I Was Raised After Being a Mermaid - Chap 32
Chap 32
: Upgrade
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Kiramekineko
Norman paid for the product, met the curious eyes of the little mermaid, and showed the purchase interface to the little mermaid. “It’s an intelligent mobility scooter; the operation is very simple.”
An Jin surveyed the picture of the product. It was somewhat similar to modern scooters, but much larger, and the left and right handles had an LED screen in the middle. The body was silver with a metallic texture. An Jin immediately liked the look and his eyes became bright.
Norman said, “For the time being, I’ll make a custom one with a water tank, so your tail can soak in water.”
An Jin thought, Isn’t that similar to a mermaid car? He shook his head. “No, this is fine.”
With a water tank, he wouldn’t be able to get in and out of the car by himself and would need Norman’s help.
Norman looked at the little mermaid’s tail. “You’ll have a hard time keeping your tail out of the water too long.”
The mermaid manual had many precautions, one of which was: don’t let a mermaid lack water. If a mermaid’s tail is away from water for too long, it will be dry and itchy, and the mermaid will become cranky and weak.
An Jin immediately said, “I’ll go to the pool if I don’t feel well, I don’t like the water tank.”
Norman saw the little mermaid’s serious face, so he nodded. “Then don’t do it for a while, and let me know if you’re not used to the mobility scooter.”
An Jin nodded and said yes, then turned his head to look at the closet. To his great embarrassment, he realized that he was shorter than the horizontal bar in the closet.
The length from the top of his head to his tail fin was over one meter eight, however, after removing the tail fin and folding up the bottom of his tail, the length shrunk close to thirty centimeters, which meant that he stood up to a height of less than one meter six.
Less than one meter six was a glorified statement; a more realistic statement was, a little more than one meter five. Norman noticed the little mermaid’s hand reach down towards the closet and retract. His eyes swept the closet and he rubbed the top of the little mermaid’s head. “Sorry.”
He opened the closet control panel and moved the bar down to make sure that little mermaid could reach for his clothes.
An Jin whispered in embarrassment, “I’m too short.”
“An An isn’t short,” Norman reassured, “An An isn’t grown up yet.”
“…” At twenty years old, he couldn’t argue with that, but he was curious and looked down at himself. “Could I be taller?”
Norman corrected, “An An will get even longer.”
Longer…seemed to describe a fish, and indeed the measure word long should be used. An Jin was silent for a moment, not continuing the conversation and looking at the new clothes.
Norman followed the little mermaid’s line of sight to the closet. “If it does not meet your aesthetic, pick it out and let the robot take it away. Later, you can buy what you like when you see it on the terminal, and your fingerprints and pupils can pay for it.”
An Jin was puzzled for a moment and opened the terminal information panel, only to find that his terminal was bound to Norman’s account with a very large balance, which had been set as an automatic payment account.
Below it was his account with a balance of less than 20,000. He smiled at Norman and did not object, after all, he had accepted that Norman would be responsible for his expenses. He just mentally reminded himself to remember to change the payment account when he wanted to buy something for Norman in the future. He looked at the terminal and thought about what Norman said before. His eyes filled with curiosity, he asked, “How do you use the space backpack?”
Norman looked down and carefully showed the little mermaid how to use it.
After An Jin learned how to use it, he reached into the closet and successfully put a piece of clothing into the backpack. He gave a small gasp of surprise and moved his wrist curiously, his head full of wonder. He took the clothes out and rehung them, holding Norman with his left hand while his right hand rattled the clothes one by one, quickly looking over the clothes in front of him.
The clothes had a variety of styles, very suitable for young boys. The color was mainly white, gray, blue, and black, and the material felt slightly cool, soft and comfortable. He was satisfied and complimented Norman, “You have a good eye.”
Norman stated the truth, “It’s made to order.”
It had nothing to do with his vision.
An Jin thought to himself, This style of shopping really suits Norman.
He looked at Norman, who had hard features and always looked serious when he wasn’t smiling; but when he got along with him, he found that he was meticulous in what he said and did, but was not difficult to get along with, and even gentle.
