"2 multiplied by 12?"

"144!"

Trilok silently gazed at Vayu. The pair of siblings were much better than before. Trilok's hair had been shortened. He wore a warm tunic but still loved to wear shorts reaching his knees. Meanwhile, Vayu grew up to be the perfect example of a stray beast. Cute at first but extremely revolting later on, or so, Trilok, the elder of the two crudely categorized it as.

"I'll ask again," the lamp fueled by fish oil flickered as Vayu nodded with a distressed expression. His brown eyes revealing his nervousness while Trilok's brown gaze revealed a sense of anticipation.

"12 multiplied by 2 equals?"

"Uh... 2 in my hand, twelve in my mind... 2-2 za 4... 2-1 za 2... 42?"

Vayu frowned hard.

"Oh... you insufferable little illiterate..." Trilok groaned.

Hearing such an assessment, Vayu squirmed while still sitting cross-legged.

"Hey!" He shouted, "It's still not in our syllabus and the instructor only cares about our combat practice!" Vayu justified himself.

"Shut up!" Trilok retorted, "Every word out of an illiterate like you is as disastrous as a pig teammate helping a lion teammate! Do you want to be a sponge potato?" Trilok poked Vayu's forehead fiercely, "Huh? Do you want to be a dumb crab who cannot even multiply? You're so dumb that our mother would cough blood even after dying! You're so freaking dumb that our drunk of a dad would have to sacrifice his drinking addiction, rollover, cough blood, and work hard to raise enough money for your theoretical tuition!

You're so dumb that even I, your most Supreme Elder Brother, feel that my intelligence came at the price of yours!" 

Stunned by such a verbal lashing, Vayu gulped before inquiring softly, "If you're... intelligent because of me... shouldn't you feed me more? Praise me more?"

"What is this?" Trilok raised his hand and inquired with a defeated smile.

"A... hand."

"How many fingers have I extended?"

"I want to say 5... but I sense there's a trick involved," Vayu stated honestly.

*Pah*

Trilok's hand lashed and struck Vayu squarely, "God damn! If you don't learn the tables from 1-20 by tonight, no more supper for you!"

"Ah!"

It pained Vayu more than the slap.

"Hmph," Snorting, Trilok walked out and shut the door behind him, leaving a sobbing Vayu with the parchment on multiplication.

"Oh, shit, run! It's the lashing Trilobster!" The group of young boys and girls, probably waiting for Vayu to come out, instantly ran away from the entrance of the shop once they saw Trilok exiting the room instead of Vayu.

"Stupid kids! Wasting their time!" Trilok snorted again before sitting on the wooden chair cushioned by a sponge seat.

Soon enough, an elderly walked into the storefront. His aged gaze observed the condition of the various parts of sea organisms placed around the shop and some within filled jars with various price tags marked about. The storefront had the undeniable scent of medicine and ointments prepared from the natural oils and fluids of sea creatures.

"Mornin' Chief! Your daily visit going well?" Trilok smiled and waved at the Chief of the Community ship who also happens to be the captain of the ship itself.

"Not so loud, boy," the old man with slick grey hair combed back with the possible application of oil groaned, his scraggly beard, in contrast, was quite unkempt with a few snacks still stuck in the grey jungle and the heavy scent of booze lingering around him.

"Fine, fine. Here's your detoxification!" Trilok threw a small pouch made of fish skin.

"Ung," the chief grunted and caught the pouch before throwing back a deflated pouch.

"Yesterday's pouch. And this," he took out a small coin and tossed it towards Trilok. The coin was dark-green in color without any carvings. Instead, observing carefully, one could see a single strand of playful green wisp on the surface of the coin disappearing.

[1 Spirit Point Collected.]

"Thanks," Trilok grinned as the Chief nodded, removing the cork over the pouch and drinking the bitter content while walking out of the store.

As he walked out, the Chief looked at the name of the store carved on a piece of plank and placed on the side.

-Bitter Medicine; Healthy Life-

'Hmph... more like bitter poisons and an even bitter life... what will I do living a healthy life in this dump!'

As the chief began his daily visits to the other stores on the deck of the community ship, Trilok gleefully 'opened' his most prized treasure.

'Freaking show me my points!'

He shouted internally.

[Name: Trilok

Age: 19

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

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

Spirit Points: 19,567

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

]

"Ha! Just a little more!" Trilok chuckled.

Sea God's Ascension is simply the most common Cultivation technique of the sea-border spread to almost every middling cultivator like him and his younger brother.

'Every coral coin provides me with a single spiritual point. I can further use them as a currency, too... but... it's morning. It's not right to count money right off the bat. I've even completed my quota of screwing with Vayu... what should I do?'

