Chapter 42 Old Ox's Request

Entering the residence, it was quite dusty and unkept. 'At least no one's messed anything up.' Mo Xiaowen sighed inwardly before heading towards Old Ox's bed. He then crouched down and reached his hand under the bed.

'What did he leave here, I can't find anything.' Mo Xiaowen thought before his hand clasped onto something. Retrieving his hand along with the object, the boy realised it was an oddly shaped palm sized box.

Opening it up, there was a note and a key inside. Naturally he opened up the note and began reading it.

"Mo Xiaowen, if you're reading this I am probably dead, or maybe someone else is reading this? Who knows, I guess I'll leave it up to fate. Anyway, I know this is a selfish request but I ask you, no I beg you to go to my home and tell my people what has happened to me.

I come from an island west of the Flood Dragon Kingdom named Krile. When I was younger my father and I went on a trip with our boat and ended up stranded here, my father didn't make it. Under my bed there's another compartment, in there are the schematics to the boat we used, a map, a list of instructions, along with my fortune. I have around 800 Gold saved up and you'll need about 1000 Gold to build the boat.

Its a large sum I know, but I hope you can manage somehow, this is all I ask for, build the boat sail to Krile and tell them what happened to my father and I. Well, I guess I should end it here, so long Xiaowen."

Putting the note away, Mo Xiaowen steeled his heart before lifting the bed and opening the compartment. As Old Ox had said there was a map, boat schematics and 823 Gold Coins.

Looking at the map and schematics the boy realised they looked familiar to him. 'Yes back then hadn't I seen these?' He thought, but decided not to dwell on it.

Studying the schematics, map and manual, Mo Xiaowen understood his next steps. First he'd have to find a shipwright to build the boat, and then he'd have to practice sailing with the boat.

'If only he had told me this earlier, I could've given him the Gold.' Mo Xiaowen sighed, he had over 3000 Gold Coins saved up, and while he still thought this was far from enough, he'd have been willing to dish out even the entire 1000 Gold Coins for such a serious matter.

'Then again he probably didn't know about my money, I never really mentioned it did I....' Shaking his head, the boy put away the various scrolls and coins before leaving the residence. It was already quite late, so it was best if he headed to Sea Glass City tomorrow.

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The next day Mo Xiaowen stood outside the Iron Dragon Dockyard, carrying a large sack filled with Gold Coins on his back. Entering the dockyard, Mo Xiaowen was greeted by an attendant.

"Hello Young Sir, how may I help you?" The attendant asked, with a jovial tone.

"I need a boat built, a custom one." Mo Xiaowen replied as concisely as possible. Hearing this the attendant nodded his head.

"Custom boats are expensive...but I see that you've come prepared." He said before showing Mo Xiaowen to a separate room. A few minute later a middle-aged man appeared. The man was tanned and muscular, and had a sharp gaze.

"I heard you need a custom boat built, show me the schematics." The man demanded reaching his hand out. It was well known that the Iron Dragon shipwrights weren't all that polite, so Mo Xiaowen wasn't bothered.

Handing the man the schematics, he began studying them thoroughly. "These seem familiar.....where did you get these from?" The shipwright asked curiously.

"A friend." He wasn't really in the mood to talk, he simply wanted the boat to be built.

"Not much of a talker are you? Fine I'll build it, but its gonna cost you 1000 Gold Coins." The shipwright declared, before rolling up the schematics. The boy then handed him the large sack of Gold Coins.

"This should be enough. How long will it take you to build it?" Mo Xiaowen asked, passing the large sack over.

"About a month give or take, I guarantee it will be done in 35 days so come back then and it will be ready." He explained before calling someone over to count the coins.

After the coins were all counted, Mo Xiaowen took his leave and headed to a nearby building. It was called Sailor's Haven and here one could learn how to sail any kind of boat. Obviously Mo Xiaowen didn't have prior experience sailing, so he had to learn from somewhere.

Once again the boy found someone who led him to an instructor, they then went over the details and less than 10 minutes later Mo Xiaowen began his first sailing lessons.

"This is quite wobbly." The boy muttered trying to keep his balance. Seeing this the instructor chuckled to himself lightly.

"You've never been on boat before?" The instructor asked, he was an older man, most of his hairs were already grey but his eyes seemed lively despite his age.

"No....its my first time on a boat..." Mo Xiaowen responded trying to keep his balance, the waves rocking against the boat made it all the more harder.

"Don't worry about it, you'll get used to it in time, now before we even begin the lesson I need to explain to you the dos and don'ts." The instructors said before pulling out a map.

"Firstly, we're only allowed to sail within this area, going further north could be seen as an act of aggression and you'll be killed by the Glistening Sand Kingdom's forces. While you can go further south I don't recommend since if you land in the Barren Plains things could go badly for you." He explained pointing at various areas of the map.

"What about here?" Mo Xiaowen asked curiously pointing at a specific area of the map. It was filled with depictions of beasts and monsters, and was west of the Flood Dragon Kingdom.

"There's a death zone, this map is issued by the Kingdom and they've said that going here will only result in death. Because of this no one goes there.....just between you and me, some people speculate there's a special resource out there that the Kingdom keeps a monopoly on." The instructor answered.

Mo Xiaowen listened intently to every word. 'So it seems that, at least the Royal Family knows about Old Ox's island. It can't just be a coincidence how the two overlap.' He mused before falling onto his ass, in his deep thoughts he lost his balance.

"Hahaha, let me help you up boy, now we can begin the actual lesson." With that Mo Xiaowen began his sailing lessons, and boy were they a doozy.