Moments ago, Mo Ye had asked Xu Kang to report on what he could glimpse on the beach, and despite everyone knowing a female spirit owned this shelter, Xu Kang had taken one look at Max and all rationality had gone out the window, causing him to simply spit out, "S-Spirit!"
Anyone within earshot immediately felt their butt-holes pucker up at the word.
"Get us out of here, now! That royal spirit is really on the beach, this must be some sort of trap!" Mo Ye didn't wait to get a closer look herself, quickly barking out orders and reacting to the potential danger instead.
After hearing her shout, the moment of fear that had just swept over nearly everyone turned into action, immediately turning the ship to head back the way they came.
On the beach, Max shook his head and pointed upwards with the finger he had just been beckoning at Xu Kang with, a playful look plastered on his face while doing so.
'Now's the time to show them if they fuck around, they're gonna find out... this should minimize the physical aspect of thefttarget.' Max confirmed the way he wanted this interaction to go and seized the fleeing ship with [Electromagnetism].
Every ounce of metal existing on the ship now attempting to sail away vibrated, and moments later the vessel slowly rose out of the water completely until it was hovering thirty feet above the water!
"Oh no! How is this even possible!? Re-light the torches and get ready for battle!" Mo Ye cried out while pushing the still stunned Xu Kang out of the way, causing the skinny fella to hit the deck butt first.
A peculiar light appeared in Master Varley's eyes as he gazed down at the rapidly approaching shoreline and the towering blaze, his attention fixing on Max.
"All hands, brace for impact!"
Mo Ye yelled out the warning, and prepared to plummet down to the shallow waters and sand.
The fall never happened however, Max set them down extremely gently, beaching the ship only forty feet away from his massive bonfire.
Every single person on the ship rushed over to the edge of the ship facing Max, now that they were safe from falling, and stared at him with Beast Soul armors already equipped and all manner of weapons drawn.
Max stared back and tossed the now perfectly roasted, colossal fish into the space between him and his visitors, recalling the God Dust he had embedded into the tree trunk being used as a spit to roast his giant red fish on.
"Yo!"
Max raised a beefy hand up and waved at them all, giving them his friendliest, toothiest smile. The same one he used to give customers back at the comic book shop, so many years ago.
There was no response for five seconds, so Max followed up.
"What're the chances any of you guys have a really, really big jar of tartar sauce on board?"
"Who're you?" Mo Ye squinted down at the waving Max while thinking to herself, 'Hhhmm, that's strange, I thought this shelter belonged to a female spirit...'.
"I go by Flux, what's your name, cutie?"
"Are y-"
Max quickly cut her off.
"Your next line is: 'Are you a human?', well, it's not very polite to not give me your name after I gave you mine, don't cha think?"
"...Mo Ye."
'Hehehe I totally pulled off the "Joseph Joestar" on her.' Max thought, while trying not to laugh out loud to himself.
"Well, nice to meet you, Mo Ye. You guys hungry? Freshly caught and fire roasted Sacred-Blood fish fry over here...Oh, I am a human by the way. Would a spirit know what tartar sauce is? So put the sharp and pointy things away, I wasted the spirit belonging to this island already, soooo, if that's what you guys came here for, sorry. She's pretty dead."
There was nothing but silence for around ten seconds, and then a man stepped forward wearing a beautiful, silver set of Beast-Soul armor and placed his hand on Mo Ye's shoulder.
"I'll take it from here. Thank you Mo Ye."
"Are you sure?" Mo Ye asked with a slight tinge of confusion in her voice. She turned her head to look at her employer, who normally would never step out front, therefore making himself a target, before sending his hired help and his own personal guard out first.
Master Varley was actually very powerful himself, but this was out of character, as far as Mo Ye was concerned.
"Yes. Our new friend here is offering us a hot meal, do you not think it would be impolite to turn down such a kind offer of Sacred-Blood meat, while turning our 'sharp and pointy things' towards our gracious host?"
"Yeah, the man in the fancy armor gets it...Who're you?" Max asked while getting a first hand view at the Beast Soul armor that he had seen earlier using [Destiny] while preparing for this round of 'Theft Target'. He liked the armor even more in person.
The plate mail was exceptionally fierce and stylized, featuring sleek, overlapping metal scales that contoured perfectly to Master Varley's body for what looked like a mix of agility and defense.
Its most striking feature was the helmet, which was sculpted into the roaring visage of a mythical dragon, complete with swept-back, wing-like crests framing the visor.
