Multiplicative Error

"Ahahahaha! That was refreshing! Boss, lend me another jug will ya!" Noland shouted, his lips smeared with the froth of the ginger beer as the two alchemists of the Silent Community Ship barely attracted enough attention. If Noland had a high alcohol tolerance, something any alchemist should have in the first place, the youths would be even less remarkable in such a place.

Over at the wooden counter, the owner of the tavern groaned.

"Gal! Customer's waiting, hurry up already!" The tough owner shouted, making the daughter sweat as she hurried to fulfill every order happening about.

"Here you are, Sir," the little girl let out a grunt while she placed the wooden jug bolted from the base onto Trilok's and Noland's table.

"Man!" Pouring the drink into his glass, Noland drank heartily while Trilok barely touched his glass.

And for a good reason at that.

[Spite of Waitress: Any waitress, under the heaven, if rushed, will concoct a venomous spit that laces the dishes of the customers, turning even the greatest heavenly treasure into spite of their kind. Note: Treat a waitress right and they'll leave the best impression anyone can ever imagine.]

"Hmm? Tri? You ain't drinking? Come on, it was a joke! I just said that I'm the only alchemist because I wanted to rip that stupid pirate off!" Noland wiped his lips with the dirtied sleeves of his tunic.

"No worries. Be sure to send your little pal to collect the payment from my store," Trilok mumbled. He, of course, didn't carry as much as 2500 coins in his pockets. His shorts would slide down due to the weight!

However, Noland was far richer than anyone in the Community and was one of the two individuals known to hold a rare artifact that can store large items in a small space.

Or so the rumor suggests.

"Why'd you need the spirit manifesting pills? We both already are spirit dwellers."

Humming in amusement, Noland snickered, "Why else an alchemist seek famous beauties of medicine? To unravel them, of course. To bare their secrets in my eyes completely. Why does the spirit manifesting pills raise the chance of contracting a better spiritual pill? Why is the chance only dependent on the quality of our spiritual veins? What is the secret ingredient that allows the Ark to monopolize this pill entirely?"

Snickering, he placed the jug on the table and looked into Trilok's eyes, "As an alchemist, are you not a wee bit curious? To us, this pill is a rare beauty! Of course, we have to ravish it!"

"Well," Trilok mumbled, fishing out a small pill glass vial out of his pocket and gazed into the dark green pill.

[Spirit Manifesting Pill: One of the uncommon pieces of alchemy under the heaven. Based on the spirit vein, the pill will increase the chances of contracting a legendary or higher grade spiritual beasts. This pill can only be ingested once, further intake will not prove to any benefit.

Note: For White: 1%, Green: 3%, Blue: 5%, Purple: 10%, Orange: 17%, Red: 29%, Cyan: 50%

Note: Unique and Heavenly Veins will have their own percentage increase and may be greater than 50%.

Ingredients: Flesh of the Living Sea— 50 gm...]

As Trilok gazed at the ingredients, he lamented internally. First, his spirit vein was simply a basic green vein that only allows someone to start cultivation. This is the vein that can only show empty promises of desires and hopes only to extinguish them with a cruel blow of fate.

Next, he lamented his amazing luck. While others grew perverted for pills just to find out their secrets, he is able to blue ball all of them by seeing these pills 'naked.'

"Whatever," Trilok shrugged, "Vayu's got a better aptitude than me... I hope that he can quickly become a Cultivator and start living on his own... even I became more independent after turning 12..."

"Eh, in this dump, no matter how awesome you are, you'll just be considered a slightly more fragrant trash," Noland snickered, "Anyway, want to help me with the research? If you help me research spirit manifesting pills, I will stop pestering you to reveal the ingredients of your Poor Man's Health!"

"Remuneration?" Trilok inquired with ease. Despite their shortcomings, both of them respected each other enough to not actually sneak and steal each other's secrets. For instance, Trilok's method of creating the Poor Man's Health is already an open secret but Noland just pesters him because he is quite bored. And Trilok himself knows all the ingredients of Trilok's alchemical product but refrains from harming Noland's financial interests.

