Chapter 74: Thriving

With this in mind, Lily Rhodes sped up her journey back.

Finally returning to Shelly’s back, Lily took in the familiar surroundings. Tears welled up in her eyes. She had only been gone for a few days, yet it felt surreal, as if a whole lifetime had passed. Between the constant diving and the harsh sea breeze, her skin felt noticeably rougher.

Stripping off her gear, she rushed straight for the bathroom. After days without a proper wash, she felt absolutely foul.

An hour later, Lily emerged from the bathroom. Her eyes immediately landed on the table, which held four dishes, a bowl of soup, and a watermelon that looked to weigh well over twenty pounds. Yet, in her watermelon patch, a melon of this size was considered one of the smallest.

Just as she was about to eat dinner and save the watermelon for dessert, a notification from the Advanced materials exchange group popped up.

Gu: "Rhodes, how many extra Volcanic Venom-Snail Shells do you have left?"

Seeing this, Lily set down her chopsticks and replied.

Rhodes: "About a thousand or so, and the number is still increasing."

Gu: "Give them all to me. I’ll trade you this for them."

He followed up with a screenshot of an item.

[Spiritual Wood Stone: Grants spirituality to plants.]

Lily didn’t hesitate to accept.

Rhodes: "Deal."

She immediately initiated the trade, exchanging 1,562 Volcanic Venom-Snail Shells for the Spiritual Wood Stone.

She gazed at the Spiritual Wood Stone that had materialized in her hand, glowing with an emerald-green aura. With this, she had gathered three-quarters of the Wood Spirit Pearl. Just one more piece, and she could completely fuse the Wood Stone.

Spurred by this thought, Lily quickly polished off her food, jumped up, and ran outside, heading straight for the planting zone.

The area was already completely filled to the brim, spanning a ridiculously large plot of land. She lowered the Spiritual Wood Stone toward the ground. The very next second, it merged with the soil, sending a wave of green Energy rippling outward.

Sensing this Energy, the plant leaves began to rustle despite the total lack of wind. Inexplicably, Lily could feel a distinct sense of joy radiating from the vegetation. Based on her past experiences, the Spiritual Wood Stone wouldn’t take effect immediately after fusing; she would need to wait a while to see the true results.

Lily took a stroll around the planting area and plucked a fresh cucumber. Without even washing it, she casually rubbed off the prickles and munched on it as she walked.

She arrived at the area where the Orca Pod was settled. The Orcas had fully recuperated, and even Mother Orca had completely regained her health. From a distance, she could see the massive pod happily frolicking with each other in a lively display. Even Baby Orca was playing around with a few others of a similar size.

Suddenly, Baby Orca spotted Lily. Ditching its playmates, it flipped its tail and swam right over, happily swimming in circles around her. Seeing this, the other Orcas also gathered around.

Although Lily had long since accepted Baby Orca and Mother Orca and was used to interacting with them, this was entirely different. Surrounded by over twenty massive Orcas, she couldn’t stop her legs from trembling, even knowing they meant her no harm.

Just then, the largest of the Orcas swam forward, stopping right in front of her. Perhaps realizing how incredibly tiny Lily was in comparison, its approach was somewhat clumsy and extremely cautious.

Seeing this, Lily reached out and placed her palm against its snout. A moment later, an ancient yet remarkably gentle voice echoed in her ears.

"Benevolent human, thank you for saving Seven, and for saving my pod."

"So his name is Seven," Lily murmured, glancing at Mother Orca before looking back. "You are Seven’s family. It was only right that I save you."

"I heard from Seven that you can listen to the voice of the sea and that you are an envoy of the ocean. Although this request is somewhat abrupt, please allow us to follow you."

Lily blinked in surprise before a wave of elation washed over her. This was a massive pod of Orcas—the apex predators of the ocean! If she could truly tame them, she would be absolutely untouchable in this stretch of the sea.

"Of course," Lily said with a wide smile.

"Thank you." The Orca Chief gave a slight nod to express its gratitude.

As the Orcas swam off to check out their new home, Lily took another bite of her cucumber. The crisp, slightly sweet taste perfectly matched her current mood.

Returning to the living room, Lily cut open the watermelon on the table. The vibrant red flesh was exposed, looking so juicy that it would make anyone’s mouth water. She chopped half of the watermelon into small blocks and listed them in The Supreme Shop, opting to eat the remaining half straight out of the rind with a spoon.

Cradling the massive half-watermelon in her arms, Lily scooped mouthfuls of it as she headed back outside.

Stepping into the yard, she noted the thriving, vibrant atmosphere all around her. Two large planter boxes flanked the entrance. One was dedicated to seasonings like scallions, purple-skinned garlic, perilla, and ginger, while the other was entirely filled with mint. She had originally wanted to plant flowers, but unfortunately, she didn’t have any flower seeds. If she didn’t have them, it was highly unlikely anyone else did either, so she had to abandon the idea.

Stepping down the stairs, Lily approached the various setups she had arranged in the yard: the pool containing the Water Spirit Pearl, and the water vat used for incubating the Peach Blossom Fish Eggs.

She peered at the Peach Blossom Fish Eggs inside the vat. They showed no signs of hatching just yet, but compared to when she first placed them in, they had grown slightly larger. Their color had also deepened from a pale pink to a rich, dark pink. This proved her current incubation method was working. The fact that they hadn’t hatched was likely due to them being underdeveloped while still inside the mother fish, meaning they simply needed more time.

Next was the Moonlight Broodmother. Housed in a separate vat, the Moonlight Broodmother had already spawned. The eggs were stacked together, glowing like tiny, golden Luminous Pearls. Through the translucent eggs, the bodies of the Lesser Moonfish were already visible. They were practically fully developed, which meant they should break out of their shells within the next few days.

Excellent. Everything here was developing and thriving beautifully.

Still eating her watermelon, Lily took a full lap around the yard before heading back into the living room. Her gaze eventually landed on the three bird eggs.

Over the past few days, these three eggs had shown absolutely zero signs of hatching. She wasn’t surprised by this, except...

One of the three eggs was noticeably different from the other two.

Suddenly, a thought struck her. She had poured her leftover Healing Water over that exact eggshell earlier.