Of course, this was his impression of Norman.
When Norman faced him, probably because he was a mermaid and had a very thick filter, he was simply obedient to him.
“What’s wrong?” Norman asked, noticing the little mermaid’s gaze and looking down.
An Jin shook his head. He didn’t have the heart to say it, but just sighed in his heart, Norman is so nice.
Norman saw the little mermaid was finished looking at the clothes in front of him, gently picked up the little mermaid, moved two meters to the left, then put down the little mermaid and handed it over.
An Jin slowed down from the sudden movement of being picked up, put his left hand on his arm, and continued to look at the clothes.
A quarter of an hour later, the robot walked in pushing a mobility scooter.
An Jin’s eyes lit up when he saw it, and he looked up at Norman with his little head. “Can I try it now?”
Norman nodded his head, picked up the little mermaid and walked over, gently placing the little mermaid on the mobility scooter. After the little mermaid’s fishtail was firmly attached to the pedal, Norman took hold of the little mermaid’s hand and tugged it onto the handle. “Can you stand still?”
An Jin nodded, with excitement in his eyes. “Yes.”
Norman then let go of him, adjusting the handle height., “This height is appropriate?”
An Jin felt a little embarrassed. “A little lower.”
He looked at Norman, who was more than one meter nine, next to him, and felt he was too short. Norman did not notice the little mermaid’s small mind, and continued to adjust the height of the handle until the little mermaid said yes, and he stopped.
Norman met the little mermaid’s impatient eyes, a smile in his eyes, and gently rubbed the top of the little mermaid’s head. “Don’t be in a hurry.”
He pointed to the buttons and operation panel on the mobility scooter, and carefully told the little mermaid how to use it, “The right hand rotates fast to accelerate, rotates slowly to decelerate; voice control turns on, switches the speed; the middle screen can preset the line; after presetting, you hold the handle without moving, it can automatically go to the destination.”
An Jin mulled; he thought the modern electric car was quite similar, a little more intelligent. Norman adjusted the speed to slow and then set the initial password. “An An, say power on.”
An Jin obediently did what he said. “Turn on.”
Norman recorded the little mermaid’s voice and entered his own voice into it. He stepped back and pointed to the door. “You say turn on to it and try to drive through.”
An Jin was inexplicably nervous, he had driven an electric car before, but hadn’t touched one in a long time. He opened his mouth and said, “Turn on.”
The screen in the middle lit up and then dimmed again, leaving only the sesame-sized green dot in the upper left corner, indicating that it was on. An Jin slowly turned the handle and the mobility scooter moved forward at a speed of one meter per second. An Jin’s eyes glowed as if he was back in the old days when he was driving an electric car. He accelerated and tried to adjust the direction slightly, but he turned too hard and the car went straight to the right door frame.
An Jin was shocked, and subconsciously tried counter-directional force, but found that the car was not controlled. At the same time, the mechanical sound rang, “Obstacle detected ahead. After computing, according to the previous speed and direction, two seconds later it will collide. For safety reasons, the system has taken over control.”
The vehicle slowed down at a constant speed, turned left, and stopped at the entrance. The mechanical voice reminded, “Danger removed, control returned to owner.”
An Jin turned his head and realized that Norman was behind him on his right, so close that he could touch him if he took a step forward. He paused before saying, “That’s awesome!”
“An An is great too.”
This was the latest model of mobility scooter, with an intelligent driving system, paired with an environmental scanning and running computing system, which was safe. However, the little mermaid was in a special situation and he was a little worried that the little mermaid would be unstable and fall down.
In fact, the little mermaid did great and stood firmly all the time. He was relieved that the little mermaid was perfectly capable of using the mobility scooter alone.
An Jin smiled and turned his head towards the back garden, a little tempted to go outside, but now that it was dark, he dismissed the idea. Norman saw what he was thinking and went over to him, opened the terminal to connect the mobility scooter and uploaded the villa map to the scooter. He told the little mermaid, “Later, if you want to go somewhere, say so and it will take you there, or if you want to play by yourself, you can drive manually.”
The idea that An Jin had just dismissed came back to him. “Can I go to the back garden?”
