As we engaged in lively conversation, my attention was drawn to the growing influx of newcomers filling the eatery. Two people took a seat right on the table beside ours. One of them was a two-meter-tall or so bipedal creature that resembled a sloth. Whereas the other was almost no different than a bipedal rhino in a similar size to the first one… only with a fur that covered his body.

They were dressed neatly, and I could tell even though our sense of fashion differed. Once they ordered their meal, they began talking about business; it was rather unimportant until they touched on a certain topic.

“Have you heard? There a new group of refugees coming,” stammered the sloth-man.

“Eastern Outpost, right?” The man who looked like a furred rhino held his chin and replied, “The merchants there sure gonna make a killing this time.”

“Such waste.”

“Indeed. Those refuges tend to bring rare and exotic things more often than not…”

Eastern Outpost? Are there settlements in Aquarine other than the town? I contemplated for a moment and decided to ask Tuilë.

“Other settlements? There are!” Tuilë sipped the fruit wine in her hand. “Hmm, I have only been in one so far though.”

“Is that so? Do tell me the specific.”

Tuilë replenished her glass with another pour of the enticing drink, her voice filled with enthusiasm as she exclaimed, "Certainly!" and began narrating.

After hearing what Tuilë had to say, it appeared that years ago, an assortment of outposts was built in every cardinal direction at the edge of the red fog, serving as gateways for refugees immigrating to this land. These settlements varied in size, ranging from intimate communities of a dozen individuals to grand colonies housing hundreds of people. Among them, the Easter Outpost stood out, boasting a population exceeding five hundred inhabitants.

Other than serving as gateways, these places also acted as a first line of defense whenever mutated monsters launched an attack on this land. Source users that wanted to earn big mingled in this place like moths to a light to hunt mutated monsters. One thing was for sure: the total population of Aquarine definitely far exceeded the initial three thousand.

“If you’re wondering, most materials for the ship were procured by the scavengers in these outposts, y’know.”

“Ah, now it makes sense.” I guessed there should be ruins near these outposts for them to prosper.

The conversation of the two merchants on the table adjacent to us was abruptly interrupted as the attentive waiter delivered their eagerly anticipated food. Yet, due to my heightened hearing abilities as a source enhancer, I found myself drawn by the distant murmurs and conversations of those further away, their voices reaching my ears with remarkable clarity.

“You heard the buzz? It seems that an increasing number of source users — particularly scavengers — have been flocking near the mine lately.”

“Yeah, word on the street is they stumbled upon a mutant ant nest deep down there. Can you imagine the potential business opportunity? This is a once-in-a-lifetime; we can’t miss it!”

“True, there's a chance for profit, but I can't help but worry about those ants posing a threat to the town.”

“Hush! Don't say that out loud, now I'm getting anxious too.”

“Same here. I think we'll need to keep an eye on the situation.”

“…”

Huh? So the news regarding the mutant ant nest has spread far and wide… I can’t use that place to mine source crystals no more. Oh welp, that’s that then. I exhaled deeply, my shoulders slumping.

Growing bored with the lack of captivating conversations, I decided to join the casual banter between Lunaria and Tuilë. Our discussion meandered from one topic to another; it was all fine until a subtle haze graced Tuilë's cheeks, hinting that the potent alcoholic drink had gotten the better of her.

This made me wonder. As one ascended through the Tiers as a source enhancer, substances like alcohol tended to have diminishing effects. In theory, Tuilë, being a source user herself, should have higher resistance to its intoxicating influence. However, I speculated that her tolerance might be considerably lower, necessitating her body to diligently process the toxin before achieving equilibrium once again.

Tuilë banged the wine glass on the table, hard. “So, what about you two?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m askin’…” Tuilë hiccupped. “What’s yar relationship with Lunaria, Maxxy?”

Now that she said it, what was my relationship with her? Friend? Not quite right… Sibling? Too far…

I looked at the silent Lunaria, noticing that one of Lunaria’s cheeks twitched upward slightly. Er, I’ve a bad feeling about this.

My intuition was proven to be true as she took my arm closer to her and proclaimed, “I’m his mother… and his wife.”

“—Wha?!”

“No! You are not.” I flicked Lunaria’s forehead, causing her to release her grip in favor of easing the pain on her forehead.

“Ow. Why did you flick me?” She glared at me as if a kitten that had its tail stepped.

Ignoring the furious Lunaria, I corrected, “Ahem. You can say that I’m her guardian…”

Wait, guardians were supposed to be the older ones… Lunaria’s biological age might be younger than mine, but what about her chronological age? I frowned at the confusion that couldn’t be answered in mere minutes.

“By the by, hic, ya sure has the audacity to touch me horns… hic… Maxxy, ya oughta take res—”

“This girl’s talking nonsense. No more alcoholic drinks for you.” I snatched the jar that was almost empty of liquid and her wine glass from her hand despite her groaning.

“Pleasee, just one more glass full!”

“Enough is enough.”

“Nooo!” Tuilë yelped desperately like a drunkard when their last bottle was taken before weakly slumping on the table.

