Chapter 1044: Section 1045: Grand Opening
“Let’s begin.”
After saying those words, Pulapa found that everything in front of him had changed, and he had become a defenseless human, completely devoid of any means to fight back.
Despite the change in circumstances, Pulapa felt no confusion, for the threat he now faced was far more urgent than the bewilderment over his own identity!
At this moment, he was on an isolated boat, surrounded by the raging sea during a storm. With each gust of the tempest, huge waves would rise, and he had to navigate the frail craft in search of a lifeline amidst the furious waves.
The sky was shrouded with dark clouds, and lightning serpents shuttled through the thunder.
The fierce wind howled, and the waves that struck him caused intense pain. Pulapa had completely forgotten that he was a descendant of a minor water-system demon; all he sought now was survival in the stormy sea…
While Pulapa was experiencing the illusion of the ocean’s rhythm, in the narrow “Mystic” cabin, the young shopkeeper was tilting his head, looking at the woman on the windowsill.
“This little floating demon seeks revenge against humans, and yet you still help it?”
“Isn’t animosity between demons and humans quite normal?”
“Hmph, have you forgotten who you are? Do you really think you’re one of the indigenous people of the Abyss? Despicable human!”
The young man squinted and shrugged his shoulders, “I have never forgotten my identity, but I don’t have the luxury to be picky right now. Just like Lady Baltica from the Land of Repose, she despises humans, but she doesn’t mind doing business with them either.”
“I’m the same. If it were somewhere else, I might choose, but here in Lassudral, can I be choosy? All demons here loathe humans, and if I don’t accept them, then it’s almost impossible for me to earn enough Demon Gold Coins within five days.”
As he spoke, he pulled an ice sphere out of his bracelet.
Encased in the center of the ice ball was a grey sea bird.
“To wake Toby up, I’m willing to compromise as long the core principles aren’t threatened.”
The young shopkeeper was Angel, who had come a long way to Lassudral to look for the materials to synthesize the Fire Transmission Stone, while the dark-skinned woman was the Abyssal Wind Dragon, Fafnir.
“Hmph, I am responsible for protecting you during this time, but don’t forget your promise,” Fafnir huffed coldly.
“I won’t forget. If I do manage to make the Fire Transmission Stone, I shall report your contributions in full to Lord Odeclass.” Angel paused, “Surely, once Lord Odeclass is informed, he will understand your predicaments.”
Fafnir exhaled through her nostrils in a huff and did not speak further, continuing to feign sleep against the windowsill.
Angel let out a silent sigh of relief in his heart.
Truthfully, if it hadn’t been for Fafnir’s help, his shop couldn’t have continued operating.
As he was previously worried about in the Land of Repose, upon arriving in Lassudral, his first challenge was the issue of money-making.
He had found the half-blood demon called Night that Odeclass had told him to look for. According to Night, to buy those three special materials and a large amount of Fire Transmission Stone shards, he would need several thousand, perhaps tens of thousands, of Demon Gold Coins.
With his alchemy skills, earning that many Demon Gold Coins was not difficult, but the challenge lay in doing so in a short amount of time. After much deliberation, Angel decided to use the Ocean Rhythm and its special effects to make money.
Having a method to earn money was one thing, but to run a shop in Lassudral, he needed a strong deterrent as well.
He was just an apprentice who hadn’t even become a wizard yet, and anyone in Lassudral could easily overpower him, so he thought of collaborating with Fafnir. Fafnir’s greatest desire was to meet with Odeclass, so Angel used this as leverage to sign a short-term protection agreement with her.
With the two hardest problems solved, Angel thought he could rest easy.
However, he had forgotten one thing: even fine wine needs no bush, and Ocean’s Rhythm, not famous even within the Wizards’ Realm, would be even less known in the slowly developing and information-scarce demon world.
From opening the shop in the morning until now, six hours had passed, and all who had entered his shop were troublemakers.
To this point, he had not sold a single item.
As Angel was growing increasingly anxious, this half-blood demon called Pulapa walked in.
…
While Pulapa was experiencing the Ocean Rhythm, Angel was holding his first earnings—eight Demon Gold Coins—and examining them.
Admittedly, when Angel first heard from Baltica that Demon City used “gold coins” as a currency, he was stunned; in his understanding, it was usually only the Mortal Kingdoms that used a gold standard to facilitate and stabilize the economy.
For instance, the currency issued by the Goldfinch Empire, the place of Angel’s birth, was in gold coins. The use of gold coins as currency facilitates trade across different continents, even in the Mortal Kingdoms of the Flourish Continent, due to the gold standard.
The intrinsic value of the metal does not change based on the patterns on the surface of the coin. What affects its value is the content of the metal.
In the Transcendent worlds, they either use virtual coins like in Hante, or energy coins. Hence, when he heard that Demon City traded with gold coins, he was surprised, thinking could the demon world actually be based on a gold standard economic system?
But when he actually got his hands on a Demon Gold Coin, he realized his mistake.
At first glance, Demon Gold Coins seemed not much different from the gold coins of the mortal world, being similar in size and shape, but upon closer inspection, Angel noticed something distinctive.
Each side of the gold coin bore a pattern, with a crown on one side. At the tip of each point of the crown was a spherical ball, decorated with intricate lines; had it not been colorless, it would have looked very much like a jester’s ball.
On the obverse was a mark that Angel was very familiar with!
