I Don't Agree to the Terms

Little White pondered for a moment and thought it made sense, hopping away to the outside.

"But why would it bump into a Sea Beast? Octopuses aren't that dumb, are they?"

"Another thing, it's unlikely for an octopus to come up to the surface, right?"

Gu Shanhai felt a bit puzzled and quickly checked the data.

What did Little White know? It was already doing well to just operate the monitoring system. Its rapid-fire chattering was just due to its unfamiliarity with the whole ship. As far as Little White was concerned, knowing how to use the steering wheel and the brakes was sufficient. Monitoring was an extra skill.

"It got pushed up from the deep sea by something, oh, that makes sense..."

Gu Shanhai watched as the octopus slammed into his Five Elements Sect ship like a rocket.

"This octopus is at least of the battleship-class Sea Beast. To knock it flying so easily, it must have been a dominator-class Sea Beast."

Sea Beasts, naturally, also have their levels in this world; apart from these two, there are also the warship-class and the sea people-class.

Generally speaking, sizes are used as a criterion; the bigger the Sea Beast, the stronger it is.

But it is said that there is an even higher level, the quasi-divine class. However, when it comes to this level, size alone isn't the distinguishing factor anymore. Theoretically, no matter how big a Sea Beast is, it is only of the dominator class.

The quasi-divine class refers to Divine beings that appear in the deep sea like Sea Beasts. These tales are mostly myths and legends that are exceedingly rare.

When Shura and Rein went to help Gu Shanhai capture a Divine being, they targeted these beings, hoping to find a trace of the legendary stories. However, they later discovered that these quasi-divine class Sea Beasts were, in fact, still Sea Beasts and not true Divine beings.

So even if they were seen, they would likely have been those immensely large dominator-class Sea Beasts.

If Little White returned to its original form, it would probably be of the battleship class too, but only a middle to lower level of the battleship class.

After all, sea creatures outdo land animals in size, no to mention this world is dominated by the ocean, so this advantage is certainly much more significant.

Little White, looking dazed, dragged back a huge octopus tentacle, slapped it down outside, and then started barbecuing with Azure Dragon.

The program of Azure Dragon naturally contained knowledge about barbecuing. Not to mention, it was assisted by the Four Saints Beasts System. Although the barbecue might not be as good as Gu Shanhai's, the taste was surely better than the average.

As for the barbecuing knowledge, of course, it was Gu Shanhai who had inputted it. As a multi-function Azure Dragon, it still needed to assist Gu Shanhai on a regular basis. Not knowing any culinary skills would be like not even being able to chop vegetables.

"Activate automatic piloting," Gu Shanhai shook his head, letting it be, and directly had the Five Elements Sect ship start autopilot. The Five Elements Sect ship itself was also connected to the Four Saints Beasts System, so even if Little White didn't captain the ship, it could navigate on its own.

When Gu Shanhai prepared to continue his research, he found that the blossoming peony he had been cultivating had successfully become a Spirit Plant.

He took it out for a look, and it seemed quite nice.

"Its ability is a passive enhancement of luck and destiny... and that's it?" Gu Shanhai was a bit puzzled.

Unlike the present life's prosperity and fortune, this thing didn't have so many fanciful effects; it just increased luck.

"Wait, this thing has side effects too?" Gu Shanhai checked again, turning green. This thing seemed to have inherited something abnormal, with both a positive and a negative effect: the positive effect boosted luck, and the negative reduced the luck around others.

"Does Little White... count as someone around?" Gu Shanhai looked towards Little White, who was hopping around with Azure Dragon, getting ready to eat the barbecued tentacles.

Slap...

Just then, Little White lost its balance while bouncing, and its forehead slammed into the ground.

"It counts..." Gu Shanhai could confirm that Little White did indeed count as someone around.

"So what you're saying is that however much luck I gain, the people around me have to lose just as much luck, with a range currently centered on me at one hundred meters," Gu Shanhai mused that this thing was quite useful, no matter which effect it produced.