I’d better take note not to give her any sort of alcoholic beverages in the future, or else…

Seeing that it would take some time for her to recover, I changed the topic of discussion with Lunaria, who had calmed down and for some reason sneered at me.

“Lunaria, incidentally, I noticed that you’re an evoker — a powerful one at that. Why did you never tell me before?”

“Well, even if I told you then, it wouldn’t do you much good. And didn’t I give you lots of advice in the past month or so?” Lunaria retorted.

“Guess you have a point. Just curious, what’s your source element?” While [Identification] listed her source element as “Cosmic,” I better heard what she had in store.

“It’s ‘Cosmic’ element. I can, to a certain degree, manipulate space.” Lunaria’s hand gently unfurled, revealing a radiant display of swirling purple energy that coalesced into a mesmerizing spherical shape.

“Whoa! That’s an overpowered ability you got there, Lunaria!”

Envy would be a cheap word here. I wondered if I would be able to use it later considering that my Vocation — [All Elements] — enabled me to use all types of basic elements, but this was beside the point. One thing was for sure, I didn’t know if Vocations could be upgraded. And even if it could, the way to do that and the knowledge thereof was not something that I possessed at the moment.

“I crave additional commendation.”

“Oh Lunaria, my revered lady, your power knows no bounds.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Still, I feel like your power is somehow restricted, why’s that?” There might be a reason why she was restricted as a Tier-2 evoker, perhaps she was much more powerful in the past.

“So you noticed.” Lunaria's typically impassive countenance contorted into a sour expression. “You can say that it’s because the magical energy— source energy in this place isn’t what it was supposed to be. In the past, we used to call ourselves sorcerers… Anyway, why are you so curious about this?”

It appeared that she didn’t want to talk too much regarding this. I figured that each era and civilization had its own ideas on the naming sense.

“Can you show me your magic later?”

“Of course. If there’s an opportunity, why not? I will entertain you any time you want.”

“It’s a promise.” I smiled in satisfaction.

After waiting for about half an hour, Tuilë was back in her tip-top condition without remembering how she had acted and what she had blurted out when she was drunk. Such was the constitution of a powerful enhancer.

Seeing that we were done here, I called the waiter and paid for the food before leaving. There weren’t many source crystals left as I checked my wallet — only a mere seven were left. The food here cost us eight whole source crystals.

Lucky for me, I just happened to remember one place where I could get a quick cash, so we decided to head there.

***

“My, if it isn’t Mr. Maxim and Miss Tuilë… and what a beautiful young lady this is.” A bipedal lizard in merchant attire greeted us. He had similar features to that of the head waiter Ginko.

Huh? Can he discern someone's attractiveness regardless of their race? Maybe it has something to do with facial symmetry, I thought. Uh, I got sidetracked there.

“Did you come here for the source crystals?” The merchant inquired, getting straight to the point.

“What’s this enticing smell of business? Are you gonna be loaded now?” Tuilë turned her face at me in anticipation.

Previously when we were still reconstructing the airship, I had told Tuilë that I had made a killing with the mutant ant nest. But it looked like she had forgotten about it.

“Uh-huh, something like that. So, uh, has it been processed?”

 “Of course, of course. Please allow me to lead the way.” Gekko gestured with a welcoming hand, inviting us to follow him further into the store.

In a secure, small room inside was a sack filled with source crystals. On my guesstimate, there should be less than five hundred in that sack.

“Right now, we have sold about 20 percent of the mutant ant carcasses. Unfortunately…”

“Is something the matter?”

Gekko held his head and scratched it. “I’m ashamed to be the harbinger of bad news: The new influx of source users near the mine has caused the market price for ant carcasses and their related products to plummet. With this, we can expect our revenue to drop significantly from the original.”

“Oh, no! How much do you think we’ll get in the end?”

“I can’t guarantee for sure, but it will be more than likely to be less than a thousand.”

“Well, no venture comes without risk,” Lunaria chimed in.

It wasn’t like I could blame him either; this wasn’t something that could be helped. Even if I tried to cover the information about the mutant ant nest back then, sooner or later, the information would spread, so I didn’t even bother. Furthermore, my intention was so that that place could guarded at all times.

After taking the sack, I thanked Gekko, and we left on our way. It was a shame that I wouldn’t have a lot of funds to spare…

No matter. All I needed was to find another source of income, and wasn’t there a place like the Eastern Outpost where I could look forward to gathering source crystals?

“Cheer up. There are other places to hunt now that you’re stronger, Maxim.” Tuilë showed me a grin. She must have thought that my contemplation represented me in low spirits or something.

“Yeah, you’re right. Where do you think is the best place for it?”

“I propose the Eastern Outpost; it’s an outpost with the proximity closest to a concrete forest — a long abandoned city.”

Currently, I was too weak to try to infiltrate the Divine Mushroom Cult, and there was simply too high of a risk and too uncertain of a factor to carry what I had in mind with my current strength. Perhaps a bit of training and hunting could improve my power; I could also gather source crystals on the side.

“Alright, it’s decided then! We’ll go to the Eastern Outpost.”