*Grrr*
Despite Vayu's young age, he managed to let out a dangerous growl in the dead of the night. His meditative posture was already broken with seething pain traveling through his veins into the entirety of his body. He gasped and tried to 'Wake up' but he couldn't. His body trembled while he slowly fell on his mattress face first.
*Hissss*
The soft, pained growls turned into a chilling hiss of a serpent. His skin suddenly seemed to have grown paler than usual. Faint, octagon-shaped scales seemed to luster through his body.
But within him, Vayu couldn't stop the movement of his cultivation after drinking the Cinder Seep Potion. A potion catering to the development of the body now dangerously ravaged Vayu's body. His face scrunched in pain. However, he couldn't stop. From his shimmering skin, a little bit of grim material seeped out. His pores loosened and finally, his body seemed to have calmed down.
---
"How... stinky!"
*Splash*
With barely perceivable blush, Kol exclaimed while pouring another bucket of water on Trilok. His usually short, dark, perm hair now completely slick and covering the top part of his face before Trilok pushed his hair back once again.
"Hey, don't just bomb me with water! Slowly. Carefully!" Trilok scowled and scolded.
"Ah," seeing Trilok turn with a snarl, his developed chest with signs of growth of chest hair laid bare to Kol's nubile and sensual gaze, she couldn't help but yelp, throwing the iron bucket towards Trilok accidentally.
*Thud*
Trilok reeled back, the bucket slowly falling and rolling out towards the inner region of the store. The clattering and distracting noise attracted attention from those passing through the entrance of the store... but this wasn't anything new.
"Say," Trilok inquired with his eyes shining sharply through the wet strands of his hair sticking to his forehead, blood dripping from his nostrils, "Before coming here, did you settle your affairs?"
"Eep!" Kol whimpered and shivered but before she could retreat, the bloody-nosed Trilok lunged and his speed and physical reaction marked a considerable improvement, of course, not enough to dodge a startled iron bucket to the face.
*Thud*
Instantly, a rousing ruckus was created in Trilok's house, awakening an irritated Vayu who felt sticky all over.
'This... is this what Sister Kol once said about being a man? My trousers are definitely sticky...'
Vayu scrunched his brows, 'And I smell, too...'
Quickly, the boy removed all his clothes and ran down buck naked.
"Brother! Something weird is happening to me!"
He shouted and found his brother holding both of Kol's arms from behind, fury filling his gaze and blood for his nostrils. One foot pushed against Kol's back as she shrieked like a dying vulture!
"Hmm?" Trilok looked towards Vayu and seeing the similar impurities pushed out of his body, Trilok's gaze trembled and he accidentally let go of Kol's slightly meaty arm, making her face smack against the ground.
"Aaah! My nose! Boss, you're horrible!" Kol rolled in pain while Trilok gazed at Vayu for another moment and looked towards the entrance of the store. Seeing nobody out there, Trilok closed the door of the store and took Vayu to the bathing area behind the room where the war of bucket began.
---
"So, this is the result of a physique boosting drug... amazing!" Trilok feigned interest.
But.
[Name: Vayu
Age: 12
Spirit Vein: Purple (Upgrade Requirement: 5,000,000)
Cultivation: Spiritual Dweller— 5 (Upgrade Requirement: 10000)
Technique: Devouring Serpent Technique (Heaven-Unique)(Special Traits: Devour— 1, Assimilation— 1)(Upgrade Requirement: —)
]
Trilok knew well about the effects of the body-boosting drugs but these, in no way, affected spiritual cultivation at all as implied by Vayu's screen of information!
Right now, both Trilok and Kol had rolled cloth dipped with [Poor Man's Health] plugged into their nostrils.
'And... 10,000 points for an upgrade to the next level of Spiritual Dweller?'
Trilok shivered and looked at his own information.
