Chapter 1047: Section 1048: The Experience Trip
When Canaan stumbled upon the Misty Cabin, he found out that he wasn’t the first to arrive.
In the cramped little cabin, Canaan saw three half-blood demons of the Water System and a fierce-looking Three-Headed Crocodile.
Canaan thought that since he had arrived late, he would probably be farther back in line, but just as he entered, he heard a pleasant voice say, “This beautiful lady, are you also here to join the experience tour?”
Canaan nodded subconsciously, then turned his gaze to the opposite side, figuring that the speaker must be the owner, though he didn’t know which race the owner would belong to… Huh?
Canaan scrutinized the young man opposite him, who was smiling brilliantly. He wasn’t seeing things, was he? Those ink-black pupils, they signified the characteristics of the Abyss natives.
Eh?! The owner is an Abyss native?
While Canaan was still shocked by this fact, the owner on the other side was already smiling and said, “That’s perfect, with you we have just the minimum group size of five people. By the way, we require payment before the experience, and as one of the first six guests, I’ll only charge you two hundred Demon Gold Coins.”
Canaan was still surprised by the owner’s racial identity, right up until the owner held out his hand in front of him, then he realized the other party was asking for money.
Upon learning that it would cost two hundred Demon Gold Coins, the shock Canaan felt about the owner’s identity shifted to confusion about the price.
Two hundred Demon Gold Coins was no small sum; Canaan had lived in Lassudral for nearly a decade and had saved only slightly over three hundred coins. Now he was expected to part with two-thirds of it, which made him hesitate.
After a long while, Canaan noticed that the other demons didn’t seem to object to the price. Was he the only one who found it too expensive? He looked up, surveyed the other demons, and noticed they appeared quite calm, except for the Three-Headed Crocodile, which kept staring out the window. Was it his imagination, or did it seem like the Three-Headed Crocodile was trembling?
“What do you think? If you don’t participate this time, you’ll miss out on this benefit, and the next time you want to experience it, you’ll have to pay the full price of three hundred Demon Gold Coins.”
The shop owner’s words still left Canaan hesitating.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps came from outside again.
“Another guest has arrived. If you don’t make up your mind now, then you’ll miss out on this opportunity,” the shop owner’s voice lingered in Canan’s ears.
Canaan looked at the other half-blood demons beside him, then turned to glance at a small demon that was walking into the shop. In that moment, he recalled the image of being humiliated by the Serpent Tail Demon and reminisced about the heavenly river bathed in a gentle blue glow above the sky.
“Okay!” Canaan decided to take a gamble. He reached into the natural pouch in his arm and drew out two bags.
The bags clinked with the sound of metal as they hit the table.
Canaan still wanted to try. If even Pulapa had its day of breakthrough, why couldn’t he? What he carried within him wasn’t the bloodline of a meek little imp, but that of a sea demon!
“All right, as my shop’s sixth guest, you’ll enjoy the discounted price of two hundred Demon Gold Coins,” the shop owner said, smiling as he took the two bags filled with Demon Gold Coins, then turned to look at the new small demon that had come in.
This was a floating little demon covered in green spikes, known as the Spiky Imp.
“Sir, welcome. Are you also here to join the experience tour? Just in time, with you, we complete the minimum group of six… Our charge is three hundred Demon Gold Coins,” said the shop owner.
It seemed that the shop owner kept his word; the price for the newly-arrived Spiky Imp immediately returned to the original three hundred Demon Gold Coins, which offered some consolation to Canaan and the other demons who had already paid.
However, the new Spiky Imp was not convinced; he had heard at the door that the previous group was charged two hundred Demon Gold Coins—so why had the price increased for him?
Most importantly, the individual in front of him was just an Indigenous Person, and yet he dared to be so brazen with him.
The Spiky Imp’s anger rose, with no consideration that there were other demons in the shop besides himself, like the compliant Three-Headed Crocodile standing right there.
As the Spiky Imp projected a sense of superiority and began to mock the shop owner on all fronts, its fate was already sealed.
In the pitying look from the Three-Headed Crocodile, the Spiky Imp was grabbed by a dark-skinned woman and thrown out of the window.
Before, because of the large size of the Three-Headed Crocodile, the view outside the window was blocked, but now Canaan could clearly see… the outside was a complete mess, littered with corpses.
At this point, the Three-Headed Crocodile turned its head and whispered to the half-blood demon beside it, “I almost made a move earlier, too. Luckily, I glanced outside the window first.”
Canaan now understood why the other clients around him hadn’t raised any objections—it wasn’t tranquility they showed, but rather fear that kept them silent, right?
“Since there are no new guests, it’s just the five of you, then. Get ready, your experience tour is about to begin. I hope you’re satisfied with the trip,” the shop owner said. Afterwards, he murmured under his breath, “Five seems a bit of a loss, maybe I should gather ten next time before starting?”
In a daze, Canaan felt as if he had arrived in a place where every cell in his body leapt for joy—the sea.
However, this ocean was different from those he had seen before; it was an ocean where a storm was brewing.
