The Explosions were not coming from the port, but from the harbor itself. Several large Sea Beasts had surfaced, exposing themselves, breaching the water and arriving atop, crushing them. They looked like dolphins but they were highly aggressive and armor plated.
"These things showing up can't be a coincidence, things that live in Oceans tend to remain in the Oceans." Mike looked down from the sky, he could see dozens of Merchant Mages scrambling for a way out of the waters. "F▓CK!"
He put his hands down and gathered some energy, throwing his roots down into the salt water. They made a net and Mike anchored it to the dock. The creatures were still attacking the flotilla. More than a dozen ships remained and the longer that he took to take action, the more dire the consequences.
As he rushed he saw many figures rise into the sky. Seven different colored beams poured down from the air and tore into the creature that was attacking their ship. The ship was a goner, however the pod of Armored Dolphins had more targets. Two of the seven helped those who couldn't fly make it to the netting and onto shore, while the other five arrived next to Mike.
A quick glace told him he was allowed to direct their next action, Mike roared, "FIGHT BACK YOU LAZY B▓ST▓RDS!" Then he slapped one of the flying merchants that had arrived. "What's your damned deal? Fight." Mike flew toward the nearest ship, a dark shadow came up from underneath the water and crest the surface of the water. "MOTHERF▓CKERS!" Mike couldn't understand what the being had said among them but all of their breath was rancid.
A Fishy smell wafted out causing the Merchant Mages to stare into space.
Mike felt dizzy and his vision went cloudy, "What is this? I'm a Titan!" His heart began to beat faster, a small bead of sweat came out from his body and dissipated into the air. 'So its like that?' The poison was removed, he looked around, stood up and stretched mid-air. His cockiness made the orchestrate of the attack very angry, another roar was followed by a spear that almost missed Mike's detection. It slid by his face and Mike caught it.
The Spear was made of underwater materials, a coral encrusted bone of some kind. He put it away like a trophy which further enraged the creature.
Large eyes followed Mike's movements from under the water, "Don't just hover, So something or you won't have a fleet much longer." He reminded the others who were casually watching the fight and destruction of their ships. They snapped out of it but didn't interfere with Mike's fight, instead they chose to head toward more of their flotilla. 'Idiots, its about damned time.'
A green light surrounded Mike and all the algae in the water bloomed into a thick pad, the Armored Sea Beasts were quickly flopping across a bed of intensely thick Algae.
'Cuuh'h'h'h-Ui-eei' A short burst of noise came from the Creature as it watched the beings under its control become utterly useless. It sounded like a curse combined with a shriek and then it sank into the water, leaving gurgle noises in its wake.
"Trying to escape?" Pulling out the Frost Cannon trailer hitch and pointed it at the retreating shadow, then, he aimed ahead and poured his energy into it blindly. A cannon, Mike had called it that but it never truly acted like one before, it had always shot out a beam, that is, until this time. His energy charged and fired, a blast swept across the water, freezing everything in its path.
When the blast struck the surface of the water, a great explosive force threw water into the air and a great number of Ice spears rained down.
The Ice spears that rained down froze more water and in turn, more lesser waves spread out. Anything, fish, water, algae, the armored dolphins nearby.. all of them were turned into ice sculptures or frozen in place.
The Ice Crystal inside of the Hitch froze the hitch and shattered.
"DAMMIT!" Mike put it away. 'That was reinforced Steel.'
The lead Sea Beast was a statue. Mike slowly flew to its position, that the creature had tried to escape the water as it was freezing over. It had many tentacles, all of them were severely bruised and battered from the intense cold or previous fights.
He kicked one and it shattered.
Putting the pieces away, Mike saw that the Sea Beast was still bleeding, which meant that it was not dead, its heart was still beating softly. Each beat drew closer to its last, it was dying.
He collected the blood into a jar.
