Chapter 84: Spicy merchant

Walking through the bustling market with a greasy meat skewer in my hand; steam rising from the tasty meaty treat. Fast food has always been tasty and evil, but mostly tasty. Evil because it destroys your heart and makes you a heavyweight. Not a concern for me but for the common populace, I say a prayer to you and your fast food.

Laughing at my own silliness before coming to the familiar spice merchant I've grown used to. “Hey my man, any new spices for me? Also, I’m running low on green pepper, golden salt, and cumin.”

The muscly man with a wire mustache and deeply stained hands replies with his polite, thick voice. “Damn right my boy, got me some saffron.” He says before clamping me on the shoulder and removing a hand-carved box the size of a hand. Opening up the gold clasp reveals thin threads of red – saffron.

“I’ll be damned, that’s some rare spices you got for me; it's coming home with me for sure,” I say, carefully grasping the box and pulling it towards me. Depositing the money in his hanging hand for the rare spice.

He slowly starts preparing the items I requested while sharing small talk. “So, you gonna give your old pal over here a free ride on you’re ship? I’ll fly it for ya.”

“Sure but… let you fly it? Your gonna crash it.” Saying with a light laugh.

He puts on an obviously fake offended face, clasping his heart. “This here old man used to be a captain of a royal cruiser on the ocean… for a time.”

Disbelieving, “No way, why did you leave the job?”

“Not good money, I got triple the wage with a black flag rather than a white. Got me real good at buying spices too.”

“Sounds like an exciting life to live; on the ocean with your pals selling and buying.” Appreciating how fulfilling such a life could be for some.

Shaking his head slightly, “It was good… cold though; bloody cold. Would give you the bone rattles every damned evening. Wasn't worth it hear me! I loved the sea though, itching to feel the roll of the waves you know.”

“I hear you, I loved going on boat rides as a kid, once went dolphin spotting; got to drive the boat and everything.” Smiling at the great memory.

“Did ya crash it?” Stunned for a second before laughing my heart out.

“Nah, the man who owned the boat watched just in case. Great fun, really great fun.”

“Always fun controlling a boat, the hard part is figuring out where you are. Damned first mate always got us lost when I left him to figure it out.” He says with glassy eyes and a smile; recalling the vivid memory. Slightly shaking his head while remembering the phantom memory.

Taking the neatly packed package of paper containing my spices. Appreciating the ribbon covering it for decoration. “Thanks for the spices, see you soon, and keep your eyes out for some good spices.”

He tips his non-existent hat in a jokingly polite gesture, “Will do bud.” Waving me good-bye as I leave. Waving back in politeness as I realize I’m walking in a random direction.

Turning into a random assortment of stalls to look around. Not spotting anything interesting other than sweet-smelling pastries like honey bread and coconut disks of… something. They are melt in the mouth good but I can't figure out how they are made. Resisting the urge to fill my face, I move on.

Leaving the large collecting of stalls and people, only having to say a polite hello to 2 people. Having becomes a slight celebrity, my fault as I've allowed people to see me build a bunch of random crap.

Should I say hello to Cassie or the Mayor Average? Maybe not, the mayor is likely busy, and I've seen Cassie recently. Same thing with Andira, very recently in that case. Haven't been fishing in a while… since the incident, lets go do that.

Ignoring nausea as I teleport right back to my castle. Custom enchanting a fishing rod with a scarily powerful array of enchantments. It cost me a monumental amount of XP, but like money, it's no object. Playing around with the fishing rod that positively thrumbs with power, tossing the hook nearly put a hole in my wall… may be overkill. Shrugging, who cares; should give me something good then.

“So… ocean or lake?” It’s not like I have many choices but the ocean tends to have more monsters and the lake has mysteries. Tossing a golden coin to which it lands on heads… ocean it is. Smiling while air walking towards the ocean, a rich blue contrasting the light cyan of the sky. The clear sky shining ribbons of light along the water like a mirror.

Admiring the slightly colorful array of clouds on the horizon… light pink and blue intermingle with the normal white – how curios. Someone must be having fraternal twins or something, giggling lightly at my own confusing comparison.

Finding the pier I once constructed hastily slightly disheveled and eroded. Let's clean that up, it looks a little unsightly. Starting from scratch I prepare a variety of stone and obsidian; let's make it last this time.

First, creating a raised stone platform encrusted with decorative patterns of obsidian. A stone canopy over top, held by 4 pillars surrounded by stairs. A circular roof closing into a glass skylight over the middle of the tall cover.

Stretching out along the stone path above the water and along with it. Carefully changing pieces for obsidian to add intricate and interesting designs. Every 6 blocks I create a stone pillar straight down with arches decoratively. Using stone walls with breaks along the top of the stone pier. At the end of the extending stone pier, I add a small roofed section with a nice chair. Glass windows covering the sides with an open back and front.

