{Edited} A Merchant's Odyssey - Chapter 28 (Patreon)

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

Not Beta'd yet cuz my beta reader is a degenerate. - Read my shit, Plum

Chapter 28: Never Forever / Time Waits For No Man

 “Sebastian.”

'He's really doing it!' Six-year-old Sebastian stared, fixated on the image of Goku raising his arms above his head, gathering energy from the universe into a massive attack as Frieza viciously attacked him. 'You can do it, Goku!'

“Sebastian.”

‘Yes!’ Sebastian cheered as Piccolo stepped in to save Goku’s life. He was nearly vibrating in his seat as Goku finally swung his arms down. ‘Spirit Bomb!’

“Sebastian!”

“Wuh?” Sebastian was startled out of his trance and looked up into his father’s bright blue eyes. “Dad?”

“I’ve been calling you for the last minute, Champ.” Nicholas White’s frown melted when he noticed what Sebastian was reading. “Ah, got too absorbed, did you? I read that volume a bit ago.”

“Yeah!” Sebastian raised the comic high. “Goku’s been charging his attack for so long, I wanna see it go off. The explosion it’s going to make is going to be so awesome!”

“Haha!” A laugh boomed from Nicholas as he dropped a hand down on Sebastian’s head and ruffled his hair. “That’s my boy! Sorry to cut in at the climax then.”

"Dad!" Sebastian used Struggle. It was ineffective. "Stop!"

“Make me.” Nicholas grinned wide and proud as his son wrestled his hand and used Bite to minimal effectiveness. “That’s it, Seb. Never give up without a fight.”

"Bleh, you taste like chalk." Sebastian dropped back on the couch, sticking his tongue out with a grossed-out expression. "Did you wash your hands, Dad?”

"Now, why would I do that when I'm still working?" Nicholas was highly amused. "Anyway, I wanted to introduce you to someone." He pointed over his shoulder, and Sebastian just then noticed someone else in the room. "Seb, meet my best friend, Saul Croaker." Nicholas looked at the mirthful Saul watching the show. "Saul, this is my pride and joy, Sebastian."

“Dad! You’re being embarrassing again!” Sebastian flushed under the looks and threw a pillow at his father’s face, then stuck his hand out to the stranger. “Nice to meet you, Sir.”

“Oh, how polite.” Saul stepped forward, adjusting his round glasses as he knelt to shake Sebastian's hand. "Nice to meet you as well, young man."

Sebastian shook his hand happily, trying to be serious as he had seen his father do before. "I like your glasses."

"Why, thank you." Saul chuckled, tapping the frame of the clearly enchanted item. "I designed them myself."

“Nerd.” Nicholas coughed into his fist and was rewarded by the twitching brow of Saul’s. “Saul’s pretty good at making small stuff. He’s the one who sent you that nightlight you love so much.”

Sebastian’s young blue eyes lit up. “You made the snow globe light? Thank you! It’s so much fun to play with. Dad warned me about taking it apart.”

"I'm glad it made it to you." Saul laughed and stood up, brushing off his pants. "Nick can be quite heartless." He leaned in to mock-whisper. “He has a talent for misplacing things.”

"Yeah, Dad's really careless." Sebastian agreed with zero hesitation.

“Betrayed by one of my own.” Nicholas clenched his heart dramatically and got pointed looks from both the young and middle-aged men. “Cruel.”

“Wait.” Sebastian pointed at Saul. “If he’s your best friend, what about Uncle Ted?”

“Er…” Nicholas awkwardly scratched his cheek. “They are both my best friends?”

“How can two things be the best?” Sebastian tilted his head in confusion. “Doesn’t best mean one thing?”

"It can." Saul spoke dryly as Nicholas found the clock on the wall interesting. "In this case, let's just say your father has two good friends."

“Oh.” Sebastian pinched his chin like he’d seen his father do. “Why didn’t you just say that, Dad?”

"Is this revenge for making you eat your broccoli yesterday?" Nicholas wondered aloud and shook his head with a smirk. "You're getting too smart for me, champ."

“That’s because you teach me.” Sebastian stuck his chest out proudly. “I’ll be able to help soon, and then you can’t keep me out of your work.”

