Picking Up Attributes From Today

Panda Novel

“B-Big Brother Galen!”

Helen was so astonished that her pretty eyes widened, and her little mouth formed an ‘O’ so big that one could stuff a cucumber into it.

1

Farren, Old Jack, as well as Old Jack’s son and daughter-in-law, stared at the soaring Galen with disbelief.

“Old Jack, isn’t he the new deckhand that you’ve just recruited? W-why is he able to fly?”

Old Bath was staring so hard at Galen—who was flying further and further—that his eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets.

“I… I don’t know, either!”

Great waves of shock and astonishment churned in Old Jack’s heart. Old Bath was right—Galen was indeed a new deckhand whom he had recruited. During this recent period of time together, he had merely thought Galen a little more accurate at spearing fish than others. Apart from that, he was no different from other ordinary folks.

Yet Galen had taken off into the sky.

Taking flight was something beyond even powerful ninth-grade experts’ capabilities.

“A Saint Domain! Big Brother Galen is a Saint Domain!”

Farren was so excited that his little face was all flushed. As residents of the Golden Archipelago, Saint Domains didn’t just exist within legends to them because they had frequently seen Saint Domain experts from the Golden Dragon-Lion clan conducting inspections on various islands in the past.

Those moments were also when Farren was the most envious. How he wished he could also walk among the clouds and soar in the sky like those Saint Domain experts someday.

“Big Brother Galen’s a Saint Domain expert!”

Helen’s mind was a total blank.

“A Saint Domain! Galen, whom we’ve been spending our days with for so long, is a S-Saint Domain!”

Old Jack, his son, and his daughter-in-law were also dumbstruck by the revelation.

At this point, Galen had already arrived right in front of the tsunami. The tsunami, which towered at a height of several thousand feet, was as though a huge mountain crashing down on him. In front of it, Galen was no different from an ant. It seemed as if he would be smashed into a bloody pulp or reduced to dust by the tsunami any moment.

“Can Big Brother Galen stave off the tsunami?”

Helen’s little hands were held in a tight grip and completely locked together.

Farren, Old Jack, his son and daughter-in-law, Old Bath, as well as all the fisher-folk on the boat and the island felt as if their hearts were in their mouths as they watched him.

Galen… Would he be able to block the tsunami?

With all eyes on him, Galen merely uttered two words, “Absolute Zero!”

In an instant, a golden, chilly air current sprayed forth and shot toward the several-thousand-feet-tall water wall.

The next moment, the tsunami surging toward them with great momentum froze in place right away and turned into a mountain of ice.

The ice mountain gave off an astonishing chill. Despite being several hundred meters away from it, everyone could nevertheless still feel the bone-chilling iciness from the ice mountain as chills came all over them.

“Break!”

Galen pushed his palm forward lightly.

Crack!

The several-thousand-feet-tall ice mountain shattered and fell apart right away, turning into countless ice shards that fell with a deafening boom. As though a collapsing skyscraper, the shattered tsunami crashed into the ocean below.

A brief moment later, the ice mountain was gone, along with the tsunami. The ice shards covering the water surface were the only things silently narrating the incredibly precarious situation they were in just now.

“T-the tsunami is gone?”

Dazed and disoriented, the people were totally stunned. Farren was the only one whooping in joy. “Yay! Big Brother Galen has succeeded!”

“He’s succeeded! Big Brother Galen has succeeded!” Helen, whose pretty face was all red, was breathing heavily. She couldn’t be any more excited, as if she had been the one who had averted the tsunami disaster.

“T-that was too impressive!”

“Galen’s so impressive!”

“Is that what a Saint Domain is like?”

It was only then that the people finally regained their senses. They were so excited that they couldn’t help but cheer loudly. However, Galen, who was standing proudly above the ocean, didn’t turn around—because that low, deep booming wasn’t totally gone yet.

“What’s that sound?”

“Everyone, quieten down! Quieten down!”

“Listen, what’s that sound?”

