Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 331: The Merman’s Elixir of Immortality

The ship was rocking, and Shard squinted at the captain across the table:

"You’re cheating. After I announced the answer, you moved the position of your tattoo."

"No, I’m simply making use of the rules. This does not violate any rule I’ve mentioned."

The almost frighteningly ugly pirate captain, capable of scaring the wits out of an adult, pointed to the white bread:

"Now, eat them, and we will continue to the second round. If you don’t, I’ll take it as you and your companion wish to stay aboard. She will become food for my master, and you will stay with us forever. Don’t worry, the food is not poisoned; I wouldn’t want to poison you to death. That would be no fun at all!"

The Evil Spirit Pirates laughed uproariously, and the fellow closest to the plate of white bread energetically pushed the dish toward Shard.

The fluffy white bread looked unusually tempting, but in this damp cabin covered with human bones and jewels, and walls full of fungal mats and stained with grime, it was clear that this was no ordinary food.

Shard took a deep breath, and gambling with such beings, he should have known they would cheat. That being the case, he wouldn’t stick to the so-called rules either. He ate the bread this time, then would see what the second round of betting held. If the other side cheated again in the second round, Shard would have no choice but to flip the table. Of course, if there was another way, he would try to avoid doing so. Losing Divinity meant the disappearance of the Divine Afterglow, and that loss was too great:

"What are these foods?"

Shard asked, thinking the other side wouldn’t answer, but surprisingly the captain did provide an answer:

"This is Desire: the desire to eat, the greed for Wealth, the longing to be alive. This ship captures souls, digests Flesh, seizes desires. This is our food. I think you’ll like it."

As he said this, his narrow eyes squinted even more:

"Of course, I’ll give you a chance. If you’re willing to give up the companion behind you, and hand her over to me, this round doesn’t count, and we’ll bet in another way."

Shard looked down for a moment, then reached out to grab the bread, subconsciously swallowing his saliva.

[I can’t tell you exactly what this is, but if it is truly the so-called pure Desire, even in your current state of Divine Afterglow, your spirit will still be influenced. The craving to eat now will become even stronger.]

"How strong?"

[It won’t break you, but it’s close enough.]

The "captain" was watching Shard, and Shard knew what he was anticipating. However, since Shard had already decided to take the girl behind him with him, he would not go back on his word.

"Shard..."

The girl behind tried to snatch the bread, but Shard caught her hand and shook his head in refusal:

"You promised to treat me to food, not the other way around."

He said, then tore the bread that was enough for two breakfasts and ate it bit by bit.

Although he couldn’t smell it, the flavor was that of real white bread. The texture was incredibly soft and would be considered delicious even by the standards of his homeland.

"Once we get out of here, remember to tell me who you really are. I have my suspicions, but I want you to admit it yourself."

He held his painfully hungry stomach and spoke to Miss Princess behind him, who was trying to stop him with her face turned pale. She wanted to say something but was stopped by Shard. He stared into Miss Princess’s eyes, fearing she might do something foolish:

"What you need to do now is stand behind me, watch me gamble with this captain. When I can’t hold on any longer, I’ll tell you."

Miss Princess bit her lower lip with her teeth.

"What is the second round betting on?"

The bread, purely made of Desire, gave Shard more Spirit strength, and even the illusion that he would obtain a "bread" type of Spirit Rune the next moment. Yet, the surge of hunger was making him nearly bite off his own lip.

In his two lifetimes, he had lived for more than twenty years, but he had never longed for the days when food can satisfy hunger as he did now, nor had he ever felt that the ordinary foods in daily life were so precious.

This adventure certainly made him fully appreciate the value of food.

"The second round?"

The Skull Lanterns hanging overhead jostled violently, and a ghastly green light flickered with shadows across Shard’s face.

The captain pondered for a moment with his eyes squinted, then reached into his mouth with his right hand. His hand propped open his throat, and the whole forearm, elbow and beyond, entered into his mouth.

He fumbled in his stomach for a while before he pulled out a small golden box.

Though it was a "small box," it was larger than a mouth, so as it passed through the mouth, it stretched the lower half of the head more than double its size.

The box, covered in a nauseating white-green slime, was casually tossed onto the table. It was exquisitely crafted, like a jewelry case used by noblewomen. The box was locked with an old-fashioned small copper lock, upon which Runes were engraved, whether for sealing or theft prevention was unclear.

That was not all; after pulling out the first box from his stomach, he immediately extracted two more identical boxes from his stomach in the same manner and tossed them onto the table.

After all this, he elegantly wiped his mouth with a white handkerchief from the pocket adorned with medals on the outside, like a gentleman wiping his mouth after a meal:

"How strange, you don’t seem at all surprised by my actions. Don’t you wonder what I am?"

