The Undersea Adventures of the Little Jellyfish (JELLYFISH)
In the end, Shen Jixiao pinched the little jellyfish’s cheek lightly. "Enough mischief. If you’re tired, rest."
The little jellyfish nodded.
Plop.
He fell asleep instantly.
The exhausted little jellyfish reverted to his original form, leaving a small puddle of cool water in Shen Jixiao’s palm. The mermaid quickly stood up and placed the jellyfish into the seawater tank, afraid that any delay might cause him to rupture.
The pink little jellyfish bobbed gently in the water, illuminated by candlelight in the glass tank. Shen Jixiao could have watched him all night.
Unfortunately, he still had matters to attend to outside. After tidying up, folding the clothes Tang You needed for his human form, covering the pastries and snacks, and drinking a cup of tea, Shen Jixiao finally left.
During the time Tang You spent familiarizing himself with the language, "Little Shen" was almost never around.
Three days later, Tang You realized the mermaid was still busy with various tasks—only appearing at night. Even their planned trip to the library to study magic tomes was replaced by Ji Yan taking him instead.
It was his first time riding in a carriage, and the slight swaying left him feeling dizzy, his jellyfish head sloshing as if it might spill over.
He could only cling to the small window while listening to Ji Yan’s explanations.
"Currently, there are no more than thirty recorded Grand Mages on the continent. Among them, only five are confirmed to belong to the Eastern Kingdom."
Tang You: "Less than a quarter?"
"Yes, but also no." Ji Yan explained to the little jellyfish, "Some of them are mages unaffiliated with any faction—they don’t easily follow orders. In fact, even the few Grand Mages aligned with the Eastern Kingdom are the same; some are difficult to mobilize."
"Having a Grand Mage is more about deterrence."
Tang You wasn't very familiar with the land's classification of magic and mages. "Are Grand Mages very powerful?"
"Extremely powerful." Ji Yan glanced at Tang You. He had come to realize that the person Shen Jixiao had brought in seemed to have come from the wilderness—utterly clueless about many common concepts.
Mysterious.
But harmless, with a simple mind.
Well, since he was brought in by the boss and was quite adorable, Ji Yan was happy to explain. "Magic is roughly divided into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. Anything beyond that is called Special-grade. The classification mainly depends on mana consumption, complexity, and control range."
"Using standard magic crystals as a unit, any spell consuming less than 10 magic crystals is considered Beginner-level. Typically, such spells can't affect targets too far away."
Ji Yan casually conjured a Beginner-level fire spell—a small flame flickered at his fingertips before flying out the window.
It traveled about three meters before extinguishing, despite the mana sustaining it.
Tang You: "Oh! So is the Light spell a Beginner-level magic?" He immediately thought of this spell—it required mana to sustain and couldn't stray too far.
"Yes." Ji Yan looked at Tang You. "You know the Light spell?"
Tang You nodded. "Little Shen taught me."
Ji Yan seemed to ponder something for a moment before shaking his head slightly. "The distinction between Intermediate and Beginner magic is a bit blurry. The same spell, if it consumes more than ten magic crystals or has a control range exceeding five meters, counts as Intermediate."
The same fire spell, but this time, the small flame at Ji Yan's fingertips turned blue-white, brimming with terrifying energy. The flame left his fingers and flew seven or eight meters away, still concentrated—it touched a withered blade of grass by the roadside and instantly reduced it to ashes.
Without igniting anything else.
"Intermediate magic covers a wide range. Single-element spells and simple constructs mostly fall under this category." A larger flame ignited in Ji Yan's palm. "No matter how masterfully you wield fire magic, it still only counts as Intermediate."
"I see."
Tang You nodded.
Little Shen had only said, "Intermediate magic is just a bit stronger than Beginner magic," but Ji Yan's explanation was much clearer.
"Advanced magic builds upon Intermediate spells by combining and layering mana circuits. Mastering one means you need to master many Beginner and Intermediate spells first. Talentless mages usually get stuck here—no matter how much they train, they can't grasp the balance between different types of mana."
"In practice, Intermediate spells are the most commonly used. Advanced spells, due to their complexity, require preparation time and are easily interrupted during casting."