When he saw the reverse side, he already began to have his suspicions, but upon seeing the obverse mark, Angel finally understood why Demon Gold Coins were in circulation in Demon City.
Because, this mark was the true name seal of the “Crown Clown”.
“Crown Clown”, as the supreme Demon God at the very top of the Abyssal pyramid, followed the philosophy of pursuing balance in all things. Therefore, gold coins engraved with its true name mark would naturally best embody the so-called fairness.
Now he understood why the currency of Demon City dared to use Demon Gold Coins – there was such a towering figure backing them.
After examining the coins, Angel carefully stowed away the few Demon Gold Coins—though not many, they were after all the first earnings he had made.
After securing the coins, Angel’s gaze returned to his sole customer, Pulapa.
This Pulapa had persisted for quite a long time, almost ten minutes, and still had not emerged from the Ocean Rhythm.
Generally speaking, most who enter the Ocean Rhythm for the first time are eliminated within three minutes. Angel, due to his poor luck, didn’t even last a minute.
The fact that Pulapa could hold out until now showed its proficiency with the rhythm of the sea, truly befitting a Half-Blood Demon of the Water System.
Five minutes later, Pulapa still hadn’t left the Illusionary Realm, and suspicion began to grow in Angel’s eyes—could it be that it would persist until it met the Sea Goddess?
Two minutes later, a thick mist began to emanate from around Pulapa’s body.
And with the naked eye, one could see the mist growing denser at a visible rate.
Upon seeing this, Angel’s expression turned blank for a moment. He could now be sure that even if Pulapa hadn’t climbed onto the Turtle Shell where the Sea Goddess resided, it had certainly seen her!
This rapid improvement in Water System affinity was unprecedented.
Angel was now also certain of one thing: the Ocean Rhythm was not only effective for wizards but also worked on Water System demons. Moreover, the effect was even more powerful than on ordinary wizards!
Even Fafnir, who had been pretending to sleep on the windowsill, couldn’t help but open his eyes.
“Why is it so damp? Eh, what’s happening to it… Its strength is actually increasing?” Fafnir looked at the blue-skinned Half-Blood Demon with some surprise and skepticism. Before, she was clearly aware of how weak Pulapa was—it couldn’t even beat those despicable humans, but in a short period, Pulapa’s strength had soared dramatically?!
It was as if it had broken through some barrier, or rather, Pulapa had been at a bottleneck, and once broken through, its enhancement was explosive.
A minute later, Pulapa finally emerged from the Illusionary Realm of the Ocean Rhythm.
“O exalted deity, please let me serve you…” Pulapa muttered strange words as its eyes slowly opened.
Upon opening its eyes, it saw the young shop owner smiling warmly at him across the way, “I’m certainly not a deity. It seems you had a great harvest this time… How is it, did this journey of experience not disappoint you?”
Pulapa was about to nod and say something when it suddenly felt a burgeoning force inside, growing explosively.
It hesitated for a moment, as if realizing something, its expression revealed ecstatic joy, and it immediately closed its eyes to feel that magnificent power.
As Pulapa quietly contemplated, the mist around its body became even more condensed, to the point that droplets began to fall.
Like before, these droplets turned into crystal blue beads upon hitting the ground.
Without waiting for a reminder from Fafnir, Angel began to actively collect these condensed blue beads. These beads could keep meat fresh for a long time while also enhancing its flavor, and were a favorite amongst Gourmet Sorcerers.
“It works so well on demons, enhancing them so much…” Angel muttered to himself, “I’m at too much of a loss with this deal. I’ve nurtured a little demon that is hostile to humans. Let’s consider these ethereal water beads as compensation.”
As Angel was muttering, a water-blue glow flickered inside Pulapa’s body and shot straight into the sky.
The entire eastern part of Lassudral could see the celestial river-like blue light projection in the sky.
The sight of this to demons clearly meant something: a Water System demon had made a breakthrough. Yet gauging by the range of the blue light projection, it had only reached the level of a minor demon.
As a result, many demons simply sneered and laughed it off.
But there were also some particularly curious demons who, following the radiance in the sky, cast their gaze toward the location of the ‘Enchanted’ cabin…
While outside disturbances arose, Angel at this moment was looking at the Half-Blood Demon opposite him with eyes filled with envy.
Not long ago, this Half-Blood Demon was at most at a peak Apprentice’s level, and now it had broken through to the Official Wizard Level.
“Is the Ocean Rhythm really that powerful? Isn’t it just about improving Water System affinity?” Angel was full of doubts. He had experimented with the Ocean Rhythm countless times but had never thought it could directly enhance strength.
“This Half-Blood Demon was already at a critical point of breakthrough. The weak Bloodline of the Abyssal imp hindered it, making it difficult to advance any further. Your Ocean Rhythm, though it only enhances Water System affinity, gave the suppressed power within it an outlet for release. It’s only natural there would be such a significant improvement,” Fafnir explained, looking towards the Ocean Rhythm artifact in Angel’s hands. Although she knew it could enhance Water System affinity, she hadn’t anticipated such a big stir, advancing a Half-Blood Demon directly to its parent’s level.
It seems the Ocean Rhythm artifact isn’t as simple as she had imagined.
Fafnir took a deep look at Angel, this seemingly frail being amongst humans, who indeed had many secrets.
To bring out an item even Baltica, that swindler, was willing to trade for, and now to present something that greatly attracted Water System demons, was telling.