“Sure.” Norman entered through the terminal to control the night lights in the back garden.
The next moment, An Jin’s eyes lit up. When he looked over, the back garden, as if instantly turned into daylight, was very bright.
Norman said, “You try the voice control function.”
An Jin nodded his head and said, “Go to the back garden.”
The mobility scooter automatically moved, turned right, and headed to the back garden.
Norman reminded, “The destination can be more specific.”
An Jin looked down at the middle screen and recognized the words master bedroom, living room, and pool. An Jin experimented one by one as the mobility scooter took him from place to place without him having to move at all: he just held on to the handle and stood still. He had so much fun that he went from the backyard to the front yard, and then around the living room several times.
Then he felt his tail was dry, thought about it, and used his water ability. He mobilized the water vapor in the air, wrapped it around his fish tail, and the dry feeling immediately disappeared. He did not stop until Norman saw that it was getting late and told him to rest.
When Norman reached out to hug him, he shook his head. “I want to get off by myself.”
Norman gave in to the little mermaid’s idea and didn’t interfere.
An Jin pulled the car to a steady stop on the shore, let go of the handle while his tail slapped the pedal, and jumped into the pool with a splash. He swung his tail, steered nimbly in the water, then surfaced and swam to the edge of the pool, and hands on the bank, smiled up at Norman.
Norman met the little mermaid’s bright eyes and complimented, “An An is amazing!”
An Jin’s eyes curled and his tail wagged briskly. Norman thought for a moment and went to squat down in front of the little mermaid, looking serious. An Jin, influenced by him, also curbed his smile. His small face had a serious expression as he waited for him to speak.
Norman saw the little mermaid like this, and inexplicably felt cute. He rubbed the top of the little mermaid’s hair, withdrew his hand, and then took out six nutrients. “An An, this is a nutrient made from the food that you have passed on your spiritual power.”
“…” An Jin suggested seriously, “I think it would taste better made into a dish.”
He thought of the sweat on Norman’s forehead and neck during the previous communication and was worried. “Are you guys so busy that you don’t even have time to eat normal food? Can you only take supplements?”
Norman was slightly flabbergasted and explained, “No, there are impurities in the food that humans can’t eat directly; it will harm the spiritual sea. Nutrients are processed food and the impurity content is less. Although it can also cause harm, we have no better choice.” He swept his eyes at the six newly made nutrients. “These are made into nutrients for better preservation and portability, they have the effect of restoring spiritual power, and according to the presumed effect of the food, these nutrients are much better than the best soothing agents on the market.”
An Jin suddenly felt that in this world, being a mermaid was happier than being a human; at least the mermaid’s spiritual power could be automatically restored and he could eat whatever he wanted.
Of course, it would be better if he could cook. His heart moved. He had a mobility scooter. If there was a kitchen, and he cooked his own food, it seemed possible. At most, one hand would hold the handle and he could operate with the other.
He kept that thought in mind for the moment, and his thoughts turned to the topic Norman had brought up. He guessed, “Do you want me to make more pure food?”
Norman hadn’t intended to bring it up, but the little mermaid asked and he didn’t hold back. “If you have enough spiritual power, the more the better I hope.” He stared intently at the young mermaid. “I would like to ask your opinion, would you like to have me handle these nutrients?”
“Of course,” An Jin said as a matter of course, “I said that all that food is for you, the nutrients made are yours.”
Norman mused, “Do you want people to know what you can do?” He explained, “Your ability is very important to Siao Planet and even the whole Star Alliance.”
An Jin’s heart tightened, feeling stressed at the thought of the consequences of being known.
“Can we not tell others?” An Jin pursed his lips. “I don’t want to be noticed.”
He was not used to being noticed, and he hated it even more after the apocalypse, too much attention would make him feel nervous and uneasy.
Norman said, “Okay, I won’t tell anyone unless you allow me to.”
An Jin smiled at him with relief.
“Get some rest.”
An Jin nodded in agreement, and when Norman left, he climbed ashore, then climbed onto the mobility scooter, using the force of the front end to slowly stand up straight. He repeated the exercise several times, from getting on the bank to standing up straight by holding the handle, a set of movements getting faster and faster.
