Master?
"I wish this day would never end." Jay said lazily and happily.
Jericho was dead asleep in the center of the floor. Sky was heating up some leftover food using pyrokinesis.
"You know, if it weren't because I am desperate to get stronger this is what I would be doing all year long." Sky said.
"Agreed, Captain. I wish Katelyn were here. It would be perfect."
"Who dat?"
"Seriously, Captain? Jericho's older sister."
"I'm just messing with you man. I remember who she is."
"Hey, Captain, have you ever been in love?"
Sky slowly turned his head to face Jay.
"Why do you ask?"
"It's just I've been thinking a lot… I mean I've been thinking about her a lot, and I have no idea what to do next."
"Next? Jay, you literally skipped dozens of steps on the day Jericho's mom found you with Katelyn. I guess the next thing to do would be marriage, and/or kids."
"You're right… We took a lot of steps, didn't we?"
"Jay, are you seriously going to take advice from me? You're asking the wrong guy for romantic advice because I have none. You could always call her, or call her mother for advice."
"Call? Oh… why didn't I think of that? That's smart. But, wait, can I call my own parents? They must be worried about me."
"You can't. Your parents must be part of our crew to contact them, and only Jericho and I can invite them to the crew and we can't do it at this distance, it has to be face-to-face and they have to agree."
"Really? That's a weird rule."
"It's not it's part of my… ability. If we have the chance to visit them, remind me to invite them to the crew, that way you can stay in touch."
"Thanks, Captain. I gotta go and make a call." Jay left the apartment and walked back to his own.
'Does it feel that great to find someone like that? Have I ever felt that way about someone?'
Sky thought about all the crushes he has had on girls he has met. He could count at most eight girls he's had crushes on, but none of them ever felt the same way about him.
'If I didn't know better my romantic story might be sadder than Jay's… is it?'
*Knock* *Knock*
Sky jumped a bit from hearing the knock.
"It's me, Xero. Open up."
Taking a deep breath and reassuring himself that Xero doesn't know Lucious yet, Sky opened the door acting normal.
Xero entered the room and looked around.
"Is everything okay… sir?" Sky asked.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"You're looking around the room as if you're looking for something."
"Right… no, don't worry about it. I came here to tell you and your crew are able to leave. It doesn't mean we won't stop looking if you did something bad, but it does mean you can be free for now."
"Thanks. But you won't find anything because we didn't do anything bad."
"We'll see about that. Good day."
Xero leaned his body looking for something but he found nothing. After a while he gave up and left.
Sky closed the door, sat on the ground with his back leaning against the door and let out a huge sigh of relief.
'I know he didn't say it but it's obvious he was looking for Lucious. Why else would he personally come here instead of sending someone else?'
Xero was indeed looking for Lucious but wouldn't say anything about him. If people knew one of the most powerful Caribbean officers went missing they would get worried.
Xero wasn't too worried as Lucious had only been missing for a couple of hours, and he was one of the few officers that had the ability to teleport, but among the others his teleportation ability was levels higher than the others, which meant Lucious could escape from any situation if he was careful which he usually is.
Sky was about to talk to the rest and leave, but refrained from doing so.
'You know what? I think I'll stay here for one more day and relax from clearing dungeons, I think we can treat ourselves to that much.'
Sky sat down crossed legged and began practicing his skills on himself.
'Curse of healing, speaking, touch, weakness, strength, blindness, hearing… dispel.'
Sky would apply all but two curses on himself. The curse of sloth could not be dispeled because it was too powerful. And the curse of death did not work unless his HP was at 1%, and even so it was dangerous to use it on himself as the curse of death has a 5% chance to kill someone instantly.
With this method he could level up seven curses at once, while also leveling up his dispel ability and perhaps he could get rid of the curses that plagues Jules and Luciel.
Sky would repeat the process again and again until they all reached level six by nightfall.
By the time he realized it it was already night.
{Curse dispel: lvl 8}
{Curse of strength: lvl 6; Lowers target damage dealt by 30%}
{Curse of weakness: lvl 6: Target receives 30% more damage}
{Curse of blindness: lvl 6: Target's vision is 30% blocked}
{Curse of hearing: lvl 6: Target's hearing is 30% blocked}
{Curse of touch: lvl 6: Target's ability to handle objects is lowered by 30%}
{Curse of healing: lvl 6: Target receives 30% less healing}
{Curse of speaking: lvl 6: Target's ability to speak is lowered by 30%}
{Curse of death: lvl 1: Target has a 5% chance to instantly die if their HP reaches 1% of their total HP}
'Hmm… better find a method to train the curse of death without using it on myself or my crewmembers. Should I buy a couple of slaves and use them for practice? No, catching monsters inside of dungeons should be cheaper and easier.' Sky thought.
He wanted to complete the quest Madame gave him in a year's time.
Sky stood up and stretched out his body. Jericho and Jay were all sleeping. Jericho was sleeping the entire day on the ground, while Jay fell asleep on the bed while talking to Katelyn.
'I'm tired as well. I'm gonna go to bed.'
