The Life Well Pendant

The tower was in an excellent location. Ships heading to Paradise Port from the north all passed by here first.

Ian stood atop the tower, gazing out over the distant sea. The howling wind and churning waves, the countless sails converging on the horizon—it all lifted his spirits.

"Knock, knock... tap, tap... clink..."

The craftsmen he'd hired the day before had arrived first thing in the morning. Perhaps because Ian had paid them well, they all seemed to be working hard.

Ian yawned and headed back to the fifth floor... to catch up on sleep!

It was Ian's first night in the tower. He'd planned to sleep on the first floor with Wawa, but the fierce sea winds howling nearby made such a shrill racket that he couldn't sleep. They even interfered badly with his meditation.

He tried out every floor, and, surprisingly, the fifth floor was the quietest.

He'd spent the second half of the night toughing it out on the fifth floor. By morning, the wind had shifted and eased a little.

They said the winter months on Paradise Island, from October to March, were the windiest. The northeast monsoon prevailed, with winds blowing on roughly two-thirds of all days. January, February, and December were especially blustery.

December was just around the corner, and things were only going to get worse.

Maybe he needed to learn a defensive spell formation, something like a soundproofing barrier. It was another day on which he hoped Wawa would grow up quickly.

Wawa was eating more and more, but sleeping less.

Ian decided to have Wawa keep watch while he took a short nap. Afterward, he meditated to recover and began that day's alchemy.

He could never have enough gold coins. Before leaving the port, he needed to stock up on supplies.

That evening, Ian didn't meditate.

He was studying the plans and explaining the steam-powered sailing ship's propulsion system to Wawa. Wawa was a magical creature, after all. If it could evolve a propeller and transmission system, it could use its own strength to propel a warship.

Wawa's form had changed a little, too. Its head now made up a larger proportion of its body.

It had grown to 1.8 meters tall, and its "head" was 1.8 meters across as well. It was ellipsoidal in shape. When it curled up and squatted to one side, it looked like a giant olive lying across the floor.

Wawa's eyes were still tiny, "swimming" back and forth across its head.

It now relied mainly on spiritual perception to sense the world around it. Its range had reached a hundred meters, surpassing Ian's; its eyesight was only a supplement.

At Ian's request, Wawa's skin was no longer emerald green and had begun turning silver-gray. It still felt smooth to the touch, but now had a more substantial texture.

"Wawa..."

Wawa listened and called out as if to say it understood.

Wawa still couldn't speak, but it could already communicate fairly accurate messages through its spirituality.

"Wawa, you're amazing—"

Wawa really was clever. Ian hugged its head and planted a hard kiss on it.

He wasn't just bragging.

Ian had been in this world for quite a while. Most non-Extraordinary people had barely received any education, let alone learned what one might call basic manners. Plenty of people in taverns couldn't even handle single-digit addition and subtraction.

Trying to communicate with them was exhausting.

The thought of putting such slow-witted people on his crew was torture.

The familiar rhythm came right on time. Ian told Wawa to keep watch, then quickly sank into the Spiritual World.

In the Spiritual World, a new "star" had appeared on the Veil of Fate.

As the "star" slid down, a yellow card appeared in front of Ian.

Pale yellow patterns decorated the card. At its center, a teardrop-shaped pendant surrounded by gold ornaments was "frozen" in place.

[Card: Life Well Pendant]

Life Well Pendant: Curio. Once unsealed, it cannot be returned to the Spiritual World. Produces one drop of Lesser Life Water every three natural days and one drop of Life Water every 300 natural days. When it first comes into contact with a new world, one drop of Life Water will be produced.

Life Water: Water from the legendary Life Well, a treasure of the life aspect. Cures diseases and injuries in living beings, dispels curses, strengthens their potential, and extends their lifespans.

Lesser Life Water: Cures diseases and injuries in living beings and mitigates, to a certain extent, curses or harm caused by the power of shadow or death.

Lesser Life Water is a by-product of the formation of Life Water. Using it does not affect the formation of Life Water.

"Wait... It extends your lifespan?!"

Ian felt his heart stop for a moment.

The lifespans of human Extraordinary practitioners varied considerably depending on their Extraordinary Sequence.

Generally speaking, though, barring accidental deaths, human Extraordinary practitioners lived between 100 and 300 years—far less than many magical creatures.

Of course, this didn't include undead beings who had submitted to the power of death. Their spirituality had long since been corrupted, and they were no longer human in essence.

Records from the Fifth Epoch showed that the longest-lived human Extraordinary practitioner known to the Extraordinary Professions Union, someone in Sequences 4 through 9, had lived for less than 300 years.

The pursuit of eternal life was the ultimate goal of many living beings, but no one had ever achieved it.

From the day it was founded, the Alchemist Fellowship had pursued one project that had never been completed: creating Life Water in the hopes of attaining immortality.

In reality, though, even extending a lifespan by a little was incredibly difficult.

The Life Well Pendant could produce Life Water that extended one's lifespan. Even if it only produced a drop every 300 days, and even if he didn't know how long it would extend a life, that was already astonishing.

If the decrepit rulers out there found out, Ian would be in serious danger, even with the Fate Card.

On the tower's fifth floor, Ian circled the room, making sure the windows and doors were securely locked. Then he and Wawa released their spirituality and sensed the surroundings carefully. They found nothing amiss.

A ripple of spirituality passed through the room, and the Life Well Pendant card appeared.

The card shattered, dissolving into Shimmer, and a pendant slowly squeezed its way out of thin air.

The moment the Life Well Pendant appeared, the surrounding air and magical energy seemed to boil. Violent tremors spread in every direction.

Fortunately, the tremors lasted only a few seconds before gradually subsiding.

Ian gently lifted the pendant by its chain and held it up before his eyes. A golden-red drop of water at its center rippled faintly with his movements.

A longing from the deepest part of life welled up in Ian's soul. His throat bobbed, and he swallowed involuntarily.

"Wawa, wawa, wawa..."

Wawa, who had been standing guard outside just moments ago, had now hurried over to Ian. Its eyes were fixed on the Life Well Pendant, full of longing.

Perhaps it sensed that this new object was important to Ian, too. It clutched its oversized head miserably with all four tentacles and pressed itself to the floor, afraid to come any closer.

Ian moved the hand holding the pendant and slipped it over his head. At his thought, the ripples of Life Water quickly faded away.

Wawa sensed that the Life Water had disappeared and thought its owner had used it up. It let out another sorrowful cry of "Wawa."

Ian didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Wawa, Wawa!"

Ian gently patted it.

"Wawa... (Master, I didn't really want it, really...)" Wawa was so considerate it hurt.

"Wawa, if you ate the thing from just now, would it do anything for you?"

"Wawa..."

"You're saying it could greatly improve your physical potential and make you grow several times faster than you do now?!"

After Wawa confirmed it, Ian fell into thought.