Allowing slabs to create a slightly low hanging front and back. Adding a clock and lamp within, protected by the low hanging slabs. Flying around the whole thing to add small tweaks to the design to give it an ancient feeling. Nodding in satisfaction at my rather quick but fulfilling structure. The obsidian was a good choice, giving it an ancient and mysterious feeling where the stone feels strong and long-lasting.

Slowly deconstructing my previous pier with equal parts enjoyment and pain. Enjoying the act of destruction rather than creation; a pure sinful desire and the pain of destroying my own creation.

It was a quick process being it was small and already on its way out. Having removed the trash, let us fish. Sitting back in my comfortable seat, questioning the material and why it's so fluffy. “Is this like made of a cloud?” laughing at I lightly paw at my new chair. With a backward lean and a slight stretch, I grasp the fishing rod. Lightly tossing it forward I watch as it soars through the air like a paper airplane on steroids. Arriving several hundred meters from where it should land following the laws of phsics. Undeterred, I begin calming watching the ebb and flow of the waves. Falling into a peaceful meditative trance while watching the flow movement underfoot.

While allowing my body and mind to rest, I begin to ponder on what spells I could create. One that would likely be powerful in the long run and short run; while being the easiest silver spell is mana link. Simply requiring to entangle and mana drain to unlock the silver spell component.

Within the game, you could use self mana link to double your mana capacity. I think it was a glitch but it was a very good glitch, allowing for late-game spells to be cast like child's play. Even without the glitch within that variety of spells, it was a monumental XP producer. High-tier spells produce more XP irrespective of the cost. Self mana link costs basically nothing, while simultaneously using one of the most valuable components attainable – silver. So, using this spell and an afternoon I went from level 8 to level 60. A pretty obscene improvement don’t you think? The sole reason for me to even level up was to be able to cast the insanely costly day and night spells. Requiring a mouth-watering 30 thousand mana.

Having neglected to remember the spell I used for that experience actually allowed me to double my mana capacity. So my natural mana capacity ended up being 31 thousand or something crazy like that. Far more than any reasonable man would need; that’s for sure.

Of course, the end game boss has a recommended level of 95… so maybe it wasn’t as crazy as I first thought. And the reward for killing that boss among bosses? Boots that were indestructible and gave antigravity. Very cool that’s for sure… although redundant. Like 15 items exist that can do that exact thing without requiring the death of one of the single most difficult bosses to kill without glitches of instant death spells. Not even sure said spells were intended in the first place, but that’s beside the point. Hard and pointless outside of bragging rites.

I’m concerned with killing the ender dragon, screw thining about an even harder boss before I've completed the vanilla bosses. Yes, I’m looking at you chaos dragon and Gaia 4. Shaking my head at those disgusting bosses. The former being nigh unkillable except with fully upgraded awakened draconium with a metric ton of spare power. And the latter being… unkillable. Last time I checked my friends hadn’t found a glitch to beat the monster of a boss.

Startled back to reality by a light tug on the reel. Falling into gear and beginning the process of catching whatever I've caught. Whatever it is, it's not too big. The pull on the line is light as a feather so with gusto I been to reel. Stopping and starting to tucker out any animal that may in fact be on the line. Although it feels like an object with the sheer lack of resistance.

Eventually, I begin to see a large white shadow appear under the water while doing my final pull. What breaks the water is a massive white shark. Hastily stepping back to avoid its maw, I spot its eyes darting to the side as it struggles with its body and fins to get back into the water. Slowly approaching from the side I grasp the string and pull it out. Wincing as the creature squeals, “Sorry, no chance I'm sticking my hand in your fat gob.” Tossing a health potion at it before kicking it back into the ocean.

Note to self… don’t underestimate this overpowered self-repairing fishing rod. Calming my beating heart and finding that peaceful flow within myself once more. Tossing the fishing rod with a slight bit more control. It lands gracefully among the water; bait swaying tastily among the water.

It doesn’t take nearly as long before I feel the slightest tug. Like a feather, slight and difficult to notice. Reeling in with a slight bit more energy than previously I pull towards me a… name tag? Well, that might be useful… not like I can craft a million of them. Come on, give me some treasure you stingy ocean.

Casting my rod with slightly too much strength. Watching it disappear into the horizon, I swear the reel isn’t that long… its nowhere near big enough. Suppose it's just magic, my normal go-to way of ignoring breaks in the law of physics.

With a light breeze kicking in carrying a relaxing cold touch I begin to fall asleep. Mind falling into peaceful black before I’m pulled back to reality by a tug on the long line. “Treasure, treasure, treasure,” I whisper constantly as I reel in the awfully long line.

When the entity breaks the water I spot a small Kraken to which it slowly flies towards me. Lightning cracking around its light grey flesh and mist streams out from below it. It has a singular red eye pulsing as it focuses on me…. “Shit.”