Sky lay down on the couch and in no time he fell asleep.
Meanwhile…
Xero looked at the entire floor that was in shambles. Looking up there was a hole that went all the way to the very top of the building.
There were many Caribbean officers searching the area, cleaning it and searching for evidence.
Xero was surprised when officers reported to him that someone had broken into the tower from the 500th floor and destroyed the inside all the way up to the 999th floor. It hadn't been damaged at all in decades.
Xero reached the 500th floor and looked around for the one responsible for destroying the inside of the tower. So far he has found no one but with all the officers collecting the evidence it was only a matter of time.
"Sir, we believe we know what happened." An officer walked up to Xero nervously.
"Tell me."
"This happened at exactly 4:36 when the janitor, Sam, who was cleaning the 495th floor, reported hearing loud sounds. It also matches the time when Lucious was last seen, and since Lucious is able to teleport to the 500th floor in a second it could only be him that was here at the time."
"Makes sense, but I'm having trouble understanding why Lucious would come here in the first place."
"About that, he wasn't alone. Examining the holes it wasn't Lucious who did it, it was someone else. They were made by either telekinesis, or some large blade, none of which Lucious uses. And we also found this."
The officer handed Xero a badge with five tidal waves with the engraving "L.L."
Every high ranking officer has the first letter of their first and last name engraved.
"This is Lucious'." Xero held the badge firmly in his hand..
"It seems he was attacked here, and his pursuer fled upstairs. It's weird because there are no signs of fighting on any other floor apart from this one. We still don't know exactly what happened but we'll find out soon."
"Good job." Xero left the floor. With his speed he appeared at the very top of the tower.
'It is always cold here. I will never get used to it.' Xero thought as he looked at his breath that formed from the cold.
The officers who noticed Xero immediately saluted him.
"At ease."
Xero examined the last floor starting with the hole on the ground.
'Hmm… it's apparent that the person who made this was weak and he was getting tired and weaker and the cold was affecting him. People with high vigor could ignore all that but this person didn't. His vigor stat did not exceed 10,000, probably half of that. But then how did he escape? There is nowhere to run here except… there.'
Xero looked at the bronze door. Grabbing the handle he pulled as hard as he could but it did not budge.
'Yeah, that family never opens the door to anybody so no could've gone in. But then where is Lucious? Where are you?'
Xero would never think that Lucious was behind the bronze door but not in the way anyone would think.
The Fallen God Family never leaves their room except one or two once every few years when they're bored. No one knows their names, faces, or strengths. All they know is that they have grotesque appearances due to them practicing incest which is why they always cover themselves with white sheets that had their famous logo.
No one would think they were human but it was law to always obey them. They only come out to see the world for a day, destroy some islands, eat, and kill.
And yet after all that the Caribbean always leaves a minimum of three purple scrolls at their doorstep, and a lot of money, especially gold shells.
Xero appeared at the bottom of the tower worried for his officer.
Later that day Sky woke up feeling refreshed. He didn't see Jericho on the ground anymore and didn't sense Jay in the room either.
'Oh boy, another day another dungeon.' Sky chuckled but was happy to get stronger.
An hour later Jericho and Jay returned to the apartment.
"Sky, we brought food. None of us felt like cooking so we bought some." Jericho gently shook the bag full of cooked food.
"I also found this really cool rock on the way here. I'm gonna give it to Katelyn." Jay showed Sky a rock the shape of a perfect heart.
"That's great guys. After this we leave to clear more dungeons."
Jericho and Jay were disappointed but knew this day would come. They were enjoying their mini vacation.
"We can have another but longer vacation after we get stronger and more money. I don't know, perhaps we can own our own island."
"Ooh, that should be our next goal!" Jay said.
"No, our goal right now is something better. You remember how I mentioned I was in this dungeon yesterday?"
Both Jericho and Jay nodded.
"Well this dungeon isn't going anywhere and I am the only one who can access it. Once we get stronger we'll clear it and we can reap the rewards."
"Won't the dungeon break like all dungeons do?" Jericho asked.
It was common knowledge for all green and red portals to 'break' after a week when they appear, and all the monsters inside, including the boss, are free.
Purple portals take a month to break unlike the green and red portals.
"Not this one. This one is… special."
"Special? Oh, you mean like the one you found on that fishman island?"
"It's exactly like that. Let's eat, then we'll leave and meet up with Jules."
Once the food was placed on the table they all ate in peace. There was something about the dungeon that bothered Sky.
'System, Jericho has a good point, that dungeon won't break, right? I can't imagine all the monsters from the 999th floors coming out of that portal.'
{Not to worry, player. Dungeons created by the system do not have outbreaks, only if they were portals in the first place would that occur}
'Good. Another question, can you tell me if Lucious is alive or dead or…?'
{I cannot say, player. But I will say this, if Lucious dies or manages to clear the dungeon you will know}
'So he can escape. I just hope he doesn't escape until much later, I'm not ready.' Sky continued to eat his food pretending nothing was wrong.
