"Boss, let's share this pill!"

"Eh? I don't want to do drugs anymore."

"No, this time, we can cut the pill in half and the effects will be lowered greatly!"

"But... no, I don't think so."

"Sigh, Boss, so what if Jenc said stupid things under the effect of the Crimson Heaven? Look at him, he's still snorting it like there's no end but we haven't experienced the true effects of the pill! Just this half, I promise I won't bother you. It's just that I don't have anyone else to share this with in particular—"

---

"Ugh..."

Trilok scratched his head while sitting up. His gaze was, once again, blurred. But soon he was able to observe his surroundings. He was on a single mattress bed with a grey bedsheet covering him. Why he was naked turned out to be a question accompanied by a massive migraine but soon, he accustomed himself while trying to revolve his spiritual energy. 

The room around him was a little luxurious. By luxurious, Trilok meant that there was an ornate lamp with its oil burnt out next to the bed, there was a window on the wall adjacent to the bed's side and a shelf filled with various incense sticks and pots of fragrance sealed up was placed near the door.

'This is... Kol's room,' Trilok groaned as he moved a little. Suddenly, his gaze twitched and he glanced towards his right hand. Seeing the green ring on his thumb, Trilok felt a little relieved and then he checked the contents of the ring.

Coins and a few resources.

But Trilok still wasn't satisfied and enduring his brain's roars of agony, he made a quick guess of the amount present in his ring. Aside from the amount meant to refund his production of oil, Trilok found his savings intact—

*Crrk*

He stepped on something hard while trying to get out of the bed.

And then he snapped out of it.

Looking down, he found himself stepping on a very familiar vial. Noland's products came in this vial and as he stood up, placing the sheet away, he felt breezy.

Of course, he didn't care if he was naked. 

But when he looked down, his scarred brother not matching his gaze, Trilok shivered.

He was clean.

Strangely.

Terribly.

Clean.

'Did my... pubes disappear to revolutionize the world?' Trilok sighed and quickly picked his shorts flung across the corner of the room and covered his ass. Then he wore his shirt, buttoned himself up, and walked out of the room.

*Click*

"Brother! That was so cool, last night! I didn't know Noland's pills could be used like that!" Vayu's shout almost burst Trilok's head apart and the contents of the shout made Trilok more than happy to faint.

'What happened last night?'

Trilok asked himself once again.

And then he saw a haggard Kol clutching her head due to Vayu's shout while continuously shaking her head.

"If you scream again, consider your rights to a tongue revoked," Trilok glared and groaned before he walked towards the kitchen and slowly diced up a few vegetables.

"Come here," Trilok addressed Vayu as the fearful boy quickly walked up, "I'm going to teach you something amazing. Even the Chief begs and kisses my feet for this stuff. Crush all these vegetables and batter them with water. Do not stop until everything is properly mixed and then serve it to the both of us in a glass. Remember... be slow and quiet in your actions." Trilok pressed Vayu's shoulder firmly, making the boy realize the weight of responsibility suddenly dropped on his young shoulders.

As Vayu began to work, Trilok slowly made his way towards the table beside his own mattress near the entrance of the house and he sat in front of Kol.

"You're not sleeping," Trilok grunted.

"Iahdonwannatalktonoone!" Kol groaned while laying her head on her arms against the table.

"Do you remember anything that happened last night?"

Kol flinched and she slowly raised her head. Her eyes were bloodshot and if Trilok looked into the mirror, he would find his own eyes in a similar state.

"Boss... you violated my mouth," Kol sniffed, her pretty eyes glared at Trilok indignantly. 

Even after cultivating her body, Kol hadn't changed that much. Her skin was still a little tanned despite her constant attention, her cheeks were a bit round and held her pockmarks. In fact, only her pockmarked cheeks seemed to have gotten a little better. 

Only the slightest bit.

"I know... I didn't do anything weird," Trilok gulped.

"You shoved it into my mouth! Boss, I choked on it! Choked! My eyes rolled up and I couldn't breathe! It was too much for my first time!" Kol sniffed while Trilok's expression turned slightly darker.

"What exactly... di you choke on?" Trilok inquired. She was being too vague and just too... sensual about this whole situation.

"You made me swallow Noland's pill... and not from the right mouth!" Kol finally cried as she lowered her head against the wooden table once again.

"Oh... good for you. And believe me, I shoved the pill through the right mouth," Trilok sighed. However, he still had another question.

"Kol... what else did we do?" 

"Hmm?" Kol tilted her head upwards, "I don't know? Maybe we vomited in front of Jenc's house... but aside from that... ah," Kol paled.

"What? What else did you remember?" Trilok inquired.

"You... I... ehm, we... gave one of Noland's pills to Vayu to... eat."

Trilok almost blanked out.

'I don't care about that, woman! Focus! Why am I so clean down there?!'

"Anything else—"

---

"Hehe, boss... you wanna know why I'm so clean down there? Let me show you! This is called ginger wax. Even though it hurts the first time, the next time you wax down there, you won't feel too extreme! And this wax nourishes the skin so you won't feel itchy at all!"

