Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

The two stopped in front of a particularly dilapidated stone hut. The area outside the hut was covered with seaweed, some dried and some fresh and damp, making the fishy smell even stronger. Even the black-haired wizard who was leading the way couldn't help but frown.

"@4#￥."

The black-haired wizard chanted incantations rapidly, and from beneath his robes, numerous black insects resembling sea spiders crawled out and swarmed toward the hut.

A moment later, the swarm of insects retreated like a tide, and the door of the seaweed hut was forcefully pushed open from the inside with a "bang".

A thin figure walked out of the house.

Judging from his appearance, he looked like a middle-aged man in his forties, of medium build, with gray-green eyes. He looked as if he had just been pulled out of the water, with clumps of hair sticking to his head.

His presence intensified the fishy, ​​pungent smell in the air.

Dago noticed that the man had gill-like organs on both sides of his cheeks, which were slightly opening and closing.

His skin was also very damp, but his body had many large ulcers that looked like they were caused by years of soaking in water.

"Chuck!"

The black-haired wizard called the man's name, his lips moving as if he were having a private conversation with the man.

Finally, he tossed two vials filled with pink liquid at the man's feet, coldly saying, "You'd better think this through. Besides me, there's no other wizard in the entire Qifeng Harbor who would be willing to provide you with a slow-release agent for 'Sea Poison Disease'."

After saying that, the black-haired wizard turned his head and whispered, as if explaining it to Dargo specifically, "People born from the hybridization of sea creatures and humans have a huge innate defect in their bloodline. Their bodies will constantly fester until they die."

"We were interested in their bloodline at first, and captured a group of them for research. Unfortunately, after spending a lot of resources and energy, we only managed to produce this worthless thing."

The black-haired wizard stared at the potion bottle he had carelessly tossed on the pile of rotting seaweed, his eyes filled with undisguised indifference and disgust.

He kept watching the actions of the sea tribe survivor named Chuck until the man silently picked up the potion bottle from the ground, at which point a satisfied expression appeared on his face.

"That's fine. You can discuss the rest with him yourself. My work is done."

The black-haired wizard smiled and politely replied to Dago, who casually gave him some magic stones and sent him away. In front of the dilapidated hut, only he and the man remained.

Dargo watched as the man opened the potion bottle left by the black-haired wizard and slowly applied the pink liquid inside to the festering parts of his skin. Dargo could sense the relaxation of his tense emotions during this process, and some of the pain was temporarily suppressed.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

After applying the medicine to the last festering sore, the man carefully put away the remaining unused medicine, and then humbly asked Dago for his opinion.

When he spoke, the lobes on both sides of his cheeks opened and closed, so that the sound he made had a strange "humming" sound.

"I need a guide to take me to the Green Abyss."

Dago told the man about his desire to find the Howling Fish. The man's eyes flickered, and after weighing the options for a moment, he seemed to muster some courage and boldly said, "If I follow your request, this voyage might cost me my life. I—"

"You want extra compensation, is that right?"

Dargo guessed what the man was thinking and calmly interrupted him.

The man hesitated for a moment, then stammered, not daring to continue.

Dago had no patience to waste any more words with him. He took out a bag full of low-level magic stones, about two or three hundred of them, and used his mental power to hold it up and present it to the man.

The man opened the bag that Dago had brought, and when he saw the number of magic stones inside, he was stunned for a moment.

After a moment, he looked up and said to Dago, "Sir, could you give me a little more time?"

Dago nodded, and then he saw the man carrying the bag of magic stones run out of the stone house courtyard as fast as the wind.

In such a tiny place as Qifeng Port, Dago wasn't worried about where a mere mortal man could possibly go.

Following the man at a leisurely pace, watching him weave through the streets and alleys of the slums, Dago became somewhat curious.

Finally, he saw the man rush into a similarly dilapidated room with the door half-open. Outside, some loose-fitting women's underwear was drying, which seemed to be the residence of the man's lover.

Just as Dagger had guessed, a woman's scream soon rang out as the man rushed into the house.

