Artifact of Lyx - Crystallized braids of someone's hair. Said to be a gift from the Gods yet it only took a handful of uses to know that it's the most artifact useless for the merfolks. Purifies ultimate-level curses every decade, other uses are unknown.
-Archive of artifacts, No.10
After Ohaire's defense, everything flowed smoothly and the trial ended.
The 3 administrative heads grumbled curses when it ended while the other 3 looked at her in a different light. She honestly didn't expect to sway them that easily. The voice inside of her heart helped a lot as Professor Jared had said. Though for other people it meant that the court trial was only a sign of her rebelliousness, however, for all that she cared about this opportunity to fight for injustice gave her something important.
The moment she stood in defense of the boy was the moment she knew who she was and why she was painstakingly making the utmost effort to succeed in having a higher position. It wasn't for her own lofty sake but for the good of the merfolk. She felt the need to share it with the professor but she knew that she should let him rest for a day just to make a proper farewell for the boy that whom Professor Jaerd had shared a part of his life.
So she just decided to talk to the boy. The professor told her a month ago that he lives in the back of the classroom where the professor teaches. She brought with her some snacks to accommodate him.
Ohaire knocked on the classroom door and after a second the boy with the green flippers opened it.
"Ohairee?"
"Yes, I'm Ohairee. I was just curious at what you've been doing here..."
"Come, come." The boy beckoned.
"Boy...I'm not comfortable with calling you that so have you decided on a name?"
"Name..." He thought for a while, and when he got an idea the boy nodded at her.
"So what is it?"
"Sal."
"Sal?" Ohaire asked which Sal smiled at.
"See, see!" Sal pointed at his room and Ohaire saw trinkets, books, and a bunch of uniforms inside, it was too organized to what she could infer, it must have taken some sort of skill from Sal to create something like that.
Ohaire smiled and turned to Sal, "You did this?" Sal nodded albeit excessively.
"I like it, you must have some sort of skill relating to this..."
"Skill?"
"Yes, a skill."
"What?"
"A Skill, it's something that the system classifies as your profi- I guess you don't know that term yet. What I meant is your ability to improve in a specific area. This skill you used from what I can think about belongs to the Construction Tree."
"Worker Tree?"
"The system has different areas of specialization you could invest in and the one you used was part of the Worker Tree which is an area that specializes in any sort of livelihood from cooking, constructing, researching, etc." Sal hearing a lot of complicated words rapidly blinked before shaking his head.
"Don't think too much about it." Ohaire chuckled. "Anyways, here, have some food. It's sea urchin roes, you'll probably like it."
Ohaire opened a pouch and from it, the sea urchin roes flew to Sal encased in a small bubble. The bubble popped and Sal caught them, directly eating them before widening his eyes and giving a thumbs up.
"I'm glad you like it. So how about we eat outside? I'm sure you'll appreciate the taste of our merfolk delicacies here."
"Sank you."
"I'll just write a letter for the professor and then we'll head out, is that okay?" Sal nodded stuffing all of the sea urchin roes in his mouth.
(Line Break)
Professor Jaerd floated in an empty ocean. No plants or even fish in front of him. Then suddenly he felt a quake coming from the East. It was loud, it was abnormal and most of all it was what he didn't want to see. Thousands of people looked at him, though far away he could feel it. Their hate, their pity, their poison-tipped mouths. It's all coming back. It's that feeling again. He wanted to escape, however, something grip a hold of his flippers and stared at him with cold, cold eyes.
"Why didn't you save me?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Professor Jaerd woke up feeling a sense of cold in his spine but his shouts calmed down as he noticed it was all a dream.
"Where am I?" Jaerd looked around and saw that he was still in his house resting after the court trial.
"Phew..." Slowly Jaerd moved up and reached for his bug eyeglasses. After wearing it he noticed that he had an unopened message in his clambox. He willed his mana into the clam and it showed a sort of hologram with text.
"Professor Jaerd, just took Sal(The boy you took in) at a seafood eatery. Will be back later." He sighed and smiled, the anxiety he felt vanishing away when he remembered how Ohaire took over the stage for him and gallantly reasoned with the Administrative heads. It was in his comprehension a heroic thing to do. He knew Ohaire didn't have any benefits helping him and the boy yet she just did. Jaerd remembered what he did wrong on the stage and became embarrassed.
"To think an old man like me preferred to have a mental breakdown at this point of my life..." He mentally sighed. He could have indirectly killed the boy if it wasn't for Ohaire's actions.
He sighed again.
Not knowing what to do, Jaerd rechecked the manual for the boy he had compiled last night.
