Seeds of Discordia

Uncle Naro had noticed what Liam, and the group were up to as they had dispersed. Agreeing with it he had requested Adva to have her people slow the ship down to give them some more time. After Adva had heard about the situation, while wanting to get back to the island quickly and to get the preparations going, she agreed that it was probably a good idea. Her reasoning was it would help put Omira into a better headspace and feel more relaxed before getting ready to do what would be an exceedingly difficult and strenuous task.

The ship slowed down enough that they were able to have their little feast and drinks. Adva, Key, and Uncle Naro had also joined in closer to the end so they wouldn't ruin the atmosphere. Even though they claimed that, their presence and Uncle Naro's infectious joy only brought more laughter and fun.

All of that came to a stop after finally pulling up to the dock. Omira and the group made their farewells before Adva and the Merfolk led Omira and Sebastean away. After that Uncle Naro and Key led Liam and the others to an inn they were going to stay at. As they made their way to the inn, Liam grew amazed by everything he had seen.

Like Omira had informed them, streams of water flowed through the air above and in between the buildings before coming down into small pools of water placed in random places. Like the buildings made of trees Liam had seen on Cashat Port, most buildings looked to be made straight out of massive corals or other aquatic plant like materials.

The oddest thing though was the strange feeling they felt as they walked through the city. The air around them felt cool and moist with a lightness that made their bodies feel like they wanted to float. It really did almost feel like they were underwater. This wonderous sensation made Liam and the others feel amazed and in awe. Mercer wanted to understand how and why this was happening, but like Omira had explained no one knew. Not even Key or Uncle Naro.

After getting settled in into the inn, Uncle Naro explained they were going to stick around the area for the next few days to help out in case the city needed it. He then explained that while the barrier protecting the island was good, anything could happen. If something did happen then the Adventurer's Association would need any and all the help they could get.

Hearing about this reminded Liam about the Cashat Port incident. While what was going on here wasn't the same as the situation that had happened back then, Liam still felt that he agreed with what Uncle Naro's suggestion of helping out. Since they had a couple of days as well Uncle Naro suggested that they take on some quests from the Adventurer's Association as well as Liam gather some new materials and work on his crafting.

After Uncle Naro dismissed them, Liam and the others made their way to the Adventurer's Association. There they grabbed a few requests that fell in line with the Specialties they were hoping to gain reputation in. To Liam's surprise there were a lot of Gathering Requests. He didn't grab them all since most of the day was almost gone but instead grabbed a few that worked well with the monster slaying requests the others were looking into.

Since their group had grown, they had decided to split up into two teams and rotate each member to get better acquainted with certain situations they had yet to come across. The Dungeon Tower had three floors of dungeon portals. They were happy to find out that they were qualified to enter the second floor where the monsters were slightly stronger than the first.

Like the first floor, the Dungeon Types varied from Open World, Tower, and Wave. They stayed away from the wave type dungeon for now since they decided to split into two groups. As for the open world dungeon, they decided to work as one massive group there. During their time working on completing the requests they picked up, Liam learned how to harvest more aquatic monsters. From plant-like eel monster to shark-like crabs with air magic, each creature was both bizarre and impressive in biology and nature.

For example, the Kelp Eel had some alchemical ingredients all over its body but no food related ingredients at all. The alchemical ingredients Liam was able to harvest off these monsters were best used in Medicinal Creations, a higher level than he was able to use at the moment, but still stocking up on them now was perfect so he didn't need to do it later.

After a few trips through the Tower and Open World type dungeons, Liam and the others returned to the Adventurer's Association. There Liam had made his first milestone, getting recognized as a Gathering Specialist Adventure as well as a Monster Slaying Specialist. Thanks to reaching this first milestone he discovered that requests he picked up related to these two types of Specialties would have higher increased rewards.

Feeling good after that and having some ideas on some crafting items he had always wanted to try; Liam and the others went to the Crafter's Association. There Liam looked for materials to purchase so he could finally make an item he had been wanting to try for a while but hadn't had the time. H.O.T. Pots or Healing Over Time Potions.

After looking over and purchasing all that he needed, Liam and the others stepped out of the Crafter's Association building and talked about grabbing some dinner. However, as they discussed where to go, Val looked over at Liam and gave him a look that told him she had something else in mind that required his attendance as well. He gave her a nod which prompted her to inform everyone that she was going to not go with them to dinner just yet. Instead she was going to have Liam join her to go back into the Crafter's Association because she had forgotten to buy some ingredients and have him make her some poisons, venoms, and toxins she needed to restock on.

While Roman, Ariyana, and Artem didn't see the look she had given Liam and were none the wiser, Mercer, Avery, Blair, and Gimmel did. They look at the two before understanding what was really going on and didn't press any further. After the group left Liam had asked her where she saw the location of Point Nemo's Web branch of the Fiddler's Spider Web since he hadn't noticed it. She told him that she had caught sight of it by accident during their walk and that he wouldn't have noticed it due to the angle of the sign and location of the building.

After making their way to the Web Branch, they had checked in with the person at the receptionist's desk who had happened to be the first leg of this branch, Lady Bell. After getting a better look at the spider legs and noticing the difference in not just color, but also the length of the spider legs, Liam was able to identify what type of spider she was. Her spider features were of the Diving Bell Spider family, which matched her Web name.

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While they were there, Liam and Val looked into getting any information about the ritual they could. While Adva had informed them how well security was and the strength of the barrier, they wanted to make sure there wasn't any hints of assassinations or sabotages going on. And to their surprise there was actual requests for sabotage interceptions as well patrolling the island for possible threats.

