"Hey! Vayu! Wake up!" Trilok continuously slapped Vayu's face as he fell back on the floor the moment he stepped into the bathroom in the morning.

"It wasn't that bad! Boss!" Kol whined. All of her chemistry and sensuality seemed to have disappeared with a resounding 'poof' in Trilok's eyes. She held Vayu up while Trilok quickly closed the door to the bathroom.

"A boy fainted! He fainted. And yet you still seek comfort from me?" Trilok growled, unable to comprehend Kol's mind. It wasn't only her fault. A small space couldn't handle the bombardment of two cultivators 'shedding' their impurities back-to-back. 

"But!" Kol huffed. She had a great time last night. Trilok didn't make things any weird and he did pretty well to release the tension of her body alongside preparing her for the breakthrough. But the night had long passed, and after the breakthrough and bathing, she spread a mat for herself in the shop and slept there for the night.

"I really need to upgrade the living space," Trilok mumbled as he placed Vayu on his mattress. They still had to eat but truly, they did not feel like eating in this room now. This thought was shared by Trilok and Kol simultaneously.

"If it is upgrading the living space—" Before Kol could begin, Trilok shook his head.

"Not now. I'm putting my experiments on hold, too. I will save money for the trade ship."

He still kept his sight on the bigger picture.

Using a lot of coins just to make arrangements with a carpenter and the shipwright of the community was not a smart decision in Trilok's eyes, not when the threat of pirate wondered about and he was quite weak himself.

Looking towards Kol, he checked her status.

[Name: Kol

Age: 20

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

Cultivation: Spiritual Enhancer— 1 (Upgrade Requirement: 15,000), Common Physique— 1 (Upgrade Requirement: 1200)

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

Mighty Fist (Mid-Common)(No Special Traits)(Upgrade Requirement: 10,000)

]

"I have an idea," Trilok smiled. If his place was already destroyed by the smell, then they shouldn't hold back and cultivate here, in separate rooms and keep as many windows or doors open as they can. Meanwhile, they will live in...

---

"What?!" Jeli almost screamed as she looked towards the snickering Vayu.

"Jeli, I'm telling you, Sister Kol is a proper lady! She has all these weird stuff. When I asked about them, she said that only mature ladies use them. Oh, and she had a fish tank! I did not know Sister Kol had such a nice house. The way she rarely left our home, I thought she was homeless," Vayu kept talking about the situation. The fact that many fishers started to look for body cultivation technique was going to be exposed and inflate the market trends with a snap, so, this was something that Jeli had heard since it was the cause of a few whispers around her.

"So... your brother and sister Kol are now living together?" Jeli inquired again, her young mind too influenced.

"Yes, that's what I just said," Vayu looked at her and smiled, "Hah! And you called me dumb. You're pretty stupid yourself, Jeli."

Jeli's lips twitched but she simply bit on her salmon roll.

"Vayu, I heard about yesterday," Jeli huffed in exasperation, "Really, how can you threaten Jenc with his eyes? Did you think he won't beat you? But... I also heard that this Jenc found a supreme body cultivation treasure. Do you know anything about it?" 

Hearing Jenc's name, Vayu recalled yesterday's events and he pursed his lips. However, he quickly munched on his roll, too. 

"No, I don't," Vayu mumbled, "But I didn't really mean taking away his only good eye. I was practicing a negotiating skill."

"What do you mean?" Jeli fell stunned, "Didn't I say 'eyes' previously? Patch Jenc has two eyes. He only wears a patch over his eye to continue the legacy of his father. Patch Kok. Jenc's father had lost his eye to the ocean and the wound was infected, causing him to die soon. So, Jenc started taking control of his father's ship and soon became, you know, Patch Jenc. Whom you insulted with that threat wasn't just Jenc, but his late father, too."

Jeli explained, finally making Vayu gape.

"Woah, he's stupid, too," Vayu muttered finally. After all, Jenc just punched his brother for a dead man. This only made Vayu feel worse about Jenc. Clearly, he was more interested in settling scores than anything. Even if he found out that Jenc regularly donated and was quite a religious person, Vayu would still cultivate harshly to quickly hand Jenc's ass down with a single strike!

"Anyway, my shift will begin soon," Jeli coughed, "So, before I leave... I just wanted to ask that did you start cultivating your body?"

Vayu nodded.

'It must have been a low-quality technique. Brother once said that low-quality technique is harmful to the body,' Jeli felt conflicted inwardly.

"You know, Papa said that the risk of pirates is close to nothing... So, you don't have to risk damaging your body," Jeli whispered while leaning against the wooden railing as she looked into the Ocean. 

"Oh, it's not really a problem," Vayu smiled widely, "I just like being strong. Pirates or not. I want to be strong... ah, and smart. I always forget about that," he sighed, deeply troubled as Jeli looked towards the boy.

"If you think so," she smiled, too. "If it wasn't for brother saying that sharing cultivation technique is wrong, I would have shared my Body Cultivation Technique with you."

"My brother said the same thing. We get strong in our own ways without sharing techniques," Vayu nodded.

---

"What the fuck?!" Kol smacked her hands over a stall while glaring at a beady-eyed man who had fewer teeth than a growing toddler. The coral crystals placed on the stall wobbled but the man continued to smile, revealing a less than toothy look.

"Aiya, I said that I will have to increase the price by this much," the man raised three fingers, marking the increase of price by 3 percent.

"Jacklin! You're out of your fucking mind if you think we'll pay you a single coun extra. In the last two months, you've raised the original price almost by 10!" She growled while leaning forward.