He practiced until he was satisfied before returning to the pool. He floated on the surface to rest for a while and then swam to the shore, opened the box containing the beast core, and took out a green secondary beast core. He thought about it, in case Norman suddenly had something for him, and took the core to the bathroom.
He sat on the ground with his tail flat on the ground and his back against the door, holding the beast core in his hand and closed his eyes. He then ran his ability to absorb the energy inside the beast core. It was about forty minutes later that his water ability successfully rose to level two.
He opened his eyes and wiped the sweat off his forehead, his eyes radiant. He clearly felt that his perception had increased.
He could sense that Norman was on the second floor, not yet sleeping, and there were four guards standing in the backyard, four guards standing in the front yard, and several guards guarding the left and right sides.
He used his ability and a ball of water appeared in front of him, which gradually became larger and eventually was about one meter in diameter. An Jin’s mind moved, and the shape of the water ball changed, gradually forming a flying water dragon. As it was about to take shape, the tail suddenly broke off, and the water dragon was in pieces.
An Jin secretly thought, If he could not upgrade his control, he really needed to practice more.
The second level of water control increased when the control of water obviously felt less comfortable than the first level. He surveyed his spiritual sea, and saw it was upgraded at the same time. His spiritual sea once had again expanded, so the remaining spiritual power compared to the full state, seemed to be less and less.
He took another beast core and absorbed the energy. After the spiritual sea was mostly restored, he stopped absorbing and the beast core still had half of the energy left. He thought about it and hid the beast core in the bathroom. He cut up the used one, seeing the already dull beast core, and flushed it down the toilet.
He was in an excellent mood due to the success of the upgrade, and floated in the water, thinking of a beautiful sleep.
However, he couldn’t sleep at all since his perception was enhanced. Even if he didn’t have to feel it, his mind would be conscious of the situation around him. He could even sense a moth in the back garden flying around. He could not feel the details of creatures further away, but the presence of those creatures was obvious, and his brain was flooded with too many things that he would not normally feel.
He surfaced and began to understand why the ear-ability people in the base always had trouble sleeping during the apocalypse. He poked around this spiritual sea, and his spiritual filaments swayed as if they were seaweed, stretching toward the edge of the spiritual sea.
He used his ability, and under his intentional control, the tip of the spiritual filaments curled up and gradually went down, forming a partially flat disk. It was only after two-thirds of the spiritual filaments were rolled into a disk that An Jin opened his eyes and a smile appeared in his eyes.
He had succeeded in converging his perception!
He sank into the water and fell asleep in no time.
On the other hand, the Professors of the Plant Research Institute had not closed their eyes for almost the whole night. The dean looked at the Professors with tired faces but glowing eyes. “Observe in groups according to the voting results just now: four-fifths are to cultivate with pure chemical fertilizer, and the remaining one-fifth, with soil.”
“Both groups, who have to give the seeds a daily test for impurities, will have a routine meeting at five o’clock every afternoon.”
The people nodded, and the two groups each converged together, their eyes glowing as they looked at the seeds distributed to the group leader, as if they saw the hope of humanity.
An Jin woke up shortly after the star had come out, and the light was very soft. He floated lazily under the water, yawned, and gurgled out a long series of bubbles, which floated up in front of his eyes, accompanied by the crisp sound of water. He swung his fishtail, floated from the bottom to the surface, and took a deep breath of fresh morning air.
He swam to the shore and checked the extent of the land where the seeds were planted, and saw no impurities. He sighed with relief and turned around to swim back indoors. He went to the bathroom to wash up, then drove the mobility scooter to the closet to select clothes to wear today.
He looked and looked, and finally, he chose a white T-shirt. The T-shirt style was simple: the collar had an irregular design, the left side showed half shoulders, and the right side was normal. He estimated the effect on the body, thinking it was not bad, and showing half the shoulder was not a big problem. The water clothes were a little loose at the shoulders and more comfortable, and with no sense of restraint when swimming.