A soft yet pained look crossed Nicholas's face before he knelt and pulled Sebastian into a hug. "You'll get there, Seb. I believe in you."

Sebastian grinned widely and hugged his father back. "So, can I help?"

“That day’s not today.” Nicholas’s smiling mask was back, and he pulled away. “Nice try.”

Saul laughed at Sebastian’s pout. “He’s just raring to go, isn’t he?”

"He gets that from his mother." Nicholas chuckled and ruffled Sebastian's hair again. "We'll be in my office, Seb; feel free to order in if I'm late for dinner time."

“Again, Dad?” Sebastian frowned.

“Sorry, Champ.” Nicholas gestured Saul to the door, and the man gave them some space with a final smile to Sebastian. “We’ve got work to do.”

"You always have work to do." Sebastian muttered and hopped back onto the couch with a huff. "You won't keep me away forever."

"Never forever, Seb." An oddly serious look crossed Nicholas's face. "Never forever."

Sebastian noticed the look but thought his father was just being weird again. “Whatever, I’ll be here.”

He picked up the comic and went back to reading about Goku's epic moment.

Nicholas shook his head and left through the door, only sticking his head back in a moment later. “Krillin dies, by the way.”

“DAD!”

Mist condensed along a red eye, slowly gathering and falling to gravity’s whims as it rolled down Sebastian’s cheek.

‘I miss you, Dad.’

The drop fell from his chin, freezing in place as gravity came under a new owner, floating in the light of his inherited workshop.

'Bloody dust getting in my eyes.' Sebastian wiped his eyes and leaned over the loft railing, shaking off old memories and pushing down the emotions that came with them. 'Occlumency has some uses, at least.'

His minor ability with it was useful for dredging up distant memories, even if it took time and effort to drag a single memory to the front of his mind.

'Croaker just had to show up now.' Sebastian sighed, shook his head, and gently summoned his steaming coffee mug from the kitchen, months of control letting him pull it as if by telekinesis rather than the classic forceful Summoning Charm. ‘How long has it been since I thought of the man?’

Saul Croaker made brief appearances in Sebastian's youth, often causing his father to retreat to his study for days at a time as they conducted their research.

Nicholas White was the space-magic genius, and Croaker was more experienced than most with time magic.

Together, the two were a deadly pair.

‘My father trusted him.’ Sebastian mused and sipped his coffee. ‘And the guy clearly warned me last night.’

Sebastian had been hesitant to act so soon.

He didn’t want to raise any alarms, but he wasn’t afraid to remove an obstacle if it appeared.

‘Yet the man had to go and make things confusing.’ A frown crossed his face. ‘Whose side are you on, Croaker?’

The warning couldn't have been clearer. The Unspeakables Diviners had seen something, and whatever it was had taken them out of the picture.

‘What do they know? What caused their issues? I have too little information.' Sebastian's lack of inside information was frustrating. 'Was it related to me? Was Croaker warning me specifically, or did he know the Unspeakables were making a move soon?’

Sebastian's eyes panned to his gate, faintly glowing down below in the darkened workshop. 'Did opening the gate do something?’

The most considerable challenge in the gate’s construction was to find a way to make the initial tear through the dimensional veil; the wall that separated and contained dimensions to their own, without immediately killing himself.

Sebastian couldn't begin to grasp what repercussions that could have had; all he cared about was his success.

'What do the Unspeakables know?' That was the most significant issue Sebastian faced. 'And why did Croaker specifically warn about my eyes?'

There was no biological issue with Color-Changing Charms.

‘That was a direct warning.’ Sebastian wasn’t going to wave it away.

He didn't need his wand to cycle eye colors. Being around Neo for close to a year had made him adept at sudden shifts in appearance, if only to have fun with her chaos.

‘They are on the lookout for someone with heterochromatic eyes.’ Sebastian understood that much. ‘I should keep Neo away until things are done.’

And speaking of Neo, Sebastian looked over his shoulder and smirked at the blissful expression on his lover's face as she slept, wrapped up in the sheets.

