Magma Fruit

Of course, the drink wasn't what he was here for. Instead, while appreciating it, his ears perked up, taking all the noise of the establishment and filtering through it for anything of importance.

"It's that time of year again, the volcano's about to erupt!"

"Oh boy, can't wait. I hope I can get my hands on a Magma Fruit."

"You wish. The Magma Fruit can help break a life lock, so there will be plenty of late stage Nine Life Lock cultivators fighting over it."

"A man can dream, can't he? Besides, even if I can't get a Magma Fruit, I should at least be able to get some Molten Metal."

"That's more reasonable, but the fight will still be fierce. Anyway, let's get ready, it'll be any day now that it erupts, and if we're even a second late, we'll probably lose out."

"You're right, let's go."

Minos quickly singled in on that group's conversation. Even though they were whispering, with his repeated training of the Twelve Beast Movement Tome, his hearing had been enhanced, allowing him to hear everything.

'The volcano's about to erupt? Interesting, but this must not be any sort of secret information since the fight is apparently so fierce, in that case…'

"Barkeep, I'm here for the Volcamie Islands eruption. I was just wondering, could you tell me more about it?" Minos suddenly asked the barkeeper.

"Oh, you're also here for the eruption, huh? Makes sense, the eruption is the most popular event of the year, plenty of people struck it rich because of it."

"Long story short, every year or so, the volcano will erupt. Of course this is a weak eruption, that doesn't put the island in any jeopardy, in fact, quite the contrary"

"The inside of the volcano is filled with all sorts of precious metals and gems, which naturally, are impossible to get your hands on due to the heat."

"But when the eruption happens, these treasures are shot out along with the lava, giving people a chance to finally get their hands on them." The barkeep finished.

"I've also heard about something called a Magma Fruit?" Minos kept asking.

"Magma Fruit? I would avoid that if I were you, no lack of people who have died trying to acquire one. As for the Magma Fruit itself, it's a special fruit that one can gather from the Magma Tree."

"The Magma Tree will bear fruit once a year or so, however for the fruit to fully ripen, the tree roots need to be watered with lava. Hence, whenever the volcano erupts, the lava soon spills onto the Magma Tree's, hence finally allowing the Magma Fruit's to reach completion."

Minos was fascinated by such a strange tree that seemed to go against nature itself. When thinking of a tree's weakness, the first that would come to mind would be fire, yet here it was the opposite.

"If the Magma Fruit is so valuable, why don't the three big families just monopolize it?" Minos couldn't help but ask.

"The three families are strong, but how can they compare to the entire world? If they really did try such a thing, it wouldn't take long before they were destroyed by outside forces." The barkeeper answered.

Minos couldn't help but nod at the response, it made sense. The three big families were ultimately big fish in a small pond, but once a shark swept by, they weren't far from death, so it was better to feed the beast and keep it satiated.

Minos thanked the barkeeper for his help before exiting the building. While the eruption was an unexpected surprise, Minos had no plans of missing it, and he even wanted to get his hands on a Magma Fruit if possible.

The eruption would happen soon, so Minos decided to put the Nine Sword Divinity aside for the moment, refocusing his attention on the upcoming event.

He headed out of the small town and entered into the deep foliage of Volcamie Island. The giant volcano acted as a guiding light, so Minos didn't have to worry about getting lost.

The island wasn't that large, and with Minos's perfect memory, he quickly memorized the route he took and the unique landmarks required to find his way in case he gets lost.

The volcano was soon close in hand, and rather than the desolate scene one may expect given the environment, it was instead bustling with life.

Camps were set up all over the place, with different groups sitting around, ready for the eruption whenever it may happen.

Minos swept his eyes around, highlighting all the groups that seemed more powerful. The one he needed to be most concerned about was located right across the volcano, in the most ideal spot.