Despite what the community says about their rivalry, both of them have known each other for almost 6 years and even if they will never call each other friends, they pretty much were it.

"Hmm, how does 4000 a day sounds?" Noland grinned.

"Hehe, 600 per hour, no less!" Trilok sneered, making Noland pout.

"Whatever! Just meet me after the awakening ceremonies. I've got a ton of basic pills to prepare for the ceremony. Ah, how hard it is to be the most useful alchemist of the community."

"Yeah," Trilok sighed, "I've got jugs of Poor Man's Health to prepare... how troublesome it is when the entire community finds my store to complain about how much of a weak-ass bitches are your healing pills!"

Smilingly, both of them left.

"Bastards! Don't you dine and dash!" The owner roared, "Lass, catch'em!"

"His tab!"

Both of them shouted and pointed at each other before running away.

"Papa, add the same amount in both of their tabs!" The young girl snorted.

"Aye aye!" The owner snickered.

---

"One for me!" A burly man wearing a ragged vest smeared with sweat and grim placed a fistful of coral coins on the counter as he picked a vial of Poor Man's Health.

"How was the trip, Rhal?" Trilok inquired with a smile as he took the coins whilst absorbing the spirit energy within them, becoming richer by 35 spirit coins.

"It's a good haul. Encountered a tide of moth salmons so many got the coin to spend on yer oil. You better keep a good stock tonight!" Rhal, one of the most prominent fishermen and cultivator of the Community gave a grin. His fingers were slightly swollen and blue, revealing that tides as great as moth salmons do not only bring wealth but enough pain, too.

"Oh, how's Vayu's practice goin'? Little Asshole in my shed says that your brother's going to win in the ceremony. With that kind of talent, you can just lay all the responsibilities on him and laze about!" Rhal laughed, "It'd be great if I can do that, too!"

"Eh, it's alright," Trilok shrugged, "Every time Vayu learns something new, he gets this kind of hope that he can beat me..." He sighed while shaking his head in disappointment, "Blasted Ingrate! I fed the boy and that's how he repays me. Even now, he snuck out of his room and studies! I swear, he was way more obedient when we first came to the Community."

As if recalling a distant memory, Rhal sighed softly.

"Who would have thought that someone from the Ark would bring you boys into this ship... I still remember that day. Pressure as great as the mighty sea itself. The man's eyes so powerful... if I were a maid, I'd tap that..." Rhal mumbled.

"That's a weird thing to say," Trilok gulped.

"Oh, shut it! You didn't see the man... Spirit Dweller, Enhancer, Summoner. In our community, only that drunk chief is the Summoner, the strongest of us. But that man... he was way beyond a summoner."

"Spirit Fusion?" Trilok inquired.

"Nah, I've met a fusion expert before... even he wouldn't compare to this one. Sigh, anyway, I have four more mouths to feed. Say, after his initiation, would you get Vayu to sign up with my group?"

"And how would I achieve that? Trilok shrugged, "If you want him to sign up in your ship, go and ask him yourself."

"Got it, have a good rush hour."

As Rhal stated, with such a good haul, many middle-aged fishers came to Trilok and purchase the [Poor Man's Health]. This time, the sale went beyond the usual 20 vials and reached a gobsmacking 44 vials, bringing him a total of 1540 spirit points and a profit of 484 coral coins.

---

"Ah! Bro! What's this?!" Vayu inquired with a shocked expression. On the floor covered by a mat, many delicacies were spread. A large bowl of creamy soup, two plates of large fishes, a side dish composed of shrimps, and many other homemade condiments.

Under the flickering light of the lamp as darkness descended the realm, Trilok smiled grimly.

"I've had a great day today. So, I thought, we should celebrate. Anyway, you've got your initiation in six days so might as well feed you spiritually rich creatures, right?"

Vayu gulped a massive glob of saliva and nodded eagerly.

"Then... what's 13 multiplied by 7?" Trilok inquired softly.