Val and Liam had a feeling there might be a case of this happening, so they agreed to take it on. Lady Bell was both delighted to have them take it on and was also wary because of how new they were to things like this. She had aired caution that due to their inexperience that they shouldn't jump or take action to any little thing in case there was a chance of misunderstandings. If they feel something is warranted a look they should inform her back at the Web Branch so they can assess the information.

Liam and Val were fine with that since Information Gathering was a specialty Val was looking to grow in anyways. They agreed to try and have Gimmel use his puppets as well to help give him some practice as well as train his abilities. They of course wouldn't tell Lady Bell this since it would break a rule of theirs, having a nonmember of the Fiddler's Spider Web participating and knowing a mission wasn't really a good thing to do.

After determining their mission requests, Lady Bell had informed Liam that he had a package for him as well from Lady Arachne. She tried to coax some information about why the First Leg of the Cashat Port Web Branch would be sending him a package, but stopped as he wryly stated, "Can't a mentor send her apprentice a package?"

This both confused and shut her up as she also saw the Wild Card Earring dangle on his exposed right ear. Something Liam chuckled internally at. After he received his package, Liam inquired about any crafting missions, which surprised him to find there were a lot sitting there. After inquiring why there were so many, Liam had found out that there weren't many in the Fiddler's Spider Web that actually took the crafting missions. While there were some who did not all of them traveled around, especially around this part of the world, and accepted them.

Most crafters in the Underground Association stayed in a single area, not wanted to venture out. This created a back log of Crafter missions that either expired or were sent out to other Web Branches in hopes a crafter there would be willing to do it. After looking them over, Liam had noticed there were some outside his level range. A few Gold and Emerald Tier crafting levels which in terms of levels were fifty to ninety-nine. Way out of his level and tier range. For now he took the ones he was able to do and decided to work on them while he was still there.

Liam spent a good portion of the night clearing the lower leveled crafting mission as well as creating different style of poisons, toxins, and venoms for Val's use while Val took the time to scout out the area and grab dinner for the both of them.

While she was out, Val had stumbled across some information that could be of use. She had also informed him that she went to the Web Branch to see if the information was legit and was told to come back in a couple of hours after verification.

When Liam had finished his crafting missions for the Fiddler's Spider Web it was enough time for the information to be verified. Lady Bell had informed them that the information Val had come across was indeed legit and they were requested to 'sabotage' the plans of the people who were looking to steal the supplies and materials needed for the ritual that was about to happen.

The place being targeted were storage facilities that was placed a bit away from the city and from prying eyes. There was a rotation schedule for guards to switch, and it was during the time of one of these rotations where the guards were thin; they were going to be hit.

From the sounds of it, Liam and Val believed there was a chance the people behind this might be the same ones behind the requests to kill Omira. However, after Val and Liam arrived at the appointed locations and stopped the people involved, they had discovered they were just some disgruntled citizens who believed the ritual was a waste of time and resources.

This confused the two after they had completed their mission to sabotage the thieves. The plans involved were sophisticated and were detailed enough that if Liam and Val didn't have Shadow and Poison magic the plan could have gone off without a hitch. However, the people who were used to pull it off were less than ideal. They were bulky, overweight, and arrogant people whose races ranged from Aquatic Beast-kins like Turtle-folk and Crab or Lobster-folk to Sea Elves that looked like they had never worked out in their life.

It really baffled the two. So much they believed these attempts of thefts were a diversion. Lady Bell had also agreed that this was quite puzzling and that the chances of this being a diversion had some merit, however, there was no news of any thefts or break ins anywhere on the island. Instead they just found more unhappy citizens who believed this ritual was a waste of resources.

After completing their mission and talking to Lady Bell for a bit they made their way back to the inn and got some rest. After Liam had awoken the next morning he decided to open the package from Lady Arachne to see what she had sent. As promised in her last package she had sent him a gift that really did as she had promised.

[Umbral Weaver Gloves. Item Type – Armor (Hands). Item Rarity – Unusual. Item Quality – Average. + 10% increase to Shadow Magic, + 10 Defense. Effect – Umbral Weave. Umbral Weave – Increase amount of Shadows gathered when using Shadow Manipulation. Makes shaping shadows into forms easier and can replenish whatever form user weaves the shadows into whenever they lose form due to outside forces.]

Liam had to admit, when she said she was going to gift him something that would help with his Shadow Manipulation, he wasn't sure exactly how. After seeing this he now understood. An increase to shadows gathered meant he would have more shadows to use when he tried to shape them into forms. Also being able to replenish the form after an attack was used to destroy the formed shadows would be helpful in a pinch to distract any enemies that believed they had taken the forms out.

He was also happy with how the gloves looked as well. Like his Umbral Arachnid Boots and Umbral Arachnid Silk Pants, these gloves had a black look to them. They also had shadowy spider legs running down the fingers with the tips of the spider legs poking out like claws. He wasn't sure what she was thinking, but the more equipment she sent him the more he was starting to look like a humanoid shadow spider. If this was her way of showing he was her apprentice in Shadow Magic, she was doing a bang up job. Not that he was complaining.

Since he had received these gloves he could now use these for his Phantom Cat persona and use his Askith Pharaoh Hand Wraps with his regular armor set. He fixed his equipment settings in the wardrobe feature he had unlocked back at Personal level five, so he didn't have to manually do it each time he equipped his armor. After he finished that up he went to open the letter she had left but then froze as he noticed the two red words on the envelope.

Be Careful!