Chapter 204 - That Only Makes it Better.JPG
Chapter 204: That Only Makes it Better.JPG
Being the last to be kicked by Zonyan Grayclaw, Joey opened his eyes to find himself looking into Vulcan’s eyes, who smiled, baring his teeth. “Are you awake? Your bag is empty!”
Spooked, Joey immediately shoved him away and opened the little bag in front of his chest, but breathed a sigh of relief when he realized every treasure he had was still there. “Stop fooling around—you almost scared me to death.”
“It’s just some materials you gathered from Hundred Huntings. Do you need to baby it that much?” Vulcan replied nonchalantly.
As an early skill for Rangers, materials required for Hundred Huntings were Player-friendly enough to be completely gathered in early dungeons.
Still, Joe did not reply and slid a look at Zonyan Blackhand.
Vulcan immediately understood.
With the Super Black Hand in their party, even the lowest grade of mineral was rare to come by…
Nonetheless, Zonyan pretended as if he didn’t see their exchange. “How do we get to the Lyon Savannah from here?” He asked the Long-ear called Laybit.
“You would reach Timite past these reefs. Lyon Savannah is past that and the Vierlin Plains after it.” Laybit replied. “A three-day journey, tops.”
“I see…” Zonyan mused. “Could you lead the way?”
Although Zonyan did not live like a prince when he was the chief of the Grayclaw tribe, he didn’t really travel far from home either. The furthest he went was the Vierlin Plains, and he naturally wouldn’t recognize the way around here.
Laybit’s rabbit ears straightened. “Sure, if you pay me.”
Zonyan’s look turned awkward.
Although the Western Continent shared the same three-pronged currency of copper, Rions and Abbys that the Eastern Continent used, Zonyan didn’t have any since all the currency he had were game coins.
Meanwhile, Vulcan and Joe who were shoving around at each other suddenly noticed Laybit, with Vulcan’s gaze sharpening.
Everything about her: the pink short hair, a hidden strength and toughness despite her outward tameness and soft-spoken side seemed to push his buttons in all the right places.
Pushing off Joey with one firm shove then, he ran his fingers through his hair on one hand and planted himself flamboyantly between Laybit and Zonyan.
“Lady, the name’s Vulcan. May I interest you in dinner?” Vulcan said, feigning a deep voice while lashing his eyebrow continuously at Laybit.
“You’re blind.” Laybit’s ears drooped unhappily again. “I’m a man.”
?!?!
Vulcan’s face dropped, unable to keep together his Romeo act. “N-no way!”
“Long-Ears are like that.”
Zonyan clapped his hand on Vulcan’s shoulder, before turning to Laybit. “I don’t have money, but I have some items that I could barter with. What do you think?”
At that, he whipped out a bottle of watered-down Cola, a bottle of watered-down Fanta and a bottle of watered-down Emergency Syrup.
Laybit simply stared at the drinks that were mostly seawater doubtfully.
Zonyan himself was both speechless and helpless. When other Players were slaying monsters to farm for items, he alone quietly carried out daily quests to earn money. He was now rich, but the problem was that he couldn’t get the money… scratch that, he could, but Laybit wouldn’t agree that it is money!
It’s all that damned broken boat’s fault!
On this voyage, his party had gathered money for a long time before finally redeeming the last, most luxurious-looking boat in the list after having learnt their lesson from buying the little boat.
Zonyan himself was convinced that it would be the toughest boat when he saw the name it was given—Titanic!
That’s a titan, after all! Far colossal than giants, their heads reach the sky and their feet crushes the earth! They punch behemoths, kick dragons and tear leviathans apart with their bare-hands—a mythical being that only existed in legends before the War of Gods and Demons!
So, there is no doubt that a boat named the Titanic would be the most powerful there is!
As a matter of fact, every other Player had been excited when they saw how large the boat was—even Marni was tapping his chest, assuring them that it was the largest boat he had seen in all his years as a merchant.
Therefore, they redeemed the Titanic, moved their supplies on the boat and quietly chased out Marni, who had sneaked on the boat. Then, all of them excitedly road the massive liner, following the instructions given by the System and journeyed toward the Western Continent.
Reasonably speaking, the routes mapped in the sea chart should be safe since the Secret Eye Society used it in their smuggling trade, but for some reason, an Iceberg Whale crashed into the liner and split Titanic down the middle, leaving it slowly sinking beneath the sea…
The Players on board hence had to get on the life rafts, staying adrift over the vast, borderless seas.
After Zonyan’s party woke up, they found out the other Players who had joined them on their quest to the Western Continent were no longer adrift, but had died and returned to the Unnamed Town.
And at the moment, everyone else is having a party at the elven city of Trinia.
Even if they did make it safely to the Western Continent from a certain point of view, Zonyan found the process rather perplexing.
Was his god the God of Games or the God of Shipwrecks?
***
Laybit was naturally dissatisfied with the drinks (the healing effect is still present albeit reduced in the ratio of seawater to potion the bottle). Nonetheless, Joey managed to make the Long-Ear agree to lead the way to the Grayclaw Tribe with several smoke-bombs he made through Hundred Huntings.
Naturally, Laybit returned to his tribe and informed his father the tribe leader before going, since he would be away for two days and he could sell off some corals and other items that wouldn’t rot easily.
On the way back to the Long-Ears Tribe, however, Vulcan had seemed to pull himself together once again. He was acting gentlemanly, persistently asking after Laybit in every little thing to the point that Joey had goosebumps.
“Brother Vulcan, do you have to do that?” He asked softly, pulling Vulcan aside.
“Do what?” Vulcan looked absolutely confused.
“Well… did you suffer such a huge blow that you’re having selective memory?” Joey asked uncomfortably.
“What blow? I just find the lady quite cute, so I’m just being a little attentive…” Vulcan replied.
“That’s the problem!” Joey said with goodwill, afraid of dealing a blow to Vulcan’s heart once more. “Laybit is very cute, but he’s a man!”
“Hmph.” Vulcan sneered, and even as Joey thought that he was not convinced and so would try harder to persuade him, he smiled and gave him a thumps-up. “That only makes it better!”
“…”
I see.
Stunned, Joey finally realized one thing: Vulcan wasn’t having selective memory after the blow.
He’s gone loco (homo).