Aggressive, aerodynamic spikes jutted from the pauldrons and greaves, giving the man a dangerous, piercing silhouette that looked built for leaping straight into the heavens and coming down like a meteor.
Max kept up the cool act but was totally freaking out inside. 'I have gotta have that in my life...well, in my sea of soul anyways...'
He bit his tongue to keep from calling out the name of the legendary, spear-wielding dragon knights from one of his favorite, classic RPG franchises.
"Oh? You like this? You may call me Master Varley...This is my boat and my hunting team." Master Varley lifted up his arms and examined his gleaming self before he leapt down from the boat, signaling the rest on board to follow as he did.
"I sure do like the armor. Wanna trade?"
"Anything and everything can be obtained, with the right amount of effort or money... We can talk business after we eat, If that's alright with you, Mr... Flux, was it?"
"Absolutely. I like how you think." Max said with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.
"Excellent. You and You. Go back on board and bring out the three bottles of wine I have stored in the pantry, and three cups."
...
"So... How did you pick up our ship like that? What manner of Beast Soul can manage that?"
Master Varley raised a glass in a toast to Max, swirling the wine as they finished their meal an hour later. They had been skeptical about the food at first, no one wanting to dig into it until Max had rolled his eyes and eaten a few bites.
They were even more fine with the situation after five of the ship's crew, including Mo Ye and Master Varley themselves, had each received one Sacred-Blood geno point each while they dined, which was very impressive for a creature of this size.
Max took a slow sip of his wine, expecting the question to be asked. He decided on letting the silence before he answered stretch just long enough to look mysterious. He let out a casual chuckle and said, "Ah, that? It's all thanks to this stuff," Max said, waving a hand to summon and swirl his gleaming God Dust, letting it drift lazily above the campfire like an ambient mist. "It's a Beast Soul I picked up a while back from a really bizarre Sacred-Blood creature. It wasn't a normal animal and more like a sentient, glowing cloud."
Varley's eyebrows shot up. The crew members within earshot stopped chewing, their full attention locking onto Max, admiring his Beast Soul. A cloud-type creature was very rare, but not unheard of.
"That thing was a nightmare," Max continued, shaking his head with a well-practiced and convincing, yet super fake sigh of relief. "Its raw physical fitness level was actually pretty low, but it had a Gene Lock open. It could telekinetically hurl massive boulders, collapse caves, and lift anything that contained even a trace of metal. I only got lucky because my partner here," he then summoned and gestured to Zephyr, who immediately started licking a shark bone clean, "Happened to have the exact elemental attribute to counter its abilities. It was a close call, but this Beast Soul was worth it."
"And what is this?! A Beast Soul pet? What is it's level?..." Varley murmured, his gaze shifting from the floating dust to the now sleeping Kirin beast. His respect for 'Flux' instantly skyrocketed. Anyone who could solo a creature with an unlocked Gene Lock in the Second Sanctuary was a monster in human skin, with help from a Beast Soul pet of not.
"Yeah, it's Sacred-Blood and it has a battle mode... Normally, lifting a whole vessel like yours wouldn't be doable..." Max added, a sharp, toothy grin spreading across his face as he tapped his chest. "But remember the Riptide Fin we just ate? I got its Beast Soul right when it died. It's an Aura type which boosts elemental abilities greatly, I wanted to try it out on your ship and I almost couldn't believe it myself! Easily the best Beast Soul I've ever seen, let alone owned!"
Mo Ye gasped softly, her fork dropping onto her plate. "An Aura soul? From a Sacred-Blood marine alpha?"
"Yep," Max told half the truth, leaning back against a log. "It projects a localized domain that heavily amplifies elemental power within its radius. When I stacked that new aura on top of the cloud dust Beast Soul's metal-lifting properties, snapping your ship out of the water and bringing it to the beach was like lifting a toy boat in a bathtub."
Master Varley stared at Max for a long three seconds before letting out a loud, booming laugh, raising his glass once more. "Incredible! To hunt a creature with an open gene lock, and then pull an ultra-rare aura-type Beast Soul drop that compliments it perfectly on top of it... Mr. Flux, your luck and your strength are truly boundless. I am glad we chose to dine as friends rather than fight as enemies."
Max clinked his glass against Varley's, his smile widening. 'He totally bought it hook, line, and sinker,' Max thought, his eyes subtly drifting toward Varley's gleaming, silver Dragoon armor.
"Agreed, glad we talked it out first. So, what do you say, want to trade me that armor you're wearing for the Riptide Fin aura Beast Soul?"