Sebastian hadn't told her about his meeting with Croaker; instead, he pushed it aside to enjoy the night with her, sharing ice cream in Florean's.

And if there was anything besides messing with magical mafias and spy work that got Neo excited, it was all the dessert.

She showed her appreciation for the gift throughout the rest of the night, and their expensive suits were now strewn around the loft in a mess.

‘Worth it.’ Sebastian sipped his coffee and just took in Neo, much like one would observe a fascinating piece of art, watching the way her breathing made her chest rise and fall. ‘She’s corrupting me with her insatiable nature.’

Even now, simply looking at her made him want to restart their fun.

A humored huff left his lungs as Sebastian readjusted his robe over his naked body due to his rising wood.

‘Not even Nym made me this bloody horny.’ And that was saying something from a Metamorphagus.

The thought of the transforming girl brought his frown right back. ‘Why’d you have to go and make everything so complicated, Nym?’

If it weren't for her, would Sebastian have even thought to return to his home dimension?

He wasn’t sure.

‘I might have just run away.’ Sebastian silently admitted, staring down at his reflection in his coffee. ‘Compared to this dimension, there is so much more out there to offer.’

Sebastian knew he’d only scratched the surface of the multiverse, yet he wasn’t ready to go charging headlong into the unknown.

If he did, it might have been years before he’d seen Ted and Andromeda again. It might have been years before he got around to confronting his feelings about the Unspeakables.

‘I don't want to live like that.' Sebastian didn't enjoy the constant pulsing darkness in his chest. He didn't like holding on to old pain so firmly that every day felt like the fires of his youth clung to him. 'I want to be over and done with all this shit.’

He looked back up at the sleeping Neo, his chaotic emotions slowly settling. ‘I want to be free to live.’

His trauma and issue with the Unspeakables were a chain on his ankle, holding him back from spreading his wings to the possibilities of the wider multiverse.

It was a chain that suffocated him, leaving him feeling antsy whenever he sat still for too long. 'I wonder how much of it fueled my extreme focus on the gate?’

Sebastian hyper-focused on whatever kept his interest; he had no issue with that. Still, now he couldn't help but be curious if he was just running away from his pain by trying to find a solution.

A snort left him as he shook his head. ‘Who the hell knows? I did it; that's all that matters. This is my life now.’

Sebastian never regretted his actions.

‘The real question is what’s next?’

Sebastian tapped the rim of his mug with a hum, mentally going down his list.

‘I’m pretty close to getting the Jade Lily’s runes down. The Soul Power beacons are en route to the Ministry. I already put the God’s Tear experiments in stasis until I have more time. My Aura Channels are approaching the same quality as my Mana Channels under the weekly God’s Tear usage. I’ve got a steady stock of Elixir of Life. My Mana and Aura pools are at their limits for my body. The Dust experiments can wait. And the list just keeps going on.’

He sighed at how much was waiting to be explored.

Spirit Rings, Spirit Beasts, and the as-yet unexplored Spirit Bones all held so much potential interest.

Then there was that wizard back in Beacon, and whatever artifact was hidden beneath said tower. Sebastian still couldn’t take his mind off that one, seeing how an item comparable to the Philosopher's Stone was just sitting there.

He was also working on a side project involving metal transmutation, which he was pursuing with moderate success as he fine-tuned the process of making gold, but making little progress in other areas.

Finally, his magnum opus, the Gateway, the thing he poured almost all of his educated life into, the dream of his father passed down into his young hands.

'There's so much I still don't know about you.' Sebastian's eyes gleamed as he stared at the deactivated Gateway, his pendant warming against his chest as the runes on the Arch flickered briefly at his intent. ‘It’s like you’re speaking to me, ole girl.’

Sebastian chuckled at the thought, but it was the aptest way he could describe it.

The Arch acted in ways he sometimes couldn't understand.

It took intent more literally than anything else he had made, and its various modes didn't operate by the same rules.

The initial pathway to another dimension had one set of rules. It had the highest power cost, but it offered the most specific destination. From what Sebastian had observed, it could be used only once per dimension on entry.