…
Angel rubbed his somewhat dizzy head. The Poison Stinger Demon’s body was full of toxins. Even when speaking, they would unconsciously release a faint poisonous mist. Although it was not deadly, as a human, he still felt a bit uncomfortable.
Seizing the moment when the first batch of patrons began to experience the rhythm of the ocean, Angel took out a bottle of antidote. He didn’t drink it, just sniffing it was enough to ease the dizziness a little.
“As expected of the frail humans, can’t even handle this bit of poison,” Fafnir’s mockery, unsurprisingly, followed shortly after.
Angel didn’t argue. Among the many intelligent species of the Pan-Dimensional Plane, humans indeed were considered frail, and the Wizard acknowledged this. For this reason, many wizards would replace parts of themselves. Sometimes, although wizards looked human on the surface, their true forms, once restored, were probably more frightening than some of the characters in horror games on Earth.
Speaking of transplants, Angel’s gaze shifted unconsciously to the Three-Headed Crocodile that was immersed in the rhythm of the ocean.
Speaking of which, one of the hottest bloodlines in the Abyss was that of the Three-Headed Crocodile. Legend had it that, although the Three-Headed Crocodile was a minor demon, its bloodline seemed to be connected to the elite amongst the greater demons—Cerberus. Indeed, while there was a significant difference in the strength of their bloodlines, there seemed to be some truth to the connection. Those who transplanted the Three-Headed Crocodile bloodline before attempting a Cerberus transplant experienced a significantly higher success rate in both organ compatibility and bloodline assimilation.
Due to its popularity, the Three-Headed Crocodile bloodline was hunted nearly to extinction by humans, leading some wizards to wonder if it had already been wiped out. But unexpectedly, he encountered one in Lassudral.
“I heard that the Three-Headed Crocodile is nearly hunted to death by humans. What, are you planning to take it out while it’s off guard?” Fafnir’s voice came, a hint of excitement in his tone at the mention of fighting and killing.
Angel shook his head. Although the Three-Headed Crocodile was indeed valuable, he had plenty of ways to earn Magic Crystals; there was no need to hang the sign of a dreaded pub on the very first day of operation.
“I was just thinking, what should I do if all the patrons who come to the store are of this size, or even larger?” Angel wore a look of concern. He previously thought a smaller store wouldn’t matter much, since he wouldn’t stay for long, but now, with the number of patrons increasing and demons coming in all shapes and sizes, how would he accommodate a larger one?
“Aren’t you worried about your customer base anymore?” Fafnir remembered that not long ago, this human was considering how to develop new revenue streams.
“Customers will come, and as you said, they’ll increase over time.”
Angel now had full confidence as he had learned that Pulapa was promoting their Misty Cabin outside. The fragrance of wine will not spread far if the alley is deep, but what if someone actively spreads its scent?
Angel couldn’t promote it before because his identity would be easily exposed, and Fafnir was not the kind to do such things, so all he could do was wait for customers to take the bait.
Now that Pulapa was promoting for him, it had truly brought in clientele. Once these patrons experienced the journey, they naturally understood its value for money.
As the number of customers increased, even without promotion, as long as there was another being who caused phenomena like Pulapa, it would surely attract curious demons. By then, the source of customers would naturally be resolved.
Even if there wasn’t a phenomenon like Pulapa’s, as long as the demons that went through the experience journey underwent some transformation and were noticed by other demons, they would trace it back to the Misty Cabin.
Therefore, Angel believed the customer base issue should be trending in a positive direction.
Whether it could reach sufficient Demon Gold Coins in a short time, that was hard to say. Hence, he’d set the exorbitant price of three hundred Demon Gold Coins.
After all, he had established a rule at the entrance: “This establishment will not entertain the same patron twice. The experience journey is a one-time event, cherish it.”
So, in this one-time experience, Angel needed to fleece as much as possible, which naturally meant setting a higher price.
In order to fleece more wool, Angel decided that once this batch of patrons finished their experience journey, he would enclose the backyard. If there were any large patrons, they could simply have their sky-covering, earth-covering experience there. However, for the sake of privacy, it would be better to set up an Illusionary Realm.
While Angel was pondering, one of the Half-Blood Demons slowly opened its eyes.
Upon waking up, there was a moment of confusion as it seemed unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.
It wasn’t until the Half-Blood Demon felt the surging Water Elemental Energy within its body that it jolted awake with an expression of ecstatic joy.
It had been upset about being “extorted” two hundred Demon Gold Coins, but it hadn’t expected such an immense gain! Not to mention the increased affinity with the Water System; what felt most wondrous to it was a sort of enlightenment that was hard to articulate fully.
This enlightenment couldn’t be clearly defined in the moment, but the demon could feel that it would bring earth-shattering changes to its control over its own energy in the future.
It was even struggling to contain its emotions, and when it looked at the Indigenous owner who had previously made its teeth itch with hatred, it now felt a few degrees of gratitude.
“Quiet,” Angel gestured for it to remain silent, then whispered, “You can choose to leave now or stay here until they’re done and leave together.”
The demon glanced at the other demons around it who were still experiencing with their eyes closed, and decided to stay for the moment to observe. Its own improvement was significant, and it wanted to see what kind of improvements the other demons would have.