Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 484: Payday

Uff, that had been a rough night.He had even taken down the octopus—the one worth a fortune in coins. What annoyed him a bit was that he had to hold all the body parts in place using blood manipulation until the humans came out of the kelp ball. It was good practice, sure, but it became tedious over time. More than anything, he wanted to deal with that incursion pillar soon.

The underwater battles had been tough, but they also showed what his new form was truly capable of. Killing this many enemies while remaining in peak condition wasn’t normal. At some point, even the stronger creatures had stopped approaching the surface.

Still, seeing the humans’ eyes widen in shock when they noticed the floating remains made it worth it.

Everyone looked exhausted, shivering and clearly sleep-deprived.

Of course, Thalion had noticed that he had reached level one hundred and four in a single night. Yet there were still no new skills, which was honestly disappointing. He had hoped that level one hundred would unlock his first skill selection, but apparently not. He was already so close to one hundred and five that stepping on an ant might be enough to push him over.

“Look! This is a gigantic twenty-armed octopus! Do you know how many coins we’ll get for that?” a young water mage with short green hair exclaimed.

“And that’s a tectonic king crab—and a poisonous moray eel!”

The excitement spread quickly. The water mages dove down and began cutting the large bodies into smaller, manageable pieces.

Rina immediately took charge, organizing everyone. One person was sent ahead to the city to check whether the bullies had left, while the rest continued preparing the remains.

“Hey, why are you just sitting there? Go help us if you want a share of the coins,” a tall, thin man said as he surfaced beside Thalion.

Thalion would have loved to tell him who had actually done all the work—but for now, he preferred to stay unnoticed. He still wanted more information from the crabs before making any bold moves. Besides, the night had been far from wasted.

So he dove down and began tearing the bodies apart with his bare hands. Using his sword would draw attention, and using blood risked contaminating the flesh with his curse—which was something he wanted to avoid.

It didn’t take long before the scout returned, reporting that the bullies had gone out hunting and that the area was safe—for now.

After a short discussion, the group decided that Rina and Thalion would deliver the goods to the city.

Thalion, because no one knew him and his level seemed too low for anyone to suspect him of killing such powerful creatures. Otherwise, people might follow them and try to take a share.

Rina, to make sure no one tried to rob him on the way.

They repeated several times that he needed to get at least eighteen coins per piece.

Thalion doubted the crabs wouldn’t try to lower the price—but he would do his best.

No… he was actually looking forward to this.

What annoyed him slightly was how often Rina glanced at him, clearly uneasy, especially when she had to slow down because he couldn’t swim as fast—even while using blood control to accelerate. He could have used a movement skill, but he preferred the training. The extra two minutes wouldn’t matter anyway.

As they approached the city, Rina grew increasingly tense, while Thalion carried both baskets.

“Are you really that afraid something will happen?” Thalion asked, trying to reassure her. Being watched with that much worry was something he wasn’t used to.

“Of course I’m afraid! Do you have any idea what position we’re in?” Rina snapped. “First we hid in that reef, but it collapsed. Now the kelp ball is gone. If this doesn’t work, we’ll probably get eaten next night. How can you be so confident with such low odds of survival?”

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“I’ve faced worse. This will work out,” Thalion replied casually.

“That, or you’ve got brain damage,” Rina huffed, clearly not taking him seriously.

The harbor was far more active than before. Many more ships were docked, and the Chel'Kari were busy preparing them to set sail. In contrast to the skyships from the tutorial and the system event, these vessels looked far more primitive. They had fewer runes, the wood appeared worn and weathered, and some sails were even torn.

All in all, not what you would expect from an integrated faction.

There were also quite a few humans assisting the Chel'Kari, handling most of the heavy labor while the crabfolk took on commanding roles.

Thalion propelled himself out of the water, carrying the two large baskets. They were surprisingly heavy, and without his high strength, he would have struggled.

“Good morning,” Thalion said with a friendly nod to a nearby group of Chel'Kari and humans.

They only stared at him, unsure how to respond.

He ignored their reaction and continued toward the gates, where a Chel'Kari guard greeted him.

“Good morning, human. What a fine collection you have there.”

