Fear:Hope

"Woah..." Kol fell stunned as Trilok matched her gaze. 'Boss... suddenly... his eyes feel strange. More... authoritative,' Kol felt her heartbeat increase in pace while Trilok sniffed and made a disgusted expression.

"If you've had a breakthrough, at least, bathe properly! You stink!" He growled, making Kol's expression stiff before she shrank her neck, tilted her head down, and sniffed.

'It's... not that terrible!' Kol felt aggrieved.

[Name: Kol

Age: 20

Spirit Vein: Green (Upgrade Requirement: 50,000)

Cultivation: Spiritual Enhancer— 1 (Upgrade Requirement: 15,000)

Technique: Sea God's Ascension (Mid-Common)(No Special Traits)(Upgrade Requirement: 20000)

]

While Trilok himself needed 25,000 spiritual points to upgrade his cultivation, Kol merely needed 15,000.

Trilok even realized that he hadn't tested the traits of his cultivations technique, but given their name and the obvious connection of going away from the communication ship, he did not have the heart and the mind to commit such a dangerous task. In fact, aside from the moments when he could do nothing else but to accompany fishers, Trilok never really went out to the sea.

Not after almost dying that one time.

But not picking on Kol any longer, Trilok had her take a seat and began discussing the dilemma of a proper point of investment. Of course, seeing that her boss was so nonchalant about her breakthrough somehow made her feel bittersweet.

It was at this point a distraction arrived.

"Vayuuu!" Jeli shouted from outside the store.

"Ugh, not so loud," The chief's groan echoed as Trilok stood up and sighed.

"Think of possible sources of investment. If you got any hit, I'll share 11% of my total earnings with you. Remember, it should be safe," Trilok cautioned once again as Kol nodded seriously and left through the back door. Meanwhile, Trilok heard soft thuds from the upper floor.

"He's coming down. Stop shouting, for god's sake!" Trilok waved his hand at Jeli who quickly nodded and shut up while Trilok handed the usual hangover destroyer to the chief in return for a coin.

"How much of that oil you have left?" Chief suddenly inquired with a scowl as he handed the special pouch emptied of medicine back to Trilok.

"None," Trilok crossed his arms, "I announced yesterday, didn't I? No more drugs for addicts like you until tomorrow."

Chief glared at the Trilok before looking into the store. His gaze suddenly landed on the [Spiritual Aftertaste] and his gaze trembled.

"Oi... you waste of space... did you concoct that?" The old chief pointed at the pink sludge.

"Impressive, right?" Trilok smirked, "But it's way too expensive for some idle drunkard."

"Ah! I'm coming!" Vayu suddenly tumbled down, making Jeli giggle as the Chief suddenly said, "Take her to the tavern. Order the Chief's Special for Jeli and you... get some bread or something," Chief stated before pulling Trilok into the store and pushing Vayu out. Then, she slammed the entrance of the store shut.

"..."

"That's weird even for your dad," Vayu looked towards Jeli.

"I'm so sorry," Jeli looked down with flushed cheeks.

"Heh! Let's go. Tavern. Your treat!" Vayu grinned. Most of his shame sanded off, only leaving him with a thicker skin.

---

"What the fuck did you end up drinking? This is my store! My. Store!" Trilok growled and held onto Mamba tightly.

"Yeah. And this is my cock. My. Big. Cock." The chief twisted his waist, making Trilok pale.

"You perverted old drunkard! Touch me—"

"Tch, don't flatter yourself, kid!" The chief snorted, "Now... what's your success rate for this potion?" Still keeping an appropriate distance, the chief simply inquired, making Trilok feel a little relieved but his hold over Mamba behind the counter didn't lose even once.

"30%" Trilok sighed.

But the old Chief continued to look at the vial with great reluctance.

"Damn it... it's really a pity," The old man sighed after a long time, "How much for this one?"

"11,000."

In reality, Trilok had wasted more on the materials than the price on this one so he will only be recuperating a bit of loss. After all, he cannot see himself getting paid 23,000 coins for something that was sold at a maximum of 11,000 in trade ship.

"Oh, and what are the materials you used to?" The chief inquired with great interest.

"My piss, spit, and condescension at the fact you believe I will give out the recipe I refined myself," Trilok sneered, making the old chief choke on his saliva.

*Cough*

*Cough*

After a coughing fit, the chief glared at Trilok with an extremely ugly look, "Little bitch, I meant, I will get you the raw materials for this concoction!"

"Forget it," Trilok sighed and waved his hand, "I'm only a three-bit self-taught alchemist. I don't know how to manipulate spiritual energy externally. I don't know how to control spiritual fires. And I clearly haven't grasped the art of infusing the spiritual energy with a potion to stabilize it. My methods are the most basic, so, refining this potion is much more expensive to make daily, or even monthly."

The Chief sighed after a moment of understanding.

---

"Hehe, it's been so long since we got the chance to hang out," Vayu smiled widely, "We should bring Ron and the others!"

"No!" Jeli snorted, "Remember what my father said? Only the two of us," she glanced towards Vayu, "And then, we'll run off to the port. Our mark on the kids is slowly vanishing. We have to make sure they don't forget us!" She licked her lips with a malevolent grin.

The cycle of bullying.

The elderly will always bully the young to impart the experiences they themselves went through.

But recalling Mamba, Vayu shivered. He didn't want anyone to go through that particular experience. The fact that Trilok would even know how to impart such justice made him realize... that their father wasn't exactly 'only' a drunkard. If those moves were seen from their father, then yes, he surely wasn't.

As they continued to walk, much to Jeli's surprise, Vayu seemed to be a popular person now. Many individuals whom they passed would often call out in greeting, some even getting close to Vayu, shaking his hand in a strange manner and then bumping their shoulders with each other. Many slangs echoed as Vayu replied to each one of them casually.