In the world of strong destroying the weak, and even after having such a close shave with death, Trilok remained as idle as the day where he fled with his family into the sea. Maybe, it was because of almost dying by the attack of a Zappos that he did not have too much desire to grow strong and bully the weak... as long as he could bully Vayu, his simple life was much more desirable.

"Right, might as well concoct more oils for the rush hour," Sighing, Trilok stood from the most comfortable position behind the counter and walked closer to the location with extreme scent. Contained by the metallic drawers were many fishes and sea creatures cut apart and dangled on with liquid dripping down their body into a large tray beneath.

A small jug was hung on the edges of the tray as the soft dripping sound of the 'juices' and the thick odor of the dead sea creatures filled the shop suddenly.

Even Vayu, behind the storefront, plugged his nose with the parchment meant for his study and sneaked out of the store/house.

'Hehe, life is too short to just study! I want to play and cultivate!' the free spirit ran out with a happy expression, well-received by a group of equally young children cheering him on.

"The same mojo as usual," Trilok grumbled slightly. He had been wanting different species of creatures to try and create a fresh variety of products but he himself was too unaccustomed to the sea ever since he began living in this community ship with Vayu. 

Filling the jug with the mixture of oil, Trilok returned to his counter and settled the jug over it. The smudged spots of oils creating a circular ring on the wooden counter as the slightly red mixture settled within the jug.

[Vital Algae: A common qi mutated marine flora that fills the body with a slight amount of vitality. No special effects.]

Holding a part of bronze alga in his hand, Trilok gazed at the description to check if the authenticity of the material and then finally plucked a single stalk and let it drop in the mixture of oil.

'Heh, if it wasn't for the emerald drilling into my brain to give me such godly abilities, I wouldn't have figured out a cheap method of concocting a simple recovery ointment.'

Taking out three petals of Recovery weed, Trilok let the light blue petals float into the jug before he covered the top with a wooden lid and started to shake the mixture unceremoniously.

'One shake up, two shake down, and earn profits from dusk till dawn!' 

After a few minutes of shaking, Trilok uncovered the jug and identified the concoction.

[Poor Man's Health: A common recovery oil under the heaven which requires the combination of the bodily oil of eleven low-leveled organisms spiced with a stalk of a Vital Algae and Recovery Petals. Note: Vital Algae and Recovery Petals can be exchanged with other healing flora given the right ratio.]

While Trilok had the ability to identify everything as of this moment, he did not have the ability to properly exchange items in a concoction that other alchemist of the community boasts. After all, even this concoction— Poor Man's Health, came at an expense of a lot of time spent fishing and acquiring goods daily. 

However, currently, [Poor Man's Health] was simply one of the most popular concoctions of the community. Trilok did not have a need to go into the sea daily to earn his living.

After all, a single trip to the sea, at his level, would only earn him 7 coral coins if he is lucky with 4 coral coins being the price of three loaves of sticky bread, the staple diet of the community.

However, each vial of Poor Man's Health granted Trilok 35 coral coins and deducting the cost of stock replenishment in proportion to each vial, Trilok actually makes a stunning profit of 11 coral coins with each sale, and easily, more than 20 vials are sold per day.

"It's a pity, it's a pity... that Vayu is too big of a mouth to feed, not to mention his tuition and martial arts classes... damn bastard living like a young master while I'm slaving for him," Trilok sighed wistfully, filling twenty vials with a single jug and skillfully sealing their entrances. Once the product was on display again, Trilok placed the jug back into the drawer and sat back on his chair, reclining back and placing his foot over the counter.

He already felt tired.

"Boss! I've got some good stuff!"

After dozens of minutes passed by idleness and then study of a few parchments he had purchased over the years to continue his self-education, Trilok looked at the pockmarked chubby woman barging into the store with an eager expression.

"T-the Pills have entered the market again! There's already a large crowd! Even Noland is there!"

"For real?" Trilok quickly wore his slippers and fished out a few coral coins from his pocket and handed them to the woman.

"Miss. Kol, you've outdone yourself. Quick, take me there!"

He locked the door of the store and quickly left with the barely kempt woman.

---

Surrounded by gentle waves, a large ship constructed from the woods of Red Carp Forest floated. On the elliptic deck of the astonishingly large ship, many wooden buildings and pavilions were erected. Some fashioned into houses and many more being stores. In fact, the large ship even had a designated location to store ships much smaller in size— a port within a ship with a size rivaling a small village!

In this particular ship, a huge crowd was soon gathered around the exit of the port. The heavy scent of seafood pervaded into the deck through the surrounding stalls while many individuals were chattering among themselves.

