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Chapter 96 - 91: Promotion to a Two-Star Appraiser_i
Chapter 96 - 91: Promotion to a Two-Star Appraiser_i
Chapter 96: Chapter 91: Promotion to a Two-Star Appraiser_i
Translator: 549690339 |
The spider looked vibrant, adorned with lustrous stripes on both its back and abdomen, exceedingly beautiful.
On its head, there were four false eyes, shiny black round spots, in declining
sizes arranged in a row.
It wasn’t large in size, appearing to be about three centimeters in body length. Spiders are infamous for their eight legs, which are generally quite long and arranged on the sides, causing their total body width to exceed their body length.
Qin Niu flipped it over to check, and its abdomen’s coloration was even more
dazzling and lovely.
The thickness of its eight legs was moderate, but they were quite long.
Even when bent, they still towered significantly above the body’s plane.
The fangs, after so many years, were still lustrously black, as sharp and fine as
a snake’s.
Its mouthparts weren’t well developed, or one could even say they were rather inferior.
Luckily, his Insect Identification skill had reached a level of minor achievement; otherwise, his identification of this spider would have been very superficial.
After completing its identification, Qin Niu began to write.
Arachnid class, Salticidae family, Peacock Spider genus, female, lifespan approximately 40 years, at the time of death about 27 years old. Remarkable jumping ability, highly agile, moderate endurance, intense toxicity, with fangs capable of piercing ordinary thin armor.
Its spider silk’s adhesive strength was relatively weak, as was its tensile strength.
The body’s defense was feeble, yet the head was hard, possessing the defense capabilities of an ordinary beetle.
Its special ability was an illusion-inducing skill, which leveraged the body’s colors to dazzle and enchant enemies upon sight, achieving a mesmerizing effect.
After writing, Qin Niu still felt somewhat unsatisfied.
Holding the specimen of the spider, he took another careful look, and this time
made a new discovery.
At the position near its spinnerets, close to the silk-producing holes, there was
a gland opening.
Definitely, the excretion hole would not be there.
What was this gland opening for?
After careful examination, he made an even greater discovery.
He saw a series of fines curved engravings, forming an umbrella shape wrapping around its center. It seemed to use the spider as a core, from which multiple curved engravings radiated.
Any insect that bore such engravings would possess a somewhat powerful special ability.
Illusion was its inherent special talent.
Male spiders could even display their hindquarters like a peacocks tail feathers.
Staring at the dark engravings around its gland opening for a while, Qin Niu felt as if he could be sucked in. It resembled an invisible vortex.
Generally, gland openings excrete special substances.
For instance, wax glands in insects secrete wax.
Scent glands emit an unpleasant chemical odor.
If this opening was neither for wax nor scent, what could it be?
Could it be the ‘Demon Eye’?
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to be the case.
When encountering powerful enemies, it might deliberately display its lower abdomen, or lift it up, targeting the enemy. When this gland constricted, it formed a kind of special magical power.
It was somewhat similar to the Mental Attack abilities of Puppet Ants and
Ghost Ants.
Simply by looking at the varying lengths of those dark engravings, none longer than roughly a centimeter, it indicated that their evolution was not yet fully successful.
Qin Niu added another note to its special abilities: a gland opening near the base of the lower abdomen, capable of producing a kind of mental attack, causing an illusion to the enemy, which, stacked with its innate illusion skill, created a stronger mesmerizing effect.
However, this ability was still evolving and incomplete. As such, the gland’s illusion power was weaker, with a shorter effective range and less potent effect.
He also added a note next to the species name, suggesting it could be Magic
Peacock Spider.
Due to his limited knowledge of spiders, he could only identify it down to genus, not species.
This phenomenon was extremely common in insect identification.
Even just within Peacock Spiders, there were at least two hundred varieties.
Insect Masters breed new varieties each year, and the number keeps increasing.
No insect Master could identify every single variety of Peacock Spider with clarity. A lesser skilled appraiser who could identify it down to the family was considered alright, while a more skilled one could discern the genus.
Qin Niu identified it down to species.
This showcased an exceptionally high level of expertise.
“Very good! Your knowledge on spider identification is evidently weak, but in the end you are able to identify with such detail, which indicates that you already possess the ability of a two-star Appraiser. Furthermore, your talent in this area is exceptional, and I recommend that you develop in this direction, to become a great insect identification expert. I dare say, in less than five years, your level could very well surpass mine.
Master Hu’s gaze softened tremendously as he looked at Qin Niu, filled with affection.
This was the affection of discovering a top-tier insect identification talent.
“Thank you for your praise. When I have time, I will strengthen my studies in this area and strive to improve my insect identification skills.”
Qin Niu didn’t truly feel that he had a particularly strong talent.
He was at most more interested in this field of knowledge, coupled with continuous observation and accumulation over time.
While reading, he had consciously absorbed a fair amount of insect-related knowledge.
Likewise, information about insects gathered from others in daily life had similarly accumulated to some extent.
All these factors combined naturally elevated his proficiency in this area.
In the past, he was really poor.
Purchasing a low-grade Contract Charm only happened after Old Zhang passed away, and even then, it was acquired by squandering all his family’s wealth for just three charms.
There was simply no extra money to buy books on insect techniques to read.
Anything related to the professions of planting, Insect Masters, and Beast Tamers was prohibitively expensive.
Because these three professions were the most in-demand.
Even mastering a little would immediately change one’s destiny and greatly increase one’s income.
