[The bonus chapters are still stuck in labor... The new novel is delayed, expected during winter break (looks away)]
[I’m awful at writing blurbs, and the main story may not be this cheerful. The protagonist is a little unhinged, and so am I...]
Also known as: The Inland Landlubber Reincarnates as a Deep-Sea Mermaid and Is Forced to Eat Raw Seafood Three Times a Day; A Genshin Impact Player Rules the Undersea Fontaine Like a Monkey 500 Years Ago; I Thought I Ruled a Vast Ocean, but You Say I Have a Boss Collecting Rent; Working Under Neuvillette Is Such a Trial
Jing Yuan grew up inland and had never even left her home province. She never imagined that one day she would find herself in the lush depths of the ocean, with a human torso and a fish tail.
And her gender seemed a little off. Ever since puberty, her chest had never been this flat...
Jing Yuan: Oh no, where the heck am I? Did I just change sex painlessly, too?
She, or rather he, accepted the facts soon enough. Dragging a massive tail, he lurched and weaved around underwater, awkwardly teaching himself to swim like a worm (wriggling). He barely managed not to sink along with his enormous tail.
Other than the fact that he couldn't drown, life in the deep sea was a struggle at every turn. He couldn't swim, he crawled slowly, and he couldn't stomach the fishy smell of seafood. In the end, he nearly starved to death, gave up resisting, and drifted with the current until a wave slapped him ashore, nearly turning him into a dead fish.
Jing Yuan: Enough. I feel sorry for myself.
Luckily, a human found him and dragged him home. At last, he got a hot meal, and ate it with tears of gratitude streaming down his face. After a fierce internal debate, he finally decided to take a bite of seafood. From that day on, the creatures in this stretch of ocean had a new overlord.
Jing Yuan hadn't enjoyed his carefree days of eating and lying flat for long when he spotted a familiar figure: white hair, two glowing blue stripes on his head, eyes as beautiful as glass, and a face exactly like the sea otter beside him, clutching a seashell.
He swam over. “Hey, handsome, you look a lot like someone I know.”
A character from a game he'd played in his previous life: Fontaine's Hydro Dragon King, Neuvillette.
Neuvillette: “Who are you? Are you one of my newly born kin?”
Jing Yuan: “Huh? What are you saying? I don't understand.”
Whether he really couldn't understand or was just pretending, we'll never know. But Jing Yuan had finally found his people. Neuvillette took him under his wing and patiently taught him words, language, how to swim, and how to forage, treating him like a patient with an intellectual disability. At last, Jing Yuan learned what he was: a companion of the Hydro Dragon King, incompletely evolved, with only half his body in human form.
Neuvillette gave him a new name: Calypdis.
After Jing Yuan was taken in, he followed Boss Neuvillette around, lying flat and living comfortably. He watched as Neuvillette fretted over being born in human form, the unfamiliar feelings welling up inside him, and the meaning of his existence and what the future held.
Later, the Hydro Archon coaxed and tricked Boss into taking a job as a judge in Fontaine. Jing Yuan stayed comfortably sprawled on the seafloor. He knew his place: sea monsters should stay in the sea and keep out of people's way. Teyvat had so many Archons and humans. If he offended the wrong person, they might wipe him out, home and all. He'd feel terrible if he got young Neuvillette caught up in it.
But even after Neuvillette found a job and started working himself to the bone, he didn't leave his little brother to laze around back home. When Jing Yuan insisted on staying underwater, he told him to protect the sea.
Jing Yuan: I get it, I get it. You need upgrade materials? I used to farm those for you. I know all the routes.
Neuvillette: No, you don't.
Then, for no apparent reason, Jing Yuan became the great guardian of the deep sea. Alongside a group of newly hatched nieces, the Melusines, he became one of Fontaine's signature attractions, the sort that had to be heavily promoted across all seven nations.
Jing Yuan: ...You're really something, Boss.
To avoid the ever-advancing methods humans used to explore the deep sea, he was forced to leave his comfortable den and roam the ocean, armed and ready to beat up (rescue) drowning people, malfunctioning deep-sea machinery, and monsters that had lost their way. Once again, he became the local big shot. Once again, he made a name for himself.