The captain asked Shard, who was holding his stomach and said bluntly:

"If you had pulled them out from below, I might have been surprised. Enough talk, what’s the stake this time?"

"Three boxes, two empty, and one containing a bottle of Merman’s Elixir of Immortality, for eternal youth. It’s a treasure I got at sea before this ship was blessed by my master. Now tell me, where is the Magic Potion? If you guess right, the Magic Potion is yours. Guess wrong, and choose a dish to continue eating. This is the second round. If you lose, consider that dish your initiation meal."

The evil spirits laughed uproariously once more, and Shard felt the girl behind him stagger a bit because her hair had brushed against his head. Continue reading at novelbuddy

"To remain forever young..."

"Yes, it’s an ancient potion, highly prized in any era."

The captain’s fingers, adorned with nine rings, reflected the terrible green glimmer overhead:

"I swear by my lord’s name, the stake is not a sham."

Shard nodded and looked at the three boxes before him, this time it was magic potion, not the weird tattoo from before, so "she" couldn’t reveal the answer to Shard either.

"May I take a closer look?"

"Certainly."

Thus, the pirate who had just dueled with Shard brought the three boxes over and placed them on the table in front of him.

Shard’s hand rested on the table, his eyes on the captain:

"You didn’t say before that we couldn’t open the boxes to confirm, so opening the box to check before giving the answer wouldn’t be breaking the rules."

This was the inspiration Shard got from the opponent’s use of rules to cheat.

The middle-aged pirate captain, whose true nature was unknown, chuckled from the other end of the wooden table:

New novel 𝓬hapters are published on freёwebnoѵel.com.

"Indeed, that complies with the rules, but did you think I wouldn’t have thought of that? You can try if you’re not afraid of the curse on the boxes, potent enough to harm the soul."

Shard lifted his hand to touch the middle box, the split skin on his palm slightly illuminating the metallic case below, and he looked up, saying:

"It seems to have no effect on me."

If the boxes had been coated with poison that killed upon contact, Shard would have been worried.

"You absolutely won’t be able to open that lock, which was created by a Transcendent older than the era I lived in. It is also a treasure I plundered before this ship was graced by Divinity,"

the captain added.

Shard, on the verge of seeing Golden Stars from hunger, but also containing a massive amount of Spirit within him, extended his right index finger and tapped the lock.

Click~

The Sorcery "Key of the Door," although it sounds like its only function is "unlocking," is actually an extremely precious sorcery because even "Maze Locks" can be treated as a form of lock. Of course, its actual use is limited by Shard’s own Spirit amount, his knowledge of the lock, and the Level of the Circle Sorcerer.

Under the current circumstances, this lock was no different from a noodle of Tobesk Meat Sauce Noodles tied up.

Without waiting for the captain to express any other opinion, Shard directly flipped open the lid of the box; the first was empty. So he opened the one to his left using the same method, within the small pure gold box was a flat glass bottle, quietly containing a dreamlike purple liquid—magic potion.

Of course, to make sure that the third box didn’t contain anything as well, Shard opened the third box too, which was empty.

"My answer is, the magic potion is here."

Shard said, reaching in to take the magic potion out and stuff it into his own pocket. Although the opponent’s game was filled with malice, the latter hadn’t stooped low enough to poison the bottle, not expecting Shard to open the box so easily:

"I win the second round. What shall we bet on for the third round?"

Shard spoke swiftly, preventing any rebuttal from the other side.

"Fine, you win the second round."

The captain, squinting his eyes at Shard, curled his lips and then went on.

He rested his right hand on the table and then waved at the evil spirit sailors around him. Masses of green glimmer flew from their bodies to the captain’s hand, and then a full deck of cards appeared in his hands:

"Let’s play a card game from your era. If I’m not mistaken, you call it Roder Card."

The back bore the exact pattern of the Roder Card backs. He then twisted the card deck to separate the overlapped cards, allowing Shard to see the faces. Each card drew from the power of different evil spirits, so the face of each card depicted the true likenesses of those creatures that could drive one mad.

Fifty-four cards, each with a different face. Shard tried to identify the captain’s card, but the latter only gave a brief show, without giving Shard a proper chance to look.

Shard reached into his pocket and also drew out his own deck of cards.

He passed it to the evil spirit sailor sitting closest to him. The sailor’s right hand was a hook; apart from that, his entire lower body resembled an octopus, constantly secreting disgusting mucus. Most of the black stains at the corner of the table were from this creature.

"Check it."

Shard said.

"No need."

the captain interjected, slapping his deck of cards on the table, and then with a gentle pull, he fanned them out evenly in a curve before him.

He looked up at Shard:

"As long as cheating isn’t discovered, it isn’t cheating. Let’s keep it simple: each of us draws nine cards from the deck, without revealing them, and make sets of three. You choose the order in which to reveal your cards. Opening the three sets in succession, the one who wins the most sets, wins."