With a community ship being an equivalent of a slightly well-off village, almost everyone knew each other in their small circle of living.

In the center of the crowd, two men battled with words.

"Fucker! This is 'The' spirit manifesting pills! A vial with three whole pills! You dare lowball a spiritual alchemical product while being an alchemist yourself?!"

The man roaring with indignation had looks befitting a pirate. No, considering his wooden leg stick and broken set of teeth with scars and tattoos on his right arm, he might really be a pirate. The blood still leaking through his good thigh further revealed that the newcomer into the community ship might be a defeated pirate.

"So? What if I am? Still feel trouble understanding your situation? This isn't an individual ship but a community. And I'm the only alchemist you'll find here to treat your injuries! Sell me the pills for 3000 coral coins each!" The man opposite to the pirate crossed his arms. His chin smooth and his hair short and neat. Unlike the dark-skinned pirate, the youth had a pale complexion and his dark eyes revealed no pity for the injured.

"Oh, you dirty liar! I'm also the community alchemist!" 

A shout broke the chattering of the surrounding before the crowd quickly parted ways for another youth. This one much more unkempt, only wearing a warm tunic and dark shorts that revealed his slightly thin legs. Matching the deep gaze of the posh-looking alchemist, this new arrival seemed much more 'positive' to the pirate.

Instantly, the cold look of the young alchemist was replaced by a wry expression as the man snickered, "Come now, I didn't lie. It's not called lying if the result is for the greater good!"

"And what greater good is you stealing these pills, huh, Noland?" Trilok snorted.

"You, don't fall for his words, I've got the best recovery oil in the community. Ask anyone!" Trilok pointed out and took out a small vial from his pocket.

"Here, can you catch it?" He inquired before tossing.

Seeing the pirate nod, Trilok threw the vial and the man caught it instantly.

'Oh... he's stronger than a spiritual dweller,' Noland and Trilok noted instantly.

Uncorking the vial, the man smelled the oil before sealing the lid once again.

"It's... good enough," the man grunted.

"Good," Trilok clapped, "Now sell me those pills for 3000 each and I'll supply you with oil until you're completely healed!"

Noland almost snorted a chuckle while the bearded pirate grew stunned for a moment. The youth who should be his savior in this dark moment turned out to be as much of a snake as the previous alchemist!

"How— How dare you all?!" The pirate growled as a formless pressure finally sneaked out of his body.

But feeling no intimidation, almost all of the citizens of the community instantly released their own Cultivation.

"Oh, you poor Bastard! I told you, understand your god damn situation. You're surrounded by us and you're injured. If we're willing to pay for the pills, take the money and piss off!" Noland sneered. 

The pirate, meanwhile, paled.

Seeing the look of contempt on the faces of other fishers around him, the Pirate shivered in humiliation.

"Say, Tri," Noland chuckled, "How many pills do you actually need?"

"Only one for Vayu. He's got his initiation this week."

Trilok cringed slightly at the nickname but still replied nonetheless.

"Then it's settled. You'll sell the pills for 2500 coral coins now. I'll foot in 5000 coins and this other healing alchemist will pay the remaining 2500!" Noland clapped his hand, now speaking more cheerfully.

Even Trilok's expression eased as he nodded in contemplation, "Yeah, dude. You should feel lucky we're nice guys and not just robbing you. Remember before taking any stupid actions that our chief is a Middle-Rank Spirit Summoner."

The pirate almost blanked out in shock.

A pirate was being robbed in the broad daylight!

Hidden within the crowd, Vayu licked his lips.

"Dude... your big bro is so sneaky! It's so cool!" One of the boys behind Vayu whispered.

"Shut the fuck up already!" Vayu hissed, "If he finds me... he'll beat you up, too," two girls and three boys in the crowd shivered.

"Ehm... he wouldn't dare beat me!" Chief's young daughter whispered with a gulp.

"You'll be the first to feel his wrath," Vayu whispered, "Do you see that fatty close to him. Kol. She left a bad impression on Brother by trying to cheat us on a few fishes... the next thing he did was break the stall and beat her up until her face turned blue... now she works under brother."

"Under brother? What kind of work?" The cute girl's expression changed as she seemed to have a thought process different from those her age.

"Information gathering, or that's what she said one time... of course, brother beat her up once again... I don't know why though. I think that time, she accidentally spilled one of the vials of Poor Man's Health."

"Oh, alright," the girl sighed in relief. If it was just beating, she could probably endure it.

"And then, later that night, I heard weird voices from brother's room," Vayu added, "It sounded like Miss Kol was crying..."

The Chief's daughter's expression changed once again.

"He's scary..." one of Vayu's friends, already aware of Trilok's temper, shivered.