With each passing moment the blood came less and less. It was obvious that the creature was dying and these drops of blood were the last thing its body could produce. When it stopped producing blood altogether, Mike broke the creature into many parts and stored it away. There were still Armored
Sea Beasts on the algae pad, no matter how strong they struggled, these large predators were unable to re-enter the water, they gasped and gave off terrifying noises. The large beasts couldn't move under the weight of their own bodies.
Mike yelled to the shore. "Who here can use Earth Magic?"
Afterwards, he whistled and a flight of Dragoons came out of the forest. Mike had them land and pick up the four volunteers.
"Follow me." Mike led them outside of the City walls along the coast. "Make a wall, bring it up about fifty feet above the water and follow behind me, it can be made of whatever but it has to stand up to storms."
They followed behind, his task wasn't a complicated one, with four of them in a line, the wall came up quickly. The Merchant Mages controlled their magic from atop the Dragoons and a thirty meter wide embankment came up from the seafloor, creating a small isolated section of salt water, a coastal man-made lake.
The water would eventually go stagnant if left alone but Mike didn't care, he could blast the wall apart later if he wanted or make alterations. "Drag the Armored Beasts into this pool." He watched from a distance as the eight of them were bound, then hauled into the corral. "Okay.."
Sighing from relief, Mike went to recover the algae and free the harbor from Ice. 'What was even doing before this? Ah, oh well, he'll understand.' Mike took an hour to clear out the mess in the harbor and returned to the Casino VIP room.
Habrick was sitting there with a smile on his face, "What's with the creepy smile?" Mike's question made Habrick grin further.
"Its not that creepy is it?" Habrick checked a mirror and turned his face in genuine interest.
"Man, I'm just fucking with you.. so.. you were saying? Pirates right?" Mike's face twitched, he didn't see any spacial devices on the Sea Beasts, "So exactly how did they collect or steal things from the merchants?"
"That..We don't know. We recovered several of our wrecks after but each time our dead would be missing and any loose items would also be gone." Habrick felt helpless, "We can fight them sometimes when we're close to the shores but once we're on the open sea... no matter how hard we fight, more arrive and destroy our ships. This sort of destructive force seems to only be directed at our merchant ships, the ships baring the Ornian Banners are left untouched."
"Isn't that a bit strange, given that aside from banners, I'd find it hard to distinguish between the boats themselves unless you're talking about size.." Mike stroked his chin. "Then the most logical conclusion is that someone was telling or directing the creatures what to attack."
"How can you be certain?" Habrick's confusion was expected.
"Easy. I captured the Armored Beasts. If they were really being controlled, their attitude should be different after a while." Mike said this casually but Habrick fell silent, he was at a loss for words. "None of the merchants died just then, so I think we can relax for the time being." Mike pulled out a cup with concentrates and a few edibles. "I think that I'll be able to give you some seeds by the end of the season." He changed the subject suddenly.
"What?" Habrick hadn't expected it to be so quick, he asked, "Why?"
Mike shook his head, "Does it matter?"
"I suppose not." Crossing his arms and leaning back after exhaling, Habrick watched a thick cloud of smoke drift into the room. "Are there different strains?"
"Honestly, there are some unique qualities that I would love to get into but these details and observations are just a sort of speculation and talking shop is all I really do all day. Tell me about the Empire, what new stuff have you brought me this time?" Mike rubbed his hands together ready to see what new fascinating treasures would come across his tables, with each new ship it seemed that the Casino and town would receive a portion of their goods as trade.
Habrick felt like he was trying too hard and gave up easily. "This time, we came with lots of books but when we arrived someone had beaten us to our vendor. They sold a great number of books, as such, we have our shipment still. Wanna trade?"
"Got anything on Formations? Alchemy, plants, animals or materials?" Mike was unwilling to buy everything but he did have some interests.
"Just two Crystals. One on materials and the other on formations."
"Two? Crystals?" Mike wanted to laugh but knowledge was power, he watched Habrick pull them out to them over.