Tang You: "That sounds really hard. Is Special-grade even harder?"
"Not necessarily." Ji Yan shook his head. "Special-grade magic refers to spells humanity doesn't yet understand. Some were discovered by accident or through empirical observation—like knowing that doing A yields B, but no one knows why A leads to B. The process is like a black box."
Tang You thought about it. The shapeshifting magic he learned among the mermaids was probably Advanced, while the transformation magic he used now was Special-grade—he had no idea how he turned into a human.
Ji Yan went on to discuss the mage ranking system, which essentially boiled down to exams—pass them, get certified, and only then would you be recognized as a credible mage.
"Although, some mages can’t be bothered to get certified by the Mage Guild. Oh, we’re here." Ji Yan lifted the carriage curtain, glancing at the library ahead, and asked casually, "What’s your current rank?"
The little jellyfish thought for a moment. "Never took the test, don’t know."
"Why are you laughing?" He looked at Ji Yan, steadying himself against the carriage as he wobbled out. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No."
"Really wonder where Xiao Shen even found you." Ji Yan’s eyes curved with amusement. "He said you could empty out an entire library in a day."
Tang You blinked slowly. "Can’t I?"
……
The library was divided into two sections—one accessible to ordinary nobles for borrowing, and the other restricted to mages or specially permitted individuals. Knowledge monopoly was just another way to consolidate power. Fortunately, the city lord himself was soon to be strung up on a lamppost, and after inventorying the library’s contents, it would be opened to the public.
Tang You went straight to the floor filled with magic tomes.
Some were paper books, others ancient parchment scrolls, and some were made of strange, incomprehensible materials.
The little jellyfish was instantly awestruck upon entering. Humans barely reached two meters in height, yet the library’s doors stood a towering six meters tall, and the interior was vast, with many items requiring ladders to retrieve.
He casually pulled a scroll from a shelf and finally understood why Shen Jixiao had asked Ji Yan to accompany him.
—He couldn’t read it.
"You don’t know how?" Ji Yan glanced over. "Over centuries of tradition, some mages invented a specialized script to maintain their exclusivity. Magic script, ciphertext—call it what you will. Learning it is a pain. But you really don’t know? Never encountered it before?"
The little jellyfish looked utterly lost.
There were indeed reclusive mages who passed knowledge down through master-disciple relationships, perhaps never even touching recorded spells. Ji Yan managed to convince himself of this.
Tang You traced the script on the scroll. Learning a human lingua franca had already exhausted him; the thought of ciphertext terrified him even more. "This is terrifying. Xiao Shen definitely doesn’t know it, right?"
"How do you know Xiao Shen doesn’t? Did he even tell you that?"
—Because Xiao Shen hadn’t taught him.
Tang You could sense that Shen Jixiao had poured every bit of language-related knowledge into him—maybe even too much. He faintly recalled the image of a hand gripping a pen, scratching away at paper, and a voice saying, "No food until you finish copying."
"I’ll translate for you." Ji Yan took the scroll. "That’s what I’m here for today. Just ask me whatever you want to read."
"Okay, I want to read..."
……
Tang You spent an entire day in the library before emerging.
He had been reluctant to learn scripts but was overjoyed to study magic, bouncing with energy all day.
His first act upon returning to the city lord’s manor was to soak in seawater—now he could submerge his human body in a large pool. Ever since Shen Jixiao had ousted the city lord a couple of days prior, the manor had lost its master, with most servants dismissed and the embezzled goods still being inventoried.
Coincidentally, the city lord had dug a sizable swimming pool in the backyard for his own enjoyment, complete with an artificial sandy beach. Now, Shen Jixiao had drained it and refilled it with clean seawater, specifically for the little jellyfish to swim in.
Tang You immediately used a newly learned phrase: "Doesn’t this make us seem extravagant too?"
Shen Jixiao replied, "Meeting your physiological needs doesn’t count as extravagance."
So Tang You, along with his flock of "big geese," would often take dips in the pool whenever he pleased. The spring water wasn’t particularly warm, but Tang You disliked heat and wasn’t bothered by the cold. He and his geese roamed freely around the city lord’s rear garden.