He did have one regret from tricking Lucious in the dungeon, and that's that Sky cannot farm anything from him, no exp, no loot, no stats, nothing.
"Sky," Jericho called out to him, breaking his train of thought.
"Yes?"
"Do you still have the contract that binds Jules to you?"
"I do, why?"
"I'll tell you after we clear a dungeon."
"Oh, speaking of dungeons, from now on we won't sell the scrolls we collect. Even if they give us one measly point in any of our stats we are using it. We will even keep the duplicate skills and give them to family or friends. We only sell items we don't need or want, got it? We sold so much only because we were in a desperate situation but not anymore.'
Jay and Jericho agreed with him. Now that Jericho's family debt was paid off they could focus on getting stronger.
After they had finished eating they immediately set sail to sea. Sky closely inspected his ship.
'Nothing's missing or damaged, except the parts that were already damaged. We really need a better ship. Hm?'
Sky removed the piece of cloth covering the sentient golden brick. The golden brick cannot be stored inside of an inventory and cannot be transformed into a card.
It gives out 40,000 shells per day just by existing.
{The gold sentient brick is happy to see you again}
{Adding 10,000 shells to daily income}
{Daily income: 50,000 shells}
'This gold brick is easy to please.'
Sky gently patted it and even wiped it with the cloth.
Leaving his quarters God's Paradise was already so far away. Once they were at a safe distance Sky decided to make a call.
"Access chat: Jules… Hey, Jules, come here now!"
Jules, who was enjoying her peaceful time in the ocean, was both scared and surprised to hear Sky's voice in her head.
"I…I…" Jules didn't know what to say. Just because she was bound to him did not mean they could feel each other's presence.
"We're at the same place we last saw each other. I trust you know what I'm talking about?"
Jules' body moved involuntarily and swam as fast as she could. In a matter of minutes she jumped over the water and landed on Sky's ship.
"How was your mini vacation?" Sky asked as he gave her a dry towel.
Jules gritted her teeth and seemed to be in pain. Seeing her expression, Sky thought she had to use the bathroom or it was that time of the month.
"It was… boring without you here to keep me company, master." Jules tried to grab his hand but he walked past her.
"Good for you." Sky walked past her and patted her on the shoulder…
"Wait, what did you say?" Sky turned around unsure if what he heard was true.
"I missed you three, especially you… master." Jules' voice was soft especially when saying "master".
"Okay…?" Sky and the crew were weirded out, the way she said it felt so forced and awkward.
Jericho stared at Jules from the corner of her eye. She remembered what the lecturer said, "the most common method I've seen is that a slave will attempt to trick its master and make them fall in love. The master would then free the slave which would then flee or kill its master, usually both."
"Jericho, is she…?" Jay also remembered the lecturer's words.
"Yup, without a doubt. I'm gonna tell Sky when we go into a portal."
Jules continued looking at Sky trying her best to make him fall in love. Even putting her finger on her lip believing that's a great method to seduce him, and even wearing less clothing. Sky could feel her gaze and it made him feel awkward more than anything.
'I can feel her gaze on mer, it feels like I'm being stalked by a predator. I'm even getting goosebumps, I didn't even get goosebumps when Lucious was targeting me. Do my crew members know what she's up to? They have to know, right?'
Sky would be lying if he said he wasn't attracted to the opposite sex and that Jules was attractive. But to him Jules was no different from a fish in a human form, he knows it might sound racist but he doesn't care, he doesn't want to fall for a fish.
In half-an-hour they reached the first red portal. Jules would stay behind to make potions while the rest would clear it.
"Take care… master!" Jules found it hard to refer to him as "master" which is why she always hesitates.
Once they were far from the ship Jericho leaned over to Sky.
"Sky, I just have to ask, you know she's-"
"Yup, I know what she's doing and why she's doing it, no need to say it." Sky interrupted Jericho mid-sentence.
"Good. Also, you should throw the slave contract here and let it be swallowed by the collapsing portal. They say the contract still works."
"I know, I read the entire book you and Jay bought last night. But I have a safe place where no one can access the contract."
Jericho shrugged her shoulder, Jules wasn't bound to her but him.
"It's nice to see you didn't fall for it, Captain."
"It was very obvious, Jay. Besides, I'm not gonna fall for something like that again."
"Again?" Jericho picked up on his word.
"Ah… why did I say that?" Sky smacked himself in the face from his stupidity. "Something happened a long time ago with a classmate and I don't want to talk about it."
Jay and Jericho looked at each other, nodded and smiled. So the great Sky has a secret he doesn't want to say?
Meanwhile…
Jules, who was crafting potions, looked annoyed and pissed.
"I hate this so much. But I really have no choice, and with my looks it's only a matter of time… unless he doesn't like mermaids. I know I'm doing a goddamn crappy job but it's so fucking difficult trying to please someone who I despise! The moment he sets me free I will…"
By using more strength than necessary she crushed the glass bottle in her hand accidentally at the thought of Sky's face. Jules quickly grabbed a broom and cleaned up her mess.
"Patience… patience is key. But for how long? And this is the first day I'm doing this!"