"Treasures and Trash, sometimes the differences aren't easy to spot. You decide." Habrick rolled the pair of crystals across the table and they stopped in front of Mike. "If you want them, you can have them. Things like this are easy to replace and cost almost nothing but they make for great bargaining chips in less developed nations."
"Don't you want compensations?" Mike asked.
"You're always good to me when I show up, consider it a gift." A Few girls were peering through the curtain that separated the VIP room from the other areas. "I'll be right back." Habrick stood up and opened the curtain. "Sasha, why are you off the ship?"
"He's cute, why didn't you tell me there was a Casino up in here? I coulda been getting my groove on but you just left like I wasn't even there. Shit, You know me, I'd rather be ballin up in here than crawling around down there.." Her head bobbed to the side and she gave Habrick the evil eye. "So, who's your friend?" She asked with a snappy retort.
"An associate." Habrick felt embarrassed by their behavior and did not want to involve his personal matters with business. He tried to get her to leave but she forced her way through the doorway.
"Oh shit son, you gots the chronic. Hells to the yeah. I ain't smoked in years.. so sugar, what's your name?" She sat down next to Mike and tried to lean in on him but Mike pulled back. Her dress was very thin, paper thin and as she rubbed herself against Mike's skin she noticed the scales. "Oh, he's a beast too, come on sexy.. don't you think I'm pretty?.." She smiled and tried touching Mike again.
"Habrick." Mike turned toward Habrick, Angry. There was a plea for help in his eyes, he wanted Habrick to resolve the issue immediately. Mike wanted to backhand the woman or tell her off but he was reluctant to cause a scene.
She was throwing herself on him. "Sasha! Could you be any less of a skank?" The other girl at the door came in, she followed Sasha's lead and tried to sit on Mike's lap.
Mike stood up. "I think I've had enough, Harry!"
Harry poked his head in and noticed Mike's expression, then he saw the two girls. "Yes?"
"Take these two and escort them back to the Lobby. Give them a chips to play on the house and make sure they don't come back into this room." Giving the order made Mike feel at ease.
Harry grabbed the two of them by their ankles and lifted them into the air.
Their dresses hung down a bit, exposing all, neither of them had chosen to wear underwear. Habrick shook his head in shame. "Those two have been a problem since the last port. All they care about is getting free things or being pampered. Neither of them are willing to do anything outside of a bedroom for work."
"I hope that they are good at something.." Mike laughed at them, he hated that type of woman. Hobosexuals were nothing new, plenty of people would give sex for a place warm to stay and that was on either side of the board.
"Not really, they act like starfish. Five appendages and one hole, they lay there. It seem like they live under rocks, are clingy and prickly, some of them are downright poisonous. The worst part is that even if they smell like the ocean, none of them will ever admit it. I miss daily showers." Habrick laughed afterwards, feeling awkward.
"One of the first things I did when I learned magic existed on this world was create showers and hot water. That was a big moment for me." Mike laughed.
"So anyways, back to the seeds, how many are we talking?" Habrick rubbed his hands together.
"For you, I'll give you five but I am not selling them. You will have to promise to plant all five near each other and let nature take its course." Mike's serious face came out and he took another hit from the dab rig.
'Is that all?' Habrick stared at Mike and agreed. "That sounds good. Way better than having to negotiate for them. Do I need to do anything special?"
"Probably not, but if you get an earth user to clean up the soil that would be good. I haven't had the balls to pour a healing potion on a damaged plant yet, nor have I had a damaged plant but I think that their power of absorption should be taken into consideration. Plant them where other spectacular herbs grow, no doubt they will influence its growth in some way that cannot be imagined." It was a piece of information that he was a little reluctant to share but Habrick and him had a certain level of friendship and understanding.
"Really?" Habrick exclaimed and turned toward Mike.
