{Edited} A Merchant's Odyssey - Chapter 21: I'm Borrowing This (Patreon)

AN: Edited chapters do not count toward monthly quota's

Beta'd by Plum

Chapter 21: I’m Borrowing This

‘What the fuck, Bibi…’ Sebastian pulled out the scroll she gave him and read it over once more.

{Species: Jade Serenity Lily

Spirit Beast type: Plant

Description: A white, glowing lily growing atop the roots of Impurity Vines that spread their roots in pools of corrupted waters. A generally peaceful plant-type Spirit Beast that can be easily picked and harvested. It is advised to remove the flower directly, as disturbing the Impurity Vines will cause them to react violently.

Average Ring Age: 1000-3000 years.

Spirit Ring Ability: Passive Anti-Mental Control (White), Active Anti-Mental Control (Yellow), Mental Purification Aura (Purple).

Location(s): Demora Falls - Approximately 870 Li from the southern entrance.}

There was a detailed drawing of the flower, along with an image of its approximate area, which was colored red, likely indicating danger.

Still, there was nothing on the area itself.

'Why can't these things be simple?' Sebastian grunted and put the scroll away, staring at the scenery before him. 'I have to cross around 430 km of this?'

He stood at the edge of a ravine, cut into the earth like a jagged scar stretching long into the distance, widening and narrowing at various intervals.

From where he stood, he could see water pouring into it from over half a dozen visible rivers, disappearing into its mist-covered depths.

And the mist; it was a red, corrosive color, seemingly eating away at life as nothing grew on the rocky terrain surrounding the ravine.

Down below, Sebastian peered through gaps in the mist and barely made out what looked like a swamp. Where demonic-themed Spirit Beasts roamed its murky waters and ripped into each other with abandon.

In other words, it was a fantastic vacation location.

'This is going to need some work.' Sebastian touched the mist and grimaced as he felt the Aura sizzle on his skin, yet do nothing to his flesh. 'This stuff eats away at Spirit Energy. That puts me on a time limit.'

A grimace crossed his face as he tried to think up a solution to his dilemma. ‘Bibi wouldn’t have given me a suicide mission, or at least I don’t think she would. That means this is doable, but how?’

Deciding to put caution first, Sebastian pulled out one of his personalized portkey rings. He bent down to carve the destination runes into the rock beneath him. 'Easiest escape method if you have the time.'

Magical transportation all had limits.

Portkeys were a technical enchantment that required a deeper understanding of their mechanics. Still, once a user got the trick down, they could tie them to any location they had been to previously with a rune marker.

The greater the distance, the more Mana it would draw from the user, and the more turbulent the ride. However, as long as it was powered correctly, it was a stable way to get from point A to point B.

Apparation was mainly used for short- to medium-range line-of-sight travel. However, with practice, one could picture a previous location and travel to it without a rune marker. It also encountered issues with spatial disturbance, such as the corrosive mist before him.

Sebastian wasn't even going to consider testing it himself.

To overcome these limitations, Wizards invented flying artifacts.

Brooms, Carpets, and even Capes were used throughout history to allow for magical flight, and it's what Sebastian planned to use for his trip.

Pulling out his flying carpet, Sebastian set a course and set off into the mist. 'Test run #1. I’ll go until my Spirit Energy hits 50% and pull back.’

Mana spun through his body as he rapidly cast half a dozen charms to keep him invisible, silenced, and scentless.

On top of that, he set a double alarm ward on himself to go off when his Aura hit 75% and 50%. 'I should be thankful for that Aura indicator I swiped from Beacon. How they managed to quantify Soul Energy is remarkable.'

The lower down he went to the swamp, the more dispersed the mist became.

Sebastian planned to stay at a higher altitude and glide across, but he quickly encountered an issue as the corrosive mist began to thicken away from the edges. 'I need to head down.'

He dropped to a few feet above the alien purple trees dotting the landscape, digging roots deep into the bubbling black waters of the swamp.

Pockets of dry land appeared throughout the waters, covered in thick plant life that thrived in the environment. ‘This place is probably heaven for herbologists; it’s been a while since I thought of my greenhouse.’

Sebastian always found the subject soothing.

Not so much interesting in a project sense, but something to empty his mind on when he was burnt out. ‘I’ve been too busy this year. As soon as I’m done with the Unspeakables, I’ll try and focus more on it.’

Sebastian liked the idea of taking care of his plants after uprooting a millennia-old organization at the core of his nation's government.

There was just too much to do, and so little time to do it. ‘I need this Spirit Ring if our plans are going to get anywhere.’