Forming gates to unknown locations within said dimension had a second set. The second set was used in a more general context, such as searching for a city, a landmark, or in a general direction.

A third set of rules were used to open gates to places he had already been to. It was the third mode, and the lowest-cost one, that Sebastian learned he could use to open gates between dimensions without going through his workshop, as long as he had physically been to both locations.

'It's time for another jump.' Sebastian flicked a finger and let the pendant float to eye level, then checked its gauge. 'I'm sitting around 75%. Hopefully, it's enough for this jump; I shouldn't make too detailed a request.’

The more specific he was, the more power it took.

Sebastian had made a few alterations to the charging runes on the Archway after gaining access to Soul Power runes, hoping to cut down on power usage. However, he still had some distance to go and no time to spare focusing on it.

Was he going to stop using the gate altogether for a month, wait until he reached 100%, and be safe?

Sebastian almost let out a manic laugh at the thought.

No.

He had shit to do.

Full speed ahead.

A sharp grin split his lips, eyes alight with mania. “Time waits for no man.”

“Or woman.”

“Wuh?!”

Neo’s voice echoed in his ears as Sebastian nearly spilled his coffee if it wasn’t literally glued to his hand with a Sticking Charm.

He felt her warm body press into his back, giggling at his reaction.

“Damn cat.” Sebastian’s lips twitched in a smile as Neo snuggled in and wrapped her arms around his stomach. “Did I wake you?”

“Mn.” Neo rubbed her face into his back just like the cat he claimed she was. “You were muttering.”

“I don’t mutter.” Sebastian muttered defiantly.

Neo laughed and slipped her hands into his robe in answer, cold digits sending chills through him at the contact.

"You're hurting my confidence in bed, Love." Sebastian reached around and pulled Neo to his front, trapping her between his body and the railing. "And pushing the priority for learning sex spells ever higher on my list.”

Neo grinned wide and looked up at him, her heart in her eyes, her hair puffed up around her face like a dandelion, and reached up to show him exactly how she felt about his priority list with a kiss.

Their lips met, and Sebastian's relentless thoughts stalled, overcome by a force greater than they could ever be.

The feel of her soft, plump lips; the scent of her as his nose trailed her cheek; the firm yet loving touch of her roaming hands; the tight grasp of her legs locking around his waist; the taste he couldn’t get enough of.

Neo was a drug, and he was a willing addict.

She pulled away and placed a hand against his cheek, staring into his eyes from inches apart. "It's going to be alright."

Sebastian frowned and tried to pull back, but she didn’t let him.

"Everything will work out." She continued, pulling him back toward her, her voice tickling his ears. "Don't let your paranoia consume you."

 His eyes dilated. “How-.”

“I know.” Neo pecked his lips and grinned, her Aura flaring and intertwining with his, using an access key that was never revoked as she stared into his soul. "I see you, Sebastian."

His mouth opened, but no words came out.

Sebastian lacked a witty quip.

He saw acceptance and understanding in her eyes, and in that moment, he realized it was a fool's errand to try to wear a mask before her.

With words failing him, Sebastian took her lips, conveying his feelings for the woman in his arms as he pressed her against the railing, feeling her body mold to his and trailing kisses along her jaw to her ear.

“I thought I was supposed to be the one reading you?” Sebastian asked.

Neo responded by giggling and tightening her leglock on his hips, his robe opening from a cut strap. “Love me.”

“Always.”

And that, Neo knew, was a promise.

0000

‘I’m a boner away from throwing enough gold at Forkfucker to find a way to legally raid a Veela conclave to get a damn sex spell tome.’ Sebastian winced as he held an ice pack to his junk. ‘Ooohhh, still so worth it.’

He walked through his workshop after having sent Neo home to Vale.

Roman was getting uppity about Sebastian stealing his daughter away, and to be fair, she did have a job she couldn’t put off forever.

The search for a sex spell tome was a joke at first, but Sebastian had begun putting out feelers to see where he could purchase one.

And then he found out that the damn subject was labeled illegal in Britain. Because of course it was.

Stopping Neo from an early raid on the Ministry wasn’t easy.