By the time he returned that evening, the excitement from the carriage ride had worn off, and all he wanted was to rest in the familiar seawater.
Under the starry sky and crescent moon, the sleeping geese and the little jellyfish, now back in its original form, floated peacefully.
He wasn’t sure how long he had been soaking when he heard familiar footsteps.
"Tang You?"
"Here, here." It was too dark—the pool water had turned ink-black, making the small, translucent jellyfish completely invisible.
Shen Jixiao scanned the area with his mental senses, then took off his coat and jumped into the pool.
"Mermaid!" The little jellyfish was thrilled to see the mermaid’s large tail reappear and wriggled eagerly to cling to the mermaid’s scales. "Won’t you be discovered?"
"No one’s around at this hour." Shen Jixiao leaned against the edge of the pool, stretching his tail out as much as possible.
He exhaled deeply. "I’ve been too busy these past few days, but thankfully, most of the issues are resolved now."
"That’s great."
"I can’t see you." Shen Jixiao still couldn’t spot the little jellyfish, only knowing it was nearby. The city lord’s estate had stopped its extravagant spending, so not all the lights were lit at night. The mermaid’s night vision was poor—manageable indoors, but in the rear garden, he was practically blind.
"Wait for me." The little jellyfish cast a light spell.
The pool instantly brightened.
Shen Jixiao looked at the small jellyfish floating beside the glowing orb. "You—"
He was about to say something when the jellyfish swam a little, then—gulp—swallowed the light orb whole. As the water rippled, the light merged with the pink substance inside the jellyfish’s bell, turning the glow pink.
"Can you see me now?"
"..." The mermaid opened his mouth. "Now you’ve become a real lighthouse jellyfish."
"It’s cute," he added.
The strawberry gummy had turned into a glowing strawberry candy.
"How was the human’s magic tome?" he asked.
"Very interesting! So many spells I’ve never seen before, though reading it was a bit difficult. Ji Yan helped me a lot." The little jellyfish swam around, leaving a glowing pink trail in the water. "I wanted to read more, but Ji Yan seemed unwell—he looked really uncomfortable—so I came back early."
Shen Jixiao recalled Ji Yan’s dazed expression earlier and couldn’t help but laugh.
"What’s so funny? Shouldn’t you check on him?" The jellyfish was puzzled.
"He’s just feeling defeated." The mermaid dove into the pool, following the pink trail to find the flickering little jellyfish. "Realizing on the same day that someone is even more of a genius than him can do that to a person."
"Ji Yan is a genius?"
The little jellyfish was quickly cupped in the mermaid's palm. The mermaid's hand was broad to him, and once closed, there was no way to swim out. But the fingers could only trap him, not the pink light emanating from the center of his body, which tinted the mermaid's face pink.
"Of course he is," the mermaid said. "He is one of the only five Grand Mages in the Eastern Kingdom—the youngest one."
"So impressive." The little jellyfish pressed his tentacles together, mimicking human applause. "What about you?"
The mermaid lifted the little jellyfish, the fading pink light casting over his face, each droplet of water glistening. After turning into a fish, his eyes were a pale blue, like clear ice, reflecting the little jellyfish perfectly.
"I'm not. You are." He was so relaxed and calm, as if all the sleepless nights of work had dissolved into the water the moment he held the little jellyfish. "You're a little jellyfish that glows."
The glowing little jellyfish used a spell he had just learned today.
Moisture condensed into ice crystals, refracting multicolored light in tandem with the illumination spell. Tiny specks of light scattered from the air like fragments of the Milky Way descending to the mortal world. Sustained by magic, the ice crystals wouldn't melt anytime soon, so the mermaid's face, shoulders, and even eyelashes were adorned with glowing little ice crystals.
"Now you're a glowing fish too."
The little jellyfish gently patted the mermaid's head with his psychic energy. "Go rest now."
"..." The mermaid only heard a thumping sound, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the little jellyfish. "I can't rest. My heart is racing."
"Hearts always beat." The little jellyfish just laughed at him. "Silly mermaid, you're so tired you're talking nonsense!"
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