Gaius nodded at his brother and prepared himself for another throw. He eyeballed the nearest steelteeth, “Okay. Breathe, mom said to aim closer to me so. There are so many, it shouldn’t be so hard,” he thought. After a moment of concentration, Gaius released his spear and to his surprise it made no noise as it shot through the water. The captain’s eyes widened as he observed the two boys, “Ah, they finally got the hang of it huh. A lot faster than I would have thought,” he thought to himself.

The spear swam through the water with no signs of slowing down, as if the water was parting before it allowing it to glide without resistance. Though the spear missed the original steelteeth Gaius was aiming for it eventually hit another as they swam in a dense school. “Got one!” Gaius cheered as he and his brother started to reel in their catch. Once the fish emerged from the water and plopped onto the deck, the boys were surprised to find three steelteeth pierced through by the throw.

“Whoa! You caught 3!” Gen smiled gleefully.

“Yeah, let’s make sure they’re dead before we trade them to the captain,” Gaius said.

“Trade them to the captain? We’re aren’t eating it?” Gen hesitantly asked.

“It’ll take too long for us to descale and gut the fish, especially such a sturdy one. So I told him that we can trade him the fish we catch for food that’s already prepared.”

“Ah, good idea.”

The captain walked over as the boys finished discussing what to do with their catch, “Nice haul. 7 more and I’ll trade whatever fish you catch for food,” he said to the boys as he approached them.

“7 more? What do you mean,” Gaius asked as he had a bad feeling about what was happening.

“Surely, you haven’t forgotten the bargain we struck last night? For use of the fishing rod, you will pay me 5 fish per day. You used it last night and early this morning, that’s 10 fish. With the three lying in front of me, that means you owe me 7,” the captain said with a calm smile.

“What?! We didn’t even use your fishing rod to catch this fish,” Gen shouted indignantly.

“Hmm,” anger and frustration were boiling within Gaius and Gen, but Gaius thought about it further and was eventually only upset with himself for making such a hasty deal with the man. “Gen, the captain’s right. That was the bargain we struck, regardless of whether or not I used it to catch the fish. However, we never discussed the terms of payment.” Gaius eyed the captain with a steely resolve.

“Oh hoh, the boy’s got a bit of fire in him too,” the captain thought to himself. “Well, we can discuss them now if you’d like,” he said to Gaius.

“Payment should logically be done on a per day instance. Since we used your fishing rod yesterday, then we owe you 5 fish. As for using it this morning, we’ll pay another 5 before the day’s end. Is that fair to you captain?” Gaius asked after calming himself down.

“Fine by me, 2 more steelteeth and we’ll call your payment for the day square. Anymore fish you bring me and I’ll have my cooks make equivalent food.”

With that, Gaius turned around and removed the spear quickly from the dead steelteeth. Tulia observed the exchange from the door leading into the personal cabins. “Oh, it looks like Gaius is developing his antimagic abilities,” she thought to herself as she saw the three strung fish. “Should probably teach him how to barter too. How in the Mother’s mercy did he agree to 5 fish per day for using a fishing rod?”

Just as easily as the first three steelteeth, Gaius’s second throw pierced through two more. After tossing them onto the deck he said to the captain, “I believe we are paid out for today?”

“Sure, every fish you bring my cooks they’ll make you an equivalent meal,” the captain said as he scooped up the 5 steelteeth. “What a haul! These two young saplings don’t know their true worth,” the captain thought to himself.

Giddy with happiness, the two boys immersed themselves in spearfishing all morning and afternoon. After catching their 6th and 7th fish, the boys traded it in for several bowls of soup and hard bread. “Mother’s mercy! Have you ever had better tasting soup?” Gaius asked his brother while stuffing his face. “Best. Soup. Ever,” were the only words Gen could get out in between bites. “All right, let’s fish enough for dinner and tomorrow’s meal!” Gaius said with energy as he stood up.

“Yeah!”

It was only by midday, after several hours of fishing that the boys stopped. “Brother, I can’t condense anymore aura. I’m so tired.”

“Mm, go rest and replenish your energy. Trade another steelteeth for more food,” Gaius instructed his brother. By now, they had a small mountain of steelteeth to their name. Gen went to the nearby cook that had been assigned to them after they showed their proficiency in hunting steelteeth and traded another dozen of their catch for a meal.

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“Can’t believe the two little rascals up top,” the assigned cook said to others as he went to the galley below.

“They traded another steelteeth?” one replied with dismay.

“How much can these two little bastards eat, we can’t keep up with their orders.”

“Plus, the captain ain’t helping. We must ‘trade them an equal value of food for each steelteeth’ he says,” another complained.

“I bet the boys don’t even know the worth of each steelteeth,” one grumbled.

“Sigh, don’t matter none,” the assigned cook said. “Orders are orders.”

Without Gen’s aura, Gaius stopped spearfishing and sat there as he let the aura within the lake refresh him. “I wonder . . .” Gaius began to ruminate over something.

“Gen! C’mere. You feel tired, right?”

Gen nodded without moving closer to his brother, trying to conserve his energy by not speaking or moving.