The premise was that this side effect could distinguish friend from foe; otherwise, it would be a pitfall.

"As expected, anything abnormal can be unstable; it still needs improvements." Gu Shanhai immediately sealed it away.

This thing at its current stage was more a detriment than a benefit because he had found it didn't just count Little White; it included Azure Dragon and Five Elements Sect too, indicating it wasn't limited to people but also encompassed objects.

"However, this thing is really useful when it comes to suppressing the protagonist."

"It can also be incorporated into the mana aura to complete the deficiencies of the 'Sleeve Universe.'"

He researched this Spirit Plant to see if he could unravel the principle behind its ability to diminish luck and then develop the capability to absorb luck using that principle.

In doing so, his 'Sleeve Universe' would be able to add another ability to snatch luck, on top of its original abilities to utilise flesh, souls, and memories.

In reality, these weren't entirely drained because, however plentiful these things were, they were only of this life. If he could develop further, to drain both past and future lives as well, that would be a truly masterful tactic. After all, at his current level, aside from storing things, the 'Sleeve Universe' was no trivial tool against foes who themselves were no simple people, so their past and future lives were certainly of great value.

"These two abilities are actually connected; how interesting." Gu Shanhai observed the capabilities of the Spirit Plant. He had thought it was two abilities, but in reality, there was only one.

The reason it needed to reduce the luck of those around was that it had to balance out his own fortune.

Mainly because the addition was too high. To quantify it, this single Spirit Plant had added 10 points of luck to him, and that's just the base level; the luck value could rise even higher in the future.

Such a significant upgrade certainly couldn't materialize out of thin air, so it had to be taken from those around him.

As for why he gained 10 points of luck and everyone else around had to lose 10 points of luck, it seemed unfair, but in reality, this action was akin to going against fate and stealing the lifespan of others, even if it was only temporary.

That's why the more value he added, the larger the area of influence. To prevent Gu Shanhai from being struck by lightning for defying fate, there needed to be enough objects to share the burden.

"Well, isn't this just illegal fundraising..." Gu Shanhai remarked critically, as he understood the operational logic of the Spirit Plant.

"However, it is truly a strategic-level ability. Once activated, it can create twice the discrepancy, and at the very least, it would give me the ability to turn misfortune into a blessing."

If the enemy is unlucky, how could Gu Shanhai possibly not thrive?

"It's a pity that being invincible is my biggest flaw."

"However, if I modify it, the power would decrease quite a bit."

The decrease is inevitable. After all, how much luck can be added depends partly on the Spirit Plant itself, and partly on how much luck the Spirit Plant can fundraise.

So once Gu Shanhai adds enemy-friend discrimination... it seems like it won't be much different.

Because aside from Little White, Azure Dragon, and Five Elements Sect, it seemed there were no others nearby. The main funding source at the moment was the Five Elements Sect because it took up the most space, so it was being drained dry.

"Hiss~ Then wouldn't I become a walking disaster, causing luck to plummet wherever I go?"

It was because Little White tripped that it, eating vegetarian stir-fried bottle gourd slices with Gu Shanhai every day under his protection, wouldn't face any significant troubles even if its luck value dropped to the bottom, without any life-threatening dangers.

Apart from those who mainly relied on luck, fortune, and players in line with destiny, and the Child of Destiny, how many people possessed more than 10 points of luck? The Spirit Plant didn't care about all that and would deduct points straight into negative numbers—a zero luck value was normal, but going below that meant top-level bad luck with misfortunes coming frequently, and reaching -1 signalled a bad omen.

Therefore, this wasn't just about increasing personal fortune and luck; if used properly, by standing still, you could destroy a nation.

"Increasing the enemy-friend identification system and enlarging the influence range, when it's time, others suffer while I reap treasures... "

Harming others to benefit oneself—Gu Shanhai had done that many times before and didn't mind doing it again. It could only be said that Rein, this kid, truly received Gu Shanhai's inheritance, sending such an enormous gift his way.