Star Rank Hunter

Original and most up to date translations are posted at volaretranslations.

Translator's Notes: Patreon money has been updated to SRH's sponsor queue. Thanks you all for supporting SRH!

Chapter 103: Jade Green Energy Ore

On the space, Shawton was very happy at the data displayed by the energy analyser in his hand. He promised the gray cat repeatedly that he would not mistreat it as long as it could seek out the energy ores. In fact, he even added more than ten thousand GAL credits into the promise. Although this amount of money was too little in Wheeze’s opinion - its measurement of money had always started with the unit ‘hundred million’ - but a penny saved was a penny earned, which was why the gray cat very graciously accepted it. The most important thing was Shawton giving it permission to openly enjoy its meal anyway.

When he discovered that Cillin’s genotype had evolved to Rank A, Shawton simply congratulated him cheerfully and did not ask too many questions.

The first team they were headed to was the cool beauty Asiya’s. Previously, Asiya’s team had landed on a place where many rivers crisscrossed each other, so when they looked from the sky, there were green rivers everywhere.

Unlike the life forms in the jungle region, there were very few creatures that were covered in hardened skin in this river strewn area. Some small mammals that looked like rabbits could be seen in the surroundings. All the living creatures in this place shared a common trait however, and that was their bodies were on average green in color.

These river life forms were nothing to be trifled with. Just like the little green lumps Cary had run into earlier, these creatures were all deadly poisonous. In fact, one of Asiya’s team members nearly died from poisoning in the hands of these little lumps. In the river, these jade green lumps appeared to be as flat as tree leaves, but when they discovered a prey on the surface, they would fill the inside of their bodies with air, float up to the water surface, swim to its prey and inject poison into their prey’s local tissue, causing it to soften and become easily consumed.

There were plenty of hidden dangers inside the river. A jellyfish-like life form in particular could extend its long tentacles out of the water to capture nearby life forms on land. Them and a couple more amphibians were Asiya’s team’s top priority to watch out for.

When Cillin and the gray cat arrived, Asiya and her group were just resting at a spot farther away from the river shore. Shawton had told them to stop whatever they’re doing and simply await their arrival. Their group had made no progress with the detection of the energy ores, and just ten minutes ago, they’d even battled a dozen or so huge creatures that looked like frogs.

Despite exploring for a long time, Asiya’s team continued to find itself at a dead end. The technical personnel sweated blood and tears, tweaking the scanner’s parameters constantly to match the environmental conditions as best as they could, but the effects were just far from meeting expectations. It was only when they heard from Commander Shawton that he had a plan that their rest became less troubled. However, they could never have imagined that the so-called ‘plan’ they were anticipating so much about was a cat. They had heard that Dias’ team had a cat, and that said cat was always causing trouble together with Dough.

Asiya glanced at the gray cat sniffing everywhere on top of Cillin’s shoulders with a frown, and said nothing.

Shawton said to Asiya, “Have everyone get ready, we’re about to start hunting for ores. All members with hoverboards shall hop on their hoverboards, and those without shall get on the spaceplane. Don’t forget to ready the weapons as well, in case those things in the river gets frisky again.” Then Shawton turned around and smiled at the cat, “Wheeze, if you please?”

The gray cat ignored him. After sniffing the air and locking on to a direction, it jumped right off Cillin’s shoulder and ran towards it.

Cillin extended his hoverboard and followed behind Wheeze. Shawton motioned for the others to follow, but had not gone up the spaceplane himself. Instead he took out a hoverboard from his back and chased after the gray blur with Cillin.

Right now, the gray cat only wanted to find the energy ores as fast as possible, so the path it selected was also the shortest possible - a straight line.

Be it on land or water, the gray cat’s path was always a straight line. That was why the crowd was completely surprised by it.

At first, Shawton was going to ask his men to assist the gray cat by cleaning out the stirring little green lumps around it, but Cillin told him that it was fine, and that the little fellow could handle it no problem. What happened later on also proved that Cillin’s words were not unfounded.