Aunt Andy had her tasks, and Sebastian had his.

At the top of that list was getting the Spirit Ring he had been searching months for.

The further he went into the swamp, the more Sebastian found his mind wandering. ‘I haven’t really been keeping up with my God Tear experiment. Did I remember to refill the animals' feeding stations this week?'

His eyes began to fog over as his magic carpet lost altitude foot by foot.

‘Forkfucker’s next shipment should be coming in two days; I need to remember to pick it up. I wonder where Roman is with that Dust shipment; I've been meaning to…!'

Sebastian's eyes shot open as his first alarm ward went off, his Mana buzzing loud enough to snap his mind back into focus. 'Where am I?'

He looked down over the side of his carpet and almost felt his soul leave his body at the abomination-looking anglerfish opening a ten-foot gullet filled with razor-sharp teeth about to close in on him.

'UP!'

The carpet responded to his urgent command and shot up at a ninety-degree angle, splashing Sebastian with black water as he stuck to its surface.

At the same time, his needles and spheres flew out of his sleeve, slamming into the abomination fish and knocking it backward. 'How the bloody hell did it find me?!'

Sebastian's heart pounded in his ears as he realized how close to the water's surface he got. 'And what the hell was that? A compulsion? No, an illusion? An illusion fish?'

He flooded his head with Mana in an attempt to power his novice Occlumency shields. ‘Hopefully, it holds; now I just have to-.’

The fish's failed attempt seemed to be the spark that lit the powder keg; before Sebastian could even clear the treetops, the screech of a purple monkey hit him, destabilizing his flight and echoing in his skull. 'Disorienting sound waves?'

He slammed a silencing charm over his ears just in time to dodge a leathery, featherless bird dive-bombing him, only for it to multiply into three distinct copies. 'Visual illusions now?!'

His eyes flashed as his second Spirit Ring activated, and the world took on various hues of color as the bird's true form was revealed in a glow of Soul Power. 'Nice try, bitch.'

Metal spheres broke the sound barrier and flew forward to slam into the bird, sending it screeching to the black waters below, where it was viciously torn into by a horde of abomination fish.

'How are they finding me?' Sebastian's mind ran a mile a minute as he bobbed and weaved between Spirit Beasts, his eyes piercing their illusions to find their true forms glowing with energy. 'I'm invisible, silent, and scentless. What's left?'

Reaching into his pouch, Sebastian withdrew two wooden bird puppets.

'Awaken.' He ran his Mana through the runes and threw them into the air; the birds twitched as they came alive and flew on both sides of him.

The puppets were a side project, intended to copy the drone scouts he saw in Remnant.

Their rune scheme kept them invisible and silent, but the visual connection to a central node was more complicated than Sebastian thought it would be.

Yet, for now, they helped him test his current circumstances.

Dodging a tree that seemed to come alive when he passed by, Sebastian watched with analytical eyes as its seeking vines latched onto his birds and pulled them down, crushing them into splinters. 'It knew they were there; did it sense the Mana? The birds had no mind to latch onto, and I wasn't using soul-based runes; can they really track Mana?'

The beasts seemed to lock onto him no matter where he went, with the sole saving grace being the fact that none of them were particularly strong. An empowered Banishing Charm was enough to keep them away.

Yet if that were all, Sebastian would ignore it and push on.

But not a minute later, another illusion ensnared his mind and pulled Sebastian toward a tree that split down the middle with rows of teeth opening to accept him in a loving embrace, only for his second alarm ward to snap him awake.

“AH! Fuck you!”

He was so startled he randomly grabbed Dust grenades and tossed them out before activating his portkey, vanishing half a second before the explosion took out the tree, its surroundings, and the ground beneath the surroundings.

Sebastian slammed down atop the rune marker he left at the entrance to the ravine, a hiss of displaced air leaving his lips from the impact. 'That sucked.'

His body ached from where the black water splashed him, eating through his Aura to get at his skin beneath and leaving corrosive burns.

A shiver ran down his spine as rows of hungry teeth flashed through his mind, but Sebastian grabbed hold of that shiver and shoved his wand up its ass. 'Trying to traumatize me? You think a fish can traumatize me? I'll traumatize you!'

Sebastian rolled over with a spiteful growl. ‘I have your Soul Power signature. I’ll find you, bitch.’

Taking a breath, he reached into a pouch and removed a fingernail-sized capsule.

He threw it in his mouth before crunching down on it, shattering the shell and releasing a drop of gleaming red liquid that sank into his body and flowed along his veins.

