Sacred Stone Slab

Ling Chu came down from the Captain's Cabin. Her Skeleton Henchmen had already set up the Grill.

Up close, she could see the fish they were dragging along: a flat, triangular head, fins like a shark's, and two bulging eyes...

Relying on her limited knowledge of marine life, she recognized it as a bowmouth guitarfish.

Bowmouth guitarfish were close relatives of sharks, so catching one was no easy feat.

"This fish is..."

"Caught by the Automatic Fishing Platform," Titch said.

With the legendary-quality Lucky Frozen Octopus Fishing Rod boosting it, the fishing platform never came up empty.

Big Gold Tooth had once been a cook aboard Titch's ship, and she'd heard he was pretty good. In the past, Ling Chu had let the system automatically break down fish this big. Now, with a few swift swings of his knife, Big Gold Tooth expertly skinned and deboned the fish.

"Captain, which part would you like?" Big Gold Tooth asked cheerfully.

"The tail, I guess."

She'd heard that fish tails were usually firmer and tastier, so Ling Chu chose a piece of tail meat and handed it over for him to grill. She hadn't known what to have for lunch, and now this bowmouth guitarfish had practically delivered itself to her doorstep.

Big Gold Tooth worked both sides of the Grill, expertly slicing the tail meat into thin pieces and flipping them over and over as they cooked. He seemed to know what he was doing. Ling Chu gave him all the BBQ Seasoning in her Ring Space. With a henchman who could grill fish, she wouldn't have to do it herself from now on.

Before long, he brought Ling Chu a serving of fish cooked just right, golden and fragrant.

She'd never tried bowmouth guitarfish before, and eagerly took a bite. But the taste made her frown.

Why the hell did it taste so awful? It had a weird, unmistakable smell of urine!

Ling Chu's mind quickly put the pieces together. Since this creature was a close relative of sharks, could it also excrete urine through its skin?

Big Gold Tooth probably wasn't used to preparing this kind of fish. He hadn't brined it or done much to remove the smell, so it tasted as natural as could be.

Not wanting to waste food, Ling Chu forced herself to swallow the fish in her mouth. But she couldn't bring herself to take a second bite, so she casually tossed it into her Ring Space.

She still hadn't finished the Tomahawk Steak she'd gotten from a System Blind Box, so Ling Chu took one out and started munching on it. Then she pulled out some figs and peaches, and handed Big Gold Tooth a few mangoes, asking him to make a fruit platter.

Surely a dish that didn't require any cooking skill couldn't go wrong again, right?

But when she took the fruit platter Big Gold Tooth handed her and tried a bite, that familiar urine smell filled her mouth once more.

Ling Chu gave Big Gold Tooth a reproachful look. "Did you not wash the knife?"

Big Gold Tooth rubbed his gleaming skull and asked the question with genuine bewilderment. "Huh? Why would I wash the knife? It just cut fish. It's clean as can be!"

Back when he was aboard Titch's ship, the crew had all been a bunch of roughnecks. Sometimes Big Gold Tooth even sweated into the food while cooking. He used the same knife to cut vegetables, meat, and fruit. Why fuss over it?

Ling Chu closed her eyes. Forget it. From now on, she'd grill fish and cook for herself.

As for the fruit platter... Ling Chu couldn't bear to throw it away. Fruit was pretty rare, after all, so she listed it on the Trading Post for a can of any kind. She even thoughtfully included a note: "Fruit platter with a slight shark-urine smell, but the fruit is guaranteed fresh."

To her surprise, as soon as she listed it, someone snatched it up for a can of peas.

Ling Chu silently memorized the buyer's ID: "Clumsy Bear Who Can't Get Full." What a brave soul.

Although the Skeleton Henchmen didn't need to eat, they still gathered around the Grill with her, just for the lively atmosphere.

So Ling Chu took out a few cans of Rye Beer from her Ring. She couldn't remember which System Blind Box they had come from, and gave them to the skeletons.

The Skeleton Henchmen were delighted. They couldn't actually taste the beer, but as Titch put it, "Those drunks are happy just smelling the beer."

Ling Chu didn't like drinking anyway, so she might as well let them enjoy themselves.

Sitting together like this, they couldn't help but chat.

Ling Chu suddenly remembered that when Titch had seen Hemlock's remains, he'd mentioned that Lucas had interrogated Hemlock about something before killing him. Hemlock had refused to talk, so Lucas had cut off his head.

She'd meant to ask Titch about it then, but had forgotten.

Now that she'd remembered, she naturally had to ask.

Titch was her servant, brought back to life by her. Even if she ordered him to die, he couldn't refuse her, so he naturally told her everything.

"That thing was called a Sacred Stone Slab. I found it by chance in a cave on an island. I couldn't read the writing on it at the time, so I thought it was just some random notes left behind by someone who'd passed through the island. Only later did I learn it was a Sacred Stone Slab passed down by the Elf race. When Lucas found out, he asked me for the island's coordinates."

"I had a feeling he wanted to find the slab, so I didn't tell him. Hemlock knew the island's coordinates too. That's probably why he lost his head."

Hemlock heard him and immediately floated behind Titch to chime in. "I knew Lucas had his eye on that slab. I wasn't going to let him get his way!"

Ling Chu grew curious. "What was the Sacred Stone Slab for?"

Titch looked at her in surprise. "You've never heard the legend?"

Ling Chu shook her head, so Titch explained, "Before the Elf race was wiped out, the last Elf King wrote the location of the Tree of Luga, along with the location of the remaining royal treasures, on the Sacred Stone Slabs. Then he scattered the slabs across the world and declared that anyone who found them all and deciphered the Elvish writing on them would be able to find the Tree of Luga and the treasures."

"Since you've never heard the legend, you probably don't know about the Tree of Luga either, do you?"

Titch paused, then continued, "In the Elvish language, 'Luga' means 'the purest thing.' That tree is sacred to the Elf race. They say eating one of its leaves can cleanse you of all sins and illnesses, allowing you to live forever."

One leaf could make you live forever? It was basically the Tang Monk tree.

"Then why don't you want to look for the slab? Don't you want the treasure?" Ling Chu asked.

Titch smiled wryly. "Finding all the slabs wouldn't be easy. I don't think I'd be lucky enough to pull it off. I just like the freedom of sailing the open sea. I have no interest in chasing some elusive treasure. Besides, if we got our hands on that slab, we'd have endless people and trouble coming after us."

Ling Chu was a little surprised by his answer. She couldn't help thinking that Titch must have had a lot of personal charm to be a captain. It took rare clarity and courage to turn down temptation like that.

No wonder so many henchmen had been willing to follow him.

The Tree of Luga...

Ling Chu hadn't expected a legend like that to exist in this world. Even the native NPCs had their own beliefs, factional conflicts, and divisions of power.

She couldn't help touching the Necklace Blessed by Mermaid around her neck. This world had mermaids and elves. She wondered what other kinds of people were out there.