The cheering masses quietened down one after another. A deep, low, and resounding rumbling traveled over from somewhere. Right on the heels of it, the Blue Afterglow Island started to shake lightly underneath their feet.

“Why are you shaking, Old Jack?”

“I… I’m not! Why say that about me when you yourself are also shaking?!”

“An earthquake! It’s an earthquake!”

The two old men exchanged a look. At once, they cried out in shock and horror, their countenances filled with extreme fear and panic!

“An earthquake?”

Everyone else’s countenances also changed upon hearing their outcry. True enough, they indeed discovered that the entire Blue Afterglow Island was shaking lightly. In fact, even the surface of the ocean nearby was also shaking vigorously.

Boom!!

Blue Afterglow Island began to shake more and more intensely. Rocks rolled off mountains as trees and vegetation started to sway forcefully. People on the island stumbled back and forth, almost unable to stand stably on their feet anymore.

Boom!

Suddenly, as though a nuclear warhead had gone off, a great, deafening explosion rang out. At the same time, the mountain in the center of Blue Afterglow Island was instantly blasted right up into the sky.

The next moment, incredibly thick smoke burst into the sky, reaching all the way into the clouds in an instant with large amounts of dust and falling rocks meshed in between.

“This, this…”

A shocked Old Jack exclaimed, “It’s a volcanic eruption!”

Then, he hastily shouted at the top of his lungs, “Hurry! Get onto the boat! The volcano is about to erupt! It’ll be too late if we stay any longer!”

It was as if his words had snapped everyone out of their daze, and they dashed toward their own respective boats. Old Jack, his son, and his daughter-in-law also followed behind the crowd and rushed toward their boat.

Boom!

Another thunderous explosion rang out right at this point. The lava flow that looked as if it were formed from boiling soup rushed into the sky and shot right into the clouds high up above.

Upon reaching the highest point, the lava flow instantly burst and spread into the surroundings as though celestial maidens scattering flowers from the sky!

Splatter, splatter, splatter!

Large amounts of boiling lava, together with scorching-hot rocks, splattered down onto every corner of the little island. Some crashed into the trees, causing them to instantly burst into flames, while some crashed onto the ground, smashing large pits into it.

At the same time, an overwhelming amount of volcanic ash also spewed forth from the volcano, spreading into the surroundings at speed as high as 400 kilometers per hour. Everywhere that the volcanic ash enveloped turned deep and dark, with the sun nowhere in sight as if the very depths of hell itself.

“Run!”

“Hurry and run!”

“We can’t! We can’t get away at all!”

How could mere humans contend against the wrath of nature?

Everyone lost all hope as they watched the boiling lava wantonly splattering everywhere and the volcanic ash surging toward them. Even if they had boarded their boats, how far could they flee?

They couldn’t escape! Not at all!

There was no way he could get away at all!

“Big Brother Galen! S-save me!”

Farren suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs at this point. Although drowned out by the rumbling, booming explosions, his sharp, shrill voice was nevertheless still a reminder to everyone else.

Oh yes, there’s still Galen!

“Galen!”

“Help!”

“Big Brother Galen!”

Helen also looked toward Galen.

Whoosh!

A light breeze blew past them, and someone was already right above them—it was Galen.

“Don’t worry, no one’s going to die!”

Galen smiled at everyone. A chilly current shot forth from his fingertip with a casual point of his finger, freezing all the volcanic ash as it spread into the surroundings.

A brief moment later, a gigantic “ice flower” appeared in the sky. Whatever color the volcanic ash was, was exactly the color of the ice flower. The sight was exceptionally elegant and beautiful.

As Galen blew at it casually, the gigantic ice flower then shattered into expansive ice shards that descended from above as though endless amounts of floating snowflakes, forming a breathtakingly beautiful sight.

“It’s gorgeous!”

Helen couldn’t help but gasp in admiration. The beautiful sight also captured everyone else, and they couldn’t help but let out several exclamations of astonishment.

With a smile, Galen then shot toward the erupting volcano with a flash!