A groan of relief came as his wounds hissed and repaired in moments, his damaged skin peeling away to reveal a fresh layer beneath. "Thanks, Flamel, this stuff is a great morning-after pill."

Somewhere in a forgotten temple, an old man laughed.

“Alright, test #1 had results.” Sebastian stood up and cleaned himself off with a wave of his finger. “I don’t know jack shit about this place. Let’s fix that.”

Nodding, he focused on his necklace and opened a gate to step back into his workshop. 'I was hoping to save up on power, but needs must, and I'm not wasting time on this.'

Each use of the gate drained power from the stone, and it took time to recover.

If Sebastian needed another world hop, as he estimated he would, he had to save up enough to afford it, on top of everything else he needed the gate for, since each trip between his three current dimensions took fuel.

'Thankfully, I haven't been spending these weeks in vain.' Sebastian summoned a tome from his shelves, the cover opening to an index of Spirit Beasts. 'Just because some idiot didn't think to organize his library centuries ago doesn't mean I can't. Let them deal with the scrolls; I just wanted the information.'

In the weeks he spent in Spirit Hall, Sebastian had pulled hundreds of valuable scrolls from thousands he considered trash, and each time he did so, he copied the information to his own personal compendiums.

One for knowledge of runes. Another for Spirit Beasts. A third for world history and geography. And a fourth for any interesting bits he thought might be helpful down the line.

‘I might not have a spell to search the contents of unknown scrolls, but I can damn well be sure to copy and paste the information instead of writing it out by hand.’ Sebastian flipped through the book.

The Geminio Charm, or Doubling Charm, was developed by twin witches who wanted to share everything they owned. It was typically used to duplicate an object with a technically temporary copy.

Technical in the sense that it left a magical trace, and if a wizard used the counterspell on it, it would vanish.

The Geminio Curse was developed at a later point in time, which rapidly created duplicates of an object in enclosed spaces at a speed faster than a caster could cancel them out.

But the two typical ways the charm was used weren’t the only methods to use it. 

Back in his time at Hogwarts, Sebastian had found a dusty book on minor cantrips from the 1800’s, and among them was a minor application of the Geminio Charm for copying written text onto a blank page.

It had issues, chief among them being that a counterspell would still erase the text.

However, as long as that didn't happen, Sebastian could copy whatever he wanted for later review.

'It's not like I can keep all this shit in my head; I'm not a natural bloody Occlumens.' Sebastian searched his Spirit Beast compendium until he found a drawing of the abomination fish.

{Species: Ambush Scale

Spirit Beast type: Fish

Description: An aquatic beast that lives in corruptive waters. They live in harmony with Foggy Petals, whose pollen causes prey to become absent-minded and leaves them open to ambush. They have brittle scales, incredible jaw strength, and nearly five-foot-long bladed teeth. If bitten, it's better to remove the limb.

Average Ring Age: 10-800 years.

Spirit Ring Ability: Stillness (White), Ambush Strike (Yellow).

Location(s): Demora Falls. Slaughter City.}

‘That thing wasn’t even over 1K years?’ Shaking his head, Sebastian flipped to the other species he saw and studied his new obstacles. ‘There’s a whole damn ecosystem in there.’

He studied what he could, but it wouldn’t be enough.

He didn't have every species in his compendium; he'd only been building it since meeting Xiaogang and had nothing useful on Demora Falls. ‘Something tells me people avoid this place.’

Grunting at having to use his gate even more, Sebastian stepped back into a hidden alcove in the aisles of Spirit Hall’s library.

He came around a bookshelf, only to stop at the sight of Elder Lu calmly sipping tea at Sebastian’s work table.

The older man was long since used to Sebastian popping in and out and didn’t raise a brow at his entrance. “Did you enjoy your trip?”

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. “You knew?”

“Sadly, not until you left.” Elder Lu brought his teacup to his lips to hide a smirk. “It would have been funnier otherwise.”

"You're just a ball of sunshine." Sebastian walked past the older man and checked his notes. He tried to track what kinds of information came from which shelves to see if he could find rune information faster. "That place is disgusting."

“I have yet to find someone who enjoyed it.” Elder Lu chuckled with mirthful eyes. “Around seventy years ago, sending hotheaded recruits there to gather herbs was almost a rite of passage."

Sebastian’s hand paused on a shelf. “Why did it stop?”

“The death toll got too high.” Elder Lu said somewhat sadly.

"Cheers." Sebastian rolled his eyes and grunted at not finding Demora Falls on his list. "Can I help you with something, or are you just bored?”