"You can plant it anywhere and as long as it isn't destroyed it should do fairly well. The problem is that if you don't let them make more seeds, you'll have to find one that's growing in the wild. I won't be here after too long, I intend to leave this place and spread my seeds across this world." Mike told Habrick this in confidence, "Don't tell anyone."
"Aww man, really? I like this place. It'd be a shame to see this place close." Habrick shook his head, the Merchant Mage Union had planned on making an official branch of their shipping company take root in Lonestar City.
Mike couldn't help but explain, "I can't possibly be expected to stay, only like this will all my worries be settled. In about another two months seeds will start to form, a month after that I plan to... Well.."
"That's quite a time frame, I can't expect you to stay.. I wouldn't ask that either. What about the Casino?" Habrick's tense shoulders had about a hundred questions and Mike didn't have time to answer all of them.
"The Casino will stay and you'll still be able to buy some of the products from here, however, I won't be here." The answer was unsatisfying to both of them but Mike felt that it had to be said.
"If that's the case, before you go, hook me up." He panned his eyes around the Casino at some of the girls.
"Oi. If you want their attention you'll have to work for it, besides, most of these girls are mine." Mike laughed and ate a cookie. It crunched under his teeth. "These are pretty good, try one."
Mike passed the tray.
The Next morning Mike woke up to a face full of feathers and a bed full of unfamiliar women. He shook his head and saw Habrick in the corner nestled with one of the new hires. 'Good for him.' Yawning and somewhat naked, Mike stood up and found his pants, counting the girls in his beat there were seventeen people in his room. 'Just what happened?' He did his best to retrace his steps in his mind, the events from the night before weren't even cloudy but he had not expected to wake up in that scenario.
He clearly remembered getting drunk and wandering the City with Habrick and then.. and then he remembered going into the Cat house. 'Great, I picked up hookers?' Mike checked the bed for any of the girls but none of them were in the piles. 'Damn, I'm going to get an ear full.'
Mike flew out of the window and circled the City once to clear his head. 'Was it the effects of the poison? Maybe I cleansed the poison but not its effects? The Charm is powerful but I wouldn't use it so recklessly.' Many things went through his mind and then Mike spotted Vella. "Vella!" he called out and landed nearby.
"Greetings, Master. How are you this morning?" She had a grin across her face.
"What's with everyone making strange faces at me lately?" Mike felt puzzled about people's reactions but gave up thoughts on it. "anyway, I'm doing good. What happened last night?"
"Ahh, about that." Vella seemed to know something and rubbed her toes into the ground. "I didn't think Master would mind but I gave Master some of the Madness Peppers for dinner last night. It seems you forgot that your.. appetites go uncontrolled after eating them, you went and ate the cat house. Hah.hah."
"That's not funny, Go get the girls after you see that our guests are fed and paid. They still have classes everyday until harvest." Mike spread his wings, flew to the fields and checked on the progress.
Many of the plants had gotten to a height of two meters and their stems were about as thick as his wrist. They were all under somewhat weak isolation formations, none of their pollen would escape but air and rain could be exchanged. Taking out a paintbrush he had bought back in Poocha territory, Mike found the one plant he knew was a male. It grew a bit leggier and had small testicle like flower pods that hung down in pairs near the crotch of the main plant arteries.
Mike gently cut away a few of the flowers free from the pedal pods and put their pollen into a glass vial. There wasn't a whole lot, perhaps thirty flowers in total but that was a lot of pollen. A single piece of pollen could make a seed and the vial had lots. After heading to the next plant, he tapped the dry hairs into the pollen and found several small buds to pollinate.
Poking the still forming buds with a dry and wispy paintbrush was delicate work but Mike made it to all the buds on the plant before he ran out of pollen. He would have to wait until next time the male made flowers. Given the growth rate of cannabis in Shiyan, he didn't expect that wait to be long. 'At least now I have one seed plant and she'll make hundreds of'em.' He put the paintbrush into the vial and closed it.