An hour before arriving at the island called Meriam Island, Liam and the others were called to the deck. It was some time after noon when they were informed that they were going to be arriving to a port town called Seaside Slantia. They were given a small history of the town known for its trading and entertainment values. It was also known as the island that marks the beginning of Aquatic races territories like the Mermen and Sea Elves and other races. Since it was the first island on this side of the world there were no teleportation buildings making it one of very few places where you had to actually ride a ship or fly to just to get to it.

  They had also informed everyone that they would be stopping there for the night so they could sell the stuff they had gotten as well as make repairs and stock up on items they had ran out of. The damages on the ship this time wasn’t major, and the repairs needed would be minimal compared to last time, but they still wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything they had missed when inspecting. Once they dock they would get some people to start on the repairs so they could leave as soon as possible the next day.

  During their time in the port town they would be free to do whatever they wanted to. Mercer was told a Merchant’s Association building would be there and Liam was informed that a Crafter’s Association would be there as well. Merchant was told to sell whatever he could so they could lighten their loads and Liam was to get some Crafter’s Association exclusive materials. After that they were free to do whatever they wanted. Uncle Naro insisted that Liam should give Mercer some weapons, armor, potions, and even majority of the Weak Body Rejuvenation Pills to sell with his patent mark on them so he could start making a trail of his work.

  Before reaching the port, Liam and Mercer spent time going over everything as he placed his mark on each vial, weapon, and armor he had made over time. While it was true he had no use for everything, he was also a bit worried no one would buy them. Majority of the items were Crude or Weak Quality. He would put some faith in Mercer that he would be able to sell them for a decent price.

  The both of them also went over a list of things with the others in case they needed anything specific. The game plan was Liam, Gimmel, Blair, and Artem would go to the Crafter’s Association to look at items and buy what they could afford while also making note of what they couldn’t. Mercer, Avery, Ariyana, and Roman would go to the Merchant’s Association and see if they could find any merchants who already had reputable shop in the port town or on the island and try to sell what they had. If they made a decent amount from the sales then they would meet up with Liam and the others and go over their funds to see if they could afford the items they couldn’t.

  Uncle Naro informed them that he would be off doing his own thing while Key tended to her ship and her own supply restocking. Omira stated that she had some things she wanted to do while Sebastean protested that she should stay at the inn while he ran the errands. Their little fight ended in his victory but was quickly lost as Ariyana stated that since she needed someone by her side, and him leaving her alone at the inn was stupid, that she should go with them. Omira jumped on the life line she was given and agreed with her. Sebastean mumbled some choice words, but didn’t argue after the looks he received from Uncle Naro and Key.

  As the ship got within reach of Seaside Slantia, Liam was amazed by what he saw. The port town wasn’t small at all. It was huge and expanded out quite a bit. The buildings had many different styles to them making them stand out in ways that made him want to look from one to the next with more and more interest.

  If that wasn’t enough, the people that filled the town were also eye catching. From where he stood, Liam was able to see different Beast-kins he hadn’t seen before as well as some he had. While there were familiar Beast-kins like Wolf-folk, Bear-folk, Cat-folk, Lizard-folk, etcetera, there were also some with aquatic physical features. A few had tentacles around their waists or as hair, resembling octopi, squids, and even jellyfishes. Others had dorsal fins on their backs or head. The colors he was able to make out made him think of sharks and orcas, but he wasn’t entirely sure if that’s what they were. He also saw a couple of races he recognized that weren’t Beast-kin. One that looked exactly Key’s race, the Sea Elves, and another that reminded him of Adva’s race, Mermen.

  After they landed, Uncle Naro led them to the inn they were going to use. It wasn’t too far from where they landed, but still far enough into the town that they could still see a lot of the different buildings and stores. The inn was called Carlfish Gains. It had a picture of a Crawfish flexing their arms. It was owned and operated by a couple who were in fact, Crawfish-folk Beast-kins. Even the staff were the same race.

  At first, Liam wasn’t sure what they were. They had long antenna’s that poked out from the top of their heads which made him think they were an insect type race like Vesely. The four arms that varied in length and ran down their rib cage didn’t help at all either, but it was the tail that had him confused. They had a lobster like tail that curled and lengthened at any given moment. It was Uncle Naro who had told him what their race was, which was how he was able to solve the mystery.

  After they received their keys and settled their stuff in the room, they got into the two groups they had discussed and left to handle their business. The location of the inn Carlfish Gains was right at the beginning of a fork in the road. If they followed the road back they would find themselves back at the port. The right road led to shops of various purposes and the two Associations while the road to the left led them to what was called the Entertainment Road. Pubs, bars, stages for performers, and more was down that path.