“On the contrary, it is I who can help you.” Sebastian looked over to find the older man giving him a smug look as he floated a scroll beside his head. “You are searching for information on Demora Falls, correct?"

“Why do you have that?” Sebastian narrowed his eyes.

“I wrote it.” Elder Lu tossed it over to a surprised Sebastian. "Everything you need should be in there."

“This looks freshly written.” Sebastian commented suspiciously.

“That’s because it is.” Elder Lu shook his head in exasperation. “I only knew your destination after you were gone. I assumed you would be back once you tested its environment.”

"Bibi told you?" Sebastian looked over the contents, and his eyes widened at the clear description of almost every beast he encountered.

“Yes, ‘Bibi’.” A highly amused look crossed the older man’s face. “Seemed to have forgotten her… unique strengths when she recommended it.”

Her Martial Soul made her immune to mental corruption beneath her level.

“Old man…” Sebastian rolled up the scroll and shook his head. “Thank you.”

“Ohoho, how rare to hear such words from you, White.” Elder Lu sent him a fond look. “My days would get darker without our tea times.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “You mean time for you to relieve stress?”

“I do believe I said I wasn’t intere…" Elder Lu was cut off when he had to catch a wooden box that almost slammed into his face. "I didn't get to finish my joke."

"Shut it, you degenerate old man." Sebastian picked up the teapot to refill the old man's cup, then poured himself one. "I can keep you company for a few minutes."

“How kind of you.” Elder Lu chuckled and opened the box to find a dozen finely crafted cigars. “Ah, smoking herbs from Star Lou Empire? I haven’t seen this symbol before.”

Sebastian raised a brow at the fact that cigars existed in the world but didn't comment. "It's a premium product that soothes the lungs. I noticed you prefer tea with strong spices; those have a bit more spiciness to them."

“What a thoughtful gift.” Elder Lu smiled and put one to his lips, snapping his finger to spark a flame and inhaling deeply. “Mn.”

Sebastian had to lean backward to avoid the storm of smoke that exploded from the older man's nose. 'How deep of a bloody pull did he take?'

The man’s eyes were torches, and he smoked like a dragon with a content expression. "I might have to look into procuring a stock."

"Just let me know when you need more." Sebastian waved it away and felt the spicy scent tickle his nose. "Pass me one, will you?"

“Pass what?" Elder Lu's hand blurred, and the box vanished. "I'm afraid I only have the one."

“…” Sebastian deadpanned at the shameless old man and finished his tea. “Have a good day, Elder.”

“And a safe journey to you, White.” Elder Lu breathed out another literal cloud of smoke, his smile almost childlike in joy. “I wish you luck.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Sebastian waved the scroll over his shoulder and walked out of the man’s line of sight. “Don’t burn down the library, Old Man.”

“Ohoho.”

Sebastian shook his head and stepped back into his workshop, shutting the door behind him. ‘Troll he may be, but that man has more personal respect for boundaries than anyone I’ve met.’

It wasn't easy for Sebastian to trust, but for whatever reason, he felt the old man wouldn't harm him unless he was given a direct order.

"Alright, let's see what I've got." Sebastian spread the scroll on a table and looked over what was written with a growing frown. “This is worse than I thought.”

The Spirit beasts of Demora Falls didn't track him through his Mana; they tracked him by the corrosive mist that stuck to him.

Almost all the creatures that called it home lacked the ability to see, hear, or smell, yet they used the mist to track prey in their surroundings. 

‘It’s impossible to hide.’ Sebastian quickly noted. ‘Even if I kept the mist away, it would create an absence they would notice.’

Reading further, Sebastian’s eyes widened slightly as he found a list of recommended methods. ‘Elder Lu, you bloody beautiful bastard.’

Spirit Hall used to use the environment for training and resources, and it seemed they had a specific kind of Spirit Master that would often accompany their members.

‘So, you have to fight Illusions with Illusions, huh?’ A sharp grin slowly spread across Sebastian's face as a certain ice cream-themed individual came to mind. 'I think it's time to bring Neo on a trip.' His head tilted as he considered it. 'Would this count as a date?'

Shrugging, Sebastian rolled up the scroll and jumped back to Remnant, coming out in Neo’s apartment and not finding any recent signs of the woman.

‘Not home?’ His second Spirit Ring flashed, and Sebastian’s sight took on another hue as he looked over the faint traces of Neo’s Aura in the apartment. ‘The longer I have it, the more I love this ability.’

Born from the ashes of the mental rune that once lived in his head, along with his desire to find the bastard who put it there, Sebastian had unintentionally made a customized mental rune that allowed him to see Mana signatures.