"The surface world...it is a foreign place that merfolks avoid being sent to except by volunteers and the exiles. It is a chaotic place full of new creatures and weather. There is a lot to explore on the surface however no one ventured more than two towns that survived for various reasons. It is basically, a suicide mission for merfolks to go on an adventure in the surface world if they are not strong enough to fight off their weakest beast. So a higher leveled merfolk or a specific fighting set is recommended but this does not erase the possibility of dying." Jaerd read more of the information and he couldn't help but crease his wrinkled face.
"I forgot to ask the boy what his skills and level are..." Jaerd knew that it was only tomorrow the boy would be exiled from the oceans so he decided to interrupt Ohaire's and Sal's lunchtime.
(Line Break)
"Sal...I'm curious, do you have any parents?" Sal looked at Ohaire and gave a thought yet shook his head in the end.
"I see...then what about where you live? your home?"
"Home..." Sal muttered softly thinking about the little coral home that got destroyed and shook his head. "No home."
"Do you want to find another home?"
"Yes..."
"Alright, how about treating this place as your new home? Although...you'll be sent far away from here, you could always say that this is your home. I'll be waiting for you, probably Professor Jaerd too. We'll be here waiting."
"Sank you..."
"SALLL!" Jaerd arrived at the scene and both of them looked at him confused.
"Huff huff, I forgot to examine your status."
Jaerd despite being a bit haggard proceeded to talk to Sal.
"Hello, Professor I hope you recovered well."
"Ohaire, no need to be concerned over my health. I'm healthy like a dolphin you know! also, thanks, for saving Sal twice..."
"No problem. Sir, it's a good thing I volunteered to be honest."
"Oh?"
"I found my purpose, thanks to you Sir and Sal."
"My..."
"Anyways, Sir, please proceed to talk with Sal, we could always talk about that at a later date."
"Alright." Jaerd looked at Sal. "Boy, I want you to show me your status so that I can make a proper training manual for you."
"Status? Manual?"
"Status, your system, your stats, skills, talents, etc., and the manual...I'll give it to you tomorrow so you'll know about it soon."
"Huh?"
"Just...think about the word Status for a whole 5 seconds."
"Hmm..." Sal closed his eyes, and after a few seconds, he widened his eyes.
Status
Name: Sal
Species: Melfork(Royal Bloodline)
Title: Nemesis of the Eels(+1 to strength, +5 Poison Resistance & +5 Shock Resistance)
Attributes:
Strength: 15(+1)
Stamina: 19
Agility: 18
Dexterity: 16
Intelligence: 25
Wisdom: 18
Resistance: 30
Affinity: Aqua
Skills:
{Combat Skills}
Spear Mastery(13)
Blunt Mastery(6)
Bite (6)
Throw(6)
{Worker Skills}
Spear Crafting(5)
Weapon Coating(5)
Interior Design(3)
Exterior Design(2)
Anatomy(5)
Observation(25)
{General Skills}
Meditation(10)
Swimming(30)
{Resistance Skills}
Pain Tolerance(23)
Poison Tolerance(5)
Blunt Tolerance(8)
Shock Tolerance(11)(+5)
{Bloodline Skills}
Royalty of the Sea(Passive)
Call of the Sea(35)
Wrath of the Sea King(Dormant)
Song of the Seas(Dormant)
Seas Embrace(Dormant)
Aqualuus(Dormant)
"Thish! Thish!" Sal excitedly pointed at the floating letters in front of him.
"That's your status, now focus again and think about the word Share Status and think of me."
"Hmm"
Jaerd waited and after a while, he read something in front of him that made him grow interested.
"I see, your status is...under-leveled it's even a wonder how you've defeated the Guardian. Hmm, your level 10 stats are equal to a level 20 unclassed adult. I wonder what will happen with that when you pick your class..." Jaerd continued to read on and what he saw below made him a bit overwhelmed.
"Your skills, I know you've been living alone for quite a while in the ocean but this could not exempt the fact that you possess skills that are out of reach by normal people. This could have been due to your uniqueness of being a royal and the holder of the Call of the Sea skill. I get it, alright I can work with this." Jaerd wasn't talking to anyone but himself in the end before leaving them both.
"He...is a busy man." Ohaire stared at the old man before sighing.
"I guess that ends our little food trip, so how about we get to see more places here?" Sal nodded and they took off.
"Alright, I guess this is as far as we can go." Ohaire eyed the guards around and nodded at their suspicious gazes.
"This place is called the Library of the Seas." Sal looked around and saw a collection of books clad in ocean stones and encased inside an invisible but noticeable barrier, the guards kept the place guarded at all times and only a few select personnel entered inside.
"We can't go further due to your status, but we could still get you to see different types of skill sets inside. We just have to through that door and you'll see how special this place is."
Sal followed after her and what he saw inside made him gasp.
Floating books inside of a small bubble moving in tandem with different sections of the large place. Librarians maintained their control of this place by manipulating the pressure of the water around the area. A Sea Beast resembling a big tortoise quietly surveyed the area and its eyes fell on both of them urging a surprise to the Tortoise's scaly and shiny head.