  As they walked down the road where the shops and Associations were, they heard from the people passing by that a famous singer was going to put on a show somewhere on the Entertainment Road. Before they split off to do what they had planned the girls and Mercer agreed that maybe getting a chance to see the show would be a nice change of pace. Both he and Ariyana were curious about the singer and her songs and wanted to see if there was any chance they could get any inspirations from the performance.

  After they split Liam’s group continued down into the shop district area of the town. Before they turned the corner to see the Crafter’s Association building, Liam felt his pocket start to vibrate. He placed a hand on it, both confused and interested as to why Silky was getting his attention. That question was soon answered as he looked across the street and saw a sign with a familiar small spider located in the corner of it. It was a Fiddler’s Spider Web branch.

  Liam made sure to make note of the location and thought about when he could slip away from everyone to check in with this branch. However, he didn’t want to bring attention to himself by staring at the store for too long, so he continued on to the building they were originally making their way towards. Gimmel had noticed his sudden paused and asked him in as quiet of a voice, “What’s wrong?”

  Liam, knowing the chances of random people hearing him was high due to majority of the people around being Beast-kin, placed a finger on his lips and then patted his pocket. Gimmel was confused at first, but as soon as he saw the chain he understood and didn’t bring it back up. He would talk to him later about it and see if the teenager wanted to join him.

  As Liam entered the Crafter’s Association building, he began to wonder if they would allow his teammates to enter with him since they didn’t have a C.I.D. and weren’t registered as Crafters. He didn’t have to worry because the people at the counter informed him he was able to bring people in as helpers. They weren’t able to enjoy the perks or buy anything while inside since they weren’t registered with the Association, but as helpers they could help him carry bought materials, tools, and more in a bag to help him. They would need to show proof they had bought the items and didn’t steal them before leaving, but that was fine.

  While inside he made note of materials he felt would be good to get for future projects. Higher quality bones for armor and weapon making, cloths that had special effects already in them thanks to the creatures they came from, and even special ingredients for Cooking, Poison Crafting, and Chemicalized Creations. He really wanted to get them and could see Artem’s interest in some of the cooking ingredients, but they both made sure they were good and focused on what they needed first and foremost.

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  Liam purchased upgraded tools and equipment for his Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Construction, Tailoring, and even Rune Crafting. While his Rune Crafting wasn’t as high of a level as his other crafts, he still felt he should get ahead for when it reached level ten. He also needed to bought something called an Enchanter’s Coder for an Enchanting. It was a Crude Quality pair of gloves specific for Enchanting.

  Uncle Naro had instructed him to make sure he got this tool because it was something he couldn’t make. It was a complex tool that had a beginner’s magic tool woven and blended into the gloves that helped the user enchant items and objects easier. When wearing the gloves and channeling mana through it the user would be able to create Mana Threads from the gloves that would connect with the object and help the user gain a better understanding of how much mana was being poured into the object as well as where the best places to inject them at. He would also be able to use the Mana Threads to erase mana from certain parts of the object before completion as well see where mana was thinner and needed to be thicker. There was more to be explained, but Uncle Naro said he would go over more of it later after he got the tool.

  Liam also made sure to get both he and Artem some new equipment for their Chef Craft. Artem was a bit further in certain aspects of the craft than he was, but they still made sure they had gotten what they needed. Other things Liam made sure to get were more vials and basic ingredients that could be used for both Weak and Minor Quality cooking, poisons, Medicinal Creations, and Chemicalized Creations as well as ingredients for Average Quality for his Potions.

  To Liam’s, and those with him, surprise the total had been a lot less than they had originally thought it to be. Both Artem and Liam wanted to go back and get some of the items they had originally seen but stopped as Liam came across something interesting. It was a Knowledge Theory book, tools, and supplies on how to repair puppets. While he found it interesting at first, he started to think it was something he couldn’t do since any type of crafting revolving around puppets was more of an Artificery craft related thing.

  However, after Gimmel had noticed what Liam had saw he grew excited. He had informed Liam that the ability to repair puppets was more of a Blacksmithing aspect instead of an Artificery aspect. It fell under the repair section of the Blacksmithing. It also required some aspect of Construction Crafting depending on the type of puppets that needed to be repaired. As long as one was over level fifteen in the repair section and had the Construct Wooden Creation in the Construction Craft Focus Point at level twenty, then they would be able to repair wooden puppets.

  Gimmel grew excited since he knew Liam had reached the requirements to learn this but then stopped as he saw the price. The money left over from the funds they agreed to use from buying what they needed was barely enough. While the money they set aside wasn’t all of their money, they had agreed not to use any more than what was agreed on in case they needed to have some funds for emergencies. The group made a decision to go ahead and buy the book, tools, and some materials so he could make sure Gimmel received the repairs his puppets would need once he started using more.