The group was made up of about a dozen people, all filled with a dense black aura, with a strong man taking the lead. The man stood tall, with dense muscles and a body riddled with scars and wounds, clearly not an easy person to mess with.

The black aura gave off a strong killing intent that Minos could almost feel brushing against his skin. This group was clearly made up of veterans, well established in the art of combat.

Minos only kept his eyes on the group for a second before diverting his gaze. Looking too long might give the group the wrong idea, and Minos didn't want to fight, at least not yet.

Lone wolves like Minos were rare, with most people grouping up. However from what Minos had seen, the few other lone wolves were also dangerous figures that he needed to keep an eye out for.

As Minos was standing around planning his future moves, he felt an aura approaching him from behind. He quickly turned around and was greeted by a man with a small group trailing behind him.

"Hey there, you look like you don't have a group. How about joining us?" The man suddenly asked.

Minos looked at the dark yellow aura that emanated off the man, the sense of deceit was strong, but Minos naturally wouldn't say anything.

"Really, but I'm not that strong…" Minos said with a slightly sad face.

"It's alright, none of us are, but as they say, weak alone, strong together!"

"Awesome, I've never heard that before. Of course I'll join!" Minos said with a wide naive smile, almost as if he was about to jump in joy.

The man in the lead almost laughed out in mockery at Minos's ignorance, but he managed to hold himself back at the last second.

"Great! then let me show you to the group." The man said.

"This is Beetus, Rolf, and Devro, and you can call me Klefin." Klefin introduced.

Beetus was a large man that had a whitish-red aura, giving off a sense of ignorance and excitement, clearly not being part of the scheme.

Rolf and Devro were much shorter than the large Beetus, being opposite to him not only in size, but also aura. They both had dark yellow-blackish auras, not only lying, but ready to kill as well.

However on a surface level alone, no one would really know how the two felt, the both of them clearly being experienced actors.

It was obvious that this wasn't the first time this group has pulled something like this. It seemed Klefin, Rolf, and Devro were all in on it, looking for outsiders to be fooled by their act.

What their goal was was still unknown, whether they wanted to use outsiders as shields to attract danger, or if they wanted to directly kill them to steal their resources.

Either way Minos didn't care, the advantage had already fallen into his hands. The art of deception was based on the premise of light and dark.

Klefin thought he was in the dark, and Minos was in the light, however the reality was the opposite, and as long as Klefin kept thinking he was the shadow, he wouldn't be far from death.

Minos maintained his naive smile as he joined the group. The five of them heading closer towards the front.

They soon found an open spot and set up camp. Minos was the first one to break the silence, asking the obvious.

"So what's the plan?"

"What I'm about to tell you is a secret, so promise you won't tell another soul!" Klefin suddenly said with solemnity, Rolf and Devro nodding behind him, adding to the serious atmosphere.

Beetus was still on the side, scratching his head in confusion. It was clear that he was also a stranger to the secret, so he couldn't help but sneak up closer, pointing his large ear towards Klefin.

"Truth is, I know a secret passage into the volcano! Once it erupts, we can go inside and snatch up all the treasures!"

Minos watched Klefin's aura as he talked. He noticed that the yellow-aura was fluctuating with his words, sometimes standing steady, and other times dissipating for a second before reappearing.

When he was talking about the secret passage, the aura vanished, however when he spoke about the treasures, it reappeared.

While the secret passage was likely true, the treasures were clearly a lie. Klefin was probably more interested in what he could pillage off Minos and Beetus, rather than anything in the volcano.

Minos still maintained his ignorant smile, and even put on a look of excitement, as if he was fantasizing about the future Klefin had painted for him.

"But before we do anything, I need to know how strong you are, so I can prepare beforehand." Klefin suddenly said.

"Of course!" Minos said, not arguing at all.

"Good, then just come and punch me with full force."

Minos obviously wouldn't do that. With his current strength of around 1350 pounds it was a question if Klefin could even take the blow, and that was not even including his techniques.