'I wasn't going to ask the DeLuca family; I don't need that reputation with them. Maybe I should try searching in France; the French never seem to care about raunchy stuff.’ A smirk crossed his lips at a chance to throw dirt on the French like a proper Brit.

In the end, he had to send a custom request to a Veela conclave in Romania, which responded by saying that it could be up to six months before they got back to him with a freshly written copy.

They apparently only made them by order, and not just any Veela could share such knowledge and inscribe it.

‘Life is cruel to give me Neo, and not the bone structure to keep up with her.’ Sebastian approached a specific section of the wall and pulsed his Mana against it. ‘I’ve never been more motivated to work out in my life.’

The wall slid away, and Sebastian stepped into what he liked to call his refinery.

Rows of six-foot-tall clay ovens made out of… well… clay, lined a wall, each with a gauge in various stages of turning green.

'I really need a better name for these things, maybe gold canister?' Sebastian walked up to one with a bright green gauge, indicating it was complete.

He grabbed one of a dozen handles stuck in its surface, pulling out a cylinder of ice cube trays filled with gold coins. ‘I still need to work on adding a cash register sound when I open this thing.’

He plucked a fresh coin and smiled at his reflection in the gold before dropping it into a sack, flicking his finger to pull out a few dozen more.

'It's good to be rich.' Sebastian whistled and threw the cylinder into a basket, pulling out a fresh one filled with melted ingots of bismuth, which were slotted into the ice cube trays. 'Thankfully, I figured this gold-making business out pretty early.'

The process was quite simple, all things considered.

The Philosopher's Stone had to act as the power source to make things stick. Still, as long as you knew the general makeup of what you wanted, in this case, gold, one could theoretically permanently transfigure anything into gold.

It was just a matter of time.

‘Thank Merlin for the Muggles figuring out Bismuth, Platinum, and Mercury are the closest metals to gold. I'm afraid my tests would have taken years without that knowledge.'

Gold wasn't a native metal of the planet; it came from the death of stars and is theorized to have crashed onto the planet as its core formed. But that didn't stop magic from finding a way.

All Sebastian had to do was build units to hold the closest metals with a chemical makeup to gold in coin-sized slots, find a way to channel the power of the Philosopher’s Stone without using himself as a medium, transfigure the metals, and wait for the process to complete.

Platinum was the quickest but also the most expensive and hardest to acquire in large quantities.

Mercury came next in speed, but it had the downside of being poisonous to touch until the process was finished.

Bismuth was the longest, but it could be obtained cheaply in large quantities.

‘No one ever said I had to make one batch at a time.’ Sebastian whistled and inserted the new cylinder into the clay oven.

A clay oven with dozens of cylinders, among dozens of clay ovens.

Only a few sat against the far wall, dedicated to his experiments with magically conductive metals. Still, without a physical example and an understanding of its makeup, they were all decades, if not centuries, away from completion on their own.

The sole exception was the gauge for the Goblin Silver batch, lacking the Greed aspect, of course, but it was years away from a single batch. He had no idea what metals were supposed to go into its creation and was trying to reverse-engineer what he already had.

‘That should be enough gold for a new dimension.’ Sebastian packed away his coin pouches in his coat, happy to have more pockets again. ‘It feels good to be back in my usual outfit.’

The suit was nice, but Sebastian would never be a suit kinda guy; he would rather die in his well-crafted half-pirate, half-lab coat.

Leaving the refinery, with the door sliding closed behind him, Sebastian made his way over to the Arch and clapped his hands.

“Alright, boys and girls, time for a new adventure.” His voice echoed around as various things came alive.

The runes on the gate whirred.

His leather-focusing bracer flew over and slid along his right forearm.

His leather telekinetic weapons bracer flew over and slid along his left forearm.

His restocked Dust grenade belts flew into an inner pocket.

His language translator slipped behind his ear and under his tongue.

“Weapons, translator, gold, what else does a man need in life?” Sebastian tilted his head and flicked his finger to summon a beer from the fridge. “There we go.”

He cracked it open and walked up to his Arch with a deep drink.

"Ready for another ride, ole girl?" Sebastian patted the pillar and smirked as it began to glow brighter, almost excited as it read his intent.

He removed the pendant from his neck and inserted it into the power slot. The entire gate immediately hummed as Mana flooded the runes.

‘Smoother.’ Sebastian observed the slight changes his efforts had on the gate. ‘Even if I haven’t figured out the power reduction yet, it’s still powering up without those initial hiccups.’

A minute later, the gate was glowing white, ready and waiting for his direction. ‘Took a third less time to charge up.'

It was time to make his choice. To guide his intent.

What kind of dimension did he want?

“I want a dimension that conceptually boosts pure physical growth for Humans.”

The Archway lit up as it began reaching out into the void.

How could he keep things vague enough to be within his battery life?

“I want a dimension without magic.”

The seeking branches narrowed.

What words would maximize his needs at this moment?

“I want a dimension that restricts foreign power systems.”

The branches narrowed further into a few dozen potential options.

Sebastian looked at the power gauge and saw it was down to less than a quarter; he had maybe three refinements left.

“I want a dimension with modern Earth.”

The options shrank.

“I want a place with experts willing to train me without malicious intent.” 

A flash of white flared out as the Archway immediately latched onto one specific dimension.

The power gauge dropped to less than 5%, leaving Sebastian with only one last small refinement to maximize his entrance without risking harm to himself.

He took a deep breath and finished.

“I want to find an expert in physique training.”

The gate pulsed strongly, wind blowing through the workshop as papers flew in the air, a portal forming from the white light, rippling like the surface of a lake.

An image began to take shape beyond, showing a massive doorway set into a Japanese-style torii gate, with familiar Japanese writing on a signpost set above the entrance.

The power gauge dropped to just under half a percent, Sebastian’s nervous gaze watching it slowly stabilize.

“Oh, thank fuck." Sebastian sighed in relief. "I really didn't want another repeat of my meeting with Neo."

His Mana Pool was tied to the pendant; the gate was always within reach, but it could also drain him dry and kill him if he overdid it.

Half a percent was enough for a quick escape path if things went badly.

“Well, it worked.” Sebastian clapped his hands, nodding brightly as he removed the key, secured it around his neck, and observed the familiar Japanese symbols. “I really didn’t need a new dimension of mysteries to explore right now, so this works.”

Sebastian specified his intent so that he could get exactly what he wanted without being confronted with another crazy cultivation dimension.

His plate was far too full.

“Onward for glory!” Sebastian rushed forward, manic eyes of excitement glued to the impressive doorway beyond the portal.

And much to his satisfaction, the doorway was a comfortable, perfectly normal, brown color.

'Not pink this time.' Sebastian thought happily, only to realize his mistake half a second later as a ripple passed over the portal, shifting his exit point by a few blocks to show a flash of pink as his foot touched down in an alleyway.

The pendant drained dry, the portal shutting behind him with a sharp snap.

‘Why…’

Sebastian ducked under the swing of a sword.

‘Do…’

Sebastian reinforced his limbs and shot backward to avoid a hail of shuriken.

‘I…’

Banishing Charms erupted from Sebastian's palms, pushing the charging pink missile of death back.

‘Keep…’

Goblin Silver needles flew out of his sleeve to deflect a hail of kunai.

‘Doing…’

His weight lightened as he stepped on metal spheres and shot up into the air to avoid a slash that cut through concrete, narrowly dodging the bright pink kimono-clad woman.

‘This?!’

Sebastian yelled in his mind, only for his eyes to widen at a weight on his shoulder, and he turned to find a… mouse?

“Where did you come from?” Sebastian muttered in confusion.

The mouse looked up at him innocently and pulled something out from behind its back.

“Are those…” Sebastian swallowed. “Nunchucks?”

The unholy light that left its beady eyes would haunt Sebastian for a long time to come.

Chapter End.

AN: Hope you enjoyed!

Flashbacks are operated by onions cutting ninjas.

Neo is best girl.

Sebastian is filthy rich, and milking it for all its worth.

The Gateway gets a bit of experimental data explained, and then proceeds to remind Sebastian never to let his guard down.

And Sebastian runs into a shiny!

Next time, more on the new world.