"Now bend... nngh, yeah! See? It's warm when I spread the wax, right? Now... 3... 2...—"

---

"Aaagh!" Trilok suddenly screamed while Kol accidentally banged her head on the table.

"Ow!" 

Both of them groaned simultaneously, too.

But suddenly, Kol's expression turned dazed and she frowned. Soon, a weird smile touched her lips and she deviously smirked at Trilok.

"Boss~ I seemed to have recalled another thing we did last night... hehe, you owe me..." She chuckled.

"I owe you my anger for making me do drugs, Kol!" Trilok stated, "So, I'll deduct a 1000 out of your next bonus!"

Kol paled and gasped.

"What?! But I—"

"No buts... and... don't speak about another thing you saw. Never," Trilok growled while Kol pressed her lips together. She now knew what Trilok meant.

'Another scar... my god, how cruel one must be to... Boss, what kind of torture did you go through?' Kol sighed and nodded.

"Here you go, guys!" Vayu spoke loudly and placed two wooden mugs in front of Kol and Trilok filled with viscous green liquid. Both of them revealed a disgusted expression but in the end, they drained the contents of the glass before starting their day.

---

During the arrival of trade ships, the other fishers rarely leave the community. There are two reasons for such a situation. First, this period allows the fishers to rest. And second, should the Trade Ship ever have malicious intentions towards a community, at least, with all their members close by, the community would have a chance to survive such an event.

So, these two days, Trilok did not have to go out of his way to brew 72 vials of Spirit Trace Oil. Since this also freed Kol and Vayu from their daily routine, he left the shop to Kol's caretaking while he brought Vayu with himself this time around.

"Vayu, this time, you won't try to negotiate and only observe, alright?" Trilok inquired once again as Vayu nodded meekly.

[Name: Vayu

Age: 12

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

Cultivation: Spiritual Dweller— 9 (Upgrade Requirement: 27,000), Common Physique— 3 (Upgrade Requirement: 12,250)

Technique: Devouring Serpent Technique (Heaven-Unique)(Special Traits: Devour— 1, Assimilation— 1)(Upgrade Requirement: —)

The Eye of Gorgon (Earth-Exotic)(Special Traits: Scale Armor— 1, Eye of Petrification— 1)(Upgrade Requirement: 2,200,000)

]

Vayu's cultivation continued to defy common sense but Trilok didn't mind it. If Vayu's mentality grew a little bit further, then Trilok will feel more relieved about his brother's situation and start teaching him alchemy.

'I did promise Vayu that I'll allow him to go out on fishing boats once he reached rank six spiritual dweller and learns everything I did before beginning alchemy. It took him less than nine months to reach level 9!' Trilok sighed internally.

But these worries, he felt, would never dissipate and that's what he was usually annoyed about. 

'Always making others worry, this useless pig. If he was only more capable... I probably wouldn't have worried about him too much...'

"How's Jeli?" Trilok inquired.

"She's..." Vayu hummed in deep thought, "kind of stupid, Brother."

"Did you tell her that?" Trilok inquired with a smile.

"Constantly!" Vayu groaned, "But she just never listens to me!"

"Good," Trilok snickered. He wasn't going to assist Vayu in certain matters, obviously. Instead, he would enjoy Vayu's hardships with a bowl of snacks!

"This is the shop," Trilok stopped in front of a tent. The two were on the Carnival ship. While Trilok remained composed in front of exposed body parts, Vayu would blush oftentimes and glance about but seeing his brother without any expression, he would feel assured and would try to overcome his own embarrassment.

Entering the rather empty tent with a single chair and desk at the end of the residence, Trilok looked at yet another old spirit fusion master. The man continued to read an old parchment, his bald head shining and making Trilok remember yet again that he had been cleared off, too. Sighing and recollecting his thoughts, he cleared his throat.

"Sir, we would like to browse your collection of martial and spirit skills."

Vayu gulped. He was too excited. And he knew that when a person is too excited, one would end up saying things that are detrimental to oneself. Jenc's figure, his enlarging fist, flashed across his eyes.

The boy still didn't know that under influence, Jenc had apologized to his elder brother.

"Hmm?" The old man looked up. His cheeks were sunken and his pupils were in milky grey in color. 

"Spirit skills? Martial skills... hmmm, I see. I see. I can expose the names of the skills but I will not let you read through the contents. If the names are misleading... hehe, buyer's beware..."

Furrowing his brows, Trilok nodded.

"Good," chuckling, the old man pulled the drawer on the other side of the desk and took out a number of scrolls and parchments fashioned into books.

"I have eleven of these skills left. Five of them are common martial manuals and the remaining six scrolls are uncommon spirit skills."

Vayu thought for a moment.

'Ummm... Brother told me about this. Let's see... the skills follow a similar rarity of the cultivation techniques but... they are not classified into low, mid, high, earth, and heavenly grades. The skills, after all, are based on the cultivator's strength. So an uncommon spirit skill will become a heaven-ranked uncommon skill if someone with this rank of cultivation technique practices it...

