The vault was a literal treasure trove lined with boxes of currency from every country. To be honest with the wealth they had gathered after three hundred years of theft, I wondered they even continued raiding. Just the rare metals housed in this collection would be valuable enough to buy a noble title and a small kingdom. Unfortunately, this room lacked alchemical supplies as they were kept in a lab on the upper floors, even then the vast majority of them had been wasted by morons trying to make a new type of alcohol with no hangover.
A prime example was the fact they used a fruit that could extend a persons life by ten years to make a “nice tasting wine” ruining its medical properties in the process. Deciding I would worry about sorting through it all when I was off this island, I piled it into crates I had originally prepared for our journey into the wild lands. There were a few items I could not store because they themselves were advanced spacial treasures so I wrapped them in cloth so as to minimise the noise and threw them into a backpack.
Looking at the last item in the room, an ornate statue of an angel holding an orb with a glowing purple mist within, I knew this was Claire proto-phylactery. It unlike the rest of the horde was guarded by several barriers, traps and alarms. I could have just shattered the thing but doing so would stop me from consuming the storm elementals core as it would dissipate before I reached its chamber. I set to work dispelling the complicated net of spells and only succeeded after two hours.
Wandering back to the cellar I was spotted by one of the pirates and had to kill him before he alerted anyone to my presence. His eventual disappearance would also raise suspicion but by then I would be gone and they would have bigger problems to deal with. Arriving at the chamber, I pulled the angel from my backpack before attempting to shatter the soul gem. It needed the application of Titan Transformation before it started to break but once it started cracking it quickly disintegrated. A wave of magic passed as each ball in the nebula of memories popped and the ethereal chains shattered. I reached into the dissolving core of the once-mighty elemental and removed its heart before swallowing it. A vibrant mint-like flavour spread through my mouth and an ice-cold yet electrifying feeling passed over me.
I teleported to an alleyway near to the building I was originally placed in. With a pop, I appeared much to the confusion of a very drunk pirate. I began running towards the docks as the storm above slowly gave way to a radiant dusk. Rounding the corner the ships were in sight and as everyone was transfixed on the newly appearing sky, I hurled my void fire infused fireballs at the ships before sliding down the edge of the sea wall. Reaching the bottom I used water and wind magic to cast a small lifeboat into the ocean after tossing a space spell infused medium mana crystal into it.
Turning on my heals I began sprinting towards the VIP guest house as the pirates finally started to take notice of the burning ships. Knowing that the amount of mana I had supplied into those fireballs almost guaranteed the destruction of the ships or at the very least crippled it seaworthiness, I ignored the scrambling pirates and was happy that it would serve as another distraction. Reaching the building I barged through the doorway and screamed about the burning ship, standing to the side as the pirates inside exited to help fight the fire.
Using my mana sense I dashed up the stairs towards the princess signature. Kicking open the locked door I saw the princess, the oracle and one other woman unbound, in fact, they seemed relaxed while chatting as they rested on a large bed. After recovering from the momentary confusion I drew out two medium-sized mana crystals charging each one with a different spell. Reaching the bed I activated the first one teleporting everyone within two meters to the positioning crystal I had placed in the lifeboat while dropping the second one where we were.
We arrived on the lifeboat in time to see the building we were just in bloom in a rose of void fire. Sitting down I began using water magic to propel the now occupied boat into open waters as the maelstrom finally ended. Despite the fact I had not killed the people of pirate island with my own hands I had doomed them. Once the countries found out they were no longer protected they would be annihilated, if only in an attempt to gain their riches. Looking at the somewhat startled princess I cleared my throat “so Emily, who is this?” taking a second to process what I had said she literally facepalmed before replying, “Jack. This would be the crown princess of the Zurgan dynasty that was conducting negotiations for the return of their ruler's heirloom”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
It was then I facepalmed, “Oh god, not another princess!”
After hearing the women’s story about being treated quite well over their eight hours of captivity, I gave a simple bullshit story about saving them completely avoiding looting the place or destroying the storm. The princess, I mean Emily, gave me a look clearly indicating she knew there was more to the story while the oracle was rather impressed by my display of magic and praised Emily for raising a good slave. I was honestly tempted to throw the bitch overboard and cut my losses but I persisted. the second princess just sat silently, obviously contemplating how to salvage the situation.
I further diluted my strengths and heroism by claiming that many of the feats were a result of items rather than skills, abusing the oracles ability to see my level as supporting evidence. After a day on the water where the princesses would not shut up, we were picked up by a passing free trade republic ship. Telling them our story helped hasten the retaliation on the pirate island and allowed me to scape the never-ending rumour mill. The women were given a room while I was made to sleep and work with the crew. As dawn broke on the third day we finally cough sight of Pa-lam the largest trade port of the republic. Docking was a simple matter and we once again had to fill out a survey. This one, however, was more about good and tariffs as would be expected in a country run by currency.
The princess and I split off from the other girls as the other princess offered to buy me. The princess adamantly refused the sale and we made out way to a lodge. The place was nice and tidy with wooden frames supporting whitewashed walls. We walked past the ember filled fire pit towards the counter where we proceeded to purchase two rooms and a meal. Sitting down for dinner alone for the first time in a week the princess just openly asked, “did you rob them and destroy the storm?”
Smiling back at the I replied, “yes and yes.” Resulting in the princess choking on her food. After handing her a glass of water she wanted to know how I managed it, so I told her a closer approximation to the real story.
Entering my room I finally had the peace to began sorting out my twice stolen spoils. The coinage was uncountable, literally taking up chests with random gold and silver while there was a multitude of precious non-magical gems and decorative jewellery. The things that drew more of my attention was the selection of magical metals such as liquid Mythril and the artefacts including the blood heirloom of the princess.
Looking at what I had gained it would be easy to complete the cultivation of the first and second hells plus the second chakra as long as I could gather the necessary plants. The best gain, however, was a natural nether stone that could be used as the prime ingredient for the Silver Blooded Ratel's next evolution. As I stared at the haul I noticed the stupid turtle summon itself into the room and move towards a dull grey stone that I had not got around to inspecting.
Seeing as it had gained my attention it quickly moved towards the rock and ate it. I was so dumbfounded by what I had just witnessed and did not act as it consumed the second and moved towards the third. Summoning it back into my chest before it could reach the third I picked it up and identified it before swearing. The fucking turtle had just consumed two world stones, incredibly rare materials created only when a world is created that housed a portion of the power of creation. How the hell such a precious thing could appear on this pathetic world let alone appear thrice we beyond my comprehension.
Quickly looking through the information on the Mirage Turtle it was not long before I discovered what was happening. My turtle had chosen its path of evolution and out of all the options it had to pick Cosmic Turtle also known as World-Bearing Turtle! I had mixed feelings about this because it was the most expensive monster evolution possible for a turtle type monster. It was not all bad as any turtle with the ability to select this evolution had the talent to achieve it and the rewards for having such a familiar were insane.
Despite all my information, I was still confused about how this happened. Normally a turtle monster would need to consume a piece of primordial stone in order to start down this path. Although commonly mistaken for a normal rock, a primordial stone is a million times more valuable than a world stone and I would have never let it consume such a treasure considering that a primordial stone would allow me to take a second class.
In the end, I concluded my familiar must have been a mutation and summoned the dumb turtle once more. Despite rumours to the country, I did not cry as I fed it a stone more valuable than any other resource on this planet.