Jing Yuan: Incredible.
Why was it so hard to be a quiet, well-behaved, unassuming deep-sea monster who wanted nothing to do with the world?
The protagonist was a woman in her previous life, but is now a man, so this is a male-lead story. He used to be an overworked corporate drone and died of illness. In the game, he was the sort of veteran who played every day from launch until the end: fully explored every map, helped newbies, farmed artifacts, and researched the open-world lore and story. He knows just about everything, but doesn't care much and feels no particular urgency. He doesn't see saving people as his responsibility, but he'll still help out along the way. He's the ultimate slacker, diligent at first and then thoroughly content to lie flat. His strength and knowledge are there for all to see, so he could do very well, but he can't be bothered.
He and Neuvillette quietly regard each other as family. They could each be the other's dad, but eventually decide to be brothers instead. They still put each other's names down as guardians.
Note: I'm terrible at writing blurbs, so I may adjust this one to match the story as I write, but the general idea won't change.
[Reader's guide]
1. No romance pairing throughout. Pure brotherhood (father-son) bonds.
2. The protagonist is very unflappable. He knows the story but has no interest in reliving it.
3. The Traveler is absent; the female twin is Lumine.
4. His tail can turn into legs for walking, but only after the Hydro Dragon reclaims his full power.
5. The main story remains unchanged, but the character story quests will be altered. Please note that the deaths or survival of characters who aren't playable will affect the direction of the plot.
6. I absolutely can't manage daily updates. I've given up making promises. I just guarantee I won't abandon the story.
7. Your comments are what motivate me to write. Having no readers really kills my enthusiasm, you know? (weeps)
Theme: If you can't lead a team, you'll have to do all the work yourself until you die
After flipping through the pages, my wife did not tell me exactly when Jingyuan and Tata first met. She only knew that it was "the last sunny day before the rainy season." This chapter mentioned "if I were as tall as I saw you in summer." Then I will start spreading rumors [covering face and peeking] The first time Jingyuan and Tata met was in spring, when a little girl picked up a mermaid on the beach that couldn't swim. The girl and her grandfather shared a meal with the mermaid. The next day, grandpa released the mermaid back into the sea ( The second time Jingyuan and Tata met was in summer. The young warrior led his companions back to their childhood cabin. Grandpa has passed away, but here she meets the mermaid of her childhood? He learned to speak, the young warrior thought, and told me his name. By the third encounter, the revolution was over. The old woman met her mermaid brother here. He would still call her Tata and treat her like a child just like when they first met. Not a bad feeling. "What can I plant in autumn?" She was a little troubled. The last time they met was in winter, she was lying in bed and didn't even have the strength to light a fireplace for herself. Tata was a little tired and saw her mermaid brother in a daze. Her brother told her not to sleep, which was too much. Tata thought to herself, "But I'm really tired and I want to sleep." I still missed my grandpa. My brother seemed to pause for a moment and told me to go to sleep. Let me just say that acting like a spoiled child is useful. So this winter, an old man, a woman, a warrior, and a little girl returned to the grandfather who loved her most.
Travelers need to cover their last layer of skin! (Tremor)
So it can basically be foreseen that the emergency phone number will be blown up in the future 🐶, but only one of us, Jingyuan, is working and wiring it.
Our little fish is in such misery
The God of Wind is supporting the God of Fire, the God of Rock is blocking the gate, the God of Thunder is killed in Kanria, the King of Trees is saving the World Tree (die), the God of Water purifies the sea of flowers (die), the God of Fire suppresses the Nata disaster at a cost of five hundred years, and the God of Ice dies in the battle against the big boss of Kanria.
Just feed everyone with a knife like this 😭 I still feel heartbroken when I see the if line
Good guy, this is really thousands of miles away from home 😂
But isn't that right? Subjectively and objectively it was not Jingyuan who transformed himself, it was the original Taihai who did it first. Passively transforming into a human being cannot be considered a crime by Jingyuan, right [covering face, laughing and crying] It's not true from the beginning, right?
It turns out it's hypothermia. Isn't it because I'm numb from the cold and can't swim? I see.
Hahahahaha, in the end it will be replaced by manpower