[Name: Trilok
Age: 19
Spirit Vein: Green (Upgrade Requirement: 50,000)
Cultivation: Spiritual Enhancer— 1 (Upgrade Requirement: 18,000)
Spirit Points: 45,160
Technique: Sea God's Grace (High-Legendary)(Special Traits: Heart of Sea— 2)(Upgrade Requirement: 200,000)
]
Not only did the breakthrough raise the [Trait] of his cultivation technique, but Trilok finally gained an ability that he had theorized quite recently. Of course, he wasn't willing to admit this theory because it meant spitting at his perseverance for the past 6 years.
Closing his eyes, Trilok felt the natural spirit energy around him and as exercised in his Cultivation technique, he absorbed a thick strand of spirit qi.
[1 Spirit Point Collected.]
Becoming an Enhancer allowed Trilok to gain spiritual energy from his surroundings but the amount was still depressingly low.
"Let's eat already..." Trilok sighed.
Kol blinked. It looked like Boss wanted to say something more but still continued to hesitate.
"Brother, how does it feel to become a Spiritual Enhancer? Now you can finally leave the community and start your own adventure!" Vayu grinned.
"Yeah. Because traveling alone in the ocean without anyone to chat with is really popular, right? To face diseases alone, and with not enough space to conduct alchemical studies, not to mention, not enough space to shit properly without facing storms and whatnot!" Trilok growled, "No, thank you! I will live with other humans, as humanity is intended to commit."
Kol and Vayu fell stunned. They did not know Trilok's opinion on the matter would be this strong and opposing. The fact that his words made sense only made Vayu feel disappointed.
"But, now that you have brought this issue up. If you ever want to leave the ship... for you know, going out there and eating a bitter medicine of regret, you will have to wait till you're 18. I have... well, at that point, I have something for you. So, it would be well of you to wait till then."
Seeing his thoughts exposed, Vayu blushed a little but he still nodded meekly.
"And from now, you will follow Kol in every step except when she goes to the bathroom... and boy does she stink it up!" Trilok scowled.
"Boss!" Kol blushed, "Don't say this to others!"
"The stop going to the bathroom every single hour," Trilok narrowed his gaze.
"It's... personal," Kol stuffed her face with more seafood, or in this case, food.
"Hah? Why? I want to—" Before Vayu could even begin, a cold sneer from his brother's side shut him up.
"Why? Let me tell you why. From today, all of you 'grown' boys and girls will be given tasks to prove useful to the Community. We have fed you pigs for 12 years. 12! It's time to start earning your way in the community. I'm sure, Uncle Roa would appoint Jeli in the port, that pervert Ron will now start full time with Noland, and your other friends would start with their families, too. Cultivation comes with responsibilities and a need of expertise."
"Of course, to be an expert, you need to have a general grasp of various situations. Like yesterday, you guys could have been killed if it wasn't for your young age. Knowing nothing about taxes and following stories, heh! Vayu, I won't repeat myself from now on, too. I'll treat you like an adult... of course, learn from Kol what that means."
Trilok snickered but Kol and Vayu felt their hearts turn cold.
---
It didn't take Vayu long enough to get accustomed to his job. He would make runs with Kol to observe the market and learn the art of gathering information without inquiring too much. In the morning and the afternoon, Kol would slowly teach Vayu how to gather information by observing clues and facial expressions. Physical gestures, and some more. In the evening and night, Vayu would be taught by Trilok. Nothing about alchemy yet but more basics and even taxation and its policies.
Of course, in the end, tax policies differed from ship to ship, but the general rules and such were common everywhere. The trade ship, left on its time and the Community bid the ship a cheerful farewell. Of course, everyone except the chief who stood at the highest point of the Community and peed towards the trade ship.
The sight had paled most of the members of the community but nothing untoward happened to the ship.
Except for a pool of piss that drenched the old Drunkard's thighs because of the direction of the wind.
The thing which intrigued Trilok the most was the special traits of Vayu's cultivation technique.
Since Vayu now had to eat from his own earnings, of course, he couldn't squander any longer and had begun eating dry rations once again. But a few times, Trilok would still treat his brother with spiritually rich food and it would boost Vayu's cultivation.
'The devouring and assimilation trait meant a heightened rate of digestion and absorption.' Trilok realized.