Take Qin Niu, for example, if he faithfully worked the land, being able to scrape by with enough food and clothing for the year would be quite an achievement.
For a sixteen-year-old boy like him, facing a stingy landlord, he would definitely only get the price of child labor. That is, half of what an adult would make, around twelve taels and eight coins of Silver Money a year.
Now that he had become a two-star Insect Identification Appraiser, his worth had doubled, and his annual income would definitely be much higher than that from farming.
And it would be more relaxed than farming.
His social status as compared to an ordinary farmer was unknowably many times higher.
Master Hu couldn’t help but show a pleased expression when he heard Qin Niu was willing to continue his studies in the field of insect identification.
“Would you be willing to work for our Insect Master Association? The annual salary for a two-star appraiser will not be less than 20 taels, and with all the benefits received, it could reach more than 25 taels of Silver Money. Whenever I have time, I will personally teach you the knowledge of identifying various insects to quickly improve your skills.”
For a talented seedling like this, Master Hu would definitely want to teach him personally.
There were countless people in Black Tiger City who wanted to become Master
Hu’s disciples.
And yet he seldom took any disciples.
Now, Master Hu was actively willing to take on Qin Niu as a disciple, enough to make countless people envious.
“Thankyou for your kindness, but 1 prefer a carefree, idle life, and it’s more comfortable to continue farming in the countryside. However, if you agree, when 1 come to the city later, 1 could visit you and learn from you about insect identification knowledge.”
Qin Niu thought it would be quite nice to have the opportunity to learn from such a master.
“Haha, very good, very good, you are welcome to visit me anytime.”
Master Hu readily agreed.
-Yu Xue, come in and process the filing for Brother Qin Niu as a two-star
appraiser.”
“Isn’t there still a grasshopper left to identify?” Qin Niu asked, puzzled.
“With your level of skill, what’s there to test? I don’t like wasting time,” Master Hu said.
Master Hu, as the chief examiner of the Insect Master Association, held enormous power.
He had the authority to decide whether a candidate passed the assessment or
not.
Although Chairman Li needed to review and oversee the process, if one could pass here at Master Hu’s, it was likely to pass at Chairman Li’s as well.
Yu Xue walked in quickly.
Her gaze towards Qin Niu was even gentler this time, her smile even more enchanting.
“Young Master Qin is really impressive, to gain two stars in one day and directly become a two-star appraiser, it’s my first time seeing such a case! I see that your residence is listed as Jade Stream Town, Shuangfeng Village. I have an aunt who married there, though it’s in a neighboring village called Daoyuan
Village.”
To forge a closer relationship, Yu Xue even brought up her relatives.
“Daoyuan Village is very wealthy; it’s nice that she married there,” Qin Niu commented, not very familiar with Daoyuan Village.
in the village, the majority of the youths were just like him, only familiar with their own village.
They generally didn’t dare to wander off to other villages, fearing being bullied by kids from other places.
“My aunt is quite happy, and I’m planning to visit her in a few days. Would you welcome me if I come by Shuangfeng Village?”
“Welcome, definitely welcome! It’s just that my family is exceptionally poor, I’m afraid I might disappoint Miss Yu Xue when the time comes,” said Qin Niu, speaking to her honestly.
He wasn’t foolish; when a young and beautiful girl with a good job takes the initiative to visit his house, its underlying meaning is something everyone understands.
“What does being poor matter! 1 actually think it’s amazing that a poor family like yours was able to raise such an outstanding boy. Let’s make it a plan then, I’ll come to find you!” She left, talcing the documents with her, her steps light and cheerful.
Master Hu showed a sly grin.
“Hehe, Brother Qin Niu, you seem to have good fortune with the ladies! Miss Yu Xue is a diligent, smart, and particularly ambitious girl. She’s serious and responsible at work, and everyone is satisfied with her. She doesn’t scorn your poor family background, girls like that are not many!
As someone who had been through life’s experiences, Master Hu naturally knew what type of woman was suitable for settling down with.
“By the way, while there’s still some time, may I borrow that Termite of yours to take another look? Hehe, to tell you the truth, I’ve been an appraiser all my life, yet I’ve never seen such a special insect. Even the Green Demon s first-generation Demon Bee is far inferior to it.
At first, when Qin Niu had not yet revealed his talent for identifying insects, Master Hu had shown goodwill towards him because of that Termite.
Now, their relationship had just gotten a step closer.
Their conversation had also become much more casual.
“No problem.”
Qin Niu did not refuse.
Even though Fourth was his trump card, its potential for growth was huge, and he believed there would definitely be new changes in the future.
Lending it to Master Hu for appreciation posed almost no threat to Qin Niu. Such insects bound by a Contractual Talisman couldn’t be stolen by others. And they wouldn’t be.
“Speaking of the Green Demon, do you know where he lives?” Qin Niu inquired. “Who do you think you’re underestimating? If I don’t know where the Green Demon lives, would I still qualify as the chief Insect Identification appraiser of Black Tiger City? The Green Demon used to live in an area governed by the Seven-Star Sect, but now it’s under the territory of the Nine Insect Gang. Although the Nine Insect Gang’s reputation isn’t that great- known for being fierce, ruthless, and cruel-their Nine-Headed City is regarded as a holy land that we, the insect appraisers and Insect Masters, aspire to. Ever since the Nine Insect Gang took over the Seven-Star Sect’s territory, their status in the field of insect control has become even more unshakeable..”