Once it became a Spirit Ring, that ability grew to encompass Soul Power and Aura, enhancing the ability into something that could track by giving him a general sense of direction if he had a clear enough trace.

‘North.’ Sebastian’s brow furrowed as he felt it out. ‘Far to the north.’

Apparating to the roof of the building, Sebastian once more pulled out his trusty flying carpet and hid himself from sight before taking off. 'I wonder what she's doing in the north?’

0000

Roman Torchwick wasn’t just a thief, but a showman.

He liked to be seen performing his crimes. He enjoyed the seething looks of those unable to stop him from a grand heist. He liked to put on a show.

"Don't worry, gents. I'm sure your boss will understand the… transferring of inventory." Roman twisted his cane and lowered his hat over his eyes, a bright, cocky grin on his lips. "It's for a good cause, of course."

Before him stood two dozen mercenaries with Dust rounds pointed right at him, while behind him, his own minions were rapidly loading a stolen bullhead with crates of raw Dust Crystals.

A certain manager of the mine they were raiding was tied up at Roman’s feet, keeping the mercenaries from shooting the man who signed their checks.

A poke to his side came from a hidden Neo who wavered into existence with bloodstains on her coat.

She shot him a pointed look that spoke volumes.

“Hey, my smoking needs are a good cause.” Roman defended.

Neo’s lips twitched as she held up a pair of broken manacles.

“Oh yes, the pitiful slaves.” Roman wagged his finger at the manager beneath his feet and clicked his tongue. “How droll, breaking Atlas law so openly. What would the press think if they saw that?” He flicked his eyes to the symbol stamped on each crate. “Especially with the Schnee profiting from it.”

The manager was red-faced and shouting something, but the rolled-up cloth in his mouth muffled his words.

"Please tell me that's not your sock?" Roman asked Neo, and she sent him a disgusted look of offense as she pointed at the man's waist. "You shoved his own tighty-whities in his mouth?”

Neo shook her head and held up the manacles.

Roman’s eyes widened in awe. "You shoved a slave's dirty underwear in the man's mouth?"

The manager’s neck veins stood out as he tried desperately to spit out what was in his mouth, only for Neo to kick him in the jaw as she nodded happily to Roman’s question.

“Right then.” Roman chose not to comment further. “I assume you gave the slaves the other bullhead?”

Roman didn't exactly come raid a Schnee mine out of the goodness of his heart, but since he was already here, well, why not piss off Jacques Schnee even more?

Neo shot him a thumbs-up, and Roman smirked, turning back to the waiting crowd of observers. "Neo, if you would?"

Neo silently giggled and wove an illusion over the two of them, stepping away from the manager and toward the bullhead as Roman's illusory double acted out his movements.

"Well then, gentlemen, and lady.” Roman’s double winked at the one female mercenary. “I would like to leave you all with the knowledge that you have been successfully stolen from by the one, the only, Roman Tor-.”

“EVERYONE FREEZE!”

Roman was cut off as the doors to the warehouse, in a mining camp in the middle of an Atlas mountain range, during an active blizzard, were slammed open.

Neo perked up at the familiar voice and turned to find a dust cloud rapidly approaching her actual body, rather than her illusion.

She held her arms out excitedly, only to immediately deadpan as Sebastian grabbed her around the middle and threw her over his shoulder before turning to Roman.

“I’m borrowing this.” Sebastian nodded and tossed the man a Dust grenade.

“Wha-.” Roman didn’t even get a word out as he caught the grenade, only to find Sebastian sprinting back out of the warehouse under the dumbfounded gazes of Roman, the mercenaries, and his own minions. “I was using that!”

He yelled after the vanishing dust cloud.

“I need it more!” Sebastian yelled back.

“I’m doing this job for you, jackass!” Roman flipped him off.

“I’ll pay double!” And with that, Sebastian was gone, the warehouse doors slamming shut behind him.

It was only then that Roman realized he was halfway to the bullhead, no longer standing next to the manager of the mine, and out in the open without Neo’s illusion.

The mercenaries looked at each other.

“Do we shoot him?” One asked.

“We already lost the slaves.” Another scratched their head. “I kinda feel bad about shooting him now.”

Roman opened his mouth to say something witty, only for the manager, who had been worm crawling away, to finally spit out the slave underwear along with half his teeth and shout. “SHOOT HIM, YOU DUMB BASTARDS!”

Roman deadpanned at the cocking guns and pulled the pin on the grenade with his teeth. “I’m charging the kid triple.”

Chapter End.

AN: Mwuahaha. Next time – Neo in a new world. What could go wrong?