"Hehe," Jeli suddenly giggled.

"Hmm? What?" Vayu inquired curiously.

"Nothing... I just never thought that someone who couldn't talk correctly as a five-year-old boy would suddenly be so open to others," Jeli snickered, making Vayu grumble.

"Hey, how was I supposed to learn speaking from? When Brother and I lived alone... he didn't talk too much. And once I came here, it was almost too late... shit, according to him, he could always speak for as long as he could remember so I thought, the same would happen for me!"

Vayu grumbled but Jeli burst out laughing.

"You only knew a few words! Food, red, blue, brother, and then food again! Pfft! Hahaha!" Jeli held her stomach as Vayu rolled his eyes.

"Tch... Sister Kol was right... Poor people tend to get jealous of their rich friends," Vayu mumbled, his words making Jeli's expression dark as she smiled coldly.

"My father is still... ah, sorry, my brother is still richer than your brother!" Jeli hurriedly changed her statement but Vayu didn't seem affected.

"And? I'm talking about us! Among the five of us, even Ron isn't anywhere close to me. And did you know that 81 divided by 9 is 9?!" He crossed his arms with pride flickering in his eyes.

"Of course, everybody should know that... why... you just did?" Jeli inquired with a confused expression, making Vayu's smile stiff.

"Let's eat," he grumbled, pulling Jeli away by hand as her eyes widened but a bright smile appeared on her face, "Yep!"

---

[Name: Jolly

Age: 61

Spirit Vein: Purple (Upgrade Requirement: 5,000,000)

Cultivation: Spiritual Summoner— 7 (Upgrade Requirement: 87,000), Rare Physique— 4 (Upgrade Requirement: 98,000)

Techniques: Bellow of Wine Monk (High-Epic)(Special Trait: Wine Dantian: 3)(Upgrade Requirement: 220,000)

Drunk Shura (High-Mystic)(Special Trait: Wine Conversion: 3)(Upgrade Requirement: 160,000)

]

Trilok gazed at the departing back of the chief with a thoughtful expression. There was no doubt that the old man was currently the strongest in the community. A rare dual cultivator with a good foundation of cultivation techniques. The information didn't just end there. The old man had seemingly learned a lot of spirit skills. But still, Trilok couldn't understand why he was able to see all of it much less upgrade these techniques.

However, this doubt has always been present in his life so he didn't care too much about it. Instead, he began absorbing the spirit from the coin and his expression turned grim.

[10,989 Spirit Points Collected.]

'11 of these coins are a bust...'

The need for an influx of new coins couldn't be more evident.

Trilok pursed his lips and grew conflicted.

'Risk and opportunities always come hand in hand. They are twin concepts. I have already risked a lot to attain so much... but generally speaking, I only have personal savings of 70,000 coins. I'm only a Spiritual Enhancer still. With six vials of Spiritual Aftertaste, my entire savings would be drained much less higher potions and oil.

Trilok bit his lip. He had many conflicting thoughts at the moment.

On one hand, he wanted to take risks and find greater opportunities. It was literally outside. The ocean full of opportunities was within Trilok's gaze and grasp! On the other hand, he had gone through a lot. He had seen men and women destroyed... torn, and devoured. The beautiful ocean, its calming waves, the beds of enchanting corals... it was simply the illusions of life depicted best by the ocean.

If Ocean was a paradise, men wouldn't die. If the sea was the surface of hopeful adventure, then men wouldn't despair for the loss of their loved ones.

Holding his shivering, balled fist with another hand, Trilok scowled.

"That fucking Zappos really left some lasting trauma..." Trilok gritted his jaws and hissed.

'I will wait for Kol. 70,000 is nowhere near enough to develop a private team, but I can surely sponsor a team and get a share of their rewards... the fresh game has a lot of spirit points, too.'

---

"Don't you have your work at the port?" Vayu inquired while leaning against the wooden ledge and looking out at the blue wide expanse with a longing expression. Still, he bit on the salmon roll and ate his fill. Unknown to him, Jeli looked more towards his profile than the ocean.

"I can get there late," Jeli smirked.

"Say... don't you like going to Ocean? I can help you get on the ship with the best fishers of the community," Jeli offered a moment of internal conflict in her mind.

"Not now...," Vayu's smile brightened.

"I don't want to train in the ocean now. When I do, I want no studies to tie me down. I'll satisfy all of brother's requirement... make him stop calling me dumb, and then go out in the sea. Maybe, when that happens, we all can be Spiritual Enhancer and have fun together," Vayu turned towards Jeli. Seeing the dazed look in her eyes, he couldn't help but inquire.

"Something on my face?"

"No... I was just wondering... how long it will take you to learn everything to say that we can all be spiritual enhancers by then. Vayu... it's simple math... with that face, why did you have to be so dumb..." Jeli sighed deeply.

"Hah?!" Vayu headbutted Jeli, making her almost fall on her back as the pained girl glared at Vayu, "I took the Cinder Seep Potion, too. Don't you think that you're the only one strong!" Before she could do anything else, however, Vayu suddenly exclaimed.

"Then you got all dirty, too, right? What did you smell like? I got the stink of a rotten mudfish. Oh, and didn't your hair feel super weird? You know, when I completely cultivated—"

Before he could complete, the blushing and angered Jeli struck Vayu in his torso, making him chock slightly.

"No wonder your brother calls you stupid! Idiot! Bleh!" Sticking her tongue out, Jeli ran away.

"Y- yhor... Salmon Roll... is mihne!" Vayu gasped, but looked at the salmon roll with extreme delight.