Peeking

Turns out, as long as the money's right, efficiency skyrockets.

The sun had barely risen when Hyde Realty delivered the keys and property deed to Sea's Breath. Ian didn't dawdle, packed his things, grabbed Wawa, and headed straight for the tower by carriage.

The journey from Sea's Breath to the tower was about twenty kilometers. Ian arrived around eight in the morning.

The carriage turned from the main road onto a smaller path, passing through a small patch of coastal mangroves before reaching a sandy area several kilometers wide.

Sparse, stunted mangroves dotted the sandy terrain. At the edge of the beach, a miniature peninsula came into view.

The entire peninsula was enclosed by a grey-black stone wall over three meters high. In the center stood a grand gate, with the words "Hercules" carved into the stone lintel in the common tongue.

The peninsula extended northwest from Paradise Island, sloping downward from north to south. The imposing, six-sided, five-story tower stood tall on the northern cliff.

The tower covered over a thousand square meters, with each story exceeding five meters in height. Its grey-black stone surface was scarred by countless marks left by storms.

Inside the tower, a milky-white pillar over two meters in diameter formed the central core, supporting the entire structure.

This pillar was likely the framework of the original lighthouse. The white stone was Paradise Island's specialty, White Pillar Stone, now completely depleted.

To block out the howling sea winds, the tower was divided into inner and outer layers. The outer layer featured a spiral staircase, with viewing platforms at the windows on each floor. Above the fifth floor was an observation deck topped with a spire.

The inner layer, surrounding the white stone pillar, had separate entrances on each floor, divided for different purposes. A water tower had even been built at the very top.

The interior of the tower had been thoroughly cleaned. The wooden furniture inside was old but sturdy, and Ian saw no need to replace it.

Ian inspected the tower inside and out. Apart from poor lighting and strong winds, there were no other drawbacks.

He was certainly satisfied. In his previous life, he'd rented an apartment for nearly thirty years. He couldn't believe he owned such a large building just ten days after transmigrating.

Ian left Wawa, who had grown even larger, on the spacious first floor of the tower and went out alone.

To live comfortably here for a few months, there were many things to do, like repairing the dilapidated windows and hiring a good cook.

Two hours later, Ian returned to the tower with several craftsmen and a pile of supplies. As expected, he hadn't found a suitable cook.

However, he had arranged for daily meals from the nearest tavern, with someone delivering them each day.

Ian waved the craftsmen off to measure the windows while he organized the bedding and tableware he had purchased.

Ian knew a formula for enchanted glass and could have sealed all the windows with it, but the tower had too many windows, and it would be too time-consuming and energy-draining. He decisively abandoned the idea.

Ian confirmed a three-day construction period with the lead craftsman, telling them to start the work the next day.

After replacing all the locks, he headed straight to the Bounty Hunter Guild, realizing that Wawa's food was as essential as anything else.

He didn't bring Wawa along; Wawa was too large now and would attract too much attention.

On the third floor of the Bounty Hunter Guild, Ian prioritized materials Wawa had previously approved. For unfamiliar materials, he took a bit of each based on intuition.

This time, Ian was feeling flush, spending all eight magic gold coins on several large bags of spiritual materials.

Ian's extravagant spending attracted the attention of the transcendent beings on the third floor, who saw his money as if it had blown in with the wind.

800 Divine Grace Gold Coins was more than most bounty hunters earned in a year.

Ian paid them no mind. All he wanted was for Wawa to grow quickly so he could bring his sister over.

Every day that passed increased the danger. Who knew when the Second Prince might take a disliking to her? Given his previous arrogant demeanor, it wasn't impossible.

Fortunately, Wawa's appetite and intelligence were increasing daily, finally giving him a glimmer of hope.

The guild director, his face creased with smiles, kindly assigned two attendants to help Ian carry his purchases back.

"You, you finally decided to come out—"

In a room at the Seaberg Aristocratic Hotel on Central Avenue, Haistorm's face, which had been gloomy for days, finally broke into an excited smile.

At this moment, a gentle breeze held a silver hand mirror suspended before him. The mirror didn't reflect the room but the back of Ian on Central Avenue.

Upon closer inspection, the center of the mirror's view wasn't Ian, but a magic cloth bag carried by one of the attendants.

Haistorm had a tragic childhood but was fortunate enough to encounter the native transcendent profession, Storm Lord. He successfully awakened his spirituality and advanced to Sequence 7 without relying on sequence potions.

This made him more confident and assertive, but it was merely a facade to hide his childhood suffering and humility. His true nature was vindictive and ruthless.

After suffering spiritual backlash that day, feeling he had been greatly wronged, he hid in the shadows like a venomous snake, vowing to inflict his suffering a hundredfold upon Ian.

Haistorm suspected Ian possessed some powerful anti-astral equipment, so he didn't directly locate Ian. Instead, he placed subtle spiritual imprints on some materials at the Bounty Hunter Guild.

These imprints, from the Seeking Shadow Mirror, were extremely hidden and difficult to detect, a trick that had always worked. The Bounty Hunter Guild had a vast array of materials, and unless it was a particularly expensive item, they wouldn't conduct detailed inspections of every piece.

Today, he had finally waited for his chance.

Haistorm's gaze followed the perspective in the silver mirror, moving continuously until a towering structure appeared before his eyes.

"So, it's here—"

On the first floor of the Hercules tower, Wawa, seeing so many spiritual materials for the first time, bounced around excitedly.

Ian declared generously, "Eat as much as you want, as much as you can!"

Wawa could now understand some words, and Ian began guiding it to grow in the direction of a warship.

To this end, Ian had drawn many sketches, constantly describing what a deck, watertight compartment, and propeller were, so that Wawa could better understand.

Now, even Ian wasn't sure if Wawa could meet his requirements.

In the evening, after Ian refined the demonized weapon oil as usual, he entered deep meditation once more.

In the spiritual world, the Fate Card emitted a gentle radiance, illuminating the entire space. With the rhythmic pulsing of the Original Tree, Ian's spirituality, body, and magic power were constantly growing stronger.

Compared to when he first transmigrated, the Original Tree had grown at least a third taller, and the entire spiritual world had expanded by more than a circle. Compared to the original host, his progress speed could be described as monstrous.

According to the knowledge feedback from the Alchemist of the Extraordinary Sequence, his spirituality had reached, and even surpassed, the upper limit of Sequence 9.

According to the taboos of spiritual cultivation, he should pause his training and focus on maintaining stability.

Then, he should use higher-level extraordinary knowledge to advance, to better stabilize his spiritual world and avoid spiritual imbalance, which could lead to unpredictable and terrifying consequences.

Spiritual power was always the hardest to improve. No medicine could directly enhance spirituality without side effects. It could only be naturally increased through the body and magic power feeding back, and the strengthening of the soul.

Of course, excessively high spirituality could also oppress the soul, body, and spiritual world, making them more difficult to control. Spiritual tendrils would also break through the barrier of the spiritual world, becoming susceptible to the contamination and temptation of the spirit realm and the shadow realm.

Having obtained the Fate Card, Ian seemed different from others, his physical potential greatly enhanced.

For example, the spiritual limit for ordinary extraordinary individuals at Sequence 9 was 10. After reaching 10, they would no longer progress and had to undergo repeated upgrades and evolutions to gain stronger growth potential.

However, Ian's spirituality had reached 15 and was still steadily growing.