"The pirates! It's the pirates! Miss. Kol. You were in the crystal game, too. The stock is hard to find and the other ships always act coy. Boss Trilok will have to pay a little more for the crystals from now on," Jacklin chuckled.

"Noooo, you don't get it. Keep on fucking with us, do you believe we won't change our suppliers. Sure. Others charge a little more but your price is almost the same and get this, Crystals have a larger shelf life. We might have tapped your cheeks, but others will still bend and reduce their price if we get a long-term commitment."

Jacklin frowned at the words and the sight of Kol's feral grin.

'Some people don't like negotiations. However, they would bend the knee to a threat.'

"Is that so?" Jacklin clicked his tongue.

"Then leave! I won't fucking deal with you lot anymore!" Jacklin crossed his arms, "I don't need your Oils. I'm already going to die weak, might as well do so with dignity. Fuckers keep on threatening hard-working traders like me."

"Hard-working? You?" Kol chuckled in anger, "Have you got no shame? Or should the remaining of your teeth get knocked out, too?"

"Heh! And who'll do that? Boss? Is his face already healed? I heard Patch got him good. Let me tell you something. Don't stay with the sinking ship that your boss is for too long. He'll just end up taking you down."

Kol gritted her teeth.

This was the backlash of yesterday's events. 

Those who were only controlled by Trilok's reputation were now going havoc. After all, Trilok had pressed quite a few sellers under his thumb the moment Poor Man's Health picked off. Out of these, a few had grown loyal, in some forms, to sell their products to Trilok honestly. But there were two-three sellers like Jacklin and surely, they would use yesterday's events as a chance to get a better profit margin for themselves.

Even with Roa's reputation, these traders wouldn't budge. And of course, Roa knew better than to step in front of old, profit-hungry traders with nothing to lose and get himself in an embarrassing position.

It simply wasn't worth it.

'With the change of these three sellers, the cost of spirit trace oil would increase almost by a hundred coins. This means that at every consignment to Roa's ship... we'll take a hit of 7200 coins. I need to talk to Boss about this.'

However, instead of rushing to Trilok right away, Kol found a few small players of the crystal game and set up a price. She also confirmed things with Patty about the crystal trade. With that, Patty will start procuring crystals in a large quantity.

But still, the thought of such a great loss haunted her.

After all, loss on sales meant an effective hit to her bonus. 

Even her own income was affected by a single punch.

'A business and its relationship built on reputation are much harder to manage. If we get strong and change the factor of our success from reputation to pure strength, then everything will fall in place, making it extremely easy to manage such an enterprise.'

Kol sighed.

---

"Hey! Is the bleeding face home?" In the evening, after the rush hour, a cheerful voice called out and a thin figure jogged into the store. Hearing the voice, Trilok sighed deeply and stopped absorbing the spirit points from the coins.

Wearing a thick robe, Noland quickly sat on a wooden stool and leaned forward to observe Trilok's face.

"Hmm, I thought you'd wear your badge of honor for a little longer but it's already healed, how sad..." Noland sighed.

"What's up?" Trilok inquired while looking at Noland's status and as expected, he had entered the realm of body cultivation using Jenc's technique but he still hadn't broken into the realm of the spiritual enhancer. 

"Nothing. Just came to console my rival. It would be a pity if you leave the alchemical path to pursue vengeance," Noland shrugged.

"Good for you," Trilok mumbled. He wasn't in good mood today. Not after hearing Kol's news about the market. What made it worse was the fact that him personally taking action would only worsen the situation.

"But Jenc's pretty lucky, huh..." Noland idly wondered.

"Yeah," Trilok sighed.

Not only will Jenc earn massive revenues by selling the technique, but he also wouldn't even be taxed. Sharing of cultivation technique fell under the category of tutoring, which isn't a taxable source of income within the community. Not to mention the fact that the risk of others reselling the technique had gone down by quite a lot.

After all, if Trilok's reputation took a hit, then Jenc was a star right now. Even Trilok's action of pulling himself out of the talk by adding the false information of a treasure and comparing Jenc's strength with Roa's would only make Jenc's reputation rise.

The nail in the head is the fact that Jenc possessed the strength to back up his reputation. So, even if someone resells the technique, and Jenc finds this person. Leaving with a few cracked bones was already the most pleasant scenario and nobody would move a lip against Jenc.

"Help me clean up a little," Trilok stood up and began packing the most valuable of stocks."

"So it was true? You're shifting in within Miss. Kol?" Noland inquired.

To his inquiry, Trilok opened the door to his room and an unpleasant stench wafted out.

"You tell me," Trilok smiled.

But suddenly, his gaze grew still.

"Say, Noland. Lend me your ring."

Noland grew dazed before screaming at the top of his lungs, "Did you get kicked in the head, you donkey! Why would I give you my spatial ring?!"

"I meant, let me borrow it!" Trilok hurriedly caught Noland's wrist to stop him from escaping.

"Fucker! Hell, no!"

"Then just let me use the space! I'll pay the rent!" Trilok hissed.

"Huh?" Noland grew dazed.

"Turn your spatial ring into a storehouse and be my landlord until my house gets spacious enough," Trilok stated.

Thinking for a moment, Noland smiled.

"4000 a day!"

"I'll steal your ring."

"Ehm, well, given your stock, I won't take anything less than 2100. Take it or leave it."

Trilok thought for a moment before nodding.

"You go and bring the ring while I'll count inventory and make a list. Remember, the moment anything is missing from my stock, I'll raze your store into the ship."

"Tch, bitch, I've got my newest product ready to hit the shelves in a week. I don't need your stinking oil!"