Finally, someone polite.

“Good morning—and yes, I was blessed by the stars to find such treasure in the ocean,” Thalion replied with a grin.

He passed the guard without slowing down. A bit of small talk was fine, but he didn’t want to attract too much attention. Not that he wasn’t prepared—he might even enjoy the situation—but if something went wrong, the consequences for Rina and the others could be severe. Better to stay cautious.

The few humans he passed along the street widened their eyes at the contents of his baskets but said nothing.

As he stood in line at one of the counters, Thalion even began humming quietly.

“Yo-ho, the wind and the sea, that’s where I’m meant to be…”

The night had treated him well.

The only disappointment had been the lack of useful skills from his defeated enemies. He had hoped for something new, but nothing stood out. This was the issue with divine passive skills—you simply had no use for epic or ancient skills anymore.

“You seem quite cheerful, human. How was your night?” the Chel'Kari behind the counter asked.

“Great. Just great. Take a look at this—doesn’t that look like a gigantic twenty-armed octopus? The quest board listed it at twenty-one coins. And here—a piece of a tectonic king crab. That should be worth twenty coins, right? I’ve heard the meat is excellent.”

The Chel'Kari nodded slowly, clearly struggling to believe what it was seeing while likely verifying everything with an identification skill. It even checked Thalion multiple times, but each time, it simply shook its head beneath the fishbowl.

“It seems this is truly your lucky day,” the Chel'Kari said stiffly, its tone tight with barely concealed irritation.

Too bad it wasn’t the same one Thalion had dealt with the day before.

With both baskets now empty and his pouch filled to the brim with coins, Thalion made his way back toward the harbor. He intended to head out again and refill them.

“Did everything go well?” Rina asked, hurrying toward him the moment he stepped outside the gates.

“Yep. Got even more coins,” Thalion replied, tossing her his earnings.

A grin spread across her face as she quickly began counting, the tension visibly fading.

“Quick, let’s go before others catch on,” she said, gesturing for him to jump back into the water.

Now that things were going well, she became far more talkative—to Thalion’s mild annoyance. In fact, she spoke like a waterfall, constantly offering tips on how to swim faster. Since he wasn’t using water manipulation, most of her advice didn’t apply.

He was tempted to point out that what she was doing wasn’t even that effective—he had learned far more from Ratgul—but that would risk exposing himself. And in his human form, he couldn’t demonstrate it properly anyway.

The good mood quickly spread among the others working on the materials. Soon, everyone was sharing tips and encouragement.

Thalion, however, remained the only one who looked like he’d endured seven days of rain—while being bombarded with advice from all sides.

Man, I liked it far more when I was the happy one, he complained internally while swimming back with two full baskets as Rina kept talking without pause.

“You know, I was really afraid for our lives after arriving here. Compared to this, the tutorial was easy. We had spatial rings and the system shop—here, we only have those annoying Chel'Kari using us as free labor. By the way, how was your tutorial?”

“It was fine,” Thalion muttered, trying to outpace her—but with blood control alone, it wasn’t really possible.

“Exactly! That’s what I’ve been saying—the tutorials were way too easy. On the other hand, we gained a lot of levels. Without them, we’d be completely screwed in this world. The rewards for killing beasts here are much lower, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, noticed,” Thalion replied, dying a little inside.

“By the way, I’ve been wondering… what’s up with your skin and eyes?”

“Born like this.”

Rina gave him a skeptical look but continued anyway.

“Oookay… then what about your clothes? They dry themselves when you leave the water, and they’re covered in all those intricate runes. Where did you get them?”

“System shop.” For the love of god, how long until we reach the damn city? Thalion thought.

“No way. You actually spent your credits on clothes instead of skills? That’s so stupid. Didn’t you have better options? I had to choose between a really good movement skill and—”

That was how the journey continued.

By the time they delivered all the materials to the city, everyone else was cheering and celebrating.

Thalion, meanwhile, had the temperament of a landmine.

In total, they earned six hundred and eighty-eight coins from the Chel'Kari—enough to secure a safe place to rest for the next few weeks.

Unfortunately, the Chel'Kari had other plans.