The Sea Beast smiled, "Welcome, Apprentice Ohaire and..." The Tortoise glanced at Sal.
"His name is Sal, Librarian Head Ortal." Ohaire with her blank face introduced Sal.
"Oh, now this is funny." Ortal laughed vigorously.
"Why did you bring back a royal here? Ohaire...I thought you were much better than this. So just why...?" Ortal's eyebrows twitched.
"No worries, Sir. He is different from them. You can see it for yourself." Ortal still in disbelief stared at Sal for a few moments.
"Sea orchiin, eat!" Sal offered his leftover snacks to the Sea Beast and gave a carefree smile to Ortal.
"What is this?" Ortal turned to Ohaire.
"Sea orchiin!" Sal pouted.
"Eh, he is a royal we found in the wild. Sir Ortal. He isn't like the tyrants from the past but a child." Ortal was still not convinced and raised his hands. In a second an artifact appeared at the hands of the Tortoise. It looked like a lamp, however, it had a gem at the top, and in the middle was a hole. Ohaire felt cold sweat run down at the sight of the Artifact and looked at Ortal with pleading eyes.
"This here is an artifact that tells if you are telling the truth or not. If you tell the truth nothing will happen. But if you tell a lie...you will get an imprint in your head that will shock your entire being that can lead to death." The Tortoise smirked maliciously. His eyes slanted and his arms shaking in anticipation.
"Sorry, Sir Ortal but we will have to refuse. He is already been cleared by the court. Using such artifact and killing him might lead to you-"
"I ALREADY KNOW THAT. DO NOT GET IN MY WAY. I WILL FIND OUT THE TRUTH NO MATTER WHAT." The other librarians noticed the commotion and surrounded them. She didn't think this would have blown up into something like this, she had never known that Ortal could impose such unwarranted action towards her client. To her, this was an accident, a coincidence but it might have also been her fault...if only she knew that Ortal had a history with royals she might have avoided this situation. Ohaire noticing the attention they've got knew that it was unavoidable. She could only pray that Sal might get out of this situation and pacify Sea Beast hatred.
"Nasty royals, I will know the truth. Now tell me little Royal...Do you have any dream of conquering this place? of using the people for your selfish gain??? TELL ME!" Sal uncomfortable with the situation looked at Ohaire and Ohaire used her lips to gesture to Sal to say the word "No".
"No" Sal responded. Ortal waited, a second, a minute and still, there was no reaction.
"Why is this lamp not working? It should have killed you. KILLED YOU."
"Sir Ortal, I will only limit you to asking 3 questions and after that, we will leave. If you don't follow I will be forced to use a restraining order on you." Ohaire still feeling intimidated didn't lose her composure and confronted Ortal.
"GRR...FINE! 2 more questions...and I will stop."
"NEXT QUESTION! Do you have any impulse to enslave me boy? Does your mind long to use my power! You should have already seen it, you should have already been tempted by it. Now ANSWER!" Sal looked at Ohaire again and Ortal noticed this.
"No." Sal responded even after waiting for a minute there was no reaction.
"WHYYY, HOW CAN THAT BE??? IT SHOULD HAVE WORKED THIS TIME!" Ortal looked at the lamp, shaking it.
"Librarian Head Ortal, please proceed with the last question."
"FINE...tell me this, will you ever use Call of the Sea to harm us as citizens of Atlantis?" Ortal looked down at Sal with an evil smirk.
"No?" Sal, raised his eyebrows. His tail scratching his head as he tried to think why the big turtle would ask these questions.
The artifact didn't show any signs of being lied to.
"..." Ortal grew silent.
"I supposed that proves his innocence Mr. Ortal. We shall be on our way now." Ohaire declared.
"FINE! GO! Keep that hideous thing out of my library." Ortal although filled with disbelief knew that he could not force them to stay.
Ohaire and Sal left the Library of The Seas, returning back to the coral floors.
"Sal, forgive me. If it wasn't for me..." Sal patted Ohaire's head. He knew that Ohaire didn't mean harm to him and it was just a misunderstanding. But, atleast now he knew that there were some merpeople who didn't like him.
"I see, I guess I should return you to Professor Jaerd. He could shed some light on some of the challenges you might encounter during your time in exile." Ohaire led Sal back to Professor Jaerd's place and both of them could see how serious Jaerd's face was while peeking through the window.
"See you soon, I'll be there to give you a proper farewell." and with that Ohaire left the scene.
*Knock*
Jaerd who was focused on his research look up in surprise.
"Ah! Sal, nice to see you child. Come in, I need to tell you an ample amount of things." Jaerd led Sal inside, placing a plethora of seapapers on his desk.
Just looking at it made his face turn pale.