Chapter 26: The Daily Life of a Mantis Shrimp

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The origin of the small wooden sword was very peculiar. Father Wang had spent 998 yuan on it at the bird and flower market. Wang Ling remembered he had only been three years old when he had seen it for the first time.

He had grown up with the wooden sword since he was a kid, and had special feelings for it.

Now, he was sixteen years old. That little wooden sword had accompanied him for thirteen whole years.

This was just a market stall product which Father Wang had bought, but the most mystical thing about it was that the peach wood which the sword was made of seemed to contain traces of some mysterious substance that even Wang Ling couldn’t see through, and which had the important effect of limiting his strength; so, compared with those branded spirit swords made with valuable materials, this small wooden sword was the least likely to be damaged by him.

Also, when the Gate Between Worlds had come to earth six years ago, this little wooden sword had actually miraculously spawned a sword spirit.

Its name, Jingke.

…

That night, Wang Ling rummaged through his room and finally found his smartwatch.

Since before, Wang Ling hadn’t been able to enjoy using such smart electronic products, and he didn’t feel anything for them. This was because if he couldn’t control his emotions even a little, the wristwatch could be damaged by his magnetic field.

Of course, another very important reason was that this watch had been personally made for him by Wang Ming.

Compared with other smart products, Wang Ling wouldn’t be able to easily destroy anything created by Wang Ming. Though it looked as if Wang Ming had given him the wristwatch out of the goodness of his heart, Wang Ling could see right through his charade with just one glance.

This man had been trying in vain to beat him since he was a child. Hence, something similar to surveillance software had been hidden in this wristwatch, which could send data on Wang Ling’s daily activities back to Wang Ming.

This absolutely wasn’t a groundless assumption — Wang Ling had read it in Wang Ming’s mind the day he turned fifteen.

He stared at the wristwatch for a long time, then finally put it on with a black face. “…”

If it wasn’t because he was considering his outside activities for the next few days, he would never have rashly removed the seal on the watch…

Wang Ling knew the basics of using the wristwatch; it operated in a similar way to the popular smartwatches from before, but incorporated more virtual space technology.

The internal software had already been installed. Wang Ling looked at the row of software applications projected into the void, and finally fixed his eyes on the green “WeChat” icon.

Quickly, he entered the interface.

This wasn’t the first time that Wang Ling had used WeChat. If it wasn’t because he was naturally incompatible with electronic products, he could actually be considered a long-time WeChat user.

Using a memory retrieval function to search for his old registered account, he logged in, then joined the WeChat group according to the QR code given on the list.

A system notification quickly popped up…

(User ‘Ling’ has joined WeChat group ‘The Daily Life of a Mantis Shrimp’!

(This user is not a friend of group members, please be mindful of the safety of your property and false information!)

Wang Ling gave the group’s members list a look, and found that the people attending the exchange meet tomorrow had basically all joined and he was the last one.

Lotus Sun: “!!!”

Feather Lin: “Ling? Is this Classmate Wang Ling’s WeChat?”

Super Chen: “A name which demonstrates that the greatest truths are the simplest, this really is Classmate Wang Ling’s style. Classmate Wang Ling? Aren’t you going to say something?”

Wang Ling looked at the messages popping up quickly, then as a matter of habit, replied with an ellipsis. “…”

Master of Dopey used a funny face emoji. “The ellipsis confirms without a doubt that it is Classmate Wang Ling.”

Then, Wang Ling sent another ellipsis. “…” Soon after that, the WeChat group fell into a short, awkward silence.

After two weeks of getting to know each other, most of the class had already accepted Wang Ling’s reticent nature; only Master of Dopey had always felt it was very awkward, because this cold iceberg monster was his freaking deskmate!

The two of them thus regularly came into contact, but since the start of school, they hadn’t even exchanged more than ten sentences. Now they could become awkward even while chatting online — this was a stab in the heart, pal!

Fortunately, Old Antique immediately became their angel and broke the ice. “Students, please gather at the school gate at eight o’clock tomorrow morning!”

Almost at the same time, several people sent the OK emoji.

Lotus Sun: “Has everyone prepared their spirit swords?”

Old Antique sent a facepalm emoji. “Student Lotus Sun has raised the issue; this time, our school’s spirit sword exchange meet will be the highlight performance. When the time comes, the leaders from each school will be there, and even municipal leaders will come to observe. I hope everyone has prepared a proper spirit sword.”

It had been less than two weeks since the start of school, and they hadn’t had more than three spirit sword lessons, but spirit sword education actually started at a young age.

With a proper spirit sword, once it formed a contract with its owner, it would take at least five years for the two of them to adapt to each other in order to reach a level of proper usage. To have a spirit sword spawn a sword spirit was even more difficult, and required enduring patience and scrupulous care.

Of course, the sword spirits of those branded first-class spirit swords and immortal swords in the market were all artificially bred. Their power couldn’t be denied, but the relationship which they shared with their masters was far more inferior than the rapport between a naturally occuring sword spirit and its master.

Super Chen quickly posted an image.

It showed the spirit sword which he was currently using. The bright red scabbard boldly highlighted the zealous nature of its hot-blooded user. The word “SUPER” that had been finely carved into the sword hilt was already starting to become worn.

Super Chen: “It’s called Super Strength. It was a birthday present from my parents when I turned ten years old. We’ve already formed a contract, and we’ve been adapting to each other for six years…”

Old Antique sent a thumbs-up. “Super Strength? That really suits Student Super Chen’s character! From the gloss on the scabbard, I can see that Student Super Chen, you are very mindful about caring for your sword!”

“Teacher, you flatter me…” Super Chen sent a sighing emoji. “It’s just a pity that Super Strength hasn’t spawned a sword spirit yet.”

“A sword spirit doesn’t spawn in a day. If Student Super Chen is patient, I believe that day won’t be far off!”

After encouraging Super Chen, Old Antique began to espouse common popular knowledge. “Everyone needs to be patient in order to spawn a sword spirit. Don’t give up easily unless you absolutely have to. Once the spirit sword spawns a sword spirit, the body of the sword will have a soul, and a sword with a soul can level up like a regular cultivator! Of course, this is limited to sword spirits which spawn naturally; artificially-made sword spirits are already fixed and cannot level up.”

“Ah? Is that true? Teacher, please tell us more!” Several students in the group showed great interest.

Old Antique sent a long and meaningful voice message in which he patiently explained, “The spirit sword lessons which you’re taking now cover basic care of a spirit sword, and the advanced lessons are about flight on a sword and cultivating a sword spirit. When you get into university, you’ll gradually understand all this. Your task now is to do your best to nurture a good relationship with your spirit sword, and have it spawn a sword spirit before you graduate.”

Then Old Antique sent a second voice message. “Student Super Chen has already posted an image of his spirit sword, how about everyone else take photos of your spirit swords and share them?”