"Damn it, you stinking rotten fishmonger, get out of my house!"

"You're not going to touch me again until you settle the debt from last time!"

With a crisp sound of something rolling to the ground, the woman's angry voice inside the house suddenly stopped.

After a brief silence, an even louder scream rang out from inside the house.

"My God, where did you get so much money?!"

"Oh, Chuck, you damn rascal, I absolutely love you."

Strange rustling sounds of clothes rubbing together began to echo in the room.

Dago silently calculated the time, and when he silently counted to thirty-one, he saw the man reappear.

Unlike his previous numb appearance, the man was now radiant, his cheeks flared out like two small fans, and several exaggeratedly bright red lip prints remained on his face. The magic stone pouch in his arms had vanished without a trace.

A plump woman with a barrel-shaped figure chased after the man from the house, her clothes disheveled, waving a handkerchief and shouting, "Chuck, my child and I are waiting for you to come home!"

As she spoke, she gently touched her flabby belly.

"That's fine, sir. When would you like to depart?"

Chuck, a sea creature, returned to Dago, vigorously wiping his wet cheeks and looking at him intently as he asked.

Dago didn't know what to say; he didn't understand, but he expressed his respect.

He turned around and strolled toward the coastline.

"Now."

On the clear blue sea, a silver-gray magic airship skimmed the surface and flew rapidly in one direction.

Dago stood at the bow of the ship, squinting as he gazed into the distance.

With his extraordinary eyesight, he could clearly see that near the horizon, the originally azure sea was slowly turning dark green.

The seawater seemed to contain a thick, indistinct green ink that kept deepening, and from a distance it looked like a gaping, dark green maw that was swallowing up the entire sea.

That place was the Emerald Abyss, the destination they were on their journey to.

Ever since he saw that ancient sea creature, the giant silver eel, Dagger has maintained a deep sense of awe for the ocean.

His experience of crossing the ocean alone from the east coast back to the southern continent has given him no shortage of courage to challenge the unknown.

Daggering back, Dago turned around and saw Chuck examining the "Roaring Fish" that he had casually placed on the deck of the airship.

This "roaring fish," bought at the sunset gathering, was already on the verge of death after exhausting its life force and unleashing a fatal roar.

By infusing him with vitality, Dago has managed to keep him alive until now.

Even so, it wouldn't live long. It floated belly up in the transparent crystal tank, and the two strange human legs growing on its body, which were initially as white and tender as a baby's, had become withered and wrinkled, like an old man on his deathbed.

"This is the first time I've ever seen a howling fish that survives after crying."

Chuck looked at the roaring fish in the tank with a tone of surprise.

Dago never held any contempt or prejudice against people living at the bottom of society. After temporarily removing the strong fishy smell of the sea tribe from Chuck's body with magic, he treated him as a normal person.

After setting sail, the two often chatted. After spending a few days together, Chuck himself realized that the young man in front of him, whom even the most distinguished wizards he had ever met treated with utmost respect, had a much better temper than he appeared.

"What methods do you usually use to catch them?"

Dago casually asked Chuck about it.

Chuck answered almost without hesitation: "Flesh and blood."

Then, glancing at Dago, he added, "My flesh and blood, ordinary flesh and blood are useless. Only the flesh and blood of those with sea creature blood can lure the Ghostly Fish to take the bait."

"In the legend of the Mermaid Song, the Ghost Fish were originally tools created by demons from the bottom of the abyss to hunt and enslave sea creatures... They are particularly sensitive to the flesh and blood of sea creatures."

"But rest assured, sir, I am ready to offer myself at any time for this sea hunt..."

Dago was unimpressed by Chuck's apparent loyalty, but rather intrigued by his account of the origins of the Ghost Cry Fish, so he couldn't help but ask, "What else do you know? Tell me in detail."

Chuck hesitated for a moment, then said, "Actually, I don't know much either."

"By my generation, the sea creature bloodline in my body has become very thin, but I still can't get rid of this damned 'sea poison disease'."

"Everything I know comes from stories my grandfather told me when I was a child."