The pitch-dark palace stood at the foot of a mountain under the night sky, its soaring towers lost in the darkness, its outer walls made of massive stones with not a hint of decoration.
A sinister silence filled the air around the palace, with only the whistling of the wind echoing through the emptiness.
As people approached the palace, they could feel a powerful enigmatic force, not emanating from the palace itself, but from the powerful monarch sitting within it.
Inside the palace’s great hall stood hundreds of nobles from Radiance Island, all Extraordinary Exponents clad in black robes, their proud faces adorned with black makeup, looking quite eldritch and discomforting.
Upon entering the palace, the party from the Fischer family saw the stairway in front of them gently ascend to a throne of dark gold at the very top.
There, upon the throne, they finally met the imposing figure, the great overlord of the Radiance Archipelago, “Spirit Communicator.”
He was a towering, skeletal old man; even with his fragile frame cloaked in a gold and black robe, he stood over two meters tall, his pale bald scalp completely hairless, deep eye sockets that cradled bone-chillingly cold eyes that seemed not of this world, staring into them sent shivers down one’s spine.
The members of the Fischer family were taken aback by the Spirit Communicator’s appearance.
They had heard that the Spirit Communicator was a creature that had lived for over three hundred years in a state half alive, half dead, but they hadn’t expected that he would truly appear more like a withered corpse than a human.
The person on the throne spoke.“Hand over your goods to me, is this so-called bottled sunlight real?”
The voice of the Spirit Communicator was elusive, even more spectral than an actual ghost. Everyone except Chris began to doubt whether this being was human or some kind of mysterious entity.
Chris, however, could discern something was amiss. The Spirit Communicator was probably neither human nor a mysterious creature but was trapped in a special transitional stage without achieving complete transformation.
The Spirit Communicator.
He likely wished to transform himself into something like the blood tribe or other mysterious beings, a transformation that sadly did not fully succeed.
However, Chris’s understanding of the specifics was limited by his knowledge.
Everyone in the Fischer family was well aware of Chris’s reluctance to communicate, so Theo stepped forward to speak on his behalf.
The old man bowed respectfully, performed the greeting, and with a smile, handed over a clear bottle covered in golden runes to the Spirit Communicator’s first envoy.
“What we want to trade is this very item—it contains the most precious thing in this sea area!”
The nobles from Radiance Island couldn’t help but gaze at the clear bottle festooned with golden runes, their eyes betraying their excitement, for suspended in the bottle was a speck of genuine sunlight.
Even if minuscule, it was still remarkably eye-catching.
The Spirit Communicator calmly nodded slightly, and when the first envoy brought him the clear bottle, he gently opened it. The warm, soft sunlight instantly burst forth!
A flood of sunlight enveloped the surroundings, the Spirit Communicator’s eyes widened, and though he could feel a pricking sensation all over his body, he could not help but immerse himself in the light, revealing a curiously eerie smile.
The sun!
Its radiance was utterly captivating!
One could never get enough!
All the island nobles looked on enviously at this scene, all eagerly drawn to the sunlight of the sun!
On the Ouden Continent, apart from the adherents of the Sun Church, people generally didn’t see any fundamental difference between sunlight and other forms of light, such as firelight.
But that wasn’t the case in the Aphotic Sea.
Those people who never saw the sun almost went mad with worship for the sunlight, while they mostly disregarded other forms of light, showing only a bit of reverence for the compassionate moonlight that fell every night.
In fact, Chris always found it interesting deep inside.
The deadly sunlight that has brought down judgments, something that these people used to disdain or even despise, has become their innermost treasured thing.
And the gentle moonlight that they have relied on for their entire existence holds a not-so-high status instead.
Indeed, what is unattainable is always best; what is easily obtained is never appreciated.
Eventually, the sunlight began to fade, and the Spirit Communicator sank into deep contemplation before he spoke earnestly,
“How much do you wish to sell it for? It doesn’t seem as effective as Solar Gold. How long can it be preserved?”
