The enticing smell of the sea woke Jinmu from his dreams. It didn’t feel like he was on a different dimension at all. The boarded wood, though quite roughly built, was more than enough for someone like him to walk through as the boat rose and fell together with the waves of the sea.

"Ah, young master Mu Jin, you’re awake.", one of the crew greeted him. He seemed to be busy dealing with their harvests and went back to his own business. Jinmu didn’t mind it and trailed off to the side of the upper decks. He was enjoying the view of the sea from this side.

The rest of the crew didn’t bother to make a conversation with him. They seemed afraid to disturb this young man at any cost. Some of them stared at the large mast above engraved with a magic array formation. Winds whistled occassionally, boosting the speed of the vessel by a huge margin. This brought a chill down their spines and drooped their heads very low, afraid that they might gather Jinmu’s attention.

"Liking the sea, eh? Young master Mu?", a bald and rugged middle-aged man approached him. His clothes were damp and filled with the stink of fishes. Despite his rather rough outlook, he was quite respectful to ’young master Mu’.

"Yes. The calm setting is reminiscent of what one may see in the mountains. At the least, it is refreshing.", Jinmu let out a smile.

"A’h see. ’em master Mu’ve been into the mountains plenty times, yes?", the middle-aged man perfunctorily asked.

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Jinmu only glanced at the old man but didn’t answer. Talking about it brought him some memories back to when he was just a child. Hunting, foraging… all sorts of trouble that he and the village encountered together. If not for that moment when his talent for magic was discovered by some travelling wizard, he would not have gone to the capital city.

He wouldn’t be known for his extraordinary magical skills.

He wouldn’t have gathered the ire of the many nobles who were envious of his talent.

He wouldn’t have damaged his magic root.

He wouldn’t have lost his entire village.

Thinking about all this further ignited his desire to know what happened in the past. How did he come into this world and who his parents were. His mind calmed after taking a few deep breaths.

The middle-aged man solemnly stood by the side, not daring to speak a single word, ’The young master must be thinking of something…’

Far into the horizon, he could see the blurry figure of a small island. Realizing what just happened, the middle-aged man cleared his throat and started speaking again, "Almost forgo’ to tell yah, young master. We’ll be do’ing somewhere deeper in the Southern Seas Region. W-we have hauled a lo’ o’ things thanks to you so… I hope that ’em master Mu wouldn’t mind…"

"I don’t. I plan to shorten my journey anyway. Your plan this time will greatly help mine.", Jinmu waved his hands, "Do you know the shortest route from the Southern Seas Region to the Ruinated Region in the east?"

"The Ruinated Region?", the middle-aged man gasped, "Eh… do know of few but it’s tricky one yes."

Jinmu raised his eyebrows in interest.

The middle-aged man was startled and raised his hands in dismissal, "It’s no’ like I can’t help the young master, but we are common people…"

"Well… them smugglers have it here and there, but it won’ come cheap. There’ a special channel for people like ’em master Mu, but I don’t know much ’bout it… Only heard rumors that some no’le families and the governor in the region have something to do ’bout it."

"I see.", Jinmu nodded his head and continued staring at the horizon.

"May ye know why the young master wants to go o’er there?", the middle-aged man shivered when he asked.

"Is there something wrong about me going there?", Jinmu retorted.

"Ah, na… not scolding the young master. It’s just some’ing going on with the royal family and some assassins in that area. I don’t know if this would’a concern ’em master Mu… it’s better for you to know if you have not…"

"Assassins?", a dark feeling swelled up in Jinmu’s heart. He did not have a good impression of such things.

The middle-aged man nodded. Finally, he could be of use to the young master.

"Yes, ’said they were responsible for killing the secon’ an’ third prince inside the capital city. Ruckus almost flipped the capital city around. The royal family was furious. Not many dared to touch them, worse kill ’em."

"The Ruinated Region is a hot place for you right now, ’em master Mu. The royal family might mistake you as one of the assassins. That won’ end up good for ya."

"I see. The second and third prince, huh?"

Jinmu nodded in understanding.

The infamous Royal Culling.

Deemed to be the most ruthless act of someone in royalty usurping the power for themselves. Or so the rumors said. Even the nobles did not talk about it privately, only beggars and such dared to.

Jinmu recalled it clearly on his head the words that braggart from some inconspicuous street told him.

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…

"Ah yes, the palace drowned in the blood of royalty, or was it? What assassins, what killers, what murderers?! It was all a great fa?ade! A great drama for power! For which fool would dare go against the golden ones? The destined ones? The chosen ones?! The fool who was courting death!"