Fuck this cat can swim, and holy shit it’s swimming even faster than the fishes themselves!

Bloody hell how the fur* is it swimming through all the little green lumps and be perfectly fine after a casual shake on shore!

Holy mother of god, just what breed is this cat to be able to stroll through this dangerous land so leisurely like it was here to play!?

*In most cases I would translate this as ‘hell’ or ‘fuck’ or ‘heck’ you get what I mean, but in this particular case the literal word fits, so.

When those jellyfishes stretched out the tentacles, those above the sky would open fire and shoot them down. Although the crowd was aiming at the jellyfish, most people would’ve been scared witless by the jellyfish’s appearance and bullet hail. At the very least, they would’ve panicked a little. Not the cat. It continued to swim with perfect calmness while turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to everything that’s going on around it. They looked at Cillin, and the same impeccable coolness on his face was truly like master, like cat**.

**a play of words on the idiom like father, like son

Before long, the gray cat stopped on a piece of dry land between the intersection of two rivers and began burrowing into the ground. Its forelimbs clawed against the ground like a drill bit, and shortly after the little guy had completely vanished from view.

The corner of Asiya and the others’ mouths twitched uncontrollably at the sight. Not only this cat could swim like a fish, it could burrow into the ground like a mouse as well!

Shawton motioned for the team to wait in the sky. Cillin glanced at his surroundings.

There were neither trees nor tall plants on this land whatsoever. Instead, it was covered in a thick layer of moss-like plants. A technical personnel measured them with their equipment and discovered that the photosynthesis conducted by this moss-like plant was actually two hundred times greater than normal moss!

Earlier, they had already discovered that the oxygen level in the air of this river area was pretty high, but at the time it was still within acceptable limits. But the oxygen level in this place was so high that if they were exposed to it any longer, it was only a matter of time before they fell to oxygen poisoning. So, the group put on their masks. The mask would regulate the oxygen level they breathed in and kept it within acceptable limits.

About an hour later, the gray cat jumped out of the hole and spat out a jade green chunk of something in front of Cillin. It was such a small chunk, and yet it radiated with such exuberant life that it was as if they could see a verdant and lush world from it.

When she saw the jade green energy ore, even the usually cool and collected Asiya could not help but grow excited. This was a type of energy ore that she had never seen before, and this was exactly the energy ore they were looking for!

Although only an hour or so had passed, it was enough for the gray cat to enjoy a great meal underground.

Now that they knew that there was an energy ore deposit in this place, Shawton, Asiya and the others began formulating a plan to mine it. From time to time, they would consult the gray cat’s opinion. The gray cat answered lazily while it licked its claws and rubbed its whiskers.

“What does the ore tastes like?” Cillin asked.

The gray cat licked its mouth and said, “Not bad. Figuratively speaking, if we say that the red-and-black energy ores are meat, then these jade green energy ores are vegetables. Just like how I would occasionally eat vegetables to relieve inflammation, eating this type of ore is beneficial to me in certain areas as well.”

It was true that a cat would sometimes eat grass.

The gray cat jumped onto Cillin’s shoulders and spoke beside his ear, “We can reach those energy ores from the bottom of the river.”

Cillin gave it some thought and walked over to Shawton, saying, “Commander, Wheeze and I would like to take a look beneath the river. It said that we may be able to reach the energy ores from there.”

“That’s a good idea. It may be harder to mine them from the river, but it will also be a lot more obscure. Do you need someone to help you?” Shawton asked.

“It’s fine. Wheeze and I can handle it.”

“Mm. Be careful.”

After Cillin and the gray cat had jumped into the river, Asiya asked Shawton, “You trust him that much?” In terms of both ability, and character.

Shawton gave her a smile and said, “I trust Dias.”

Asiya turned quiet at this, but her locked eyebrows relaxed a lot.