“Do you feel the Aspect of Water nearby refresh you?”

Surprised by his brother’s question, Gen didn’t even take a second to think about it before he replied, “Nope.”

“Hmm,” Gaius started to consciously pull the aura of water nearby and channel it through to his brother’s body. As he did, he looked for any signs of change on his brother’s face and when he saw none he asked, “how about now? Do you feel different?”

Gen shook his head.

Gaius was puzzled because as soon as he directed the aura to his own body, he felt full of energy immediately. If he had just basked in the aura’s embrace than it might have taken him an hour or so to feel this invigorated, but as he directed a dense cluster of it into himself it instantly filled him with energy. As soon as he directed it within himself, he would feel it vanish and a sudden burst of energy would fill him, as if his body was a black hole—devouring everything he sent it.

“Hmm, maybe he can only absorb the Aspect of Light? I’ll have to give it a try when mom’s around next,” Gaius pondered. As Gaius controlled the flow of the aura of the lake, another idea formed within his mind. He quickly tried to shape the Aspect of Water nearby into the shape of his training spear and tried to merge the two together. But he found it impossible to shape it. “That’s odd. I can move the aura around and direct it anywhere but I can’t seem to shape it unless someone condenses enough for me. I don’t like this feeling. It’s like trying to grasp smoke.” After nearly 2 hours Gen felt refreshed.

“Bro, condense another orb for me,” Gaius curiously instructed.

The orb of light above Gen’s hands felt like an actual ball of tangible energy, he could grab it like it was a ball of snow; it felt firm and malleable. When he consciously tried the same with the natural aura of the lake, it felt like he was grasping at nothing—just air. “Ah, what a frustrating feeling. I guess this is why I can’t condense an Aspect, I just can’t do it.” Gaius felt a bit disheartened as he slowly unveiled some of the secrets within his body, but that only lasted for a moment as he infused the spear with another strand of his brother’s aura and continued to fish.

Unbeknownst to the both of them, Gen’s ability to condense more and more aura had dramatically increased while Gaius’s ability to delicately manipulate aura was being slowly refined. Though Tulia had hoped Gen’s proficiency with his aura would increase, and they had, she did not expect Gaius to reap the benefits he had, even she did not know the specific abilities Gaius was slowly refining.

It took the ferry 3 days from South Calet, which resided on the northern side of Lake Bant, to reach Bant City which lay on the southern side. On the southern side of the kingdom lay a mountain range which births the Bant River. It snakes its way through the country passing through several major cities, including the capital before it feeds into Lake Bant. The ferry Gaius and his family was on hoped to reach the capital in another 7 days as it winds through the lazy river. In the three days it took to cross Lake Bant, Gaius and his brother fished enough fish for the ferry to be classified as a fishing barge, which puts it into the merchant vessel’s tax range as opposed to a ferry.

In the afternoon on the 3rd day as they approached Bant City, the captain was politely talking to Duncan—the reclusive Craftsman Alchemist that barely left his cabin was out and about on the deck. “Craftsman Alchemist, there is a matter that I need to discuss with you. It pertains to your two servants,” the captain said with deference.

“Oh, what trouble have they caused you? I will quickly see to their discipline,” Duncan said coldly.

“Oh no, nothing of the sort. It is actually quite the opposite. You see your servants have been fishing for their own meals these past couple days,” the captain said as Duncan only nodded in understanding. “However, they’ve caught so much fish that the guards within Bant City will classify my ship as a fishing barge—a merchant vessel, which is susceptible to a higher entry fee. I’d like to discuss what you would like to do pertaining the small fortune of steelteeth your servants have caught.”

“Ah, quite the troublesome servants I have. How much is their catch worth?”

“They’ve fished an excess of 200 steelteeth that they couldn’t eat. At market price if sold in bulk is around 8-11 gold pieces.”

“Oh, such a small amount for 3 days of hard work. Bant City’s entry fee for a merchant vessel should be 25% of goods or a minimum of 1 gold. You can use a gold piece for the fee and take another gold coin for yourself and crew.”

“Ah . . .” the captain was speechless, he sought to cover the difference in the entry fee from the Craftsman Alchemist, he had no idea that the man would pay for the fee entirely, which means that everything he gained this trip was pure profit, “and a single gold on top, Mother’s mercy, is this man made of money?” he thought to himself.

“On one condition of course,” Duncan said slowly while eyeing the captain.

“Of course, name it Craftsman Alchemist,” the fat man replied.

“Take my two Novitiates and let them observe the transaction of the sale of steelteeth. I hear they have struck a deal to use a fishing rod for 5 fish a day? Such lack of skill is due to my negligence in training them,” Duncan orated.

After a bit of silence the captain regained his composure and couldn’t help but smile as he said, “That is no problem at all, though they are strong in their own right, no one is ever born with the silver tongue in trade. It is already their great fortune that a Craftsman Alchemist is overseeing their training.”

“Mmm, I’d like to be alone for a while.”

“Thank you for your time,” the captain said as he quickly and quietly retreated while slowly calculating his profits this run.