"Shouldn’t they have noticed the familial bond of their tearing eyes, the torn flesh of their kin? Yet they did not because they were blinded by power! Driven by power!"

"The young crown prince, oh the foolish young crown prince. He had sacrificed them all in the name of power. I hope that he himself do not come over at such fate eventually, or the souls of the two damned brothers, no! The two damned princes! They would surely revel in the realm of Death."

…

’The Royal Culling, huh? What does it have to do with my fate? Don’t tell me one of the princes was my parents. Impossible. Maybe my parents were implicated in their strife. Let’s just hope it stays that way.’

The Morning Star Empire was the root of all Jinmu’s resentment. To think that another fuel was poured into his burning hatred against them.

Seeing the young master pondering, the middle-aged man bowed, "Then I won’ bother young master Mu. You can call this old man a’ytime.", he left and went back into ordering his subordinates to hurry up.

Jinmu took another glance at the sea and went back to his cabin on the lower deck. Four weeks had passed since the start of the challenge, and he was already this nearer into his destination. If not for the vagueness of how this fishing vessel drifted far away near the shores of the Vahalla Region, who knows how long it would take him to go from there to the Southern Seas Region?

Jinmu arranged his bed and calmly waited for three days to arrive at their destination. Early in the morning, he heard the alarm bell from the upper deck, signaling the crew to prepare for docking.𝒇re𝐞w𝐞𝚋𝒏𝚘ѵeƖ c𝗼𝑚

Half an hour later, the fishing vessel was successfully docked. The crew couldn’t contain their excitement anymore and quickly unloaded the countless barrels filled with fishes out of the vessel.

The middle-aged man from before approached Jinmu again, "’Em master Mu! I see you’ve come!"

Jinmu stared at the sack of coin the middle-aged man was holding on his right hand, "That is…"

"A token o’ my gratitude an’ respect. That not much. Ain’ nothing compared to you saving us common people."

He was a little emotional after thanking Jinmu, "There’ dozens of gold an’ silver coins there. I hope you could’a use it."

Jinmu smiled at the middle-aged man’s generosity, "You didn’t have to but… thanks."

"If you want them smugglers, go to the marketplace. It’s in the central area here. Can’t miss it. Ask for George, he knows the way. He’s got a long cut on his nose. Tell him, this old fart, Forve, called out.", the middle-aged man bowed and glanced at Jinmu’s departing figure. He shook his head and turned back to dealing with his business in this city.

Jinmu felt the weight of the small sack and could hear a lot of coins tingling inside. He smiled in satisfaction. Valuable goods indeed. He could bribe the smugglers for it, and even buy rations of food for his trip.

Not like the genius himself didn’t hunt long ago, but it was quite a burden to both hunt and search for someone at the same time.

This place was rather convenient for him to travel around with all the wooden signs here and there on every other corner of the streets. Jinmu soon found the marketplace and started buying all the necessities for his journey. Fortunately, the system’s storage space was still available. Otherwise, a wooden cart wouldn’t fit all the goods he had bought.

"Now, where do I find that George guy. Forve told me that he’s somewhere here in the marketplace. Should be somewhere spooky, I hope."

He looked around for a while and found a short grumpy man sitting with a long cut on his nose. His slithered eyes glanced at Jinmu then turned it away, ignoring him.

’Hmph, typical.’, Jinmu approached him which made him raise his head and grumpily asked, "What do you want?"

His immature voice was strikingly contrasting to his rough looks.

"Forve, he told me I could do something here.", Jinmu casually replied.

"Oh.", George’s eyes narrowed and went into the narrow alley. He handed Jinmu a small paper and a pencil. He gestured with his head and uninterestedly answered, "Go write where you wanna go. Come back here this evening or tomorrow for some news."

"Okay…", Jinmu wrote something on the paper and handed it back to George. A complicated expression fell on the short grumpy man’s face, "This…"

Jinmu became anxious, "Too hard?"

"No, but…", he raised his hand and let out his entire palm, "In golden terms."

Jinmu snorted, "See you tomorrow then."

The price was to his understanding. After all, the Ruinated Region was a dangerous area, worsened by the recent drama in the Royal Family. He guessed that these people were going to hire a few masters for their safety and it definitely didn’t come that cheap.

After Jinmu left, George sighed and clicked his tongue in wonder. Who the hell was this rich young boy from somewhere?

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