The room suddenly descended into silence. Aside from the crisp noise of the flickering lamp, Vayu could only hear his own heartbeat thump inside, rapidly at that.

He understood, he truly fucked up.

Not afraid of beating but terrified of losing the chance of eating such a spread, Vayu raked his brain.

"Um... 13 and 7... 7-1 za 7 and 7-3 za 21... 721?"

"For the next six days, our breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be greater than the last... I've saved enough coin for a banquet for the week. But," pushing the plate only containing a single loaf of bread, Trilok smiled kindly, "As long as you don't get your math straightened up, you'll not get a taste of it and just enjoy the sight of you Supreme brother eating such a delicious spread... all alone. Feed on bread, work your brain. Get your multiplication right by the end of the week."

"Brother!" Vayu whined. His expression twisting his intestines felt green in regret.

"Shut up!" Trilok shouted with a frown, "Cultivation isn't just about having the strongest punches but also an astute mind! We cultivate body by cultivation techniques but our mind? It is only sharpened by studying and experiencing new things! How can you, as an aspiring cultivator, ever hope to be great if you don't even know what 13*7 is?!"

Vayu fell silent.

Fun aside, he really respected Trilok. After all, Trilok was basically a father to Vayu, too. Always feeding him, putting a roof over their head, and paying for his combat classes.

"I'm... I'll... I will eat that by tomorrow!" Snorting and pushing a big chunk of the loaf into his mouth, Vayu stood and returned to his room.

As he walked past Trilok, the elder one took the chance to read the boy's status.

[Name: Vayu

Age: 12

Spirit Vein: Blue (Upgrade Requirement: 500,000)

Cultivation: -

Technique: -

]

'Bruh... how am I to collect 500000 points? And why do I even have the ability to upgrade others? It's not like I want to help others... but if Vayu can have an even better spirit vein, it will raise his chance of survival in the sea.'

Never did Trilok keep a false hope that Vayu would want to become like him. While Trilok's mentality was influenced by his deadbeat father... Vayu was truly the child of the sea. Always waking up to the sea and then sleeping under the pale-blue moon. Even their father was dead by then and his existence couldn't influence Vayu's innocence, which always made the boy thirst for adventures.

Of course, by having better talents, and an astute mind, Vayu would have a better chance of survival and Trilok would have a better conscience before going to bed.

"Let's eat," he mumbled to himself, stuffing his face with the absolutely delightful dinner.

*Gulp*

Looking sideways, he found an unkempt head peeking through the edge of the door.

"Kol? Come, come! Let's eat! If it wasn't for your timely info, I would have lost the pills to Noland!"

He instantly walked up and pulled the chubby woman into the room as she gasped.

"Nngh, not so rough~!"

"Oh, shut up!" Trilok rolled his eyes as the duo began eating with a pleased expression.

"Um, Boss, who cooked the dinner?"

"I did!" Trilok smiled.

"It's tasty," Kol blew against a spoonful of creamy soup and ate it with a delightful expression, her light blue pupils lit up in delight.

"Of course, it is!" Trilok snickered, "And, what else happened today?"

"Aside from the arrival of the Spirit Manifesting Pill, nothing much. There was a major influx of moth salmons but Noland purchased almost all of it for his works and oh, Bryce said that he cannot keep the same rate of the supply of boss' stock and would have to increase it by 7%. And it's said that our Silent Community would be meeting up with a Trade Ship in 11 days."

"Trade Ship, huh..."

Trilok grew silent.

Once the dinner was consumed, Kol was sent back while Trilok opened the windows of the room to gaze at the glimmering sky made of uncharted ocean, blue light flickering from the calming waves of the sky as the reflection of a pale blue crescent moon could be seen.

Crimson Sun and Pale Blue Moon, the two celestial bodies that can still be seen through the atmospheric ocean.

[Name: Trilok

Age: 19

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

Cultivation: Spiritual Dweller— 8 (Upgrade Requirement: 8000)

Spirit Points: 21,142

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

]

'Time to upgrade the technique,' Trilok licked his teeth in anticipation.