It began with a kid fishing on the coast.

The kid managed to catch bigger and bigger fish.

Yet he remained unsatisfied.

He started to cultivate and explore further within the seas.

He fought and fished for spiritual beasts and even Oceanics. Some murals showed him eating mermaids and drinking sea dragons.

After a time, he was depicted as ruling the seas.

Then, however, there was a mermaid who defeated him.

And then, he defeated her.

The very last mural depicted the man grabbing within her chest and extracting something while his other hand pushed the crown she previously wore on his own head.

And then, a door in front of them.

This door was different. There was no keyhole. Jin looked at Frey who looked back with absolutely no clue what was going on.

Jin grabbed his hand and with a nail scratched the palm. Then, he pushed the bleeding palm onto the door.

The little blood that flowed out of the palm seeped within the door. It brightened red before it began to turn into dust and dissipate to nothingness.

Then they saw it.

“Fuck” exclaimed Frey.

Even Jin was surprised and uneasy.

The sight was far from expected. In a big room filled with crystals and brightly lit, there stood an altar on which was a gigantic cross.

Nailed to the cross was a flickering figure of a mermaid.

She was beautiful beyond compare.

Even as ethereal as her body was, it felt as if nothing could ever come close to her.

Both men moved forward and gazed at her figure.

She had the tail of a fish, of a deep blue with scales aligned perfectly and shimmering.

Her waist was small while her chest bountiful. Nothing was holding it as it laid bare in its pure nakedness.

Both men gulped.

Yet, their sight could not even stay there as they were mesmerized by her face. Beauty was not enough of a word to describe the lines of her features.

Her skin was delicate and perfectly white and rosy.

Her eyelashes long and fluttering.

Her nose small and cute.

Her mouth seemed both thin and full, inviting like none other.

And then, she opened her eyes.

It was as if gazing into the Ocean itself.

Jin could not even blink as his eyes were lost in hers. No thoughts appeared within his mind as he stood there lost in that Ocean.

Then she closed her eyes.

He was sweating profusely.

He had been unable to move at all. Just her sight was enough to petrify him and place him into a trance.

He looked fearfully at the translucent mermaid. She was most likely the trapped remnant soul.

Jin asked her: “Can you hear me?”

She shook.

Her mouth opened once before it closed.

Then, she remained as she was, immovable and fixed to her cross.

Jin tried again: “Can you hear me?”

Her head inclined slightly as she opened her mouth once more: “Are you truly here?”

Her voice was so melodious that it seemed like his hears had been blessed to even hear it. It was a sound beyond this world.

Jin was shaken just from it.

He trembled.

Frey was already passed out on the ground.

Jin clenched his teeth as his nails dug within his palms: “I am”

She shook.

She opened her mouth, seemingly as if to say something, but ended up closing it.

Jin opened his own before closing it too. He was not sure what to say. He thought he was prepared. He was not.

This was beyond all expectations.

She spoke: “What you are here for is in the next room”

Jin fell to one knee as sweat dripped down from his temple to the ground. He was breathing hard. He looked up to watch her some more before he unleashed a roar and forced himself to move.

He walked forward.

As he reached the cross, he stopped. Instinctively. He forced himself to take another step. And another.

Towards that door that led to the next room.

He reached it and opened it easily enough simply by turning the handle.

He entered the room and closed the door behind him. Then he dropped down and sat with his back to the door, breathing heavily.

What insane charming pressure.

Simply her presence was enough to induce him to bow down and make him want to worship her.

He took the time he needed to meditate and calm himself then reopened his eyes only to be shocked once more.

The room was very big and filled with all kinds of treasures.

Natural oddities, pills, books, armors, weapons… And on the very middle of everything, a crown placed on top of an altar.

Jin walked up to it.

Then, he grabbed the papers prepared in advance by Nangua and the reincarnators.

He began to paste them onto the altar until it was completely enclosed within them. Only then did he start looking at the crown.

It was made of intricate lines of pale blue crystals and it had a single deep blue gem in the front. Every instant, there were streams of yellow light that could be witnessed within. It was if the gem had captured a tempest in the ocean within itself.

It looked incredible.

Jin grabbed it.

Nothing happened around thanks to the paper sigils most likely. However, he could feel the vast power contained within the crown.

He looked around at the remaining treasure within the room and…turned around.

He had no more sigils. He did not want to risk it.

Just this crown was enough.

Greed was something that led people to their downfall. He would not be swayed this time.

He moved back towards the door.

He inhaled sharply before he opened it.

This time, he had his eyes closed from the start.

He walked by sensing the surrounding spiritual energy and went back to stand in front of the cross.