Indeed, the effect of bottled sunlight was nothing compared to Solar Gold; realistically, the effect of about three bottles of bottled sunlight could only match that of a piece of Solar Gold.
But the key issue was that bottled sunlight was extremely cheap to produce, basically requiring only consideration for the shipping costs; the bottled sunlight itself virtually had no production cost.
“It can preserve sunlight for about three years!”
Theo smiled, stating the already agreed-upon negotiation.
“We would never take advantage of you. Lord Zayne of the Tempest Church believes that we should only charge one-tenth of the price in Solar Gold for each can of sunlight!”
“What?”
The many nobles of the islands were immediately astir, their eyes revealing immense greed, as undoubtedly many understood its huge potential value!
The Spirit Communicator pondered for a long time before speaking slowly, “I can offer you twice the price.”
“Twice!”
Many from the Fischer family cheered, but Chris remained unmoved. Theo even frowned slightly, realizing that the Spirit Communicator must have some new condition to propose.
And sure enough, the Spirit Communicator’s ethereal voice continued.
“But I have one extremely important condition, and that is, for you and Lord Zayne behind you to all swear an oath that from now on, your canned sunlight will only be sold to the master of Radiance Island, ‘the Spirit Communicator’!”
So that was it. Theo understood the situation well.
It seemed the Spirit Communicator had realized the great business opportunity and wanted to become the exclusive intermediary for canned sunlight. However, the matter was too significant, and he simply couldn’t give any response.
The Spirit Communicator nodded slowly and said:
“Hmm, since you can’t give a response now, you should head back first.”
Theo was stunned for a moment but quickly asked, “But what about the goods on this batch of ships? We can’t go back empty-handed, and I believe you need them too!”
The pale old man on the throne continued calmly.
“I’ll buy all those cans of sunlight for one-fifth the price in Solar Gold. As for after, if you don’t agree to my demand, it doesn’t matter. The future shipments will be bought at one-tenth the price.”
The Spirit Communicator nodded slightly, his demeanor very composed and generous, without any intention to pressure the Fischer family.
Chris didn’t say a word, but deep inside, he had an idea that it would indeed be useful to let Zayne take a twenty-five percent cut of the profits.
Without the reputation and prestige of the Tempest Church, they would have difficulty even landing on Radiance Island under normal circumstances, let alone communicate and trade with the great slavemaster, the Spirit Communicator. They might have been plundered even before setting a meeting.
The deal was eventually closed.
The Fischer family hastened to sell all the canned sunlight aboard their fleet, exchanging it for a substantial amount of money and resources, before they set sail back with the Spirit Communicator’s demands.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, full of anticipation to return quickly to the Ouden Continent, back to East Coast Province.
Chris too was eager to see his sister; for some reason, these past few days he had found himself especially missing her.
But just as the Fischer family’s fleet had just left the Aphotic Sea and reached the White Sea, suddenly, their lookout noticed a fleet appearing on the horizon!
“We’ve got trouble! Lord Theo, look quickly!”
“What?”
Theo also picked up his binoculars to look and then, his face drastically changing color, he put down the binoculars and bellowed:
“Damn it! That looks like the Sea God Cult’s fleet! Everyone prepare for battle! Full speed to evade, we must accelerate!”
Soon, the Fischer family’s fleet sped ahead, trying to shake off the pursuing fleet from the Sea God Cult. However, the opponent was already heading their way!
“Boom!”
Once within the range of the cannons, both sides fired instantly, then one cannonball after another flew through the sky, crashing into the water and raising plumes of spray!
Several ships were hit hard by the cannonballs, their hulls shaking violently, and the people on board were tossed about like bugs in a rolling can, tumbling in every direction.
Chris stood at the stern of the flagship, holding a dagger and short sword, ignoring the many stray cannonballs around him, staring at the ever-closer enemies, not feeling the presence of any Monarch Level powerful expert.
He spoke very calmly:
“Get closer to them!”
Theo nodded slightly and roared his orders, “Close in on the enemy! Everyone prepare for boarding combat!”
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter