10 September Year 579 of the New Kaledonian calendar. Raishin and Greg were recovering from their hangover.

So, Greg, why did the forest turn into a desert?

Cnidaria forest goes through stages, its lifecycle changes every 4 years. The stage we found it at first was the adult stage where the forest is at its largest. Because of the shape of the forest and the nature of most of its flora, it has been called the Cnidaria forest, the trees in the middle are taller than those at the edge giving it a dome shape and this stage was called the Medusa. After this stage it would revert to a stage where all the plants turn back into seeds and move to a different spot, The Cnidaria forest has over the years travelled but it doesn’t seem to follow the wind.

Huh, what a weird forest.

The forest is now a desert and has slightly moved from its original position. About 5km more north. This should be its second year of the desert phase and in 2 more years it would form strange formations which would look like organic rock for 4 years more years. After this, the rock formations will sprout jellyfish-like objects and bubbles that float around for another 4 years after which they will drop to the ground and reform the forest.

I see that 4 years of living in the library wasn’t for nothing .

I didn’t live in the library!

What a nerd. So where is this forest going or where did it come from?!

Hmm, it does seem to stick close by the river, it might follow the river all the way up north and either follow it west and end up near Ash Boshi town or go east and merge with the elven forest.

Ew, Boshi town, I want to go to the elven forest! Let's go!

Or we can follow the river south and see where it came from.

Hmm south, oh oh! Let's go to the beach! Summer is almost over and I haven’t seen chicks in biki… haven’t been to the beach yet!

I am not interested in the ocean but I could use some relaxing after having spent the last 4 months in the books.

But there is sand there…

Let's go!

And that is how we decided to go to the beach and lived happily ever after.

Well, I wish that was the case as nothing ever goes well for us. We first walked and followed the river but this took too long so we kidnapped Greg. I made a raft and I sped down the river. I had experience with these kinds of things so it was easy to get us safely to the sea. We went down south the Aurelia river, and crossed the border into Hyuva. We could see Gittrian in the distance. The Gittrian river would eventually merge with this one before reaching the sea.

We hopped off and visited the beach nearby. Raishin was acting like a kid but scaring everyone away because he still had the dead tiger on his head. Gregory didn’t complain as much as I expected him to and I tried to hold back on the sand complaints. It seems Raishin is the only one who’s truly enjoying this.

Oh, Greg remind me, I have made weapons for you and Raishin.

Ooh, I haven’t held a hammer in almost 4 years!

Whud? Weren’t you supposed to train that too?

Well, yes, but offense isn’t something I should focus on.

Fair point. This hammer I made for you might have had you relearn using hammers anyways so that’s a nice bonus.

That is good, now let's relax, Raishin is probably the only one here who doesn’t need to relax, I’m sure you worked yourself to the bone in your own way. Let's use this as our rest before we get back into this world and attempt to find Hourai.

Ok then! But then there is something we need to do!

And that is?

How am I supposed to relax without mango juice?! Raishin! Let's go to that bar there and get some fresh juice!

Oh, great idea! I’m thirsty, a bit sandy and hot here.

We arrived at the bar but the ambience seemed a bit off. The place was occupied by over 100 burly men wearing speedos.

Eww isn’t this visual pollution?

We decided to ignore them. I ordered some mango juice, Raishin went for some coconut water and Greg went for pineapple juice. It went well until Greg ordered his juice, a burly speedo guy and Greg put up the same order at the same time and there was only 1 glass of pineapple juice left.

I will reimburse you if you take another beverage and let me have this pineapple juice.

“No amount of money can bribe me away from pineapple juice! Give up! We were here first; we have a claim on that juice!” The burly guy said.

I turn around and you already have gotten yourself into trouble Greg!

Hey! It's them! Look they are scaring all the customers away with their burliness! I can't even enjoy my pineapple juice like this.

“Excuse me? Your pineapple juice? You mean MY pineapple juice!”

Just let it go, Greg, it's just pineapple juice.

What? I can't believe I'm hearing this from you Agnis!

“This guy has no idea what he's talking about!”

I know right!

Hey, can I get more coconut water?

Raishin got his second serving of coconut water and Greg and the burly speedoguy looked enviously at how someone got their drink but they didn’t.

“Hey, how about a battle for this pineapple juice? Your friends against my friends!”

Deal! We will bury you!

Raishin seriously? Firstly, make sure to know the conditions to what you agree on and secondly… this is not your fight! Let Greg handle this!

But these guys are ruining the view and scaring away the hot chicks, these speedos need to go!

I agree with Raishin, laying a claim on my pineapple juice is unacceptable, we will respectfully put you in the sand.

“Ok so if we win, we get the pineapple juice and you will join our mafia group and if you win you get the pineapple juice and we will do whatever you want, the battle is in 20 minutes.”

Huh, wait we didn’t agree to join your disgusting group!

That’s why you shouldn’t just accept anything now we're stuck to this! We need to win I don’t want to join… this…

Yeah, absolutely disgusting. Greg and I showed our utter disgust.

“Boss! These guys are insulting us!”

A bigger burlier guy in a speedo approached us. “Are you the guys harassing my men?”

This is war guys! We will claim this pineapple juice and save this beach!

Yes!

Yes! Let's get the chicks back!

“Oh, challenging the great Garo, you guys have guts!” We ignored this newcomer and made a plan.

I had a shadow clone lay out traps on the beach where we would fight in 10 minutes. We saw this as a good exercise to get back into it and do some teamwork.

“So, me and my right-hand man and my left-hand man are ready to beat you punks!” I yawned.

A 3v3? You really aren’t trying, eh? Is this pineapple juice unimportant to you?

“I won’t fall for this cheap provocation You will not insult our certified yakuza group!”

A what? Aren’t you just making things up now? What even is a certified yakuza group?

And what is a yakuza group doing on a beach drinking all the pineapple juice, go do yakuza stuff somewhere else, shoo shoo, and give me my pineapple juice.

This Garo guy started to become extremely angry. “Don’t tell me how to run my yakuza group! Fine! Guys! They asked for it lets show these 3 morons how things are run here!”

You don’t run though, you’re just sitting and flexing, how about you run into the sea or something?

Or put on shorts and shirts, how about that?

“You know what? Fine! We will show that even at half-strength we can beat you!”

Dressing up like a normal person makes you guys weaker?

There is no point in talking to them let's get on the beach to kick their asses and get our pineapple juice.

Wait, give me a second. One more mango juice!

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The speedos and Greg looked enviously as I got my mango juice and drank it. “I’ve had it enough with your provocations! Let's fight now!”

A random speedo guy read the rules, no killing of course bla bla. Too bad they don’t know about the traps that are lying around here. Not much we will have to do.

“Aand fight!”

I swapped some burly guys on traps and they got blasted into the sky. Raishin started throwing attacks around. His accuracy had improved but their destructive power had increased. Greg grabbed the speedos and threw them onto the traps I had set. He also slapped most of them around with a [Shadow Hand].

The goal was to practice some teamwork but these guys were so unorganized and weak that it wasn’t really needed. I kept swapping speedos around so they even hit their own allies. Raishin kept teleporting left and right. He seemed to be able to do it in rapid succession and accurately. And with low mana disruption, probably used to sneak up on his prey. He kept teleporting behind them, tapping on someone's shoulder and teleporting away. The burly guys tried to punch him when he did that but they hit their allies. Greg also messed with their shadows so that they were more likely to hit their allies. At one point the three of us didn’t need to do much because they started some infighting.

Raishin blast them away!

Raishin sent out a strong [Wind Blast] that knocked most of the speedos out. Only Garo and another guy was left. I swapped him with a rock that was on the bottom of a pit that a clone had dug. I connected to the underground leyline current and filled the hole with sand. Only his head was sticking out.

I took out a jar of my secret weapon and pushed a spoonful of super-strong mustard into his mouth causing him to passed out. Greg [Shadow Melded] to Garo’s shadow and made his shadow form into a ball which caused Garo to take on a similar shape.

“owowowow! I surrender! You can have the juice!”

Yes! Greg ran to the bar to claim his prize.

“Ugh, we lost, what do you guys want?”

I looked at Raishin.

Hmm

Hmm.

----------------------------------------

Gregory returned with his juice. Huh, what’s going on? Why are they still here?

Well, Agnis wanted them to build this new thing called a yacht, and after that, they will leave the beach.

I was ordering the speedos to bring some stuff into the yacht they were building. It was a kind of boat but it ran on some alternative power source. It leaves no mana trail behind so it's impossible to follow. The car things have that too. It will be hard or impossible for Silent Night to track you if you take those unless you leave obvious tracks behind. This yacht will be useful because we might need a boat like that one day. We will test it out and then I will store it after we’re done. For some random yakuza, they sure know how to build one though. Are they affiliated with Yttroz Industries somehow?

It took quite a while and the beach started to become populated again because the speedos were mostly busy in this concentrated spot of the beach instead of everywhere. Raishin went hunting for some chicks and Gregory was relaxing in the shade. It took them 4 hours and it was done. I had a weird hunch so I also had them load crates full of bananas in. I had seen some monkeys not too far from here so we might need bananas to distract them because they like to harass people. One of those monkeys is harassing Raishin at the moment. I swapped a banana to my hand and threw it into the dunes. The monkeys made sounds and went after the banana.

“That was the last crate of bananas!”

Good, now scram!

The speedos left and I started eating some bananas while inspecting my yacht. Does this thing have a manual? It shouldn’t be that much different from a normal boat. I went to the side and engraved S.S. Banana on the side.

Perfect!

Are you doing something useless again?

I handed Greg a banana.

Thanks.

Greg and I inspected the boat while eating bananas. We got harassed by monkeys but nothing a simple [Banana Throw] wouldn’t fix. Well, that’s not a real skill but it’s effective. I also saw some gulls stealing food from beach tourists. The animals here are quite ruthless. It reminds me of the pranks I played on the Misha.

I attempted to make another sand castle, this time further from the ocean but some snotnosed kids trashed my castle. I felt powerless again. Why are kids allowed to do this? I can't do anything back to them! I sneaked some bananas into their clothes and they got harassed by monkeys. Nature will punish them.

But that’s enough sand for today! It was time for a boat trip! As I approached the yacht, I saw Raishin with a dog on the leash.

Do I even want to know?

A chick with big badonkers told me she would hang out with me if I watched the dog while she went shopping.

You are taken advantage of… how long ago was that?

Dunno, 2 or 3 hours ago.

So, what are you going to do with that dog? We’re about to leave.

We can bring it with us!

That is a terrible idea, did they say when they would come back?

Somewhere, today.

…Right, just bring the dog on board then…

“Hey, is this your yacht?” A unfamiliar voice asked.

Whoa, Agnis! Look at those badonkers! Yes, this is my yacht!

I facepalmed. Raishin was trying to get 5 random chicks on board.

Raishin you asshole this is not your ship! Look what does this say?!

S.S Banana?

“What a strange name!”

”Maybe we will pass on this free boat trip.“

Look what you’ve done you scared the chick with big badonkers away!

Good! I don’t want any randoms on my ship!

Ugh, you could use a girlfriend too, how about that short one?

You are ridiculous… just get that dog on board and we will leave, Greg is already on board.

Meh, fine.

Raishin got the dog on board. It had long hair and it looked quite stupid.

“Hey! What are you doing with my dog!” A red-haired chick with a nice figure in a red bikini came running with a friend with light blonde hair in a ponytail, she wore a light blue bikini, she also had a nice figure.

I think I found out what your type is Raishin… Hehe, nice figures eh? The redhead is mine! You can have the blonde!

They are people, not tradeable goods!

The chicks boarded the yacht. “Is this your yacht?”

Ye…

This guy has ulterior motives, I apologize for this idiot but this is my yacht.

“Oh, we know, he isn’t that good at hiding it. The name is Christina.” The redhead extended her hand and I shook it.

Agnis.

“This is my dog Haroldus Remulos Maximus the Second”

Oh, what happened to Haroldus Maxulos Reximus the First?

“It’s Haroldus Remulos Maximus the Second! And the First ran away…”

Probably for a good reason...

“My name is Hayley; nice to meet you Agnis!”

I shook her hand but something was off with her. Why is she so overly familiar?

Anyways, you got your dog, we’re about to leave. You go do what ehh beach babes do.

“Ohh, beach babes? Us?”

“Hey, can’t we come with you guys, that strange guy did promise us a boat ride!” I looked at Raishin. He pretended that he had no idea what was going on.

Right, just a warning strange things happen to us so I would advise you to stay on shore but if you don’t mind then stay, I would advise you to keep an eye on Rexoldus Heximus Minimus the Second because I sense that a storm might be brewing.

“That’s not his name! Get it right!” The red head did her color scheme justice and got heated up.

“Now, now Crissy it is not such a big deal, your dog does have a long name though…”

Anyway, I gotta find out... I have to steer this vessel so go talk to Greg or Raishin. Although maybe better if you don’t talk to him, he’s probably out for your bodies, especially Mina.

“The name is Cristina!”

Cool, cya!

“Hey, can I watch?” The blonde-haired chick was doing it again. I put up a difficult face and she seemed to be amused.

You know what, do what you want, I don’t care, if we sink it's your fault though! Greg! Stop taking so damn long drinking 1 glass of pineapple juice! Sipping on it for over 4 hours is ridiculous! Keep an eye out for Raishin!

Ugh, you noticed? Fine, I will keep an eye on him, Hello ladies.

That Tina girl seemed to be into Greg, poor Raishin. Maybe bringing them was a bad idea, anyway not my problem, time to find out how this boat works!

Right let’s see, hmm what does this do? I kept messing around. Why does this thing have so many buttons?

“Do you know how to steer this?”

I jumped back. What? A sneak attack?!

“I followed you here remember silly?”

Ugh, this was a bad idea, anyway enough messing around, time to get out of here before Raishin brings more chicks on board.

I connected to the air leyline currents and [Flushed] the yacht into the ocean and started to steer it with directed [Flushes].

“That is a very interesting way of steering the boat.” She said as she just kept watching. Isn’t that boring?

I found a suspicious button and it turned the boat on so I could steer it and look like I knew what I was doing.

Just some warm-up exercises, now time to get serious!

Is she here to make sure I steer this ship properly? Is she some sort of spy or something? Did we get careless and let assassins on the yacht? It is suspicious that they show so much interest. I will have to keep an eye on them.

So, I said that I was going to keep an eye on them but I was having too much fun steering the yacht around and drifting with it. I can do the stuff I do in the racing games with it. The winds started to pick up and we encountered dolphins playing around. This chick who apparently was named Hayley seemed to love dolphins and wanted me to follow them. I had no reason to decline so I just did that.