Now that I think about it, what's the rank of the Devouring Serpent Technique?'

Meanwhile, Trilok stepped forward and gazed at the names of the skills. This was a common gesture. Since the seller specifically told that he wasn't willing to show the contents of the skill, he would not let anyone touch the physical form of the skill and might even attack if someone makes sudden movements.

But, Trilok didn't need to touch the scrolls or the manuals.

'It's good that I discussed Vayu's needs before bringing him here.'

In Trilok's eyes, Vayu's demand of simply any sword skill just because he likes how he looks with a sword is what made him look like a simpleton in the first place. But Trilok wasn't planning on barging in on his decisions. From a young age, Trilok had to decide many things without the fortune of consultation with others. And he wished that if possible, Vayu would be raised in a manner where he would be able to make astute judgments when the situation demanded of him the most.

Such as— Life and Death Situation.

But this was something way far ahead. 

[Fist Smash: Common.]

[Sword Demolisher: Common.]

[Fisher's Breath: Common.]

[Three Glazed Slash: Common.]

[Thunder Strike: Common.]

[Sticky Thread: Uncommon.]

[Sphere Barrier: Uncommon.]

[Weak Magnet: Uncommon.]

[Lingering Whisper: Uncommon.]

[Diver's Fins: Uncommon.]

[Gut Spear: Uncommon.]

Trilok read the contents with a clear heart but on the surface, he frowned and showed that he was 'itching' to touch the skill manuals, making the old smile as he reveled in the troubles of the youth in front of him.

'The name of the techniques fortunately are the same. So, the old man doesn't want to deceive his customers on the surface value but, these skills... I have seen most of these skills on every single fisher under Roa's command alongside a few other individual fishers. So, these skills must be uncommon in a general sense.'

'It's a pity... such a shame,' Trilok shook his head internally.

Not everyone can sell Spiritual Skills and Techniques. To sell information of such nature, one must have the ship's chief's permission. For instance, Jenc could sell his Technique because of his good relationship with Jolly. However, this trade was highly non-specialized which would allow anyone to enter the trade, hence, the reason for the restriction of entry. 

Even Roa didn't take part in this trade not because of the restrictions, but because of the availability of such skills. Jenc's technique— Mighty Fist— is now well-known and its price would fall. So, Jenc would stop the trade as to not saturate the market but will also keep an eye to make sure nobody else tries to sell it under the table.

In the end, the profits of these pieces of knowledge are exponential in the beginning but are subjective to a quick diminishing of the returns.

"What's the price of the... common ones?" Trilok inquired.

"4500 coins a manual," the old man gave a sly smirk.

"Huh... you must not have grandkids then," Trilok mumbled to himself while Vayu couldn't help but almost shout.

'How is it any different than me insulting Jenc?!'

Of course, there was a difference.

Vayu insulted Jenc out of arrogance stemming from Trilok's earning.

Trilok's insult was the cause of starting the negotiation.

"What do you mean, kid? I've sired many children and now have several little turds! Sweet ones, of course!" He glared coldly.

"Grandpa, I meant, aren't we the same as your grandkids? If you're charging us so much for cheap stuff... tsk, tsk, makes me wonder if any of your grandkids will ever want to hang out with you."

The old man blinked. He then frowned, and then he smiled.

Vayu's heart was clenched with fright as the creepy old man smiled!

"Jejejeje! Kid, you're right! If they don't wanna hang out with me, I shouldn't care any longer. 4800 coins a manual!"

The old man instantly raised his price.

Trilok's smile faded and his expression turned gloomy.

"Apologies. I didn't mean to disrespect you. But, give me a good price since I am here to buy in bulk."

"Oho... fine. I shouldn't hold it against a kid. How many skills are you talking about?"

Since this old man was quite erratic, Trilok didn't try any complicated tactics and replied plainly.

"8."

The old man closed his eyes for a moment and then sighed.

"4200 for common skills and 6300 for uncommon skills."

'Now I know why most general populace of the fishers doesn't have this many skills. But, the prices of the old man are still lower than Chief's.'

Of course, the Chief needed a business for himself and he monopolized the general skills on the ships. He might overlook a father passing these techniques to his children, but he really thrashes and embarrasses those who try to cut him off.

"Sir... please go lower. I really don't have enough funds," said the youth with more than 600,000 coins to spend.

"That's a spatial ring, right?" The old man inquired.

"Yes. I squandered all my savings to purchase this. It's from Sister Nena's store."

"Ahhh, that Inscriptionist," the old man sighed, "Whatever. My prices won't go lower."

Trilok looked towards Vayu without a hint of shame and scolded, "It's happening all because you want to learn skills. Skills this and skills that. Have you ever focused this much on your other studies? Education is important, too!"

"?!" 

Vayu didn't know why he was being grilled but seeing that the old man still won't react, Trilok named the skills he wanted and paid the price.