He went to the bathroom, put on new clothes, and put the old clothes into the dirty clothes basket.
The robot that sensed the delivery would take it, clean it up, and send it back.
He put them on and looked down to see that they felt like a good fit and the clothes felt very smooth to the touch and were especially comfortable. He ruffled the hair that fell in front of him back, and halfway through the action, grabbed it, his eyes flashed with thought.
Now that he had clothes to cover his body, was it possible to cut his hair? His eyes fell on his sharp nails, and he thought for a moment, ready to ask Norman about it when he delivered breakfast.
Also…he looked at the bare wall and decided to apply for a mirror to be installed. Whether it was to organize clothes or hair, it was not very convenient without a mirror. He exited the bathroom and jumped into the water. With his body surrounded by water, his eyes squinted comfortably. After becoming a mermaid, he especially liked water.
It wasn’t long before Norman came in with the food cart and quickly set up the food, which still took up a long side of the pool.
Norman said, “Choose what you like to eat, and when the spiritual power is sufficient, then pass the spiritual power to them.”
An Jin nodded and inquired, “Can I cut my hair short?”
Norman was slightly stunned. “Why?”
He also remembered that the mermaid breeding manual mentioned that mermaids love their hair, that they should be given regular maintenance, and not to hurt the mermaid’s hair when they get along normally.
An Jin honestly said, “It’s inconvenient, it’s a bit messy.”
“Sorry, it’s my negligence, I’ll take you to take care of it regularly in the future.”
“Can’t you cut it?”
Norman said seriously, “Hair grows slowly, it would be too late to regret cutting it.” He swept his eyes over the little mermaid’s beautiful long blue hair. “After care, it won’t be messy.”
An Jin thought to himself that he wouldn’t regret it, but Norman was always quick to agree to his requests, and the fact that he didn’t say yes straight away this time made him think twice. He asked, “Do all mermaids have long hair?”
Norman nodded. “Yes.”
An Jin then dismissed the idea of cutting his hair, not being the most particular one. He said, “Then I won’t cut it either.”
Norman rubbed the top of his hair and got up to leave when his sleeve was pulled by the little mermaid, and he turned his head and looked at the little mermaid inquiringly.
An Jin smiled at him and opened his mouth to sing.
Norman’s expression softened as the melodious, ethereal voice reached his ears, and soon, astonishment appeared in his eyes.
His spiritual power recovered by ten percent, however, the little mermaid continued to sing, and when another ten percent was recovered the little mermaid was still singing, and by the end of the song, his spiritual power had recovered thirty percent. His spiritual sea state had never been so good, and his spiritual power was close to full.
An Jin finished singing and measured Norman’s spiritual sea. The number of black spiritual filaments decreased a lot, and while the spiritual filaments except for the outermost layer were black, as well as a little bit of gray inside, the rest was all healthy white.
His eyes curved. His ability rose to level two and his spiritual force was much better!
After one more song for Norman tonight, Norman’s spiritual sea should be fully healthy. His tail wagged lightly and he felt very happy.
Norman thanked him seriously. “Thank you An An.”
He felt the increased spiritual power and thought to himself that the little mermaid was happy with the clothes and the beast core and the mobility scooter from yesterday.
Generally speaking, the closer the mermaid was to its master, the more spiritual force was transmitted. Of course, the amount of spiritual power transmitted was also related to the mermaid’s high or low spiritual power.
Each person’s spiritual power was determined by the extreme value and reached its peak after adulthood and then was constantly depleted. Without sufficient spiritual power support, there would be spiritual riots and it would be downgraded.
The spiritual power downgrade was a common thing, but it was never upgraded. Norman did not expect that the little mermaid’s spiritual power had become stronger.
Norman left the mermaid room and took a hover car to the military headquarters.
On the way, his bracelet lightly rang, and he received a message from the adjutant: [Your Majesty, there is a lot of talk in the military department that the research institute developed a new soothing agent, and said your…recent spiritual condition is good, all because of the soothing agent. Many officers sent anonymous letters, requesting the announcement of the soothing agent.]
Norman pondered for a moment and had a plan in mind.
After Becoming A Mermaid