It was as if the boiling lava and lethal volcanic ash were non-existent to Galen.

With a leap, he jumped right into the erupting volcano opening and disappeared from sight.

“Big Brother Galen!”

Helen was so frightened that she almost jumped right up, her heart leaping into her mouth right away.

The others were also awfully nervous. Jumping straight into the mouth of a volcano? That was practically a moth flying straight into the fire!

What none of them expected was that in just the span of a few breaths, the ground was no longer shaking, the lava was no longer flowing, and the volcanic ash was no longer spewing. The low, deep rumbling was also gone!

Instead, an astonishing chill was emanating from the volcanic opening and spreading into the surroundings.

“He’s… succeeded?”

“Galen has succeeded?”

The people wept tears of joy.

“Where’s Big Brother Galen?”

Helen’s gaze was fixed on the volcanic opening, her eyes filled with worry.

“Don’t worry, Big Sis! Big Brother Galen’s so strong. How could anything possibly go wrong?”

A giggling Farren then asked, “By the way, Big Sis, what exactly did you want to say to Big Brother Galen just now?”

At once, Helen’s pretty face became as red as a tomato, and she glared at her younger brother before she retorted, “Young brats like you shouldn’t meddle in an adult’s matters!”

“Hehe, I know what it is even if you don’t say it, Big Sis!”

Farren waggled his eyebrows and winked at her, only to receive a twisting on the ear from Helen in exchange, causing him to cry out loudly in pain and constantly plead for mercy.

A figure flew out of the volcano at this point—it was Galen, who had gone in just now.

“Big Brother Galen!”

At the sight of him, Helen quickly went forward. She asked nervously, “Are you alright?”

“How can I possibly not be?”

Galen chuckled softly as he shook his head. “You guys, on the other hand, didn’t get hurt just now, right?”

“N-no!”

“Big Brother Galen, you’re simply too amazing!”

Farren rushed toward him, stars of adoration sparkling in his little eyes. “Big Brother Galen, please teach me a thing or two! I’d like to be as strong as you, too!”

“Farren!”

At the sight, Old Jack hurriedly chastised Farren. Then, to Galen, he said respectfully, “Esteemed Lord Saint Domain, if Farren has offended you, please forgive him…”

“Grandpa Jack, you’re treating me too much like an outsider if you say that.” Galen waved and said, “Don’t forget that I’m a deckhand that you hired.”

“That won’t do! That won’t do, Lord Saint Domain!” Old Jack waved repeatedly.

Deckhand?

You, a great Saint Domain, as my deckhand?

Never mind when I hadn’t known your identity previously. Now that I do, I wouldn’t dare to treat you as my deckhand even if you give me a whole lot of guts!

“Never mind! Never mind!”

Galen couldn’t help but sigh. He knew that his wandering journey was about to end now.

Now that everyone knew his identity, it would only cause discomfort in them if he were to stay any longer.

Suddenly, Galen turned to Farren and asked, “Didn’t you want to become strong, Farren?”

“Yes, yes!”

Farren nodded lightning-quick.

“Do you want to learn Battle Aura or magic?” A smiling Galen asked, “The former makes you a Warrior while the latter makes you Magician. Which do you want to be?”

“This…”

Farren became troubled at once. After hemming and hawing for a while, he finally said, “I’d like to become a powerful expert who can freeze the tsunami with a wave and suppress the volcano with a flick of his fingers just like you, Big Brother Galen!”

“A Magician? That’s a great choice!”

Galen chuckled and said, “Look for me at my place after you get home. I’ll wait for you!”

Then, Galen rose into the air and vanished into the distance like a comet.

“Galen’s left!”

Waves churned in everyone’s hearts as they stared in the direction he disappeared in. They were exceptionally excited.

“A Saint Domain!”

“We’ve actually been saved by a Saint Domain!”

“Old Jack, you and your family are probably gonna strike gold this time!”

“I’m so green with envy, Old Jack!”

“Big Brother Galen!”

Helen’s pretty eyes twinkled as she suddenly made up her mind about something.