t a full transformation into a flood dragon, but rather...
’Just patterns appearing on my body...?’
Recalling the description of [Dragon Transformation], Zhu Ge was overjoyed.
Simply put, under the right conditions, his skin could develop a texture similar to the whorls on a fingertip, only in the shape of dragon scales.
This would grant him enhanced defense, speed, underwater adaptability, and more.
Initially, Zhu Ge thought he would have to transform into a full dragon. Now he saw that wasn’t necessary, which was for the best.
’Huh? So [Fallen Scale] has this effect too?’