  Gimmel was an important part of the team just like anyone else and they had only focused on buying things for other needs. They needed Gimmel to know that he was as important as anyone else in the team, and they figured this was the best way. Especially after the worries he already had when it came to his class.

  After they finished they met Mercer and the others at the rendezvous point. After they all talked about what they had gotten or how much they sold, Mercer and the others who weren’t with them agreed that the purchase for the puppet repairs was an agreeable purchase. This made Gimmel happy to hear. He was soon over the money when Mercer had revealed that their group had a similar idea when they purchased a certain item they had come across and believed he could use.

  The puppet they found and purchased was called a Wooden Swift Yellowjacket Nest. It was a bundled paper clay wrapped nest that stood from the ground to his hips. It had a single hole at the bottom. At first Gimmel was confused. He wasn’t sure what he would do with a Yellowjacket nest when he didn’t have any puppets like that. However, after Gimmel channeled some mana into the item his eyes widened. Inside the nest contained twenty Poor Quality made Wooden Swift Yellowjacket Puppets. After commanding one to come out they saw the puppets were the size of Gimmel’s hand. Since these were Poor Quality instead of Crude, the movability and control over them was better. Not the best, but still a step up from the Crude Quality bird puppets. Not only that, but they contained a stinger he could fill with poisons. Gimmel’s happiness over the gift was known as he thanked them profusely.

  After that Mercer went over what they had accomplished on their end. To Liam’s surprise, Mercer had found someone willing to give a new Crafter’s wares a shot. It had taken some finagling about prices, but Mercer was able to get a nice amount from the man. It had turned out that the man was interested in both Liam’s bone crafted weapons and his Weak Body Rejuvenation Pills. He took the rest as a bundle since he was wanting to expand his store items, but his interest in the two previous items raked in more money than they thought. While it wasn’t an amount that would equal to better quality goods, it was still a decent amount that brought them into the silver coin range.

  That was thanks to the amount Liam had made. Mercer stated that the man had informed that bone crafted items were rare to see and due to some of the properties they had many sought them out. However, since many crafters believed the materials to be crude and barbaric, not many used them. Liam took note of that and decided that he would focus more on making bone crafted items. Mercer agreed with the decision and informed him that he had procured more bone materials from a variety of different species for him to use.

  Liam laughed at that and thanked him for getting him the materials. After asking about the price, Liam had stopped laughing and was amazed. Mercer was able to purchase these bone materials with Poor Quality at a much better price than he would have at the Crafter’s Association. After asking how, Liam was told a story about how the man had been rude towards Ariyana by whistling and making some very…suggestive comments.

  Mercer felt like he needed to teach the man a lesson in manners and before the man knew it, the price on the items was marked down by more than forty percent. However, he hadn’t just swindled the man into lowering the prices, but he had also gotten the man’s M.I.D. suspended for a year. To a merchant having to sell some of his wares at a forty percent discount was a hard blow, but having his business suspended for a year was a matter of death. His suspension also entailed that he wasn’t able to stock up on any supplies or be able to step foot into a Merchant’s Association building. If he was caught selling in any shops, stalls, or even on the road then his suspension would increase and fined over and over with each time he was caught. And if he was caught disobeying the rules after a certain amount of time then his M.I.D. would be revoked entirely and he would be blacklisted.

  Liam stared at Mercer for a while after hearing this. He knew Mercer could be calculative and harsh towards those who were disrespectful to his teammates and friends, but this was just a reminder that he didn’t care how far he would go for them. While it wasn’t harmful in a physical way…it was still a way to officially and legally kill a man’s income that would help him survive.

  After they were done there, they decided to go grab dinner. After dinner they made their way back to the inn to shower before going out to enjoy the show they were talking about earlier. After Liam finished getting ready he decided that he wouldn’t go with them. He had a different place to visit.

  Almost as if he knew he needed to be there, Gimmel knocked and entered the room. He was still curious about earlier and Liam had informed him about the Fiddler’s Spider Web branch he had found and informed him he needed to go there. He had asked Gimmel if he wanted to join him so he could get his own membership but was declined. Gimmel had told him that he wanted to work on some things before he attempted getting admission to the Underground Association.

  Liam respected his decision and informed him that he wasn’t going to join them tonight at the performance since he didn’t know how long it would take and asked if he would make an excuse to the others for him. He agreed to it and left to meet the others. Liam waited a bit before leaving the inn and made his way towards the branch.

  When he got close enough, Liam found an area to use Veil of Shadows without anyone seeing him and made his way around the back of the building. However, before he activated the entrance, he was stopped by a notification.

  [Liam, before you enter we need to talk about something. – Eri.]

  Confused, Liam inquired, What do we need to talk about?

  [About whether you can trust the branch members here with that cloth you were thinking about trading in for information and merit or not. – Eri.]

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